Fic: Ready Steady Go! (Inception, G)
title: Ready Steady Go!
author: ilovetakahana
pairings: Call it Arthur/Eames pre-slash, and established Dom/Mal.
warnings: Band!AU, includes Mal, and just to be on the safe side let's call this one a high school AU, too. Eames talks about several named instruments including three Stradivarius violins.
Okay, this is my story equivalent of an ear worm: it all started with the image of Eames being a J-music fan [which I already mentioned in the previous story], and the image of Arthur playing the violin part in this song, which is from the OST of an MMORPG that I used to be really heavily into. The images stuck HARD, and then there's all that music I've been listening to so I can write The Other Half, and then, well, this is the result, if by result you mean you put my brain in a blender, whizzed it for thirty seconds, and then tossed the result into the sink. So, apologies for any musical self-indulgence!
Title and cut text from the song by L'Arc~en~Ciel, of course.
disclaimer: I don't own the original story or the characters. Not making any profit, just playing in the sandbox.
summary: Ariadne wants to start a band. The magical ingredient: one violin.
Also archived at http://ninemoons42.dreamwidth.org/.
"You're listening to that junk again, Eames? You can't even understand it!"
Without opening his eyes, Eames simply waved a middle finger in the general direction of the rest of the room. Then, not content to leave well enough alone, he said, "True art does not need to be immediately comprehensible, you little philistine. Besides, I am already taking Japanese lessons."
"Which proves my point, really!" And with that, Ariadne jumped right onto her cousin's bed, laughing when he let out an undignified yelp and nearly bounced right off onto the floor. "If you have to take lessons just to know what they're saying...."
"Oh, shut it," Eames growled, then threw a pillow at her. "What will it take you to leave me in peace with Koyasu-sensei?"
"Come to band practice with me!"
"Oh, come off it, we've talked about this again and again, and I've already turned you down."
"Doesn't stop me from asking you about it again and again, does it? Come on, Eames," and Ariadne turned her best puppy-eyes expression on him, "I've already convinced Dom and Mal to join us - "
" - I do not want to know what you promised them in exchange for this - "
"And, and," and Ariadne took a deep breath, "IthinkImighthaveconvincedArthurtodropintoday."
That got her a truly poisonous glare.
"I'm not joking, Eames," Ariadne said. "Ask Yusuf, he was there when I asked him."
"I believe I will," Eames growled, and pulled out his mobile phone. "Yusuf?"
"Mate. I believe I was expecting this call."
"Were you, now," Eames said. "If you were, then you know why I'm calling. So, tell me: is Ariadne pulling my leg?"
"She's not, honestly, mate. I had to practically push her into asking him, and I was standing right there next to her, and he was looking at us like he was amused or something. But never mind me and my ramblings. Ariadne's right - Arthur's violin would be perfect for the kind of music she has in mind for that band of hers."
"A band into which I'm being roped to play."
"You really don't need me to be inflating your ego any more, Eames. Also, I don't actually know why you're so dead set against this band thing; it's not like there's anyone on the planet to stop you."
Eames sighed, then, dashed to pieces once again by Yusuf's logic, and hung up.
"All right, Ariadne, you've got me for one session. After that, we'll talk."
"That's what I heard from everyone else anyway. But I'm pretty sure I know what we'll be talking about!"
///
"I submit," Mal said, all French-coated vowels and smiles, "that Ariadne simply give up the mic stand and wear a headset."
"Never going to happen," Eames and Dom said simultaneously, and they laughed, dodging a few moments later when Ariadne threw some wadded-up paper at them.
"You have a fixation on the mic, Ariadne," Eames said, grinning.
"Just the same as you and your bass, which you named."
"Red Special, Lucille, Frankenstrat," he said, smugly. "Oh, and we can't forget: Oistrakh, Dubois, Molitor."
At that moment the Music Room's door opened and Arthur walked in, all artfully wrinkled shirt and midnight-black denims. He set his violin case down on a chair and then sat down next to it. "I was told there'd be a band rehearsal here?"
"Yes," Ariadne said, and she went over and offered him a hand to shake. "Do you know everyone in the room?"
"I know you," Arthur said, and smiled and nodded a little at Mal and Dom. "Mal and Dom. And...?"
