Authors Note:
A special thanks to: Hefeweizen: who gave me this wonderful prompt to play with.
This is the first, in a long series of one-shots, for these two that I am going to write.
What can I say? You all are brilliant and I want to write as many of them that I can.
Enjoy the fluff!
Please Review!
Letters of an Architect
She was placed in an extremely uncomfortable position. Not only did she feel trapped in economy class by the stranger who was practically sleeping upon her lap but also she was unnervingly spellbound emotionally. She could not come to a stiff decision about a certain aspect of her life. She could not comprehend what she should do when she set foot off that American Airline aircraft.
Ariadne hated feeling this way. She loathed feeling indecisive about scenarios in her life. She had always had the answer to everything and she had always known the precise angle she should take upon even any referral of a subject. But this time, it was different. She felt it and so did both Arthur and Eames.
"That is really annoying, Eames." Arthur commented, snapping Ariadne out of her daydream and turning her attention towards Eames who was trying to break a bag of peanuts.
Eames smirked, the shuffling of the plastic salted peanut container rattling within his fingers "Is it now?" He tapped the bag against the small table in front of him, trying to irritate the point man to the full extreme. "How about now?"
Ariadne almost growled as she relaxed her tense back into the airplane seat and shifted to try to create some type of allusion of comfort. "You two are ridiculous." She muttered under her breath. She had specifically sat in the middle between the two so that they couldn't get on each other's nerves. But apparently, that was not possible.
"I'm ridiculous?" Arthur asked, almost sounding offended.
Ariadne rolled her back onto the small pillow and nodded while saying "You both are." She sighed softly and then continued, scoffing "If it weren't for you two, we would still be sitting in First Class."
"It's not my fault that Arthur kept kicking me!" Eames spat out, still trying to open the peanut bag.
Arthur smiled sarcastically "I was just giving you the kick-"
"I'm awake!" Eames exasperated, his tone too high as he shook the peanut bag.
Ariadne rolled her eyes, taking the peanut bag of the Forgers hands and opening it for him while saying "Oh, for God sakes." Once the bag opened, she passed it to him, stealing a few and uttering "Here" in a rather sharp tone.
Arthur looked over at her rather surprised, his tenor beckoning softly as he asked "Are you still upset about earlier?"
Ariadne shook her head, trying to ignore the question by asking "How much longer?"
Eames looked down at his cell phone, popping peanuts into his mouth as he replied "30 minutes until landing."
Ariadne took a deep breath inward; sweat suddenly appearing on her upper brow. It had become rather hot in the aircraft and she wiped away the perspiration with her sleeve, trying to focus her attention out the window, seeing the beautiful landscapes of LA.
"I would be upset-" Arthur began, biting down on his bottom lip as he stated, "It wasn't fair of Cobb to do such a thing. I mean, he even-"
"Arthur, would you like me to start kicking you?" Ariadne inquired, her eyebrows shooting upward through nerves. He shook his head nervously as she continued "Good. Then please, if you have any decency, drop the subject."
Eames looked down at the purse she had on her lap and grabbed it, picking up the object that was in discussion. Ariadne noticed seconds too late, but her eyes widened as she tried to pull back the stack of papers "Give it back!"
Eames tilted his head towards the side, flipping through the sheets as he commented, "Bloody hell. This thing is-" he turned the papers once again, fiddling with them as he counted "sixty two pages, front and back." He chuckled seconds later, adding "Cobb has too much time on his hands."
"I thought I had asked the two of you to drop the subject?"
"No, darling. That was just between you and Arthur." He smiled at her, turning to the first page as he ushered through a leer "Me on the other hand-"
Ariadne crossed her arms across her chest. Arthur's brown eyes watching her as he commented, "I just don't get one thing." He bit down on his bottom lip "Why would he purposely sabotage this meeting for us?"
Ariadne shrugged her shoulders; angrily "I've been trying to figure that out since I opened the damn thing." She turned her attention to Eames, eyeing him carefully as she asked "Any ideas?"
