specification | Where do we go from here?

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Where do we go from here? - for ingeniously

The job was done.

Inception was done and fuck -- from what he could tell, it had gone successfully.

So far.

Cobb had gone through customs with not so much as a blink and left with his father-in-law to his kids. Fischer Jr had left a little after that and Ariadne was heading back to Paris to return to her classes and studies. Arthur loaded the PASIV onto his luggage cart and looked around, spotting Eames standing near a pillar.

Throughout the planning stages of the job, they had been snarky, condescending (to a certain degree), and on just this side of antagonistic. It was after he found out that there was a very real possibility that they could be shot down to limbo that Arthur mentally backtracked for a split second and thought about Eames -- thought about that night and thought about what they haven't discussed yet. When Eames called him 'darling' down in the first level in what he was sure was a condescending manner, Arthur found himself wanting to say something. But, he didn't. Eames was striding away after he took his shot.

When they were on the second level and everyone was hooking themselves in, who he should have helped was Ariadne but Arthur found himself kneeling down next to Eames and helping him with his lead, giving him a quirk of his lips. Everything could be shot to hell in a matter of seconds/minutes/hours and he could feel himself wanting that lasting touch, just in case.

They couldn't risk talking in public no matter if Robert and Cobb had gone, still -- he felt ready to talk to the other man about what happened months ago. About where this left them -- if it left them anywhere.

Eames had mated with him. Well...to be fair, his wolf had mated with him and that meant something according to his research. Something that couldn't exactly be ignored. As he made his way out of the airport with his luggage, Arthur pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Eames.

If you're not heading anywhere quick, meet me at the Renaissance hotel nearby? We can talk.

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Arthur nodded. That made sense.

"No, it doesn't," he agreed. He nodded and watched the forger and his actions. "Thank you," he said, fingering his drink, turning it around on the table absently. He stayed silent for a moment, considering the words that passed through them. "I did some research about it...I didn't find much, obviously, but I did read something that I've wondered about." The knotting. The mating. Did that count when it came to humans?

"What piqued your curiosity? The least I can do is answer your questions as best I can," Eames said, leaning back in his seat and sighing slightly.

"When you knotted with me," he said, straight forward as can be, looking at him. It had to have been one of the messiest and one of the most uncomfortable times he's had -- he had been so stretched out around his cock that... no, he wasn't going to think about it.

"From what I read, it was a way to mate with me."

Eames bites his cheek. "You do like the hard ones," Eames replied. "I had to research that as well. I don't generally go around fucking anyone like that, but yes, it seemed like I was trying to mate you. It's the first time I've done that, with anyone. I've had sex as a human and it hasn't happened."

Arthur shrugged a shoulder. It was in his repertoire to ask and get the hard facts, at least normally. He nodded silently and thought over what he was saying. It made sense, if their research had anything to say about it - it wouldn't have happened with anyone else. Wolves mated to one person -- so so he read.

He nodded in understanding. Arthur wasn't sure where this left them though. If it left them anywhere. "So then, is it safe to say neither of us know what that really means when it comes down to it?"

"Safe enough," Eames sighs. "It's not as if I want to go fucking other people, as a wolf or otherwise, to find out."

Arthur watched him and sighed softly before taking a sip from his drink. "You didn't hurt me...too badly," he said, his voice lowering a little at the admission. "At least, not as bad as one might expect." He could have been bleeding, could have been bitten or mauled so he'd count that as a good thing.

"I may not have injured you, don't you dare tell me I didn't hurt you," Eames it out. "I've prided myself on not harming people when I've become this thing. That it was you -"

Well, if he had killed Arthur, Eames wasn't sure what he would have done with himself.

Arthur stayed silent for a long minute as he stared down at his glass of scotch. Eames had hurt him that night, that much was certainly true. It had taken him a couple of days at least to get over the worst of the pain. "You did. You could have also killed me or bitten me but you didn't," he said, raising his gaze to Eames'.

He had been close and Arthur knew that. He remembered the feel of his mouth against the back of his neck and how easily Eames could have bitten down. Arthur was just glad to be here. Alive. And in one piece - mentally and physically speaking.

Arthur wasn't planning on telling anyone Eames' secret - it wasn't exactly something that you just tell anyone. While he did have mostly questionable morals, there were some things that he just didn't do and something like this was one of them. "That it was me...?"

"I was too focused on fucking you to kill you," Eames said. He remembered the feeling of distinctly not wanting to hurt Arthur, but that didn't mean he didn't feel like he had endangered him.

"That it was you I hurt just makes it worse," Eames shrugs.

He tilted his head in acknowledgement. To be frank -- he was a thankful for that. He liked being alive. He could move on and adjust from what happened but if he had died that night -- that would have been it. "This is going to sound a little weird but I'm glad for that," he admitted.

