This fic was written for a prompt over at LJ: Five times the men of Inception come visit Ariadne at school; her friends wonder who these men are.
Fic Rating: R for language and adult themes (sex)
Warnings: This fic is heavy on OCs
Mr. Avenger
"I can't believe Professor Miles hasn't assigned us any homework these last few weeks."
Ariadne and her friends once again walk out of the lecture hall and out of the school of architecture building.
"I know, hasn't it been great? Professor Miles has been acting like the Professor Miles we've known and loved these past three and a half years."
"I'm proud of you Darcy. No mention of aliens. No conspiracy theories." Ariadne pats her friend on the back.
"What conspiracy theory? We know the reason for Miles' turn around. It's all your Dom Cobb's doing. Ever since he met with Miles, the professor has been friendlier, nicer, and all around more pleasant in the classroom."
"Darce, first of all, he's not my Dom Cobb, and second, we don't know if he's the reason for…Miles' return to normalcy."
"Oh, c'mon Ari. Of course he is. How else would you explain how the day after Mr. Cobb visited him, Professor Miles gave us three weeks to work on the paper and has not given us any assignments since then, hmm?"
"Well…"
"Let's not also forget he's given me my love life back. This time, I'm on a faster track to impressing Rupert."
"Rupert? What happened to Paul?"
"That's last week's news ladies. I met Rupert at the bookstore. He was buying a copy of Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. I convinced him to use his money to buy me a coffee instead and in turn I'd lend him my copy as well as discuss the play with him. Oh, which reminds me, could you let me borrow your copy, Darcy? I remember seeing it in your bookcase."
"It's mine, actually, and yes you can."
"Good, I knew I could count on you Ariadne. By the way, would you mind telling me what it's about?"
"You've never read it?"
"No, that's why I'm borrowing it from you and that's why I need you to give me the summary on what it's about."
Ariadne rolls her eyes. "You realize there's a bit of irony here?" Martín just stares at her with a blank expression and Ariadne sighs with amusement. "The importance of being earnest?" Martín shrugs. "Never mind, you need to read it. Come by our place tonight to pick up the book."
"Look! What's going on over there?" Darcy points to an assembly of students across the courtyard near the psychology building.
Taking in the picket signs, Ariadne says, "They look like they're protesting something."
Curious, the trio walks over towards the crowd. As they approach, they hear the rally cries of, "Animals have feelings too! Say no to animal cruelty! Let animals be free!"
"Excuse me, what is going on here?" Darcy catches the attention of one of the protestors holding a sign with a picture of a sad kitten that says, 'Can I Haz My Nine Lives?'
"The psychology department is planning to conduct cognitive experiments on some cats. The poor animals will be sacrificed once the experiments are done! We're putting a petition together to get the cats released. Would you like to sign it?"
"Of course we would." Darcy grabs the clipboard from the protestor and signs her name. "C'mon Ari—Martín, you guys sign too."
Ariadne takes the clipboard from her and signs as well. She tries to hand it to Martín, but he's not paying attention. "Martín?" He's staring at one end of the crowd. "Martín?"
"Ariadne, today my dreams come true."
"What are you talking about?"
"Tall, dark, and handsome is walking my way."
The girls turn to find someone fitting that description heading their way. From afar he looks familiar but she can't quite place him. In addition to Martín's description the man is dressed in dark tailored slacks with a maroon sweater and tie under a dark suit coat. For a very brief moment her heart swells with the thought that it might be—
"Yusuf?" Ariadne's mouth hangs open in surprise at finding the chemist standing not three feet away.
"Ariadne. I thought I spotted you. That red jacket of yours is hard to forget, or miss." Yusuf smiles showing off a set of straight, white teeth.
"I can't believe it's you, I almost didn't recognize you! You look really good!" The chemist has shed a few pounds, shaved his goatee, and cut his hair close. He looks younger and more debonair, especially with the sleek black framed eyeglasses.
"Thanks. I've been working out a bit; decided to go for a bit of a make-over. You look good too, by the way. What are you doing here? Is this your college?"
"Yes. I'm at the school of architecture."
"Right, of course."
"What are you—"
"Ahem." Martín clears his throat not so politely and gestures towards Yusuf.
"Oh, right. Uh, Yusuf, these are my friends, Martín Gallegos and Darcy Niedermeyer. Guys, this is Yusuf…um…sorry, I've forgotten your last name." She was never given it, so she had to pretend to forget.
"Ramachandran. I know it's a mouthful. Just call me Yusuf. It's nice to meet you both."
"Likewise, Yusuf. So tell us, how do you and Ariadne know each other? Ariadne has a habit of forgetting to mention all the handsome men she meets." Martín sidles up closer.
