seems i've been held [inception]
Title: seems i have been held
Fandom: Inception
Summary: Cheating would be out of the question.
Pairing: Ariadne/Arthur
Rating: R
Notes: For inception_kink, here.
"Twenty-three dollars and seventy-two cents," Eames said, fishing all the money out of his pocket and tossing it onto the table with a flourish.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Cobb muttered, pulling a folded twenty from his wallet. Saito gave a hearty laugh and laid a hundred dollar bill down next to Eames's pile of ones and pennies.
"Show off." He shrugged and leaned back.
"Wait, which side are you on?" Yusuf asked, fumbling with his paper and pen.
"A hundred dollars he'll do it in a week and a half." Nodding, Yusuf mumbled to himself, writing down the figures and and looking back to Cobb.
"Twenty in two weeks."
"Twenty-three dollars and seventy-two cents he'll do it within the week." Cobb raised an eyebrow and Eames shrugged.
"No cheating," warned Yusuf futilely.
If either Arthur or Ariadne were aware of the side-show bet running in the background of their work, neither made that known. Cobb dropped by sometimes to offer advice, but lately, he'd taken to noting things about Ariadne's personality Arthur might find attractive or endearing.
"She's smart," he said.
"Yes, Cobb. I know."
"Very smart. Almost eerily so. And clever. And creative."
"I'm not firing her anytime soon. You don't have to clout her finer points to me," Arthur snapped, the final word being that he'd already noticed, it seemed, already seen what she was.
"Well, she's cute, too."
"Take her for coffee then, if you like her so much," Arthur said, clearing away his things with a flourish and heading into his backroom office. Narrowing his eyes, Cobb made to follow him, but saw Saito attempting to lure Ariadne into coversation. He interrupted them, earning a reproachful glare.
No one had ever agreed with Yusuf's final request.
Eames was the worst, really. He all but said there was a bet going around, and everyone was worried he'd give it all away.
"I know what I'm doing. Trust me."
Arthur found none of his antics amusing. Eames's first method was to seduce Ariadne and make Arthur jealous, but when she seemed immune to his charms, he took to assaulting her with sexual ennuendos about Arthur's ties and suits, suggesting what he might look like under them, causing a severe blush to rise up her face one day before she snapped, "If you like it so much, then fuck him yourself."
Which, of course, could have given any number of things away, but Eames wasn't paying attention then.
Saito had resigned himself to losing his hundred dollars from the beginning. Once it became clear no one was going to let him near either Arthur or Ariadne, considering he was only in their new state-side warehouse when it seemed everyone else was as well, he went a more discreet route - there was a note left on Arthur's chair in an anonymous, plain scrawl -
you looked nice today.
And another for Ariadne -
the sunlight matches your eyes.
Romantic things that seemed out of character for both of them that became more and more covertly sexual as visits wore on until Saito ran out of things to say and finally gave up, enjoying watching Eames and Cobb try and outdo one another. It was almost worth it to break the news about the bet, just to be able to laugh about it.
It was funnier this way, he thought, after watching Cobb and Eames get into a thinly veiled argument over who was winning with a puzzled Arthur and Ariadne watching from their perspective sides.
The joy of the bet wore off, particularly after the two week mark faded away and it became a game between Cobb and Eames to see who could get Arthur to ask Ariadne out first - Eames insisted that his push to get him to take her on a coffee run counted, but Yusuf had ruled it too platonic of a meeting after he'd been invited along as well. And Cobb maintained that they'd gone to breakfast when they entered the warehouse early one morning, each carrying a bagel, though Ariadne had produced an entire bag of them from her purse and handed them out happily.
"Look, here's the money back," Yusuf said, almost pleadingly. "Now just stop it." Cobb bitterly accepted his twenty dollar bill, but Eames shook his head. "Eames-"
"I can do this. I can," he insisted. And Cobb, feeling challenged and renewed by Eames's determination, passed his money back to the chemist with an uncharacteristic grin.
They quickly re-entered the proverbial ring, with Arthur and Ariadne at the middle, seemingly unaware of it all.
Eames decided that it was cheating to bring Phillipa to the warehouse. She was dreadfully attached to Ariadne, always at her heels and leaning closely toward whatever she was working on. And she thought the world of Arthur, who seemed to produce candy from thin air whenever she and her brother were around.
Naturally, she believed the two should get married.
"Arthur's too old for me," she said hautily. "If he's going to be with anyone, I'd rather it be with you, Ari." Ariadne gave the girl a gentle smile and glanced quickly toward Arthur, who was doing his best to conceal a grin.