"My cousin," Ariadne said, waving her fingers in Eames's direction. "Ignore him, he's just part of the decorations."
"I'll show you decorations," Eames said, loudly, and moved toward Ariadne's guitar case. Quick as a flash she zoomed over to him and put a hand right in his face.
"Okay! Can we set up, then? Just a song or two today?"
A quick flurry of motion - Mal kissing Dom and then pushing him off the piano bench; Eames mournfully patting the unused amplifiers and complaining about "these things never go to eleven"; Arthur taking them all in with a bemused look and then dropping his eyes to look at his violin strings - and Ariadne hopped up on top of the teacher's desk, an acoustic guitar to match Eames's perched in her lap. "Suggestions? Please tell me there's a song everyone here knows."
"Oasis?" Dom offered, twirling his drumsticks absently.
"Possible."
"REM, Nirvana, U2, Led Zep, Queen," Mal said. "But not the Bohemian."
Eames started strumming his guitar, humming under his breath in Japanese - and then he nearly stopped dead when the violin joined in.
Over the sound of Ariadne groaning and the creak of Dom scooting his chair closer, Eames nearly faltered with the melody - and then his eyes locked with Arthur's and the music was all he knew.
At the end, Mal was the first to speak up: "What was that? And was someone supposed to be singing?"
"Yes," Arthur said. "The song is Blurry Eyes by the Japanese rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel. Um, I'm not as good a singer as hyde, though." To Eames, he said, "You're pretty good."
"Oh, that's not me. You really made it sound great. I could have dropped out and it'd still be wonderful. But," Eames said, and nodded at a tsk-ing Ariadne, "we're not actually here to be a J-rock cover band. I vote Oasis, Wonderwall, who's with me?"
"Hear, hear," Arthur said.
"As long as I'm doing this Noel's way," and Ariadne raised her hand.
"Good enough for me," Dom said, and when he looked at Mal she chuckled and raised her hand, too.
"Okay, then, one-two-three-four," Ariadne said.
Eames caught himself smiling as Arthur began the violin part, somewhere in the second verse, and he ducked his head back down quickly, smiling down at his own hands.
He never saw Arthur smiling tentatively in his direction.
Onward to My Heart Runs Beneath the Sky
author: ilovetakahana
pairings: Call it Arthur/Eames pre-slash, and established Dom/Mal.
warnings: Band!AU, includes Mal, and just to be on the safe side let's call this one a high school AU, too. Eames talks about several named instruments including three Stradivarius violins.
Okay, this is my story equivalent of an ear worm: it all started with the image of Eames being a J-music fan [which I already mentioned in the previous story], and the image of Arthur playing the violin part in this song, which is from the OST of an MMORPG that I used to be really heavily into. The images stuck HARD, and then there's all that music I've been listening to so I can write The Other Half, and then, well, this is the result, if by result you mean you put my brain in a blender, whizzed it for thirty seconds, and then tossed the result into the sink. So, apologies for any musical self-indulgence!
Title and cut text from the song by L'Arc~en~Ciel, of course.
disclaimer: I don't own the original story or the characters. Not making any profit, just playing in the sandbox.
summary: Ariadne wants to start a band. The magical ingredient: one violin.
Also archived at http://ninemoons42.dreamwidth.org/.
"You're listening to that junk again, Eames? You can't even understand it!"
Without opening his eyes, Eames simply waved a middle finger in the general direction of the rest of the room. Then, not content to leave well enough alone, he said, "True art does not need to be immediately comprehensible, you little philistine. Besides, I am already taking Japanese lessons."
"Which proves my point, really!" And with that, Ariadne jumped right onto her cousin's bed, laughing when he let out an undignified yelp and nearly bounced right off onto the floor. "If you have to take lessons just to know what they're saying...."
"Oh, shut it," Eames growled, then threw a pillow at her. "What will it take you to leave me in peace with Koyasu-sensei?"
"Come to band practice with me!"
"Oh, come off it, we've talked about this again and again, and I've already turned you down."
"Doesn't stop me from asking you about it again and again, does it? Come on, Eames," and Ariadne turned her best puppy-eyes expression on him, "I've already convinced Dom and Mal to join us - "
" - I do not want to know what you promised them in exchange for this - "
"And, and," and Ariadne took a deep breath, "IthinkImighthaveconvincedArthurtodropintoday."
