This is something I've had on my mind for a while, I actually wanted someone else to write this for me, I'm pretty sure I prompted it on LJ, but none of my stuff has been filled yet :( So I figured since this was in my head I might as well get it written down and share it with you all. It's just a little one shot, but I hope you like it! :D Review please! Thanks for reading!
I don't own Inception, I'd ask Mr. Nolan for it, but why would he give it to me?
It started off as a simple little joke, something to get the tension out of the stress filled workplace. But the Forger and Point Man didn't know that the joke would just make things worse.
Ariadne had strolled in, feeling flustered, tired, and stressed. She had to get another level designed by tonight in order for them to get into their mark's head. As she trudged to her desk she noticed Eames smirking at her.
"What?" She snapped, not in the mood for any of his jokes or witty comments.
"Oh nothing love, just enjoying the view." Eames grinned. Ariadne rolled her eyes and let her bag fall off of her shoulder and onto the floor with a thud. She quickly eyed the sketches on her desk. She wasn't looking forward to having to create the whole dream scape within the next two hours. She still had to teach Eames and Arthur the levels, which meant she was pressed for time.
"Hey Ariadne." Eames strutted to her desk. She looked up, scowling. He leaned on her desk and watched her carefully.
"Almost done?" He asked seriously.
"No, I have to start building this one, so leave me alone so I can get to work." Ariadne replied, sighing and rubbing her eyes tiredly.
Arthur entered, the door slamming open as he breathlessly came in with two boxes. Eames rushed over to help him, and Ariadne had to hide her blush as she watched Arthur's arms flex.
"Hey Ari, how are things?" Arthur asked, breathing heavily as he set down the box on his desk and walked over to her.
She frowned and looked at the blank model. "Not great. I don't know if I'll be able to finish it today."
Arthur frowned, noticing the dark circles under her eyes. "When was the last time you slept?"
"Uh, I don't remember." Ariadne brushed it off and began cutting at the foam core board, hoping Arthur would leave her alone, thankfully he took this as a sign to leave and walked back to his desk, opening the box.
Ariadne peeked up, wondering what he had brought. Eames grunted and opened the other box. He pulled out a dress, a few tuxedos, and some nice dress shoes, making a face as he looked at them.
"Where are we meeting the mark?" Eames asked, scrunching up his nose as he looked at his tux.
"We're going to a dinner party. The president of the company invited him and I managed to get us on the guest list." Arthur replied. Ariadne eyed the navy dress Eames was holding up, knowing she would be wearing it.
"Well at last I get to see Ariadne dressed up. It more than makes up for me having to wear a suit you picked out, Arthur." Eames smirked, as Ariadne's head snapped up at Eames comment.
Arthur also brought his gaze to the Forger, wanting to wipe the smirk off of his face. He glared at him for a moment before pulling out the handgun from the box. He clicked the safety off and looked at Eames.
He just held up his hands in surrender, dropping the dress and tux back into the box. Ariadne hid a smile as she turned back to her work, glad to see that Arthur was protecting her honor.
They had this weird thing going on, she wasn't sure what it was exactly and it bothered her. Ever since the Inception job they had been working together, but they never brought up the kiss. It would be at times in class that her mind would wander to it and she thought about bringing it up, but something kept her from doing it.
She thought Arthur liked her, they had gotten pretty close over the past year and a half, but they never went beyond friendship. They'd have friendly lunches, sometimes he'd take her out to dinner when he knew she had a hard or bad day, but he never asked her out on a date.
Distracted from her work she accidentally cut her finger, cursing as she brought her finger to her lips and sucked on it. Arthur heard her quiet gasp and looked up, noticing her nursing her finger. He quickly walked over, gently taking her hand in his.
"What happened?"
"My knife slipped. I missed the board." She shrugged, making it seems like it wasn't a big deal.
"It doesn't look deep, you shouldn't need stitches, I'll go get the first aid kit and bandage this up."
"It's alright, you don't have to, you're busy." Ariadne protested.
"And you have a lot of work to do. My work can wait." Arthur replied, leaving before she could protest again. She slumped into the chair, mumbling to herself.
Arthur returned and snapped open the kit, pulling out disinfectant, gauze, and a bandage. He cleaned her wound, ignoring her sharp inhale from the pain, and quickly wrapped it up and cleaned up the mess. She smiled weakly at him and stood up.
"Thanks." She whispered.
Arthur nodded. "Now get to work." He teased.
Ariadne mock saluted and laughed quietly before turning her attention back to the model.
