(Poly Big Bang Part 1)
i'm gonna love you with my hands tied
Part One
It begins with a shared dream.
Actually, before that, it really starts with Ariadne’s boredom, Cobb’s desire for meaning in his life, and Arthur’s willingness to follow Cobb wherever he chooses to go. Then these factors lead to the three of them sharing a dream.
It’s not for training, exactly. They don’t have any new jobs lined up yet. Instead they use it for building, creating, exploring. Ariadne couldn’t be happier with the prospect. After weeks of so much preparation in controlled dreaming, now she’s getting the chance to discover all of the potential that dream-sharing has to offer.
The first time they try it out, Ariadne is the dreamer and Cobb is the tourist along for the ride as they both enter Arthur’s subconscious. They figure it’s the safest choice, as Arthur’s projections rarely attack or get hostile. If his projections realize that an intruder is present, the most they ever usually do is look very uncomfortable in the dreamer’s direction.
Ariadne volunteers to construct this dreamscape, even though it’s not really necessary. Cobb feels confident in his ability to build again without his own subconscious knowingly tearing it down. But Ariadne insists, telling him smugly that she’s really the better architect, anyway. He just smirks, nods, and turns away, refusing to stoop down to her level, she figures.
Once they are inside the dream, Ariadne is having more fun than she can recall having in a very long time. It’s just like it was that first time. It is pure creation.
She builds cities on top of cities. She builds things up and then takes them apart again. She creates impossibilities and intricate paradoxical designs that leave even the reserved Arthur impressed. She holds both men in rapt attention as she walks on water, creates things out of nothing, and constructs dreams that never were.
“You’re a natural,” Cobb says one day, and she smiles at his approval. She can’t voice it out loud, but it means a lot to her that he appreciates her talent and acknowledges it. She’s seen for herself what Cobb can do, and to have someone of that caliber praising her work is undeniably satisfying.
She can’t respond, especially because he finishes it with a “don’t let it get to your head.” Ariadne understands why he says it, though. What they do is thrilling, intoxicating, but more often than not it borders on dangerous. It’s an addiction. If she’s keep prying, going further and further down until she loses herself and her grip on sanity, then she will be lost.
What Cobb doesn’t realize though is that unlike him, she doesn’t want to be lost. She hasn’t experienced yet that great tragedy in life that makes her want to escape reality. And most importantly, she doesn’t want to lose him or Arthur. The real Arthur. Any version of Arthur that she could dream would never be equal to the original.
Because when it comes to the real Arthur, there is nothing quite like him. All straight lines and neat and orderly with a pressing sense of calmness. She needs something like that in her life, and it gives her a reason to stay. Much like how Cobb’s children motivated him to stay in reality.
One time while exploring the dream, the air between them suddenly changes. Ariadne can feel the shift right away. They are in some kind of club on a floating rooftop that Ariadne designed, where the music is never ending and she can dance for hours. She does just this, swaying her hips to the beat in an enthralling rhythm. At least, it must be somewhat alluring, because both Arthur and Cobb can’t seem to take their eyes off of her.
She doesn’t mind, really. What girl would? Honestly, she never thought of anything ever happening between them. Not because she didn’t want that to happen, but because she didn’t think it was possible. Sure Arthur seemed to care for her, but it always seemed like nothing more than the way he’d care for his suits or his hair or his die.
Then there was the way she’d catch Cobb’s gaze lingering on her just a moment too long. She’d notice it out of the corner of her eye, but then whenever she looked his eyes would flicker back to something else. Sometimes she thought she was imagining it, but then when handing her something his fingers would remain touching hers longer than necessary, and she knew that that couldn’t be a simple coincidence.
So yes, they’ve both shown fleeting interest before, but never like this. Never this unending staring, as if she’s the only person in the world. And of course she is the only other person in this world, the only real person anyway, but still. There’s no denying that they want her.
While watching them watching her, she notices how close they stand to each other, invading each other’s space. She sees how Arthur leans into Cobb a little too much, and how Cobb doesn’t pull away as he might if it was anybody else.
Then she sees how they whisper to each other, Arthur’s mouth right up against Cobb’s ear and Cobb smiling at whatever it is Arthur has to say. Ariadne doesn’t know why, but she can’t help the embarrassment she feels at witnessing whatever this is between them. It feels like an invasion of privacy, and she blushes as the realization that of the three of them she is still the odd one out.
She stops dancing, and the music stops, but the electrically charged night air lingers on. Ariadne feels it prickling her skin, and she has to blink a few times and rub her arms just to keep herself in check. She sees Cobb walking towards her and she doesn’t know what to do, so she looks up at the billions of giant bright stars that she had placed in the sky and tries to pretend that she doesn’t notice Cobb’s overwhelming presence.
“Ariadne,” he says, while placing a hand on her shoulder. She makes a half-hearted attempt to keep her gaze on the atmosphere, but his touch and his voice are too much to ignore. Besides, he is much taller than her and it is kind of difficult not to see him.
“Yes?” she questions, and does a poor job of hiding the emotion in her voice. It cracks just the slightest bit on the ‘e,’ but if Cobb notices he doesn’t seem to acknowledge it.
“Would you come with Arthur and me? We’d like to share something with you.”
“What is it?” she asks, because she’s not sure how to simply accept whatever it is Cobb has to offer.
“Ah, it’s a surprise you see. If I told you then that would just ruin it.” He raises an eyebrow and smiles, and she realizes what he’s doing. Cobb is teasing her. Taunting her. She’d never known him to partake in such furtive behavior before.
“Hmm,” she pauses, thinking this over. “Well, could you at least give me a hint?” she finally asks.
