artfulforger | A Shining in Colorado

A Shining in Colorado

Whatever life Arthur and Eames had dreamt of for their future, all of that ended one Halloween when they got drawn into a house they came to know as Rose Red. Since then, their plans of working in dream share for the time they had was gone. Instead they were dealing with the supernatural. Whether they wanted to or not. Even when they tried to ignore it, the preternatural found them time and again, and so they had given in to the spirits and ghouls about them and changed their life plans.

Which was how they ended up in a private car on a long and winding road up the side of a mountain heading for a hotel built by a man with his hand in everything at the turn of the century. The Stanley Hotel.

The owners had been directed to them by someone, and that they couldn't say who recommended them left Eames nervous. Or maybe it was the way they kept heading up, the way the driver had said little, and that all he had found online was a lot, A LOT, of stories about hauntings. Including twin girls and people going missing.

"So... Did you tell Peter where we were? In case we don't come back?" He still found it odd they were relying on a werewolf, but at least they had someone with supernatural knowledge and some serious strength watching their backs.

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There were days when Arthur missed the simplicity (however simple it could be made anyhow) of dream share. That wasn't to say of course that he didn't keep a hand in it whenever he could. Research he could do and did very well, thank you. However, mixing dreams with spirits hadn't turned out very well in the past and they had long since given that up.

The fact that the owners couldn't say who had recommended them made something in his gut clench. A feeling he had long since named his intuition. All signs were pointing to 'leave now and don't turn back'. But they had a job and ever the professional, he didn't turn away a job.

It was a hotel. Over the course of his career, he had spent plenty of time in hotels (before and after Rose Red), so he wasn't sure why this one was giving him the creeps.

He turned away from the scenery and looked at Eames with a nod. "I did and he said if he didn't hear from us in two days, he'll hunt us down himself." It was still odd to him just how their friendship with Peter had turned out. If he were honest, he was sure it was a good thing for Peter as well, getting out of Beacon Hills as he did nowadays.

None of this was kosher and yet, a lot of what they'd had to deal with hadn't been. Yet they had helped in the end, fixed things for others, and he needed to know they were still doing that for all those out there that needed them. So even if they didn't know, could they truly risk someone needing them as others had since that twist in their lives from Rose Red?

Of course that belief that they had to help meant they were sitting ducks. Eames had those thoughts as well.

"Good. See, having a friend that is a deadly kill is a good thing." Then he glanced at Arthur, grinning. "I have two of them," he teased, though he didn't truly think Arthur was a killer. Even if he knew some in the dream share business thought that of Arthur, and Eames had definitely encouraged the rumors. "You find out much about this place?"

It was surprising the amount of good they were able to do doing what they did now. Since they started, they had helped a lot of people/ghosts and it became less about... whatever edge of the law they were on and amassing wealth and became more about what they could do for others.

Though, he did miss the latter part sometimes. Arthur still didn't like it sometimes but after the second, third... even fourth time of trying to do their 'day jobs' and it turning out shit, they had to admit to each other and themselves that this was their new normal. Their new 'day job'.

He turned to look at Eames with an amused smirk. "Who are you trying to convince, yourself or me?" It was a teasing remark before he chuckled and shook his head. "You're just glad we're both on your side." Arthur knew Eames though and knew the forger didn't truly think of him as a killer. No more than he had to be in dream share at least. "Not much more than you, sadly enough. Naturally, The Shining showed up in many of the results. A number of murders and suicides. Phantom children voices and the spotting of the old couple who built the hotel. Still not sure exactly why we're called in but suppose we'll find out soon enough."

Eames had come into the world of crime working tings for himself. He wanted to make a world where he could be happy, where he could have all he wanted. Then he had met Dom and Mal. Then Arthur. Even then his world had begun to change.

Then there had been the house.

Now everything about why Eames acted had changed. He wanted a better life for those they ran into, to fix things that were so wrong.

And to ensure he and Arthur... he just wanted them to stay as they were, to have this relationship he'd never imagined he might actually find.

Everything had changed, and they couldn't risk dream share, but they had more than before, and it wasn't just about the supernatural but one another as well.

"Convincing you. I'm not worried about Peter. I know how to kill him if he ever makes a move on you," he said. Maybe he was teasing. Maybe it was Eames being honest about research he had done. They did study the supernatural, after all.

"I am glad for that though given everything we've faced. Having both of you," he said, reaching to hold Arthur's hand snugly with his own.

"Dd you read about what that shining means? About people who see things and know things that others don't?" He didn't say what he was thinking. Like them. Like they had become after the house.

Arthurs mouth curled up as he gave Eames' hand a squeeze. That was the change Arthur would not give up for anything - them.

This.

This relationship that they continued to work on and improve every day they had together. They spent less time apart these days and more time together working and living.

