14. Lies

A/N

Hello again dear people! Sorry it took another lengthy period of time. Well, behold: the next chapter and on a side note, TDKR WAS AMAZING! Christ Nolan *bows down* It was completely beautiful and perfect I say. BTW I think I may have a slight idea for the next series of Batman movies (If or most likely when Mr Christopher Nolan starts on them), to complete the inception cast, the next series should involve JGL's character (John Blake), Ellen as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl and Leo as the Riddler and kaboom! Awesomesauce next series mate. Hopefully some sort of romantic interest can form between JGL and Ellen's characters and that'd be beautiful. Anyway, I might actually do a fic on it but that can be later. For now: this story. ENJOY!

After 4 hours (20 minutes in real time) of touring around the creation and design of Tom they exited the dream. It was firstly the guys of the group who left while Ariadne was still in the same spot contemplating over the messy position she had gotten into. She truly thought it wasn't possible or could never understand how this situation could happen or was existent. Yet, here she was: actually caught between two guys that captivated her directed feelings. Ariadne could say they were at equivalent measures but one felt right, one felt wrong. She had to make the wise choice before it would eat her alive.

Ariadne was sitting in the same position against the sentimental statue that was placed by Tom. Confusion and guilt were infiltrating her thoughts and infusing such frustrated anger. It was a delay before she noticed Tom observing her from behind the wall he passed by earlier to leave. He slowly headed towards her direction and she saw the familiar joyful sight of faithful perfection: Tom. Her boyfriend. Her best friend. If she was told earlier before that Tom would end up being her boyfriend at this moment of time, she Ariadne would've been majorly skeptical at how it could work but she truly believed now she couldn't ask for any better. Tom was everything she could look for in a guy and he was of course deeply in love with her – as revealed by the three words he just uttered moments before. Yet, on all days, of all occurrences, events, acts, moments and overall timing, the words came out at the wrong point. It's not the fact that she felt afraid of those committing words but the fact she had to take into consideration her other dilemma.

She thought as well that she had confirmed to moving on far from Arthur and the proclaimed infatuation but now the sense of her slight desire of him had returned. With the valuable information of his honest feelings that still needed a further affirmation to distinguish whether it was an impulsive and desperate slip of words or if he was truly spilling his heart and emotions out. Something that she thought he never had or barely had since Arthur was such a private person and held up a high enough mask to avert attention or questions from people referring to his preferred disposition. But Ariadne had achieved it. She had exposed him. Vulnerable. Something that kept her concentration on him.

Ariadne snapped out of her stream of thoughts knowing that Tom was talking to her. He smiled cheerfully oblivious to Ariadne's dark secret. She tried to smile back as well but the uneasy and serious expression couldn't be shaken off easily. Tom sat down in front of her cross-legged gazing endearingly at her. "You still here? You must like this spot a lot then" He scanned the statue that Ariadne was sitting against feeling happy and proud of this certain detail he was able to put in the design. Tom's eyes fell back on Ariadne and his grin turned to a straight line of concern due to seeing her looking down at the ground. "Seriously, are you okay? You've seemed really uneasy since – well – I saw you here at first while showing the guys around. What's bothering you?" Tom leaned closer towards Ariadne observing her every move and emotion. She gulped before looking up and meeting his eyes. Tom's face expressed every amount of worry over her. His eyebrows had knitted closer together and his normal grin had altered to a straight line. Ariadne fidgeted with her hands while trying to retain the same gaze at Tom.

"Have I done something or made you uncomfortable at all? Was it –" Tom froze due to a possibility dawning on him. "Was it…what I said earlier?" It was Tom's turn now to look down in slight anguish. The only reason for him to do so was the fact that the possibility involved the very thought of his "heart-in-the-moment" and "pouring of his heart and emotions" action had resulted in making his girlfriend uncomfortable with the new leap and step in the relationship. Tom had been in this position too many times that it stung every time it revealed that he had made the ultimate deal breaker moment occur. It had always shattered the euphoria of his love and right now, his current love could be in jeopardy. His mind flooded with several thoughts thinking and (more) assuming that Ariadne wasn't ready. Of course, she's so much younger and this could be one of her first ever relationships. God! How could I be so stupid and selfish?!

