Okay. So this is my first uploaded fanfic ever. I've written dozens before, but have never had the gull to put them up for the world to see. Comments/Reviews will make me very happy!
SUMMARY: Marloe (OC) and Arthur don't agree on everything, especially when it comes to clubbing. Sorry Arthur, but you gotta loose battles to win some. XD (I might add on to this and make another chapter or two, but I'm not sure yet. I guess I'll see what people think of it.) Timeline is set PRE-FILM!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inception or any of the characters in it, sadly. You can thank Christopher Nolan for their creation. Marloe, however, is my own original character and is not to be used or confused with any real life person.
If You Can't Sleep, Club
"Can't sleep?" asked the orderly young man. He leaned against the large, cement pillar in the center of the warehouse, arms crossed, casually eyeing his teammate who was restless on an old couch several feet away.
She went still at the sound of Arthur's voice and didn't bother to look in his direction before she knew if she was actually awake. Digging in her blue jeans pocket, the young woman removed an eight-sided dice and let it clatter onto the cold floor. The translucent blue object rolled around before finally settling with the "one" side facing up. She sighed inwardly with relief as she scooped up the dice and looked at Arthur, who was still propped up against the concrete monolith. "Can't dream," she corrected him.
Arthur's arms went down as he walked toward Marloe in his custom suit and slicked back hair. "How long has that been going on?" he asked, his stiff expression relaxing.
Marloe shrugged and sat up, saying, "A few months, I guess. Some nights I dream. Some nights," she hesitated. "Some nights I just don't fall asleep." The petite girl drew up her knees to her chest and pushed her back hard against the unbelievably comfortable couch. A slight yawn escaped her lips. "I'm not the only one, though, am I?" She eyed Arthur and watched his reaction. As expected, he gave nothing away, but Marloe knew.
"I have good nights and bad nights," he said nonchalantly as he pulled up a lawn chair beside the couch and sat.
"Really? What are your good nights like, because I see you having nightmares every time you close your eyes it seems."
"How would you know what I dream?" The perfected man sat at the edge of the long chair closest to Marloe's couch, folding his hands complacently while leaning forward.
"Well, unless your good dreams always have you fidgeting and upset, I'm just going to assume they're nightmares," Marloe said with notable sarcasm, cocking an eyebrow at her teammate and watching his minute movements.
He unclasped his hands and fell back against his lawn chair, realizing his friend was completely and utterly right. It was true. Every time he fell asleep he was thrown into a disturbing world where dark, doorless buildings and emptiness filled his mind. When he slept, Arthur became lost and his feeling of control vanished. He hated not being in control. So he chose to stay awake whenever possible.
"Maybe you need a break. We all do, actually. The team needs to take a day to relax and do whatever." The young woman uncurled and let her legs hang off the couch's edge. She leaned forward and imitated Arthur's previous body position. "A club. Let's go to a club or some place to loosen up." Marloe nodded towards her friend sitting opposite of her and waited for his opinion on her idea.
"Clubbing is your idea of relaxing?" A single eyebrow perked on Arthur's face and made Marloe smile.
God, how she adored him. But that's a story for another time.
"Well, we could do something else. But going to a club—I don't know. The music, the people, the drinks. I think all that energy might be good for the team. Might wake us up and get us feeling better. And you and I both know Cobb could use a little pick-me-up." Marloe smirked and fiddled with her blue dice totem. She brushed her thumb over the pips on each side, as if double checking they were all still there.
Arthur just sat quietly, watching Marloe roll the object around in her fingers. He had arrived on the team first and thus, the dice totem was his original idea. But when Marloe showed up and was told to find a totem, she immediately went with the idea of a loaded polyhedral dice. But she hadn't even seen Arthur's totem before then, and so couldn't be accused of copying. Plus, Marloe's dice was not the same type as Arthur's. So Arthur let the issue of identical totems go. Secretly, he actually liked Marloe's dice due to its interesting design, but he would never let her know that.
