The alter ego Neil - 5/9
Title - The alter ego Neil - 5/9
Author - sid_vicious_03
Rating - NC17
Pairings - Eames/Arthur, Arthur/OC
Word count - 4 987
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, Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4
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.
~*~
‘’Thank god you’ll be our architect.’’ Eames said the second Ariadne’s arms had found their way around his neck, having Eames return her hug with one arm, still holding Arthur’s hand. Arthur smiled weakly, he was grateful she was the architect as well, he just didn’t want to show it like Eames did, Eames did it enough or both of them anyway.
Ariadne laughed and let go of Eames. ‘’Yeah, I heard the little incident with your last one.’’ She teased and looked to Arthur before she gave him a hug which made every muscle tense up, then relax again the second she let go. He had always done that, he had only accepted hugs from certain people, and Eames had to work hard to even make Arthur consider putting him on that list.
‘’So how was your flight?’’ She asked as she bounced back, soon having James cling at her waist. Ever since Cobb had introduced her to James and Phillipa, she had been aunt Ariadne for James and big sister for Phillipa, and even if Arthur hated to admit it, he did find it a bit cute.
Eames nearly, just nearly said that the flight was surprising, and he didn’t realize what mistake that would have been until Cobb started talking before him. Thanking him mentally, even if the other probably didn’t get it, Cobb wasn’t psychic for as far as he knew, on the other hand, neither was Eames.
‘’Long, a bumpy landing here, a bumpy take off In London, but everything between that in New York went by smoothly.’’ Cobb said, grinning slightly to Ariadne as she let go of James, but kept her hand resting on his shoulders.
‘’That’s great. I’ll suggest we get going then.’’ Ariadne said and smirked some to James, who just yawned tiredly in return, then she moved he gaze back to Eames and Arthur, who decided to hide more and more behind Eames now. Feeling how Eames squeezed his hand slightly, as if he knew exactly how uncomfortable he felt right now. ‘’I can count on you two big boys to get to your hotel room on your own? There isn’t any more room in my car I’m afraid.’’ Ariadne said and smiled weakly to them both.
‘’It’s alright, Arthur and I rented a car, we will be fine on our own.’’ Eames said, his thumb stroking Arthur’s skin very lightly. It made Arthur close his eyes and rest his temple against Eames shoulder. ‘’Arthur’s very tired you see, we better get going as well. So we won’t keep you from putting James back to bed here.’’ Eames said and nodded over to the little boy who yawned again.
‘’Then we shall leave you two so you can put Arthur to bed.’’ Ariadne teased and smirked to Arthur. ‘’I’ll see you two in the morning.’’ She added, just waving slightly to them before she turned around, pulling Cobb’s kids with him, and Cobb, followed like an obedient dog of some sort.
‘’I take it you want to go to the hotel? Get some sleep before the morning?’’ Eames suggested. Arthur just nodded tiredly as reply, he didn’t even bother to lift his head of Eames shoulder and open his eyes. He did feel a small kiss on his temple however before Eames started moving, and that was what made Arthur move as well.
‘’I’ll go and get the car, I’ll drive to, you look as if you’ve been awake for years.’’ Eames chuckled lightly and then started walking, pulling Arthur with him. As soon as they reached the office for the car rental Eames let go of Arthur’s hand to get their car. Arthur himself remained by the bags and decided to look occupied by focusing on his phone. While he really entered all gadgets his phone offered until he couldn’t anymore, backed up and repeated it again.
He remained silent during the drive, once more repeating the searching through of the gadgets with his phone as Eames got their room key. Normally there was no way Arthur would let Eames handle that since the other would always fuck up to some extent, but today he felt far to drained for it. So drained that he didn’t even bother getting undressed before he landed on the bed.
‘’Are you sure you’re alright darling? You’ve been terribly silent today. And pale.’’ Eames said, sitting down at the edge of the bed and stroked his fingers through Arthur’s hair and god he really wanted to add that Arthur had been clingy as well. But he didn’t, he somehow knew that Arthur would feel bad for it.
‘’Yeah, I’m fine.’’ Arthur muttered, looking shortly to Eames with a small smile before he focused his attention back on his nails, his phone was too far away. Eames gave Arthur a slight nudge on his arm, making him shift further into the bed so Eames could lay down right next to him, arm lazily thrown over Arthur’s stomach. ‘’I just, I just don’t like being in Kansas, a lot of things happened here and I don’t want to think of it.’’ Arthur confessed, letting Eames shift those few inches closer and actually felt his throat tighten from it, the touches now feeling uncomfortable to some extent.
‘’Is that why you don’t like New York either?’’ Eames asked, moving Arthur’s shirt up lightly so he could stroke his finger tips over his stomach. Arthur nodded, eyes fixated on his far too perfect nails which Eames was confident in were manicured. ‘’What happened in New York?’’ Eames asked carefully, hoping and praying to god that Arthur wouldn’t flinch away, or change the subject or hell get mad even.
Instead Arthur just chuckled nervously and scratched himself in his neck, then looked back to his nails. ‘’I uh. I.’’ He stammered. ‘’I got into an accident.’’ He added, swallowing. ‘’A nasty accident.’’
Eames nodded, stroking some of Arthur’s hair out of his eyes and tucked it behind his hair, it was amazing that it managed to hold its style the entire day and always fell apart when they were getting ready for bed. ‘’What happened?’’ Eames asked on a soft tone, hoping that this time he would get a direct answer, or an answer to begin with, not something that would leave him thinking and wondering more then he already did.
Arthur was silent biting down on his lower lip and Christ Eames could see Arthur was thinking over all of his options to answer Eames with.
‘’I got raped.’’ Arthur eventually said.’’ I got raped by some coke-head who picked me up one evening when I was nineteen. He uh, He gave me a concussion.’’ Arthur said, stroking his temple with his fingers. And Eames, Eames was at loss of words, what did you say when you found out something like that?
He pulled Arthur closer and kissed him in his neck, stroking his arm as if he was trying to say ‘it’s going to be okay’ which would be the truth. ‘’What happened here in Kansas?’’ Eames asked instead, hoping that Arthur would answer that question honestly like he had done just now, Eames could see he wasn’t lying. You couldn’t fake the look in your eyes when you told someone else that.