Ariadne herself could see the possible processing that Tom was going through and felt she had been silent too long even if it was for a few seconds. She could just see Tom's face while it was directed downwards and his expression looked like he had been slapped in the face. Ariadne rushed to clear everything up before Tom could believe the worst. "No. No! Of course not! Tom –" He looked back up at the call. Ariadne could read some of the dread in his eyes which made her haste to soothe the escalation of worry in the situation. "Tom: you've done nothing wrong. You've done nothing to cause me discomfort and no, what you said earlier hasn't contributed either in any way to make me uncomfortable but…it was the sweetest thing anyone has said to me"

It seemed that the alarm had begun to decrease in Tom's expression as he nodded slowly in response. He shifted his vision to the side while thinking over something. Ariadne remained still watching Tom. It was quite quick of how the tables had turned in roles of who was trying to console who. Tom broke the silence but still didn't look at Ariadne. "Do you really mean it?" He wanted to make sure. Ariadne's mouth had quirked into a small smile in certain reply to try and continue to calm Tom. "Of course! You couldn't do anything wrong to me. I mean, I have my own personal problems that may get me down at times but no matter what, you are the constant thing that is able to brighten things up for me and –"

"Not that" Tom interrupted. He slowly turned his head to face Ariadne again. She seemed a bit perplexed at the abrupt disruption. "I mean, I get all that. But that last bit you said before. It was the sweetest thing anyone has said to you. So, what I said before, those words, you'd say the same thing…to me, right?" In his head, it appeared to be slightly desperate or clingy for him to ask but he wanted to know for certain that Ariadne was fine. It felt selfish again as well but he just needed to know. Tom needed to know if she was perfectly okay and didn't cross any line too fast.

Ariadne had paused at what felt like quite an intense and severe moment. Tom's eyes were gazing straight into her own and possible at a penetrating rate. She felt conscious of the seconds ticking by while her mind was trying to rush and create an appropriate answer. It was a simple answer she could say but the whole personal shenanigan she was going through was making it complex. Ariadne cleared her throat after what felt like an eternal pause and Tom's concentrated gaze looked to be slipping slowly into a form of dejected acceptance. "Tom…y-you know that…you know what you mean to me and those exact words as well that you said…I would apply them through my living and being with you because…" Ariadne felt like she was cringing internally so badly. She was in fact clenching her fist at frustration of difficulty with creating the wanted and needed answer to Tom. Whatever she was saying now proved to be conveying the other type of message that she didn't want and would make Tom continue to be in dismay.

"Look! Tom, what I'm trying to say is –" Ariadne had to stop mid-sentence while her heart contracted to the sight of pain that she swore had glazed over Tom's eyes. Already, he was accepting dejection, defeat and apprehension. Ariadne just focused on Tom feeling speechless at the state she had reduced him to. Again, she blamed it on this whole catastrophe she was battling to resolve herself with Tom and Arthur at either side and she couldn't quite choose anymore who she wanted to direct all her attention to. It was an entire distraction phase that was interrupting everything that would normally run smoothly. This exact exchange between her and Tom had run the other way to an austere position. It seemed like it couldn't retrieve to a normal placing anytime soon as Ariadne felt she'd simply make it worse.

