Fic: Janus, Inception, Arthur/Eames, R - Part 4

[wayoffbase]

The day goes fine. It’s a little dull, now that the new discoveries have dried up, and because Eames wants to be anywhere else, preferably somewhere with Arthur. But they do well enough, and then, when they can finally leave for the day, Mal, who is staying behind with Dom to run some simulations, slips Arthur a spare key (because they’ve been working with him all day, because they can, because they are his friends and they are civilians and it’s easy for them). Eames already knows all their security codes, because Mal trusts him (well, he knows Mal’s and, in effect, Dom’s, because although he has his own place he is rarely there), and because she can be slightly careless, anyway, and made no attempt to hide them from him, which is sweet and somewhat adorable but also not a particularly helpful characteristic for someone working on a top secret military project. And so they can use her apartment as an escape. This time, though, they should probably return home at some point, so as to avoid rousing suspicion. But they have time.

Arthur returns the key the next morning, slipping it to Mal when they meet for coffee at midday. And she invites Eames, and they stage a getting to know you less antagonistically show for the benefit of everyone else. They part at a stage of polite camaraderie, although it’s impossible to resist a slight smile and a casual brush of hands. And they leave separately at the end of the day, of course, although this time they smile politely at each other and nod. Eames’ superior officer congratulates him on attempting to work better with the Americans. Eames just smiles. And then he goes to Mal’s, where Arthur will be waiting.

He arrives to see Arthur holding a key and looking confused. On the surface, it looks like Mal’s key, but there are subtle differences. And then there’s the note she’s left them, with an address.

It’s clearly Mal’s handwriting, and they have no real reason to be suspicious (aside from years in the military) so they follow her directions to a small house, quaint and a little run down. Eames has never been here before, Mal has never mentioned anything. But the address matches, and the key fits the door.

Once they get inside, there are further instructions. Apparently, Mal has rented them a house. And she is independently wealthy, can do what she likes with her money, but this must be costing her a lot. It isn’t furnished beyond the basics, but it has a bed and some chairs and food in the cupboards (according to her extremely detailed note). All Eames’ things, at least the ones he kept at Mal’s, are here, and some of Arthur’s are too, and Eames does not want to know how she got those. Arthur obviously didn’t give them to her, because he looks just as surprised as Eames, although he has moved on to exploring the house properly.

Eames goes upstairs. Sure enough, there is a bed, and it looks exactly to Mal’s taste, old style French. It’s tastefully decorated in blues and greys, and the covers are already drawn back. Mal is not subtle, except when she wants to be.

Eames can hear Arthur moving about downstairs, but he just waits, standing in the middle of the room, until he hears Arthur come up the stairs. Then he moves towards the wardrobe. Sure enough, just as Mal said, all his things are here, everything they’ve bought together. The red slip he wore the other evening is hanging up, still slightly creased. Everything is in some semblance of order, for now, most of it packed into various boxes. Mal has hung a few things up, and Eames notices with amusement that they are all things, both male and female clothing, shoes, and the like (but mostly underwear, and mostly the more high end or skimpy items) that will match with the bed clothes in some manner. After some consideration, he selects a steel grey set of silk boxers and a matching lace edged singlet. They’re fairly androgynous, but judging by the tag (and, of course, the subtle lace edging) they are intended for women. They suit his mood, at the moment.

Eames hears Arthur come into the room, sense him shift as he relaxes into the atmosphere. He stays in the doorway, though, and watches Eames change. Eames goes slowly, gives him a bit of a show, and he hears Arthur laugh, softly. And then he comes over, when Eames is dressed, and draws him back to the bed. And if Arthur was ever interested in women, he would have made the perfect boyfriend, because he knows exactly how to treat a lady.

They sleep (sort of, for the most part) that night. And then they go back in to the project the next day, mostly happy and rested and serene.

They continue in this way for most of that year. Mal continues to pay their rent, and they spend most of their time at the house. They buy more and more things, furniture and clothes and the like, making it their own and personalising it. They put furniture in all the rooms, eventually, and keep food in the cupboards. Eames cooks for them more than once, and he’s always the one who cooks, because Arthur, despite his very best efforts, can make little more than toast and the occasional boiled egg. Eames teaches him to make a few more advanced things, but, simply due to innate talent and creativity, and years of practice, Eames is far better, and so he usually does most of the cooking. Arthur, in exchange, does most of the cleaning, his attention to detail giving him plenty of talent in this area.

Due to some sneaky manoeuvring on Miles’ behalf, mainly, the University convinces the military to give everyone the two weeks over Christmas and New Years off. Those who don’t celebrate those particular holidays, or celebrate them at a different time, are given the option of taking the time off to go home or relax, or of working over the Christmas period (because they want some people to stay around and run simulations, keep things going anyway) and going home over another major holiday. Mal and Dom, whose only family is each other and Miles, elect to stay in Paris and go in to work part time, although they take Christmas Day off. Arthur and Eames, who both have family in other countries but who, as a general rule, wouldn’t want to see them over Christmas or at any time, and who will have a far more relaxing time in Paris than they would anywhere else, also elect to stay.

