The alter ego Neil - Part 2
Title - The alter ego Neil - Part 2
Author - sid_vicious_03
Rating - NC17
Pairings - Eames/Arthur, Arthur/OC
Word count - 3 774
Warnings - In this chapter, cursing, sex, prostitution, crossover to Mysterious skin unbetad.
Disclaimers - I don’t own Inception or any of the characters, sadly, but i do own the story.
Notes - Part 1
Summary - There is Arthur, Arthur comes in two ways. Work Arthur, always perfect, organized, knows what to say and what to do and has perfect control over everything. That was the Arthur Eames fell in love with. Then, he discovered that Arthur is only work Arthur during work. In private he is this entirely different person. Cold Arthur, the real Arthur, dubbed Neil.
~*~
Eames didn’t think of the note any more after he had gotten it, as a matter of fact, he had forgotten it already the day after when he woke up. Eames managed to pull of the scrabble in the end and did so in the dream. The mark never even noticed she was dreaming it all to begin with.
Cobb returned back home to his kids. Ariadne went off back to Paris to finish her studies. Yusuf went back to Mombasa and declared several times that it was enough now, that he no longer would work on the field and that they had to find another chemist. He had enough money so he would just sit down on his chair in Mombasa and live happily ever after with his cat.
Eames and Arthur went back to London, Eames just wanting to relax, and Arthur showing a more sadistic side of himself and spent most of his time teasing Eames dog to the point where it wasn’t fun anymore for neither Eames or the dog. Whenever Arthur got bored of teasing the dog, he would move over to Eames, trying to distract him from what he was doing purely for sexual motivations.
Most of the time Eames told him of, which resulted Arthur being pissed off for the evening and shoot into a masturbation frenzy and often made it as loud as possible just so he could bother Eames. Sometimes Eames gave into it, and as much as it was some of the best sexual happenings that Eames ever had lived through, but Arthur just didn’t know when to stop, and in the evening or the morning after he would shoot into a masturbation frenzy anyway.
But after Arthur’s suggestion of perhaps, just perhaps, get a third part in for a threesome just before Eames had left off for a month job in Toronto while Arthur had accepted a job in Los Angeles. He almost found it ironic that he found the note, just when he was in Toronto again, and even worse that he even knew where it was. For just a second, Eames felt like he was starring in some b-movie without really being aware of it.
Although, just a talk to him wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like Arthur would find it out, not when he was in Los Angeles, and Eames doubted that he would drop to Toronto just like that. And even if he did, he would have to find Eames.
Eames smiled to the barista and paid for the coffee he had ordered, closing his wallet and kept the note in his hands. Grabbed the starbucks mug which was way too expensive and overrated if you asked him. But morning coffee was morning coffee, and Eames couldn’t go without it, unless he wanted to play a zombie for the rest of the day.
Work could wait a little bit, he was always late to some extent so an hour wouldn’t do much damage, he could easily work it in as the evening got closer, or do some extra practice in dreamspace which actually was quite unnecessary. He was way ahead of his planning to forge the marks fiancé, and the other forge he had to use was one of his personal favorites named Emelié. A short girl with short black hair, always wearing a dark purple or a maroon dress, combined with boots Eames liked to call, fuck me boots.
The sun was shining outside, so walking to the address wouldn’t harm. Then he got some fresh air and time enough to finish his coffee at a relaxing pace. The note brought him to a cramped house, which despite the close neighbors, looked like a nice and quite cozy place to live. He walked up the five stairs that brought him to the door, folding the paper together and put it back in his pocket before ringing the bell.
It took a good ten seconds before Eames even heard movement in the hallway, just as Eames was about to give up and leave for work. But the door flew open, revealing a woman not much younger then he himself was. Long chest nut colored hair with some slight waves in them, eyes with practically the same color. Struggling to keep a two, perhaps three year old girl by her side which was her spotting image, probably her daughter.
‘’Yes?’’ She said, untangling the fist of the little girl from her hair, just to have her grab her necklace again. She had an accent which Eames couldn’t pin point out from where. His guess was Europe, but there were far too many country’s that he didn’t knew the accent of, he knew the French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian, but there were so many more countries.
‘’Uh, hi.’’ Eames said and flashed the woman one of his charming smiles that he used far too often in the business, but it was effective nonetheless. ‘’I am looking for one Oliver Caine, is he present?’’ Eames asked, trying to keep full focus on the woman and not let the little kid grab his attention far too much, because she truly was an attention stealer.
‘’Oh, no he’s not home at the moment sorry.’’ The woman said, giving him a weak smile and regripped on the toddler who now had let go of her necklace.