Tom broke the silence again. "I know. I know exactly what you're trying to say and…it's fine. I get it. I understand what type of position you're in. It's hard and I'm sorry I put you there" His voice had become unsteady due to the agony that had settled sharply in his chest. He wasn't looking straight at Ariadne anymore but she wanted nothing more than to connect properly and clear everything. "That's not it! Tom, I'm sorry if it's not clear but I do…you know, I-I…love…" Another reason had popped into her head of why it was so hard to repeat the particular phrase that expressed her gratitude and every feeling towards Tom. Relevant again to her problem, it felt wrong and out of place to immediately say those words to him when another guy was in the picture concerning her confused feelings. Ariadne couldn't be sure. No, she definitely knew that she loved Tom because he was everything she could ask for. Arthur was just…someone added to the possible placing but he wasn't competing in place against Tom. Ariadne knew she loved Tom and he was nearest to first preference. But why was it so hard then to say those 3 words? If Arthur was but at the same time wasn't a target involving her feelings and Tom was standing before her pouring his heart for her and no one else, why couldn't she bring herself to confirm these inevitable emotions?

Lies. That was the reason why. It was in fact the chief reason overall. With her personal situation and feeling wrong or guilty, it all combined for the mega reason being the lingering set of lies. The lies of the struggle between her and Arthur which led to an infamous romantic moment which led to her currently continuing to avoid the precise complication. The lies were especially inflicted towards the one person she would never want to do such a thing to: Tom. He was one of the best people she knew and here she was making him suffer. It all made sense now but Ariadne still didn't want to spill the truth out. She felt that she couldn't be strong enough to.

The whole revelation filling her head was stabbed at with more torment as Tom coldly added "You can't even say those words straight out without sounding…almost hesitant" He spared a glance towards Ariadne before looking back down at the ground. Ariadne wanted to dismiss such horrible things and make Tom happy again but she knew things would just become worse. "Tom…don't say thing like that. I'm really sorry if I seem…out of place but I do have a lot on my mind and it's kind of messing with things that I normally would be able to do so easily. One of those things include saying that I love –" Ariadne was suddenly sure that she was just about to say the exact words that Tom was wanting to her but sadly at that moment, he ignored and interjected once more. Tom sighed. "Yes. I know. But I guess one of the many things on your mind is probably relevant to what we're talking about now. I know you're trying to make things fit to what I particularly wanted but can I just say that I'm fine with what you only are trying to put across. I've been in this position enough to understand completely. I can give you time or space or you can just forget I said such a thing" Tom had stood up and Ariadne scrambled to further attempt at fixing things back to when she was the only one being uneasy. Everything had gone out of place. Ariadne was once more going to continue on a ramble to correct everything for Tom but a dangerously applicable statement had come from Tom cutting her off completely and leaving her shocked still. "Ari, you don't have to lie for me to make me feel better"

At that, Ariadne was speechless and remained frozen staring at the disheartened form of Tom. "I'll see you later" He simply walked away but Ariadne's body didn't move at all. The same phrase echoed in her head causing such an upturn of reaction in her mind and heart. You don't have to lie for me. Tom left without the proper answer she was wishing to convey: the truth. Yet, thinking about it now, the truth was divided into 2 accounts. One truth that she loved him and the other involving her current situation and involvement with Arthur.

She really couldn't bring herself to tell the facts. Particularly the second one. It was a huge haze of deceptions for her to be avoiding the problem involving the two guys. A consequence that had already been brought forward was the wounding of Tom's heart already with not being able to reciprocate properly the simple and heart filled phrase involving love. Ariadne thought the answer she needed and wanted were the same thing but in fact, they couldn't be any more different. One would've been filled with lies. The other would've been the sole truth. One was right. The other was wrong. She felt like a coward for not choosing a proper answer, let alone the right one but it was because she was afraid of hurting anyone especially Tom. Yet, looking over both answers and the scenarios that would carry forth from them, somebody would be hurting either way. Not just Tom or even Arthur but herself. The constricting conflict between her head and heart with the choices before her was enough to make her feel such agony. All from a little lie.

S/A/N:

Wow, I don't know if it's just me but I feel like this is my best chapter so far. I WAS ON A COMPLETE ROLL WRITING THIS! It all clicked into place and I feel quite proud. Again, thank you for reading and hope you've enjoyed. I guess this pays from slight writer's block and a lengthy waiting period.