Arthur liked Paris, had liked it since the first time he had visited. He was not so secretly siding with Miles and Madeleine to get Dom to agree to move back here, if not to Paris then at least to France. He wasn't opposed to Toulouse either.
Anyway, he was in Paris, sitting at one of the sidewalk tables and reading Le Figaro until a man said:
"I couldn't believe it when you called me but you're really here."
Arthur looked up. "Sit."
The other man obliged, still grinning at Arthur: "Cleo said that you had retired."
"She was wrong."
"I just thought you didn't take jobs outside the US."
"Apparently not." Arthur took a sip of his coffee.
"Are you still working with that legendary team of yours?"
"Is there a point in your questions?" Arthur asked sharply, mildly annoyed.
"Just catching up with an old colleague."
"We haven't been colleagues since Barcelona." Arthur reminded him and a mock painful look passed the other's face.
"Do you always have to remind me of that?"
"Would you rather I talked about Kingstown?" Arthur's tone made it clear that it was a rhetorical question: "What do you have for me?"
"At one point this stops being me owing you one and starts to become bribery." But he pulled out a folder that he lay on the table.
"Do you want me to remind you about Singapore?" The hint of a smile took the edge out of Arthur's voice.
"I hope you're putting Cleo through a similar humiliation," the man muttered.
"Who said something about Cleo?"
"A job like this?" The man snorted: "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't have a flight booked to Accre."
"No comment," Arthur replied but he could as well have said yes. The other man gave him a long look before he stood up and said:
"Enjoy your coffee. I'll see you around."
/
A sign over the door proclaimed: Adesi's Palace. The place certainly didn't live up to its name but the yellow paint on the walls was fresh and it generally had a clean and comfortable air about it.
"Arthur." Cleo waved at him as soon as he came through the door and when she didn't leave for the back office but stayed behind the bar, he sat down in front of her on one of the stools.
"I usually expect people to pay when they come in here." She looked him up and down as if she found it doubtful that he had any money with him.
"And I know that you do." Arthur reached inside his jacket and pulled out a handwritten list and a thick envelope and put both on the counter in front of her. She took the list and skimmed over it.
"Is that all for the job or does your chemist have a new experiment going on?"
"Both." She nodded, still looking at the list.
"Tell Yusuf to come by in a week. I'll have what he needs by then."
"You've been known to work faster than that," Arthur teased her a little.
"I've been known not to own a restaurant." She looked straight at him: "Some of us stay retired."
"You've been talking with Joe."
"I had to after what Tadashi told me about the Cobol job. What happened to Nash was extremely nasty. I had to make sure what you're involved with this time before I help you."
"Nash tried to rat us out."
"You left us," she reminded him: "For a one time architect."
Arthur shrugged.
"I hope he's worth it," Cleo said, pocketing the money: "Where are you going next?"
"Saitama."
"Tadashi?"
"We need a look out."
"I've heard you have a pretty young architect on your team. Wouldn't she be perfect for the job?"
"Tadashi is old enough to make his own decisions," Arthur argued.
"He doesn't owe you anything. Why do you do this?"
"Because he wants to."
"His mother-" Cleo began but Arthur interrupted her:
"-is dead. And raised between the four of us did you really think he would turn his back on our business?" He stood up from the stool: "It was nice to see you again."
He was halfway to the door when Cleo said quietly:
"What if it were your kids?" He didn't hesitate at her words and didn't look back when he opened the door and left her.
/
Saitama was only the tenth biggest city in Japan but it was the youngest one and close to Tokyo. Arthur could easily see why Tadashi had chosen Saitama as what he called his 'home base' and approved of his choice.
"I heard you have a job for me?" Tadashi had never been one for small talk, at least not when it wasn't necessary: "I hope you won't cut me out again as soon as it becomes interesting."
"You were part of the Saito Job not of the Fisher Job." Arthur reminded him but Tadashi only whistled snidely.
"So, what is it? Am I going to sit around, waiting for you and Cobb to do the actual work again?"
"Yes."
"You said you would train me."
"I said I would consider it." Cleo would murder him in his sleep if he ever did take Tadashi as his student. Tadashi, however, wasn't fooled.
"I found someone else."
"Who?"
"A thief, a forger, according to the rumour mill they're one of the best." If the name that followed was Eames Arthur would shoot him, and it wouldn't be in a dream.
"Do they have a name?"
"Yes," Tadashi smirked: "But don't worry, I told them that I have a job to do beforehand."
"How considerate of you." Arthur was going to kill Eames damn slowly before he could lay a finger on Tadashi but there was no need for him to give him a clue, so he gave Tadashi an envelope.
Without opening it Tadashi asked: "Place, date and plane tickets? Don't tell me you came all the way to Saitama to give me that." His smirk was inviting in a way that Arthur found mildly unsettling: "You could stay the night, you know?"
"I can't."
