It was raining the day that Dominic Cobb had informed Arthur, much later than he should have as he did most things, that an impromptu interview had fallen into his lap. The man, who had spoken through a mouthful of homemade macaroon, cake spilling from his lips with each mumbled word, had found the forger (who apparently was called Eames, though Arthur wasn't sure that kind of man was simply and only called 'Eames') by sheer dumb luck.
"He's really something." His tongue slipped over his lips to remove the bits of pastry left there and when he wiped the seafoam green crumbs from his shirt and onto the floor Arthur watched with a vein throbbing in his temple. "Swear to God, I thought this Monet was genuine. I want to put him under and see what he can do."
There had been jealousy at first, a young jaded boy who had been let down by his parents all too happy to let Cobb pick him up, and immediately skeptical of any other strays he felt inclined to take in. His ability to mimic convincingly in dreams was, at best, mediocre and though he knew that to be fact, an interview with Eames meant that Arthur had failed. There would be no other chances, no further tests, just a man with a last name for a first who painted and forged so flawlessly that Dom had invited him into his world, their world.
"I need you to pick him up from the airport. He's flying in on a red eye and you know I need to be here with Mal."
That's what he had used to tug hard enough on Arthur's collar to make him move. In the months since their announcement, Mal had been only growing rounder in the midsection, waking up at odd hours of the night in need of late night grocery runs or emotional pep talks from her husband when she wound up in unexplainable tears. The truth was that the boy would have done anything for a woman who had shown him nothing but kindness in his few years on Earth and it was a favorite card to play of Cobb's, sending Arthur, albeit begrudgingly, on errands he found just too undesirable to attend to himself.
From day to night Paris was two different cities and with the sun quietly tucked away for the evening, the streets were aglow in an ethereal manner that pressed dimples into Arthur's pale cheeks. He had never had any qualms with the night time, greeting it instead as an old friend that had been there unfailingly in his bouts of endless insomnia. He preferred hours like this, more actually, the streets that passed outside of his taxi window void of the bustling crowds that did something to take away from the timeless architecture he loved and knew so intimately. Orbs of light reflected from the passing structures and lit up his tired mahogany hues and when the car stopped outside of the airport he had nearly forgotten his task entirely, waking suddenly from his trance when the driver whistled to gain his attention.
Arthur was, in a word, lanky. For a boy of his age he was a bit taller than most but his long torso and limbs were slender and toned with a hint of lean muscle. His skin was quite pale in a way that would have looked sickly on others but suited him fantastically, beautiful in contrast to the dark irises of his eyes and the dark wavy curls of hair that hung just about his shoulders. He was eternally youthful,(when Mal had discovered the phrase 'baby-faced' she had been absolutely delighted to describe Arthur that way) a demi-god on Earth who carried the swagger of an attitude much too large for him in the gait of his walk. On this particular evening he had clad his mortal form in pair of well fitted jeans, a dark v-neck, and a cardigan and although it was perhaps a tad more casual than his usual attire he had managed to pull it off wonderfully.
In no time at all he had reached the terminal of Eames' incoming flight, propping himself up against a column as he awaited the plane's arrival. Though he hadn't been tipped off to what exactly their new forger extraordinaire looked like, he had been given a plain white sign, EAMES written in thick black ink across it and he held it to his chest, closing his eyes for a moment as he fended off sleep.