Wherever You Will Be (That's Where I'll Call Home)

Fanfiction
Title:	Wherever You Will Be (That's Where I'll Call Home); aka domesticverse
Author(s):	gyzym
Date(s):	September–October 2010
Length:	8 individual stories totalling 74,829 words
Genre(s):	Arthur/Eames slash
Fandom(s):	Inception
Relationship(s):
External Links:	Series Masterpost on Livejournal, Series on AO3
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Wherever You Will Be (That's Where I'll Call Home), also known as The Domesticverse, is a classic series in the Inception fandom by gyzym.

The series follows the development of Arthur and Eames' relationship, mostly post-canon, though the first installment of the series takes place before and during the events of the film.

It also features Ariadne/Yusuf as a side pairing, with one part of the series (Part 6, take the long way home (soft as the radio)) told from Ariadne's point of view and focusing on her growing relationship with Yusuf, as well as her perspective on Arthur and Eames' relationship.

The series is classic curtainfic, and is celebrated for how normal it makes the lives of Arthur and Eames, in comparison to the high-risk, high-octane events of the film. At the same time, the series deals with the reality of a relationship between two professional dreamsharers, with Arthur experiencing night terrors and Eames returning from a job gone wrong with extensive injuries.

The Domesticverse was one of the first long fics in the Inception fandom, and is credited for originating a number of headcanons regarding Arthur and Eames which have since become embedded in fanon. These include Arthur's driving prowess and Mal having taught him how to drive, Eames' cooking skills (and Arthur, by comparison, being an awful cook), Arthur being a terrible morning person, and Eames being the son of an emotionally distant and wealthy family.

Additional Ficlets & Installments

On 30 December 2010, gyzym published a New Year's ficlet to LiveJournal which takes place in The Domesticverse, depicting Arthur and Eames' first New Year as a sort-of couple. It is around 2,500 words and takes place between Part 1 of The Domesticverse, 'between my reflex & my resolve', and Part 2, 'this life looks good on you'.

The summary reads:

On the one hand, they've been…whatever they are…for six whole months, which is probably long enough to trust that Arthur means it when he says Eames can go. On the other hand, it's only been six months, which is not nearly long enough for Eames to take it on faith that Arthur isn't testing him somehow.

In addition to the eight existing parts of The Domesticverse, the series (which is listed as incomplete on AO3) also has at least one additional installment that has yet to be finished.

On 1 February 2011, gyzym posted a "WIP dump" to LiveJournal which featured a 300-word ficlet about Arthur sleepwalking, part of an Anastasia AU, and "2,000 words of the new domesticverse featuring a new OC that I'll explain the purpose of at some point".

The excerpt from The Domesticverse centres on Arthur having a severe allergy to mango which he did not disclose to Eames, and takes place after the existing eight parts of the series - Ariadne and Yusuf are shown to be fully in a relationship by this point. It has yet to be published in completed form, and the author has not made any more posts to their LiveJournal under the domesticverse tag since it was posted.

Fan Comments About the Series

Dreaming Readers Book Club Discussion

Dreaming Readers is an Inception fanfic "book club" on Tumblr and LiveJournal in which readers gather to discuss the themes and nuances of Inception fanfics, which have been nominated and voted on by the community.

In May 2016, the group discussed the Domesticverse series, split across two posts: the first dealt with parts 1-4, and the second with parts 5,7&8. (Part 6, the Ariadne/Yusuf fic, was discussed during rarepair week). Among the themes discussed by the group were:

• How the first story in the series (between my reflex & my resolve) differs from the rest of the 'verse
• The dreamshare world
• Arthur and Eames' different ways of expressing affection
• Competence kink
• Family backgrounds
• Sex as a means of moving the plot forward emotionally
• Arthur's eventual declaration of love to Eames, and what it means for his character
• The series' influence on fanon

Some comments about the series from the discussion:

I feel like you can trace the faultlines of this 'verse through the fandom. It could be some kind of archeological missions. Like the Penis of Eames.

WHenever I feel down, I can read this verse and feel better. I've read it so many times now, but it just never ever gets boring and I get excited every time I start again, I squeal out loud at the same places every time...reading this verse feels like coming home, sorry for being a corny, sappy cliche, but just...so many fics are so great, but in a lot of them, there's conflict between Arthur and Eames at one point, and even though it can make for a brilliant story, sometimes I just enjoy reading about two happy people in love, who aren't perfect by any means, who try, and fail, and try again and who are SO REAL it hurts my heart.

So many things in this have been used by others and that's absolutely lovely! Half of this verse makes up my headcanon, and I think it's beautiful that we can be inspired by each other as well as the original material. That's what makes the inception fandom so awesome, that no one is super inent on *only* doing their own thng, on creating a completely seperate world from everyone else, but that we let our works influence each other and build up together.

It occurred to me last night that this series is about *breadth* of love as well as depth. There's so much wonderful fic that gives a picture of how Arthur & Eames (or any pair) fall in love or shows examples of how deep that love goes, but this fic more asks the question "Okay, you're in love...so now what?" (Which, back to last week, is I think one of the reasons that first fic is so necessary. It's the first part of the question.) Now your love has to stand up not only to dream world danger, it has to stand up to sickness and paying the bills and cooking dinner and visiting family and self-doubt and death. How does your relationship adapt to real life and to time? It's about all the...I don't know...arms? love grows to reach out and wrap around each other. Also about the fact that "in love" is an ongoing thing, not an end goal.

Barring Towards Zero, this is my favorite Inception fic that's out there. It took me a distressingly long time to discover, but it has everything you can possibly love about the Inception fandom. Epic dreamsharing, gun fights, skipping around the world- with added bonuses of shitty dogeared paperbacks Arthur wouldn't be caught dead reading piled on the coffee table, and half-finished crosswords tucked into the bookshelves. There's funerals and Eames getting sick and the both of them being stupidly in love.

Other Reactions

I think I’ve reread this series more than anything else in my life because it’s just wonderful. It’s sweetly romantic without being cloying, it’s physically painful at times from the family drama, but there are scenes from these fics which are utterly unforgettable.