#inception arthur one shot

[enchi-elm]

Inception is funny because the final heist is a wildly different experience for everyone involved.

Yusuf drives across town under gunfire and voluntarily drives off the edge of a bridge. He probably has a resting heart rate of 180 for the duration and it’s over in, say, 15 minutes.

Arthur finally gets to snap at his boss, something we get the sense he’s been wanting to do for a solid year now. He vents the rest of his frustrations on unsuspecting goons, then spends the rest of the heist quietly problem solving around his unconscious and therefore uncomplaining teammates. This is probably his preferred way of dealing with people.

Saito gets shot and dies an agonizing death for anywhere from a few minutes to about an hour. Instead of being allowed to peacefully suffer, he volunteers to lead his business rival on a mountain expedition that involves driving pitons into rock, then survives a free fall down the same mountain before holding off enemy fire with his dying breath. His reward for finally kicking the bucket is aging fifty fucking years.

Cobb literally goes through every stage of grief and dies twice. I mean he’s not my favourite but he’s certainly suffering for his art.

Ariadne is on the steepest learning curve of her life: by the end of this learning abroad experience, she’s a certified psychiatrist and also she’s shot someone.

Eames is going through every single one of his employable skills like an intern hoping to be promoted at the end of term. This includes hitting on two billionaires and firing a grenade launcher to impress a coworker. By far having the most fun.

Robert Fischer has been the CEO of a Fortune 500 company for a week. He’s been sedated, kidnapped, conned, betrayed, led mountain-climbing, shot, resuscitated, and resolves an adult life time worth of daddy issues in the time it takes to order coffee. Possibly fires his uncle when he lands for reasons he can’t explain even to himself.

[thenwhatthefukcisthis]

Inception 30 Day Challenge 2024

day 03 : post canon headcanons @inception30daychallenge

cobb overdoses on somnacin two years into retirement. the kids grow up hating their dad, missing their mom and never learning what dreamshare is.

ariadne tries to contact the team. no one picks it up. she joins faculty, a mediocre lecturer, lacking her promising spark. she passes away after a eighty five years of utterly boring, peaceful life.

yusuf accidentally gets shot by cobol three months after inception when he gets mixed up in a chase across his shop. he doesn’t get a funeral.

robert drops everything on a whim and goes backpacking across the globe. last anyone heard of him was from tokyo. he was barely thirty nine.

saito goes crazy. he spends the final years of his late sixties in an asylum wishing he could enjoy the immense wealth he paid a fortune and his life for.

arthur and eames... well arthur and eames continue to live in the hearts of millions, rekindling hope, promise of love and reconciliation. Forever.

[thestalwartheart]

The Weekend WIP

Here's a fic that may or may not be happening. It's Arthur/Eames (hello Inception fandom!), and the summary goes like this:

Yesterday, if anyone were to have asked Eames about nightmares, he'd have told them he stopped dreaming a long time ago. Today, he might say something different. Or: Eames watches, and waits, as Arthur puts everything on the line for Dom Cobb.

Long snippet under the cut!

The first time Eames meets the twisted facsimile of Mal in a dream, he’s in a maze. It’s neat. Geometric. All the art between the hedges is modern and monochromatic. Anyone could tell it’s one of Arthur’s builds because it has no flair at all. Still, it does the trick well enough. The job is small time, and Eames does it as a favour to Cobb, to whom he owes a few favours. Eames dislikes owing. He prefers being owed.

As soon as Eames turns around the maze’s final hedge and reaches the centre, he loses the ability to hold his forge.

Because there is Mal. Beautiful, charismatic, red-lipped Mal, dressed in a floor-length black gown and looking very much not dead.

And she’s putting out her cigarette on Arthur’s jaw.

Eames is not a forgetful man, but even still. He will be a man wasted, a drooling two-hundred-year-old breathing corpse who has forgotten even his own name before he forgets the twist of pain on Arthur’s face. Even then, he suspects he’ll remember.

