Inception Arthur/Eames short fics
Holy crap I'm nervous.
Okay, so I decided, "This is it, no more beating around the bush, I'm going to post these damn dabbles because I need to post something on my journal already and I wrote these an hour ago, and I think they sound okay."
(...and that wasn't a long, rambling, run-on sentence.)
I hope you enjoy them! They're each inspired by the frequently over-used songs noted in the summary.
I. Known
Rating: PG
Word Count: 399
Summary: "The last reason to make this last for as long as I could" from Make This Go On Forever by Snow Patrol
Arthur looks down at the work spread across the desk in front of him and can't remember the last time he had done anything different. Okay, that's a lie. He knows damn well that the last time he had accomplished anything that wasn't Point-related, or even Dream-Share related was the first time he had found Eames.
Eames was like nothing and no one else he had ever met, or probably ever will. He's the wild-card, the loaded die, the chameleon, the weathered antique chair with too many scuff marks that remains charming despite them. Arthur realizes he's obsessing a bit much over correct analogies concerning Eames but he can't bring himself to care. The only thing he's focused on is that the first time he started living the life he has, the life he wants, the life he loves, is the first time he encountered Eames.
His coffee is going cold, his computer has gone into sleep-mode, his back is getting stiff from sitting in one position too long, and Arthur can't bring himself to care. He's too busy thinking that the only times he's really happy, the only times he's really alive, are when he's working in dreams, when he's working with Eames, when he's with Eames.
And just like that he's out of his chair, the scrape of the legs against the floor not even heard as he bolts out the door and outside, running, as fast as he can, to where he knows Eames is getting take-out for the rest of the crew. He skids around the corner of Second and Henry to almost run full tilt into Eames himself, arms full of food, eyes wide and surprised.
"Arth-" he doesn't get anything more than that out as Arthur grabs him and reels him in, kissing him hard and full, food be damned. Eames is solid and real under his hands and making pained noises. Or maybe that's Arthur, who finds himself repeating like a broken record, over and over again, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I need you to forgive me, oh God I'm sorry."
And Eames, who reads people like others read books, who understands people, who understands Arthur, kisses back and then holds him close, murmuring, "I know, I know, I know Arthur. I know."
Because Arthur doesn't need to say "I love you" out loud for Eames to hear it.
II. Truth
Rating: PG
Word Count: 215
Summary: "All this time I was wasting hoping you would come around. I've been giving out chances every time and all you do is let me down" from You're Not Sorry by Taylor Swift
The clock is ticking out a beat against the comfortable silence of his flat, a counterpoint to the turmoil in his head. He is not a complicated man but this is a complicated problem, or at least he's making it complicated somehow. Not that it is really that surprising considering he takes people, complex human beings, and copies them for a living. And yet, the hardest problems have the simplest answers. If you can distill it down into one sentence, one word, you're well on your way to fixing it. And that's just it, Eames doesn't want to find the simple answer because that would mean he'd have to face it, and even he knows that he's a coward.
He gnaws on his lip as he observes his phone sitting harmlessly on the table. Hard to think that this is the source of his frustrations but it's now become undeniable. The only reason he checks it religiously, the only reason he has it on all the bloody time, is that he's hoping for one specific call, from one particular person. Specificity...
Eames scrubs a hand over his face and steels his nerves against the impending truth, and takes a deep breath, facing it with his eyes wide open.
Arthur is never going to call him.
III. Eames
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 195
Summary: "When you lose something you can't replace; when you love someone but it goes to waste" from Fix You by Coldplay
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Arthur's feet on the pavement, Arthur's heartbeat, Arthur's fist against the side of the building, Arthur's reality catching up with him. These things, they all have a common denominator; Eames.
It always comes back to Eames.
Arthur is crying, messily, and he can't even begin to care, because there was no way this was ever supposed to have happened, there was no room in any of his plans for this. He's only still alive because he's been trained for this, for his body to betray him and take over when his mind shuts down. Inside he's a howling mess, and outside it's a howling mess; a storm of gunfire, spitting a rain of bullets around him as he ducks down an alley way and bangs his arm on a dumpster. The sound of car tires goes past him and he realizes he's free. He made it clear of the gunfire and the men trying to kill him. He's alive and whole, a sobbing and torn mess, panting and on his knees in some back street, with the late afternoon sun burning his eyes, and never has it felt more like death.
IV. Light
Rating: PG
Word Count: 263
Summary: "Suddenly my eyes flew open, everything comes into focus" from Illuminated by Hurts
The drops of light slide down the windowpane, like tears or crystal beads of glass, bright white, and it hurts to look at them for too long. The soft, golden glow of the candlelight illuminates them, casting dancing rays of light to scatter across the table and around the room.