"I suppose he is a handy one to have around in a tight spot," he said with an amused look. "You know Peter only does it to rile you up." They had studied the supernatural extensively since they began this journey and they had figured out a thing or two regarding werewolves, vampires and witches... and everything else in between and outside of that. They both knew how to handle a werewolf if push came to shove.

"I'm glad to have both of you as well." He had no doubt that if push came to shove, Eames would do what was needed to save him and/or save the both of them.

He nodded and glanced out the window. If he wasn't almost dreading this so much, he may even enjoy the view a little more. "I did. It rang a few bells..." Such as that was exactly what they were now. Arthur turned to look at Eames with a smile. "How about Italy or Spain after this? Or Australia is getting warmer this time of year..."

Arthur was getting the uncanny feeling that he would want to go somewhere warm after this.

No matter what else had happened, they had this. Life changed with Rose Red, and no matter how confusing and twisted and sick and wrong it all seemed to be, it was still the two of them, happy and doing whatever it was they needed to that they could stay together, discover one another and their feelings for each other.

It was all that mattered.

Even when every turn leads them to another haunted house, another possessed soul. They could handle it. All of it. No matter what the universe threw at them.

"If we're living in this world, we have to start befriending those in it," he said with a nod. "Peter is a good start, I think. He's been through a lot, just as we have. I guess we have to try and stick together."

Which meant, eventually, they were going to have to get out and meet others. He wasn't sure who else, how they would meet them, but someone. Others. They might still be human but their lives were not entirely only in the human world.

"You finding that every thing we do lately begins with how do we get out of here after it's over?" He chuckled as he said it, but he paused, considering. "We haven't done Australia, and I haven't been there in years. I think that sounds about right," he admitted.

"You think this shining thing is real though?"

Although they hadn't exactly fully left dream share, the response they had gotten when they stopped going into dreams was surprising. Before, he hadn't truly taken stock of how much value people placed one them both. To his surprise, people didn't believe it and he was sure, somewhere, there were people making bets on when they would return fully. Telling the team they worked with during Inception, namely Cobb and Ariadne, that they were even more surprised that they were taking a step back.

"Do we have to," he asked, a small smirk curling on his mouth. "Although, I suppose we should. Peter is a good start. He's as ornery as we are." He paused, considering Eames' words before chuckling. "I doubt it's easy. I doubt they have 'after work meetup's' for those who do what we do." Not that they did in Dream Share either. It was a very underground thing. Naturally so.

Arthur chuckled. "More specifically, where do we go after this? I have to say, that's pretty much a normal feeling for me after being on the run with Cobb," he admitted, looking at Eames and giving Eames' hand a squeeze.

"Australia then," he agreed with a nod. "Haven't been in years."

He stayed silent for a long minute as he considered his thoughts and feelings regarding what he'd learned about this shining phenomena. "After all we've been through? It adds up to what we've experienced in our own lives since that Damn House. What about you?"

For Eames, it was kind of nice to get back into the forging he did before dream sharing. Documents. Art. Using his hands and not just his minds as he had in dreams. It was something he had been amazing at, what had brought Dom and Mal to him, and he really liked being back on it.

"If we don't, we're blind in this, and you know it." It was how they had made connections in dream share as well. They knew the value of connections. He laughed though at that. "No, I doubt they do, though that would make life so much easier, wouldn't it?"

Not that anything they came across seemed designed to make life easier.

"We go wherever we want," he pointed out. "Unlike dream shares, us being off the grid doesn't stop those in this business from finding us," he pointed out. And it was the truth. They'd been found in a myriad of places, after all.

"I think it is," he said without hesitation. "I think it's real, and it's going to be waiting there for us," he said, quiet but strong in his tone. "I just wonder which of us i will take, well, a shining too?" It was a bad joke, trying to lighten a mood he had set.

Arthur knew that as well as Eames did but didn't change the fact that sometimes his opinion of other people, in general, lacked. Still, he had to admit, it was better safe than sorry. Besides. If other people in the business was as unconventional as Peter? Or as snarky? He suppose there are worse things.

"I know," he admitted with a nod. "I doubt it's going to be easy but maybe they'll have their shit together." And unlike those in their old line business, not as easy to sell out team members.

Arthur's mouth curled up. "Even when we wish it did at times," he said wryly. "At least it means we will never be out of work." Even if, most of the time, they weren't paying jobs.

Better for human kind. Or something like that.

He nodded. He couldn't argue with that. Everything in their lives so far had pointed to as much. Arthur's mouth curled up into a smirk as he glanced over at him. "That is definitely at the bottom of you list of funny jokes," he teased him while taking his hand, giving it a squeeze.

"We'll know soon enough, I imagine. Nearly there."

It was the people where this was actually a bit harder for Eames. Certainly they had both worked with all sorts over the years, but when the all sorts now came as ghosts and werewolves, it was harder than it was before. They had kind of been the very apex of the dreamshare world, but now they were anything but. It was hard for Eames to adjust to.

"You know, I suspect they do. If they didn't, imagine how much of this world that would be outed." This world. Not their world. No matter what Eames sometimes though, this was their world as well now.