Eames nodded slowly, his mouth curved into a small 'o' as he said softly "I think he was trying to protect you, Ariadne."
Ariadne shook her head in protest, as she replied, "No, he wasn't trying to protect us at all."
"No, Ariadne. I think he was trying to protect just you." Eames pushed the papers towards the young Architect, a smile playing on his lips as he pointed to a sentence on the first page "This clearly just says 'Ariadne' here-" he flipped the page over, showing her name again "Ariadne again." He repeated the process for a few more sheets of paper before saying "No Arthur and no Eames."
"So?" She asked furiously, her voice bitter "He ruined the entire job. I specifically asked him to send me the entire format for beach displays and instead, I get sixty two pages, front and back, about how I shouldn't be continuing working in the dream world." She exhaled, puffing "Who does he think he is? My dad? He can't just do that."
Arthur narrowed his eyes; tugging on the letters as he said, "Let me see that." He began reading seconds later, smiling as he said, "He has horrible cursive."
"I know." Ariadne nodded rapidly, her brown pupils glowing in an irritated state.
"Did you read all of it?" Eames asked with a full mouth, peanut scrapings falling out of his mouth.
Ariadne sighed softly, answering his question honestly "No. I got to page forty and gave up. He just kept going on and on about how irrational I'm being and about how careless I'm being about the thin line between fact and fiction." She almost chuckled as she continued "And then there was something about an art showing we went to a couple of months ago."
"An art show?" Eames asked, looking at Arthur quickly who was reading intently.
She smiled, remembering the evening as if it had been the night before. "He asked me to go with him, since apparently you two were busy and he didn't want to go alone-"
"I never got invited to an art show." Eames pressed, his eyes wide with confusion.
Ariadne shook her head, expressing through small eyes "That's not the point. The point is that, in the letter, he just rambled on and on about how we couldn't do things like that anymore if I decided to go on this extraction." She inhaled quickly, looking over at the window once again as she said, "It just doesn't make any sense."
Arthur laughed, as if on queue and asked, "Did you get to page fifty one?" She shook her head at him, baffled as he explained the reason for his sudden fit of chuckles "I didn't know you could sing."
"What?" Ariadne asked, her eyebrows perking upward as she grabbed the papers from his hands.
"Sing us a note, love." Eames commanded, his teeth showing through his smirk.
Ariadne read over the section, her eyes briefly pulsing as she asked, "Why the hell would he mention something like that?"
Arthur shrugged his shoulders and said in a strong timbre "Perhaps it's the only way he can express himself."
"Express what?" She asked, succumbing to her inferiority once more "Express his desire for me to fail in life?"
"No." Arthur said flatly, a grin on his lips as he replied, "Express his feelings for you."
Ariadne's throat clenched and Eames chocked on a peanut and they both swayed their eyes towards Arthur's specific leer that was plastered on his mouth. "What are you talking about?" She asked, her tone stoned with insecurity.
He laughed shortly and whispered, "Turn to the second last page." She did so and he continued, "Read the third last paragraph."
"Out loud, please." Eames added, his eyebrows cocking as he waited patiently.
"My life is starting to become so different, even if my days seem the same. And I must confess that it's you who has changed my outlook. You have opened my eyes to some amazing new possibilities. I awaken every morning now to the sound of my children's laughter and it wasn't for you, and for stubborn ways, I would still be living in a world where their sadness only resonates."
She paused there, her thoughts vibrating to the extreme. He was thanking her. It didn't mean that he had feelings for her. She exhaled, her palms suddenly sweating as she turned the page over and continued reading "I cannot stress enough how much I don't want you to continue creating in the world of the dream. Please Ariadne; create in the world you helped me find. It's a beautiful one. Though I will admit, nothing close to what you may conjure up using a PASIV device. Yet, that beauty is not worth the idea of seeing my children's faces fall ill when I tell them your gone away again."
She stopped reading once again, laughing and trying to cover up her shade of disappointment. "He is just thanking me, Arthur."