They keep a similar schedule to Mal and Dom, and the four of them spend time Christmas shopping, relaxing, and enjoying Paris at Christmas. On Christmas Day they celebrate at Arthur and Eames’ house, just the four of them, and, for a brief time over lunch, Miles joins them. They exchange presents, first the more public ones in front of Miles and then, later on in private, the more personal ones that only the four of them should see. And Eames has to laugh, because Arthur and Dom clearly went shopping together for moral support, because their gifts (both boxes of expensive lingerie) show both none of Mal’s influence and a desperate effort to please and frantically select something they hope their significant other will enjoy. They end the evening curled in front of the fire, watching snow fall outside the windows, lazily half drinking the bottle of brandy and several glasses of the egg nog Mal dug up, picking at the leftovers from lunch, despite their insistence that they couldn’t possibly eat anymore, really. And then they fall asleep there, the four of them piled together in front of the fire, watching it slowly die down. Eames wakes briefly in the middle of the night to Arthur tucking a blanket around Mal and Dom, and grasping his hand to lead him up to bed.

When they wake up in the morning, the snow has completely covered everything. Mal makes the executive decision that they’ll all stay home, because although they could make the effort to go in to the University, none of them really want to. So they stay at Arthur and Eames’, and eat the last of the leftovers, and drink too much wine. They receive a few calls, work and personal, and they do achieve some things, but they still don’t leave. Mal and Dom sleep there again. And that’s something else they’ve collected, over time, is a spare bed, and tonight Mal and Dom actually make it there.

Eames wakes early the next morning to see that the snow, for the most part, has cleared, and that the sun is shining. The air is still freezing, and the fire has died down in the night. The sun is just rising. Eames slips out of bed, trying not to disturb Arthur. He makes it to the door, slipping on a dressing gown before he goes downstairs to relight the fire. Arthur stirs, briefly, before rolling back over and going back to sleep. And it’s so nice to see him so relaxed, to know that he can just sleep here and not wake up at the slightest noise, that he’s so comfortable. Eames leaves him to it. They don’t have to be anywhere for a few hours yet, but they should go in to the offices today, so Eames decides to start breakfast. He’s just adding eggs to the pan when Dom comes in to the kitchen.

Dom is still a little wary of Eames. He clearly respects him and admires his abilities, and can work with him just fine in a professional capacity, but it’s completely obvious that he just doesn’t understand Eames and his ‘lifestyle’ choices. He tries, obviously, mostly for Mal’s sake, and because he does like Eames and they do get along generally quite well. But for all his attitude, Eames doesn’t like to make people too uncomfortable, which is why he’s wearing a robe over the things Arthur bought him for Christmas. Also, they are a bit skimpy.

Dom looks concerned. And he always looks quite sombre, and when he smiles it’s usually due to Mal and something she has done, and occasionally when Arthur does something impressive in the dreamscape (although that’s more of a proud parent smile, and when Mal and Dom have kids, as they inevitably will, Dom is going to be both the most overbearing and the most proud parent in the world), but this is a far more concerned than usual look. He’s holding his cell phone, and the call has been disconnected on the other end, but Dom clearly hasn’t gained the presence of mind to shut off the call on this end. So Eames takes the phone, shuts off the call. Directs Dom to a chair and sits him down, hands him a cup of coffee. Dom goes to drink it, and Eames has to stop him from drinking it, straight and boiling hot. He adds milk, adds sugar, hands it back. Dom stares at it like he has no idea what to do with it anymore.

It transpires that, over the Christmas break, some reshuffling has gone on. Several of the higher ups have been moved around, new people have been hired. The head of the SAS died in a car accident on the snowy roads. The University has lost a lot of power over the project, and they’ve decided to move the research facility onto a nearby military base. They’ll still be keeping on most of their civilian contractors, Mal, Dom, and Miles included, although Miles’ work at the University will mean he’ll be spending less time on the dream share project itself. He will be working on a teaching program for it, however. And they’ll be doing security tests. They wouldn’t give Miles any specific details, and so he called Dom with what he knew, knowing they would all appreciate the warning. But they’ve significantly developed the ability to steal things from people’s minds, they now know what to look for, and so they’ll be searching people’s minds, those who’ve been working on the project the longest, working on the most top secret aspects. They’ll get to see how those techniques they’ve been working on so painstakingly work on their own minds. The new head of the project, a man called Alan Halswell, wants to know every aspect of his co-workers minds, ostensibly to discover any potential security risks. There’s plenty of unanswered questions here, of course, like why now, but Eames knows they won’t get any answers. The military will, though. Extraction is Dom’s particular speciality, and he’s very good at what he does. He comes up with the best techniques, and then he teaches them to other people. And even if he’s chosen to perform Eames’ security test, he won’t be able to do Mal’s or Arthur’s, because people know they are friends, and they’ve got just as much to hide as Eames. It’s nothing that will be a security risk, of course, but things like Eames predilection for high fashion are things that the army are not fond of, as general rule. And they could make his life very unpleasant.

And Dom obviously has realised this, but this is apparently not the worst of it, or at least it would be from Mal’s perspective. Because (and they should have guessed, really) Dom has been taking work on the side, his insatiable curiosity and desire to spend as much time in the dream world as possible leading him to take jobs outside the University, some of which are not strictly legal. And of course he’ll get in trouble, he’ll get kicked off the project, get in trouble, go to prison. He’ll lose everything. And Mal will lose everything.

And then Eames turns around, warned by the changing expression on Dom’s face and the shift of the floorboards, and sees Arthur standing in the doorway. He’s obviously been there for a while, seen and heard enough to piece together what’s going on. And he’s got that look that he gets on his face, that determined, focussed, single minded look. The one that means he’s decided on a single course of action, and he’s going to stick to it, and nothing is going to change his mind. And he’s looking partly at Dom, partly at Eames, and he looks sorry, when he looks at Eames, and determined when he looks at Dom. And Eames can see it, can see exactly what he’s going to do. And he sees the future stretching ahead, sees Arthur taking the fall for Dom, not letting him take responsibility, helping him run away, over and over and over, and he can’t stand it.

