Um...I really have no idea why I wrote this. Maybe I should stick to angst. But hey, I already wrote it, so I might as well post it, right?
I'm sure you care.
1. Eames
Eames likes her because she's tiny and innocent-looking, and pretty in a soft way. He usually goes for the forthcoming blondes, the confident girls looking for a relationship, but not necessarily a long or intense one. Yet this is different, and he can't help but flirt…
And flirt…
And flirt…
He realizes with a start one day, as she's showing him his level, that he actually likes her. Her brown hair is hanging in her face, and her eyes are tired because of the intensity of this job (her first job, by God), but all he can think is that she's beautiful. There's a passion in her eyes when she is talking about something she loves, and he loves it.
Eames has never really gotten rejected before (he's Eames, after all), so he has no qualms about asking her out.
It starts out well enough. She smiles brightly at him, and they fall into an easy banter. And then he asks the question.
"Ari, do you want to go out?"
She blinks in what he thinks might be shock, and the smile slides off her face. And then she opens her mouth and says—
"I—what?"
He repeats the question, and she smiles again, but it is not the same cheerful smile. She smiles ruefully, guiltily, and his heart sinks.
"I'm sorry, Eames. You're a great guy, but I'd rather stay friends."
He doesn't want to look too crushed in front of her, and so he puts on a smile and says it's all right, and that he'd like to stay friends without it being awkward because he's asked her out, and she looks relieved and agrees. He goes back to perfect his pseudo-blonde girl and his pseudo-Browning, and tries to lose the feeling of rejection that bubbles through even when he's trying to be someone else.
2. Yusuf
Yusuf likes Ariadne because she's nice and smart and talks to him like a person rather than a scientist. When he has trouble with mastering the dream layout, she doesn't get frustrated. She simply encourages him to try it again.
She listens when he's talking about stupid stuff, like his cat or his ex-girlfriend, and talks about university and architecture, and her whole face lights up when she does. She doesn't care that he's unkempt or that sometimes his area (his workspace, that is, not his…other area) smells bad because of all the chemicals. She will go and talk to him, and if it's too smelly, they'll go for a walk and chat about everyday things.
One night, Cobb makes them play Truth or Dare in the warehouse because it is storming heavily outside and all of them walk to and from work, and he figures this would be a good opportunity for some team bonding. Yusuf is forced to lick the floor, and then he gets to choose his victim. His eyes fall upon the lovely brunette.
"Ariadne, truth or dare?"
She thinks for a minute, and then cautiously replies, "Dare."
He ponders, and then dares her to kiss one of them—any of them—right now.
She looks around and then leans over and kisses Arthur. Arthur turns a little pink and blinks a few times in surprise, and Eames lets out a roar of laughter.
Ariadne turns beet red and snaps, "He was the closest one to me!" as Eames continues to guffaw.
Yusuf does not care if her excuse is true or not. He quietly resigns himself to the truth: if she liked him back, she would have kissed him and then come up with an excuse for it rather than kissing the point man.
He never tells her, and she never figures it out for herself.
3. Saito
Saito likes her because she isn't a kiss-up. She doesn't care that he's mega-rich and mega-powerful, and he likes that. He lives in a world of gold diggers, and she is one of the few women he's ever met that would never go for someone just for money.
He feels himself getting more and more attracted to the way she holds herself, the way she talks to him with the same tone of voice and the same colloquial she uses with the rest of the team, and he thinks that while she would not date him to get pampered, he might enjoy doing so.
He complains about his wife all the time, and about all his mistresses, and she does not scold him for his infidelity nor does she admonish him for his complaints. She simply retaliates with tales of ex-boyfriends and the works. He wants to ask her out, but before they know it, the Fisher job is upon them and he never gets the chance. They both have far more important things to focus on than him asking her for dinner.
When it is over, he watches her walk away from him in the airport, and wonders if maybe things would be different had he taken the risk. He finds her in Paris a few months later, and they have coffee together.
At the end, she hugs him and proclaims brightly, "You're a fantastic friend!"
He smiles and does not show that he wishes they are more, and leaves that night for Tokyo on a plane he owns.
4. Fischer
He doesn't know her name, doesn't know that she is even real, but he likes her because she saves him every night in his dreams. Though he knows nothing of her other than her face, he loves her (or at least the idea of her) all the same.
It comes as a shock to him when he strolls into a little café in Paris and sees her sitting there, drinking coffee, with her laptop on the table. When he walks by her, he sees the most beautiful building on a fancy program, and wonders if he's imagining things. She is exactly the same as the woman of his dreams (literally), but somehow infinitely more beautiful.
She looks up and sees him, and does a quick once-over of the café before checking the time and jumping up. She quickly glances down at the digital drawing, saves it, and quickly exits the café, half her muffin still left on the table.
And then she is gone, with Fischer left to wonder what exactly has just happened.
5. Cobb
Cobb likes her because she doesn't take his crap. She doesn't go easy on him because he lost his wife and might as well have lost his kids. She yells at him after being attacked by Mal, invades his dreams without permission, and confronts him mid-job about a certain train in the middle of the street. He hates it at first, and then grows to love it. In the end, it saves them.
She visits after the job. His kids love her, and she loves them as well. Cobb catches himself thinking, She could be their mother. He loves Mal, but he has moved on. There are no more dreams of the French woman who was consumed by an idea.
One visit, she learns that Cobb cannot cook eggs to save his life, and that unfortunately for him, the kids love omelets. She rolls her eyes and teaches him how to make them, and one container of burnt eggs later, he manages to make omelets for Phillippa and James. They love it.
