A/N: This is my first fanfiction, but I'm not going to beg for you to be kind, cause frankly I just want your honest opinion (But no flamers, though). I have seen Inception for the umpteenth time, and I am still hopelessly in love with it, and even more hopelessly in love (almost to the point of stalking) with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I mean, he can speak French, how is that not sexy? Anyway, I'm not going to ramble on. I hope you enjoy my story, reviews are more than appreciated, though not mandatory.

Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inception


Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare.

~H.F. Hedge


Ariadne knew all too well that the job had been a one-shot deal. But that didn't really stop her from hoping. Well, not really hoping, as much as being blindly optimistic when she knew all too well that her daydream of being called back into the dreaming business once more was just that- a daydream. Nothing more, not in any way based on solid fact or logic. Mark Twain once said something about optimist just being a dreamer, only more elegantly spelled. But that didn't stop her from indulging guiltily in her silly fantasies of getting to go under once more, the same way one might indulge on candy or ice cream. During her classes, she would doodle all sorts of beautiful buildings that could only be possible in a dream, just in case for some crazy reason she may get to go under again. But even if for some reason she did get a chance, it probably wouldn't even be with the same people. As far as she could tell, it was really only Arthur and Cobb who worked together consistently. And Cobb was away in America, so Arthur was probably lone-wolfing things now. As for Eames and Yusuf, it had appeared that they also were somewhat of loners, too (Although for Eames, the term rogue seemed a bit more appropriate). So, yes, while all logic was stacked against her, she continued to foolishly fantasize that someday she would receive a call from Arthur asking her if she would like to be the Architect for another job, even though she knew it would never happen.

Which was why she couldn't have been more surprised when she saw him waiting patiently for her at the university.

The day started out as monotonous and mundane as every other day after the Inception, the air icy, a gauzy membrane of fog stretching over the ground, and the sky an endless blanket of dismal, gray clouds (The weather in Paris was nothing short of dreadful during the winter months). She sat in Professor Miles' classroom, seven rows up, simultaneously focusing on his lecture while working on a sketch of a triangular building. Scientists could claim multitasking was impossible, but she'd beg to differ.

It was approximately four minutes and sixteen seconds before the end of class when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. At first, it was just an inconspicuous tall figure in the hallway she assumed must be a trick of the light, but she quickly realized it wasn't, and did a double-take. No, it couldn't be him... Could it? Her heartbeat accelerated into an over-excited frenzy as she began to recognize the same pale, sculptured features that belonged to the infamous Point Man. At the same time, there was this nagging doubt, the rational part of her insisting there was no possible way it could be him. But her eyes told her it was. Unless Arthur had an identical twin brother...

For some reason she found herself having to stifle a giggle at the thought of Arthur having an identical twin brother.

Still, what was he doing there? There could only be a handful of reasons why he would be... To look for an Architect, maybe. Maybe he had a friend there he was going to visit. Maybe that friend was her. Oh, she wished it was her. But it didn't make much sense. Besides, it seemed more logical to pretend not to know each other after the job, just in case.

Suddenly, she realized everyone was getting up and leaving, and that she was the only one left sitting down. Her stomach dropped shamefully for a second. Fingers twitching and heart thumping, she hurriedly stacked her books atop one another, largest on the bottom and smallest on the top, and scooped them up into her arms.

But before she could even make her way towards the stairs that lead up towards the door, Professor Miles called her name suddenly. "Ariadne, could you please stay here for a second?"

She paused, then turned around and gingerly stepped towards his desk, eyeing a sheet of paper that was dangling off the edge and at the brink of falling. The childish thumping in her chest had morphed quickly into a pound, which was so loud in her ears she wondered for a quick moment if Miles could hear it. Theories and assumptions as to how her catching sight of Arthur could connect to Miles wanting her to stay after class whipped through her mind rapidly. But she still didn't know yet if they actually had anything to do with one another. She knew that she was just assuming that because they were both unusual they had to be connected.

"There's someone here who would like to talk to you." The professor said nonchalantly as he took a seat, scrubbing his glasses with a small cloth. "There he is!"

She turned around, and sure enough, it was none other than Arthur who came descending down the staircase. Without even thinking or realizing what she was doing, her hand shot into the pocket of her jeans in a frantic search for her totem. A sharp clawing feeling began to bloom in her ribcage as her fingers felt only denim and not the smooth surface of her bishop. Then she realized with a heavy plunging feeling in her stomach that she left it in her apartment.

"It's alright, I'm real." He reassured, the thin corners of his lips springing upwards in a slightly-amused smirk.

Ariadne met his dark gaze in a less light-hearted manner, still unsure of how to react to him suddenly showing up like that. Her mind was still battling over how to react to the whole situation. Surprised didn't seem to be the right word to describe the situation. Yes, she was surprised that he was there, but it seemed like there were other emotions swirled in with it. She had that kind of feeling, the kind where there was really no way to describe it to another person. The kind where it was kind of like a mixture of two or more emotions, but she couldn't name them.

"How can I be so sure?" Her lips barely moved as she spoke.

She quickly ran her eyes over his lean figure from his dark shoes to his slicked-back hair. It definitely looked like the same old Arthur. Same hair, same face, and even though he was wearing a peacoat, she was 99% sure he was wearing the same type of clothes he wore before underneath it. Maybe it was his demeanor that was different. He did seem a bit more... Light-hearted. But light-hearted didn't seem like exactly the right word. Nonchalant, that's better. He seemed a bit more nonchalant. Eerily nonchalant.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"We have another job, and I was wondering if you'd want to be the architect."


Alright, there's the first chapter. Short, I know, but they'll get longer. Anyway, tell me what you think, if you liked it, if you hated it (though I hope you didn't hate it), whatever. I'll try to update soon. :)