25. When You Grow Up Your Heart Dies 15/20
Fandom: Inception x Dark!Breakfast Club
Pairing(s): Arthur/Eames, Cobb/Mal
Summary: They went into detention with nothing in common. They witnessed something frightening that may or may not have actually happened: a dead body and blood on the walls spelling 528491. Can a nerd, a jock, a criminal, a pampered prince and basket case, brave crossing the social cliques in order to stick together and solve this mystery?
[Sorry for the slow updates, guys! I want to blame RL but it's also the muse's fault, well, my fault. Generally it is a rule of twowritehands to NEVER EVER post something unfinished, but for reasons beyond me now, I thought it's be a good idea to post this one as I wrote it...anyway, it messes with my head and I feel better posting a chapter if I have one or more after that one already complete, and I've hit a lil' bit of a wall, so I've been holding my last complete chapter ransom until I can work through a sequence that is giving me trouble....
But since I think I've made you wait long enough, I think I'll post chapter (15?) now in desperate hopes that the feedback will empower me to really kick this fic's butt. lol So....leave praising comments? and find the rest of the story under "breakfast club" tag]
For the third time in six days, the breakfast club told someone about the body of the dead girl in the bathroom. Unlike Principle Browning, Bobby took their word for it. Unlike Saito, he did not treat it like a game. For hours, they debated motives and theories and courses of action. Like a sensible young man, he wanted to call the police, and like a young man used to getting what he wants, he ignored Mal’s warnings that no one would believe him, and he called anyway.
He was allowed to leave an anonymous tip that a janitor or teacher or someone at Sherman High was threatening and killing students. The officer on the other end of the line seemed professional enough, but also too familiar with drunken high school prank-callers.
“Okay, thank you for calling, we’ll look into that.”
“Thanks,” Bobby said, discouraged. The line went dead. Mal uncrossed her arms and shrugged, dropping her hands to her thighs with loud slaps. “Told you.”
“We have to do something besides hide in our rooms like scared little kids!” he snapped. “I mean if this Rod guy is as crazy as you say he is, then what’s stopping him from killing somebody else just to torment you?” He spoke to Mal with something closer to accusation in his voice-frustration that her personal problem with a deranged step-brother dared to escalate enough to disrupt his life, the lives of others.
Cobb reacted readily, but calmly. Stretching out an arm that he’d held locked in a tight bundle at his chest for long enough that his fingers were pale, he thumped the prep/jock on his boney shoulder with the back of his hand. “Lay off her, okay, it’s not her fault.”
Bobby surfaced from the aggravation and visibly shook out of it. “Yeah, I guess. Sorry.”
Cobb accepted the apology and re-crossed his arms tightly. He and Ariadne were both pacing in this posture, as if by holding onto their own heartbeats, they felt secure enough to properly think about this horrible situation. Mal, from where she and her long limbs took up the entire couch, didn’t have to move a muscle to defend herself and smiled gratefully. Ariadne grinned too-even as that snake of jealously in her stomach hissed softly at the fact that Mal had found herself a real prince charming to speak for her.
With a discreet glance at the back of Bobby’s head as she paced behind him, Ariadne wondered if the things Bobby had written about in his journal, or the things he’d said to her the night before as they’d danced were true. Considering how devastated he’d been to hear that they had legitimately thought he was crazy enough to hire a hit man to kill a girl for shooting him down, then Ariadne was ready to believe Bobby Fischer honestly was as good a guy as she’d started to think last night as they danced and laughed. Maybe Bobby wasn’t one-dimensional; just improperly labeled.
Kind of like they were all improperly labeled; none of them were simply geeks, jocks, preps, criminals, or basket cases, were they? No, they weren’t.