“Arthur and I want to show you the world that we have created together,” he says, and she could swear there is a twinkle in his eye. She could refuse, and she’s sure he would let her go, but her infinite curiosity gets the better of her.
“Sure, I’ll go with you.”
Ariadne follows Cobb and Arthur as they walk back into the building and climb the multiple crossing staircases to get down to the street level. She follows them across streets that twist and turn and rise above and below each other in impossible shapes. It’s like a maze in which only they know the exact correct pathway that will lead them through it. After several minutes of this she finally asks, “Do we actually have a destination in mind?”
Arthur stops and looks at her, a mischievous smirk on his face that almost makes her uneasy. “Do you trust me?”
“Well, yes…”
“Do you trust Cobb?”
“Less so, but yes I do,” she answers truthfully. Arthur laughs at her response. She glances at Cobb and feels her cheeks burn when he looks at her with a frown.
“What Arthur is trying to say is that of course we actually have a place we’re taking you to,” Cobb says with biting sarcasm, “It’s just that getting there is half the fun.”
“Lead on then,” she says.
Finally they arrive at the place where she assumes they’re going, and she thinks it was probably worth the wait. It’s a building, of course. She would expect nothing less from a dream that Cobb has a part in creating, with the way his mind constantly functions as that of an architect. Though what may appear normal to anyone else immediately piques her interest, as right away Ariadne notices the uniqueness of it. Because this place is clearly not the creation of only one mind, but two.
It is wholly a combination of equal parts Cobb and Arthur.
Two styles that would seem to contradict and clash at first glance have become quite the opposite here, blending together in such a way that the combination is practically flawless. The best way she can explain it in her head is as a physical manifestation of opposites attract.
Ariadne doesn’t think she’s ever seen anything so beautiful, and she has seen a lot of beauty lately.
“You built this together?” She phrases it as a question, but it really isn’t one. She already knows the answer.
“Yes we did,” Arthur says. “Do you want to see what’s inside?”
“Yes of course,” she responds. Then to hide her eagerness with sarcasm she adds, “I didn’t follow you all the way here just to see the outside.”
“Good point,” Cobb says. “Come on.”
As they walk through what she thinks must be a hotel (but really that’s just the closest word she can use to describe it) she sees even more touches of both Cobb and Arthur in the decorations. It’s a mix of old world and new, muted colors combined with steel and black. The hallway is like a tube with a flat floor, but the walls are moving around her. It reminds her of those walk-through aquariums she used to visit as a child. They had always entranced her, and this one’s effect was no different.
“Could you not compromise on one style for the hallway?” she asks, because clearly there has to be a reason why it keeps changing.
“No,” Cobb answers her. “We could have compromised, but the purpose was to include both of us in here.”
“You’ve certainly succeeded,” Ariadne says, and she means it.
They lead her to a room all the way at the end of the hallway, then Cobb opens the door for her and Arthur to walk through. The room is dimly lit and it takes a moment for Ariadne’s eyes to adjust to the lighting. When she can see clearly, it takes her breath away.
If she wanted a romantic getaway this wouldn’t be the first thing that came to mind, but it’s the subtle touches of the design that make it so completely quixotic; in the sense that it wouldn’t exist anywhere in the real world, but that just added to its appeal.
Her favorite part about it is the floating candelabras placed close to the ceiling. They bathe the room with their muted luminescence, and there is definitely something to be said for dream mood lighting.
She doesn’t exactly want to ask the question, but she’s not exactly sure what else there is to be said. Cobb and Arthur are quietly observing her, and neither of them seems ready to speak any time soon. The silence is too deafening.
“You both built this place together, right?” Arthur nods in affirmation. “So… what do you do in here?” she finally asks. Ariadne notices right away how the tips of Arthur’s ears burn pink, and when she recognizes that it’s from embarrassment her mouth forms in a silent ‘o’.
“We make love,” Cobb answers simply, directly. Her suspicions have been confirmed, and by now Arthur’s face has turned an even darker shade of crimson.
“Cobb,” he admonishes.
“What? You knew she was going to find out eventually. That’s why we brought her here, isn’t it?”
“Well…”
Ariadne is confused, astonished, and perplexed, plus a thousand other emotions that she doesn’t know how to name. One she does recognize is that she is incredibly turned on by the mental image. Then in turn her arousal makes her feel somewhat ashamed. “Wait so, if you two created this room for yourselves then why did you want to bring me here?” Both of her eyebrows raise and she’s pretty sure the answer is obvious but she definitely doesn’t want to make any assumptions. Too risky to do that.
Arthur, usually so well put-together Arthur, doesn’t seem to be able to form words anymore, so Cobb answers for him. “We wanted to ask if you would join us, explore the three of us being part of a relationship together, and we brought you here to show you that we were serious.”
Only Cobb could find a way to make an indecent proposal sound like a very decent one, indeed.
She wants to say yes, fuck does she want to say yes, but it’s just too weird. She’s thought about Arthur and she’s thought about Cobb, but she’s never thought that she’d be simply offered even one of them, much less both. “This place is very… nice,” she finally comes up with, because otherwise she is at a loss for words.
“Thank you,” Cobb says, which is then followed up by several moments of semi-awkward silence. Finally, Arthur has re-gathered his usual composure and he breaks the quiet.
“Ariadne, come here, please?” It is in fact a question, and she answers.
She approaches him and looks up until their eyes are locked. “Yes, Arthur? What is it?”
“Just something I should have done a long time ago.” Then he pulls her towards him until their chests are flushed together, and kisses her thoroughly. They haven’t even been this close since the last time he gave her a peck in a dream, but somehow it feels like coming home.