Immediately, Eames shoots Arthur in the head to wake him up, then he shoots himself. He wakes up regretting that he hadn’t got a shot in at Cobb.

But it’s Arthur he opens his eyes to. Bloody Arthur, who’s already halfway across the empty warehouse, rolling his sleeves down and pretending like everything is still running smoothly. Even when he’s dishevelled, Arthur is neat. His sleeves aren’t just rolled up; they might as well be pressed. His face is blank. He’s never had many tells. It is, after all, the point of a point man to take the stress of the job and contain it—to absorb it, like foam rubber does to sound, and never let it back out again—and Arthur, oh, Arthur’s the best at what he does. Even before he started working with Cobb that was true. Now, it’s indisputable.

Only the slight downturn to Arthur’s mouth tells Eames something is off. Eames experiences a visceral urge to shake Arthur by the shoulders until something else comes loose.

Unprofessional, that.

Instead, he removes his cannula and watches as Arthur sucks at the bloodied pinprick on his arm.

“Thanks,” says Arthur.

“Arthur.”

Arthur ignores him.

“Arthur,” he repeats slowly. “Darling.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Arthur marches off to the bathroom, and Eames watches as he does. His eyes dart to the same spot on Arthur’s jaw where Mal’s cigarette left its mark in the dream. There’s nothing there. Clean-shaven Arthur. Aftershaved Arthur. Stick-up-the-arse Arthur. He’s as spotless as he ever was.

Beside Eames, Cobb wakes up. Eames doesn’t look at him. Can’t. If he looks at Cobb, he’ll feel sorry for the bastard, and he’s too full of fury for that.

“Now, wasn’t that interesting?” he asks blithely. Instead of answering, Cobb lurches to the side of his chair and throws up.

There’s trouble, thinks Eames. There’s a lot of trouble.

Unfortunately for everyone, the trouble persists all day. Cobb retains a glazed, far-away look about him. It’s the look of a man who’d do anything, anything at all, to be back in that dream, standing next to the woman he loved. Eames isn’t unsympathetic. Few might believe it, but he’s a romantic man by nature. He knows the power of a good woman. He knows what love can do to a man. Eames may never have managed to hold onto it for long—love is always slipping through his fingers, always in a different city, in a different time—but he’s no stranger to it. He’s worried precisely because he knows what it can do.

No, even Arthur won’t be able to take care of this. Eames has seen better men than Dom fucking Cobb give in to temptation.

In the end, he’s right. It’s two very long years of trouble.

[princess-angel101]

Arthur and Eames with Ariadne.

Warning! Contains spoilers for Inception.

So it’s established that Arthur is Ariadne’s mentor. He’s the one establishing the boundaries and intricacies of the job of dream sharing. He gives her the go ahead of the risks and how to navigate them without scaring her, just having her endanger him.

But it made me curious. Ariadne shot Mal’s projection while she and Cobb were deeper into the level of their subconscious to save Fisher as he was held conscious. It made me wonder, because Ariadne is a college student. She wouldn’t think of being armed with a gun and knowing how to shoot as her life wasn’t in danger until she was hired for the heist.

So that implies one of the Inception crew taught her. Maybe it was Arthur? And Eames, who is half in love with the point man and half wants to one up him, co operates into teaching herself defense so she won’t be helpless.

So the two compromise. Arthur teaches her how to be precise and aim well. Eames teaches her how to be quick and alert and ready to compromise if needed.

And the two squabble at it while the poor girl is like: “Can ya’ll kiss and make up already?” While she grows closer with the two more and more.

@thenwhatthefukcisthis

@valerileygreen

What’s your opinions on it?

[emotionalcadaver]

Part 16: Because You'll Be Together

Fandom: Inception

Pairing: Robert Fischer x OC

Summary: An old friend arrives in Sydney with some troubling news.

Word Count: 3,814

Notes: Warnings for references to illness and suicide.

