Note: Hey so I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. It's still really fluffy and I want to get to the story but I feel like I need to get some Arthur and Ariadne stuff cleared up before I jump into their plan of action. Anyway, I hope you guys like it! :)
"I still don't get what we're going to do." Ariadne said as she and Arthur walked together, back to her room.
"Well since we're technically not supposed to contact each other for another month, since we just finished the job today..." Arthur said, not looking her in the eyes. He'd sort of forgotten that minor detail.
"What? Are you going to just start ignoring-" She asked, feeling herself getting panicked.
He cut her off. "No. I was talking about Cobb. We can't keep him locked up in a hospital forever. They're going to realize eventually that he didn't just have a stroke on the plane and that he's not now in a coma."
"Oh...well then what should we do?" she asked.
He sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. We'll think of something in the morning." They both just stared at her door.
"Is it stupid of me to not want to be alone?" she asked. He chuckled.
"No. What's bothering you?"
"A few things. The fact that I'm scared I'm dreaming, every second. And I keep seeing the projections faces, the way they were looking at me like they were accusing me. And God, I keep seeing Mal. Over and over again, she was tried to kill me so many times. And I know it's stupid cause she's not alive but still..." He reached out and engulfed her in his arms. She felt him bury his face in her hair and she hugged him closer.
"Do you...do you um want me to stay?" he asked. Her heart sped up.
"I mean...you don't have to...but..." she trailed off.
He looked down at her. "I want to." They both smiled.
She took out her key and opened the door, they both walked in and she shut it behind her.
"So will I be sleeping on the floor tonight?" Arthur asked, jokingly eyeing the one king sized bed in the middle of the room.
Ariadne just laughed and shrugged.
"Well, as tempting as it is not to, I hardly think it's appropriate for me not to." he said, a serious tone returning to his voice.
She rolled her eyes and walked over to him, grabbing onto his tie.
"Why are you so...perfect all the time?" He smiled and rested his hands on her hips.
"I'm not. But it's late, and I think the one who can still dream for a little while should get the bed." She glanced away.
"We both could get the bed." she suggested, quietly.
"If it doesn't bother you..." he said. She shook her head quickly, the frowned.
"Why does it bother you?" he shook his head too.
They both just stood there for a minute before she yawned.
"I'll go change in the bathroom, you can just change out here." she said, picking up some pajamas out of her suit case and then walking into the bathroom. He stood there for a minute before kicking off his shoes.
"Maybe we rushed." he thought, then he loosened his tie and undid his vest, placing them on the dresser.
But when Ariadne came out of the bathroom, even just dressed in her pajama pants and a tank top, her hair falling loosely around her shoulders, he thought she was beautiful even then.
"I just realized you don't have anything to change into." she said. He shrugged.
"It's fine, I'm actually going to call the hospital, you know? See how Cobb's doing?"
She nodded awkwardly and walked over to the bed burying herself under the covers.
Ariadne was a sleep a few minutes later. She still dreamed for now. Short, fuzzy dreams but dreams none the less. In this dream, she was back in the elevator of Cobb's memories. Mal, closing in on her.
"Do you know what it's like to be a lover?"
"N-no." Ariadne replied.
But this time something different happened. Ariadne blinked and when she opened her eyes Arthur was standing there grinning at her the way someone who's taunting you does.
"You're right. You have no idea." he said then he and Mal started laughing. Mal pulled the broken wine glass out of nowhere and was heading for Ariadne...
She woke up, her eyes were wet and Arthur had apparently gone to sleep. He was lying next to her, still wearing his clothes.
Ariadne groped around absentmindedly for her totem, making more noise than intended.
"Ariadne?" Arthur asked drowsily.
"Where is it?" She asked panicked that she couldn't find it.
"What?" he asked, sitting up and turning on the light. Even half taken over by sleep he was still perfect as she looked at him.
"My totem, I can't find it!" he didn't question why she needed it, he understood. She was having trouble knowing the difference between reality and dreams.
He got up and stumbled over to the light switch. The room was instantly flooded with light and he felt his heart break a little at the sight of Ariadne, in tears, looking for her totem. She'd gone too far too fast with the dreams.
Arthur was there when Mal had lost it. He'd seen the look in her eyes, distant and longing. He'd seen how she could never tell what was real. And Ariadne was scarily enough, showing the beginning signs of it.
"Ari..." he said quietly, walking over to her and bending down, resting his hand on the small of her back.
"Since when do you call me that? No one calls me that." she mumbled, shrugging him off and continuing to yank apart the bedside table.
"You don't like it?" he asked, using the same quiet, soft tone.
She turned to look at him and suddenly her eyes filled with fresh tears as she launched herself at him. He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry.
"No, of course I like it. I just feel stupid. I never cry and now I'm crying over a stupid meaningless dream and a chess piece." She said into his shoulder. He stroked her hair and they sat there like that for a long time before he felt something under his leg. He reached under and pulled out a gold chess piece.
"Thanks." Ariadne sniffled, taking it and putting it on the table, then knocking it over.
"You can't doubt your reality so much, that's how Mal..." he trailed off. Ariadne nodded.
"I know...that's how Mal ended up dead. That won't happen to me though Arthur, I'm not crazy."
He smiled at her and wiped the leftover tears away with his thumb. "I know...what was your dream about anyway?" he asked, not wanting to think of Ariadne possibly ending up like Mal.
"Oh, it was nothing." she said, standing up and getting back into the bed.
"Clearly it was something. What was it?" he asked, sitting down beside her. She sighed.
"I went through Cobb's memories a few days before the job." she said quietly. Arthur's eyes widened.
"What?"
"I know...it was wrong. I just wanted to see what he was doing every night while everyone else left. Turns out he'd created a prison of memories of Mal to keep her alive. And at one point I ended up in their anniversary suite alone with her. It was so...creepy. And before she tried to kill me she asked me if I knew what it was like to be a lover. I said no. Anyway, in my dream the same thing happened except..." she trailed off, embarrassed.
"Except what?" he asked.
"Except you were there. And when I said no, you told me I was right...I didn't. And then you laughed while Mal tried to kill me." she mumbled.
He just sat there for a moment. "So your projection of me doesn't really...feel the way I do about you?" he asked.
"I guess not...why is that bad?" she asked.
"It means you don't think I actually care about you. So yeah...it's bad."
"Of course I think you care about me! I don't know...it just feels too good to be true. I've only had two boyfriends before and neither ended well. I wasn't in love with either of them and I knew them for years. I've known you for like a month and I...I do love you."
He placed his hand over one of hers. "It's different. I know it feels rushed. But as weird as this sounds...I can't stand the idea of you being with anyone else. You know Eames used to tell me he was going to get you to fall for him the next job we had. And I seriously wanted to kick his ass worse than it had ever been kicked." he chuckled.
"So it's not like we have to get married tomorrow. Sometime, in the future...I hope. But we can just take time to be. Because somehow within that month...I fell in love with you." he said. She smiled and threw her arms around his neck.
"How are you so damn perfect?" She asked. He smiled and rested his head on her shoulder.
"I'm not...but thanks."