‘’Do you know where I could find him?’’ Eames asked, he wasn’t going to give up just because the guy wasn’t home. At least he was at the right place, and that was always a plus.
‘’Definitely.’’ The woman gave him a flirting smile and stepped out of the house, pointing up to their left. ‘’Just follow the road until you get to Steelers Avenue, then to your right and keep on walking until you reach Milliken park, he’ll probably be sitting on a bench drawing something.’’ She stepped back into the house, now holding the toddler with both of her arms. Eames smiled again.
‘’Thank you very much, have a nice day.’’ Eames said, bowed slightly, smiled to the little girl who widely smiled back and then turned around to walk down the stairs. Once he reached the sidewalk he turned left, much like the woman had told him. The park was roughly a mile away from the house, so it was quite a good walk, but Eames now knew for sure that he would have to call a cab to get to work later on, or else he would never get there.
Whoever this Oliver was, he had obviously moved on from his relationship with Arthur and got married, even had a child by now. Eames couldn’t help but wonder if it just was a phase, were he slept around with men or if Arthur had done something to terrify the other away. By the way he acted. He didn’t doubt it.
The park was mostly filled with people jogging, sometimes alone and sometimes with a dog by their side. The playground was filled with mothers chattering on about something that had to do about their kids and one struggling father trying to separate two of his own kids. There was an old couple sitting by a bench and fed the pigeons with breadcrumbs. A squirrel running right across the light grey gravel and then shooting right up a tree.
By now Eames was starting to doubt that he’d actually find the so called Oliver Caine, in the park that was so overly populated. He wasn’t even sure that Oliver was still drawing, he could have left and Eames could have passed him on the way here. But just as that thought struck him, he saw a figure sitting on a dark green wooden bench. Feet folded under his legs and crouching slightly over a drawing block in his lap.
Oliver looked sort of skinny, as if he needed to gain some weight but still was healthy. Dark brown hair in slight waves that reached down to his shoulders. Dressed in a thin black jacket that suited the best for the season now, spring, a clear gray t-shirt under with a v-shaped collar. Dark blue jeans and some worn out sneakers, hands moving quickly and skillfully over the thick paper.
Now when Eames finally had him in front of him, he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to talk to him. There was a cold feeling spreading in his stomach, traveling to his back and up his spine, then traced it’s way to his heart as if it was about to stop beating.
But a deep breath settled that and he walked over the gray gravel, over to the dark green bench where Oliver sat, who now looked up, giving a teenage lovebirds couple a quick glance before it was down again to the thick paper and god his eyes were practically black so Eames could drown in them, without having the drugged look.
‘’Uh.’’ Eames stammered. Christ, whenever did he pick up the habit of stuttering when he was supposed to approach a stranger? He never had the problem with that before and why would he pick it up now? It would ruin his career! Oliver gave no reaction to it however, thank god for that. ‘’Excuse me.’’ Now Oliver looked up from the drawing, first to the love birds and then to Eames who had started to fidget at his shirt, another habit that would ruin his career. ‘’I’m looking for one Oliver Caine, uh, Is that you?’’
Oliver blinked a couple of times, pen falling still on the paper. Then he broke out in a wide smile and nodded. Christ even his teeth were perfect, and there was no form of wedding or engagement ring on his fingers. ‘’That would be me.’’ His gaze returned back to the couple in front of them at the other side of the park, eyes squinting slightly from the sunlight and then looked back down to the paper. Eames wouldn’t deny it, the man had a talent for drawing.
‘’I got sent here by a man named Cobb.’’ Eames started and straightened his posture, deciding that he would shape up now. ‘’For some help with a friend of mine, Arthur.’’ It took a second or two for Oliver to react, and then all he did was giving Eames a confused look.
‘’I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t know anybody by the name of Cobb, or Arthur for that matter.’’ Oliver said, the dark red pen now lipped in his hand and tapped the page repeatingly. Eames felt his heart sink and rage towards Cobb, the evil son of a bitch.
‘’Really? Because my friend was under the impression that you could help me.’’ Eames said, deciding not to give up and at least show him a picture of Arthur. He had one in his wallet and it was the only one he owned of him, it had been a battle of weeks to actually manage to take it. He handed his brown wallet over, with the white text ‘badass motherfucker’ on, which he now kind of regretted owning. But Ariadne had given it to him for his birthday and he had a fantastic laugh at it.
