just the girl (2/2)
Title: just the girl
Fandom: Inception
Characters: Ariadne, Arthur, Eames, Yusuf, Cobb, Saito
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3,512 (9,440 in all)
Summary: It's because she's a girl. That's why they all possess this ridiculous need to step in and save her, and they each do it in their own special way.
Disclaimer: Inception and all associated characters do not belong to me (because if it did, there would probably be much more Arthur and Ariadne in the movie...let's be real). Also, I know nothing about architecture grad school.
Part 1
--
Cobb
Of all of the men in her life, Cobb was the most stereotypically protective. He took it upon himself to act as a father figure, to make sure she made good choices, to check up on how she was doing in school (how he never figured out she’d been kicked out of her apartment and had been living in the warehouse, she’d never know). But, she’d come to find out, he was the worst with boys.
He’d always made jokes about how she’d better not be dating and how she should focus on school or something like that, and he turned absolutely green if she ever said the word “sex” (a word she’d insert randomly into conversations every once in a while because it was fun to watch him sputter), but she didn’t realize just how bad he’d be until he heard the word “date” mentioned.
One day she’d been sitting on Yusuf’s desk at lunch, munching on a sandwich. Everyone was doing their own thing. Arthur and Cobb were looking over the case file for Saito’s job, Eames was tossing out both legitimate suggestions and snarky comments over to them as he ate his lunch, much to Arthur’s annoyance and everyone else’s amusement, while Ariadne quietly told Yusuf about the boy who’d asked her out that day.
Discussing her love life at work-not that there was much of one to discuss-was something she typically avoided. But Jason had cornered her before she ran off to lunch and she wasn’t sure what to do and she just wanted to talk to Yusuf about it.
“He’s a nice guy, I guess,” Ariadne said with a shrug. “We started school the same year and we’re kind of friends, but I don’t know. He’s just not really my type.”
“You have a type?” Yusuf asked, amused. Unbidden her gaze wandered over to Arthur and she felt the flush creeping up her cheeks as Yusuf laughed. “You can’t pine after him forever.”
“Okay, first of all, I am not pining. Pining is writing stupid love poems in the middle of the night or singing Taylor Swift songs about him in the shower and that is most definitely something I do not do. This is not some great unrequited love, it’s not going to last forever, it’s just a crush and I’ll get over it eventually. I am most definitely not pining. So there.”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Yusuf said with an amused grin, and Ariadne crumpled up her sandwich wrapper and threw it at him.
“I’m just trying to keep my options open.”
“Well this boy, this Jason, is it? He’s an option. Even if you’re not in love with him, going on one little date won’t hurt.”
“What’s this?” Eames said, suddenly appearing in front of them. He was grinning madly, like Christmas had come early.
“Eames-“ Ariadne began, a note of pleading in her voice, but he ignored her.
“I never thought I’d see the day!”
“You don’t have access to every part of my life, Eames,” she hissed. “And I don’t know if-“
“Gentlemen,” Eames called loudly, drawing both Arthur and Cobb’s attention, “our little Ariadne is going on a date.” Both Cobb and Arthur froze. Cobb looked so shocked and outraged that Eames might as well have said that she’d just become a mail order bride or something.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Cobb asked once he was able to speak. “You’re so close to finishing school and dating would just be a distraction-“
His tone made her bristle and she glared at him. “How would dating be a distraction? You don’t let me do any of the dirty work, I can design mazes in my sleep, and except for a couple of classes, I’m practically sailing through my graduate program.”
“Still, you shouldn’t go. He could be dangerous. How much do you know about this boy?”
She glared at him. “About as much as I know about any of you. It’s not a big deal. It’s a date. I’m sure all of you have been on one at one time or another.”
“That’s different. We’re-“
“What? Adults? Men? However you’d like to finish that sentence, just be aware that it’s not going to end well for you.”
“I just don’t think it’d be a very good idea-“
“I think it’s a great idea,” Arthur interrupted and Ariadne’s heart sank. She turned to him, trying to study his face, but he’d already turned back to the file on his desk and continued reading, already moving on from the conversation.The keen disappointment that settled in the pit of her stomach from Arthur’s lack of reaction solidified her resolve. Yusuf surreptitiously reached over and squeezed her hand comfortingly. Ariadne sighed. She’d go on this date, damn it. And she was going to enjoy it if it killed her. And she told Cobb so before flouncing out of the warehouse in a huff.
When she got back to school, she told Jason that yes, she’d go out with him and he was so excited and she felt really, really good about it.