"Now Phillipa, there's no need to suggenst something that drastic," Eames said, feeling the tide shift and not liking it one bit.
"You're right," Cobb said, nodding. "Maybe take things slower." Phillipa looked confused, then began nodding her head vigourously.
"Yeah! Like a d-"
"Who wants to come with me to get some coffee?" Eames said loudly, and Phillipa's attention became immediately drawn to him. She reasoned with her father later that since Eames was shorter than Arthur, he was a more suitable husband for herself, and so she followed him wherever he went. Scowling, Cobb nodded his approval and watched his daughter trot after the forger, sulking in his temporary defeat.
There was a lingering touch that renewed the fervor of the bet and had Cobb and Eames tossing more money into the pot and each adding their respective projection.
"Less than four days," Eames said confidently.
"One week from today."
"Feeling lucky? Or planning on cheating again?"
"You're one to talk."
Yusuf groaned from behind them and a visiting Saito fought to hide his laughter.
Eames took only a moment to decide that what he saw qualified as a win. Dinner had been unplanned and casual, with himself and Cobb arguing at a small table in the back, Yusuf getting drunk on bad wine and Saito coming in as if he owned the place. It would have surprised no one if he did.
"I'm going back. I have work to finish that I should have done last week."
"Typical," Cobb said, waving him off.
Eames made his way up the stairs and into the warehouse, noting the distinct emptiness of the place, though it was obvious no one had left. Ariadne's bag was resting on the floor by her table and Arthur's jacket was hung on the small coat hanger next to his workbench. The door to his office was closed.
He assumed that they'd stepped out for a moment and busied himself with papers and procrastination. There was a file he needed that he'd seen in Arthur's office, so he headed toward the shut door with little apprehension. And really, he reasoned with himself later, he must have heard something before the door opened, because there was a moment's hesitation before he finally threw it open and froze at the sight in front of him.
There were papers strewn on the door as Arthur and Ariadne went at it like mad on Arthur's desk. He fucked her hard and without any of the precision and control he normally exhibited.
"Oh this is interesting," Eames breathed while the two continued not to notice him. He leaned casually against the door frame. Ariadne tossed her head back as Arthur's lips went hungrily to her neck. Her eyes widened at the sight of him and she gave a cry that was a cross between ecstasy and surprise. Arthur responded with a poignant thrust which sent the desk skidding on the concrete floor.
"Ar-Arthur, Arthur stop. Stop!" He did so, reluctantly, and suddenly saw Eames standing silhouetted in the door.
"Eames!" Arthur was properly disheveled and blushing violently. The forger gave them a moment to collect themselves and turned, grinning, from the office door just as Cobb, Yusuf, and Saito came up the stairs, debating whether or not the number their waitress had given Yusuf was a fake or not.
When the halphazardly dressed Arthur and Ariadne came into view, they stopped. Eames looked positively jolly. Too much so.
"What's going on?" Cobb said. Saito began smiling without reservation and Yusuf headed to his corner to unlock the cashbox he'd stored the bet money in.
"It seems that I've won."
"Wait, won what?" Ariadne looked confused and tilted her head to the side. Arthur looked just as perplexed.
"We've had a bet, you see love. When Arthur would finally ask you out. The most recent prediction was within a few days from yesterday. And it seems I've won."
"That doesn't qualify as a date!" Cobb snapped, gesturing toward Arthur's office angrily. The point man blushed and looked sheepishly at his shoes. Yusuf was about to hand the cash box over to Eames when Ariadne suddenly smiled.
"But that wasn't the first time."
Eames's hand froze over the money and he spun on his heel, livid and stuttering. "What?!"
"Yeah. Arthur and I've been doing this for months."
"Guess you guys are a little slow on the uptake," Arthur said, straigtening his tie and putting an arm around ariadn'e shoulder. "Come on. Let's go get dinner."
"Curry or chinese food?" she asked innocently.
"We had curry last time. Let's go get sushi."
In the end, the money went to Yusuf who had put up with them all long enough that he had earned the four hundred and fifty-three dollars and seventy-two cents that had collected in the box over the weeks. Ariadne admitted that Arthur had asked her out a week after the Fischer job and both Eames and Cobb were forced to admit defeat.
Yusuf gave half the money to Arthur who used it to take Ariadne to the opera.
"Just, please," the chemist begged. "If you're going to get married, tell us. I don't think I can do this again."