What Arthur lacks in passion, he makes up for in skill. Usually for most people it’s the other way around, but Ariadne is not complaining. He is methodical and meticulous in even this, which makes her smile into the kiss because it’s just so Arthur.
She’s floating, flying, and she never wants to come down.
Eventually, the sound of Cobb’s biting cough brings her reluctantly back down to earth. She draws back from Arthur, but the smile has yet to leave her face. Arthur returns her grin, and everything just seems to click into place.
“I just noticed something.”
“What is that?” Arthur asks.
“We only ever kiss in a dream. I wonder why that is?” Then she bursts into a small fit of laughter at Arthur’s puzzled expression. “It’s all right, I don’t mind,” she clarifies. “I just wouldn’t mind if we did it in reality sometime too, you know?”
Cobb coughs again, and Ariadne finally turns to look at him. “So, is that a yes?” he asks.
She can’t help it; she starts to laugh again. “Cobb, get over here now,” she responds. Apparently it’s a good enough answer for Cobb because he walks over to join them.
“There are rules to this, you know,” Cobb points out. “If we’re all going to be together, then there are serious boundaries we will need to go over at some point.”
“Really?” Ariadne asks with the quirk of her eyebrow. “I thought you simply wanted to have your dream sex.”
Cobb and Arthur both shake their heads. “No, that was not our intent,” Cobb assures her. “We want to be with you, fully and completely.”
She nods, because she’s pretty sure she understands. That gesture pretty much settles it, and they don’t have much use for more words. The rest of the dream continues in a blur, but she does distinctly remember asking Arthur and Cobb to kiss for her.
Her normal dreams had never been like this.
+ + + + +
Sometimes she thinks how truly amazing it is how much they all need each other.
Through the act of dream-sharing together, they’ve each saved each other in different ways across an expanse of scenarios. It may not be as serious as reality since if they die they’ll simply wake up again; however, the emotional weight of taking care of each other by putting a bullet between one of the other’s eyes to save them from unnecessary pain is real enough, and it means something important but unnamable.
They’ve experienced almost everything together through the act of dreaming, but this will be the first time she’s a part of their sexual act in the plane of reality. It should be scarier than it is, but Ariadne has already convinced herself that this moment is what she’s been waiting for since the first time her architecture professor introduced her to a man named Mr. Cobb.
That’s the last cognizant thought Ariadne has before she steps into the room and sees the two men before her already half-naked, standing too close together to be considered anything close to proper. One acknowledges her presence briefly, barely, before returning his gaze to the man in front of him. Arthur. She nods back in his direction.
Cobb’s back is to her, as he’s facing Arthur, but she can read his expression in the arch of his back, the movement of his fingers. His hand reaches up to cup the side of the other man’s face, his thumb gently stroking his cheekbone. Cobb tilts his head a certain amount and then Arthur is leaning forward, smiling, pressing their foreheads together. They don’t say anything, but then again they never needed to.
And she’s amazed by this too; this silent feeling between them. How they can say so much to each other without needing to say a word. The thought of such an intense connection makes her shiver in a good way, a delicious way. And they are both hers.
Not in the way that Arthur is Dom’s or Dom is Arthur’s. Oh of course she’s not naïve. She’s still young, but she’s not stupid. She knows they both belong to each other; that they have belonged to each other for a long time. But the bond between the three of them is real.
“Ariadne. Come.” Cobb makes this demand without even turning to look at her, without bothering with pleasantries or more of an explanation. But it’s okay, because this is what she’s been waiting for him to say, waiting for his allowance. She doesn’t do anything before he asks or tells her to. That’s just the way it is.
She walks towards them and finally, finally Cobb looks back at her. He starts by looking at her face and leading his gaze down her body towards her feet, evaluating what he sees every inch of the way. As what is still a new sensation for her, she feels oddly turned on by his scrutiny. Like he could undress her just with his eyes. Blue eyes so deep they reflected everything they saw right back at her, and she felt entranced.
He doesn’t smile, rarely if ever does he smile during this, but there is the slightest raise of his mouth, the barest hint of a grin. And his eyes start to crinkle more around the edges. “You’re beautiful,” he states simply, and Ariadne’s heart flutters at the compliment. Cobb is the only one who can make her feel these base desires, this lust, this passion that consumes her and makes her want to give herself to him fully. Never before has she wanted to belong to someone else. Never. But that all changed the day she met Dom.
Then she notices Arthur is looking at her too, but the way he looks at her is so much different. He finds her beautiful, yes, she can tell by the dilation of his pupils and the way he stares at her completely, as if he’s seeing her for everything she truly is. Otherwise, he doesn’t approach her with the same lustful scrutiny as Cobb, but instead with a reverence that makes her think he is putting her on some kind of pedestal. She wants to tell him to stop, to stop looking at her that way, to stop making her into something she’s not.
She can’t turn him away, though. Her ideas about how she wants to be loved have changed since she met him. Now she puts her emotions into boxes and labels them “before” and “after” Arthur. Before Arthur, Ariadne would have never liked to be coddled, or treated like something so special and pure. After knowing Arthur, she can’t imagine ever not having those things.
She has almost grown addicted to the way Arthur cares for her, looks after her, treats her like the most fragile thing in the world. And it’s weird how differently she cares for Arthur than for Cobb, but it’s nice too. How they balance each other out; like hot and cold, fire and ice, being with Cobb heats her from within and Arthur is always there to cool her down. It’s not a perfect metaphor, but it’s fairly accurate.