The date itself was another matter and she was so furious the next day that she didn’t even bother to grab lunch before storming to the warehouse.
“Hey, Ariadne, how’d the date go?” Yusuf asked, but she ignored him and stomped into Cobb’s office area.
“Who exactly do you think you are?” she shouted, not caring if the others heard her. She was just too upset.
“Ariadne,” Cobb said calmly, putting down his papers and steepling his fingers as he looked at her, “is there anything I can help you with?”
“Yeah, you can stay out of my personal life,” she snapped, crossing her arms angrily.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about-“
“Really? Then you don’t know about how, in the middle of a perfectly nice date, Jason gets a call from my Uncle Dominic?” she demanded. “And you don’t know anything about the threats that said Uncle Dom promised he would enact upon the poor boy…once he got out of prison?”
“I know nothing.”
“Oh, don’t lie! The poor guy turned so pale and he literally bolted from the restaurant after saying that he didn’t think it would work out. This morning he wouldn’t even look at me.”
“It sounds like this Jason isn’t much of a catch.”
“That’s besides the point, Cobb. I just wanted to go out on a date. A normal date. Why is that too much to ask for?”
“Ariadne-“
“Don’t you dare condescend to me or tell me I’m too young to date because damn it, Cobb, I am twenty-four. And you know what? I’ve been dating since I was fifteen. My own dad wasn’t even this intrusive.”
“There is nothing wrong with weeding out the bad seeds in your life,” Cobb reasoned and Ariadne’s eyes narrowed even farther.
“You can’t stop me from dating, Cobb,” she growled.
Cobb smiled benignly. “Of course not.”
Ariadne threw up her hands and stormed out of his office.
Eames waved at her cheerfully, saying, “Arthur brought lunch-“
“I’m not hungry,” she snapped before stalking out of the warehouse. Over the next few weeks, Ariadne went on a handful of dates just to spite Cobb. It was immature, she knew, but she was determined to show him that he couldn’t control her life, damn it. And Cobb didn’t interfere, at least not outwardly. But no matter how nice-if a bit boring-the date was, it always happened that the next day they would never call her back. Ariadne knew she was running out of options until she finally gave up all together.
“You win,” she sighed, coming to sit in front of Cobb’s desk, crossing her arms sullenly.
He looked up, fighting a smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She gave him an exasperated look and shook her head. “You can cut the act. You win. For now.”
“Well after you’re finished with school, you can win all you’d like,” he said, and she couldn’t help the slight grin that crossed her lips.
“You’re awful.” But she didn’t really think so. She thought it was lovely that he cared. She just wished he’d show it in a different way. She sighed and stood up.
“You’ll thank me later,” Cobb said confidently.
“Hmm, how about I thank you once Philippa starts dating.” And with that parting shot, she was out the door, leaving Cobb sputtering incoherently behind her. It was some level of satisfaction at least.
Arthur
Arthur was sitting at her desk and eating his lunch when she left Cobb’s office. Eames and Yusuf were nowhere to be seen. She wasn’t sure where Eames had run off to, but she remembered that Yusuf he was heading to Montmartre for lunch with Nathalie. Ariadne wished he was here. She really needed someone to talk to, and discussing her lack of love life with Arthur was not something she wanted to do. Ever. At all. But sat down on her desk anyway, her legs brushing against has arm as she pushed herself up, and sighed as he handed her a hamburger. She unwrapped it and took a vicious bite. Today was not a good day.
“Date went that well, huh?” Arthur asked, raising both his eyebrows when she chewed and said nothing.
Ariadne shook her head. She supposed talking to Arthur about it was better than talking to no one. “What date? Cobb’s tactics have officially made me undateable with the guys at school. I can practically see them recoil as I walk past for fear that my ‘Uncle Dom’ will pop out of nowhere and pummel them for breathing the same air. It’s ridiculous.”
“He does it because he cares.”
“Yes, well his caring is stifling.”
“What, so you really think your prince charming was one of those guys Cobb scared away? And do you think any one of them would understand this job?”
“Well no, but that isn’t the point.”
“What is the point?”
“That he can’t control my love life!”
“Except he’s doing a pretty stellar job of it.”
She leveled him with a baleful glare. “Helpful. Really. Thanks.”
Arthur’s smirk melted from his lips. “Do you want me to talk to him about it?”
She let out a sigh of frustration. “No. I’ll just…deal with it. For now.”
