Prompt Post No. 16
Welcome to Round 16 of the Inception Kink Meme.
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Yusuf shrugged. “Sorry, mate. I really thought the Say Anything bit would work,” he said.
Ariadne bit her lip and appeared confused. “Either Arthur's totally dense, or he's woefully unversed in chick flicks.”
“Too bad he's not a redheaded hooker,” Yusuf quipped. Ariadne snorted and Eames glowered.
“A little more help, please,” Eames said. He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to think. He'd been trying to make a sweepingly romantic declaration of love for Arthur ever since he'd found out how Arthur felt last month. The Derren job in Florence, to be exact.
Arthur was apparently so inspired by the romantic city that he must have accidentally filled the dream safe with his own deeply hidden secret during the practice run. Eames, as the extractor for the job, had been surprised to find Arthur's elegant black wallet in the safe. He only knew it was Arthur's because he often lifted it from Arthur's pocket for a laugh.
Out of pure curiosity, he'd opened the wallet to find all the typical identification (a carefully cultivated identity forged by yours truly). However, the corner of a picture peeked out from one of the folds. Arthur's real wallet didn't have any pictures in it, so Eames was compelled to pull it out and see why it was here in the dream if not in reality.
Imagine his surprise when he found himself staring down at a picture that definitely didn't exist in the real world: Arthur, around 20 years old, in military BDUs with dog tags hanging around his neck. A cap obscured his eyes, but there was a bright smile on his face aimed at the man next to him, a younger version of himself. He was around 23, dressed in his RAF uniform. He was smiling at the camera.
He didn't even hear Arthur approach him from behind, but the bullet to his brain sent him right back to reality.
By the time he'd come to full awareness of his surroundings, Arthur had disappeared. He didn't come back for the rest of the day.
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He dutifully put the mask and cape on before scribbling “I love you” on a piece of paper. When the booth prompted him, he held up the makeshift sign and let the flash blind him.
Once the pictures were taken, he removed the silly getup and climbed out of the booth. Cobb was just outside, squinting down at Ariadne. “What are you two doing over here?” he asked suspiciously.
They froze, unable to explain themselves without giving away their lack of attention to the job. Just then, the booth beeped and spit out the strip of pictures. Cobb reached for them before Eames could. He looked at the embarrassing evidence of their goofing off with a deadpan expression. “Why, Eames, I didn't know you felt this way,” he said as he tossed them in a nearby trash bin. “Get back to work,” he said and walked off.
Arthur wandered up, looking bemused. “Ari, impressive job on the station. Everything looks good.”
Ariadne shot an apologetic look at Eames from the corner of her eye before she looked back at Arthur. “Thanks,” she said.
Just as the music started to swell to signal their time running out on the dream, Arthur smiled delightedly at the photobooth. “Hey, it looks just like the one in Amelie.”
Eames wondered how many more failed attempts he could survive without shaking some bloody sense into Arthur.
“...or you could just tell him.”
“Shut it, Yusuf.”
Eames sat at the bar in their hotel and thought about that picture in Arthur's wallet, and then he thought about when it all went wrong...
“Eames, I...”
“Arthur, stop. You know we can't.”
And just like that, Eames knows what he has to do.
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“Why are we here?” Arthur asked him, looking a little bit confused and a lot irritated. “We're wasting time --”
They were in Arthur's room in the barracks. Both he and Arthur were a decade younger, in uniform, and standing across from each other. “To fix this,” Eames answered vaguely.
He saw the exact moment when realization dawned on Arthur's face. He was angry now, but Eames could see the same hurt in his eyes as he had that day ten years ago. “I don't want to relive this,” Arthur spat.
Eames stepped forward and reached a hand up to cup Arthur's smooth cheek. “Just...say what you were going to say then. Tell me...”
Arthur looked like he wanted to jerk away, but Eames caged him in just with his close proximity.
“Why?” Arthur asked, clearly wishing for a gun to save him from this.
Eames' smile was a mix of sad regret and tenderness. “Because. Because I'm ready now to hear what I wouldn't back then,” he answered.
Arthur searched his eyes and swallowed convulsively. “You're such a bastard sometimes,” he said tightly, but there wasn't much heat in it.
Eames' smile turned into a grin. “I know.”
Arthur rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. “Fine, okay... Eames?”
“Yeah?”
“I'm in love with you,” he said.
Arthur looked like he might be sick with nerves, but Eames pulled him in for a kiss anyway. It was long, wet, and extremely satisfying. When he pulled away, Arthur looked bemused. Eames stroked his thumb across the wet expanse of Arthur's lower lip. “Thank you, darling.”
Before Arthur could say anything, the barracks morphed into a lush field in the English countryside. Eames wore a billowing white shirt, open at the collar, and a long dark coat. He also wore tall boots to protect his feet from the damp grass. Arthur looked miffed when he realized he, too, was in a long dark coat...but wore a white nightgown beneath it. He grumbled in warning, obviously not amused.
Eames put a finger against Arthur's lips. “Shhh.” He cleared his throat, and then, “You have bewitched me body and soul...”
Arthur cut him off by socking him in the shoulder. “You asshat, that's not even in the actual book!” he protested.
Eames chuckled and dipped his head down to brush another kiss against Arthur's lips. “I love you,” he said seriously when he pulled away.
Arthur laughed happily.
Note: the last bit is from the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice.
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