Fanfiction: Inception - Architects
Title: Architects
Author: xadie
Rating: PG-13
Series: Inception
Pairings: Arthur/Ariadne, Arthur/Nash, hints of Cobb/Ariadne
Word Count: 839
Genre: Angst
Summary: Arthur has a thing about architects.
A/N: I wrote this almost straight after I saw the film, but it’s taken me a while to get up the courage to post it. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: Inception is not mine, I’m just playing in the Nolanverse
“Why is it always the architects?” Cobb asks, his tone carefully teasing. Arthur quirks a smile he doesn’t mean, the corners of his mouth turning up, no teeth showing. He shrugs, his hands in the pockets of his perfectly-pressed pants, and turns away.
Nash had such depths within his brown eyes, deep enough you could get lost in them for a time. It was almost like dreaming.
“Arthur.” Cobb demands his attention now, receives a narrowed gaze back over one shoulder for his trouble. Cobb sighs and scrubs a hand over his head. “Not her. Let this one go.” Arthur feels like saying something, something bitter and dark that he won’t be able to take back, but with another shrug he walks away.
Later, while they check the equipment, the warehouse echoingly empty and dark, Cobb tries again. “Eames likes you. Why don’t you mess with his head instead?”
Arthur barely pauses in his examination of the silver briefcase. “Eames is a boor. And what’s worse he chooses to be that way.”
Arthur’s mind flicks through neatly filed impressions of Eames, his pranks and overly loud voice, the way he chews with his mouth open and the wonderfully subtle way he can inhabit another human being’s soul.
“I could forgive him if he didn’t know what he was doing, but he could be so much better.” Arthur closes the case with an efficient snap, and rises from his knees to stow it away.
“Just… not her, OK?” Arthur shudders at the pleading edge to Cobb’s tone. “She’s only a kid, she’s got no idea…” Arthur thinks about Ariadne, wondering if she’s ever even had a boyfriend. She seems so awkward and innocent, like nobody has ever bothered to look past the ragged corduroys and deliberately careless neckerchiefs.
He smirks, leaning against her vacant workstation. He feels his knuckles turning white where his hands grip the edge of her desk. “You think it’s me she needs to watch out for?” he asks dryly, then leaves Cobb to his brooding.
Nash didn’t understand that he meant everything, that he was the reason Arthur woke up and the reason he went to sleep. Nash couldn’t see past Cobb and Arthur’s symbiotic relationship. He thought that Cobb was the answer, when Arthur hadn’t even thought to ask the question. That was why he was able to betray Arthur, betray the team. Arthur neatly collected up his broken heart like so much smashed china and slipped the pieces into an envelope for later examination.
“Give me a kiss,” he tells her and she allows him to lean into her, her trust absolute. He should really break her of the bad habit of believing in people, but he won’t. Her lips are warm and smooth, her brown eyes filled with something he can’t quite name. He wants to run a finger over the curve of her cheekbone, to pull her to him with strong arms, and he’s confused by the impulse.
Cobb wants to protect her from him, from his calculated decisions and his mind games. Cobb thinks he broke Nash. He doesn’t realise that Nash broke him.
Arthur wants to protect her from Cobb, from his chaotic tragedy and his obsessive guilt. The sensible, rational majority of Arthur also thinks that maybe they both need to stop trying to protect her and should let her find ways to protect herself. When her lips leave his he smiles at her, genuinely. “It was worth a shot.”
In the diffused light of the hotel lobby, her eyes look almost black.
He was never afraid to yell at Nash, to tell him where he went wrong. He’s happy to admit that constructive criticism isn’t his strong suit. Maybe if he’d been kinder, Nash would have stayed.
When he puts them under in the hotel room he smiles at her again as she closes her eyes. He brushes a stray strand of hair away from her face and registers the silkiness of her skin under his fingertips. He isn’t afraid to watch her go; she’s much stronger than any of them realised before this all began. He knows she’ll come back safe.
Nash relaxed under him, both of them spent. Arthur brushed a stray strand of hair away from his face and registered the smoothness of his skin under his fingertips. I’d die for you, he said, and watched Nash disbelieve him.
Ariandne comes back safe. Cobb does not. Arthur feels lost, staring at the mumbling, empty shell of his partner. Half of himself is gone, and all he can think about is old Janis Joplin lyrics. ‘Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.’
When Ariadne slips her hand into his at Cobb’s hospital bedside, he’s strangely relieved. He looks down into her upturned face, and her eyes are deeper than any place he’s ever been, awake or asleep.
“Do you think that if his mind comes back, we’ll all disappear?” she asks, and he doesn’t have an answer for her.