Previous Part • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Chapter 1: Don't Think About Elephants

Eames looked down at the file Saito had dropped in front of him, and cursed.

“Oh, shit.”

“What?” Cobb asked, looking up.

Eames shot him a look, silently scooping up one of the pictures and waving it in front of his face. Cobb’s face dropped as he took in the image of Robert and Alice walking side by side down a street in Sydney. 

“Problem?” Saito asked, looking between them.

“You didn’t tell me it was Alice’s Robert we’d be doing this job on, Cobb,” Eames said slowly, brows raised. Even for Cobb, it seemed a little far to consider performing something like inception on a friend’s long-term boyfriend. 

“I didn’t know,” Cobb looked down at the files, lips pursed. 

“I still don’t understand,” Saito was looking between them, puzzled. 

“This woman, here,” Eames pointed to the picture of Alice. “Was a member of that one’s,” he pointed at Cobb, “team. Once upon a time.”

“She’s another extractor?”

“Retired. Well, semi-retired,” Eames cracked a smile. “Sometimes when she's bored she’ll join me and Arthur on a job or two.”

“She’ll recognize all of us. She’ll see us coming from a mile away. Shit,” Cobb cursed, eyes desperate when he turned them to Eames. “Is there any way to get Fischer separately from her to do the job?”

“She’s his assistant. And they’re extremely clingy. She goes with him everywhere,” Eames shook his head. Of all of them, he was the one who had kept the most in contact with Alice. They had always been close. “Unlikely you’ll be able to get him alone for long enough without her around.”

A crestfallen look crossed Cobb’s face, no doubt realizing that his chance to get back home to his children was being steadily ripped away.

“If you are unable to do this job–” Saito was saying.

“We just need to readjust–” Cobb tried to recover. Eames glanced down, fiddling with his fingers, considering every possible outcome. Every opportunity.

“Let me talk to Alice,” he cut them both off. Cobb looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“She’ll never agree.”

“Let me talk to her.”

Cobb looked at him for a long time, clearly evaluating. His lips pressed into a thin line. “Alright,” he turned back to Saito. “What’s your problem with this Mr. Fischer?”

Eames nodded, a plan already steadily falling into place in his mind. There were parts of it that Cobb wouldn’t approve of; not that he would ever find out about them anyway. So long as everything went according to plan. 

He and Alice had always been partners in crime. He just had to get her on board.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

Rolling over, Alice reached out across the bed, frowning when her fingers met nothing but cool sheets. Blinking groggily, head fuzzy from sleep, she lifted her face from where it had been half buried in her pillow to stare at the vacant space next to her in puzzlement. A glance towards the ensuite bathroom revealed the light turned off and the door open. He wasn’t in there.

Whining, she heaved herself up and out of the bed, arms wrapping around herself in response to the chill in the air and having to leave the warm comfort of her blankets. 

“Robert?” she called, rubbing at her eyes as she shuffled out into the hall. There was no answer. Huffing and pouting, she made her way to the stairs. Cider watched her from where she was curled up with Spooky in the cat tree in the living room.

Checking the clock mounted on the wall, Alice felt her brows raise. Robert was often pulling late nights since his father’s latest health incident. But three o’clock in the morning was pushing it. Even for him. The office light was on, as she expected it to be.

Pushing the door open revealed him to be hunched over his desk, fists pressed to each side of his forehead, eyes scanning across a memo. As she watched, he yawned, raising a fist to cover it, even as his entire body contorted with the signal of exhaustion.

“Robbie.”

He jumped about a mile at the sound of her voice, head jerking up from his desk to look at her all owl eyed.

“I’ll be there in a minute, sweetheart,” he said, grabbing a pen and scribbling something on the memo before setting it aside.

“Robbie, it’s three o’clock in the morning,” she said, moving to stand beside him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

“What? No it’s not, it’s only…” he trailed off as he looked down at his watch, then groaned. “Shit.”

“Come to bed, honey.”

