Prompt Post No. 9
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Welcome to Round 9 of the Inception Kink Meme. This post will be closed to new prompts once it reaches five thousand comments.
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Somewhere along the way, someone brings alcohol (which, honestly, Arthur was surprised was not there from the start, but perhaps Yusuf has played one too many practical jokes for anyone to ever drink anything supplied by him).
The PARcans are rearranged to provide some sort of dramatic lighting and Yusuf and Nash begin to tell techie lore to the newer students. Arthur can't quite hear, but it sounds like it’s about the disaster that was the Company set and seeing as how he was stuck holding it up for an hour after Yusuf realised belatedly that the measurements for the crossbracing was off, leaving Nash to quickly find a solution before the entire set collapsed around them, he figures he's not missing much.
"I saw it twice and would have never guessed it was that unsafe." says an amused voice in an unmistakable British accent from behind Arthur.
"What happened to this being tech crew only?" he grinds out, refusing to turn to look at Eames.
"Ariadne brought me along, something about getting in character." He says, which is the most blatant lie Arthur has heard in a while, because Ariadne, currently leading the circle of techies in a perfectly on-key rendition of 'One Day More' (with appropriately altered lyrics), loved abstract, conceptual sets and Eames was very, very definitely not Paul.
"I saw Company twice" Eames repeats into the silence, in a softer, slower voice, "because I couldn't understand how I came away feeling I knew both everything and nothing about the characters. How it felt like I had known Robert all my life, but could tell you nothing concrete about him." He pauses long enough that Arthur turns, not understanding the point Eames is trying to make. "Then I realised: it was the costumes." Arthur stares at him, suspicious, trying to see any signs that Eames is making fun of him. When he sees none, he comments,
"Funny. My advisor disagreed. She said it lacked imagination."
"At first glance, it's just a sea of black suits and dresses, but then you notice the details--how Amy's hem is fraying, like she's been picking at it; how Peter's tie colour suggests old New England money; how Sarah's dress doesn't quite fit properly, like her weight's changed since she bought it." And despite himself, Arthur feels the corners of his mouth tugging up into a smile, because Eames just noticed the details nobody else had, so when Eames says "and your costume for Martha. I would never accuse you of lacking imagination," then does such an accurate imitation of the actress who played Martha lounging back on the piano that Arthur forgets he made a fool of himself a week earlier, forgets the innuendo tacked onto that last sentence and smiles. He knows he must be smiling widely enough for his dimples to show because his cheeks are hurting and a sudden delighted grin is crossing Eames's features.
It's worth accidentally stepping on a discarded slice of pizza to kiss the insufferable expression off his face.
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----
He watches the final dress from the audience, sandwiched between Yusuf and Dom. This performance also served as a free preview for students and faculty of the university, so his main role tonight is to stop Dom from interrupting the run of the show unless absolutely necessary (which, at one point, includes handing Eames's scarf over to Mal to use as a gag. She gives him a look that is far too gleefully approving (which is uncalled for, because the scarf was forcefully wound around his neck earlier in the week, when Eames noticed him shivering) before shoving the green and purple monstrosity into Dom's mouth. A worthy sacrifice, as far as Arthur is concerned).
The show goes well, much better than any of the shows Arthur has been involved in recently. The last production he worked on with Dom, 'Inception', had been post-modernist and scrambled together at the last minute. Each night had been a mad dash to the final line, the tech crew working to keep the set and lights appearing functional and the cast improvising their lines around the constantly changing set. Arthur had been stage manager and had no desire to ever repeat the experience again.
'A Chorus Line' felt equally organic, but had a semblance of effortless control that 'Inception' had lacked, which Arthur suspected had something to do with Mal's presence. Dom was off without her, constantly pushing and putting on a very convincing display of single-minded insanity. (Though Mal's stage whispers (which Arthur could hear from the other side of Dom's mumbling complaints, which was something) during 'Music and the Mirror' suggested that she shared some of her boyfriend's fervour.)
When the lights blackout and the curtain drops, the scraggly audience around Arthur rises to their feet, faculty applauding appreciatively and students catcalling and shouting compliments to their friends. As the drape opens and the company steps forward for bows, it's not hard to see that the enthusiasm of the audience is mirrored in cast and crew alike (alongside looks of relief). As Ariadne steps forward for individual bows, Yusuf yells unintelligible things at the stage and Arthur wolf-whistles, because he's not the yelling sort of person and would have no idea what to yell even if he were. And then Eames steps forward and Arthur really doesn't know what to do and settles for clapping as loudly as possible while attempting to keep the grin on his face from mirroring Eames's goofy one. His eyes meet Eames's and, dammit, he knows his dimples must be showing and he probably looks like a teenager, but then Eames tries to simultaneous turn towards Arthur and bow and ends up falling magnificently on his face.