That got her a truly poisonous glare.
"I'm not joking, Eames," Ariadne said. "Ask Yusuf, he was there when I asked him."
"I believe I will," Eames growled, and pulled out his mobile phone. "Yusuf?"
"Mate. I believe I was expecting this call."
"Were you, now," Eames said. "If you were, then you know why I'm calling. So, tell me: is Ariadne pulling my leg?"
"She's not, honestly, mate. I had to practically push her into asking him, and I was standing right there next to her, and he was looking at us like he was amused or something. But never mind me and my ramblings. Ariadne's right - Arthur's violin would be perfect for the kind of music she has in mind for that band of hers."
"A band into which I'm being roped to play."
"You really don't need me to be inflating your ego any more, Eames. Also, I don't actually know why you're so dead set against this band thing; it's not like there's anyone on the planet to stop you."
Eames sighed, then, dashed to pieces once again by Yusuf's logic, and hung up.
"All right, Ariadne, you've got me for one session. After that, we'll talk."
"That's what I heard from everyone else anyway. But I'm pretty sure I know what we'll be talking about!"
///
"I submit," Mal said, all French-coated vowels and smiles, "that Ariadne simply give up the mic stand and wear a headset."
"Never going to happen," Eames and Dom said simultaneously, and they laughed, dodging a few moments later when Ariadne threw some wadded-up paper at them.
"You have a fixation on the mic, Ariadne," Eames said, grinning.
"Just the same as you and your bass, which you named."
"Red Special, Lucille, Frankenstrat," he said, smugly. "Oh, and we can't forget: Oistrakh, Dubois, Molitor."
At that moment the Music Room's door opened and Arthur walked in, all artfully wrinkled shirt and midnight-black denims. He set his violin case down on a chair and then sat down next to it. "I was told there'd be a band rehearsal here?"
"Yes," Ariadne said, and she went over and offered him a hand to shake. "Do you know everyone in the room?"
"I know you," Arthur said, and smiled and nodded a little at Mal and Dom. "Mal and Dom. And...?"
"My cousin," Ariadne said, waving her fingers in Eames's direction. "Ignore him, he's just part of the decorations."
"I'll show you decorations," Eames said, loudly, and moved toward Ariadne's guitar case. Quick as a flash she zoomed over to him and put a hand right in his face.
"Okay! Can we set up, then? Just a song or two today?"
A quick flurry of motion - Mal kissing Dom and then pushing him off the piano bench; Eames mournfully patting the unused amplifiers and complaining about "these things never go to eleven"; Arthur taking them all in with a bemused look and then dropping his eyes to look at his violin strings - and Ariadne hopped up on top of the teacher's desk, an acoustic guitar to match Eames's perched in her lap. "Suggestions? Please tell me there's a song everyone here knows."
"Oasis?" Dom offered, twirling his drumsticks absently.
"Possible."
"REM, Nirvana, U2, Led Zep, Queen," Mal said. "But not the Bohemian."
Eames started strumming his guitar, humming under his breath in Japanese - and then he nearly stopped dead when the violin joined in.
Over the sound of Ariadne groaning and the creak of Dom scooting his chair closer, Eames nearly faltered with the melody - and then his eyes locked with Arthur's and the music was all he knew.
At the end, Mal was the first to speak up: "What was that? And was someone supposed to be singing?"
"Yes," Arthur said. "The song is Blurry Eyes by the Japanese rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel. Um, I'm not as good a singer as hyde, though." To Eames, he said, "You're pretty good."
"Oh, that's not me. You really made it sound great. I could have dropped out and it'd still be wonderful. But," Eames said, and nodded at a tsk-ing Ariadne, "we're not actually here to be a J-rock cover band. I vote Oasis, Wonderwall, who's with me?"
"Hear, hear," Arthur said.
"As long as I'm doing this Noel's way," and Ariadne raised her hand.
"Good enough for me," Dom said, and when he looked at Mal she chuckled and raised her hand, too.
"Okay, then, one-two-three-four," Ariadne said.
Eames caught himself smiling as Arthur began the violin part, somewhere in the second verse, and he ducked his head back down quickly, smiling down at his own hands.
He never saw Arthur smiling tentatively in his direction.
Onward to My Heart Runs Beneath the Sky