“I have to get this done,” he sighed.

“No, you don’t. You need to sleep,” shifting, she slid into his lap, resting a hand on his face, her thumb stroking over the huge bags under his eyes. “You’ve been working late every night for the past few weeks.”

“It’s just until Dad is out of the hospital.”

“Robert…” she bit her lip. “He’s not ever coming back to the company. At least not in the same capacity that he was before. I know that he’s in denial about that, but…” she trailed off, shrugging. Robert’s shoulders sagged, and she placed a kiss on his cheekbone. “Come to bed,” even as she stroked his hair and his face, he seemed to sag against her, blatant in his extreme exhaustion. “I don’t want to have to carry you up the stairs.”

That got a tiny laugh out of him, and he finally nodded, reaching over to turn off the light on his desk. Taking his hand, Alice led him out of the office and back up the stairs, down the hall to their bedroom. Stripping down to his boxers, he fell into bed with a soft groan, curling up. By the time she turned out the light and joined him, he was already half asleep.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, blue eyes just tired slivers of color in the darkness. Alice shifted closer, humming when she felt him wrap an arm around her.

“It’s okay.”

“No, I’ve been working too much. I’ve been…neglecting you.”

“Oh, no, we’re fine,” she pecked his nose for emphasis. “I just don’t want you to work yourself to the bone. I don’t want you to become like…” she bit off the word before she could say it.

“Like my father?”

“Does the man even have a life outside of that office?”

Robert sighed. “No. I don’t think he does.”

Alice nodded, resting her head against his chest.

“We should take a vacation or…something,” Robert suggested, hugging her closer.

“That would be nice.”

∗ ∗ ∗ 

Their day was spent as it so often was recently, sitting around in that godawful room, listening to the monitors and machines Maurice was hooked up to beep and whir. Every once in a while a nurse or doctor would swoop in to check Maurice over, the man’s head rolling from side to side, muttering nonsense to himself. Just outside the room, in the office, she could hear the hum of Peter's voice as he spoke with his team of lawyers and paralegals. 

The huge, heavy wooden doors opened suddenly, and she glanced up from the papers she’d been working on to watch Peter walk into the room. He shared a look with her as he crossed towards where Robert was standing at the window. His back was to them, just staring outside and leaving them with his silhouette. He looked quite regal, in his finely tailored suit, with the light hitting him just right to give him an air of mystery. 

“How is he?” Peter asked. Robert turned his head, only slightly. It was the only acknowledgement that he’d heard Peter at all. Alice bit at her bottom lip.

He was so despondent these days. Subdued and stressed and sad and she just wanted to do something to help him. To make the agony of the whole ordeal go away. His dying father was one thing, but trying to manage the entire company and the vultures within it was another. 

“I don’t want to bother him unnecessarily, but–” Peter was cut off by a loud shout from Maurice and the shatter of glass as one of his hands shot out from the bed, knocking a picture frame off of his bedside.

Robert was halfway across the room before she was even out of her chair, rushing to his father’s side. A nurse beat him there, and he paused, hovering like he was unsure of what to do before bending to scoop up the picture that had been knocked to the floor. Maurice was muttering to himself. Alice set down the papers she’d been working on, moving to stand beside Peter with her arms crossed.

“Has he been like this all day?” Peter asked in a hushed voice. She wasn’t sure if he meant Robert or Maurice. Either way, the answer was the same.

“Yeah,” she nodded, looking down at the floor. Robert returned to them, still staring at the picture of a much younger Robert, sitting with his father and playing with a pinwheel. 

“Must be a cherished memory of his,” Peter offered.

“I put it beside his bed,” Robert looked up at him. “He hasn’t even noticed.”

Alice rubbed a hand up and down his arm. It was the best she could think of to do to offer some form of comfort. 