Eames snorted a laugh at that. "Like being in the mortuary business, I guess." There was never an end to clients, after all. In this it would be the same.

"It was a bad joke, but we have to be prepared for it," he admitted. "We've seen already how these things tend to draw one of us in." And how bad that could get as well.

Not being at the top of this new world they had found themselves in bothered Arthur a bit, if he were to be completely honest. Though, he had no doubt that they would, at some point, be there because that was the type of men they were. If by shear stubbornness alone.

His mouth curled up just a little and nodded. "It's true. Too many things would be outed if they didn't." It was hard sometimes to realize that this was their life now. They dealt with the unusual and the strange on a daily basis. It was even crazier than the dreams they would build once upon a time ago.

"I know. We'll just have to be prepared."

Still, Arthur couldn't ignore the twisting in his stomach just knowing that something wasn't quite right with this 'job'. They were prepared this time. At least, as prepared as they could be in any case.

Even if they wanted to, going back wasn't possible. This world taking them in had blocked out their ability to go back. Ghosts in the dream share could get a lot of people killed, themselves include. They could drag them all into limbo and never come back. Whether they wanted to or not, going back wasn't possible. Not now, possibly not ever.

"Funny to find out they're less likely to sell one another out than those we've known in the past. " though before it was something not to be believed. In this world, they could all die. Though that brought a thought to Eames.

"I want to ask Peter about hunters. How much do they worry about that, because we need to think about if we need to worry about it." They were helping the supernatural. If there was someone hunting them, there was a chance they would come for Arthur and Eames eventually.

It was definitely trying to be prepared, but he snorted at that. "It's the Stanley Hotel. I don't think there's any being prepared for this, Arthur." Not from what he's read. Not from the reports they found digging around on the internet. Prepared was knowing what they were walking into, but that was about it.

It wasn't as though they hadn't tried either. That first job of his right after they found out had been a job that hadn't gone as smoothly as possible. Never did when you had some sort of creature straight out of Incan mythology.

"Funny to find out they're less likely to sell each other out than those we've known longer," he agreed with an almost annoyed roll of his eyes. How many time had that happened to them put together?

Arthur glanced at him when he mentioned hunters then nodded. "Good point. We'll have to ask about that. I'm curious myself. The last thing we need is to get mixed up with them." It had originally seemed to surprise Peter, if surprise was really an emotion that the werewolf experienced much, that they weren't going in that direction and instead leaning toward helping where they could.

"Remind me again why exactly we took this job..." Though, Arthur knew as well as Eames did why they took it and it was definitely not the money. These jobs never did pay as well as their old jobs did which was a disappointment in of itself.

He smirked at that, but it was a tight, pained look. They had to laugh at it, make fun of it, treat it like it was nothing major because otherwise it would weigh on them and no matter what job they were doing, they couldn't let that happen. For their own lives.

"And we need to be wary if we do have to worry about who we run into when we're doing all of this. And what will stop them if we do." Because he assumed they'd be human, but with the world they're tangled up in, who knew what kind of hate was going on between them all.

"Because if we didn't, we'd be hearing about the next person that disappeared up here and then how would we feel?"

Which was the long and the short of it. They were criminals, but they were good men.

Arthur nodded in agreement. "Exactly. So. Business as usual," he said, glancing at Eames for a moment, tightening his hand around Eames'. His tone may be nonchalant but his eyes, if someone looked hard enough, showed something differently. He didn't have a good feeling about this at all.

"Horrible," he answered his rhetorical question before exhaling a slow breath. He shifted closer to the forger, pressing his leg against Eames'.

It was mere minutes later when the car came to a stop in front of the large hotel. Arthur silently surveyed the hotel then looked at Eames. "Let it be said on the record that I do not have a good feeling about this." Not that Eames felt any better, he was sure.

He laughed, the sound not quite as bitter as he felt thinking about it. His fingers held Arthur's securely, not willing to let go while they're dealing with all of this. He wanted to cling to him, to hold him tight. Just because this was becoming so normal doesn't mean that it is easier, or becoming more normal to them. Normal didn't make it entirely okay.

That was all the encouragement Eames needed though, moving to slide his arm around Arthur and pull him closer. "We'll handle it and make it okay," he murmured, leaning over to kiss the shell of Arthur's ear.

"Oh? You have a bad feeling about the huge creepy hotel," he murmured, hugging Arthur once more. "Seconded though."

Arthur went willingly and settled into Eames' hold. He was thankful that if he was going through this with someone, it would be the forger. He nodded. "We will," he agreed, resting a hand on Eames' leg, giving it a squeeze.

His mouth quirked up wryly. "Imagine that," he said, looking over the hotel. "This is the first one in a long time that has given me this sense of dread." They practically lived out of hotels and more recently AirBnBs. He was no stranger to them but this one? No thanks.

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A Shining in Colorado

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