Prompt Post No. 1
* * * Round 1 is now closed to new prompts. * * *
The Inception Anonymous Kink Meme Prompt Post No. 1 is now open.
ETA [18 Jul 2010]: The speed at which this meme has grown amazes me. :D Before this month ends, I am going to try to index all prompts and fills using our newly created Delicious site. It's empty right now, but I'll do my best to get ( Read more... )
Arthur's brow stayed furrowed but Eames had obviously said all he was going to say on the subject. Eames looked awakward, fidgeting in the middle of Arthur's hospital room.
"Did Ariadne look..." Arthur began to ask but couldn't think of how to ask what he wanted to know with actual words. Did she look like whatever their thing was had been sorted? Did she have traces of gun wound guilt? And, at his most petulant, why wasn't she right there in the room, stopping this horrifically awkward encounter from taking place?
"She looked thrilled to see him, mate," said Eames and, oddly, it was the way he said "mate" (not the endearments Arthur bristled at in public but secretly was thrilled by) and not the cruel sneer that Arthur objected to. "Positively dripping with joy."
"Oh," said Arthur because that both sounded wrong and didn't answer what he meant to ask. He shifted slightly and the pain flared again. It must have shown on his face because Eames stopped mocking -- or whatever he was doing -- and sat back in the chair next to Arthur's bed.
"Should I get a nurse?" he asked, his hand automatically finding Arthur's. That was one of the things that made Arthur's stupid feelings so bothersome: Eames couldn't help but care. It didn't mean anything, Arthur reminded himself. He cared about everyone. It's why he was such a shameless flirt. Just basic, omnipresent interest.
"'S fine," Arthur grunted, gritting his teeth.
Eames was looking right into his eyes now and Arthur went all weak-in-the-knees, like a stupid romantic comedy heroine. If he'd been standing, he would have needed to sit.
"Ariadne's not taking good care of you," Eames chided. He brushed the hair off Arthur's forehead, leaning closer. Arthur could feel his breath against his face.
"'m not taking very good care of her either," Arthur said honestly. "She almost got shot today."
Eames's hand hovered over Arthur's face, fingers skimming his cheek. Eames was staring so intently at him, Arthur wondered if he could see into his head. One of Eames's fingers paused in ghost-touch on the corner of his lip. Arthur held his breath, waiting for something to break.
Eames slumped back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest like a petulant child.
"You've both been atrocious," he agreed, turning his face away from Arthur's. "Obviously, we shouldn't have left you to your own devices."
"Obviously." Eames had meant it as a joke but Arthur found he couldn't do anything with that but just mean it mean it.
"I'm getting you more meds. You need the stuff that will make you positively fly, darling." Eames paused in the door but didn't turn back. He said, turning his face only halfway, "You've earned it."
Arthur huffed a laugh. He pushed himself gingerly up in the bed so that he was sitting relatively comfortably.
He sat in silence for a few minutes before Ariadne and Cobb appeared with coffee.
"None for you," Ariadne scolded when Arthur demanded to know where his was. She perched on the side of the bed and he shifted over to allow her more room. "You get pain meds."
"Eames has gone to get me the good stuff," Arthur said, smiling. "He's a true friend."
"I know, we saw him raising hell in the nurses' lounge just now," Ariadne agreed. "He's already threatened to kill six doctors. He just promised his firstborn child to the nurse that ups your dosage."
"I'm sure they were thrilled at the prospect."
"How are you?" Cobb asked, breaking the mirth. He had a habit of doing that and Arthur had never minded when they worked together because there had never been any mirth to break. Now, with this precarious friendship with Ariadne, he was beginning to realize how much darker Cobb was.
"Could be worse," he answered.
Reply
"You took an enormous risk," Cobb said. He frowned at them. "You both did." He looked at Ariadne then and she seemed to shrink under his stare.
"Everybody got out alright, though," said Arthur firmly. "Everyone's OK."
Cobb nodded but Arthur couldn't quite bring himself to look him in the eye.
It was like it had been five months ago, when Ariadne and he had both tried to convince Cobb to come back. They'd tried all sorts of arguments and tactics but Cobb wouldn't budge. Eames had disappeared in the middle of the night about a week after the Fischer job and Arthur had still been smarting, even weeks later. He'd been tender and raw when he and Ariadne had made their case and they, both of them, had felt the brunt of the rejection.
Ariadne still smarted from that the way, if Arthur was honest with himself, Arthur smarted at the fact that Eames had started all this stuff in his head and then had disappeared without doing anything.
That left them here. That left them with Ariadne and Arthur twined together in their hurt but somehow working towards whole again. That left them vulnerable, always and forever, but at least they knew it was mutual.
There was an uncomfortable silence. Arthur could see Ariadne breaking a bit at the edges so he found her hand and gave it a squeeze. She didn't look at him but she gave him a responding squeeze and dropped his hand.
