Author's note: Someone wanted me to continue with the Where He Goes, I Go story, and the sequel turned into this XD
Eames and Saito continued to eat their lunch. Saito turned the conversation away from Arthur, or at least tried to.
"What job are you working on?"
"I'm not really sure," Eames said, looking annoyed. "We're supposed to steal some information from a woman's mind. Arthur and Ariadne are supposed to be working on it."
"Ah, is that why they're asleep right now?"
"I suppose, but I don't understand why they aren't letting me in on it," the bitterness creeped into his voice again, but he didn't seem to notice. Saito did.
"Then include yourself!" Saito leaned back in his chair and smiled at Eames across the table. "Just let yourself into their dream."
"Arthur will get mad at me," Eames said uncertainly.
"Has that ever stopped you before?"
That made Eames smile widely. Saito patted his hand. "My friend, I know you feel for him. Do not hesitate to ask to talk, if you need it."
He winked, but Eames was suddenly very interested in his empty plate. He turned to leave, but Eames stopped him at the last second.
"Maybe I'll take you up on that."
Arthur lightly traced the curves of the statue with his finger. The detail was astounding. He turned and gave the architect an impressed look.
"You've done extremely well."
"Thanks," Ariadne smiled. The two stood in a wide empty hallway, all part of Ariadne's dream mansion.
"Actually," Arthur looked up at a large painting on the wall. "I think you overdid it."
Ariadne closed the space between them and playfully pulled on his shirt. "I couldn't help myself. It's not every day you get to design your own glamorous mansion."
"Yeah?"
They leaned in and kissed softly.
"So!" a sudden loud voice interrupted them. Eames suddenly appeared at the other end of the hallway, strolling casually as if nothing was wrong. Arthur turned, looking annoyed.
"Mr. Eames, what are you-"
Eames waved two fingers at them. "Is that why you didn't want me in here?"
Ariadne smiled and patted Arthur's chest, trying to calm him down. "Of course not! We wanted it to be a surprise."
"You two or the Mansion? Because you two have been oogling each other for ages and finding you two doing naughty things in here is not a surprise."
Arthur's eyes flashed, but he ignored the comment.
The mansion was large, with three floors and five rooms per floor. It had a slight haunted feeling to it, with unsettling portrait paintings, strange staircases, and bookcases and chimneys that turned into secret passageways. Only they would know the secret passageways to help them succeed in the mission.
"Oh! Oooh," Eames said uncertainly, looking at ugly stone heads above two doors they passed through. "How delightful."
The gardens were beautiful; opened and fanned out onto the grounds, complete with a small pond and several large fountains. There was definitely more detail here and needed, since they were probably not going to use this section.
Eames picked a flower and put it in Arthur's vest pocket. "Actually delightful," he said, smiling and shielding his eyes from the sun. "Now, why don't you explain the plan to me?"
Ariadne cleared her throat. "Arthur and I will be posing as a married couple. To be more specific, the mark's idea of a perfect couple. She has been thinking about divorcing her husband, but she's lovesick. We're going to use that idea against her. She wishes she had a man as perfect as Arthur."
She smiled and playfully nudged him. Arthur looked a little uncomfortable, but Eames pretended not to notice.
"Don't we all."
There was an awkward silence. "Okay, okay. So what's why job?" Eames finally asked.
"You need to cause a scene to get rid of the projections. I'll interrogate the mark and make sure she's held captive. You then need to go help Arthur break into the vault."
"Sounds very simple to me," Eames said, stroking his chin, looking concerned about something.
"Nothing is ever simple," Arthur said.
Ariadne looked up at Arthur with swollen eyes and a runny nose. She seemed to have caught everything you could possibly catch. "I'm so sorry I can't go with you, Arthur."
"No, it's perfectly fine. You need your rest." Arthur stroked her hand.
"But I thought you would be mad," she said weakly.
"Mad? Why?"
"Oh no. He didn't tell you, did he..."
"Who tell me what?"
Arthur glared at him as Eames put his suitcase away. They were on a train, and their mark was bound to show up at any minute.
"You keep glaring at me, Darling," Eames said with a smile. "You know none of this is my fault."
"Oh, but I still blame you."
"Tsk tsk. You blame me for everything."
Arthur gave Eames the silent treatment as their mark arrived. Eames pretended to read the paper as the sleeping drug was passed on to the mark in secret. Then, Arthur began to set up.
"If you keep acting like that, no one will believe we're married."
"We haven't started yet," Arthur said, his jaw tightening. "I'll be ready when we do."
"All right, Darling of mine," he folded the paper up in the worst way, creating creases and wrinkles, and tossed it aside. Arthur scowled, tried to focus his brain, and then went under.