Arthur leaned back, eyebrows lifted in a skeptical manner. “What happens if you meet someone you actually want to date?”
She took another bite of her burger and shook her head bitterly. She almost had to laugh. Not only did the only guy she wanted to date not want to date her, but he was willing to clear the way for her to date other guys-who were now decidedly unwilling to date her. “Well it hasn’t happened yet, so I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“Right,” he said quietly and she felt bad about being bitter. “When you get to it. The offer stands, though…whenever you meet him.”
“Thank you.” They sat in silence as they ate, Ariadne surreptitiously studying him out of the corner of her eye. Here he was, in his own way, trying to protect her. Not that he hadn’t done his fair share of that already. He didn’t try to protect her like Cobb did, trying to save her from making mistakes, or Yusuf, who always tried to help her be the best that she could be. Arthur didn’t step in to buy apartment buildings or take care of mean girls like Saito or Eames.
In a way, he had a little bit of all of them and their methods in him. But mostly, he was nothing like them. Arthur tended to like to step back, to let her make mistakes, to step in only when he thought it absolutely necessary or when she asked him to. She knew that he looked after her, like they all did, but he was usually more indirect, assisting others in their endeavors to help her when they needed it.
There were plenty of little moments, of course. When they met with clients, if one acted rudely towards her, he casually stepped in and made them apologize. On the rare occasion she was allowed to PASIV dream-usually to demonstrate models of mazes or give them the details they’d need for different jobs-Arthur was always the first to protect her when projections attacked. Mostly, though, he stayed out of the way and it was one of the many, many reasons why she loved really liked him. And for one very brief moment, Cobb’s ridiculous protectiveness didn’t matter, because she didn’t want to date any of those guys that Cobb scared off. The only person she wanted to date was Arthur.
Feeling daring and wanting to have something nice to brighten her day, she nudged him with her foot and grinned impishly at him once she’d finished her lunch. “I don’t suppose you’d help me with something, would you?”
“That…is a very dangerous expression on your face, Miss Ariadne,” he said, leaning back in her chair.
“It’s not a big favor,” she went on, looking down, heat creeping up her cheeks as she thought about what she was going to do. “I’m not asking you to buy me an apartment building or shut down my school for a few days. I just want to show Cobb that he can’t control my love life.”
Arthur chuckled and stood in front of her, crossing his arms. “Okay. So how are you going to do that?”
“Like this.” Arthur had stolen a kiss once under false pretenses; now it was her turn. Ariadne grabbed him by the tie and pulled him down to her so abruptly that he stumbled and caught himself on her desk, hands on either side of her and their noses bumped and their teeth clanked for a second until they tilted their heads and found a comfortable position. The clumsiness of the whole thing didn’t matter, though, as she captured his lips with hers in a firm but chaste kiss. It was slow and sweet, and without the threat of angry projections tearing Arthur apart hanging over them, it lasted much longer.
They pulled away at the same time and Arthur touched his forehead to hers, resting it there while they both caught their breath. His tie was still twisted in her fingers and his hands still trapped her against the desk. Somehow he’d ended up standing between her legs.
She looked up at him. “Arthur-,” she started to say when she was able to breathe normally again, but the words died on her lips because she wasn’t exactly sure what to say. Should she explain herself? Should she apologize? Should she laugh it off?
It turned out her mouth would be too occupied with Arthur’s to say anything at all. She wasn’t sure who initiated this kiss-perhaps it was him, perhaps it was her, perhaps it was a mutual meeting of lips and tongues. One hand was still on his tie, the other in his hair and before she knew it she’d caught his bottom lip between her teeth and nipped it playfully. He still stood between her legs, hands still planted firmly on the desk on either side of her. His tongue traced her bottom lip softly before dipping into her mouth, eliciting a small moan from her.
Then they were lost in a tangle of emotions as her hands speared through his hair, keeping his mouth locked on hers, and his fingers dug unto her back as he pressed her close to him, hip to hip, chest to chest so that their heartbeats mingled.
Cobb chose that moment to walk out of his office to ask Arthur something about Saito’s mark when he caught sight of the scene on Ariadne’s desk.
“Well damn it,” he sighed, hands on his hips. He shook his head and walked back into his office, leaving Arthur and Ariadne to their…business. But Lord help them if he heard them doing anything more than kissing out there…
A few minutes later they came up for air and Arthur closed his eyes.
“So I think I heard Cobb come out,” he said, his voice slightly strained.
Ariadne licked her lips and brought her hands down to his shoulders, nodding. “I think so, too.”