Yusuf laughs, a bit uncomfortably, whether at the question or Martín's not so subtle advances, she's unsure. "Well, actually, we met this past spring, at, uh…"
"During the internship I told you guys about. For the office park project I was working on, along with Dom. Yusuf was a consultant too. He was, uh…" She tries to come up with a suitable cover-up since a chemist didn't make sense in that situation.
"A materials engineer consultant. I helped to evaluate some of the materials they wanted to use for the structures." Ariadne breathes a discreet sigh of relief and shares a smile with Yusuf. That wasn't too bad.
"It seems like there were a lot of consultants working on that particular project." Darcy says, with an edge of suspicion.
"Yeah, it was certainly a different type of…project. New and cutting edge. Too bad it didn't work out, right, Yusuf?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah. It's a shame." He quickly agrees with her.
"So, what are you doing here? You're not doing any…consultant work, are you?" To Ariadne he didn't appear to be working on an extraction job, but it could all be a show.
"No, no. Nothing like that. Actually, I was invited to speak as a guest lecturer by one of my friends in the chemistry department, Dr. Nadu."
"Dr. Mila Nadu?" Ariadne asks. The name is familiar and she remembers Yusuf seeing a lot of his 'friend' Mila while he was working on the job. Suddenly, the new look is not so surprising.
Yusuf smiles. "Yes, Mila Nadu."
"I thought you were a materials engineer?" Martín interrupts, looking a bit suspicious. Yusuf's too brainy for Martín's tastes and is backing off.
"Well, yeah, but uh…chemistry is part of the root of materials science." Suddenly, the crowd of protestors starts yelling as campus enforcement breaks through and starts dismantling the crowd. The excitement diverts attention from Yusuf's cover-up, giving him an excuse to change the subject. "Do you guys know what's been going on here?"
"They're protesting the use of animals in some laboratory experiments. It turns out the cats get sacrificed afterwards. We're signing a petition to stop the experimenting." Darcy hands him the clipboard.
Yusuf shakes his head. "I'm afraid that's not going to do anything. These animals are bred purposely for research and there are already strict regulations on what can and can't happen to them. If the psychology department has permission to run these experiments and they've obtained these animals, that means they've already jumped through all the hoops and they can conduct their research as outlined." He pauses to consider something. "In fact, I think the only way they can be stopped is if the animals were somehow, released. It's such a shame too. I couldn't imagine not having Bastet, Sekhmet, Thoth and Ma'at in my life. Cats are such fascinating creatures. They're quite intelligent and intuitive."
"It sounds like outside forces need to be brought in to help those poor animals."
"Sounds like a job for your aliens, Darcy." Martín gives her a teasing wink but Darcy is all seriousness.
"I wish aliens were purported to be kind-hearted beings who used their superior intelligence and technologies to help out the less fortunate of species, like these cats. But they seem determined to probe what they perceive as the dominant species, us humans. They never make news for assisting the lesser creatures, probably because humans are a bigger publicity racket."
Yusuf gives Ariadne a questioning look.
Ariadne just shakes her head and laughs. "You'll have to excuse Darcy, Yusuf. She's prone to flights of fancy and conspiracies of alien beings doing dastardly things to us humans."
"In other words, she's just a bit crazy." Martín simplifies.
"I wouldn't go so far as to call her that. We've got to believe everything is possible, until it's not, right?" He winks at Darcy who gives him a triumphant smile.
The ringing of the old clock bell causes Yusuf to look down at his watch. "Oh, I've got to run Ariadne. I've got a welcome lunch that I've got to get to."
"It's been good seeing you again Yusuf."
"Hey, if you're not busy tonight, perhaps we can get together for dinner, say around seven, at the usual place?"
"Yeah, I'd love to. I'll see you then."
"Great. It was nice meeting both of you." With a nod and smile to both Martín and Darcy and a final wave to Ariadne, the chemist walks off towards the faculty lounge.
"I like him, he's very nice." Darcy stares towards the direction Yusuf disappeared.
"Meh. That's just because he didn't think you were insane with all your alien theories, which, coincidently, causes me to question his own sanity. I'm disappointed someone so dapper looking didn't even give me a second look, though. But you win some, you lose some, right? And it looks like Ariadne's won this round—again."
"Martín, it's hardly a contest when the 'contestants' don't even play on the same field. Not that I'm saying I won anything," Ariadne backtracks, "because Yusuf and I are just friends. We're just going to catch up with each other over dinner."
"Where have I heard that one before?" Martín and Darcy share a smile.
"Dom is a friend too!"
"Sure Ariadne, whatever you say."