This is the summation of all her feelings she’s thought about prior, during the months that they’ve gotten to know each other and their mutual relationships have grown. It should be weird sharing a relationship, being intimate with more than one person, but it feels so natural that Ariadne hardly questions it any longer. There is something about sharing each other’s dreams three or four levels deep that eliminates most of the awkwardness of being so close to each other in reality.
“Come closer,” Cobb says suddenly, his hands reaching to grab her by the shoulders and pull her in before she has a chance to respond on her own. “You know you don’t need to wear this, though,” he continues, stroking down her neck to her shoulder and pushing away one of her nightgown straps. It was a black lace negligee, one that she had put on more for Arthur than him anyway.
Arthur smiles at her suggestively, and so she figures it wasn’t a total loss. Cobb just likes to get to the point when it comes to her. A thing that becomes even more obvious as he works to remove both straps and starts peeling them down the length of her arms, until the flimsy material is falling to the floor to lay in a pile by her feet. His hands come to rest at the small of her back and he’s pulling him towards her, until they are flesh to flesh.
She is still wearing her bra and panties, only not for very long. Cobb raises his hands to the clasp at her back, undoing the bra with an ease that can only be gained after years of practice. And Cobb has had many, many years to perfect the art of lovemaking. Another shudder pulses through Ariadne unwittingly just at the thought.
And before she can think any more, Cobb is leaning down on his knees before her, his teeth coming to rest at the top of her underwear before he bites the seam line and pulls down the fabric. She’s been on her knees for him many times before, but god, they’ve never switched roles like this. It’s new, but just as intoxicating.
Not one to be left out, Arthur does whatever he can to participate. His hands are all over Cobb, running through his hair and egging him on, holding Cobb’s head in place against her pubic area. It seems that tonight and probably only tonight, they both own Cobb, and that’s just fine.
At this point she doesn’t care who is on top, metaphorically or otherwise, as long as he keeps moving his tongue just so.
He obliges her desires, as always, testing and probing until she’s clutching at his hair as well, gripping the strands as tightly as she can. The incoherent noise that she makes is almost embarrassing, but she’s way past the point of feeling any unease while being with them. They already know her, inside and out, better than anyone else she’s ever been close to.
Before long, Arthur has moved on from encouraging Cobb’s actions to kissing her. As Cobb’s hands continue to grip her waist and hold her in place, Arthur’s hands lightly grasp her cheeks and he keeps her lips attached to his. After a few moments, she can barely remain standing. She starts to fall backwards, flushed, but Cobb’s sudden grip on her waist keeps her from what would be a nasty fall.
Knowing now that her current position will not be conducive to their planned activities, she backs off and heads in the direction of the bed, beckoning the men to follow her with the crook of a finger. She’s not sure at what point she learned to be such a seductress, but something about living in their sophisticated world has made her mature at an accelerated pace.
It is not long at all before the three of them are trying to organize themselves on the mattress, moving limbs around until all of them find a comfortable position. Somehow it ends with Ariadne straddling Arthur’s lap as he lies on his back, while Cobb holds her from behind. Arthur’s shirt and tie have already been removed, so she begins work on undoing his zipper and pulling down his pants.
Once she has him exposed, she strokes him to complete hardness. His slight moans, however quiet, encourage her to continue.
As her movements become more frantic, she continues to slide forward on top of him, until the tip of his sex is pressed right up against her. She moves her hand out of the way as he begins to slip inside her, but the lack of preparation means that it hurts. She groans at the sensation, and Cobb must sense her discomfort because he begins to coax her through it.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he says. “Let him in.” She visibly relaxes at his use of her favorite pet name, making her feel warm and comforted and loved. It’s silly, it should make her feel ridiculous and way too young, but for some reason it just makes her feel like she’s cared for. And Cobb takes care of her. She knows he always will.
His gentle words have a visible effect, as it’s not long before Arthur is sinking inside of her and she can barely contain her moan. He captures the sound from her lips with his kiss. And she gives in to him completely. Her tiny hands grip his shoulders as she moves up and down.
All the while she feels Cobb behind her, his fingers stroking her shoulders and moving down towards her breasts, then finally making their way to her hips, holding her in place as she takes Arthur all of the way in.
It feels good, but she wants more. She wants both of them. Doesn’t think she can settle for anything less anymore.
“Cobb, please,” she whines. “Fuck me.”
He knows exactly what she means for him to do, and she is grateful for it. If she had to ask for what she wants, she knows she would be reduced to sounding like a cheap whore or porn star, which is not exactly the effect she’s going for.
He begins to prepare her with one, two, three fingers until she’s stretched to the limit between Arthur’s cock and Cobb’s hand.
At some point he begins applying lubricant, and Ariadne doesn’t even want to think about where it came from. Then she can’t think anyway, so it doesn’t matter. All that matters is the sensation of Arthur and Cobb inside of her, Arthur stroking her hips or palming a breast while Cobb has his fingers in her mouth. She sucks on them, hard, and when Cobb groans behind her it just encourages her more.
She feels so good, but more importantly she discovers that she really wants to make them feel good. She enjoys every broken sigh that escapes Arthur’s mouth, or the rough movements from Cobb when he decides to finally let go for a change. They’re both so different, yet at the same time so similar in their intensity.
It is absolutely the most incredible thing in the world, being the center of all that attention, interest, and awareness of detail. Because the way they both take care of her needs is concentrated down to the very last feature. The consideration that Arthur has for the technicalities of his every action and the consuming passion that Cobb exudes in the act of lovemaking combine for a wholly exhilarating experience.
And all she wants to do is return the favor to them.
By the sounds they both make, she thinks that there is a distinct possibility that she’s doing a good job of it. She does whatever she can to please them for the rest of the evening, just to make sure.