"They have promised you the larder," Eames announced, leaning against the doorframe. "All that and the kitchen sink. You'll be high as a kite before you can say 'Bob's your uncle.'"
"Thanks," Arthur said.
A nurse followed Eames with a kit. She swore it would take the edge off the pain. She stabbed the IV bag next to Arthur's bed with a syringe that terrified him a little by its sheer size and he felt it kick in soon after.
Eames had not been kidding about the high-as-a-kite deal. He blinked and Ariadne and Cobb had disappeared. His head was positively swimming and he grabbed the side of the bed to steady himself.
"Alright there, pet?" Eames said, taking hold of his arm. Arthur looked down to where Eames was holding him, only just aware of the physical touch.
He grinned, broader than he had done for years, just thrilling under the endearment.
"Pet," he repeated proudly. "That one's mine."
Eames smirked. "The word? You can have it if you like it so much."
"Ariadne's buying me pants," Arthur announced, ignoring the splutter that erupted from Eames, "But you're only allowed ... what do you call them?"
"I haven't the foggiest idea."
"The things. Like when you call me 'pet.' And 'darling.'" He flopped back into his pillow. "I think I like that one best."
"You said you hated it when I called you darling," Eames said. Arthur closed his eyes but the room still felt all swimmy.
"'s a tactic." He tried swaying his side from one side to the other. "Ends justify the means, right?"
"What's the end you're aiming for?"
"Just want you to ..." Arthur trailed off, making a vague motion with his hand. "You know." His eyes popped open and he looked right at Eames. "You never do it, though."
"What don't I do?" Eames's voice was tight but Arthur ignored it.
"See, it's the stupid feelings again. And those are all your fault." He put a hand up, possibly to try to point at Eames or just to make another incoherent gesture, but suddenly Eames was much closer and the hand was against Eames's chest.
If it was already there, Arthur figured, it ought to grab a fistful of the shirt. Then, that being accomplished, it ought to pull.
That was how Eames ended up, an arm on either side of Arthur's face, bracing himself and hovering over Arthur's face.
"You're unbelievably beautiful," he said, his face gone all soft again.
Arthur's hand snaked up behind his head then and pulled again since it had gone so well the first time around.
Reply
"She's you--" Eames made an equally vague motion with his hand. "You know."
"Oh, you think--" Arthur said, a giant fucking epiphany dawning. "Oh. No, you've got it all wrong!"
"I'll just get--what?" Eames froze.
"She's in love with Cobb." Arthur felt sure that everyone in the entire world knew that.
"Well, I know that," Eames said. "But I thought you were--you know. Anyway. Despite the other--" he made another vague motion.
"She's a friend," Arthur insisted. "And she understood what it was like to get left."
"To get left?"
"By you, asshole," Arthur clarified. "When you left me even though you made have stupid feelings."
"I made you have feelings?"
"Shut up. I'm high. I'm allowed to say ridiculous things."
Eames sat on the edge of the bed. "You're not confused because of the meds?"
"No."
"And you're not actually in love with Ariadne?"
"No."
"Or Cobb?"
"Definitely not." Arthur made a disgusted face.
"Or--"
"Are you?" Arthur interrupted.
Eames raised an eyebrow. "In love with Cobb? It's safe to say no."
"Or anybody else, really," Arthur pressed. "Or about to run away."
"If...if you want me," Eames said quietly, watching Arthur's eyes, "then, darling, I'm yours."
There was a crash from across the room.
"Sorry! Sorry, I'll just--" Ariadne said, trying to pick up a tin of swabs, "Or I could, you know--over there. Somewhere else. I'll just be somewhere else, shall I?"
Cobb was right behind her, standing just outside of the doorway. He moved an eyebrow slightly when his eyes met Arthur's. He wondered if they'd overheard that horrible embarrassing and immensely awkward scene. He could hope.
Cobb rested a hand on the lowest point on Ariadne's back when they retreated and they were leaning towards each other.
"This was, what, a giant, multi-sided misunderstanding, then?" he asked Eames.
Eames shrugged. "Appearances to the contrary, we are all very clever people."
Arthur grinned, enough to stretch the sides of his face. It was almost painful how happy it made him to be able to pull Eames towards him. "And I thought today was going to be boring."
Reply
THIS IS AMAZING
I LOVE YOU ANON \O/
Reply
Reply
This was AWESOME, and I've never had a prompt filled before. The characterization was great, the writing quick and entertaining...I loved the Arthur-Ariadne banter, the way that they bonded after being left, the subtlety of the Cobb-Ariadne relationship with his hand on her back...it was amazing all around.
Thank you so much for the fill! You are fabulous. :)
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
THANK the LORD you didn't write anonymously because now I can find all of your other fic and devour it.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment