He walked the streets lost in his thoughts, he never though talking to Eames was going to be that nice, he scratched the back of his head confused not even knowing why. For the first time in a long time Arthur didn't know what to do, for a second there he forgot the fact that Eames knew he was gay, what if he told Cobb? or Ariadne? or anyone?
His feet led him to small coffe shop, he had been in France before and he always visited that place. He sat on the farthest table and ordered a cup of coffe.
"What's eating Arthur Houseman?"
he smiled at Cobb and shook his head. the man asked for a cappuccino and sighed.
"I always come here, even in my dreams" Cobb said looking through the window. "You were nineteen when I bought you here, right?"
"Twenty one" Arthur rolled his eyes "You said you saw the most beautiful woman in the world the day before and wanted to ask her to marry you with me as you witness or something"
"Mal" They both smiled to the memory "It was about to be christmas too"
Mal was a waiter in that Coffee shop, that day Cobb had practically dragged Arthur there to show him the woman, two exact years after that they got married, for Arthur those were the best years of his life, Mal loved him like a son and always asked him to spend Christmas with them. but when she... you know, it all stopped, Christmas was once again for Arthur nothing.
"Are you listening to me, Arthur?"
Arthur blinked.
"What did you say?" Cobb narrowed his eyes
"I said, I got to go to the airport because Miles is bringing Pippa and James"
"Oh, yeah, bye"
"Are you sure okay?" Cobb asked once he was up, Arthur nodded and smiled "Ariadne told me something about a pub"
"Yes, see you tonight"
It was almost 10 when Arthur arrived to the pub, He walked in and saw Ariadne in the corner with a few more girls, she offered him a beer and introduced him to the girls he didn't know. He saw Yusuf at the other side of the pub speaking with Cobb and Eames.
"Seriously Yusuf?" Cobb laughed "I never imagined you would get married so fast"
"Au contraire, my friend" he exclaimed, "I don't know how I managed to stay single all this time"
"True" said Eames raising his glass of whiskey
"What about you Eames?" Yusuf asked laughing "When are you planning to settle down?"
"I'm never doing that" He said "I was born to be a free man" he said and opened his arms widely.
"That's what I said once" Cobb started, giving another sip to his glass "But then I saw the most beautiful woman in the world, I realized you can't decide wether you fall in love or not, or if you think it's not your thing, you can't even decide who do you fall in love with... it just happens" Arthur smiled sadly when he saw the sparkle in his eyes. Mal told him the same thing when she realized he liked men.
"Wao"
Yusuf and Eames were silenced for several seconds.
"I swear I heard a Beatles song on the background while you were saying that, Mate" Eames said padding his shoulder.
"Asshole" Cobb smiled. "One day Eames, one day"
"All you need is love, love is all you need" Yusuf added 'bro fisting' Eames.
"Hey Arthur!" Cobb called "Come sit with us"
Arthur said goodbye to the girls and Ariadne and sat with Cobb.
"What are you talking about?" He asked finishing his beer.
"Yusuf here ruined his life" Eames joked "He got married"
"That's great Yusuf, congratulations!"
Yusuf smiled and thanked him, they started bothering him about he having to get a real job. Arthur occasionally caught Eames looking at him but he downplayed that. Soon only Yusuf and Cobb were talking, obviously Cobb was the only one that knew about the marriage life. Eames only drank from his glass and moved his head to the music.
"Hello, Arthur" Sara and Kara sat on either side of Eames. "Having fun?"
Arthur nodded and took a sip from the bottle of beer he had on his hands, he felt the weight of Eames look on him but he ignored it, Kara and Sara started talking to Eames, how handsome he was, how beautiful his eyes were, how fascinating his accent was. Eames just nodded and smiled at them flirting back.
"I can't speak french at all but is a tongue I've always wanted to explore" he smirked.
The girls smiled to each other with complicity, and started saying something in French, it seemed they forgot that Arthur spoke French fluently.
"Nous devrions l'inviter pour un ménage à trois" Sara proposed, Arthur blushed furiously; they wanted to ask Eames for a threesome.
"Oui!" Kara answered clapping her hands.
Eames looked at Arthur like "What?" but Arthur shrugged, he grinned behind the glass leaving Eames confused. Then Kara, who was the older sister for like a minute, or so he heard, started talking in Eames' ear while Sara, put a hand on his knee and started going up his thigh. Arthur felt his face going red he took another sip, looking other way. He felt his presence was getting a bit awkward.