Arthur never answered, he just turned to face Eames and kissed him, placing his hands on Eames cheeks. ‘’I don’t want to talk about it.’’ Arthur said, giving Eames another kiss. ’’It doesn’t matter now, it’s in the past now and let it remain that way.’’ A third kiss, much deeper now.
It wasn’t until this moment that Eames realized that this was Arthur’s form of escapism, sex. And since Arthur always pulled the strings during it, always aiming for the quickest and strongest orgasm, he probably didn’t think of anything else, just the need for just that feeling. Eames decided that it wasn’t going to happen today.
Eames slowed down Arthur’s tempo on purpose, but he let Arthur decide what they would do. He just slowed it all down and made it more intense, in directionally forcing Arthur to think through what he was doing and somehow confront it. Even if Eames felt horrible over the fact that they had sex after such a confession.
But Eames plan seemed to pay off. Arthur enjoyed it, he could see that on the look on his face, but he could also see that it was ripping Arthur to shreds from inside, which made him feel even worse of the matter.
Arthur climaxed together with Eames for a change, his breathing was heavy and ragged, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes which he furiously tried to blink away. Eames pulled Arthur down, kissing him on his lips and then his temple.
Arthur laid down next to Eames, hiding away his eyes but Eames could feel the tears hit his skin anyway.
~*~
Eames looked to Arthur as he spoke, explaining the plan that he had put together in just a matter of two, nearly three hours for the crew. Everybody listened to what he had to say, except Eames. He was just looking at him, being impressed by the way that Arthur had shaped up in less than twelve hours.
From a shaking, nearly crying mess to the fully stable business Arthur who knew exactly what was supposed to happen and exactly how they were going to put that into reality. The Arthur he had fallen in love with from the very start, no matter what version he met at that bar. Eames smiled weakly, genuinely happy for Arthur’s sake that there was no single trace on him that showed he had ever gotten raped.
Sometimes Arthur noticed Eames looking at him, smiled weakly, then continued where he had left off.
Once he had finished talking, answered a question that Ariadne asked him, everybody started working. Yusuf had broken his word and was back working with them and onto the field even. Ariadne had played it a little lazy with her designs, but was now working fully. Cobb tried to sort some paperwork out but was constantly distracted by James asking questions from behind him. Phillipa being busy reading a book for school.
Eames got up from his chair and walked up to Arthur, placing both of his hands on Arthur’s shoulders. ‘’You did great.’’ Eames said and leaned closer to kiss him on his cheek, feeling Arthur smile some from it.
‘’Thank you Mr. Eames.’’ Arthur said, flipping a file over to look through all the pages there, contract after contract and Eames really couldn’t bring himself to care about it.
‘’Arthur?’’ Eames asked, hearing a soft hum from Arthur as a reply, who now actually took his time to read one of the contracts. ‘’If you ever want to talk about what happened in New York.’’ Eames started, and he could already feel Arthur’s shoulders tense up. ‘’Or yesterday for that matter, you can talk to me alright?’’ Eames asked, Arthur nodded rapidly.
‘’Thank you Eames, but that won’t be needed, I do not need, nor do I want to talk about it.’’ Arthur said and closed the file quite hard, causing some of the papers nearly slide out from it. Eames nodded and let go of Arthur, though he really didn’t want to leave Eames. But he did, he turned around and headed for his desk, taking out his phone as he sat down.
‘Arthur got raped in New York, that’s why he doesn’t like it there.’
Eames selected Oliver as contact and sent the message. Now he did expect a quicker reply considering Oliver was just an hour into the future. And just twenty minutes later he felt his phone buzz in his pocket which came as some sort of rescue for Eames. He had honestly thought that researching on the marks disorder would be a lot more fun.
‘That explains a lot, call me tonight?’
Eames glanced up to Arthur, then texted back a simple ok (which he still found a complete waste of money) and focused back on his work. Perhaps forging the delusion would be a lot harder then he originally had planned. And hoped for that matter.
~*~
‘’You go out to the others. I’ll join you guys in a second. I just have to make a call to a psychiatrist.’’ Eames said and flashed one of his many smiles. He had never thought that he’d ever wind up lying to Arthur straight into his face. Over the phone sure, but not like this.
Arthur frowned some when Eames said that and leaned closer. ‘’On ten in the evening?’’ He asked, raising an eyebrow. Then he made a whining sound and grabbed Eames by his wrist in a try to pull him up from his chair. ‘’Do that in the morning Eames baby come on. The others are waiting for us so we can grab a beer.’’ Arthur said, still tugging at Eames wrist which just made him smile.
‘’I can’t darling.’’ Eames said, Arthur pouted lightly with his lips. ‘’I’ll try to hurry, you go out with the others and have some fun, I’ll join you the second I can.’’ Eames said as he pulled his wrist out of Arthur’s grip. Arthur just rolled his eyes.
‘’Whatever.’’ Arthur muttered, leaned closer and gave Eames a quick kiss on his lips, smirking the second he heard Ariadne say that it was adorable. ‘’Just hurry up okay? I don’t feel like listening to princess over there for the entire night. And I’d like to blow you there.’’ Arthur smirked, gave Eames one quick kiss and turned to leave with the others.
Eames didn’t dare to pick up his phone until he heard the door close and five minutes after that. He found Oliver once more between his contacts and pressed the green button. Barely waiting six seconds for him to answer.
‘’Oliver Caine, comic book artist, feel free to entertain me and if that is you Noah, fuck off until you’ve replaced my table.’’ Oliver said, Eames couldn’t help but chuckle and heard a woman in the background, yelling something about language and then quickly followed by the happy scream of a little child. Seemingly his sister came over to visit again.
‘’Well that is undoubtfully the most creative hello I’ve ever had, you have fantasy alright.’’ Eames said and scratched the tip of his nose as he looked around in the apartment Cobb had rented for their office, eyes landing on Arthurs desk.
‘’Ah Eames!’’ Oliver exclaimed, seemingly shifting in what Eames guessed was his couch and probably stopped drawing. ‘’Please do save me right now.’’