Link to Part Two.
Part One
It begins with a shared dream.
Actually, before that, it really starts with Ariadne’s boredom, Cobb’s desire for meaning in his life, and Arthur’s willingness to follow Cobb wherever he chooses to go. Then these factors lead to the three of them sharing a dream.
It’s not for training, exactly. They don’t have any new jobs lined up yet. Instead they use it for building, creating, exploring. Ariadne couldn’t be happier with the prospect. After weeks of so much preparation in controlled dreaming, now she’s getting the chance to discover all of the potential that dream-sharing has to offer.
The first time they try it out, Ariadne is the dreamer and Cobb is the tourist along for the ride as they both enter Arthur’s subconscious. They figure it’s the safest choice, as Arthur’s projections rarely attack or get hostile. If his projections realize that an intruder is present, the most they ever usually do is look very uncomfortable in the dreamer’s direction.
Ariadne volunteers to construct this dreamscape, even though it’s not really necessary. Cobb feels confident in his ability to build again without his own subconscious knowingly tearing it down. But Ariadne insists, telling him smugly that she’s really the better architect, anyway. He just smirks, nods, and turns away, refusing to stoop down to her level, she figures.
Once they are inside the dream, Ariadne is having more fun than she can recall having in a very long time. It’s just like it was that first time. It is pure creation.
She builds cities on top of cities. She builds things up and then takes them apart again. She creates impossibilities and intricate paradoxical designs that leave even the reserved Arthur impressed. She holds both men in rapt attention as she walks on water, creates things out of nothing, and constructs dreams that never were.
“You’re a natural,” Cobb says one day, and she smiles at his approval. She can’t voice it out loud, but it means a lot to her that he appreciates her talent and acknowledges it. She’s seen for herself what Cobb can do, and to have someone of that caliber praising her work is undeniably satisfying.
She can’t respond, especially because he finishes it with a “don’t let it get to your head.” Ariadne understands why he says it, though. What they do is thrilling, intoxicating, but more often than not it borders on dangerous. It’s an addiction. If she’s keep prying, going further and further down until she loses herself and her grip on sanity, then she will be lost.
What Cobb doesn’t realize though is that unlike him, she doesn’t want to be lost. She hasn’t experienced yet that great tragedy in life that makes her want to escape reality. And most importantly, she doesn’t want to lose him or Arthur. The real Arthur. Any version of Arthur that she could dream would never be equal to the original.
Because when it comes to the real Arthur, there is nothing quite like him. All straight lines and neat and orderly with a pressing sense of calmness. She needs something like that in her life, and it gives her a reason to stay. Much like how Cobb’s children motivated him to stay in reality.
One time while exploring the dream, the air between them suddenly changes. Ariadne can feel the shift right away. They are in some kind of club on a floating rooftop that Ariadne designed, where the music is never ending and she can dance for hours. She does just this, swaying her hips to the beat in an enthralling rhythm. At least, it must be somewhat alluring, because both Arthur and Cobb can’t seem to take their eyes off of her.
She doesn’t mind, really. What girl would? Honestly, she never thought of anything ever happening between them. Not because she didn’t want that to happen, but because she didn’t think it was possible. Sure Arthur seemed to care for her, but it always seemed like nothing more than the way he’d care for his suits or his hair or his die.
Then there was the way she’d catch Cobb’s gaze lingering on her just a moment too long. She’d notice it out of the corner of her eye, but then whenever she looked his eyes would flicker back to something else. Sometimes she thought she was imagining it, but then when handing her something his fingers would remain touching hers longer than necessary, and she knew that that couldn’t be a simple coincidence.
So yes, they’ve both shown fleeting interest before, but never like this. Never this unending staring, as if she’s the only person in the world. And of course she is the only other person in this world, the only real person anyway, but still. There’s no denying that they want her.
While watching them watching her, she notices how close they stand to each other, invading each other’s space. She sees how Arthur leans into Cobb a little too much, and how Cobb doesn’t pull away as he might if it was anybody else.
Then she sees how they whisper to each other, Arthur’s mouth right up against Cobb’s ear and Cobb smiling at whatever it is Arthur has to say. Ariadne doesn’t know why, but she can’t help the embarrassment she feels at witnessing whatever this is between them. It feels like an invasion of privacy, and she blushes as the realization that of the three of them she is still the odd one out.
She stops dancing, and the music stops, but the electrically charged night air lingers on. Ariadne feels it prickling her skin, and she has to blink a few times and rub her arms just to keep herself in check. She sees Cobb walking towards her and she doesn’t know what to do, so she looks up at the billions of giant bright stars that she had placed in the sky and tries to pretend that she doesn’t notice Cobb’s overwhelming presence.
“Ariadne,” he says, while placing a hand on her shoulder. She makes a half-hearted attempt to keep her gaze on the atmosphere, but his touch and his voice are too much to ignore. Besides, he is much taller than her and it is kind of difficult not to see him.
“Yes?” she questions, and does a poor job of hiding the emotion in her voice. It cracks just the slightest bit on the ‘e,’ but if Cobb notices he doesn’t seem to acknowledge it.
“Would you come with Arthur and me? We’d like to share something with you.”
“What is it?” she asks, because she’s not sure how to simply accept whatever it is Cobb has to offer.
“Ah, it’s a surprise you see. If I told you then that would just ruin it.” He raises an eyebrow and smiles, and she realizes what he’s doing. Cobb is teasing her. Taunting her. She’d never known him to partake in such furtive behavior before.
“Hmm,” she pauses, thinking this over. “Well, could you at least give me a hint?” she finally asks.