"Keep going." He uttered slowly, looking out the window as the aircraft approached the meek appearance of LAX.
Eames snatched the papers from her, shushing her by reading "I know this will be the biggest secret that I will reveal for a long time. But you are not just my architect; you have become a close friend to my family and I. And I also know that you probably feel insulted that I did not send you the statistics and blueprints but I want you to know that I only did that because I care-"
"Stop, Eames." Ariadne muttered, her eyes begging for tears to fall. If only Dom Cobb could know her biggest secret. She cared about him so much; it sometimes physically pained her to the breaking point of sanity.
It was hurting her now, knowing that he did care. It was odd, but it hurt her deeply for the reason that she knew he only meant as a friend.
"I didn't know Cobb was such a sentimentalist." Eames offered her the papers and whispered in a quiet tone "Read the rest darling and dry your tears."
She took the papers into her hands again, her eyes contemplating whether or not to read the words on the pages before her. She sighed deeply, passed them to Arthur and said "Please."
He nodded at her with a tiny smile and continued, his voice deepening as he recited, "I don't want you to drown in your dreams, like I did. You have too much potential to lose it all for just the idea of pure creation. You, Ariadne, have to offer too much to the real world- to my world- and the idea of losing someone else that I care about terrifies me. I already lost-" Arthur paused, reading the words over to himself before he cleared his throat and re-started "I already lost one of the women I love to dreamscape. Please, don't let me lose the other."
Ariadne froze from the last line, her mind looping on ideas from her idiocy to her lack of moral judgment. "We will be landing in Los Angeles in five minutes. Thank you for your attention, Ladies and Gentlemen." The Captains voice echoed from above them, Ariadne's eyes peering over at the airport as they started to descend.
X
"Auntie Ari!" James was the first to spot her and he waved radically, his body shifting as his father tried to repress both the little boy and a grin.
Ariadne ran towards the two beautiful children; her arms wide open as she dropped her roll on suitcase onto the floor beside them.
Eames sighed as he watched the scene in front of him. He asked, his voice rather flushed, "Why don't I get a greeting like that?"
Arthur rolled his eyes as he responded, "Because no one cares about you."
"Oh, that's right." He smiled sarcastically, looking over at Arthur and saying "And what- if I may inquire, is your excuse?"
Arthur smiled as James and Phillipa called out to their 'Uncle Arthur.' His tone was light, as he answered, "I don't need one." He laughed and picked up the two children in his arms, hugging them warmly.
Ariadne's eyes meet Cobb's as he asked, "How was your flight?"
She bit down on her lip and replied honestly "It could have been better." She almost smiled at him as he smirked. Instead, she cleared her throat and declared "The Marx brothers over there-" she pointed to the two men behind her as she continued "got us sent to economy class."
Dom chuckled at that, his hands softly upon his daughter's shoulders. "Well-" he looked down at Phillipa and winked, as if they had some type of secret code or gesture. "I think Phillipa has something to make you feel better when you get home."
"Home?" She asked, her eyes wide at the word.
He nodded, picking up her suitcase and saying "Yeah- home." He smiled, "I guess you didn't read the letter then."
She gulped, her eyes finding his as he began to move them towards the exit of the terminal "I read most of it."
"And?" He asked, peering over at her as he waited for her reply.
She took a deep breath inward, her heat beating fast as she said "Let's talk about it when we get home."
He nodded at her, realizing from the tone in her voice that she was happy with what her eyes had read.
Ariadne took Phillipa's hand in hers and asked, "So, what's this surprise?" And as Phillipa tried to speak and James didn't let her, Ariadne felt an arm wrap around her shoulders.
She blushed when she looked at him seconds later, realizing that maybe she too, should write a letter back to him. It was only fair, right? And she'd know exactly what she would say. However, it wouldn't be sixty-two pages long, front and back; it would only be three words.
Authors Note:
This is the 'fluffiest' thing I have ever written.
But I had fun writing it.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Please Review!