As she is getting ready to depart, Cobb leans in for a hug, and all he can think is that she's beautiful, and then—
He kisses her.
She freezes for a second and then when she gets out of her shock, immediately pushes him away with an unreadable look on her face.
He doesn't quite know what to say, and the two are just standing there awkwardly until he clears his throat.
"I—"
She cuts him off then. "Cobb…I'm sorry, but I like someone else."
He nods and apologizes, and then tells her that he hopes she will come back because the kids absolutely adore her and because he'd like to stay friends, and apologizes again.
She sighs and gives him a tiny smile and assures him that this is not her last visit, and he tries to ignore the defeat ringing in his ears, as he watches, helpless, as another woman flits out of his life (sort of) once again.
And then he realizes that he has a question to ask her.
"Wait! Ariadne!"
Luckily, she isn't even off of his driveway yet, and he rushes down.
"If you don't mind…who is it?" he says in a rush, hoping that she realizes that he isn't being jealous (well, not too much anyway) and instead is being curious, as well as somewhat concerned (because really, he doesn't want her to be in love with Saito or Fisher or even Peter Browning because really, none of those men, especially the latter, are going to be good for her, and the majority of them are far too old).
She takes one look at his expression when he's contemplating the Browning option and laughs in his face, and then leans in to whisper a name in his ear. When she leans back again, he has an expression of pure shock and a bit of relief on his face.
This time, when she leaves, he stares at her retreat in disbelief and goes back to the house to make a phone call to his best friend on exactly what just happened.
1. Arthur
Arthur loves her because of everything she is. He has loved her beauty, her charm, her intelligence, her everything, since he first got to know her.
He watches Eames ask her out from his desk, and is immensely relieved to hear her turn him down. He watches Yusuf dare her to kiss a teammate (and notices the hopeful look in his eyes because, well, he's the point man) and is pleasantly surprised when she kisses him (and then a bit disappointed when Eames ruins it by laughing and she blushes and hammers out a legitimate excuse for choosing him, and although he does not want to believe her, he kind of does). He watches Saito study her with a look of possessiveness in his eyes, and Cobb watch her with admiration.
When he gets a call from Cobb a few months after the job, he is expecting him to simply chat about the kids and whatnot. So when the first thing he hears is not "Guess what James did today?" or "Phillippa had a dance recital!" but an incomprehensible mumble and then, when he pressures Cobb to speak clearly, a sigh and "I…er…kissed…," and then more mumbling, he grows increasingly worried for his friend's health.
Cobb finally articulates when Arthur threatens to send Yusuf over to concoct something that will force him to speak clearly.
"I…kissed Ariadne," he says in a quick rush.
The point man has to make sure he has heard the ex-extractor correctly.
"You did what?"
"I kissed Ari."
Arthur can feel his blood boiling and struggles to keep his swirling emotions from leaking into his voice.
"And?" he manages to say, his voice a little bit strained.
Luckily, Cobb seems too preoccupied with his Ariadne problem to detect it, and if he does, he doesn't say anything about it.
"It's not mutual, to say the least."
Pause.
"She likes someone else," Cobb finally says, breaking the silence on the line.
Arthur can't help but let out a tiny sigh of relief when he realizes that she is not in love with the ex-extractor whom she had to save all of the team's butts from once, and then realizes that he should still be worried.
"Who?" he inquires, keeping his voice smooth and professional.
There's a pause on the end of the line once again.
"It's not for me to tell," Cobb finally says, and there's an edge to his voice that wasn't there before.
Arthur does not press the issue.
He checks up on her and finds that she is still in Paris, and before he knows it, he's on a plane flying to the City of Love. In the back of his mind, he realizes that he's being totally irrational and that he has no excuse for being in Paris (other than the fact that he really wants to know whom she's in love with and he can't really tell her that).
He finds her apartment within an hour of arriving, takes a deep breath, and knocks. There's a beat of silence, and then a light rush of footsteps, and then the door swings open.
"Arthur?" she says in disbelief. "Is that really you?"
Before he can answer, she throws her arms around him and drags him inside.
"Oh my God, I've missed you so much! Why haven't you visited sooner?"
One cup of tea and two croissants later, they are still sitting at her table, making small talk.
She asks, "So why are you in Paris, anyway?"
Arthur doesn't say anything for a moment, and then finally says quietly, "I wanted to visit the city." And I sort of love you, he thinks.
She raises an eyebrow. "Liar," she says.
"What?" he says, almost falling out of his chair. Is he really that easy to read? She simply gives him a dubious look. Apparently, he is. Then again, though, Ariadne's always been good at reading people.
"Arthur, why are you in Paris?" He stays silent and looks away.
She repeats the question again, and he doesn't answer, and so she asks again and again and again until he's sick of it and he finally yells, "Because I love you!" and she goes dead silent.
"Because I love you," he repeats, quieter this time, and watches as a million emotions fly through her face. She stares at him for a moment and then…
And then she slaps him.
Arthur reels back, a hand pressed to his burning cheek, rejection sweeping through him. For now, he ignores the physical pain and instead focuses on the bitter taste of disappointment and he turns away, more than willing to leave and never come back.
And then she pulls him back to her and kisses him.
She pulls back and says, "Why on earth did you wait so long to tell me?" and then they're kissing again.
When they're done, she pulls back and cups his face in her hands.
"In case you're wondering," she says a bit breathlessly, "I love you, too."
Fin.