Cobb didn’t have everything (with parents he couldn’t even look in the face.) Mal wasn’t a whore and Arthur... was out-there, sure, but he was also steadfast, not flighty like everyone thought. With a quiet sigh, Ariadne pivoted on her heel at the door and walked back across the carpeted floor. She wished something could happen to reveal her-whatever she was. Because she wasn’t a geek, or a wallflower, or a goody-two shoes on the inside, she could feel that. She wanted a chance to prove herself in some way, somehow.
Tired of walking around, she flopped herself on the foot of the bed. Arthur and Eames were both sitting on the pillows at the top, and the basket case met her eye with a smile that surprised her. It was like the guy knew what she was thinking, like her weary little breath had sung it out loud and clear. With the toe of his right foot, Arthur tapped her on the skull in an off-beat little rhythm that made no sense to her, except that the little nudges said, hey hang in there little caterpillar it isn’t time to fly yet.
With a snort, Ariadne detected her thoughts and rubbed her face. Reading over a hundred pages of Bobby’s blank verse in one night had had her thinking in ridiculous bouts of poetry all day. She needed sleep. And she needed to be away from the blue eyed poet before she did or said something totally embarrassing.
“Even though you were wrong, I like that you searched my room for clues, that’s the kind of proactive thing I’m talking about. Have you searched Rod’s room?” Bobby asked.
“No,” Mal said, like someone had asked her if she’d had a chance to have dinner with Ted Bundy lately.
“I haven’t let her go home since Sunday,” Cobb said.
“I haven’t wanted to go home,” she clarified, wrinkling her nose at her boyfriend. They pair had a sickeningly sweet moment that Saito promptly ruined with a rude noise. Ariadne laughed with no idea why it was funny. Saito looked pleased with himself. Bobby’s shoulder’s tensed, and he said very dryly, “Well it’s time to search a real suspect’s room, don’t you think?”
“Whoa,” Arthur said. “You mean right now?”
“Yeah, why not? I mean, if he isn’t in there, we need to ASAP.” Bobby said. Ariadne didn’t dare look at the boy who sounded so serious and brave. She stared hard at the ceiling, heart pounding.
“First thing tomorrow,” Eames said. “It’s too late tonight.”
No arguing there. Ariadne took her window of opportunity and sat up. “Well, I need to sleep. I got maybe fifteen minutes last night and it’s been a really, really long day.”
Noises of agreement rippled through the party at that, and she received cordial good nights from everyone, but the only one she really heard was Bobby’s slightly disappointed, “Okay then. Sleep tight.”
In the hallway, she finally felt like she could breathe. In Mal’s current bedroom, it felt cold with emptiness, but also fresh with privacy. Arthur’s snorting laughter floated down the hall, followed by Mal’s playful shriek. Saito said something loud as the door opened and shut. Seconds later, Mal was in the room with her, rolling her eyes, “Boys.”
“What?”
“Just because we have an audience, Cobb had to juice up our good night kiss.”
“That was Dom’s scream?”
She nodded. Ariadne howled with laughter. “I thought someone pinched you!”
She laughed. “He can be such a girl sometimes,” she said fondly.
“How do you mean?”
Mal bit her lip, thinking of something in particular, Ariadne could tell. After a second, the taller girl sat on the bed and hugged a pillow. “The things he says sometimes.”
“Like what?”
“He’ll be so embarrassed if I told you.”
“Come on, who am I gonna tell?”
Mal grinned, and then relented.
....
Saito had beaten Bobby in dibs for the couch and was laughing smugly about it. Licking his wounds, Bobby’s thin frame was curling up in the window seat.
Arthur and Eames were side by side in the floor in front of the dresser and Cobb was in his bed. The blond prince of the house was in his bed, still blushing from having screamed like a girl when Mal had pinched him for slipping her a little tongue. It was embarrassing but also satisfying to know that she was taking her value back and wouldn’t even let Cobb mistreat her.
Bobby whistled lowly, “Damn, Cobb, I can’t believe she’s into you.”