“Robert…” Peter rested a hand on his shoulder and took a deep breath. “We need to talk about a power of attorney. I know this is hard on you–”

Robert was already shaking his head furiously. “Not now, Uncle Peter,” his jaw set, stubbornly, as Peter continued to speak despite his protests. And, in a move she recognized quite distinctly from their childhood, he turned away and walked back to the window, signaling that the conversation was over. It was a rather childish action. It was also what he often did when he was trying to hide the fact that he was about to cry.

“I’ll talk to him,” she said, laying a hand on Peter’s arm. He looked at her, brow pinched worriedly, then nodded.

“Please do.”

Sighing, she looked down at the floor, pushing a lock of hair that had escaped her bun back behind her ear. When she looked up, it was only by coincidence that she just so happened to glance at the still open doors that led out into Peter’s makeshift office.

Eames was staring right at her from a seat near the door. 

When he saw her looking at him, he waved.

Alice’s lips parted, momentarily stunned. What the fuck?

Straightening, she turned back to Robert, going to him and resting a hand on his upper arm.

“Sweetheart, I gotta go do a thing, okay? I’ll be right back.”

He looked at her, eyes still glimmering a little with unshed tears, confused. “What–”

“It won’t take long. I promise,” she kissed his cheek, and he nodded, letting her go.

“Be right back,” she whispered to Peter as she passed him, marching out the door and seizing Eames by the tie as she walked past him, half dragging him out of his seat and down the hall by it, smiling to a few befuddled paralegals as they swept past them. She found a door that led into a sitting room–did people even still call them ‘sitting rooms’ anymore? Hell if she knew– that usually was unoccupied, and thrust it open, half tossing him inside.

“Nice to see you too.”

“What the hell are you doing here!?” she spoke in a hissing whisper, slamming the door shut behind her. 

“Aw, Ace. I’ve missed you too.”

She rolled her eyes, going in to give him a hug in greeting. As inconvenient as it might have been, she was always happy to see Eames. “Hi. Good to see you,” when she pulled back she gave him a look. “What are you doing here? You better not be trying to pull a job on any of my people.”

Eames drew in a deep breath. “I need to talk to you.”

“We are talking.”

“No,” he shook his head. “Not here. Somewhere private.”

It felt like a lump of coal had formed in her stomach. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t tell you about it here. When can you meet?”

“Eames, I’m a little tied up here,” she gestured towards the door and hallway they’d just gone down, where her boyfriend’s father currently lay on his deathbed.

“I know, but it’s important,” he cracked a smile. “You think I wouldn’t have flown all the way down to Sydney if it wasn’t? You know how shit I am at handling time changes.”

Alice looked him up and down, the joke doing little to calm her nerves. “Twelve-thirty. There’s a restaurant across the street.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t suppose you’d like to come meet Robert?” none of her extractor friends had ever met him. Odd to think about, considering how long she and Robert had been together. The timing had just never matched up. Eames gave her an apologetic smile.

“Not exactly the best of ideas right now, I think. See you at lunch,” he breezed past her and through the door, leaving her to stare anxiously at a portrait on the wall, twisting her hands together. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Alright, I have about thirty, maybe forty-five minutes before I have to accompany Robert to a meeting. What’s going on?” she slid into the seat across from Eames, setting her purse down beside her. Eames was playing with the toothpick that had been used to skewer the olives set in his martini. 

“Cobb found a way home,” he said, tossing the toothpick aside. Alice raised an eyebrow.

“And we aren’t jumping for joy over that because…”

Eames sighed. “Because the man who has offered to fix his charges for him wants something in return.”

“Of course.”

“He wants Cobb to perform an inception.”

Her blood chilled, throat going dry. “Fuck off.”

“I’m serious.”

“Cobb agreed to that?”

“He did.”

She almost asked why, but then remembered that Cobb was trying to get back to his children and closed her mouth. Glancing back over at Eames, she felt her features darken. “He’s putting together a team, isn’t he?”

“Yep.”

“You?”

“Yes.”

“And Arthur?”

“And Yusuf. He’s got some new college girl doing the architecture. Someone Miles picked out.”