He found himself in a fancy room, couples dancing here and there. The dream had a very 1930s look. He was wearing a nice suit- nothing out of the ordinary there. What was out of the ordinary was the blonde slender woman hanging on his arm. He turned to take in what Eames had decided to wear. A long, silky green dress. Well, at least he had toned down the sluttiness this time.
Eames winked when Arthur's gaze reached his face. "You like what you see, Darling?"
"Well, it's better than usual," Arthur muttered. "Are you sure you're going to be able to handle both jobs? We're in trouble now that Ariadne isn't here to help."
"Oh don't worry about me. I arranged for a surprise."
Arthur glanced at him quickly. "Surprise? Eames, this is an important mission. Don't go screwing-"
"Gasp! Why would I go screwing other men when we're married?"
Arthur sighed, trying to regain control. "Just make sure you know what you're doing."
The odd couple put smiles on their faces and made their way across the room. Their mark was standing near a table, dressed in a very fancy dress. Arthur and his wife, Ariadne (Arthur insisted they keep the name so that the mission could at least stay as according to plan as possible. Eames refused to shape shift into Ariadne, though), made their way up to her and bowed and curtsied.
"Ah, you two much be the British couple," she said, sounding bored. She downed her drink.
"Yes, I'm Arthur, this is my wife, Ariadne," Arthur said in a British accent. Eames raised his eyebrows in delight, as he always did when he spoke like that.
"What a gorgeous dress!" Eames said, looking the woman up and down. "Where ever did you buy it?"
Arthur rolled his eyes as they began to gab about the latest fashions- or at least the latest fashions in this dream. Finally he gave her a friendly smile and a nod, and they were on their way around the room again. They had to act as normal as possible so that he mark did not suspect this was a dream.
"You were very shy back there, Arthur Darling," Eames said, patting him on the cheek. "We need to be a little less... boring."
Arthur was just about to open his mouth to say they actually needed to stay low- even though he knew that was exactly what they couldn't do- when Eames pulled him on to the dance floor.
"Let's dance!"
The music was fast-paced, but it was the type of dancing Arthur enjoyed. It wasn't the bump and grind crap. To be honest, he had been looking forward to dancing with Ariadne in the dream. He was a little awkward at first, feeling strange about dancing with someone who was Eames but didn't look it. Especially when Eames knew how to move. Arthur gulped and let himself get more into it. Maybe a little too into it. The two of them enjoyed themselves for a few more dances, and even Arthur was feeling a little hot and bothered.
They headed to the drink table, Eames fanning himself and Arthur tugging at his tie nervously. "Cheers!" Eames said, picking up two drinks for them. "To a lovely night on the town."
"Don't forget we're working," Arthur warned, clinking his glass with Eames's anyway.
"Yes, right on cue. Now for the work part," Eames said, downing his drink. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Arthur downed his drink too, knowing that he was going to need every drop.
They waited until the mark's eyes were on them. Eames noticed Arthur was hesitating, feeling a little awkward. So he charged ahead for him. He grabbed his tie and pulled him in for a long kiss. Arthur knew he didn't look like Eames, but he sure felt like Eames. Not that he knew what Eames felt like... he had only imagined it. Not that he had imagined it, you know, this way. Oh, nevermind. Arthur tried to push thoughts of Eames out of his head and swooped Eames off his feet.
"Ooh, Darling, you're so forceful," Eames said, actually blushing. Arthur wondered if it was just part of his act or if it was from the kiss. He himself started to feel a little hot. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind as well.
They found a closet. Arthur had Eames pinned to the door, but it was Eames that kissed him all over his neck, clearly getting way too into this. Arthur knew this would happen.
"Eames... Eames! Keep your mind on the job!" Arthur said, trying to untangle himself from him.
"Right, right, sorry," Eames backed away, looking embarrassed. That was odd. He was never embarrassed.
As the door opened, Eames jumped back onto him. The mark appeared, looking positively appalled by their behavior.
"I will not tolerate this disgusting display of affection at my party!" she exclaimed. Before she could say anything else, Eames pulled out a tranquilizer gun with blurred speed and shot her with it. As she crumpled to the ground, Arthur raised his eyebrows at him. The girl he saw held the gun pointed at the ceiling near her face. She winked.
"Where were you keeping that?" Arthur asked, eyeing her up and down.
"I'll leave it to your imagination, Love."
They bent down and began dragging her back into the closet.
"Was that your surprise?" Arthur asked, tying the mark's feet together.
"Oh no, not even close," Eames said, tying her hands together. When he was finished, he stood up, smoothed out his dress, and fixed his hair. "Voila, good as new."