Oliver gave Eames a hesitating look, then accepted the wallet and looked at the picture. He had taken it on one of their free mornings. So Arthur’s hair wasn’t slicked back but standing out in every direction after morning sex, he was wearing an old tour shirt of Ziggy Stardust that he had stolen from Eames and had a tired look in his eyes with one raised eyebrow. Chin resting on his palm and fingers covering his lips. The small scar from a job visible at the base of his neck going down to his chest. He held a bottle of beer in his hand, which seemingly had been Arthur’s best idea of starting his morning in Czech republic.
‘’Oh Neil!’’ Oliver said and broke out in that charming grin of his, still looking at the picture in Eames wallet and even stroked his thumb over it. Then he handed the wallet back, letting his smile vanish just as quick. ‘’I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with him even if I’d like.’’ The focus returned to his pen and before Eames even knew the word of it, Oliver had added three more lines to his drawing.
‘’Neil?’’ Eames questioned and sat down next to him, he wouldn’t give up that easily. Oliver nodded and took a deep breath, then looked back to the couple who were getting up to make their leave, eyes squinting once more.
‘’Yeah Neil. He changed his name to Jeremy shortly before we split up. Had no idea he was going under Arthur now. I haven’t seen him in like, four years really.’’ Oliver raised his shoulders and gave Eames a quick look; there wasn’t any use in looking at the couple any longer as they now had gotten up from their previous pose.
‘’Well, I’m seeing Arthur..Neil..- Whatever, I’m seeing him right now and uh. We we’re having some problems right now and my friend Cobb. Dominic Cobb, suggested I’d come and see you.’’ Eames said, folding his wallet shut with the white text down, then put it back in his back pocket.
‘’Dominic Cobb?’’ Oliver asked and looked back to Eames, shifting some on the bench so one of his worn out sneakers now touched the gravel. ‘’Oh yeah, Dom, the guy who constantly played his babysitter!’’ Oliver said and grinned again as if he made a sudden realization and pointed to Eames with his pen. ‘’Right, he went under the name Dom when I met him, nice guy. What’s with them though with constant name changing.’’ He muttered and flipped the drawing, seemingly he had decided on a new one.
‘’Well. It’s required for our job.’’ Eames explained, figuring that he wouldn’t have to say much more then that either. The next drawing Oliver started on however was nothing like the previous one who could have passed as a portrait. He started out by making squares on the paper, a total of six, varying in sizes right next to one another until they had filled up the entire page. Then he started drawing figures in harder strokes, more square.
‘’For their job? Didn’t know that Dom had the same job as Neil, he doesn’t seem like the guy who does prostitution. He was married and had a kid for crying out, was expecting a new one.’’ Oliver said, and Eames noticed he tried to sound as careless as possible, but yet there was a hint of bitterness in his voice.
Eames bit down on his tongue, remembering on how he had met Arthur, ready to sell himself out to some balding man. The next image he got was how it actually would have ended if Eames hadn’t interfered, if he hadn’t spoken up. If the man then would have fucked Arthur against a wall in some alley, if he would have liked it or not, Eames couldn’t judge, both images were to wrong in his mind.
‘’Another job.’’ Eames said and smiled weakly. ‘’A side job.’’ The drawing started to look more and more like a comic page now, then some piece of art.
Oliver sighed, pausing his drawing and looked at it, as if he was trying to come up with what more to add. ‘’I can’t help you anything with Neil, the guy is…’’ Oliver paused again, the look on his face showed he had the words on the tip of his tongue, that he just didn’t know how to put them. Then he looked to Eames. ‘’A histrionic, nymphomaniac sadistic hopeless case.’’ Oliver almost looked a bit sad when he said that.
‘’He is going to hurt you in so many ways that you don’t even see it coming. He won’t apologize, and he will do it again and again and again, until you don’t have the energy to stay with him any longer. And if he doesn’t hurt you, he will find ways to do so. He doesn’t care over anybody else and he barely cares for himself. As long as he gets what he wants, the more enjoyment he gets the better for him.’’
Eames nodded slowly, then looked down to the gravel, resisting the urge to kick away some of the small rocks. Oliver’s little speech didn’t help him feel better about himself. He had hoped that he’d get some sort of help, some sort of advice. Not just listening to him talk on about that it was hopeless, that Arthur was hopeless, Eames refused to believe that.
Oliver sighed and closed the drawing block, then pushed himself up the bench and stood up, gravel crunching under his sneakers. ‘’Look, you seem like a nice guy. You deserve so much better then Neil, Jeremy Arthur whatever he calls himself now.’’ Oliver said and gestured slightly with the hand that held the drawing block. Eames looked up to him, craving a cigarette now to help his better mood.