And he isn’t going to hit Dom, because that won’t solve anything, and Arthur won’t speak to him. But he dearly wants to, even more so now that he can see in Dom’s face that he’s going to let Arthur do it. And Eames doesn’t know how they’ll do it, but he expects that Dom has the talent to switch the information into Arthur’s mind, somehow. And then Arthur will go to prison, and he won’t want to, but he will, because he doesn’t know how to get out of things like this, not really. He might think he knows, might think he has the time to do enough research to find a way out, but he doesn’t. And Eames won’t let him take this fall.

(He finds out later that Mal is pregnant, and that Dom can’t go anywhere, doesn’t know what to do, needs to give her stability, but it doesn’t make a difference in the end, by that point, and it wouldn’t have mattered at the time. They would have found another way.)

So he steals Dom’s phone. Not his work phone, but his private phone. It’s incredibly simple - Dom is still in shock, still worried, although slightly less so now that Arthur has apparently agreed to take the fall. But he is still out of it enough that he doesn’t notice Eames slipping his phone into his pocket instead of handing it back after disconnecting Miles’ call. Eames makes quiet excuses, leaves Dom and Arthur in the kitchen to concoct whatever plan they’re thinking of creating between them. It won’t matter, in the end. And he knows this might not work, that he might not be able to get Arthur out of here, that Arthur might hate him for betraying Dom, but he can’t think about that now.

He goes to see Mal. She’s just waking up, still sleepy and bleary eyed. She must have heard Dom leave, and woken, but she’s always been slow to wake. She likes to sleep. And he knows he’ll need her on his side for this, and he shouldn’t be manipulating people like this, but, and it surprises him (although it doesn’t, really) that he’d do anything for Arthur. And he knows Mal will understand, because she’d do anything for Dom, she’d do this for him. She wouldn’t let anyone who didn’t deserve it take the fall, however, because she’s a good person, at heart. So he tells her what’s happening, and what he intends to do. And then he leaves, goes into the bathroom, and starts making calls.

Dom is not subtle. His ‘criminal contacts’ are listed under obviously suspicious names, and if he wants Arthur to take the fall, they’re going to have to do a lot of work, because Arthur would never be this sloppy or stupid. Dom’s system is ridiculously easy to infiltrate and learn. He wouldn’t ever make a decent real criminal. But he’ll probably have Arthur’s help, unless Eames does something. So he sets up some meetings. And he knows how this goes, has never dealt with French criminals specifically, but he knew people that sound a lot like these people, back in his clubbing days with Charlotte in London. And he’s always been very good at improvising. He’ll figure something out. And if not, he is armed, and he knows how to fight his way out. So he sets up some meetings, contacting everyone likely sounding on Dom’s contact list.

Many of them don’t reply, apparently being more suspicious than Dom gave them credit for. But he gets a few hits, and he goes to meet with them. And he’s going to have to get out of here, too, because what he’s doing here, on top of what he’s already got to hide, is going to make him even more wanted than Dom will be.

He goes to leave the house later, making excuses about errands he has to run before heading in to the office. Arthur looks focussed, although he does spare Eames a brief, slightly confused and suspicious look before he leaves with the others. Which is why, when Eames is about three blocks away from the house, he isn’t surprised to see Arthur coming out of an alleyway ahead of him. And Eames doesn’t even try to pretend he was running errands or doing anything productive or helpful, he just stops, and waits for Arthur to approach him.

“Funny place to be running errands,” Arthur says.

And it is, really. This is the slightly dodgier area of town, and if he’d wanted to do any of the errands he’d said he was going to do, he would have headed in the other direction, to a small, upmarket collection of stalls. There isn’t much in the way of useful household items in this area of town, at least not anything they might need or that isn’t on its fifth or sixth owner. So Eames doesn’t try to argue with Arthur, just falls into step beside him. Arthur walks with him, although he does ask, “Where are we going?”

“Trust me,” Eames says, and Arthur looks at him. Just looks, and of course Eames should have known better than to say anything like that. So instead he tells him, “I’m not going to let you take the fall for Dom.”

Arthur looks furious. And Eames can see the whole speech forming, can hear it exactly, accusations of being overbearing and how Eames can’t make these decisions for him and so on and so forth. So he stops, grabs Arthur’s shirt collar, and pulls him in to a fierce kiss. And Arthur melts into it, instantly, stops fighting and arguing and Eames doesn’t have to say it, but he does anyway, pulls away and tells him “I love you, you complete idiot,” and Arthur is rendered speechless. It’s convenient that he reacted in such a manner, because Eames knows that now, he’ll listen, won’t have time to gather his thoughts before Eames makes his point.



And Eames has thought about this, in the time between setting up those meetings and coming here. And he knows he can’t stop Arthur, and it’s probably too late now. But he can get him out afterwards, can get them both out and away.

He tells Arthur this, tells him about how he’s free to fulfil his whole heroic complex thing, but Eames is not letting him go to prison, and that he has a plan to get them out of there. Eames feels a little bad, because despite their close relationship, Arthur obviously had no idea about Dom’s criminal activities. He doesn’t look like he had much idea about Eames’ skills in the area either, although he really should have.

It doesn’t take them long to reach their first meeting point, although it’s enough time for Eames to give Arthur the basics. He’ll just have to improvise or go along with Eames at this point, perhaps more of the latter than the former. Eames is uncertain about Arthur’s ability to successfully improvise on the spot. And there’s a lot Eames doesn’t know, like what exactly Dom has been offering these people.