“Arthur and I want to show you the world that we have created together,” he says, and she could swear there is a twinkle in his eye. She could refuse, and she’s sure he would let her go, but her infinite curiosity gets the better of her.
“Sure, I’ll go with you.”
Ariadne follows Cobb and Arthur as they walk back into the building and climb the multiple crossing staircases to get down to the street level. She follows them across streets that twist and turn and rise above and below each other in impossible shapes. It’s like a maze in which only they know the exact correct pathway that will lead them through it. After several minutes of this she finally asks, “Do we actually have a destination in mind?”
Arthur stops and looks at her, a mischievous smirk on his face that almost makes her uneasy. “Do you trust me?”
“Well, yes…”
“Do you trust Cobb?”
“Less so, but yes I do,” she answers truthfully. Arthur laughs at her response. She glances at Cobb and feels her cheeks burn when he looks at her with a frown.
“What Arthur is trying to say is that of course we actually have a place we’re taking you to,” Cobb says with biting sarcasm, “It’s just that getting there is half the fun.”
“Lead on then,” she says.
Finally they arrive at the place where she assumes they’re going, and she thinks it was probably worth the wait. It’s a building, of course. She would expect nothing less from a dream that Cobb has a part in creating, with the way his mind constantly functions as that of an architect. Though what may appear normal to anyone else immediately piques her interest, as right away Ariadne notices the uniqueness of it. Because this place is clearly not the creation of only one mind, but two.
It is wholly a combination of equal parts Cobb and Arthur.
Two styles that would seem to contradict and clash at first glance have become quite the opposite here, blending together in such a way that the combination is practically flawless. The best way she can explain it in her head is as a physical manifestation of opposites attract.
Ariadne doesn’t think she’s ever seen anything so beautiful, and she has seen a lot of beauty lately.
“You built this together?” She phrases it as a question, but it really isn’t one. She already knows the answer.
“Yes we did,” Arthur says. “Do you want to see what’s inside?”
“Yes of course,” she responds. Then to hide her eagerness with sarcasm she adds, “I didn’t follow you all the way here just to see the outside.”
“Good point,” Cobb says. “Come on.”
As they walk through what she thinks must be a hotel (but really that’s just the closest word she can use to describe it) she sees even more touches of both Cobb and Arthur in the decorations. It’s a mix of old world and new, muted colors combined with steel and black. The hallway is like a tube with a flat floor, but the walls are moving around her. It reminds her of those walk-through aquariums she used to visit as a child. They had always entranced her, and this one’s effect was no different.
“Could you not compromise on one style for the hallway?” she asks, because clearly there has to be a reason why it keeps changing.
“No,” Cobb answers her. “We could have compromised, but the purpose was to include both of us in here.”
“You’ve certainly succeeded,” Ariadne says, and she means it.
They lead her to a room all the way at the end of the hallway, then Cobb opens the door for her and Arthur to walk through. The room is dimly lit and it takes a moment for Ariadne’s eyes to adjust to the lighting. When she can see clearly, it takes her breath away.
If she wanted a romantic getaway this wouldn’t be the first thing that came to mind, but it’s the subtle touches of the design that make it so completely quixotic; in the sense that it wouldn’t exist anywhere in the real world, but that just added to its appeal.
Her favorite part about it is the floating candelabras placed close to the ceiling. They bathe the room with their muted luminescence, and there is definitely something to be said for dream mood lighting.
She doesn’t exactly want to ask the question, but she’s not exactly sure what else there is to be said. Cobb and Arthur are quietly observing her, and neither of them seems ready to speak any time soon. The silence is too deafening.
“You both built this place together, right?” Arthur nods in affirmation. “So… what do you do in here?” she finally asks. Ariadne notices right away how the tips of Arthur’s ears burn pink, and when she recognizes that it’s from embarrassment her mouth forms in a silent ‘o’.
“We make love,” Cobb answers simply, directly. Her suspicions have been confirmed, and by now Arthur’s face has turned an even darker shade of crimson.
“Cobb,” he admonishes.
“What? You knew she was going to find out eventually. That’s why we brought her here, isn’t it?”
“Well…”
Ariadne is confused, astonished, and perplexed, plus a thousand other emotions that she doesn’t know how to name. One she does recognize is that she is incredibly turned on by the mental image. Then in turn her arousal makes her feel somewhat ashamed. “Wait so, if you two created this room for yourselves then why did you want to bring me here?” Both of her eyebrows raise and she’s pretty sure the answer is obvious but she definitely doesn’t want to make any assumptions. Too risky to do that.
Arthur, usually so well put-together Arthur, doesn’t seem to be able to form words anymore, so Cobb answers for him. “We wanted to ask if you would join us, explore the three of us being part of a relationship together, and we brought you here to show you that we were serious.”
Only Cobb could find a way to make an indecent proposal sound like a very decent one, indeed.
She wants to say yes, fuck does she want to say yes, but it’s just too weird. She’s thought about Arthur and she’s thought about Cobb, but she’s never thought that she’d be simply offered even one of them, much less both. “This place is very… nice,” she finally comes up with, because otherwise she is at a loss for words.
“Thank you,” Cobb says, which is then followed up by several moments of semi-awkward silence. Finally, Arthur has re-gathered his usual composure and he breaks the quiet.
“Ariadne, come here, please?” It is in fact a question, and she answers.
She approaches him and looks up until their eyes are locked. “Yes, Arthur? What is it?”
“Just something I should have done a long time ago.” Then he pulls her towards him until their chests are flushed together, and kisses her thoroughly. They haven’t even been this close since the last time he gave her a peck in a dream, but somehow it feels like coming home.
