Fic: Risky Business

Risky Business

Author: Aphrodite

Feedback: Yes, send to nsaphrodite@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: Fiction based on fictional characters.

Rating:NC-17

Fandom: Inception

Summary: Occasionally, Arthur trades sexual favors for information.

Warnings: I feel this warrants a warning as there's a hint of violence in this chapter. Don't worry. The scene has been edited out.

Author's Notes: Omfg! I'm so ecstatic. Joseph Gordon Levitt is in talks to be join the Dark Knight Rises. You know what that means, boys? Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon Levitt will reunite for another Chris Nolan film. YES!!!

Risky Business III

The ambulance arrived promptly. Eames was denied entrance inside the ambulance even though he was the one who cradled Arthur in his arms until the ambulance arrived. On any given day, Eames would have beaten the EMT crew into submission, but Eames merely nodded and with his head down followed the crew out of the hotel. He had to wait several minutes for a cab to arrive to pick him up. When it finally showed up, it was approaching traffic hour. By the time Eames arrived at the hospital, Cobb was already there in the waiting room. When Cobb saw Eames, Cobb looked up and rushed toward Eames. He wrapped his arms around Eames' body and whispered reassuring words.

"I heard about Arthur. Eames, he will be okay," Cobb kept saying.

"How did hear about Arthur? I was the only one at the hotel and I sure as hell didn't have time to call you." Eames questioned, prying Cobb's hands off of him. He looked Cobb in the eyes and when Cobb turned away to leave, Eames grabbed his arm and stopped him. "You knew about this."

Cobb shrugged Eames off of him and settled back in his chair, nodding his head.
Eames was livid. He charged at Cobb and threw a fist at him, catching his right jaw. He grabbed Cobb by the collar of his shirt and hauled him to his feet, slamming him against the wall.

"You knew about this and you let it happen?!"

"Look, Arthur's a big boy. He makes his own decisions. I didn't push him to do it or anything."

"Is that what you said when Mal jumped?!"

"Fuck you!" Cobb yelled, pummeling Eames in the stomach.

"Fuck you!" Eames yelled back, punching Cobb in the face.

An alarm was sounded off in the near distance and before the security team could get to them, Eames and Cobb were rolling around in the waiting room, throwing punches at one another. They had to be physically restrained from each other before getting thrown outside. Eames lit up a cigarette and tried to smoke to ease the pain to no avail. He spat out his cigarette and slammed his fists on the brick wall repeatedly until Cobb grabbed his hands and stopped him.

"I'm sorry," Cobb whispered. "I didn't know Arthur was still trading sexual favors for information on our marks. And I swear to God I didn't know it was going to escalate to this level."

"You're so fuckin' clueless about everything. Arthur thinks you're God. He'll do anything for you, even putting himself at risk."

"Arthur assured me that he'd never cross that line."

"And it never fuckin' occurred to you that the line would be crossed when Arthur is outnumbered or in this case when he's drugged so he can't defend himself. Are you so fuckin' absorbed in yourself that you can't see all of this?"

"If I could do it all over, again, I'd never ask him to make out with Anders the first time."

"I want to kill you right now!" Eames yelled, tearing at his hair. "But I won't because I know Arthur will kill me if I do. It's best we put our differences aside for Arthur's sake."

"I agree," Cobb said. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Eames said, lighting up another cigarette. He blew out a smoke and turned to Cobb. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. About Mal."

"Don't worry about it. I know you love Arthur."

They fell into an awkward silence until the nurse came outside, looking for them.

"Look, as much as it pains me to do this, the patient has woken up and he's asking for the both of you," Nurse Brenda told them. "And please behave yourself or else you'll both be permanently banned from hospital grounds."

Cobb apologized for their brawl earlier while Eames dashed inside. When they entered Arthur's hospital room, they found the point man on his side in a fetal position. An intravenous tube was attached to Arthur's wrists, supplying him a constant flow of morphine to alleviate the pain. Despite his condition, Arthur perked up when he saw Eames and Cobb entered his room. He tried to get up, but yelped aloud as the pain was still too much. Cobb was immediately by his side, lowering him back to the bed. Eames simply stood by the bed with his arms crossed over his chest until Cobb released his grip on Arthur's hand. Eames shifted a chair closer to the bed and sat down. He reached for Arthur's hand and gently caressed the back of it, careful not to disturb the tube of morphine drip. Arthur breathed deeply, squeezing Eames' hand tighter.

"Thank you," Arthur whispered.

Eames forced a small smile. "You're always welcome, darling. Now get some rest while Cobb and I finish the job."

Arthur nodded and curled into himself, closing his eyes. Cobb stood up and slipped the sheets over Arthur's body. He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on Arthur's left temple. He exchanged knowing looks with Eames and exited the hospital room.