Marloe was unsure about the face Arthur was pulling. He was eyeing her dice and his expression was quite blank. She waved a hand in front of his view. "Hey, are you listening?"
He blinked and focused his attention back to the attractive Marloe. "So you want to take the group on a trip to a club?"
Marloe sighed, growing irritated with the note of disinterest in Arthur's voice. "Yes, Arthur. I think it would be fun for us. But you obviously don't sound very interested." She impatiently brushed aside a strand of choppy brunette hair away from her eyes.
"I never said I wasn't interested. I just wonder if there's something more suiting for the team to loosen up with."
"Okay. Then why don't you share your idea? I'd like to hear it." She then folded her legs casually and clasped her hands around her knees, watching Arthur and waiting for a response.
All he did was eye her at first. Arthur knew the game she was playing and he'd be damned if he was going to play along. It wasn't that he hated the idea of going to a club because he really did believe that course of action might actually help everyone's nerves settle, but he didn't want to go. Arthur didn't dance, he rather disliked the loud music and he didn't care a whole lot about drinking. It was damn near impossible for him to get drunk anyway. But the worst part about going to a club would be having to agree with Marloe about the idea of it and he couldn't allow that. He couldn't agree with her because they were suppose to be opposing forces and opposing forces don't come together, no matter how much he wanted them to.
Marloe waited patiently for an answer.
But he couldn't think of one. God, the club thing was probably their best bet and Arthur knew it. Not wanting to admit anything with words, he simply sighed loudly with his defeat.
The young woman smiled, knowing she'd won. However, she refused to rub her victory in Arthur's face. Instead, she just leaned back against the couch again and looked up at the ceiling. Marloe was happy that Arthur didn't further criticize her idea so she wasn't going to be rude by making him feel his loss.
Arthur watched as Marloe breathed in slowly and exhaled deeply. She was obviously happy that her idea was the best one, but she gave Arthur his space and he valued that. In fact, there were a lot of things about Marloe that Arthur valued—her loyalty to friends, her lightheartedness that could often be taken as sarcasm, her optimism, her willingness to get the job done. There were so many things. And as he observed Marloe now, he thought about each of them and he realized why he could never seem to get her out of his mind—he felt something for her. In his heart.
A peaceful silence fell between the two as they thought. Marloe began making plans in her head for clubbing and Arthur was thinking of Marloe. Just Marloe.
"And what are you two little lovebirds doing on this fine morning?" Eames appeared behind Marloe's couch and looked down at her, interrupting her stare at the ceiling.
Bringing her legs up to her chest again, she responded with a clever smile, "Just making plans for our upcoming trip to that one club down the road." Her cerulean blue eyes followed him around the side of the couch and she watched him lean against the arm rest, crossing his muscular biceps over his chest.
His coffee-colored brows rose, indicating obvious interest. "Oh?" He eyed Arthur questioningly. The Forger knew the other man couldn't possibly be attracted to the idea of going to a club. "And what are your thoughts on the subject, my dear Arthur?"
"Whatever the team wants to do," was all he said.
Eames laughed. "I'm in."
"Good. I doubt Ariadne will have any objections. Guess it's just up to Cobb now."
"What's up to me?" Dom Cobb's ears must have been ringing because he suddenly appeared from the warehouse entrance, his voice echoing slightly in the large, open building. Ariadne was at his tail.
"Ah, gang's all here now," commented Eames with a coy smile. He winked sarcastically at Arthur who rolled his eyes and stood up as his boss approached, as if to be polite and mindful of Cobb's superiority.
Marloe and Eames couldn't care a less about standing up. A wave or a smile was enough to be courteous.
"Hey Ariadne. Hey Cobb." Marloe nodded at them welcomingly.
"Hey Marloe. What were you guys talking about?" As always, curiosity overcame Ariadne and she had to ask.
"I was telling Eames here that I think it would be a good idea to go to a club sometime. To calm our nerves and—stuff."
"And I was saying how wonderful that sounded," added Eames proudly.