‘’And.’’ Oliver said and raised his shoulders, gritting his teeth before he lowered his shoulders again, looking Eames straight into his eyes and Eames could see he was breaking inside. ‘’And I’ll help you out as much as I can. But I can’t promise you anything. I can’t promise you a happily ever after, I can’t promise that he’s going to stay with you and I can’t promise he’ll stop selling his body to middle aged creepy men that will be the death of him.’’
Eames felt as if a stone was being lift from his shoulders, he stood up, a bit too quick then he had planned. ‘’Thank you, really thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me.’’ Eames started off with. Oliver smiled weakly.
‘’I do, Neil does that to people.’’ Oliver looked down and gave in to Eames urge and kicked some gravel away. Then he looked back to him. ‘’Look, Just drop by my place tomorrow at eleven, then we’ll have a talk, I need to go now.’’
With that he had turned around and started walking. Eames did nothing to stop him, he would introduce himself in the morning. First he needed to figure out what to tell to his employer about not being able to show up to work tomorrow.
~*~
‘’And then there was this guy, right in front of me who just didn’t want to shut up.’’ Arthur said, but frankly Eames wasn’t listening. He just looked at Arthur as he rambled on about everything and nothing, gesturing wildly with his hands as he did so. It was the only way Eames actually could see Arthur except for the picture.
Skype had its wonders, and it had been a hassle to even get Arthur to get an account so they could webcam with one another when they were out on different jobs. It had taken Arthur two minutes before he had realized all the visual with welcoming and of course talked Eames into it right now. And by the looks of it he had planned the same for today.
His hair was slicked back, but some straws started to get loose from their previous position from the long day at work. He didn’t wear a shirt, so the scar by his shoulder down to his chest was fully visible. All he wore was a pair of boxers and sat Indian style on the bed. The glass door leading to the balcony was open so Eames could see the dark sky and the city lights of Los Angeles.
‘’How’s Cobb?’’ Eames asked and rubbed himself in his neck, cutting Arthur of in midsentence which seemingly caught him a bit by surprise. Eames just couldn’t stand hearing more of Arthur’s pointless ramble, it seemed as if nothing he said was true any longer.
‘’Cobb?’’ Arthur asked. Eames nodded. Arthur shrugged slightly with his shoulders, looked away and leaned back, grabbing both of his feet in the process. ‘’He’s good I suppose. Doesn’t say that much now.’’ Arthur looked back to Eames and raised one of his eyebrows to him. ‘’Why? What’s up with you?’’
‘’Nothing I’m just wondering.’’ He smiled weakly to Arthur and removed his hand. He thought of Oliver, and then of all the possible men Arthur had sold himself to.
‘’Mm, whatever.’’ Arthur replied in a hum and leaned forward again. That damn whatever, by now Eames wanted to strangle that word out of his throat. And Arthur said it with such nonchalant glory.
‘’So, how’s work?’’ Eames asked, hoping they could get in on a more normal subject now. Arthur just shrugged. So much for that, Eames could see by the look on his face that Arthur wasn’t so keen on talking any longer.
‘’The same as usual I guess.’’ Arthur leaned forward slightly and grabbed something that stood next to his laptop. Returning with a glass with golden liquid in it, Whiskey. Eames watched Arthur drink some and put the glass back. ‘’Normal, no issues. The architect sucks though.’’
‘’But you’ll manage, you always do.’’ Eames said, hoping that would get Arthur on a somewhat better mood, but all he did was shrug again.
‘’Look. I’m going to finish my drink and then I’ll head of to bed, bye.’’ Before Eames even could protest Arthur had closed his laptop shut making the connection between them break. Eames wanted to sigh, he remembered Oliver’s words.
A histrionic, nymphomaniac, sadistic hopeless case.
~*~
Arthur looked at the content of his glass, then out of the window again. He could always go out for a few hours. It was only eleven and Los Angeles wouldn’t shut down because of that. He could go out and have some fun, instead of sitting inside and being faithful.
That thought alone made him cringe slightly. Faithful, he had never been faithful in a relationship. He had tried really hard with Eames but it was hard. There were just too many temptations around him that it was near impossible. It was just like keeping candy away from a little child. Close to impossible.
But Eames was in Toronto, and he was in Los Angeles, there was a distance of more than 4000 km between them. Cobb was playing baby sitter for his kids and the rest of the team… well he didn’t care what they thought. One quick trip outside wouldn’t get noticed in any way. With that thought in his mind Arthur had slid of the bed and grabbed his clothes again.