What Arthur lacks in passion, he makes up for in skill. Usually for most people it’s the other way around, but Ariadne is not complaining. He is methodical and meticulous in even this, which makes her smile into the kiss because it’s just so Arthur.
She’s floating, flying, and she never wants to come down.
Eventually, the sound of Cobb’s biting cough brings her reluctantly back down to earth. She draws back from Arthur, but the smile has yet to leave her face. Arthur returns her grin, and everything just seems to click into place.
“I just noticed something.”
“What is that?” Arthur asks.
“We only ever kiss in a dream. I wonder why that is?” Then she bursts into a small fit of laughter at Arthur’s puzzled expression. “It’s all right, I don’t mind,” she clarifies. “I just wouldn’t mind if we did it in reality sometime too, you know?”
Cobb coughs again, and Ariadne finally turns to look at him. “So, is that a yes?” he asks.
She can’t help it; she starts to laugh again. “Cobb, get over here now,” she responds. Apparently it’s a good enough answer for Cobb because he walks over to join them.
“There are rules to this, you know,” Cobb points out. “If we’re all going to be together, then there are serious boundaries we will need to go over at some point.”
“Really?” Ariadne asks with the quirk of her eyebrow. “I thought you simply wanted to have your dream sex.”
Cobb and Arthur both shake their heads. “No, that was not our intent,” Cobb assures her. “We want to be with you, fully and completely.”
She nods, because she’s pretty sure she understands. That gesture pretty much settles it, and they don’t have much use for more words. The rest of the dream continues in a blur, but she does distinctly remember asking Arthur and Cobb to kiss for her.
Her normal dreams had never been like this.
+ + + + +
Sometimes she thinks how truly amazing it is how much they all need each other.
Through the act of dream-sharing together, they’ve each saved each other in different ways across an expanse of scenarios. It may not be as serious as reality since if they die they’ll simply wake up again; however, the emotional weight of taking care of each other by putting a bullet between one of the other’s eyes to save them from unnecessary pain is real enough, and it means something important but unnamable.
They’ve experienced almost everything together through the act of dreaming, but this will be the first time she’s a part of their sexual act in the plane of reality. It should be scarier than it is, but Ariadne has already convinced herself that this moment is what she’s been waiting for since the first time her architecture professor introduced her to a man named Mr. Cobb.
That’s the last cognizant thought Ariadne has before she steps into the room and sees the two men before her already half-naked, standing too close together to be considered anything close to proper. One acknowledges her presence briefly, barely, before returning his gaze to the man in front of him. Arthur. She nods back in his direction.
Cobb’s back is to her, as he’s facing Arthur, but she can read his expression in the arch of his back, the movement of his fingers. His hand reaches up to cup the side of the other man’s face, his thumb gently stroking his cheekbone. Cobb tilts his head a certain amount and then Arthur is leaning forward, smiling, pressing their foreheads together. They don’t say anything, but then again they never needed to.
And she’s amazed by this too; this silent feeling between them. How they can say so much to each other without needing to say a word. The thought of such an intense connection makes her shiver in a good way, a delicious way. And they are both hers.
Not in the way that Arthur is Dom’s or Dom is Arthur’s. Oh of course she’s not naïve. She’s still young, but she’s not stupid. She knows they both belong to each other; that they have belonged to each other for a long time. But the bond between the three of them is real.
“Ariadne. Come.” Cobb makes this demand without even turning to look at her, without bothering with pleasantries or more of an explanation. But it’s okay, because this is what she’s been waiting for him to say, waiting for his allowance. She doesn’t do anything before he asks or tells her to. That’s just the way it is.
She walks towards them and finally, finally Cobb looks back at her. He starts by looking at her face and leading his gaze down her body towards her feet, evaluating what he sees every inch of the way. As what is still a new sensation for her, she feels oddly turned on by his scrutiny. Like he could undress her just with his eyes. Blue eyes so deep they reflected everything they saw right back at her, and she felt entranced.
He doesn’t smile, rarely if ever does he smile during this, but there is the slightest raise of his mouth, the barest hint of a grin. And his eyes start to crinkle more around the edges. “You’re beautiful,” he states simply, and Ariadne’s heart flutters at the compliment. Cobb is the only one who can make her feel these base desires, this lust, this passion that consumes her and makes her want to give herself to him fully. Never before has she wanted to belong to someone else. Never. But that all changed the day she met Dom.
Then she notices Arthur is looking at her too, but the way he looks at her is so much different. He finds her beautiful, yes, she can tell by the dilation of his pupils and the way he stares at her completely, as if he’s seeing her for everything she truly is. Otherwise, he doesn’t approach her with the same lustful scrutiny as Cobb, but instead with a reverence that makes her think he is putting her on some kind of pedestal. She wants to tell him to stop, to stop looking at her that way, to stop making her into something she’s not.
She can’t turn him away, though. Her ideas about how she wants to be loved have changed since she met him. Now she puts her emotions into boxes and labels them “before” and “after” Arthur. Before Arthur, Ariadne would have never liked to be coddled, or treated like something so special and pure. After knowing Arthur, she can’t imagine ever not having those things.
She has almost grown addicted to the way Arthur cares for her, looks after her, treats her like the most fragile thing in the world. And it’s weird how differently she cares for Arthur than for Cobb, but it’s nice too. How they balance each other out; like hot and cold, fire and ice, being with Cobb heats her from within and Arthur is always there to cool her down. It’s not a perfect metaphor, but it’s fairly accurate.