There was still a part of himself that knew he shouldn't have followed Eames that night. But if he had to do it all over again? He would probably do the same thing. Not because he was a sucker for punishment or because it had been particularly good but because he had been worried about Eames and that wouldn't change. Perhaps he was still in shock? The last two years of his life had been to try and get Cobb back home to his children and as such, it had been job to job -- anything to get him back home and Arthur had had a mission. Now -- he wouldn't have that. He'd still have jobs but they were based on whether he wanted to take them or not, not because it would be the stepping stone to something else.

He realized he had been silent for a little too long before he picked up his glass and took a longer drink. "I'm fine - I healed," he said. Physically speaking he did. Mentally -- Arthur liked to think he was fine mentally as well.

Eames didn't say anything to that, merely finishing off his drink. "I can see that. It doesn't help me, but I'm glad you're okay," he said, setting his drink down and indicating to the bartender for another.

Arthur motioned for the same from the bartender and finished his drink off. "No, I figured it wouldn't," he admitted and looked at him.

"How are you doing?" He couldn't imagine it was easy for either of them now that he was aware that Eames thought he would blab his mouth off.

"Fine," Eames said shortly. He wasn't really, worried about Arthur as he was - but in the end, he was alive and healthy, so he was fine.

"Why did you call me here, or was it only to ask about - that?" The hesitation was brief, but noticeable.

He nodded sharply at the shortness of his answer and looked at his empty glass. When Eames asked him why he called him here, Arthur didn't fail to notice the hesitation in his tone. "Asked you here because I figure we haven't really spoken since then and -- there was that," he said, hesitating as well for a split second. "And you and where it would leave us -- if anywhere."

He felt a frown tug on his lips - it shouldn't matter probably where this left them but somehow, it did. They worked together and they verbally sparred on any given bases -- just because Eames' other side attempted to (and perhaps successfully) mated with him.

"I figured you didn't want to talk to me again. That I was only on the job because Cobb needed a forger and I am the best," Eames said, looking at Arthur with narrowed eyes.

Arthur fell silent and knew that originally he hadn't and even a part of him still hadn't wanted to and yet, when he thought of not talking to him again, there was a twist in his gut that he couldn't quite put a finger on.

To be completely honest, Arthur had no idea what the hell he was doing in this situation. This was completely new territory no matter how you looked at it and while he felt doubly sure it was for him, he figured it was probably the same for Eames, to at least some degree. "I figured we should at least clear the air," he said. If anything, he wanted to at least be able to call on and count on Eames as a forger if needed. He was the best and Arthur preferred working with the best.

Eames frowned, not saying anything until after their drinks were refilled. He took another sip of his, deeply, before he responded.

"You could have done that over the phone, or through email," Eames said, looking at Arthur critically.

"And? I asked you here, you agreed, we talked and now if you want to leave, then leave." He knew it sounded defensive which said a whole lot more than anything else. Having just attempted and completed Inception, thinking about everything that had happened that night, thinking about Eames and the lingering feelings he had toward him from even before that night happened -- Arthur was torn and mixed up. Which wasn't good for a man who needed to be on his game.

Arthur frowned and took a deep sip from his drink and sat it down on the table. He pulled out his billfold, took a couple of bills out and placed them on the table to pay for his refill.

Eames looked at Arthur as he spoke defensively, trying to puzzle out what it was that the point man wanted. He didn't smell of fear; just nervousness, perhaps a bit of anger. And something else.

Desire?

"I'm just wondering why you chose to do this face to face," he said finally.

Arthur sent him a look. "Forgive me," he started. "Thought this subject matter was better to talk about face to face than over a text message, a phone call or email," he said, his tone a little dry.

"But, you're right - we shouldn't even be here right now," he said and stood from the table. He wasn't sure why it mattered so much or why he was even upset. None of it made a fucking lick of sense and perhaps what he needed was just a long good nights sleep that might not ever come.

"Arthur."

Against probably his wiser instincts, Eames' arm shot out, catching the point man around his delicate wrist. At least, it seemed delicate, to a brute like Eames.

He looked up at him, intent.

"Is it that hard to admit that you might not know why you wanted to see me here - just that you did, maybe, want to see me?"

When Eames took hold of his wrist, Arthur reacted instinctually and grabbed Eames' wrist in return. He looked down at the forger and released a slow breath. His words rung so close to the truth that it surprised him. He didn't know and it was the not knowing why he wanted to see Eames only that he did part that perhaps frustrated him.

"I don't know and I don't like not knowing," he admitted after a long moment. He released Eames' wrist and made to sit back down on his side.

Eames released Arthur's wrist as well, watching the point man sit back down.

"I can see that," He said, resting his arms on the table. "But rather than drive yourself crazy - let's stop talking about it. What do you plan on doing now that we're rich men again?"

Arthur rested his arms on the table and looked down into his lap for a minute before looking across the table at Eames. "Think I'll take a little time off -- at least a couple of weeks. Go back home for a little while, relax and remember what it was like before it all." Before being on the run with Cobb. Before Mallorie took her life.

"What about yourself? Returning to Mombasa?"

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Arthur is like AWKWARD FEELINGS ARE AWKWARD.

HAH

:D

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For some reason at first I thought I he was sitting next to Eames now

LOL! Nah -- he wouldn't -- not yet!