"Well" he cleared his throat "I'm going out for a walk"
"I'll walk with you" Eames said rapidly. Both girls pouted.
"No, thanks" Arthur forced a smile and left.
Eames waited for a second and then something clicked in his head.
"I need to go"
"But, Mr. Eames"
"Maybe next time, precious" he kissed both girls in the back of their hands and left after Arthur.
Arthur's head was spinning, he grabbed his coat and stepped out of the bar quickly, he stumbled a few times. He was a bit typsy after all.
"Are you really leaving?" Eames' voice almost stopped him but he kept on walking towards the door.
"Yes"
"And why is that?"
"Why are you here, Mr. Eames?" Arthur stopped "are the girls warming up the bed until you go back?" he cursed mentally, he sounded jealous. "Just forget it, Tell Cobb I left already"
Arthur started walking again, Eames followed him like a lost puppy for a few minutes. He turned around to tell him to go but he felt dizzy and ended up falling in Eames arms.
"Are you alright, Darling?"
"Fine, fine" he smiled shrugging and pulled away from him "Never better"
Eames scowled, Arthur was drunk, well, a bit tipsy, He felt Arthur playing with the buttons of his shirt. They walked a few more minutes in silence until Arthur stopped infront of the coffee shop he had been earlier with Cobb.
"Aren't you cold?" he asked "You left you coat in the bar"
"I am british, this is a summer weather where I come from, Darling" Arthur nodded slowly with a small smile on his face "We should get back to the bar, Love" but Arthur ignored him.
"This is were Cobb met Mal" He ran his hand through his hair "They got married near christmas too"
"I see" Eames scowled "That's why you don't like Christm-"
"I need to sit down"
Eames nodded. They both sat in a bench near a small park, neither of them spoke until Arthur sighed for the fourth time.
"I loved Christmas because of them."
"Mal and Cobb?" Arthur nodded
"Before them it was just drab"
Eames nodded and encouraged him to continue.
"When I was seven my mother left me and my father a week before Christmas, she left with this guy who dressed at Santa Claus for a living" he chuckled "the next christmas I looked for him a hit him with a baseball bat" He smiled lightly
"That's... pretty bad" Eames smiled.
"At eleven my father died of cancer on Christmas morning" he swallowed hard "You see, Christmas never brought me something good"
"That must've been hard, Darling" He tried to hold his hand but Arthur pulled away pretending to scratch his nose.
"When I was twenty one, Cobb and I had a job here, everything went fine, we got paid and decided to spend the rest of the holidays here. one morning Cobb dragged me to that coffee shop, he told me he had seen-"
"The most beautiful woman in the world" Eames finished with a small smile on his lips
Arthur glanced at him, and nodded smiling as well.
"They got married two years after that, Mal always invited me to holidays with them, I loved Christmas again for all those years, but then... one Christmas, Cobb called me saying Mal was dead. I felt like that... curse or whatever it was... you know"
"That's why you don't like Christmas" Eames said after seconds of silence.
"Yes, Mr. Eames"
"Maybe those are just coincidences, bloody scary coincidences, but coincidences"
"Maybe" Arthur nodded "You know, you are not unpleasant when you listen instead of talking"
"That... is the nicest thing you've ever said to me, so I'll agree with you" He smiled "Arthur Houseman thinks Daniel Eames is nice" he chanted. "You hear that mates!" he yelled.
"Arthur Houseman thinks Daniel Eames is not unpleasant" Arthur mocked putting a hand in Eames lips. "Keep your voice down"
"It's the same thing, Darling" He said leaving a quick kiss in the back of his hand. The youngest shook his head smiling.
"that beer had something funny on it, I just had one and... Men."
Eames laughed.
"They had 9.3 percent of alcohol, not even I could stay completely sober with one of those"
"No wonder why they made me feel like this" Arthur rubbed his eyes lazily. "Dizzy. But the good kind of dizzy"
"That would make both of us, Darling" Eames winked at him.
A phone started ringing.
"It's Cobb" Eames said checking his phone.
"Ariadne is calling me too" said Arthur putting his phone in his pocket again.
Eames stood up and arranged his shirt.
"Shall we go home now, Love?"
"Sure" Arthur stood up " And Eames"
"Yes?"
"Don't tell anyone... about the christmas thing"
Eames nodded smiling, they both started walking towards the bar, Arthur never told anyone about his mother leaving him or his father dying on christmas, only to Mal, and telling Eames felt like talking to her again, for the first time in years Arthur felt he might enjoy Christmas once again.