What limited information he has, however, turns out to be right. This man is a rich business man, who frequently travels from London to Paris and back again on business. He isn’t involved in anything illegal, at least not outside the use of dream share technology. He just gets lonely on his business trips, and doesn’t have the time for a real relationship. So Dom had been creating a virtual reality for him, where he could have a regular girlfriend in Paris. It made him happy, gave Dom the chance to explore, and make some money. Eames only hopes Dom wasn’t actually trying to forge anybody, because his forging ability is abysmal, and that would have also been fairly wrong, as Dom is practically a married man, and probably shouldn’t be going about pretending to be other men’s girlfriends, even in a lucid dream. When they go under to look, however (and this man really should know better than to trust apparent criminals and Arthur, who is partially dressed in his army uniform. He’ll learn), it turns out Dom has been manipulating one of the man’s projections, an image of a girl he found attractive in a magazine once or some such thing. And it’s brilliant, really, and it only proves that of course Dom is one of the best, to have come up with this and God knows what else to replace talents he does not possess. Arthur seems impressed, wandering about the dream environment.

Eames is less so. For one, Dom apparently left a PASIV with this man (although it would have been easier than constantly trying to sneak one out of the University, Eames will give him that). Also, he was involved in criminal activity. Although at least he wasn’t performing extraction for this man. Eames hopes this will be the case with the others he’s arranged to meet with, because Dom couldn’t possibly be that bloody stupid. Eames really hopes he couldn’t be. He wants to believe better of him, he really does.

Fortunately, that does turn out to be the case. Most of the people Dom has contact with appear to be wealthy business men who want some sort of fantasy or another. He doesn’t appear to have gotten involved with anything seriously, seriously illegal, thank fuck. Just morally ambiguous and likely to get him arrested by the military. It is also, however, an excellent way to make money.

The prices Dom has been charging are fairly cheap, considering the risks. Eames plans to charge more, but then, he and Arthur are better at this than Dom, except in terms of performing extraction, and there are two of them besides. They can make a living this way. It’s the only way they can, now.

Neither of them will be able to leave this world behind, and they wouldn’t want to anyway, not now, not yet. Besides, neither of them have the skills to do much else, and they don’t have many options left to them. They’ll have even less once Arthur and Dom enact their plan. And Eames would be more than happy to leave now, to run (because they would have had to leave anyway, no doubt, and especially after what they’re doing) and screw Dom and the consequences, but he couldn’t do it, not really.

They leave their details with these men, along with a promise to show them something better than their best dreams. They give them a teaser, before they go. Arthur will build them a dream, and Eames will forge their deepest desires. He won’t let them touch him though, not yet. He won’t ever - he’ll just convince them he has. The mind is very susceptible in the dream scape, and they can convince people of very many things. Either that, or they can convince them it was a particularly frustrating and unsatisfying dream, and only a dream. And then get away with the money. Eames finds it surprisingly easy to let go of any previous scruples he might have had when it comes to protecting and providing a living for Arthur.

And then they return to their house. No one is waiting for them there, no one has noticed them missing yet. And they won’t, probably, not for a few days yet. Eames goes inside to pack up some things, personal items neither of them could bring themselves to leave behind. Arthur goes in to the University, to enact his and Dom’s plan, and to presumably give some excuse for their absence. He won’t tell Eames what exactly the plan is, just in case something goes wrong. Which Eames thinks is sweet, really, because it won’t matter anyway - Eames will get in trouble for everything else they’ll find in his mind, and anyway, he would find a way to get Arthur out of there or they’d both go down together. There’s no other option, in Eames’ mind.

It’s the work of mere minutes for Eames to pack up their things. He doesn’t take much, because they can’t afford to. He leaves their cell phones, laptops, anything they could be traced by. He wipes all the data, after putting anything important onto a USB, which he then hangs around his neck. Most other things they can buy on their way, or they won’t need when they’re on the run. Things like photographs, of which they’ve developed an extensive collection, they won’t be able to take with them, and probably won’t ever see again. Dom and Mal might be able to rescue some of them, keep them for a time when they might be able to come back, when it might be safer in Paris and maybe they’ll have a use for photographs again. But Eames doesn’t want to risk contacting them about it, so he hopes they think of it themselves and come by.

He also hopes Mal grabs some of his lovelier and more expensive clothes, and also some of Arthur’s. Because that’s something else she’d done, was buy clothes for Arthur, equally expensive things to match Eames’ things. And then they’d gone out for dinner, the four of them, two men and two women on a double date. It had been wonderful. Eames wonders, amused, who Mal will spend all her money on now. But they won’t need much of that where they’re going, although Eames does take a few key items - a couple of expensive suits for initial meetings, because they’ll make a good impression. They can, again, hopefully and if all goes well, buy more afterwards. If all does not go well, they’ll probably be dead in a ditch or in prison anyway, so they really won’t need expensive suits. He doesn’t take any of his dresses or anything, because he can’t. He just leaves, goes downstairs, goes outside. Says goodbye to their life here as he goes. And then he locks up, hides the key under the eaves, where Mal or Dom will be able to find it, and then goes to find Arthur. If, and again if, if, if, if, if everything has gone according to plan, Dom will be free with no more than a serious scolding and a week of the silent treatment to endure from Mal, Arthur will be flagged as suspicious but not have been detained yet, at which point he will take a PASIV and run, thus cementing his status as suspicious and a security breach, and taking the heat off everyone else. Eames will of course be suspected as his partner in crime, but hopefully they won’t get caught. They will then meet at their prearranged meeting point on the edge of the city, after which they will proceed to lead any trails on a wild goose chase out into the country. They will then reconvene in another tiny apartment in the city, and start working. They’ll move around a lot.