Three hours later Ariadne finished the model. She yawned and slumped down in the chair, calling Arthur and Eames over. They slowly walked towards her desk, still discussing how the night would go.
"How's everything? Finished?" Arthur asked.
Ariadne nodded and yawned again. "Yeah, let me show you the layouts then we can go under and I'll explain everything to you."
The two men nodded and followed Ariadne as she picked up the model and moved it to the other table where the first model was. She cleared her throat and turned to Eames.
"Your level is the first one. I put three mazes inside a maze, that way if the projections go crazy or the mark has had subconscious training, you'll be able to lose them easily. See." Ariadne motioned to the model and Eames looked over her shoulder.
He observed the piece carefully, taking in all the twists and turns and the exits. When he finished taking it all in he turned back to the Architect.
"Lovely. Can't wait to see it in the dream." Eames rubbed his hands together and Ariadne smiled, blushing. She turned to Arthur, noticing his eager expression. She had to control her face from turning bright red.
"Arthur, I also put a couple of mazes inside a maze, but there are two sections with hidden paradoxes. There's a stairwell, which you told me you found extremely useful for the Fischer job, and then I added one inside the second maze here. You'll be able to round the corner and once you round it you'll be able to block the following projections with a wall. There's also this mirror that you can move after you pass so it looks like a dead end. Hopefully the projections won't be smart enough to check it, but if they are there's another hidden paradox, the mirror will shatter and reveal a wall." Ariadne explained. Eames was raising his eyebrows and Arthur nodded, impressed.
"Great, this will work perfectly."
"Why don't I get a level as intricate and complex as his?" Eames asked playfully.
"Well Mr. Eames, if you feel like you need one, I can add to it." She replied coldly, crossing her arms. "I made this level to your specificity."
Arthur snickered and Eames let his arms fall in shock. "I was just giving you a hard time darling. No need to bite my head off."
Ariadne sighed and nodded. "Sorry, I'm tired. I had a late night doing homework so I could focus on this all day today."
Eames nodded sympathetically. "Well my dear, you better rest up since we're meeting the mark tonight."
Ariadne nodded and grabbed her things. "I'll just stop by my apartment and take a quick nap and come back to change."
"Just take the dress with you. I'll pick you up at 6." Arthur told her, watching her worriedly.
"Alright." She was too tired to argue. She walked to the back, where Arthur had hung up their clothes. She groaned when she realized that the hangers were too high for her to reach. She stepped on her tip toes, hoping that she'd be able to grab it, but failed.
"Whoa, there shorty, shall I get you a step stool?" Eames smirked. Ariadne froze and turned to him, her face angry.
"Don't call me that." She growled. Eames stepped away, surprised at her reaction.
"Ariadne…"
"No, don't talk to me." Ariadne snapped, and turned to storm out, running into Arthur.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing." Ariadne replied, regaining her composure. Arthur frowned and looked at Eames, who looked shocked and terrified. He furrowed his brow and reached up to grab the dress for Ariadne. He handed to her and she nodded curtly at him before storming off.
"I'll pick you up!" He called after her. She waved her hand showing that she heard and slammed the door on the way out.
"What was that all about?" Arthur shouted at Eames. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing, I just called her shorty and asked if she needed a step stool." Eames replied defensively, his voice cracking.
Arthur crossed his arms and shook his head. "Eames, you need to learn to watch what you say. Especially about her height. She's sensitive about it."
"Well how was I supposed to know? She seems confident in herself, I didn't think something like that would get to her."
"Well now you know." Arthur said as he walked away.
Ariadne threw her things on the floor when she got home, angry about the joke even though she knew she shouldn't let it get to her. It wasn't like he was being mean about it. Eames was always playful, teasing, with her. She sighed and crawled into bed, hoping some sleep would help with the anger.
She woke up a few hours later at the sound of her cell alarm. She groaned and climbed out of bed. She glanced at the dress and felt the anger surge through her again. She shook her head and jumped into the shower, knowing she had an hour and half to get ready before Arthur picked her up.
She quickly washed her hair, face, body, and shaved. Since she was going to be wearing a shorter dress she would need to make sure her legs looked great.
After drying off and changing into a robe, she blow dried her hair and plugged in the curling iron. Rushing to her room to change into the beautiful dress Arthur had picked out. She had to admit that he picked something that was just her taste. As she slipped into the dress, she noticed how it fit her waist just right and flowed out, giving the illusion that she had a tiny waist. The top half had a single strap and hung off her shoulder, dropping low enough to show off a little cleavage. She rather enjoyed the way it fit her.