“I can’t either sometimes,” he sighed in such a gooby way that the rest of the room smirked at him and he colored with pursed lips and aimed a kick at the nearest of them, which was Eames’ thigh. The jock cried out in surprise and outrage.
Saito laughed at Eames’ expense and as Cobb climbed into the bed, Saito propped up on his elbow and asked, “Hey, why not give Ari your bed and you go sleep with Mal?”
Cobb snorted, “Ari wouldn’t wanna sleep by herself in a room full of boys.”
“Why not?” Arthur asked, “We would never do anything to her.”
“Well you two wouldn’t,” Cobb said delicately with a motion to the gay boys.
“Jesus,” Bobby cut in, rolling to face his fellow rich friend, “You mean you don’t trust me and Saito?”
“He did think you were a murderer,” Arthur supplied. Cobb huffed and answered, “We all did, and we don’t think that anymore, but it doesn’t matter if we trust you because she won’t. Not you or Saito.”
“I guess you have a point there,” Bobby said, pensively. “She’s innocent--too sweet and careful with herself...”
“Fischer,” Saito said firmly, no doubt hearing the tenderness in his friends’ voice and pouncing on the weakness. “If you don’t hit that, I will.”
Bobby sat up, “What?” His voice had no ring of play in it. At all. But if Saito noticed, he didn’t let it deter him.
“I saw the way she was all over you at the ball last night. She likes you.”
The blue eyed blue blood turned a little red in the face as he thought of all the soft little conversations he’d had with the little nerd as they swept around the dance floor. She’d made flirty remarks, funny little puns, and when she looked up through her eyelashes… It’d been quite devastating for him to learn she’d only been there as a decoy. Bobby made a noise of denial, “she was distracting me while you all tore apart my bedroom!”
“Yeah, but she loved every minute of it,” Saito chuckled, “She’s got a wild side just waiting to come out. If you don’t stake your claim, I will.”
“Man, fuck you,” Bobby said in an attempt to be cool and casual about it all. “Leave her alone.”
“Hmm, I don’t think I will. She likes Scooby Doo, she’s smart, and she’s got a cute little ass. All she needs is to dress right and she’ll fit right on my arm at prom. Do anything I ask on prom night.”
“Saito, leave it.” Bobby warned. Eames made a sound in his throat of agreement.
“Yeah, man,” Cobb said quietly but Saito only swept up a nerf ball from the floor and held it at his crotch like a head, started humping it, making the mouth-full noises that whoever it was would make, obvious girl noises; Ariadne noises. He snickered and asked, “Do you think she has a strong gag reflex?”
“If you do, I swear to God, Saito. I mean it. Don’t,” Bobby insisted.
“Or what?” Saito asked jauntily.
“Or I really will be a murderer that’s what!” Bobby half yelled. Eames and Arthur both half sat up as if they might have to spring to their feet to hold Bobby off of his best friend. Cobb did the same and Saito stopped laughing in his surprise.
“Don’t mind him, Bobby,” Arthur piped up, expertly diffusing the tension, “Ever since Tiffany sucked him off at the meet he’s been horny as hell. Fuck, I’ll bet he’d let me give him head if I offered.”
Dom and Eames guffawed and started laughing loudly and Saito went really red in the face and threw the nerf ball at Arthur as hard as he could. The basket case caught it and kissed it, giving the preppy jock a wink as he did. Eames laughed harder, Bobby joined in and Saito became flustered and uncomfortable as Bobby started ribbing his friend about homophobia.
“Hey, guys, that’s enough,” Eames cut in when it was getting to be too much. “Leave him alone, okay?”
“Yeah, sorry, Saito,” Arthur said, “But it’s nothing too be ashamed of if you got turned on by what I said. Head is head. Doesn’t matter who it’s from; it’s awesome.”
“You’d know, I guess,” Saito shot back.