~*~
Thank you all for reading :3
Author - sid_vicious_03
Rating - NC17
Pairings - Eames/Arthur, Arthur/OC
Word count - 3 774
Warnings - In this chapter, cursing, sex, prostitution, crossover to Mysterious skin unbetad.
Disclaimers - I don’t own Inception or any of the characters, sadly, but i do own the story.
Notes - Part 1
Summary - There is Arthur, Arthur comes in two ways. Work Arthur, always perfect, organized, knows what to say and what to do and has perfect control over everything. That was the Arthur Eames fell in love with. Then, he discovered that Arthur is only work Arthur during work. In private he is this entirely different person. Cold Arthur, the real Arthur, dubbed Neil.
~*~
Eames didn’t think of the note any more after he had gotten it, as a matter of fact, he had forgotten it already the day after when he woke up. Eames managed to pull of the scrabble in the end and did so in the dream. The mark never even noticed she was dreaming it all to begin with.
Cobb returned back home to his kids. Ariadne went off back to Paris to finish her studies. Yusuf went back to Mombasa and declared several times that it was enough now, that he no longer would work on the field and that they had to find another chemist. He had enough money so he would just sit down on his chair in Mombasa and live happily ever after with his cat.
Eames and Arthur went back to London, Eames just wanting to relax, and Arthur showing a more sadistic side of himself and spent most of his time teasing Eames dog to the point where it wasn’t fun anymore for neither Eames or the dog. Whenever Arthur got bored of teasing the dog, he would move over to Eames, trying to distract him from what he was doing purely for sexual motivations.
Most of the time Eames told him of, which resulted Arthur being pissed off for the evening and shoot into a masturbation frenzy and often made it as loud as possible just so he could bother Eames. Sometimes Eames gave into it, and as much as it was some of the best sexual happenings that Eames ever had lived through, but Arthur just didn’t know when to stop, and in the evening or the morning after he would shoot into a masturbation frenzy anyway.
But after Arthur’s suggestion of perhaps, just perhaps, get a third part in for a threesome just before Eames had left off for a month job in Toronto while Arthur had accepted a job in Los Angeles. He almost found it ironic that he found the note, just when he was in Toronto again, and even worse that he even knew where it was. For just a second, Eames felt like he was starring in some b-movie without really being aware of it.
Although, just a talk to him wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like Arthur would find it out, not when he was in Los Angeles, and Eames doubted that he would drop to Toronto just like that. And even if he did, he would have to find Eames.
Eames smiled to the barista and paid for the coffee he had ordered, closing his wallet and kept the note in his hands. Grabbed the starbucks mug which was way too expensive and overrated if you asked him. But morning coffee was morning coffee, and Eames couldn’t go without it, unless he wanted to play a zombie for the rest of the day.
Work could wait a little bit, he was always late to some extent so an hour wouldn’t do much damage, he could easily work it in as the evening got closer, or do some extra practice in dreamspace which actually was quite unnecessary. He was way ahead of his planning to forge the marks fiancé, and the other forge he had to use was one of his personal favorites named Emelié. A short girl with short black hair, always wearing a dark purple or a maroon dress, combined with boots Eames liked to call, fuck me boots.
The sun was shining outside, so walking to the address wouldn’t harm. Then he got some fresh air and time enough to finish his coffee at a relaxing pace. The note brought him to a cramped house, which despite the close neighbors, looked like a nice and quite cozy place to live. He walked up the five stairs that brought him to the door, folding the paper together and put it back in his pocket before ringing the bell.
It took a good ten seconds before Eames even heard movement in the hallway, just as Eames was about to give up and leave for work. But the door flew open, revealing a woman not much younger then he himself was. Long chest nut colored hair with some slight waves in them, eyes with practically the same color. Struggling to keep a two, perhaps three year old girl by her side which was her spotting image, probably her daughter.
‘’Yes?’’ She said, untangling the fist of the little girl from her hair, just to have her grab her necklace again. She had an accent which Eames couldn’t pin point out from where. His guess was Europe, but there were far too many country’s that he didn’t knew the accent of, he knew the French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian, but there were so many more countries.
‘’Uh, hi.’’ Eames said and flashed the woman one of his charming smiles that he used far too often in the business, but it was effective nonetheless. ‘’I am looking for one Oliver Caine, is he present?’’ Eames asked, trying to keep full focus on the woman and not let the little kid grab his attention far too much, because she truly was an attention stealer.
‘’Oh, no he’s not home at the moment sorry.’’ The woman said, giving him a weak smile and regripped on the toddler who now had let go of her necklace.