“Miles is in on this?”

“I don’t think he knows what’s going on. Just that Cobb needed an architect.” 

“And you all have agreed to this?” she knew she shouldn’t be so accusatory. None of them but her knew the truth about what had happened the last time Cobb performed an inception on someone. 

“You haven’t even heard the worst part yet.”

“Oh yeah?” she grabbed a piece of bread from the basket at the center of the table and started to butter it. “What’s the worst part?”

Eames swallowed, not looking at her. The bread dropped from her fingers onto the little plate in front of her. 

“Eames…who’s the mark for this job?”

Eames made a face, nose scrunching like he knew he had just set off an inevitable explosion.

“Eames!?” her chest tightened as panic began to set in. “What are you really doing in Sydney?”

She hoped, though deep down she knew it wasn’t true, that he was here for someone else other than the person who made the most sense to be the target for a job like the one Cobb had been hired for. 

He sighed. “Okay, don’t freak out or anything.”

“It’s Robert, isn’t it?” 

A waitress came by, asking if they were ready to order. Alice just stared at Eames with her lips partially parted.

“I think we’re gonna need a little more time,” Eames told the waitress with a smile, waiting until she was out of earshot to start talking again. “The man who hired Cobb’s name is Saito. You know it?”

She nodded. “His company’s a competitor of ours. What’s the idea he wants Cobb to plant?”

“To split up Fischer Morrow after Maurice dies.”

Alice started laughing; a hysterical, off-pitch noise in her heightened emotional state. Eames raised a questioning eyebrow. “He’s probably going to do that anyway,” she said in answer to the silent question.

“Oh good, no harm done then, right?”

“No,” Alice shot him a stern look. “Inception is still dangerous, Eames. Not to mention a violation–”

“So is extraction.”

“It’s not the same thing!”

“I think you’re being a little hypocritical–”

“I can’t let you do that to him!”

“If it’ll get Cobb back to his family–”

“Don’t act like that’s why you’re doing this. You’re doing it because it’s a fun challenge,” she narrowed her eyes. “You know how much he means to me! I can’t believe any of you…I know we’ve drifted apart recently, but Jesus…”

“I think you’re being just a little overdramatic–”

��Inception killed Mal, Eames!” 

He gaped at her, eyes widening. “What?”

Alice dropped her head into her hands. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“What do you mean, inception killed Mal?”

“They were experimenting, and…look it isn’t my story to tell,” she sighed. “Cobb planted an idea in her head and it’s what led to her suicide.”

“And you think that the same thing will happen to Fischer?”

“It’s not a risk I’m willing to take, Eames, I’m sorry,” she swallowed painfully. “He’s too important to me.”

“Hm,” he glanced away, rubbing his fingers together like he was rubbing two phantom poker chips between them. “Okay, right. Listen,” he leaned forward conspiratorially. “What if…what if you and I worked together and we were careful. More careful than I’m assuming Cobb was. We make sure there’s no way that the idea we give Fischer could be used for anything other than what it’s meant for.”

“Eames…” she groaned, shaking her head.

“Ace, it’s worth a shot.”

“I’m not performing an inception on my boyfriend. It’s…wrong. Even if we could guarantee that everything would be fine afterward…it would be a violation of his mind.”

“An issue of consent, eh?”

“Exactly.”

Eames pursed his lips, fingers drumming on the table. The waitress came by again, and this time they ordered. 

“What if you told him?” Eames asked, once the waitress had departed. Alice raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“What if you told him we were going to perform an inception on him?”

“It wouldn’t work then…” she hesitated. “Would it?”

“I don’t know. Suppose it would depend on how much you told him,” Eames leaned forward, hands interlacing on the table. “What about this: you tell him the truth. How much of it is up to you. You join up with our team, you and I work out how to make this thing as airtight as possible so that it won’t harm Fischer, just in case.”

“And then…what? We proceed with whatever plan we come up with?”