Arthur had to admit that he was impressed. "All right, are you ready for part two?"
"Right, part two."
When they came out of the closet, Eames was himself again. He followed Arthur out towards the room of dancing and chatting couples, trying and failing to not look at his ass on the way. The projections were not looking at them; they seemed okay for now.
"Eames, you know what to do," Arthur was saying as he turned. He was momentarily distracted when he noticed the nice suit Eames was now wearing. He wore it well. Arthur shook his head and headed down a staircase. Eames smirked to himself as he headed into the crowd of couples.
He danced his way to the middle of the room. He pulled out a small device from his pocket and quickly secured it to a projections shoe. As quickly as he could, he got out of there.
The explosion occurred when he was just outside of the crowd. The projections screamed and ran for cover while Eames dived against a bookcase in the hallway. He stood catching his breath for a few moments, his eyes dashing back and forth as he watched the chaos. Suddenly the bookcase opened behind him, and he fell into it.
He grinned when he looked up and saw Saito standing inside the bookcase. "Saito! You great big beautiful bastard!" he said, taking Saito's hand and pulling himself up. "You made it!"
"I told you I would help if you asked!" Saito smiled and shut the bookcase door.
"Great, wonderful, fantastic. Look, we locked the mark in a closet just across the hallway. I need to go find Arthur before something bad happens. I'm trusting you, Saito."
"You laid out the plan to me five times, Mr. Eames. Now get out of my way." He straightened his suit and opened the door again.
Eames laughed and clapped his hands.
"No go be a shining white knight for your Arthur."
"I doubt he will think o fit that way," Eames said. "Besides, that's not why I'm doing this."
Saito looked over his shoulder at him. "Then why?"
"I... just just have this feeling that something is going to go wrong. I'm worried about him."
Eames shut the bookcase door behind Saito and crept up the stairs. Saito shook his head and walked to the closet. When he opened the door, the mark was groggy, but awake enough to move and talk. And to spit at his feet.
"Who are you?" she asked ferociously.
"It doesn't matter. I will be the one to ask the questions."
Eames almost collided with Arthur in a hallway downstairs when he exited the passageway through a painting door.
"Whoa, whoa!" Arthur yelled as he screeched to a halt just in time to avoid a collision. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to watch the mark!"
"Surprise!" Eames closed the portrait quickly. "Saito is there now, taking care of it."
"What?" Arthur shook his head. "Why? No- when? Nevermind. We don't have time for this. Let's go."
They hurried into the basement room which contained a giant safe in the shape of a broken heart.
"I feel bad for her," Eames said.
"Shut up," Arthur said, irritated. He approached the safe to observe it. "Is Saito at least getting answers? We need to get this done before the mark realizes this is a dream."
"Saito, are you there?" Eames said into his headphone.
"Yes," he heard him say.
"We're at the vault. Do you have the password yet?"
"I-" suddenly there was static.
"Saito?"
The mark smirked. "You certainly are a surprise."
Saito's expression didn't change. He tried to remain calm, but something was wrong. Suddenly the mark stood up- the ropes fell easily. Then she casually pulled out a gun.
"I think I will be asking the questions."
"Oh fuck," Eames said.
"What is it?" Arthur asked, turning towards him.
"Saito's not answering. The mark knows."
"Damn it, Eames!"
"Hey, this is not my fault either!" They glared at each other.
"You're always screwing me up!" Arthur said.
"Excuse me?"
"Nevermind." Arthur closed his eyes, trying to regain his focus. "We have to go find Saito."
Halfway up the staircase, they came across the mark, who had her gun pointed at Saito on the ground. Eames and Arthur quickly aimed their guns at her.
"This is all pointless," Arthur said quickly. "If we shoot each other, we'll wake up."
"You would like to think that, wouldn't you?" the mark said slowly. "Tell me, boys. Do you remember how you got on the train?"
Eames and Arthur looked at each other, silent asking, "What the fuck is she talking about?"
"Here's a hint. Or a couple rather. You two, and this one, boarded the train in reality. I knocked you out. I created another dream, also you boarding the train and getting ready for the mission. And here we are, another layer deeper than you anticipated. Oh, and here's the kicker," she said with a sly smile. "We're sedated."
The realization hit them like a wave. Here they were, trapped by their own mark. They couldn't wait out the time limit without surely being killed and sent to limbo. This was the end of the line.
"I'm surprised by this one," she said, nodding down to Saito. "Where's the girl?"
Arthur ignored her question. "How did you know about us? How did you trick us? Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? I hired you."