“I, uh, think you more than proved your point.”
“My point? Oh. That. I guess so.”
He let go of her waist and took a couple of steps away, refusing to meet her eyes. “I guess I should be grateful that it was me here and not Eames.”
Ariadne gripped the edges of her desk as she studied her shoes. It was time for the moment of truth because she supposed there was no use hiding it after what they’d just shared. “I , uh, I wouldn’t have asked Eames.”
“Oh.”
She bit her lip. “Yeah.”
“That’s…good to know.”
“Yeah.”
Then he was tipping her chin up with his hand so that she’d meet his eyes and she wondered when he’d gotten so close again. A small smile graced his lips and Ariadne felt a flutter of hope in her stomach. “So I guess I should thank him.”
“Eames?”
Arthur chuckled. “Cobb. If he hadn’t scared off all of your dates…” He let his sentence trail off as he brought his mouth to meet hers once again.
“I thought you thought me dating was a good idea,” she whispered against his lips when they finally broke apart.
He shrugged and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Yeah, that was a dumb thing to say. When what I wanted to say was I thought you dating me would be a good idea.”
Ariadne grinned slightly. “Which is why you made up for it by helping Cobb ruin my dating prospects?” She had to laugh at his look of shock and mock innocence. “Oh please, I know you helped him.”
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
“I’d say that I’m mad at you, but I’m not,” she said, looping her arms around his neck. Her dangling feet brushed against his calves.
“Well, since I helped ruin your reputation, I guess the only gentlemanly thing to do would be to help repair it.”
Ariadne raised an eyebrow. “And how are you going to do that?”
“Well it seems that my actions have contributed to your inability to find a boyfriend. I suppose it’s only fair that I step in and offer myself up to fill the position.”
“Is that right?” Ariadne asked with a smirk. “What a gentlemanly sacrifice.”
“When the girl is you, it’s not much of a sacrifice.”
She giggled and shook her head. “That is…ridiculously cheesy.”
He grinned down at her. “So does that mean you won’t take me up on my offer?”
“I didn’t say that.” She pulled him in for another brief kiss. “I want to be sure that you know, though, that this has nothing to do with me trying to prove something to Cobb.”
“Noted. And you should know that this isn’t some kind of misguided attempt to protect you,” he said, his mouth grazing her lips ever so softly.
“Mmm. Noted.” She pulled away from him, feeling delightfully dizzy and lightheaded. “So where do we go from here?”
“Well, for starters, how about a date? I promise I won’t let your Uncle Dominic scare me away.”
She kicked him playfully in the shin and stuck her tongue out at him. It was a start, a good start, and she kissed him again.
---
When Yusuf and Eames came back to the warehouse half an hour later, Ariadne and Arthur were still locked together in a comfortable embrace on her desk. Yusuf and Eames exchanged mischievous looks and practically ran to Cobb’s office, pushing and shoving each other to get the best view of Cobb’s reaction when they told him.
“Arthur-“ Eames started, grinning madly at the man sitting behind the desk.
“And Ariadne,” Yusuf continued, giving Eames another shove. “Kissing.”
Cobb put down the file he was reading and rubbed his temple, a grimace on his face. “I know. Believe me, I know.”
Eames’ face fell. “What do you mean, you know?”
Cobb scowled. “They’ve been like that for the past forty-five minutes. It’s nauseating.”
“Forty-five-and you haven’t killed him yet?” Eames asked incredulously, hands on his hips.
“It’s Arthur,” Yusuf said, rolling his eyes. “He’s not going to kill Arthur. For one thing, Ariadne would kill him.”
“Fair point, Eames conceded. “So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Cobb sighed, leaning back in his seat. “Warn him. Warn both of them.”
“Warn them about what?” Yusuf asked.
“What would happen if they hurt each other,” Cobb answered.
The grin on Eames’ face was positively terrifying. “This could be very, very fun.”
--
fin
A/N: This is probably reason #103 that Vanessa needs someone to just tell her "No! Stop writing fanfic!" When I envisioned this fic, it was only supposed to be 3,000 words max, but it turned into this almost 10,000 word behemoth. So if you made it through all of it, virtual high fives all around! I wasn't entirely certain how to end this. I was going to do some big "Arthur saves Ariadne from projections!" thing, but I realized I didn't want to do that and Arthur had been clearly helping her out all fic anyway, so romantic shmoopiness took over, for which I apologize.
Comments are <3 and constructive criticism is always welcome!