They stand quietly side by side in front of the fireplace and breathe together. Eames takes Arthur's warm hand in his, tangling his thick fingers with Arthur's long, graceful ones.
"You know we can't stay here." Arthur says this practically but he knows Eames can hear the regret in his voice.
"No, we can't." Eames answers because the comfortable atmosphere of the room requires it; needs to be kept. Neither makes any indication to move, instead continuing to watch the light drip down the windowpane. The counter is running down, hours ticking away quicker and quicker, and yet the time around them moves with the same, quiet flow.
"How do we know we'll wake up?" Arthur finally asks, fingers touching his die. The unspoken both of us is implied. They know they're dreaming. They can feel the counter running. They both know someone is going to wake up soon. Eames' smile is bittersweet.
"How do you know if reality is even real?" he counters. Arthur thinks about it for a moment.
"Then nothing but this matters," he answers firmly. "As long as we're both together." Eames' answering smile is brighter than the sun, blinding in fact, and Arthur reaches towards it, hoping to steal a bit of that before everything he knows is darkened.
V. In-between
Rating: PG
Word Count: 260
Summary: "The time between meeting and finally leaving is sometimes called falling in love" from Falling in Love by Lisa Loeb
They knew this couldn't last but that hadn't mattered at the time, both of them high on dreams and sitting on top of the world, literally and metaphorically. Drunk on champagne and adrenaline, they'd shared their first kiss, unimaginatively, in the back of a taxi cab in New York. Arthur had rubbed a smudge off Eames' cheek and then they'd been kissing. Arthur had invited Eames' up to his apartment and Eames had stayed.
And then one night Eames hadn't come home.
Arthur had picked up the ringing cell phone at four in the morning with a scratchy "Hello?" and heard,
"Hey, I don't think I'm going to make it back anytime soon." Arthur could hear other people talking in the background, like you get in a crowded room. "This job may take longer than I'd planned."
"Okay," Arthur had said. "Okay." He blinked sleepily. He hung up a second later after Eames had whispered goodnight.
It sounded more like goodbye, and they both knew it.
----
Cobb went to get Eames in Mombasa, and Eames was surprised Arthur was still with Cobb. He came back to meet with them and Arthur was surprised how much Eames still annoyed him. They both had forgotten how much fun it was to work a job together. Neither had forgotten what it had felt like to be in love with each other. Or how hard it had been to keep it that way.
Neither one of them said anything to each other when they left the airport except "goodbye".
It was easier that way.
Okay, so I decided, "This is it, no more beating around the bush, I'm going to post these damn dabbles because I need to post something on my journal already and I wrote these an hour ago, and I think they sound okay."
(...and that wasn't a long, rambling, run-on sentence.)
I hope you enjoy them! They're each inspired by the frequently over-used songs noted in the summary.
I. Known
Rating: PG
Word Count: 399
Summary: "The last reason to make this last for as long as I could" from Make This Go On Forever by Snow Patrol
Arthur looks down at the work spread across the desk in front of him and can't remember the last time he had done anything different. Okay, that's a lie. He knows damn well that the last time he had accomplished anything that wasn't Point-related, or even Dream-Share related was the first time he had found Eames.
Eames was like nothing and no one else he had ever met, or probably ever will. He's the wild-card, the loaded die, the chameleon, the weathered antique chair with too many scuff marks that remains charming despite them. Arthur realizes he's obsessing a bit much over correct analogies concerning Eames but he can't bring himself to care. The only thing he's focused on is that the first time he started living the life he has, the life he wants, the life he loves, is the first time he encountered Eames.
His coffee is going cold, his computer has gone into sleep-mode, his back is getting stiff from sitting in one position too long, and Arthur can't bring himself to care. He's too busy thinking that the only times he's really happy, the only times he's really alive, are when he's working in dreams, when he's working with Eames, when he's with Eames.
And just like that he's out of his chair, the scrape of the legs against the floor not even heard as he bolts out the door and outside, running, as fast as he can, to where he knows Eames is getting take-out for the rest of the crew. He skids around the corner of Second and Henry to almost run full tilt into Eames himself, arms full of food, eyes wide and surprised.
"Arth-" he doesn't get anything more than that out as Arthur grabs him and reels him in, kissing him hard and full, food be damned. Eames is solid and real under his hands and making pained noises. Or maybe that's Arthur, who finds himself repeating like a broken record, over and over again, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I need you to forgive me, oh God I'm sorry."
And Eames, who reads people like others read books, who understands people, who understands Arthur, kisses back and then holds him close, murmuring, "I know, I know, I know Arthur. I know."
Because Arthur doesn't need to say "I love you" out loud for Eames to hear it.