Fandom: Inception
Summary: Cheating would be out of the question.
Pairing: Ariadne/Arthur
Rating: R
Notes: For inception_kink, here.
"Twenty-three dollars and seventy-two cents," Eames said, fishing all the money out of his pocket and tossing it onto the table with a flourish.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Cobb muttered, pulling a folded twenty from his wallet. Saito gave a hearty laugh and laid a hundred dollar bill down next to Eames's pile of ones and pennies.
"Show off." He shrugged and leaned back.
"Wait, which side are you on?" Yusuf asked, fumbling with his paper and pen.
"A hundred dollars he'll do it in a week and a half." Nodding, Yusuf mumbled to himself, writing down the figures and and looking back to Cobb.
"Twenty in two weeks."
"Twenty-three dollars and seventy-two cents he'll do it within the week." Cobb raised an eyebrow and Eames shrugged.
"No cheating," warned Yusuf futilely.
If either Arthur or Ariadne were aware of the side-show bet running in the background of their work, neither made that known. Cobb dropped by sometimes to offer advice, but lately, he'd taken to noting things about Ariadne's personality Arthur might find attractive or endearing.
"She's smart," he said.
"Yes, Cobb. I know."
"Very smart. Almost eerily so. And clever. And creative."
"I'm not firing her anytime soon. You don't have to clout her finer points to me," Arthur snapped, the final word being that he'd already noticed, it seemed, already seen what she was.
"Well, she's cute, too."
"Take her for coffee then, if you like her so much," Arthur said, clearing away his things with a flourish and heading into his backroom office. Narrowing his eyes, Cobb made to follow him, but saw Saito attempting to lure Ariadne into coversation. He interrupted them, earning a reproachful glare.
No one had ever agreed with Yusuf's final request.
Eames was the worst, really. He all but said there was a bet going around, and everyone was worried he'd give it all away.
"I know what I'm doing. Trust me."
Arthur found none of his antics amusing. Eames's first method was to seduce Ariadne and make Arthur jealous, but when she seemed immune to his charms, he took to assaulting her with sexual ennuendos about Arthur's ties and suits, suggesting what he might look like under them, causing a severe blush to rise up her face one day before she snapped, "If you like it so much, then fuck him yourself."
Which, of course, could have given any number of things away, but Eames wasn't paying attention then.
Saito had resigned himself to losing his hundred dollars from the beginning. Once it became clear no one was going to let him near either Arthur or Ariadne, considering he was only in their new state-side warehouse when it seemed everyone else was as well, he went a more discreet route - there was a note left on Arthur's chair in an anonymous, plain scrawl -
you looked nice today.
And another for Ariadne -
the sunlight matches your eyes.
Romantic things that seemed out of character for both of them that became more and more covertly sexual as visits wore on until Saito ran out of things to say and finally gave up, enjoying watching Eames and Cobb try and outdo one another. It was almost worth it to break the news about the bet, just to be able to laugh about it.
It was funnier this way, he thought, after watching Cobb and Eames get into a thinly veiled argument over who was winning with a puzzled Arthur and Ariadne watching from their perspective sides.
The joy of the bet wore off, particularly after the two week mark faded away and it became a game between Cobb and Eames to see who could get Arthur to ask Ariadne out first - Eames insisted that his push to get him to take her on a coffee run counted, but Yusuf had ruled it too platonic of a meeting after he'd been invited along as well. And Cobb maintained that they'd gone to breakfast when they entered the warehouse early one morning, each carrying a bagel, though Ariadne had produced an entire bag of them from her purse and handed them out happily.
"Look, here's the money back," Yusuf said, almost pleadingly. "Now just stop it." Cobb bitterly accepted his twenty dollar bill, but Eames shook his head. "Eames-"
"I can do this. I can," he insisted. And Cobb, feeling challenged and renewed by Eames's determination, passed his money back to the chemist with an uncharacteristic grin.
They quickly re-entered the proverbial ring, with Arthur and Ariadne at the middle, seemingly unaware of it all.
Eames decided that it was cheating to bring Phillipa to the warehouse. She was dreadfully attached to Ariadne, always at her heels and leaning closely toward whatever she was working on. And she thought the world of Arthur, who seemed to produce candy from thin air whenever she and her brother were around.
Naturally, she believed the two should get married.
"Arthur's too old for me," she said hautily. "If he's going to be with anyone, I'd rather it be with you, Ari." Ariadne gave the girl a gentle smile and glanced quickly toward Arthur, who was doing his best to conceal a grin.