Fandom: Inception
Characters: Ariadne, Arthur, Eames, Yusuf, Cobb, Saito
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3,512 (9,440 in all)
Summary: It's because she's a girl. That's why they all possess this ridiculous need to step in and save her, and they each do it in their own special way.
Disclaimer: Inception and all associated characters do not belong to me (because if it did, there would probably be much more Arthur and Ariadne in the movie...let's be real). Also, I know nothing about architecture grad school.
Part 1
--
Cobb
Of all of the men in her life, Cobb was the most stereotypically protective. He took it upon himself to act as a father figure, to make sure she made good choices, to check up on how she was doing in school (how he never figured out she’d been kicked out of her apartment and had been living in the warehouse, she’d never know). But, she’d come to find out, he was the worst with boys.
He’d always made jokes about how she’d better not be dating and how she should focus on school or something like that, and he turned absolutely green if she ever said the word “sex” (a word she’d insert randomly into conversations every once in a while because it was fun to watch him sputter), but she didn’t realize just how bad he’d be until he heard the word “date” mentioned.
One day she’d been sitting on Yusuf’s desk at lunch, munching on a sandwich. Everyone was doing their own thing. Arthur and Cobb were looking over the case file for Saito’s job, Eames was tossing out both legitimate suggestions and snarky comments over to them as he ate his lunch, much to Arthur’s annoyance and everyone else’s amusement, while Ariadne quietly told Yusuf about the boy who’d asked her out that day.
Discussing her love life at work-not that there was much of one to discuss-was something she typically avoided. But Jason had cornered her before she ran off to lunch and she wasn’t sure what to do and she just wanted to talk to Yusuf about it.
“He’s a nice guy, I guess,” Ariadne said with a shrug. “We started school the same year and we’re kind of friends, but I don’t know. He’s just not really my type.”
“You have a type?” Yusuf asked, amused. Unbidden her gaze wandered over to Arthur and she felt the flush creeping up her cheeks as Yusuf laughed. “You can’t pine after him forever.”
“Okay, first of all, I am not pining. Pining is writing stupid love poems in the middle of the night or singing Taylor Swift songs about him in the shower and that is most definitely something I do not do. This is not some great unrequited love, it’s not going to last forever, it’s just a crush and I’ll get over it eventually. I am most definitely not pining. So there.”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Yusuf said with an amused grin, and Ariadne crumpled up her sandwich wrapper and threw it at him.
“I’m just trying to keep my options open.”
“Well this boy, this Jason, is it? He’s an option. Even if you’re not in love with him, going on one little date won’t hurt.”
“What’s this?” Eames said, suddenly appearing in front of them. He was grinning madly, like Christmas had come early.
“Eames-“ Ariadne began, a note of pleading in her voice, but he ignored her.
“I never thought I’d see the day!”
“You don’t have access to every part of my life, Eames,” she hissed. “And I don’t know if-“
“Gentlemen,” Eames called loudly, drawing both Arthur and Cobb’s attention, “our little Ariadne is going on a date.” Both Cobb and Arthur froze. Cobb looked so shocked and outraged that Eames might as well have said that she’d just become a mail order bride or something.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Cobb asked once he was able to speak. “You’re so close to finishing school and dating would just be a distraction-“
His tone made her bristle and she glared at him. “How would dating be a distraction? You don’t let me do any of the dirty work, I can design mazes in my sleep, and except for a couple of classes, I’m practically sailing through my graduate program.”
“Still, you shouldn’t go. He could be dangerous. How much do you know about this boy?”
She glared at him. “About as much as I know about any of you. It’s not a big deal. It’s a date. I’m sure all of you have been on one at one time or another.”
“That’s different. We’re-“
“What? Adults? Men? However you’d like to finish that sentence, just be aware that it’s not going to end well for you.”
“I just don’t think it’d be a very good idea-“
“I think it’s a great idea,” Arthur interrupted and Ariadne’s heart sank. She turned to him, trying to study his face, but he’d already turned back to the file on his desk and continued reading, already moving on from the conversation.The keen disappointment that settled in the pit of her stomach from Arthur’s lack of reaction solidified her resolve. Yusuf surreptitiously reached over and squeezed her hand comfortingly. Ariadne sighed. She’d go on this date, damn it. And she was going to enjoy it if it killed her. And she told Cobb so before flouncing out of the warehouse in a huff.
When she got back to school, she told Jason that yes, she’d go out with him and he was so excited and she felt really, really good about it.