‘’Is your sister over again with her kid?’’ Eames asked and leaned back in his chair, Oliver shifted again.
‘’Yeah, I’ll move on to another room since she probably doesn’t want Denise to know the meaning of being raped. So you’re in Kansas right now huh? So how’s Neil taking it?’’ There was a door closing in the background.
‘’He wasn’t himself when we arrived. He was silent with his head in the clouds, almost seeking comfort you know? He’s been himself today, business wise, haven’t had a chance to be alone.’’ Eames said, hoping that it was enough information for him
‘’Hn.’’ Oliver hummed. ‘’So what about New York? Exactly what happened there?’’ Oliver asked carefully.
‘’I didn’t ask that much, he wanted to get over with it. He let himself get picked up by a coke-head who raped him. He wound up getting a concussion from it.’’ Eames said, once more looking back at Arthur’s empty desk, imagining him sitting there.
‘’I suggested that we would have gone to New York once, he freaked out on me. It took me a hour to calm him.’’ Oliver said, sounding slightly dreamish. ‘’I can imagine you understand we never went on that trip.’’ Oliver said, now sounding a lot more awake.
Eames couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at the matter, even if it wasn’t supposed to be amusing it sort of was in his mind. Then again his sense of humor had gotten quite a serious shake the last few weeks. ‘’Kind of fun that you put it so humoristic while it really isn’t.’’ Eames muttered and removed his hand from his temple, hearing Oliver laugh in the background.
‘’Well, it’s in the past so what else can you do but laugh at it right? I’m not going to dwell over it, it’s like that kids movie, Hakuna matata or something else.’’ Oliver said, seemingly rumbling around in the room he was present in for the hunt of whatever it was. Eames shrugged slightly.
‘‘I wouldn’t know, grew up without a tv.’’ He said simply and checked his watch, then looked back to Arthur’s desk, taking neat and organized to the level that probably nobody found what was needed except Arthur, specially adjusted for him. ‘’I have to go, Arthur is waiting for me at a pub and he’s getting impatient by now I suppose. But I’ll call you on my way back from Hutchinson if I find something interesting, if not then I’ll just send you a text.’’ Eames said and stood up, taking his coat from the back of his chair.
‘’I should continue working anyway, people and things distract me every damn second it’s almost ridicules, see you tomorrow.’’ Oliver said and with that he had hung up. Eames pulled on his coat and slipped his phone into its pocket, grabbed the keys and turned to leave the apartment and head to the pub just next to his hotel.
~*~
‘’And you are adorable while drunk.’’ Ariadne said, although she sounded as if she was slightly tired of Arthur’s rambling. Or perhaps it was because she was that small and Arthur was quite heavy when he was drunk and so damn flexible that it was hard for Eames alone to get him to their room. But luckily Ariadne slept on the same floor so her helping came as the perfect timing, and he really was grateful over her help.
Arthur straightened his back a bit, nearly knocking Ariadne of her feet, but she fixed it by suddenly standing on her toes. ‘’And then there was Andrei, you should know about him to.’’ Arthur said and gave Eames his drunken gaze, the slight blush over his cheeks was slowly starting to leave so Arthur just looked as if he had been outside in the cold for a couple of minutes.
The past twenty minutes Arthur had done nothing but ramble on about men and some form of relationship he had to them. Eames actually didn’t bother listening. The other was drunk and then one always said the most stupid things ever that it really wasn’t fun any longer.
‘’He.’’ Arthur swallowed, making it look as if he was about to throw up for a second which made Eames heart stop beating. ‘’He was this Russian guy who barely spoke English, we fucked for a few weeks and fuck, that guy could bite hard, I even bled at some moments. But he was rough in just the right ways. Leaving me screaming since it felt so god damn good you know?’’ Arthur said, thumping against the wall as they had reached the door leading into their room. ‘’And then there was that guy Tim… or Timothy, something.’’
‘’Sorry you’re hearing this.’’ Eames said and gave Ariadne an apologetic smile as he searched his pockets for the room key, hoping that he would find his own otherwise he would have to search Arthur’s pockets, and that would probably lead him to start moaning, giving the situation another awkward turn.
‘’It’s nothing.’’ Ariadne said, but it was, Arthur was saying things Eames thought Ariadne hadn’t even given a second thought to, filthy things that shouldn’t be heard by such a sweet girl. As long as she didn’t lose any respect for Arthur in the morning when they were back at work. ‘’Consider it as my repayment for last time.’’ She said and backed up a couple of steps with her hands in her pockets.
And that was true, last time Eames had helped Ariadne home, and helped her through the night as she had realized that trying to keep up with the boys and their scotch drinking wasn’t really something she ought to do, something she lacked the tolerance for.
‘’Right. Good night.’’ Eames said once he had managed to open the door, slid his arm around Arthur’s waist and pulled him back up to his own balance instead of leaning against the wall. Ariadne nodded and turned for her own room two doors up the hall, letting Eames get the stumbling Arthur inside and to the bed.
‘’Now Tim… Timothy… whatever, he was a sick bastard. At one point he even suggested that we’d use a third part, do you know what he suggested?’’ Arthur called out after Eames as he slipped into the bathroom, no answer but he didn’t care. ‘’That weird fuck suggested with a dog, I was out of there as quick as a lightening.’’ Arthur said and sat up in the bed, holding his hands together and closed his eyes, hoping that it would stop the spinning feeling in his head.
‘’Get ready for bed Arthur.’’ Eames called out from the bathroom, making Arthur groan and slide of the bed, there was no way that he would actually walk right now, even he was fully aware he wouldn’t get anywhere.
‘’And Micheal, he decided to have a little marathon.’’ Arthur said and crawled over to the first bag he saw to open it. ‘’His goal was, just remain in bed for about a week and only fuck, I we wanted to eat, we’d have food play, it ended up so damn messy.’’ He said and opened the suitcase and opened it. ‘’But he didn’t want to stop, and I didn’t want to risk an infection you know? So I had to get him out of the bed on the floor.’’