Nodding in agreement, Ariadne said, "That would be fun," and looked up at Cobb to see what he thought about the subject.
The room was quiet for a moment while the Extractor pondered. But it wasn't long before he had his answer. Shrugging, he announced, "I don't see a problem with the team wanting to have a little enjoyment for the evening. As long as everyone agrees."
Marloe grinned largely at him. She liked when her thoughts were reciprocated positively by Cobb, the leader of the pack. Then she looked up at Arthur, who had another expressionless face on. Marloe asked him in a quiet, gentle voice, "What about you, Arthur? Would you be at all interested in joining us?"
When the Point Man's chocolate eyes met the ocean blue pools that were Marloe's, his heart sank slightly. There was no way he could say no to her, especially when she was asking him so kindly and with no notable sarcasm. Letting Marloe down now might forever ruin any kind of potential relationship between them. And he definitely was beginning to want something deeper from her. So he said yes.
The sparkle in the Shift's eye that glittered wildly from Arthur's answer was enough on its own to brighten his day. But now she'd be in a wonderful mood until they went to this club and that thought put him in a lighter disposition instantly.
Turning back towards Cobb, Marloe exclaimed, "So then that's a yes for the club?"
Cobb smiled and nodded at her. He was amazed at how easily she could get excited. "Yes, we can go. But not tonight. Arthur and I need to finish up some last bits of paperwork from our last case. How does tomorrow night sound for everyone?" Dom scanned the faces of his friends, looking for any indication of dislike for the date.
"I'm free," said Eames.
"Me too," added Ariadne.
Marloe nodded. "Works for me."
All eyes focused on Arthur who made contact with everyone also. "I guess tomorrow it is."
"Okay," said Cobb. "Tomorrow evening at, let's say, nine o'clock?"
Everyone nodded, including Arthur, who was starting to get used to the idea of clubbing.
"Good. We'll all meet here and ride together." Cobb nodded again and headed towards his work desk. Arthur followed behind him after giving one last glance towards Marloe.
She didn't know how to interpret it, but it was as though he was telling her, "Fine. You win. Club it is."
"I've got a feeling your buddy Arthur isn't too happy about tomorrow's excursion," whispered Eames in Marloe's direction.
Ariadne walked over to the couch, leaned against its back beside Marloe and smiled at the Forger and the Shift, both of which returned the smile with their own. "I think this will be good for him," she said quietly.
"Yeah, and we all could use the fresh air," added Marloe.
Eames laughed. "Darling, if you find a club that has fresh air, you're in the wrong place."
Marloe and Ariadne smiled. "You know what I mean, Eames."
"No, I'm afraid I don't. Please enlighten me." Sarcasm flooded his voice freely.
She enlightened him with her middle finger stuck in the air, smiling crookedly all the while.
Eames just laughed, as did Ariadne. "Woah. I think we could use some fresh air now. Who's hungry?" asked the Architect.
Marloe's middle finger salute disappeared as she unfolded all of her fingers in a hand-raise.
Eames sighed and said, "I could go for some breakfast."
"Alright," responded Ariadne as she backed away from the couch.
The Shift stood, stretched tiredly and slipped her dice back into her pocket, not realizing she had had it in her hand the entire time. She flinched slightly as Eames shouted,
"We're getting food, Boss. Want anything?"
Cobb's voice from around the corner announced quickly, "No, we're both good. Thanks." The three other teammates knew that Arthur and Cobb would decline the offer for food. They'd be at their desks doing computer work and filling out papers for the next twelve hours.
"Ready?" asked a suddenly very hungry Marloe.
"Ready," announced Ariadne and Eames simultaneously before the threesome headed out of the warehouse and into the cool morning breeze of autumn.
Marloe made a mental note to talk to Arthur more about her sleep problems later on. Maybe she would learn more about his issues with dreams as well. But for now, she was hungry and excited about tomorrow night when she, hopefully, would release Arthur's wild side—if he even had one.