“Yeah,” Arthur shot back just as quickly and making Eames color and look away to compose himself. He didn’t know why but when Arthur stood his ground and told lies convincingly, Eames’ cock jumped eagerly. To cover up his own discomfort for hearing his boyfriend talk like he was more experienced than he was, Eames joked, “If you don’t believe him, ask Dom. He gets head from a guy all the time--can suck himself off.”
“Wait, WHAT?” Bobby turned wide eyes on a very red Dom. “You can…?”
“Yeah, but I rarely do it.”
“Course not,” Saito cut in, “He has Mal to do it now.”
“No!” Cobb cried. “It’s hard to breath when I’m bent like that and--“
“What?” Saito cut in incredulously, “You mean a babe like Mal is staying in your house, unsupervised, and you aren’t having sex with her?”
“No, I’m not. And it’s none of your business so drop it.”
“I don’t believe it!” Saito cried. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing,” Eames and Cobb said at the same time. Just then giggles drifted down the hall from the girl’s room and all five boys traded looks. Saito gulped loudly and asked, “Do you think they’re pillow fighting?”
Bobby whipped his pillow at him. No words were exchanged but in Fischer’s ice blue eyes was a clear cut warning. Saito snorted incredulously and took the extra pillow to make himself comfortable. Cobb tossed him another one as more giggles exploded.
....
Down the hall, Mal wrestled Ariadne off the good pillow and took it back, hugged up to it once more. “I can’t sleep unless I’m holding onto something.”
“Then go hold onto Dom and give me my pillow back!” Ariadne said, laughing. She tugged the corner, but had no strength thanks to the fit of giggles she’d been in since Mal had started sharing all her stories about Cobb’s romantic tendencies.
“He said he was thinking about falling in love with me.”
Ariadne snorted lightly. “Thinking about it?”
“Yeah. It’s complicated.”
“How? I mean, it’s just lightening or whatever isn’t it? You are or you aren’t.”
“That’s not the kind of love he’s talking about.”
“What other kind of love is there?”
“The grown up kind, I think.”
“Wow.”
“I know right? Do you know what he said it was like?”
“What?” she asked so softly it was barely a word.
“He said it was like he is waiting for a train. He thinks he knows where this train will take him, but he doesn’t know for sure, but he doesn’t care.”
Ariadne knitted her brows as she thought the metaphor over. She felt the same way when she considered sex-that great adventure waiting just around the corner. But there was also a great deal of fear too. “But how can he not care where the train will take him? I mean...?”
Mal turned her head and those big green, piercing eyes locked onto Ariadne’s like a physical hold. “Because we’ll be together,” she said simply. Ariadne lost her breath in a light puff. The soft smile on Mal’s face was painful it was so serene in the low light. “Because it’ll be me and him and that’s all that counts.”
“...That’s beautiful.”
Mal nodded and giggled. “I almost jumped him right then.”
“Why didn’t you?” Ariadne asked, one hundred percent serious, because she’d jump the boy right now if she were suddenly alone with him.
Mal shrugged, bashful. Ariadne propped herself up on an elbow. “Are you scared?”
“A little.”
“But I thought you were so experienced.”
“Not like this. Not when it really means something.”
“Oh.”
“Used to when I had sex with guys, it was just to keep them around, even when I didn’t like them...in fact, I didn’t really like any of them. They were big and strong enough to fight my brother and that’s all I cared about. If I couldn’t stand them, I fucked them more so we wouldn’t even have to talk.”
“Oh my god....” Ariadne couldn’t imagine going through with stuff like that-she couldn’t imagine being scared enough to need to. “Mal.”
“It’s okay,” she said, waving all of that aside.
“Are you okay with the plan for tomorrow? Going back there?”
The young woman’s snort was entirely forced. “I’ll be fine. You all will be with me, after all.”
“That’s right, we will be. You’ll always have all of us. I mean, lately, you’re my best friend. And I don’t really want that to change.”
Mal elbowed her gently. “Hey. Me either.”
Chapter 16