Author: xadie
Rating: PG-13
Series: Inception
Pairings: Arthur/Ariadne, Arthur/Nash, hints of Cobb/Ariadne
Word Count: 839
Genre: Angst
Summary: Arthur has a thing about architects.
A/N: I wrote this almost straight after I saw the film, but it’s taken me a while to get up the courage to post it. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: Inception is not mine, I’m just playing in the Nolanverse
“Why is it always the architects?” Cobb asks, his tone carefully teasing. Arthur quirks a smile he doesn’t mean, the corners of his mouth turning up, no teeth showing. He shrugs, his hands in the pockets of his perfectly-pressed pants, and turns away.
Nash had such depths within his brown eyes, deep enough you could get lost in them for a time. It was almost like dreaming.
“Arthur.” Cobb demands his attention now, receives a narrowed gaze back over one shoulder for his trouble. Cobb sighs and scrubs a hand over his head. “Not her. Let this one go.” Arthur feels like saying something, something bitter and dark that he won’t be able to take back, but with another shrug he walks away.
Later, while they check the equipment, the warehouse echoingly empty and dark, Cobb tries again. “Eames likes you. Why don’t you mess with his head instead?”
Arthur barely pauses in his examination of the silver briefcase. “Eames is a boor. And what’s worse he chooses to be that way.”
Arthur’s mind flicks through neatly filed impressions of Eames, his pranks and overly loud voice, the way he chews with his mouth open and the wonderfully subtle way he can inhabit another human being’s soul.
“I could forgive him if he didn’t know what he was doing, but he could be so much better.” Arthur closes the case with an efficient snap, and rises from his knees to stow it away.
“Just… not her, OK?” Arthur shudders at the pleading edge to Cobb’s tone. “She’s only a kid, she’s got no idea…” Arthur thinks about Ariadne, wondering if she’s ever even had a boyfriend. She seems so awkward and innocent, like nobody has ever bothered to look past the ragged corduroys and deliberately careless neckerchiefs.
He smirks, leaning against her vacant workstation. He feels his knuckles turning white where his hands grip the edge of her desk. “You think it’s me she needs to watch out for?” he asks dryly, then leaves Cobb to his brooding.
Nash didn’t understand that he meant everything, that he was the reason Arthur woke up and the reason he went to sleep. Nash couldn’t see past Cobb and Arthur’s symbiotic relationship. He thought that Cobb was the answer, when Arthur hadn’t even thought to ask the question. That was why he was able to betray Arthur, betray the team. Arthur neatly collected up his broken heart like so much smashed china and slipped the pieces into an envelope for later examination.
“Give me a kiss,” he tells her and she allows him to lean into her, her trust absolute. He should really break her of the bad habit of believing in people, but he won’t. Her lips are warm and smooth, her brown eyes filled with something he can’t quite name. He wants to run a finger over the curve of her cheekbone, to pull her to him with strong arms, and he’s confused by the impulse.
Cobb wants to protect her from him, from his calculated decisions and his mind games. Cobb thinks he broke Nash. He doesn’t realise that Nash broke him.
Arthur wants to protect her from Cobb, from his chaotic tragedy and his obsessive guilt. The sensible, rational majority of Arthur also thinks that maybe they both need to stop trying to protect her and should let her find ways to protect herself. When her lips leave his he smiles at her, genuinely. “It was worth a shot.”
In the diffused light of the hotel lobby, her eyes look almost black.
He was never afraid to yell at Nash, to tell him where he went wrong. He’s happy to admit that constructive criticism isn’t his strong suit. Maybe if he’d been kinder, Nash would have stayed.
When he puts them under in the hotel room he smiles at her again as she closes her eyes. He brushes a stray strand of hair away from her face and registers the silkiness of her skin under his fingertips. He isn’t afraid to watch her go; she’s much stronger than any of them realised before this all began. He knows she’ll come back safe.
Nash relaxed under him, both of them spent. Arthur brushed a stray strand of hair away from his face and registered the smoothness of his skin under his fingertips. I’d die for you, he said, and watched Nash disbelieve him.
Ariandne comes back safe. Cobb does not. Arthur feels lost, staring at the mumbling, empty shell of his partner. Half of himself is gone, and all he can think about is old Janis Joplin lyrics. ‘Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.’
When Ariadne slips her hand into his at Cobb’s hospital bedside, he’s strangely relieved. He looks down into her upturned face, and her eyes are deeper than any place he’s ever been, awake or asleep.
“Do you think that if his mind comes back, we’ll all disappear?” she asks, and he doesn’t have an answer for her.