They meet under a bridge not far from their house. It isn’t in and of itself a suspicious location - it’s actually quite scenic, and it’s a common meeting spot for locals who know and love the area, especially for lovers. And their neighbours know, or have guessed, what they are to each other, because they make no effort to hide it when they’re alone at their house, but they’d be in trouble, of course, if the military caught them here, even just with the implications of the place. However, being exposed as lovers is probably the least of their worries right now.

But nobody finds them there, and nobody follows them. Arthur has successfully taken one of the PASIVs, and the Somnacin to go along with it. They’ll run out eventually, but it isn’t a particularly hard substance to make, as long as you have access to the components and have a basic knowledge of chemistry. This isn’t something either of them has in abundance, but it won’t be too hard to find a chemist that does, and who won’t ask questions or who can be paid off. He’s also grabbed some of the research, the most easily accessed files, on a USB, which could come in handy, either for improving their careers or as leeway if they get caught.

For now, they should be safe. They won’t be missed properly yet, and so far everything is going according to plan. They don’t even appear to have been followed. But they’ll need to be careful, just in case. And it makes Eames feel so paranoid, thinking like this, and he doesn’t want to live like this, but right now he doesn’t see that he has any other choice.

They stop briefly to get food and other basic supplies. Then they split up again, and leave the city by a series of roundabout routes. They agree to meet at Versailles, because it’ll be full of Christmas tourists, and an easy place to get lost. Either that, or the snow will be so bad that only the really dedicated will be able to follow them out there. And that’s one problem, the snow - it makes it very easy to track someone. So they’ll have to stick to the main roads and places that have already been cleared, in order to not leave obvious tracks. They’ll have to steal a car, too, because neither of them own cars, and there aren’t many ways to make it to Versailles on foot. They could take a cab, but they can be unreliable in this weather, and there’s also the risk of a cab driver recognising them and reporting them, or simply driving them straight to the police. If they steal a car, the theft could go unreported, and, if they manage it unseen, they’ll probably never get caught, because the police simply won’t have the time to track down get another stolen car. This is a discussion they’ve had many times, both in theory as an intellectual exercise over their months together, and in the practical sense over the last few hours.

They make it to Versailles, in the end, again without mishap. And Eames is starting to get suspicious, can’t believe their luck, and he’s just starting to think, to hope that this isn’t a dream. Because it could be, they could already have been caught, and in the rush he’s put his totem somewhere odd, and even then he’s never put much stock in totems. And he hasn’t had the time to try a forgery, and it hadn’t even occurred to him until now, which shows how stressed out he is, how panicked despite the calm front he’s desperately trying to portray. So he tries, tries to feel around for that shift, and he can’t grasp it, can’t forge anybody, which is a good sign. At least, in the sense that they aren’t in a dream against their will. Eames would give almost anything for this to not actually be their reality right now (or ever).

They spend the next few hours driving aimlessly around the countryside. They collect a tail (or at least it looks and acts like a tail) at one point, but they manage to lose them and then switch cars. They find a mini-van in black, fairly non-descript, and park it on a side road. They spend the night there.

The next day, they head into Paris. They avoid their old neighbourhood, and any of the neighbourhoods around the University. But they have an appointment, their first one, with one of the men they met with yesterday.

And Eames has moments, several times that day, and in the following years (because they never really stop or go away, even though they get few and far between) where it surprises him how easy this is. How easy he’s found it, they’ve both found it, to slip into the criminal world. For now they aren’t doing anything particularly illegal, at least only in the technical sense, and it’s all towards protecting themselves and their friends, so Eames feels that, for now, they have the moral high ground. But there’s a line, and it’ll be so easy to cross it, one thing after another, and they’ll move on from fantasies, once they’ve got a taste for this life, and into things more dangerous and illegal. Eames has seen it before, saw it in the men and women he met with Charlotte, sneaking out on the town every summer. They had a look about them, like they were constantly screwed up and exhausted and in danger, but also constantly excited and thrilled, like they couldn’t imagine being anywhere else doing anything else. And Eames knows himself well, knows he can get obsessed with things too easily, and the dream world and all its aspects are thrilling enough already, and he knows he’ll always be able to hold on to reality, that won’t ever be a problem, but he also has a feeling that, no matter what he might say or do, he won’t ever be able to let this go. One thing or another, or Arthur, will keep him in the game. And then they’ll cross that line. They’ll want to, or someone will inevitably find out about the other aspects of dream sharing, and they’ll have to do what they have to do in order to avoid getting left behind. But they’ll cross that bridge when they come to it, so to speak. They’ll work it out. Eames has to believe that. He has no idea what Arthur is thinking, really, which worries him a little.

So they take one step at a time. They go to the meeting, with a man called “Charles Monteblain, but just call me Monty, really” a “real friendly bloke” who, despite his name, is from Australia, oddly enough. His family is French, and wealthy, and as their only son and heir, no matter how disgraceful and Australian he might be, they still need him, and still pay for him to come on regular visits to Paris in the hopes of instilling some culture in him. It hasn’t worked, so far. He mostly uses the trips, and the money associated with them, to buy high class prostitutes, and, when he got sick of that, he started using the money to buy Dom. His tastes are also quite unusual, and in the end, it apparently works out cheaper to pay for a dream that it ever does to pay for a girl or guy to do what ‘Monty’ wants them to do. And it was Dom who contacted him, in the end, and Eames has to admire his initiative and the research he apparently did, tracking down people who would use or want his services, who would be able to pay for them, and who wouldn’t sell him out. It’s even more impressive that he managed to do all this without Arthur finding out a thing, because Arthur’s research skills are unparalleled. Although he does have something of a blind spot when it comes to Dom, built of affection and a desire to trust, which explains some of it.