‘’Do you know where I could find him?’’ Eames asked, he wasn’t going to give up just because the guy wasn’t home. At least he was at the right place, and that was always a plus.
‘’Definitely.’’ The woman gave him a flirting smile and stepped out of the house, pointing up to their left. ‘’Just follow the road until you get to Steelers Avenue, then to your right and keep on walking until you reach Milliken park, he’ll probably be sitting on a bench drawing something.’’ She stepped back into the house, now holding the toddler with both of her arms. Eames smiled again.
‘’Thank you very much, have a nice day.’’ Eames said, bowed slightly, smiled to the little girl who widely smiled back and then turned around to walk down the stairs. Once he reached the sidewalk he turned left, much like the woman had told him. The park was roughly a mile away from the house, so it was quite a good walk, but Eames now knew for sure that he would have to call a cab to get to work later on, or else he would never get there.
Whoever this Oliver was, he had obviously moved on from his relationship with Arthur and got married, even had a child by now. Eames couldn’t help but wonder if it just was a phase, were he slept around with men or if Arthur had done something to terrify the other away. By the way he acted. He didn’t doubt it.
The park was mostly filled with people jogging, sometimes alone and sometimes with a dog by their side. The playground was filled with mothers chattering on about something that had to do about their kids and one struggling father trying to separate two of his own kids. There was an old couple sitting by a bench and fed the pigeons with breadcrumbs. A squirrel running right across the light grey gravel and then shooting right up a tree.
By now Eames was starting to doubt that he’d actually find the so called Oliver Caine, in the park that was so overly populated. He wasn’t even sure that Oliver was still drawing, he could have left and Eames could have passed him on the way here. But just as that thought struck him, he saw a figure sitting on a dark green wooden bench. Feet folded under his legs and crouching slightly over a drawing block in his lap.
Oliver looked sort of skinny, as if he needed to gain some weight but still was healthy. Dark brown hair in slight waves that reached down to his shoulders. Dressed in a thin black jacket that suited the best for the season now, spring, a clear gray t-shirt under with a v-shaped collar. Dark blue jeans and some worn out sneakers, hands moving quickly and skillfully over the thick paper.
Now when Eames finally had him in front of him, he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to talk to him. There was a cold feeling spreading in his stomach, traveling to his back and up his spine, then traced it’s way to his heart as if it was about to stop beating.
But a deep breath settled that and he walked over the gray gravel, over to the dark green bench where Oliver sat, who now looked up, giving a teenage lovebirds couple a quick glance before it was down again to the thick paper and god his eyes were practically black so Eames could drown in them, without having the drugged look.
‘’Uh.’’ Eames stammered. Christ, whenever did he pick up the habit of stuttering when he was supposed to approach a stranger? He never had the problem with that before and why would he pick it up now? It would ruin his career! Oliver gave no reaction to it however, thank god for that. ‘’Excuse me.’’ Now Oliver looked up from the drawing, first to the love birds and then to Eames who had started to fidget at his shirt, another habit that would ruin his career. ‘’I’m looking for one Oliver Caine, uh, Is that you?’’
Oliver blinked a couple of times, pen falling still on the paper. Then he broke out in a wide smile and nodded. Christ even his teeth were perfect, and there was no form of wedding or engagement ring on his fingers. ‘’That would be me.’’ His gaze returned back to the couple in front of them at the other side of the park, eyes squinting slightly from the sunlight and then looked back down to the paper. Eames wouldn’t deny it, the man had a talent for drawing.
‘’I got sent here by a man named Cobb.’’ Eames started and straightened his posture, deciding that he would shape up now. ‘’For some help with a friend of mine, Arthur.’’ It took a second or two for Oliver to react, and then all he did was giving Eames a confused look.
‘’I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t know anybody by the name of Cobb, or Arthur for that matter.’’ Oliver said, the dark red pen now lipped in his hand and tapped the page repeatingly. Eames felt his heart sink and rage towards Cobb, the evil son of a bitch.
‘’Really? Because my friend was under the impression that you could help me.’’ Eames said, deciding not to give up and at least show him a picture of Arthur. He had one in his wallet and it was the only one he owned of him, it had been a battle of weeks to actually manage to take it. He handed his brown wallet over, with the white text ‘badass motherfucker’ on, which he now kind of regretted owning. But Ariadne had given it to him for his birthday and he had a fantastic laugh at it.