"Okay," Arthur said slowly, trying to put the pieces together. "I'm guessing you want revenge? For what?"
"Where's the girl?"
"Are you after Ariadne?" Arthur asked.
The woman smiled. "Not exactly. I'm after all of you. Now tell me, why did you change your plans? You buffoons seem to have not expected this turn of events, so obviously you were not on to me."
"Tell us first how you found out about ours. Why why you're doing this."
"Fair enough," she said. "I've been following you. Watching you. I'm also a forger. A very skilled forger."
Her smile was like ice.
"Shit."
"Where's. The. Girl?" she asked again, pointing the gun at Saito. Eames twitched.
"She got sick."
"Eames!"
"The plan was Arthur and I would go through with it without her, but I was worried something would go wrong. So I hired Saito to come with us."
Arthur looked at Eames, but kept his gun pointed at the mark. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was afraid you would be difficult and say no."
"I am not difficult. You on the other hand-"
"I'm easy-peasy compared to you!"
The mark smiled as she watched their argument. "Ah, I see," she pointed and cocked her gun at Arthur.
Eames, Arthur, and Saito froze. A strangled gasp came from Eames.
"Oh God, please no!"
Arthur was surprised by his reaction. Why was Eames giving so much way? Why was he losing his cool?
"You know, shooting us and sending us to limbo seems like a lame revenge plan," Arthur said, making up to Eames's lack of bravery.
"I'm not going to do that. At least not right now," she said wickedly. "I'm going to teach you a lesson here in your dreams for what you did to my husband's company. And then maybe I will send you to limbo and teach you a lesson for fifty years."
Saito whistled. "That's a lot of anger. If you're talking about torturing us, I mean."
She glared at him, but kept her gun pointed at Arthur. "We're out of business now, because of you! I was a forger for my husband, doing work to make sure his company beat out the competition-"
"Uh," Eames said. "Isn't that hypocritical? Punishing us for doing to you what you're doing to others?"
"Shut up!" Eames held his hands up as she walked closer to Arthur.
"Okay, so you have a torture plan," Arthur said. "What can you possibly do to us alone?"
"Oh I'm not alone."
Suddenly security erupted from behind her. Armed men made their way down the stairs. While they were distracted, the mark shot Arthur in the leg.
Eames dived down the stairs and shot the mark in the head. No one- no one- was going to torture his friends if he could help it. The mark collapsed. Eames rolled down the stairs, trying to avoid gunshots from the security.
Behind him, Saito suddenly grabbed a giant grenade launcher from behind a bookcase. "I learned this from you, Eames!" he shouted. He gritted his teeth and opened fire. Even Arthur hobbled against a wall and fired. Soon, the security was taken out. Now that the mark was in limbo, they were gone.
Eames smoothed back his hair and stood up. "Nice shootin' Saito."
The two friends grinned at each other. Then Eames hurried over to Arthur's side. "Show me where it hurts, Darling."
Arthur rolled up his pants. He stared as Eames began to expertly apply first aid.
"Thanks," he mumbled. "I thought you would rather sit and watch me for a while first."
"Well, I don't like to see you in pain."
"Bullshit."
"Well, life threatening pain anyway," Eames said with a smile. Arthur looked away from him every time Eames touched him. His head was spinning, wondering why he was feeling strange feelings about Eames. Well, he always had, but this was... different. It all started when they pretended to be married... no. He didn't like thinking that he was attracted to female Eames. That wasn't fair to him- or to Ariadne, for that matter.
"So what now?" Saito asked, standing behind Eames.
"We're going to have to wait until we wake up," Arthur said, glad to have something else to think about.
They had the Mansion to themselves for months. Saito and Eames often went to the weapons chamber that Ariadne had created ("Just in case," she had said), to playfully test out the weapons. When Arthur went out for walks to get rid of the stiffness of his leg, he once witnessed them sword fighting.
"You seem like a nice fellow. I hate to kill you," Eames was saying. He had one hand on his hip, the other swinging at Saito. They dodged and swung at each other, using the entire room.
After often retired to the library to write in his little notebook. He made plans for how to deal with their mark when they woke up. He also had a lot to think about regarding a certain forger. He had to sort out these feelings and figure out what to do with them.
After a while, Arthur's leg felt well enough for him to take a walk around the gardens. Eames offered to go with him.
"It's a good thing Ariadne put so much effort into this," he said. "Or we'd be bored to death here."
"I can't imagine it would ever be boring with you and Saito around."
Eames picked a flower and put it in Arthur's vest pocket. "How's the leg, Love?"
"Stiff, but otherwise fine."
Eames chuckled. Arthur rolled his eyes. "I'm not that happy to see you."