"Let me guess, you need to visit someone who owes you." Tadashi rolled his eyes.
"Having favours that you can call in is essential as a point man."
"I know, you told me often enough." He caught Arthur's arm with his hand: "Are you not going to tell what kind of job it is?"
"Dom will tell you with everyone else at the team briefing." The inviting smile slipped from Tadashi's face and was replaced with barely concealed disappointment.
"So, it's true what they say. You really chose him."
"You knew that."
"Not a hundred percent." Tadashi caught Arthur's look and held up his hands: "Hey, don't look at me like that. A boy can dream, can't he?"
/
There were actually two people in Japan that owed Arthur favours that would be helpful for this job. One of his visits was pleasant, the other one...less so. Arthur hated it when people made a fuss about it when he reminded them that they were in his debt, after all he wasn't the one who was responsible for their past mistakes.
In the end it did go through without too much difficulty but he was still relieved when he was sitting on a plane headed for Los Angeles.
/
The house was quiet when he opened the door, slipped out of his shoes and left his jacket on the coat hook above them. Victoria was the first one the greet him, followed by Misto and Macavity, the latter pretending that he had missed Arthur by prowling around his legs.
Arthur ignored them to follow the light that came from the half open kitchen door. Dom sat at the counter eating cereal. It was one of those annoying habits that Arthur hoped Phillipa and James would never develop.
Dom looked up when Arthur came in, smiled and said:
"Hi."
"Hi." Arthur answered, his smile a bit more amused than Dom's because he could see a stripe of pink glitter smeared on Dom's cheek. He walked in until he stood on the other side of the counter and gently wiped the glitter from Dom's cheek.
"Thanks." Dom said and leaned into the touch. Travelling around the world took time and three weeks could be incredibly long especially if you were as used to each other's presence as they were.
"Where did that come from?" Arthur nodded towards the rest of smeared glitter on his hand.
"One of Phillipa's friends had a Disney Princess party today. Phillipa sparkled from top to toe when I picked her up."
They were both silent for a few moments until Dom's face grew more serious and he asked:
"Did everything work out?"
"Yes." Arthur never bothered him with the details. Cleo, Tadashi, his old unit...they were part of his work life not of his private life and he had always been careful not to let the two collide, well, he looked at Dom, not too much at least.
"Did you tell Miles and Madeleine that..." He trailed off.
Surprisingly Mal's parents were both rather supportive of Dom's and Arthur's relationship, Arthur actually suspected that they had known before either he or Dom had realised but it still made a huge difference to them whether it was him who was travelling through the world for weeks and weeks on end or whether it was Dom (again).
"I did." Dom traced invisible circles on the counter top.
"What did they say?" Living with Dom had taught Arthur that sometimes he had to push for an answer, as much as he didn't like to do it.
"The usual." Arthur grimaced. The usual meant that Madeline had yelled every French curse at Dom that existed and Miles had sat down with him and told him in that nice, calm voice that he thought that Dom was a horrible father.
Dom shortly looked up at Arthur, then down at his hands again: "I thought maybe you could stay with them, so that Phillipa and James won't lose both of us."
Arthur was about to protest but bit his lip before he could actually open his mouth. Instead he said:
"Or we could just bring them with us."
Dom gave him a sharp look: "What?"
"We could move back to France. It would be easier for Miles, easier for us, too. Ariadne is there and Mombasa is a lot nearer to France than to California." A bit hurriedly he added: "It doesn't have to be Paris either."
"I don't know." Dom had that look on his face, that look Arthur hated because he knew Dom was thinking about Mal.
"You don't have to, it was just an idea." Dom nodded at that.
"Do you want to go back?" he asked: "I know that you like Paris." His hand found Arthur's on the counter top and his fingers curled around Arthur's.
"I'm sorry I made you move here without ever asking." He sounded like he meant it and Arthur felt his face grow hot with embarrassment. They had never really talked about their relationship. After Mal's shadow had been lifted from their lives, he and Dom had more or less fallen into this because it had felt right and sure, they had talked about it but never in great detail.
Arthur shrugged: "Like I said, it was just an idea." Victoria jumped onto the counter and mewed as if she agreed. Then she yawned and stretched, looking incredibly cute even for an already cute, white kitten. Arthur smiled involuntarily and scratched her behind the ears. Dom caught Arthur's hand in his again:
"I think that's our cue to go to bed, as well." This time it was Arthur who tangled their fingers together.
"I think you're right." Without releasing their hands, Arthur walked around the counter until he stood in front of Dom, moving an errant strand out of his face: "You need a shower." He pointed at the rest of the smeared glitter on Dom's cheek.
"Do I?" Dom asked playfully. Arthur let his free hand rest between Dom's neck and shoulder when he leaned down to kiss him: "Yes, I think you do, Mr. Cobb."
Dom hummed in agreement against Arthur's lips: "Then lead the way, Mr. Cobb."
Everything else could wait for another day.