The date itself was another matter and she was so furious the next day that she didn’t even bother to grab lunch before storming to the warehouse.
“Hey, Ariadne, how’d the date go?” Yusuf asked, but she ignored him and stomped into Cobb’s office area.
“Who exactly do you think you are?” she shouted, not caring if the others heard her. She was just too upset.
“Ariadne,” Cobb said calmly, putting down his papers and steepling his fingers as he looked at her, “is there anything I can help you with?”
“Yeah, you can stay out of my personal life,” she snapped, crossing her arms angrily.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about-“
“Really? Then you don’t know about how, in the middle of a perfectly nice date, Jason gets a call from my Uncle Dominic?” she demanded. “And you don’t know anything about the threats that said Uncle Dom promised he would enact upon the poor boy…once he got out of prison?”
“I know nothing.”
“Oh, don’t lie! The poor guy turned so pale and he literally bolted from the restaurant after saying that he didn’t think it would work out. This morning he wouldn’t even look at me.”
“It sounds like this Jason isn’t much of a catch.”
“That’s besides the point, Cobb. I just wanted to go out on a date. A normal date. Why is that too much to ask for?”
“Ariadne-“
“Don’t you dare condescend to me or tell me I’m too young to date because damn it, Cobb, I am twenty-four. And you know what? I’ve been dating since I was fifteen. My own dad wasn’t even this intrusive.”
“There is nothing wrong with weeding out the bad seeds in your life,” Cobb reasoned and Ariadne’s eyes narrowed even farther.
“You can’t stop me from dating, Cobb,” she growled.
Cobb smiled benignly. “Of course not.”
Ariadne threw up her hands and stormed out of his office.
Eames waved at her cheerfully, saying, “Arthur brought lunch-“
“I’m not hungry,” she snapped before stalking out of the warehouse. Over the next few weeks, Ariadne went on a handful of dates just to spite Cobb. It was immature, she knew, but she was determined to show him that he couldn’t control her life, damn it. And Cobb didn’t interfere, at least not outwardly. But no matter how nice-if a bit boring-the date was, it always happened that the next day they would never call her back. Ariadne knew she was running out of options until she finally gave up all together.
“You win,” she sighed, coming to sit in front of Cobb’s desk, crossing her arms sullenly.
He looked up, fighting a smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She gave him an exasperated look and shook her head. “You can cut the act. You win. For now.”
“Well after you’re finished with school, you can win all you’d like,” he said, and she couldn’t help the slight grin that crossed her lips.
“You’re awful.” But she didn’t really think so. She thought it was lovely that he cared. She just wished he’d show it in a different way. She sighed and stood up.
“You’ll thank me later,” Cobb said confidently.
“Hmm, how about I thank you once Philippa starts dating.” And with that parting shot, she was out the door, leaving Cobb sputtering incoherently behind her. It was some level of satisfaction at least.
Arthur
Arthur was sitting at her desk and eating his lunch when she left Cobb’s office. Eames and Yusuf were nowhere to be seen. She wasn’t sure where Eames had run off to, but she remembered that Yusuf he was heading to Montmartre for lunch with Nathalie. Ariadne wished he was here. She really needed someone to talk to, and discussing her lack of love life with Arthur was not something she wanted to do. Ever. At all. But sat down on her desk anyway, her legs brushing against has arm as she pushed herself up, and sighed as he handed her a hamburger. She unwrapped it and took a vicious bite. Today was not a good day.
“Date went that well, huh?” Arthur asked, raising both his eyebrows when she chewed and said nothing.
Ariadne shook her head. She supposed talking to Arthur about it was better than talking to no one. “What date? Cobb’s tactics have officially made me undateable with the guys at school. I can practically see them recoil as I walk past for fear that my ‘Uncle Dom’ will pop out of nowhere and pummel them for breathing the same air. It’s ridiculous.”
“He does it because he cares.”
“Yes, well his caring is stifling.”
“What, so you really think your prince charming was one of those guys Cobb scared away? And do you think any one of them would understand this job?”
“Well no, but that isn’t the point.”
“What is the point?”
“That he can’t control my love life!”
“Except he’s doing a pretty stellar job of it.”
She leveled him with a baleful glare. “Helpful. Really. Thanks.”
Arthur’s smirk melted from his lips. “Do you want me to talk to him about it?”
She let out a sigh of frustration. “No. I’ll just…deal with it. For now.”