Oliver gave Eames a hesitating look, then accepted the wallet and looked at the picture. He had taken it on one of their free mornings. So Arthur’s hair wasn’t slicked back but standing out in every direction after morning sex, he was wearing an old tour shirt of Ziggy Stardust that he had stolen from Eames and had a tired look in his eyes with one raised eyebrow. Chin resting on his palm and fingers covering his lips. The small scar from a job visible at the base of his neck going down to his chest. He held a bottle of beer in his hand, which seemingly had been Arthur’s best idea of starting his morning in Czech republic.
‘’Oh Neil!’’ Oliver said and broke out in that charming grin of his, still looking at the picture in Eames wallet and even stroked his thumb over it. Then he handed the wallet back, letting his smile vanish just as quick. ‘’I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with him even if I’d like.’’ The focus returned to his pen and before Eames even knew the word of it, Oliver had added three more lines to his drawing.
‘’Neil?’’ Eames questioned and sat down next to him, he wouldn’t give up that easily. Oliver nodded and took a deep breath, then looked back to the couple who were getting up to make their leave, eyes squinting once more.
‘’Yeah Neil. He changed his name to Jeremy shortly before we split up. Had no idea he was going under Arthur now. I haven’t seen him in like, four years really.’’ Oliver raised his shoulders and gave Eames a quick look; there wasn’t any use in looking at the couple any longer as they now had gotten up from their previous pose.
‘’Well, I’m seeing Arthur..Neil..- Whatever, I’m seeing him right now and uh. We we’re having some problems right now and my friend Cobb. Dominic Cobb, suggested I’d come and see you.’’ Eames said, folding his wallet shut with the white text down, then put it back in his back pocket.
‘’Dominic Cobb?’’ Oliver asked and looked back to Eames, shifting some on the bench so one of his worn out sneakers now touched the gravel. ‘’Oh yeah, Dom, the guy who constantly played his babysitter!’’ Oliver said and grinned again as if he made a sudden realization and pointed to Eames with his pen. ‘’Right, he went under the name Dom when I met him, nice guy. What’s with them though with constant name changing.’’ He muttered and flipped the drawing, seemingly he had decided on a new one.
‘’Well. It’s required for our job.’’ Eames explained, figuring that he wouldn’t have to say much more then that either. The next drawing Oliver started on however was nothing like the previous one who could have passed as a portrait. He started out by making squares on the paper, a total of six, varying in sizes right next to one another until they had filled up the entire page. Then he started drawing figures in harder strokes, more square.
‘’For their job? Didn’t know that Dom had the same job as Neil, he doesn’t seem like the guy who does prostitution. He was married and had a kid for crying out, was expecting a new one.’’ Oliver said, and Eames noticed he tried to sound as careless as possible, but yet there was a hint of bitterness in his voice.
Eames bit down on his tongue, remembering on how he had met Arthur, ready to sell himself out to some balding man. The next image he got was how it actually would have ended if Eames hadn’t interfered, if he hadn’t spoken up. If the man then would have fucked Arthur against a wall in some alley, if he would have liked it or not, Eames couldn’t judge, both images were to wrong in his mind.
‘’Another job.’’ Eames said and smiled weakly. ‘’A side job.’’ The drawing started to look more and more like a comic page now, then some piece of art.
Oliver sighed, pausing his drawing and looked at it, as if he was trying to come up with what more to add. ‘’I can’t help you anything with Neil, the guy is…’’ Oliver paused again, the look on his face showed he had the words on the tip of his tongue, that he just didn’t know how to put them. Then he looked to Eames. ‘’A histrionic, nymphomaniac sadistic hopeless case.’’ Oliver almost looked a bit sad when he said that.
‘’He is going to hurt you in so many ways that you don’t even see it coming. He won’t apologize, and he will do it again and again and again, until you don’t have the energy to stay with him any longer. And if he doesn’t hurt you, he will find ways to do so. He doesn’t care over anybody else and he barely cares for himself. As long as he gets what he wants, the more enjoyment he gets the better for him.’’
Eames nodded slowly, then looked down to the gravel, resisting the urge to kick away some of the small rocks. Oliver’s little speech didn’t help him feel better about himself. He had hoped that he’d get some sort of help, some sort of advice. Not just listening to him talk on about that it was hopeless, that Arthur was hopeless, Eames refused to believe that.
Oliver sighed and closed the drawing block, then pushed himself up the bench and stood up, gravel crunching under his sneakers. ‘’Look, you seem like a nice guy. You deserve so much better then Neil, Jeremy Arthur whatever he calls himself now.’’ Oliver said and gestured slightly with the hand that held the drawing block. Eames looked up to him, craving a cigarette now to help his better mood.