Arthur started looking through the suitcase and didn’t even notice that the shirts where to colorful for him. But he’d find something that he’d use during the night. ‘’He learned me that little trick you love so much when I blow you.’’ Arthur murmured, not even sure if Eames was paying attention as he was brushing his teeth.
‘’And that trick, actually did pay off.’’ Arthur said and looked to the bathroom door, but saw nothing of Eames. Then he looked back to the suitcase, noticing a comic which made him feel a bit confused. All interest in finding a t-shirt to sleep in was completely vanished; the comic seemed more interesting, at least finding out what it was. It suddenly hit him that it was Eames suitcase, but Eames didn’t read comics.
‘’I mean, you love it, right?’’ he mumbled, rather sure that Eames had stopped listening, but that suited him just fine as he flipped the comic open. He recognized it vaguely, or at least the yellow cape the guy had who was screaming to some guy in a dark green suit again. He brought the comic a bit closer to read and squinted his eyes, mouth forming the words just slightly.
After having read about two canvases, he closed the comic again to look at the headline. The flying man.
Arthur slammed the suitcase shut, gripping the comic in his hand. He managed to stand somewhat stable at least and grabbed the gun that was located on the dresser. Suddenly he felt a lot more sober then just a few seconds ago. ‘’Eames!’’ He yelled out and headed to the bathroom, throwing the comic at him which made Eames flinch just slightly.
‘’Why the fuck would you talk to him! Why the fuck would you contact Oliver and talk to him!’’ He yelled at him, raising the gun in the process to have the perfect aim for his temple. He felt shattered, in a weird way, he couldn’t explain it but he felt broken from the knowledge that Eames knew of Oliver.
Eames opened his mouth to speak, but just ended up stammering and kept his eyes on the gun, not even Arthur any longer. ‘’Cobb told me about him.’’ Eames eventually managed to say, instinct kicking in action and raising his hands slightly as if he was being arrested by the police. ‘’Cobb told me that I should talk to him, I’ve only met him once I swear!’’
‘’Dom, of course, fucking Dom!’’ Arthur yelled and turned around, kicking at the door leading out to the hallway and headed for the elevator. He could feel his blood boil and rush through his veins, the will to go up the three floors to where Cobb was staying and punch his face in until it was unrecognizable was so damn strong.
‘’Arthur!’’ Eames yelled and came out to the hallway, gripping a hold of the doorway so he wouldn’t fall to the floor, Arthur turned around and directed the gun back to Eames.
‘’You had no right to go and find him like the dog you are!’’ Arthur yelled, tilting the shotgun a little bit sideways and had straws of his hair fall in front of his vision. ‘’You shouldn’t have talked to him, why the hell did you talk to him! He’s forgotten, can’t you see that!’’
Eames flinched back slightly, not liking the way Arthur directed the gun to him. He had done so before but then it had always been jokingly, the difference now was that Arthur actually had his finger pressing down just lightly on the trigger.
‘’Please calm down.’’ Eames said, trying to keep his voice calm, perhaps it would infect on Arthur a little bit, even that had to do a lot. He raised his hands a bit again. ‘’Please calm down.’’ Eames repeated on a lower tone.
Arthur bit down hard on his lower lip, making it turn white even and shook his head a couple of times. ‘’He’s in the past! There is no reason in digging him up why the fuck did you dig him up!’’ He yelled then, taking one step closer to him and had his finger press down a little bit more on the trigger.
‘’I just wanted to talk to him.’’ Eames said, backing one step just to get away from the gun, for a split second he actually thought that Arthur really would shoot him. Combined with his state, anger, alcohol and the tearing up that he was doing now it wouldn’t come as such a surprise.
‘’Why would you want to talk to him Eames? He knows nothing, if he knows nothing then he can’t tell you anything.’’ Arthur said, softer and more pained now actually lowering the gun and stepped a little bit closer, but finger still resting on the trigger, barely daring to relax.
Eames swallowed, still keeping his hands up just in case. He could see Ariadne open the door to her hotel room and peek into the hallway. She got a shocked expression on her face and froze to the spot, Arthur not noticing her which probably was a good thing.
‘’What about Neil?’’Eames asked, having gathered the courage together to ask. Arthur’s look wasn’t merciful, the look in his eyes could be described as Arthur having decided on killing Eames, making sure he wouldn’t say anything anymore about it. ‘’Who’s Neil then? How can Oliver know about Neil if he doesn’t know anything? Why did you become Arthur?’’
‘’Shut up!’’ Arthur yelled and raised the gun again. ‘’Leave Neil out of this, he doesn’t exist! He isn’t real! He is nothing he is dead!’’
With that Arthur finally pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot filled the entire room and Ariadne let out a scream, Arthur stumbled back a few steps from the sudden recoil and Eames actually let himself fall back just to avoid get hit.
As he laid there on the floor and looked up to the bronze ceiling with the lamps, Eames had never been as aware of details in his life as now. His breathing was paced up to the rate that made even himself believe he was back on his old football team, his brain had frozen stuck, yet his nerves searched through his entire body for any burning pain to register.
He had never been shot at in real life and he had never been as terrified as he was right now, he was barely aware of Ariadne’s scream just seconds before, and even less of her screaming out his own name.
Ariadne came into his vision, her lips moved but he couldn’t hear what she was saying, at least not until she shook his shoulders a couple of times. He sat up and let his hand flow through his short hair, still no body pain although his lungs started to hurt from his rapid breathing, he looked up just in time to see the elevator doors close and Arthur disappear.
‘’Christ Eames are you okay?’’ Ariadne asked, letting her hands search over his body, making sure he hadn’t gotten hit.
‘’I’m okay I’m okay.’’ Eames repeated and forced her hands of him, looking over his shoulder to see the bullet hole in the wall as doors started to open, people looking out to see what the commotion was all about. ‘’He’s going to kill him.’’ Eames whispered and got up from the floor, knocking over Ariadne in the process.
‘’Eames!’’ Ariadne yelled after him as he slipped back into the room to grab his coat and wallet.
‘’I have to go to Canada love, tell Cobb I’m sorry.’’ Eames said and walked past her, nervously pressing down the button to call the elevator several times. But it just wouldn’t work with him.