Eames isn’t so sure he wants this man anywhere near a lucid dream with him and Arthur, but the amount of money he’s offering is huge, more than huge, and so it’ll be worth it. They’re only going one layer deep, anyway, because they don’t plan on letting anyone know about multiple layered dreams, not now and not ever, not until the word gets out and they no longer have any choice. They can just shoot themselves out of a dream, anyway. As long as Charles isn’t too unbalanced (and he can’t be, otherwise it would have been physically impossible for Dom to build a stable dream for him), they should be just fine. He seems to be okay, just a run-of-the-mill sadist.

They build him a high class hotel. And when they go under, he looks so impressed, comments “Cobb never built anything this good”. And then he goes to explore. He’ll meet a girl, because the language they’ve been using and the suggestive aspects built into the environment (because it’s a deceptively easy trick, once they figured out how to do it) will convince his mind to create a girl for him in a room upstairs, just at the point where he’s started to get frustrated. And then he can have his fun, and get off, and then Eames and Arthur will disappear with the other half of the money he’s holding back until the dream is over. Meanwhile, Arthur and Eames will wait downstairs in the hotel, make sure the dream stays stable and nothing goes wrong.

And the dream goes perfectly, although it gets the most horrible feel to it, when he finally finds the girl and starts in on what he wants to do to her. And they’re there for hours, feeling that slimy feeling across their skin, and it’s the first time it’s really been like that, and they have to fight to keep under their own influence, and not succumb to this. And it’s probably because they’ve only ever worked with people who understand this technology intimately, who have perfect control over themselves in a dream environment, and who’ve never really been pushed like this, or really excited in any way except perhaps intellectually in a dream, but neither of them are used to this feeling, to the subject’s feelings invading the dream.

They appear to be in the dream for several hours, but in reality it’s perhaps ten minutes. They’re set up in a hotel room they’ve rented for the occasion, because it’s never a good idea to place complete trust in the client and any location they might pick. It’s a hotel they’ve been in before, in which they booked a suite once, in order to have a bit of a holiday, and they can trust them to be discreet. If you pay enough money (or the client does) they won’t ask you any questions, and they won’t disturb you or let anyone else disturb you.

Unless, of course, they can’t stop them. Like, for instance, when they are armed.

Which is why, when Charles is finished in his dream, and the sedative wears off, they wake up surrounded.

They don’t look like military, but of course appearances can be deceiving. Also, they’re dressed in civilian clothing, non-descript browns and greys, smart and tidy and unnoticeable. They’ve had similar training to Eames, in the SAS, but they aren’t anyone Eames knows. They could just as easily be private contractors. They could be nearly anyone. Arthur doesn’t look like he recognises them either.

Charles, on the other hand, looks halfway between terrified and smug. It’s a look common to his particular brand of snot nosed kid, something Eames has been expecting to pop up at some point or another. Because Charles is quite young, is probably younger than Arthur, although he wouldn’t want them to think so. But his facial expressions, his body language, is what gives him away in the end. The only thing left to discover is why, exactly, he’s wearing this particular facial expression. It could be bravado, false and foolish cocky confidence in the face of danger - and, actually, in fact, that’s exactly what it is. The only question is, who, exactly, is the danger. Because it wouldn’t surprise Eames if the little shit had decided to try and double cross them, just for fun, not for profit or any moral reasons, objections to criminal activity. It could even be bribery, blackmail just in case they decide to go to the police with what they know about him.

And then it turns out that’s exactly what he’s done. He’s decided to set them up, but just for fun. He knows they can’t do anything to him, not with this much firepower behind him, and not in the waking world, not if they want to get out of here alive and without a criminal record. And this man is more psychotic than they’d thought, and Dom is bloody lucky he never came up against this, never saw this side of the client. But what he doesn’t know, what they didn’t tell him, is that, despite what they told him, they’ve put another layer into this dream. This isn’t reality. And those are just projections, his subconscious giving away his plans in the waking world, giving them advance warning, so they’ll be prepared when they wake up. And he’s looking cocky as fuck, now, most of the terror gone.

And then Eames pulls out his gun and shoots him in the face. He shoots Arthur first, just to give them someone in the waking world. Then he shoots Charles, because the little shit deserves it. And then he shoots himself, and wakes up in the real hotel room.

Arthur is already up and moving. Despite the extra time they built into the dream, they don’t have much time. Charles is already waking up, although he should be groggy and disoriented for a while. Also, he hopefully won’t remember the exact details of the dream, or he’ll explain it away. Dreams are notoriously hard to remember, unless you’re trained to do so. Luckily, both of them now possess the ability to wake up quickly and the ability to remember. So they pack up, quickly and quietly, and leave. A helpful staff member points them to a back entrance, signalling the presence of men with guns in the foyer. They tip him generously with the cash they helped themselves to out of Charles’ bag, everything he had on him, probably more than they’d agreed on as the price. And then they slip away.