Arthur leaned back, eyebrows lifted in a skeptical manner. “What happens if you meet someone you actually want to date?”
She took another bite of her burger and shook her head bitterly. She almost had to laugh. Not only did the only guy she wanted to date not want to date her, but he was willing to clear the way for her to date other guys-who were now decidedly unwilling to date her. “Well it hasn’t happened yet, so I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“Right,” he said quietly and she felt bad about being bitter. “When you get to it. The offer stands, though…whenever you meet him.”
“Thank you.” They sat in silence as they ate, Ariadne surreptitiously studying him out of the corner of her eye. Here he was, in his own way, trying to protect her. Not that he hadn’t done his fair share of that already. He didn’t try to protect her like Cobb did, trying to save her from making mistakes, or Yusuf, who always tried to help her be the best that she could be. Arthur didn’t step in to buy apartment buildings or take care of mean girls like Saito or Eames.
In a way, he had a little bit of all of them and their methods in him. But mostly, he was nothing like them. Arthur tended to like to step back, to let her make mistakes, to step in only when he thought it absolutely necessary or when she asked him to. She knew that he looked after her, like they all did, but he was usually more indirect, assisting others in their endeavors to help her when they needed it.
There were plenty of little moments, of course. When they met with clients, if one acted rudely towards her, he casually stepped in and made them apologize. On the rare occasion she was allowed to PASIV dream-usually to demonstrate models of mazes or give them the details they’d need for different jobs-Arthur was always the first to protect her when projections attacked. Mostly, though, he stayed out of the way and it was one of the many, many reasons why she loved really liked him. And for one very brief moment, Cobb’s ridiculous protectiveness didn’t matter, because she didn’t want to date any of those guys that Cobb scared off. The only person she wanted to date was Arthur.
Feeling daring and wanting to have something nice to brighten her day, she nudged him with her foot and grinned impishly at him once she’d finished her lunch. “I don’t suppose you’d help me with something, would you?”
“That…is a very dangerous expression on your face, Miss Ariadne,” he said, leaning back in her chair.
“It’s not a big favor,” she went on, looking down, heat creeping up her cheeks as she thought about what she was going to do. “I’m not asking you to buy me an apartment building or shut down my school for a few days. I just want to show Cobb that he can’t control my love life.”
Arthur chuckled and stood in front of her, crossing his arms. “Okay. So how are you going to do that?”
“Like this.” Arthur had stolen a kiss once under false pretenses; now it was her turn. Ariadne grabbed him by the tie and pulled him down to her so abruptly that he stumbled and caught himself on her desk, hands on either side of her and their noses bumped and their teeth clanked for a second until they tilted their heads and found a comfortable position. The clumsiness of the whole thing didn’t matter, though, as she captured his lips with hers in a firm but chaste kiss. It was slow and sweet, and without the threat of angry projections tearing Arthur apart hanging over them, it lasted much longer.
They pulled away at the same time and Arthur touched his forehead to hers, resting it there while they both caught their breath. His tie was still twisted in her fingers and his hands still trapped her against the desk. Somehow he’d ended up standing between her legs.
She looked up at him. “Arthur-,” she started to say when she was able to breathe normally again, but the words died on her lips because she wasn’t exactly sure what to say. Should she explain herself? Should she apologize? Should she laugh it off?
It turned out her mouth would be too occupied with Arthur’s to say anything at all. She wasn’t sure who initiated this kiss-perhaps it was him, perhaps it was her, perhaps it was a mutual meeting of lips and tongues. One hand was still on his tie, the other in his hair and before she knew it she’d caught his bottom lip between her teeth and nipped it playfully. He still stood between her legs, hands still planted firmly on the desk on either side of her. His tongue traced her bottom lip softly before dipping into her mouth, eliciting a small moan from her.
Then they were lost in a tangle of emotions as her hands speared through his hair, keeping his mouth locked on hers, and his fingers dug unto her back as he pressed her close to him, hip to hip, chest to chest so that their heartbeats mingled.
Cobb chose that moment to walk out of his office to ask Arthur something about Saito’s mark when he caught sight of the scene on Ariadne’s desk.
“Well damn it,” he sighed, hands on his hips. He shook his head and walked back into his office, leaving Arthur and Ariadne to their…business. But Lord help them if he heard them doing anything more than kissing out there…
A few minutes later they came up for air and Arthur closed his eyes.
“So I think I heard Cobb come out,” he said, his voice slightly strained.
Ariadne licked her lips and brought her hands down to his shoulders, nodding. “I think so, too.”