~*~
Thanks for reading this chapter! Hoped that you liked it, comments are liked but not needed :3
Author - sid_vicious_03
Rating - NC17
Pairings - Eames/Arthur, Arthur/OC
Word count - 4 987
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, Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4
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.
~*~
‘’Thank god you’ll be our architect.’’ Eames said the second Ariadne’s arms had found their way around his neck, having Eames return her hug with one arm, still holding Arthur’s hand. Arthur smiled weakly, he was grateful she was the architect as well, he just didn’t want to show it like Eames did, Eames did it enough or both of them anyway.
Ariadne laughed and let go of Eames. ‘’Yeah, I heard the little incident with your last one.’’ She teased and looked to Arthur before she gave him a hug which made every muscle tense up, then relax again the second she let go. He had always done that, he had only accepted hugs from certain people, and Eames had to work hard to even make Arthur consider putting him on that list.
‘’So how was your flight?’’ She asked as she bounced back, soon having James cling at her waist. Ever since Cobb had introduced her to James and Phillipa, she had been aunt Ariadne for James and big sister for Phillipa, and even if Arthur hated to admit it, he did find it a bit cute.
Eames nearly, just nearly said that the flight was surprising, and he didn’t realize what mistake that would have been until Cobb started talking before him. Thanking him mentally, even if the other probably didn’t get it, Cobb wasn’t psychic for as far as he knew, on the other hand, neither was Eames.
‘’Long, a bumpy landing here, a bumpy take off In London, but everything between that in New York went by smoothly.’’ Cobb said, grinning slightly to Ariadne as she let go of James, but kept her hand resting on his shoulders.
‘’That’s great. I’ll suggest we get going then.’’ Ariadne said and smirked some to James, who just yawned tiredly in return, then she moved he gaze back to Eames and Arthur, who decided to hide more and more behind Eames now. Feeling how Eames squeezed his hand slightly, as if he knew exactly how uncomfortable he felt right now. ‘’I can count on you two big boys to get to your hotel room on your own? There isn’t any more room in my car I’m afraid.’’ Ariadne said and smiled weakly to them both.
‘’It’s alright, Arthur and I rented a car, we will be fine on our own.’’ Eames said, his thumb stroking Arthur’s skin very lightly. It made Arthur close his eyes and rest his temple against Eames shoulder. ‘’Arthur’s very tired you see, we better get going as well. So we won’t keep you from putting James back to bed here.’’ Eames said and nodded over to the little boy who yawned again.
‘’Then we shall leave you two so you can put Arthur to bed.’’ Ariadne teased and smirked to Arthur. ‘’I’ll see you two in the morning.’’ She added, just waving slightly to them before she turned around, pulling Cobb’s kids with him, and Cobb, followed like an obedient dog of some sort.
‘’I take it you want to go to the hotel? Get some sleep before the morning?’’ Eames suggested. Arthur just nodded tiredly as reply, he didn’t even bother to lift his head of Eames shoulder and open his eyes. He did feel a small kiss on his temple however before Eames started moving, and that was what made Arthur move as well.
‘’I’ll go and get the car, I’ll drive to, you look as if you’ve been awake for years.’’ Eames chuckled lightly and then started walking, pulling Arthur with him. As soon as they reached the office for the car rental Eames let go of Arthur’s hand to get their car. Arthur himself remained by the bags and decided to look occupied by focusing on his phone. While he really entered all gadgets his phone offered until he couldn’t anymore, backed up and repeated it again.
He remained silent during the drive, once more repeating the searching through of the gadgets with his phone as Eames got their room key. Normally there was no way Arthur would let Eames handle that since the other would always fuck up to some extent, but today he felt far to drained for it. So drained that he didn’t even bother getting undressed before he landed on the bed.
‘’Are you sure you’re alright darling? You’ve been terribly silent today. And pale.’’ Eames said, sitting down at the edge of the bed and stroked his fingers through Arthur’s hair and god he really wanted to add that Arthur had been clingy as well. But he didn’t, he somehow knew that Arthur would feel bad for it.
‘’Yeah, I’m fine.’’ Arthur muttered, looking shortly to Eames with a small smile before he focused his attention back on his nails, his phone was too far away. Eames gave Arthur a slight nudge on his arm, making him shift further into the bed so Eames could lay down right next to him, arm lazily thrown over Arthur’s stomach. ‘’I just, I just don’t like being in Kansas, a lot of things happened here and I don’t want to think of it.’’ Arthur confessed, letting Eames shift those few inches closer and actually felt his throat tighten from it, the touches now feeling uncomfortable to some extent.
‘’Is that why you don’t like New York either?’’ Eames asked, moving Arthur’s shirt up lightly so he could stroke his finger tips over his stomach. Arthur nodded, eyes fixated on his far too perfect nails which Eames was confident in were manicured. ‘’What happened in New York?’’ Eames asked carefully, hoping and praying to god that Arthur wouldn’t flinch away, or change the subject or hell get mad even.
Instead Arthur just chuckled nervously and scratched himself in his neck, then looked back to his nails. ‘’I uh. I.’’ He stammered. ‘’I got into an accident.’’ He added, swallowing. ‘’A nasty accident.’’
Eames nodded, stroking some of Arthur’s hair out of his eyes and tucked it behind his hair, it was amazing that it managed to hold its style the entire day and always fell apart when they were getting ready for bed. ‘’What happened?’’ Eames asked on a soft tone, hoping that this time he would get a direct answer, or an answer to begin with, not something that would leave him thinking and wondering more then he already did.
Arthur was silent biting down on his lower lip and Christ Eames could see Arthur was thinking over all of his options to answer Eames with.
‘’I got raped.’’ Arthur eventually said.’’ I got raped by some coke-head who picked me up one evening when I was nineteen. He uh, He gave me a concussion.’’ Arthur said, stroking his temple with his fingers. And Eames, Eames was at loss of words, what did you say when you found out something like that?
He pulled Arthur closer and kissed him in his neck, stroking his arm as if he was trying to say ‘it’s going to be okay’ which would be the truth. ‘’What happened here in Kansas?’’ Eames asked instead, hoping that Arthur would answer that question honestly like he had done just now, Eames could see he wasn’t lying. You couldn’t fake the look in your eyes when you told someone else that.