This is the summation of all her feelings she’s thought about prior, during the months that they’ve gotten to know each other and their mutual relationships have grown. It should be weird sharing a relationship, being intimate with more than one person, but it feels so natural that Ariadne hardly questions it any longer. There is something about sharing each other’s dreams three or four levels deep that eliminates most of the awkwardness of being so close to each other in reality.
“Come closer,” Cobb says suddenly, his hands reaching to grab her by the shoulders and pull her in before she has a chance to respond on her own. “You know you don’t need to wear this, though,” he continues, stroking down her neck to her shoulder and pushing away one of her nightgown straps. It was a black lace negligee, one that she had put on more for Arthur than him anyway.
Arthur smiles at her suggestively, and so she figures it wasn’t a total loss. Cobb just likes to get to the point when it comes to her. A thing that becomes even more obvious as he works to remove both straps and starts peeling them down the length of her arms, until the flimsy material is falling to the floor to lay in a pile by her feet. His hands come to rest at the small of her back and he’s pulling him towards her, until they are flesh to flesh.
She is still wearing her bra and panties, only not for very long. Cobb raises his hands to the clasp at her back, undoing the bra with an ease that can only be gained after years of practice. And Cobb has had many, many years to perfect the art of lovemaking. Another shudder pulses through Ariadne unwittingly just at the thought.
And before she can think any more, Cobb is leaning down on his knees before her, his teeth coming to rest at the top of her underwear before he bites the seam line and pulls down the fabric. She’s been on her knees for him many times before, but god, they’ve never switched roles like this. It’s new, but just as intoxicating.
Not one to be left out, Arthur does whatever he can to participate. His hands are all over Cobb, running through his hair and egging him on, holding Cobb’s head in place against her pubic area. It seems that tonight and probably only tonight, they both own Cobb, and that’s just fine.
At this point she doesn’t care who is on top, metaphorically or otherwise, as long as he keeps moving his tongue just so.
He obliges her desires, as always, testing and probing until she’s clutching at his hair as well, gripping the strands as tightly as she can. The incoherent noise that she makes is almost embarrassing, but she’s way past the point of feeling any unease while being with them. They already know her, inside and out, better than anyone else she’s ever been close to.
Before long, Arthur has moved on from encouraging Cobb’s actions to kissing her. As Cobb’s hands continue to grip her waist and hold her in place, Arthur’s hands lightly grasp her cheeks and he keeps her lips attached to his. After a few moments, she can barely remain standing. She starts to fall backwards, flushed, but Cobb’s sudden grip on her waist keeps her from what would be a nasty fall.
Knowing now that her current position will not be conducive to their planned activities, she backs off and heads in the direction of the bed, beckoning the men to follow her with the crook of a finger. She’s not sure at what point she learned to be such a seductress, but something about living in their sophisticated world has made her mature at an accelerated pace.
It is not long at all before the three of them are trying to organize themselves on the mattress, moving limbs around until all of them find a comfortable position. Somehow it ends with Ariadne straddling Arthur’s lap as he lies on his back, while Cobb holds her from behind. Arthur’s shirt and tie have already been removed, so she begins work on undoing his zipper and pulling down his pants.
Once she has him exposed, she strokes him to complete hardness. His slight moans, however quiet, encourage her to continue.
As her movements become more frantic, she continues to slide forward on top of him, until the tip of his sex is pressed right up against her. She moves her hand out of the way as he begins to slip inside her, but the lack of preparation means that it hurts. She groans at the sensation, and Cobb must sense her discomfort because he begins to coax her through it.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he says. “Let him in.” She visibly relaxes at his use of her favorite pet name, making her feel warm and comforted and loved. It’s silly, it should make her feel ridiculous and way too young, but for some reason it just makes her feel like she’s cared for. And Cobb takes care of her. She knows he always will.
His gentle words have a visible effect, as it’s not long before Arthur is sinking inside of her and she can barely contain her moan. He captures the sound from her lips with his kiss. And she gives in to him completely. Her tiny hands grip his shoulders as she moves up and down.
All the while she feels Cobb behind her, his fingers stroking her shoulders and moving down towards her breasts, then finally making their way to her hips, holding her in place as she takes Arthur all of the way in.
It feels good, but she wants more. She wants both of them. Doesn’t think she can settle for anything less anymore.
“Cobb, please,” she whines. “Fuck me.”
He knows exactly what she means for him to do, and she is grateful for it. If she had to ask for what she wants, she knows she would be reduced to sounding like a cheap whore or porn star, which is not exactly the effect she’s going for.
He begins to prepare her with one, two, three fingers until she’s stretched to the limit between Arthur’s cock and Cobb’s hand.
At some point he begins applying lubricant, and Ariadne doesn’t even want to think about where it came from. Then she can’t think anyway, so it doesn’t matter. All that matters is the sensation of Arthur and Cobb inside of her, Arthur stroking her hips or palming a breast while Cobb has his fingers in her mouth. She sucks on them, hard, and when Cobb groans behind her it just encourages her more.
She feels so good, but more importantly she discovers that she really wants to make them feel good. She enjoys every broken sigh that escapes Arthur’s mouth, or the rough movements from Cobb when he decides to finally let go for a change. They’re both so different, yet at the same time so similar in their intensity.
It is absolutely the most incredible thing in the world, being the center of all that attention, interest, and awareness of detail. Because the way they both take care of her needs is concentrated down to the very last feature. The consideration that Arthur has for the technicalities of his every action and the consuming passion that Cobb exudes in the act of lovemaking combine for a wholly exhilarating experience.
And all she wants to do is return the favor to them.
By the sounds they both make, she thinks that there is a distinct possibility that she’s doing a good job of it. She does whatever she can to please them for the rest of the evening, just to make sure.
Link to Part Two.