"How on earth did he know my size?" She asked herself, walking back into the bathroom and working on her hair. She curled it, shaking it out when she was finished before pulling some of her hair up and clipping it. She looked at herself in the mirror, impressed with herself before putting on some light make up, trying to keep it natural.
As she looked around, trying to make sure she grabbed everything she needed, she looked down and noticed she wasn't wearing any shoes. She sighed and walked to her closet, wondering what she would wear. She remembered Eames comment earlier and scowled, quickly grabbing a pair of black high heels and slipping them on just as a knock on the door resounded loudly through the house.
She huffed and snatched up her small purse, placing her bishop, keys, cell phone, ID, and some money in it. She swung open the door and held in a gasp as she took in Arthur's suave figure.
"Hi." She whispered, staring at him wide-eyed. Arthur smirked and his eyes took in her appearance.
"Hi Ari. Ready?" Arthur asked. She nodded and bit her lip, shutting the door behind her and locking it.
"You look lovely." He told her once they were in the car.
"Thank you. You look pretty nice yourself." She smiled, motioning towards his outfit.
Arthur grinned and focused on the road. "You feeling better?"
Ariadne stiffened and looked out the window. "I'm not as tired anymore if that's what you're wondering."
"Well I'm glad that you've gotten some sleep, but that's not what I was referring to." Arthur replied, his eyes still on the road.
Ariadne sighed. "I'm ok."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not really. There's nothing to talk about. Eames cracked a joke about my height, which I hate, and I got pissed off." She shrugged, trying to brush it off as nothing.
"There's more to it isn't there?" Arthur pressed.
"Do you always have to be so persistent?" Ariadne asked, exasperated.
"Ok, I was teased a lot about my height throughout high school and college. Thankfully people are a lot more mature in graduate school, but I can't stand it when I hear people try to tease me about my height. It's not something I take lightly anymore. It's not my fault I'm short, and it's not like I can control it!"
Arthur nodded in understanding. She took a deep breath before turning to look at him and continue.
"I always wonder why people give other people a hard time about their faults. It's what causes insecurities in people. I was perfectly fine with how short I was until some of the girls in high school said I looked like I belonged in elementary school. I can almost understand that now, I mean I look like I'm thirteen. Physically I have the body of a fifteen year old. Look at me!" She exclaimed, motioning to her chest and her face, which had childish features to it.
"I think you're lovely. There's nothing wrong with the way you look."
"I look like a teenager!" She protested.
"I didn't think so. You presented yourself much older than that when Cobb first brought you in." Arthur replied, trying to comfort her and calm her down.
"Besides, I've seen the ways guys look at you." Arthur said, a hint of bitterness in it. Ariadne looked at him surprised.
"You're just trying to make me feel better." Ariadne mumbled.
Arthur tore his eyes away from the road and looked at her. "Not at all, in fact it does get to me sometimes." He quietly said, his eyes softening as he took in her light pink cheeks and the plumpness of her lips. He noticed she was wearing light eye make up and he had to look away from her, afraid that if he kept staring he would get distracted and they'd end up late.
He cleared his throat. "You look beautiful, really. And Eames didn't mean anything by it. He likes to pull people's legs."
Ariadne nodded, flushing from the attention Arthur had been giving her. She turned to look back out the window, knowing the conversation was over. It wasn't until they pulled into the parking lot that either of them spoke up again.
"We'll be mingling for a while, just to observe the mark. There will be a dance and food. Try to go easy on the drinking. I'll have to remind Eames that we're here to work."
Ariadne nodded and followed Arthur to the front. He suddenly spun around and she had to stop so she wouldn't crash into him. She looked up at him questioningly.
"I'm keeping you all night." He whispered into her ear. She shivered as she felt the tickle of his breath on her ear. "You're not going to dance with anyone but me."
He pulled away and looked her in the eye. She nodded, gulping as she felt butterflies in her stomach. He reached for her hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing it tenderly. He released her hand and they immediately acted professional and walked in.
Ariadne spotted Eames waiting for them at the bar, a glass of champagne in his hands. Ariadne scowled at him and Eames frowned, hoping she wouldn't be mad at him anymore.
"Look love, I'm sorry about that comment. I meant nothing mean by it." He apologized, per Arthur's order. Ariadne sighed and nodded before smiling.
"I'm sorry I got so angry with you."
"Oh darling, it's alright." Eames said, grabbing a glass and handing it to her. "Friends?"
Ariadne picked up her glass and clicked it against Eames'. "Friends."
"Now that that's settled, Eames, no more than four drinks. We have a job to do." Arthur sternly said. Eames waved his hand dismissively, but Arthur knew he would listen.