On stage, Eames is shouting a joke about his character's injury and method acting, but Arthur can't hear because Mal is howling with laughter a few seats down and Yusuf is giving him a conspiratorial smile and Arthur registers that his body is shaking before he realises that he's also laughing, all the tension of production week and confusion about Eames released in the laugh.
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Stumped for any other course of action, he takes it, and realises that, despite the shape, they're not flowers. Rather, they're pieces of fabric rolled around what looks like metal rods from the scene shop and secured with spike tape. Arthur looks up at Eames, who shrugs
"Ariadne said I should get you flowers, you know, to celebrate opening. Mal said I should get you ties. So I tried to compromise." Arthur peers closer at the fabric and realises they are the right size and texture for ties. He can't quite see in the dark of the night, but it also appears that at least three of them have a paisley pattern.
And if Arthur shoves Eames back against the brick wall in a kiss and if they later end up back in the theatre, the edge of the stage digging into Eames's back, Arthur's frantic hands lit only by the ghost light, then, well, that's just their reward for a successful performance.
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"Ties?" he asks Mal, later, since she knows full well that he owns three ties of his own, which are in much more acceptable colours.
"You'll see" she replies, and Arthur does when a week before graduation he gets into a cab with Mal and ends up at a tailor. "Dom and I figure" she says, "now that you're no longer a student, you should get proper professional clothing" Arthur starts to protest that his sweaters, dress shirts, and occasional waistcoats and blazers are much more professional than the majority of his classmates-especially since Arthur alters all of his clothing, so that their fit is impeccable, none of this sagging business-but his student status necessitates that most of his clothing originates from thrift shops and Target, so if Mal and Dom are willing to pay for a suit, he's not going to complain.
He ends up with a dark, heathered grey three piece suit to wear to graduation. However, Ariadne, already changed, stops him before he can leave his apartment and voices her disapproval. Or, more specifically, her opinion that Arthur looks like he's going to a funeral. He disagrees with this view (and he should know. He is the costume designer), but agrees to change his tie, swapping the black tie for a dark red one. When he turns to get Ariadne's approval, she gives him a look that very clearly says: 'you-must-be-kidding' and starts rummaging through his closet to find an acceptable tie. When she emerges, she's holding one of the ties from Eames's bouquet (which Arthur had stored properly-just because he doesn't approve of the colour or pattern doesn't mean he can't appreciate the fabric). Mal enters at that moment and, looking from her crooked smile to Ariadne's determined one, Arthur knows this isn't a battle he's going to win.
Eames’s smile when they show up for the ceremony makes Arthur think that he might just have won as well.
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Sometimes, when money’s tight and Arthur passes lawyers and prosecutors on the street, he doubts. Wonders if somewhere along the way he made a mistake. Then he notices how all their faces have frown lines and their teeth clench as they send angry emails on their expensive smartphones and thinks of the way Ariadne and Dom freely create worlds from nothing, the way Mal composes people on the stage into four dimensional works of art, how Yusuf can build the impossible, how Saito would go to the ends of the earth to ensure the financial foundation for a worthy production, how Robert manoeuvres his father's disapproval into the emotional force behind his acting, and how Eames delights in recreating the smallest details from the most mundane of lives, appreciating the ignored.
Then, Arthur will adjust his pink and green paisley tie and stride down the sidewalk with an energy in his step the businessmen around him lack, a small smile on his lips.
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I'm not the OP, but dear lord does the theater!geek in me want to have your children right now! I love everything, your characters were wonderful and I love how you integrated them into the insanity that is the theater group. I love that everyone did a little of everything, I came from a small school so we all pitched in, made the whole experience a million times more fun. And then the Arthur/Eames scenes of adorable! They were fantastic and Arthur wears awful ties as an expression of his love!!!
I'm flaily and pretty sure this review makes no sense at all, but just know that this fic is brilliant and I LOVE YOU!
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Yeah, my current theatre group is the same way, so it's hard for me to write actors that only act, etc (some of the thing, like the pancakes, the unsafe sets, are definitely based on things we've done)
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<3
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Thank you for the comment~
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The theatre nerd part of your brain is a good part to have satisfied :D
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