‘’And.’’ Oliver said and raised his shoulders, gritting his teeth before he lowered his shoulders again, looking Eames straight into his eyes and Eames could see he was breaking inside. ‘’And I’ll help you out as much as I can. But I can’t promise you anything. I can’t promise you a happily ever after, I can’t promise that he’s going to stay with you and I can’t promise he’ll stop selling his body to middle aged creepy men that will be the death of him.’’
Eames felt as if a stone was being lift from his shoulders, he stood up, a bit too quick then he had planned. ‘’Thank you, really thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me.’’ Eames started off with. Oliver smiled weakly.
‘’I do, Neil does that to people.’’ Oliver looked down and gave in to Eames urge and kicked some gravel away. Then he looked back to him. ‘’Look, Just drop by my place tomorrow at eleven, then we’ll have a talk, I need to go now.’’
With that he had turned around and started walking. Eames did nothing to stop him, he would introduce himself in the morning. First he needed to figure out what to tell to his employer about not being able to show up to work tomorrow.
~*~
‘’And then there was this guy, right in front of me who just didn’t want to shut up.’’ Arthur said, but frankly Eames wasn’t listening. He just looked at Arthur as he rambled on about everything and nothing, gesturing wildly with his hands as he did so. It was the only way Eames actually could see Arthur except for the picture.
Skype had its wonders, and it had been a hassle to even get Arthur to get an account so they could webcam with one another when they were out on different jobs. It had taken Arthur two minutes before he had realized all the visual with welcoming and of course talked Eames into it right now. And by the looks of it he had planned the same for today.
His hair was slicked back, but some straws started to get loose from their previous position from the long day at work. He didn’t wear a shirt, so the scar by his shoulder down to his chest was fully visible. All he wore was a pair of boxers and sat Indian style on the bed. The glass door leading to the balcony was open so Eames could see the dark sky and the city lights of Los Angeles.
‘’How’s Cobb?’’ Eames asked and rubbed himself in his neck, cutting Arthur of in midsentence which seemingly caught him a bit by surprise. Eames just couldn’t stand hearing more of Arthur’s pointless ramble, it seemed as if nothing he said was true any longer.
‘’Cobb?’’ Arthur asked. Eames nodded. Arthur shrugged slightly with his shoulders, looked away and leaned back, grabbing both of his feet in the process. ‘’He’s good I suppose. Doesn’t say that much now.’’ Arthur looked back to Eames and raised one of his eyebrows to him. ‘’Why? What’s up with you?’’
‘’Nothing I’m just wondering.’’ He smiled weakly to Arthur and removed his hand. He thought of Oliver, and then of all the possible men Arthur had sold himself to.
‘’Mm, whatever.’’ Arthur replied in a hum and leaned forward again. That damn whatever, by now Eames wanted to strangle that word out of his throat. And Arthur said it with such nonchalant glory.
‘’So, how’s work?’’ Eames asked, hoping they could get in on a more normal subject now. Arthur just shrugged. So much for that, Eames could see by the look on his face that Arthur wasn’t so keen on talking any longer.
‘’The same as usual I guess.’’ Arthur leaned forward slightly and grabbed something that stood next to his laptop. Returning with a glass with golden liquid in it, Whiskey. Eames watched Arthur drink some and put the glass back. ‘’Normal, no issues. The architect sucks though.’’
‘’But you’ll manage, you always do.’’ Eames said, hoping that would get Arthur on a somewhat better mood, but all he did was shrug again.
‘’Look. I’m going to finish my drink and then I’ll head of to bed, bye.’’ Before Eames even could protest Arthur had closed his laptop shut making the connection between them break. Eames wanted to sigh, he remembered Oliver’s words.
A histrionic, nymphomaniac, sadistic hopeless case.
~*~
Arthur looked at the content of his glass, then out of the window again. He could always go out for a few hours. It was only eleven and Los Angeles wouldn’t shut down because of that. He could go out and have some fun, instead of sitting inside and being faithful.
That thought alone made him cringe slightly. Faithful, he had never been faithful in a relationship. He had tried really hard with Eames but it was hard. There were just too many temptations around him that it was near impossible. It was just like keeping candy away from a little child. Close to impossible.
But Eames was in Toronto, and he was in Los Angeles, there was a distance of more than 4000 km between them. Cobb was playing baby sitter for his kids and the rest of the team… well he didn’t care what they thought. One quick trip outside wouldn’t get noticed in any way. With that thought in his mind Arthur had slid of the bed and grabbed his clothes again.
~*~
Thank you all for reading :3