Arthur never answered, he just turned to face Eames and kissed him, placing his hands on Eames cheeks. ‘’I don’t want to talk about it.’’ Arthur said, giving Eames another kiss. ’’It doesn’t matter now, it’s in the past now and let it remain that way.’’ A third kiss, much deeper now.
It wasn’t until this moment that Eames realized that this was Arthur’s form of escapism, sex. And since Arthur always pulled the strings during it, always aiming for the quickest and strongest orgasm, he probably didn’t think of anything else, just the need for just that feeling. Eames decided that it wasn’t going to happen today.
Eames slowed down Arthur’s tempo on purpose, but he let Arthur decide what they would do. He just slowed it all down and made it more intense, in directionally forcing Arthur to think through what he was doing and somehow confront it. Even if Eames felt horrible over the fact that they had sex after such a confession.
But Eames plan seemed to pay off. Arthur enjoyed it, he could see that on the look on his face, but he could also see that it was ripping Arthur to shreds from inside, which made him feel even worse of the matter.
Arthur climaxed together with Eames for a change, his breathing was heavy and ragged, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes which he furiously tried to blink away. Eames pulled Arthur down, kissing him on his lips and then his temple.
Arthur laid down next to Eames, hiding away his eyes but Eames could feel the tears hit his skin anyway.
~*~
Eames looked to Arthur as he spoke, explaining the plan that he had put together in just a matter of two, nearly three hours for the crew. Everybody listened to what he had to say, except Eames. He was just looking at him, being impressed by the way that Arthur had shaped up in less than twelve hours.
From a shaking, nearly crying mess to the fully stable business Arthur who knew exactly what was supposed to happen and exactly how they were going to put that into reality. The Arthur he had fallen in love with from the very start, no matter what version he met at that bar. Eames smiled weakly, genuinely happy for Arthur’s sake that there was no single trace on him that showed he had ever gotten raped.
Sometimes Arthur noticed Eames looking at him, smiled weakly, then continued where he had left off.
Once he had finished talking, answered a question that Ariadne asked him, everybody started working. Yusuf had broken his word and was back working with them and onto the field even. Ariadne had played it a little lazy with her designs, but was now working fully. Cobb tried to sort some paperwork out but was constantly distracted by James asking questions from behind him. Phillipa being busy reading a book for school.
Eames got up from his chair and walked up to Arthur, placing both of his hands on Arthur’s shoulders. ‘’You did great.’’ Eames said and leaned closer to kiss him on his cheek, feeling Arthur smile some from it.
‘’Thank you Mr. Eames.’’ Arthur said, flipping a file over to look through all the pages there, contract after contract and Eames really couldn’t bring himself to care about it.
‘’Arthur?’’ Eames asked, hearing a soft hum from Arthur as a reply, who now actually took his time to read one of the contracts. ‘’If you ever want to talk about what happened in New York.’’ Eames started, and he could already feel Arthur’s shoulders tense up. ‘’Or yesterday for that matter, you can talk to me alright?’’ Eames asked, Arthur nodded rapidly.
‘’Thank you Eames, but that won’t be needed, I do not need, nor do I want to talk about it.’’ Arthur said and closed the file quite hard, causing some of the papers nearly slide out from it. Eames nodded and let go of Arthur, though he really didn’t want to leave Eames. But he did, he turned around and headed for his desk, taking out his phone as he sat down.
‘Arthur got raped in New York, that’s why he doesn’t like it there.’
Eames selected Oliver as contact and sent the message. Now he did expect a quicker reply considering Oliver was just an hour into the future. And just twenty minutes later he felt his phone buzz in his pocket which came as some sort of rescue for Eames. He had honestly thought that researching on the marks disorder would be a lot more fun.
‘That explains a lot, call me tonight?’
Eames glanced up to Arthur, then texted back a simple ok (which he still found a complete waste of money) and focused back on his work. Perhaps forging the delusion would be a lot harder then he originally had planned. And hoped for that matter.
~*~
‘’You go out to the others. I’ll join you guys in a second. I just have to make a call to a psychiatrist.’’ Eames said and flashed one of his many smiles. He had never thought that he’d ever wind up lying to Arthur straight into his face. Over the phone sure, but not like this.
Arthur frowned some when Eames said that and leaned closer. ‘’On ten in the evening?’’ He asked, raising an eyebrow. Then he made a whining sound and grabbed Eames by his wrist in a try to pull him up from his chair. ‘’Do that in the morning Eames baby come on. The others are waiting for us so we can grab a beer.’’ Arthur said, still tugging at Eames wrist which just made him smile.
‘’I can’t darling.’’ Eames said, Arthur pouted lightly with his lips. ‘’I’ll try to hurry, you go out with the others and have some fun, I’ll join you the second I can.’’ Eames said as he pulled his wrist out of Arthur’s grip. Arthur just rolled his eyes.
‘’Whatever.’’ Arthur muttered, leaned closer and gave Eames a quick kiss on his lips, smirking the second he heard Ariadne say that it was adorable. ‘’Just hurry up okay? I don’t feel like listening to princess over there for the entire night. And I’d like to blow you there.’’ Arthur smirked, gave Eames one quick kiss and turned to leave with the others.
Eames didn’t dare to pick up his phone until he heard the door close and five minutes after that. He found Oliver once more between his contacts and pressed the green button. Barely waiting six seconds for him to answer.
‘’Oliver Caine, comic book artist, feel free to entertain me and if that is you Noah, fuck off until you’ve replaced my table.’’ Oliver said, Eames couldn’t help but chuckle and heard a woman in the background, yelling something about language and then quickly followed by the happy scream of a little child. Seemingly his sister came over to visit again.
‘’Well that is undoubtfully the most creative hello I’ve ever had, you have fantasy alright.’’ Eames said and scratched the tip of his nose as he looked around in the apartment Cobb had rented for their office, eyes landing on Arthurs desk.
‘’Ah Eames!’’ Oliver exclaimed, seemingly shifting in what Eames guessed was his couch and probably stopped drawing. ‘’Please do save me right now.’’