The next day, Charles books another appointment. He also wires them a bonus, into a Swiss account he’s set up. They move the money, of course, through a series of banks, before taking out the cash and moving it elsewhere. And it seems Arthur’s had some back up plans in place for a while, really basic ones, mostly involving money, because he has the ability to do all this. Eames doesn’t ask, but Arthur explains anyway, about his family and growing up with a mix of Wall Street business men and mob criminals and thus the ability to be both paranoid, efficient, and have really good taste in expensive things. And they accept the appointment. What choice do they have? It means Charles calls off the hit, anyway.

Charles also introduces them to a series of other clients, many more depraved than he is, but several less depraved. Some are fairly vanilla. They work out a charging scheme for each of them, first a basic hourly rate (an hour in the dream, not in the real world), and then they charge for specific things on top of that. It becomes quite efficient, quite specific. And it becomes all about sex. It’s all anyone wants, in the end. Most anything else, they can get in real life, but the specific fulfilment of their sexual fantasies, that is left to the dream world. They do get the occasional client who wants to, say, pretend to be Indiana Jones, but in the end it almost always comes back to sex. Even Indiana Jones gets the girl in the end.

None of their jobs come quite as close to the wire as the first job they did for Charles. They have to test a few of the other clients, just to make sure, but most of them don’t react quite as extremely. Usually, if they get anything on the first level, it’s a fear about a wife or a girlfriend discovering them, and either leaving them because technically, this is cheating, or finding out how truly odd their significant other’s sexual preferences really are. But nothing else goes wrong, really, ever. They make their way.

They have a few close shaves with the law and the military. They’re seriously wanted by the authorities by now, both because of their original apparent offences and because of what they’ve been doing now. But they’ve made enough money and contacts to either control people or disappear, and they maintain a low profile.

Besides, they’ve discovered that they can just make people forget them, or at least not quite remember exactly what they looked like. They can always remember a phone number, or some contact detail, should they need to contact them again. Some of those details, unfortunately, lead the authorities at least close to them. But they always manage to escape in time. Besides, they’ve managed to set up quite the successful business in Paris, and they’d prefer not to leave if they don’t have to.

They also have a close shave of a different kind.

Eames is walking back to their temporary base after having deposited some money in one of their numerous bank accounts. They mix up their methods of doing so, but every so often they do things in person. If anything, it makes them look less suspicious, because nobody suspects the ordinary person who deposits money into an account in an old woman’s name every so often. Eames also makes a detour to the shops, because they are out of milk. A life of crime is incredibly exciting.

He is just exiting the small supermarket, armed with milk and a few other essentials, when he sees her. Charlotte.

And he knew she was here, in Paris, has known all along, hasn’t been able to forget. But he hasn’t seen her before, hasn’t had any reason to cross paths with her. Even if he had, he would have avoided her.

She doesn’t see him. He probably looks quite different now, anyway, and besides, she’s used to him in women’s clothes. And he doesn’t regret leaving her behind, not anymore, because what he’s got now is so much better, but seeing her still sets off a wave of nostalgia. Because she looks exactly the same as she always has.

And he’s kept track of her, a little. And she’s become quite successful in the ballet world, dancing lead roles. She still appears to be with Sophie. She looks happy.

And then she turns around, just briefly, and spots him. And a vague flash of recognition appears in her eyes, but Eames, coward that he is, ducks down an alleyway, and walks quickly away, not once looking behind him. It shakes him up, though.

And either Arthur knows him well, or he just isn’t good at hiding his emotions, even now, when it comes to Charlotte (Eames suspects a bit of both), because when he returns, Arthur is waiting for him, and almost instantly, he becomes alarmed. And he asks him all these questions, like whether he was followed and are they in danger and do they need to move, and Eames shakes his head, and takes a seat. Seeing that it isn’t anything likely to put them in immediate danger, Arthur sits beside him, and waits.

And they’ve talked about Charlotte before, briefly. They had the whole ‘ex-partners’ conversation when they first got together and then, later, a more specific one about Charlotte and her influence. So Arthur knows the story, and although it was so hard to articulate, he has some idea of how much it fucked Eames up. So he doesn’t have to say much, in the end.

But then Arthur surprises him. And Eames shouldn’t be surprised, not really, and he did notice, when they first went to buy supplies, that Arthur had slipped something in to the pile, something he didn’t want Eames to notice or know about. So Eames had ignored it. And he does it most times they go out and go shopping - slips something or other into the basket and then insists on paying, or won’t let Eames come with him when they have to run errands. And he hasn’t bothered lately, any more, to hide things from Eames, so he knows that Eames knows he’s been up to something. He just doesn’t know what exactly it is.

Evidently, Arthur is about to show him.

He pulls out a non-descript (because this is what their life is about now, being non-descript) brown paper bag, that looks like something you might get from a drugstore. It isn’t very large, so whatever he’s got in there can’t be too bulky. He wouldn’t have been able to hide the purchase of anything too large or expensive, anyway, because it would have shown up both in the real world and in their finances. Eames would have found out. And he could have, really, anyway, if he’d tried. He didn’t, of course.

And then Arthur opens the bag, and pulls out a black container. He pulls out a few other items, and they do look fairly pricey, overall, but nothing horrendously pricey that would have shown up as suspicious or obvious. The packaging is classy but discreet.

Arthur hands Eames the boxes and containers. Eames opens the largest one first, and he thinks, amused, that that’s something ingrained in us from childhood, the desire to open the biggest and most expensive thing first.

Inside is an almost complete set of make-up. It has all the basics - lipstick, lip gloss, foundation, blush, eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara. All in colours Eames likes or that look good on him or both. Arthur knows him well by now, and he knows what Eames will like, what will suit him. He also knows how much Eames has missed expressing himself, and although they have the PASIV, and Eames can go under and become a woman whenever he wants, it isn’t the same, can never be fully satisfying, especially not for long periods of time, because it just isn’t real. And it won’t ever be real. And Eames is okay with that, has learned to accept what he has. But it helps when he has this, when he can change reality, just that little bit.