"Now Phillipa, there's no need to suggenst something that drastic," Eames said, feeling the tide shift and not liking it one bit.
"You're right," Cobb said, nodding. "Maybe take things slower." Phillipa looked confused, then began nodding her head vigourously.
"Yeah! Like a d-"
"Who wants to come with me to get some coffee?" Eames said loudly, and Phillipa's attention became immediately drawn to him. She reasoned with her father later that since Eames was shorter than Arthur, he was a more suitable husband for herself, and so she followed him wherever he went. Scowling, Cobb nodded his approval and watched his daughter trot after the forger, sulking in his temporary defeat.
There was a lingering touch that renewed the fervor of the bet and had Cobb and Eames tossing more money into the pot and each adding their respective projection.
"Less than four days," Eames said confidently.
"One week from today."
"Feeling lucky? Or planning on cheating again?"
"You're one to talk."
Yusuf groaned from behind them and a visiting Saito fought to hide his laughter.
Eames took only a moment to decide that what he saw qualified as a win. Dinner had been unplanned and casual, with himself and Cobb arguing at a small table in the back, Yusuf getting drunk on bad wine and Saito coming in as if he owned the place. It would have surprised no one if he did.
"I'm going back. I have work to finish that I should have done last week."
"Typical," Cobb said, waving him off.
Eames made his way up the stairs and into the warehouse, noting the distinct emptiness of the place, though it was obvious no one had left. Ariadne's bag was resting on the floor by her table and Arthur's jacket was hung on the small coat hanger next to his workbench. The door to his office was closed.
He assumed that they'd stepped out for a moment and busied himself with papers and procrastination. There was a file he needed that he'd seen in Arthur's office, so he headed toward the shut door with little apprehension. And really, he reasoned with himself later, he must have heard something before the door opened, because there was a moment's hesitation before he finally threw it open and froze at the sight in front of him.
There were papers strewn on the door as Arthur and Ariadne went at it like mad on Arthur's desk. He fucked her hard and without any of the precision and control he normally exhibited.
"Oh this is interesting," Eames breathed while the two continued not to notice him. He leaned casually against the door frame. Ariadne tossed her head back as Arthur's lips went hungrily to her neck. Her eyes widened at the sight of him and she gave a cry that was a cross between ecstasy and surprise. Arthur responded with a poignant thrust which sent the desk skidding on the concrete floor.
"Ar-Arthur, Arthur stop. Stop!" He did so, reluctantly, and suddenly saw Eames standing silhouetted in the door.
"Eames!" Arthur was properly disheveled and blushing violently. The forger gave them a moment to collect themselves and turned, grinning, from the office door just as Cobb, Yusuf, and Saito came up the stairs, debating whether or not the number their waitress had given Yusuf was a fake or not.
When the halphazardly dressed Arthur and Ariadne came into view, they stopped. Eames looked positively jolly. Too much so.
"What's going on?" Cobb said. Saito began smiling without reservation and Yusuf headed to his corner to unlock the cashbox he'd stored the bet money in.
"It seems that I've won."
"Wait, won what?" Ariadne looked confused and tilted her head to the side. Arthur looked just as perplexed.
"We've had a bet, you see love. When Arthur would finally ask you out. The most recent prediction was within a few days from yesterday. And it seems I've won."
"That doesn't qualify as a date!" Cobb snapped, gesturing toward Arthur's office angrily. The point man blushed and looked sheepishly at his shoes. Yusuf was about to hand the cash box over to Eames when Ariadne suddenly smiled.
"But that wasn't the first time."
Eames's hand froze over the money and he spun on his heel, livid and stuttering. "What?!"
"Yeah. Arthur and I've been doing this for months."
"Guess you guys are a little slow on the uptake," Arthur said, straigtening his tie and putting an arm around ariadn'e shoulder. "Come on. Let's go get dinner."
"Curry or chinese food?" she asked innocently.
"We had curry last time. Let's go get sushi."
In the end, the money went to Yusuf who had put up with them all long enough that he had earned the four hundred and fifty-three dollars and seventy-two cents that had collected in the box over the weeks. Ariadne admitted that Arthur had asked her out a week after the Fischer job and both Eames and Cobb were forced to admit defeat.
Yusuf gave half the money to Arthur who used it to take Ariadne to the opera.
"Just, please," the chemist begged. "If you're going to get married, tell us. I don't think I can do this again."