‘’Is your sister over again with her kid?’’ Eames asked and leaned back in his chair, Oliver shifted again.
‘’Yeah, I’ll move on to another room since she probably doesn’t want Denise to know the meaning of being raped. So you’re in Kansas right now huh? So how’s Neil taking it?’’ There was a door closing in the background.
‘’He wasn’t himself when we arrived. He was silent with his head in the clouds, almost seeking comfort you know? He’s been himself today, business wise, haven’t had a chance to be alone.’’ Eames said, hoping that it was enough information for him
‘’Hn.’’ Oliver hummed. ‘’So what about New York? Exactly what happened there?’’ Oliver asked carefully.
‘’I didn’t ask that much, he wanted to get over with it. He let himself get picked up by a coke-head who raped him. He wound up getting a concussion from it.’’ Eames said, once more looking back at Arthur’s empty desk, imagining him sitting there.
‘’I suggested that we would have gone to New York once, he freaked out on me. It took me a hour to calm him.’’ Oliver said, sounding slightly dreamish. ‘’I can imagine you understand we never went on that trip.’’ Oliver said, now sounding a lot more awake.
Eames couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at the matter, even if it wasn’t supposed to be amusing it sort of was in his mind. Then again his sense of humor had gotten quite a serious shake the last few weeks. ‘’Kind of fun that you put it so humoristic while it really isn’t.’’ Eames muttered and removed his hand from his temple, hearing Oliver laugh in the background.
‘’Well, it’s in the past so what else can you do but laugh at it right? I’m not going to dwell over it, it’s like that kids movie, Hakuna matata or something else.’’ Oliver said, seemingly rumbling around in the room he was present in for the hunt of whatever it was. Eames shrugged slightly.
‘‘I wouldn’t know, grew up without a tv.’’ He said simply and checked his watch, then looked back to Arthur’s desk, taking neat and organized to the level that probably nobody found what was needed except Arthur, specially adjusted for him. ‘’I have to go, Arthur is waiting for me at a pub and he’s getting impatient by now I suppose. But I’ll call you on my way back from Hutchinson if I find something interesting, if not then I’ll just send you a text.’’ Eames said and stood up, taking his coat from the back of his chair.
‘’I should continue working anyway, people and things distract me every damn second it’s almost ridicules, see you tomorrow.’’ Oliver said and with that he had hung up. Eames pulled on his coat and slipped his phone into its pocket, grabbed the keys and turned to leave the apartment and head to the pub just next to his hotel.
~*~
‘’And you are adorable while drunk.’’ Ariadne said, although she sounded as if she was slightly tired of Arthur’s rambling. Or perhaps it was because she was that small and Arthur was quite heavy when he was drunk and so damn flexible that it was hard for Eames alone to get him to their room. But luckily Ariadne slept on the same floor so her helping came as the perfect timing, and he really was grateful over her help.
Arthur straightened his back a bit, nearly knocking Ariadne of her feet, but she fixed it by suddenly standing on her toes. ‘’And then there was Andrei, you should know about him to.’’ Arthur said and gave Eames his drunken gaze, the slight blush over his cheeks was slowly starting to leave so Arthur just looked as if he had been outside in the cold for a couple of minutes.
The past twenty minutes Arthur had done nothing but ramble on about men and some form of relationship he had to them. Eames actually didn’t bother listening. The other was drunk and then one always said the most stupid things ever that it really wasn’t fun any longer.
‘’He.’’ Arthur swallowed, making it look as if he was about to throw up for a second which made Eames heart stop beating. ‘’He was this Russian guy who barely spoke English, we fucked for a few weeks and fuck, that guy could bite hard, I even bled at some moments. But he was rough in just the right ways. Leaving me screaming since it felt so god damn good you know?’’ Arthur said, thumping against the wall as they had reached the door leading into their room. ‘’And then there was that guy Tim… or Timothy, something.’’
‘’Sorry you’re hearing this.’’ Eames said and gave Ariadne an apologetic smile as he searched his pockets for the room key, hoping that he would find his own otherwise he would have to search Arthur’s pockets, and that would probably lead him to start moaning, giving the situation another awkward turn.
‘’It’s nothing.’’ Ariadne said, but it was, Arthur was saying things Eames thought Ariadne hadn’t even given a second thought to, filthy things that shouldn’t be heard by such a sweet girl. As long as she didn’t lose any respect for Arthur in the morning when they were back at work. ‘’Consider it as my repayment for last time.’’ She said and backed up a couple of steps with her hands in her pockets.
And that was true, last time Eames had helped Ariadne home, and helped her through the night as she had realized that trying to keep up with the boys and their scotch drinking wasn’t really something she ought to do, something she lacked the tolerance for.
‘’Right. Good night.’’ Eames said once he had managed to open the door, slid his arm around Arthur’s waist and pulled him back up to his own balance instead of leaning against the wall. Ariadne nodded and turned for her own room two doors up the hall, letting Eames get the stumbling Arthur inside and to the bed.
‘’Now Tim… Timothy… whatever, he was a sick bastard. At one point he even suggested that we’d use a third part, do you know what he suggested?’’ Arthur called out after Eames as he slipped into the bathroom, no answer but he didn’t care. ‘’That weird fuck suggested with a dog, I was out of there as quick as a lightening.’’ Arthur said and sat up in the bed, holding his hands together and closed his eyes, hoping that it would stop the spinning feeling in his head.
‘’Get ready for bed Arthur.’’ Eames called out from the bathroom, making Arthur groan and slide of the bed, there was no way that he would actually walk right now, even he was fully aware he wouldn’t get anywhere.
‘’And Micheal, he decided to have a little marathon.’’ Arthur said and crawled over to the first bag he saw to open it. ‘’His goal was, just remain in bed for about a week and only fuck, I we wanted to eat, we’d have food play, it ended up so damn messy.’’ He said and opened the suitcase and opened it. ‘’But he didn’t want to stop, and I didn’t want to risk an infection you know? So I had to get him out of the bed on the floor.’’
Arthur started looking through the suitcase and didn’t even notice that the shirts where to colorful for him. But he’d find something that he’d use during the night. ‘’He learned me that little trick you love so much when I blow you.’’ Arthur murmured, not even sure if Eames was paying attention as he was brushing his teeth.