“I thought,” Arthur says, “I thought maybe we could,” and he pauses, even though he has no reason to be ashamed, can ask whatever he likes, and Eames will at least discuss it with him. Eames watches him, smiles and nods a little, encourages him to go on. “I brought a lot of this when we first left,” Arthur says, “I thought we could use it as a way to settle after a job. But then I forgot about it, or we were too busy running, or I felt it wasn’t complete enough.” He stops there, but Eames knows what he was trying to say, and so he takes out the foundation, and hands it to Arthur. And then he moves closer, shuffles their bodies together on the couch, turns so they’re facing each other.

And they’ve done this before, it’s so familiar, they used to do this occasionally after a bad day at the office, or sometimes just for fun or relaxation. Which is why Arthur knows exactly how to apply Eames’ make-up, knows that first, they’re going to need cleanser, to get rid of some of the dirt from today. And he’s already holding it, is already prepared, and he leans in and slowly wipes the cotton buds, soaked in cleanser, across Eames’ face. And it’s soothing, so soothing, this process, relaxing. And the familiarity of it, the comfort inherent in this action, is soothing Eames already. And this is something Charlotte never did for him, not really, and if she did, it was in the habit of a teacher, rather than a lover and comforter, so that makes it even better. And it’s the stupidest comparison ever, but it almost feels as though Arthur is washing away whatever residue seeing her today left on him. But it feels right, no matter how silly it is, although he won’t be mentioning it to Arthur. Besides, sometimes it’s not worth it. Sometimes there are no words.



Eames hands Arthur the foundation he’s been holding, one that he likes, a brand he’s always been fond of. And Arthur is reaching for it all ready, and Eames is always so amazed about how in sync they can be, sometimes.

And this is the liquid kind of foundation, the type with a powder finish, because it’s quicker, in the end, and sometimes patience is a virtue, but they don’t often care to apply it. Besides, this sort of activity usually leads to sex, and some anticipation and drawing out of the suspense is nice, but not too much. Arthur, in reaction, has become rather quick and efficient at this, just as he is at almost everything else (and with things he is neither quick nor efficient at, and at which he will never become quick or efficient, he often becomes very frustrated). Which is why it’s the work of minutes to efficiently apply and blend the foundation, creating an even and smooth base. And Eames loves the way his skin looks like this, and Arthur knows this, so he holds up the small mirror that comes with one of the foundation compacts so Eames can see. And then he sets it at such an angle on his lap that Eames can watch what Arthur is doing at all stages if he so choses. And this is how they used to do things, back at their house. Back when they had a full length mirror, and it was easier, and the process also involved choosing an outfit. And Arthur doesn’t appear to have collected any clothes, yet, which is fair enough, because they have enough things to transport as it is. But he looks like he regrets it, which is enough. Whatever he does is always enough.

Next he picks up the blush, a dusky rose colour, and pulls out a brush. And he’s really gone all out with this collection, buying almost everything that Eames and Mal and Arthur had collected between them over the years. It’s nowhere near as expensive, of course, because while they might have the kind of money Mal had, they are far more careful about how they spend it. But it’s there. And it’s just enough that they have a wide range to play with, but not so much that it’ll be hard to transport about. But even if they didn’t have much, Arthur would still have a wide range to play with, still have plenty to do, because he’s become very good at this.

Eames can see how confident he is, how sure in his movements. How he knows exactly where to put make up, where to leave bare. He’s highlighting Eames’ cheekbones now, because he knows both what will look good on Eames and what will make him look and feel more feminine, which is after all the reason why he wears make up. And then he takes out some bronzer, and starts highlighting some more. And he’s gotten so good at this, and Eames looks amazing.

Arthur hands him the lip balm next, because it’s seriously difficult to apply lip balm on someone else - it’s much easier to get them to do it themselves. So Eames does, and then he hands it back. And Arthur leaves it for now, gives it time to soak in, before he puts on lipstick.

And this whole time, Arthur is gently touching him, his face, his neck, his torso. He isn’t going too far down, or touching him for too long, because these aren’t sexual touches, not yet. They’re just supposed to be comforting. And Eames isn’t touching him back, because that isn’t how this works - the touching, that part, that is for Arthur. The makeup is for Eames. It’s something for both of them.

Arthur moves on to the eye makeup. And he doesn’t apply much, not this time. Just a few coats of dark mascara, not quite black, and a hint of bronze shadow. He dabs a little white shimmery eye shadow in the corners of Eames’ eyes, because that’s one trick Eames has learned from Mal that has never failed for him. Arthur then observes him for a moment, before applying a line of liquid eyeliner along the top eye lid. And Arthur might not be that creative or imaginative, but in this area, he does well. Besides, clean lines (which Arthur is so good at, especially in the dream scape and in anything else creative) often work well in makeup, and they certainly suit Eames. It’s only a pity that he can’t incorporate paradoxes in some way into his makeup, because that would be nearly perfect.

It wouldn’t surprise Eames in the slightest to find out that Arthur has been planning this for a while now, has been planning this exact look and thinking about it and wanting to do it for as long as he’s been creating and buying this new collection of makeup. But Eames doesn’t mind. Arthur’s intensive planning almost always churns out amazing results, and more than makes up for any lack of imagination and spontaneity.

And then Arthur turns Eames towards the mirror, so he can see.

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