II. Truth
Rating: PG
Word Count: 215
Summary: "All this time I was wasting hoping you would come around. I've been giving out chances every time and all you do is let me down" from You're Not Sorry by Taylor Swift
The clock is ticking out a beat against the comfortable silence of his flat, a counterpoint to the turmoil in his head. He is not a complicated man but this is a complicated problem, or at least he's making it complicated somehow. Not that it is really that surprising considering he takes people, complex human beings, and copies them for a living. And yet, the hardest problems have the simplest answers. If you can distill it down into one sentence, one word, you're well on your way to fixing it. And that's just it, Eames doesn't want to find the simple answer because that would mean he'd have to face it, and even he knows that he's a coward.
He gnaws on his lip as he observes his phone sitting harmlessly on the table. Hard to think that this is the source of his frustrations but it's now become undeniable. The only reason he checks it religiously, the only reason he has it on all the bloody time, is that he's hoping for one specific call, from one particular person. Specificity...
Eames scrubs a hand over his face and steels his nerves against the impending truth, and takes a deep breath, facing it with his eyes wide open.
Arthur is never going to call him.
III. Eames
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 195
Summary: "When you lose something you can't replace; when you love someone but it goes to waste" from Fix You by Coldplay
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Arthur's feet on the pavement, Arthur's heartbeat, Arthur's fist against the side of the building, Arthur's reality catching up with him. These things, they all have a common denominator; Eames.
It always comes back to Eames.
Arthur is crying, messily, and he can't even begin to care, because there was no way this was ever supposed to have happened, there was no room in any of his plans for this. He's only still alive because he's been trained for this, for his body to betray him and take over when his mind shuts down. Inside he's a howling mess, and outside it's a howling mess; a storm of gunfire, spitting a rain of bullets around him as he ducks down an alley way and bangs his arm on a dumpster. The sound of car tires goes past him and he realizes he's free. He made it clear of the gunfire and the men trying to kill him. He's alive and whole, a sobbing and torn mess, panting and on his knees in some back street, with the late afternoon sun burning his eyes, and never has it felt more like death.
IV. Light
Rating: PG
Word Count: 263
Summary: "Suddenly my eyes flew open, everything comes into focus" from Illuminated by Hurts
The drops of light slide down the windowpane, like tears or crystal beads of glass, bright white, and it hurts to look at them for too long. The soft, golden glow of the candlelight illuminates them, casting dancing rays of light to scatter across the table and around the room.
They stand quietly side by side in front of the fireplace and breathe together. Eames takes Arthur's warm hand in his, tangling his thick fingers with Arthur's long, graceful ones.
"You know we can't stay here." Arthur says this practically but he knows Eames can hear the regret in his voice.
"No, we can't." Eames answers because the comfortable atmosphere of the room requires it; needs to be kept. Neither makes any indication to move, instead continuing to watch the light drip down the windowpane. The counter is running down, hours ticking away quicker and quicker, and yet the time around them moves with the same, quiet flow.
"How do we know we'll wake up?" Arthur finally asks, fingers touching his die. The unspoken both of us is implied. They know they're dreaming. They can feel the counter running. They both know someone is going to wake up soon. Eames' smile is bittersweet.
"How do you know if reality is even real?" he counters. Arthur thinks about it for a moment.
"Then nothing but this matters," he answers firmly. "As long as we're both together." Eames' answering smile is brighter than the sun, blinding in fact, and Arthur reaches towards it, hoping to steal a bit of that before everything he knows is darkened.
V. In-between
Rating: PG
Word Count: 260
Summary: "The time between meeting and finally leaving is sometimes called falling in love" from Falling in Love by Lisa Loeb
They knew this couldn't last but that hadn't mattered at the time, both of them high on dreams and sitting on top of the world, literally and metaphorically. Drunk on champagne and adrenaline, they'd shared their first kiss, unimaginatively, in the back of a taxi cab in New York. Arthur had rubbed a smudge off Eames' cheek and then they'd been kissing. Arthur had invited Eames' up to his apartment and Eames had stayed.
And then one night Eames hadn't come home.
Arthur had picked up the ringing cell phone at four in the morning with a scratchy "Hello?" and heard,
"Hey, I don't think I'm going to make it back anytime soon." Arthur could hear other people talking in the background, like you get in a crowded room. "This job may take longer than I'd planned."
"Okay," Arthur had said. "Okay." He blinked sleepily. He hung up a second later after Eames had whispered goodnight.
It sounded more like goodbye, and they both knew it.
----
Cobb went to get Eames in Mombasa, and Eames was surprised Arthur was still with Cobb. He came back to meet with them and Arthur was surprised how much Eames still annoyed him. They both had forgotten how much fun it was to work a job together. Neither had forgotten what it had felt like to be in love with each other. Or how hard it had been to keep it that way.
Neither one of them said anything to each other when they left the airport except "goodbye".
It was easier that way.