"Alright, Ariadne, come with me. Eames scope the area and stay hidden."
Ariadne followed Arthur through the crowd and they found a booth hidden in the dark. They slid in and Ariadne had to focus on watching the mark and not on how close she and Arthur were.
"There he is. Keep an eye on him, don't let him catch you staring, he might come over. If he comes this way, let me know." Arthur whispered into her ear again, a little too intimately for her comfort.
She nodded, watching as the man they'd be performing the extraction on talked with a bunch of business men, CEO's, and women, of course. Ariadne was busy watching his movements that she didn't see him glance her way. He practically strained his neck, snapping it towards her again. She saw this and panicked, nudging Arthur. He turned his attention towards her gaze and frowned, knowing that they'd have to use some kind of distraction to keep him away.
"Quick, give me a kiss." He whispered to her. She eagerly complied, wrapping her arms around his neck as his slid around her waist. He pulled her closer to him, practically pulling her on his lap. She didn't care, all she could think about was Arthur's lips on hers. The kiss heated up until they heard someone clear their throats.
"Well now that you're done swallowing each other's heads, we need to move onto the dance floor. If we're sitting here it'll be suspicious." Eames said, smirking as he watched the blushing couple.
"Right." Ariadne gasped, wiping her lips and climbing off Arthur, following Eames to the dance floor.
"I get first dance. You got to suck face with her." Eames grabbed Ariadne's hand, ignoring Arthur's glare.
"Eames." Ariadne hissed.
"What? Can't I dance with a beautiful woman before he hogs you all night?"
Ariadne was speechless, her mouth hanging open. She nodded and let Eames lead her in the dance.
"I'll keep an eye out for you two, the mark spotted you, clever cover up by the way. He lost interest instantly, although we may need you to get him alone and drug him. He seemed genuinely interested in you. Don't know how Arthur will like the idea though." Eames told her.
"Wait, you want me to lead him out of the crowd and get him alone? Why me?"
"He was attracted to you." Eames replied.
Ariadne shook her head. "Fine, but that's not tonight right?"
"No, we still have a week. This is just our observation period."
"Oh ok." Ariadne looked relieved.
"Relax. Now I'm going to take you back to your lover boy." Eames said, spinning her and gracefully depositing her into Arthur's arms.
Shocked by everything so far, she just let Arthur guide her. He looked down at her, worried.
"Everything ok?"
Ariadne nodded and smiled. "Yeah fine, just nervous about the job."
"We still have a week." Arthur assured her.
Ariadne bit her lip. "Eames has this idea, I think it will work…"
"…but?" Arthur asked.
"He thinks I should get Mr. Johnston alone and sedate him. It's a great idea, he's shown interest and you've trained me."
"I don't know." Arthur cut her off, his tone sharp.
"Come on Arthur, trust me."
Arthur stared at her carefully, making Ariadne want to shrink away from his intense gaze.
"Alright. But I'm tailing you."
Ariadne nodded, smiling. The music slowed down and she instantly became nervous. Arthur pulled her closer to him and slowed down their pace, gently holding her against his chest. She rested her head against his chest, sighing contently.
"You know, I've always had a thing for shorter women." Arthur whispered. Ariadne gripped Arthur tighter before turning her head to look at him. He was smiling at her. She leaned up and kissed him softly.
"I've always had a thing for a man in suits." She replied, grinning, pulling at his vest. Arthur chuckled.
"Once this job is over, care to join me for dinner?" Arthur asked quietly.
Ariadne eyed him carefully. "Depends. Is this dinner a date?"
"If you want it to be."
"That's not what I asked." Ariadne defiantly replied, raising her eyebrow.
Arthur smirked. "Yes. It's a date."
"Then yes, I'd love to join you." Ariadne replied, returning to her previous position, her head on his chest. Arthur wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, despite being on the job, this was one of the best moments of his life.
Eames just rolled his eyes as he watched the two dancing. He knew that he'd get sick of all their secret looks and longing glances, but it would give him some good material to tease them with. He was just glad that they both were going to be happy with each other, and he'd kill Arthur if he hurt her. With one last look at the couple, he returned to watch duty on the mark, wanting to give the two privacy.
So there you have it. I get teased about my height all the time, I hate it so much...there are times where I can just go with it, but other times I get so mad it's not even funny. So this is inspired by personal experiences...btw, I am the same height as Ellen Page, so you can visualize it now ;) So what did you think? I really enjoyed writing this, I actually finished it in one day, considering I wasn't home most of the day you should be proud! Thanks for reading!