‘’And that trick, actually did pay off.’’ Arthur said and looked to the bathroom door, but saw nothing of Eames. Then he looked back to the suitcase, noticing a comic which made him feel a bit confused. All interest in finding a t-shirt to sleep in was completely vanished; the comic seemed more interesting, at least finding out what it was. It suddenly hit him that it was Eames suitcase, but Eames didn’t read comics.
‘’I mean, you love it, right?’’ he mumbled, rather sure that Eames had stopped listening, but that suited him just fine as he flipped the comic open. He recognized it vaguely, or at least the yellow cape the guy had who was screaming to some guy in a dark green suit again. He brought the comic a bit closer to read and squinted his eyes, mouth forming the words just slightly.
After having read about two canvases, he closed the comic again to look at the headline. The flying man.
Arthur slammed the suitcase shut, gripping the comic in his hand. He managed to stand somewhat stable at least and grabbed the gun that was located on the dresser. Suddenly he felt a lot more sober then just a few seconds ago. ‘’Eames!’’ He yelled out and headed to the bathroom, throwing the comic at him which made Eames flinch just slightly.
‘’Why the fuck would you talk to him! Why the fuck would you contact Oliver and talk to him!’’ He yelled at him, raising the gun in the process to have the perfect aim for his temple. He felt shattered, in a weird way, he couldn’t explain it but he felt broken from the knowledge that Eames knew of Oliver.
Eames opened his mouth to speak, but just ended up stammering and kept his eyes on the gun, not even Arthur any longer. ‘’Cobb told me about him.’’ Eames eventually managed to say, instinct kicking in action and raising his hands slightly as if he was being arrested by the police. ‘’Cobb told me that I should talk to him, I’ve only met him once I swear!’’
‘’Dom, of course, fucking Dom!’’ Arthur yelled and turned around, kicking at the door leading out to the hallway and headed for the elevator. He could feel his blood boil and rush through his veins, the will to go up the three floors to where Cobb was staying and punch his face in until it was unrecognizable was so damn strong.
‘’Arthur!’’ Eames yelled and came out to the hallway, gripping a hold of the doorway so he wouldn’t fall to the floor, Arthur turned around and directed the gun back to Eames.
‘’You had no right to go and find him like the dog you are!’’ Arthur yelled, tilting the shotgun a little bit sideways and had straws of his hair fall in front of his vision. ‘’You shouldn’t have talked to him, why the hell did you talk to him! He’s forgotten, can’t you see that!’’
Eames flinched back slightly, not liking the way Arthur directed the gun to him. He had done so before but then it had always been jokingly, the difference now was that Arthur actually had his finger pressing down just lightly on the trigger.
‘’Please calm down.’’ Eames said, trying to keep his voice calm, perhaps it would infect on Arthur a little bit, even that had to do a lot. He raised his hands a bit again. ‘’Please calm down.’’ Eames repeated on a lower tone.
Arthur bit down hard on his lower lip, making it turn white even and shook his head a couple of times. ‘’He’s in the past! There is no reason in digging him up why the fuck did you dig him up!’’ He yelled then, taking one step closer to him and had his finger press down a little bit more on the trigger.
‘’I just wanted to talk to him.’’ Eames said, backing one step just to get away from the gun, for a split second he actually thought that Arthur really would shoot him. Combined with his state, anger, alcohol and the tearing up that he was doing now it wouldn’t come as such a surprise.
‘’Why would you want to talk to him Eames? He knows nothing, if he knows nothing then he can’t tell you anything.’’ Arthur said, softer and more pained now actually lowering the gun and stepped a little bit closer, but finger still resting on the trigger, barely daring to relax.
Eames swallowed, still keeping his hands up just in case. He could see Ariadne open the door to her hotel room and peek into the hallway. She got a shocked expression on her face and froze to the spot, Arthur not noticing her which probably was a good thing.
‘’What about Neil?’’Eames asked, having gathered the courage together to ask. Arthur’s look wasn’t merciful, the look in his eyes could be described as Arthur having decided on killing Eames, making sure he wouldn’t say anything anymore about it. ‘’Who’s Neil then? How can Oliver know about Neil if he doesn’t know anything? Why did you become Arthur?’’
‘’Shut up!’’ Arthur yelled and raised the gun again. ‘’Leave Neil out of this, he doesn’t exist! He isn’t real! He is nothing he is dead!’’
With that Arthur finally pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot filled the entire room and Ariadne let out a scream, Arthur stumbled back a few steps from the sudden recoil and Eames actually let himself fall back just to avoid get hit.
As he laid there on the floor and looked up to the bronze ceiling with the lamps, Eames had never been as aware of details in his life as now. His breathing was paced up to the rate that made even himself believe he was back on his old football team, his brain had frozen stuck, yet his nerves searched through his entire body for any burning pain to register.
He had never been shot at in real life and he had never been as terrified as he was right now, he was barely aware of Ariadne’s scream just seconds before, and even less of her screaming out his own name.
Ariadne came into his vision, her lips moved but he couldn’t hear what she was saying, at least not until she shook his shoulders a couple of times. He sat up and let his hand flow through his short hair, still no body pain although his lungs started to hurt from his rapid breathing, he looked up just in time to see the elevator doors close and Arthur disappear.
‘’Christ Eames are you okay?’’ Ariadne asked, letting her hands search over his body, making sure he hadn’t gotten hit.
‘’I’m okay I’m okay.’’ Eames repeated and forced her hands of him, looking over his shoulder to see the bullet hole in the wall as doors started to open, people looking out to see what the commotion was all about. ‘’He’s going to kill him.’’ Eames whispered and got up from the floor, knocking over Ariadne in the process.
‘’Eames!’’ Ariadne yelled after him as he slipped back into the room to grab his coat and wallet.
‘’I have to go to Canada love, tell Cobb I’m sorry.’’ Eames said and walked past her, nervously pressing down the button to call the elevator several times. But it just wouldn’t work with him.
~*~
Thanks for reading this chapter! Hoped that you liked it, comments are liked but not needed :3