They walked down one of the paths and stopped to look into the pond. Fish circled around the reflections of their faces.
"What happened tot hat suit you were wearing before?" Arthur randomly asked.
"Oh that?" Eames waved a hand carelessly. "That was just a thing I dreamed up for the mission."
"Well," Arthur drummed his hands nervously on the wooden fence. "If you wore it more often, maybe I would be that happy to see you."
Eames smiled at his reflection, but he felt confused. This wasn't a normal reaction from Arthur. It scared him.
It continued as the weeks passed, Eames getting more and more nervous. To deal with it, he took to laying out on the fancy couches of the mansion in his female form- only naked.
One day Arthur came across him. He jumped twice- once from the surprise and once for the shooting pain in his leg.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Eames looked up from the book he was reading. "Oh, hello darling. I hope this doesn't bother you."
Arthur blushed and left the room. Every once in a while he would find naked Eames out and about the Mansion. The worst was when he would retreat to the library- and find a naked male Eames walking around. The teasing grin infuriated him. Why was Eames acting this way? He thought he would like the hints Arthur was giving him.
Saito noticed their fighting getting worse and worse. He also noticed that it was Eames's fault. One day he decided to ask him about it.
"I've noticed you and Arthur have been on edge recently."
"On edge?"
"More than usual, I mean."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Saito narrowed his eyes at him. "I think Arthur is thinking about you sexually now. And you're confusing him with your genderbending. Why?"
Eames rubbed his face and avoided looking at him.
"I told you, don't hesitate to talk if you need it."
The clock ticked. Saito waited patiently. Finally Eames sighed in defeat.
"For the mission we had to pretend to be married. I... I was afraid he was only responding to my female form and... not me."
"Ah," Saito smiled reassuringly. "I highly doubt that is what Arthur is doing. I honestly think he's worried about Ariadne and if he feels the same way about her now. To be stuck in this dream world with you with these new feelings about you is difficult for him. Now stop making it harder, you idiot."
Eames perked up in interest, as if he had forgotten who Ariadne was. Saito smiled and left him to his thoughts.
Arthur was in the library when Eames found him. He looked up and raised his eyebrows when he noticed Eames was wearing the suit.
"If you're busy I can-" Eames began.
"No, no," Arthur pushed his notebook away. "I'm not busy."
He stood up and met Eames near the door.
"Arthur... Darling..." Eames started to say. "I realized that we've never discussed... what happened during the mission," he was suddenly all smiles as he pulled out a bottle of wine."So I thought now would be a good time to do so!"
"As good a time as ever," Arthur said, walking back to the table. They set out their glasses and poured the wine. And sat down. In silence.
"I..." Eames hesitated. "I'm sorry for annoying you the past few days with my shifting."
"Are you apologizing, Mr. Eames?" Arthur asked with a smirk. Eames looked uncomfortable. "It doesn't look good on you."
"Oh it feels worse, believe you me."
They laughed softly.
"But you're starting at the end," Arthur pointed out. "Eames... do you love me?"
Eames stared at him, clearly startled. He had expected this conversation to be extremely awkward, and confessing anything would be like pulling teeth.
"Yes, yes I do," he blurted out. "But you've never loved me. We both know this."
"No," Arthur shook his head. "I thought you were just a flirt with no heart."
Eames smiled sadly. "Ouch."
"But... during the mission... you saved my life."
When Eames looked up, Arthur was looking right into his eyes. Eames was surprised yet again. Had that been was triggered this new behavior? He had assumed it was the dancing and the kissing in the closet.
"I did," Eames said slowly. He looked at himself in a mirror hanging on a wall. When he looked away, he was in his female form again. She was stunning.
"Arthur," the female voice said. "Just tell me this- do you want me or him?"
Arthur stood up and stood behind Eames. He put his hands lightly on her shoulders for a few moments. Then he motioned for her to get up. He steered her untilt hey were standing in front of the mirror. He could see Eames in the reflection.
"When we kissed," Arthur explained. "You felt and tasted like Eames."
The reflection changed, and Eames was himself again, kissing Arthur for all he was worth.
When they woke up on the train, the mark was clearly confused about what was going on. She had spent years in limbo alone, and didn't remember how she had got there. The team took this opportunity to escape. They got off on the next train stop. Eames ran a hand through his hair.
"What are we going to do?" he asked. "She's going to come and find us again."
"I know, know. We'll have to think of something..." Arthur started pacing. Saito watched them, smiling.
"What are you two going to do about Ariadne?" he said in a teasing voice. Eames and Arthur froze, then looked at each other with panicked eyes.
"Oh, shit."