The first thing they did upon arrival at Eames' hotel room was popped in the flash disk. After several prolonged minutes of white walls, the video footage of a ten year old girl's birthday appeared on the computer screen. The party lasted for nearly thirty minutes and when she blew the candles on her cake, the footage blended into the white background. Eames shot to his feet. He yanked out the flash disk and threw it across the room.

"Arthur was raped for a video of some little girl's birthday party!" Eames yelled, pulling at his hair. "That son of a bitch Richardson is going to pay."

Cobb couldn't agree more.

When they found Richardson, he was stumbling out of a club with his drunken group of friends. Dom and Eames crossed the desolate street and grabbed a hold of Richardson, leading him away from his friends and towards the parking structure nearby. Eames took a few steps forward while Dom stayed in step with Richardson. When they reached the parking structure, Dom turned around and faced Richardson.

"When I called to inform you that Arthur might be seeking you for help, it wasn't an invitation to rape him," Dom started.

Richardson laughed out loud. "The information he was looking for could potentially ruin so many lives. Sure it's worth something," Richardson explained. "Besides he can't cry rape when he's a whore and enjoys it."

"Pardon me." Eames turned around abruptly. When Richardson didn't respond, Eames stepped into his face and asked, again, "I didn't quite hear what you were saying. What did you say, again?"

"I said-" Ricardson began, but didn't get to finish when Eames fired one fatal shot to his chest.

Cobb quickly grabbed Eames' arm and they rushed out of the parking lot structure. Lowering their eyes to the ground, they briskly walked away, all bundled up in scarves and hats. When they reached an isolated area, they rounded the corner into an empty alleyway. Cobb all but charged at Eames, slamming him into the wall.

"Why the fuck did you just do that?!" Cobb yelled. "We needed him for the job."

"Then I guess we'll have to do the research the old fashion away, isn't that right, Cobb?" Eames responded. "Now get the fuck off of me. I have somewhere I need to be."

Cobb released his hold on Eames. He stepped off and allowed Eames to exit the alleyway. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Eames strolled away. Before stepping out into the busy street, Eames stopped and turned around to find Cobb still grounded where they last stood.

"You're God in his eyes. He looked up to you so much. He'd do anything for your approval."

Eames walked the long stretch of blocks back to the hospital. When he returned to the hospital, Arthur was already asleep in his bed. Eames sat down in the chair next to Arthur's bed and held onto his hand. He stood up and hovered over the point man. He brushed his lips against Arthur's forehead, making Arthur whimpered.

"It's okay," Eames whispered. Arthur blinked his eyes several times before opening them up. His eyes trailed to Eames' massive hand around his much smaller hand. "We need to take a break. Go on a holiday or something."

Arthur shook his head weakly. "Can't. Still so much to do."

"Eames is right." Arthur looked up, finding Cobb standing in the middle of the doorway. "Go on a vacation, Arthur. You deserve it more than anyone else."

"But-"

"No buts, Arthur. This is a mandatory sabbatical I'm enforcing upon you," Dom said to him as he crossed the room toward the hospital bed.

"But then you won't have anyone to help."

"It's okay. I can make dues. Go on and take Eames with you." Dom leaned into Arthur and whispered into his ear. "Just give him a chance. He's infatuated with you and will take good care of you. You will learn to fall in love with him. Trust me on this."

After much reluctance, Arthur ceded and nodded his head. He slumped back in bed and sighed deeply, pulling the sheets over his chest before closing his eyes to rest. Eames squeezed his hand comfortingly.

"The doctors want to keep you overnight for observation. I'll return tomorrow morning to take you away," Eames whispered into Arthur's ear.

Arthur mumbled, "okay", and squeezed Eames' hand in return.

Eames left the confinement of the hospital room with Cobb in tow. When they exited the hospital, Eames turned around abruptly and hugged Cobb tightly. Cobb, never a man of much affection, tentatively reached around Eames to embrace him.

"Thank you," Eames whispered aloud.

Eames needed not explain in full details of his simple gratitude. Cobb knew. He smiled and patted Eames on the back.

"Just take good care of him."

"I will."

"I care about him as much as I care about my own kids."

"I know."

"If you hurt him in any way, I swear to god I'll break every bone in your body."

"I got it! Is there anything else? Because I have a whole lot of packing to do with his collection of three piece suits and all." Eames asked, forcing a laugh.

Cobb shook his head. "No. Go on."

Eames smiled in response. Just as Cobb turned to leave, Eames surprised him with another hug. "Thank you."

"It's the least I can do. Just please take care of him," Cobb replied and walked away, sending Eames on his way to take Arthur away.

Closing Notes: To read all my fics including this one and other Inception Slash stories, visit Aphrodite's Labyrinth. There you'll also find stories inspired by the sparkly boys of 'Nsync like the classic, "A Tale of Two of Boybands", first archived here a decade ago, and some stories inspired by my current muse, Jason Castro. For a complete collection of Jason Castro slash, vist my author's page at Castrofics.