“I, uh, think you more than proved your point.”
“My point? Oh. That. I guess so.”
He let go of her waist and took a couple of steps away, refusing to meet her eyes. “I guess I should be grateful that it was me here and not Eames.”
Ariadne gripped the edges of her desk as she studied her shoes. It was time for the moment of truth because she supposed there was no use hiding it after what they’d just shared. “I , uh, I wouldn’t have asked Eames.”
“Oh.”
She bit her lip. “Yeah.”
“That’s…good to know.”
“Yeah.”
Then he was tipping her chin up with his hand so that she’d meet his eyes and she wondered when he’d gotten so close again. A small smile graced his lips and Ariadne felt a flutter of hope in her stomach. “So I guess I should thank him.”
“Eames?”
Arthur chuckled. “Cobb. If he hadn’t scared off all of your dates…” He let his sentence trail off as he brought his mouth to meet hers once again.
“I thought you thought me dating was a good idea,” she whispered against his lips when they finally broke apart.
He shrugged and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Yeah, that was a dumb thing to say. When what I wanted to say was I thought you dating me would be a good idea.”
Ariadne grinned slightly. “Which is why you made up for it by helping Cobb ruin my dating prospects?” She had to laugh at his look of shock and mock innocence. “Oh please, I know you helped him.”
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
“I’d say that I’m mad at you, but I’m not,” she said, looping her arms around his neck. Her dangling feet brushed against his calves.
“Well, since I helped ruin your reputation, I guess the only gentlemanly thing to do would be to help repair it.”
Ariadne raised an eyebrow. “And how are you going to do that?”
“Well it seems that my actions have contributed to your inability to find a boyfriend. I suppose it’s only fair that I step in and offer myself up to fill the position.”
“Is that right?” Ariadne asked with a smirk. “What a gentlemanly sacrifice.”
“When the girl is you, it’s not much of a sacrifice.”
She giggled and shook her head. “That is…ridiculously cheesy.”
He grinned down at her. “So does that mean you won’t take me up on my offer?”
“I didn’t say that.” She pulled him in for another brief kiss. “I want to be sure that you know, though, that this has nothing to do with me trying to prove something to Cobb.”
“Noted. And you should know that this isn’t some kind of misguided attempt to protect you,” he said, his mouth grazing her lips ever so softly.
“Mmm. Noted.” She pulled away from him, feeling delightfully dizzy and lightheaded. “So where do we go from here?”
“Well, for starters, how about a date? I promise I won’t let your Uncle Dominic scare me away.”
She kicked him playfully in the shin and stuck her tongue out at him. It was a start, a good start, and she kissed him again.
---
When Yusuf and Eames came back to the warehouse half an hour later, Ariadne and Arthur were still locked together in a comfortable embrace on her desk. Yusuf and Eames exchanged mischievous looks and practically ran to Cobb’s office, pushing and shoving each other to get the best view of Cobb’s reaction when they told him.
“Arthur-“ Eames started, grinning madly at the man sitting behind the desk.
“And Ariadne,” Yusuf continued, giving Eames another shove. “Kissing.”
Cobb put down the file he was reading and rubbed his temple, a grimace on his face. “I know. Believe me, I know.”
Eames’ face fell. “What do you mean, you know?”
Cobb scowled. “They’ve been like that for the past forty-five minutes. It’s nauseating.”
“Forty-five-and you haven’t killed him yet?” Eames asked incredulously, hands on his hips.
“It’s Arthur,” Yusuf said, rolling his eyes. “He’s not going to kill Arthur. For one thing, Ariadne would kill him.”
“Fair point, Eames conceded. “So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Cobb sighed, leaning back in his seat. “Warn him. Warn both of them.”
“Warn them about what?” Yusuf asked.
“What would happen if they hurt each other,” Cobb answered.
The grin on Eames’ face was positively terrifying. “This could be very, very fun.”
--
fin
A/N: This is probably reason #103 that Vanessa needs someone to just tell her "No! Stop writing fanfic!" When I envisioned this fic, it was only supposed to be 3,000 words max, but it turned into this almost 10,000 word behemoth. So if you made it through all of it, virtual high fives all around! I wasn't entirely certain how to end this. I was going to do some big "Arthur saves Ariadne from projections!" thing, but I realized I didn't want to do that and Arthur had been clearly helping her out all fic anyway, so romantic shmoopiness took over, for which I apologize.
Comments are <3 and constructive criticism is always welcome!