“You and I will know. Fischer will know…however much you and him decide he should know. All or none of it. It’s up to you. All that matters is that he’s able to realistically play along,” he leaned back in the booth, looking pleased with himself. “All that we really need to do is convince Saito that the inception has actually worked on Fischer. That’s what’ll get Cobb back home to his family.”

Alice worried at her bottom lip, eyeing her friend warily from across the table. “Huh.”

Eames grinned. “Pretty good plan, right?”

“It…might work,” she scrunched her face. “I’ll have to talk to Robert.”

“Of course.”

She leaned back in her seat, a bit of the tension releasing from her shoulders. Eames flashed her a winning grin.

“I still got it, huh?”

“You don’t got shit unless I can convince Robert to go along with all this.”

“Please. I’ve been watching you two the past couple days. He’d jump off a cliff for you if you asked him to.” 

“Hm,” she rocked her head from side to side with a small smile. He was probably right. Eames’s foot knocked against hers under the table.

“It’s good to be working with you again, Ace.”

“Don’t be getting ahead of yourself yet,” but she couldn’t quite contain the grin that stretched its way across her face. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

She waited until she was at least one glass of red wine in before telling him about it. He sat there on the couch, listening quietly as she explained the situation and Eames’s idea, Cider meowing and crawling into his lap for attention. Even as he stroked absentmindedly over the cat’s soft fur, he didn’t take his eyes off of her.

“I know, I shouldn’t really be asking this of you at all, and I’m sorry–” she started, feeling more and more terrible the deeper into her story she went.

“No, just…wait,” Robert held up a finger. “Let me…I’m thinking,” he said, softly, eyes faraway. He was quiet for several long moments before he finally swallowed and looked back at her. “It really would help your friend get back home?”

Alice nodded, shrugging helplessly. “Yeah. It would.”

“Okay.”

“Wha–wait,” she flailed a little trying to sit up from where she’d slouched shamefully into the cushions on the couch, displacing their other cat, Spooky, from where she’d been settled against her side in the process. “Really? Just like that?”

Robert shrugged. “Sure.”

“It might–” she stuttered. “It might be dangerous, Robbie.”

He looked at her fondly. “I trust you,” his brow raised as she continued to gape at him. “Did you really think I’d say no?”

“I don’t…I wasn’t sure,” she admitted. He smiled, affectionate as he scooted closer and wrapped his arm around her. He gave her an impish smile, much more like the Robert she remembered from when they were young, than the haggard, haunted man he’d grown into over the past few months as Maurice got sicker. 

“It might be fun.”

“You weirdo,” she laughed, shaking her head, leaning it against his shoulder. “We don’t have a concrete plan yet, but when we do…how much do you want to know?”

He shrugged again. “Whatever you think I should know.”

“That’s not helpful,” she huffed, and he chuckled.

“Like I said, I trust you.”

“Mm,” she hummed, turning to peck a kiss on his neck. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

“I’m going to have to go to France for a little while,” she said it regretfully. The last thing she wanted to do was leave him. 

“For how long?”

“Not long.”

“Okay,” he nodded. 

“You’re sure?”

“Nothing’s changing here for a while.”

“If they do, you call me, I’ll come straight home.”

“I know,” he stroked her cheek, and offered her a small smile. “I love you.”

She stretched up to kiss him, hoping that he understood just how grateful she was. “I love you too.”  

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[angel-inked]

Wip Wednesday

I haven't written Eames in a while, so enjoy this blurb 😊

Taglist: @vvkingofgaybisciutsvv @thequeenofthewinter @thedevilshardy @mollybegger-blog @wandawiccan60 @cameleonhardyfan63 @hoodeddreams13 @inkwolvesandcoffee @liliac-dreamer @potter-solomons

"Wonderful,” Eames smiled as his forge of Browning lost its shape and dissipated, the smile turned into a bit of a smirk as his mind registered the disgruntled look Author shot Cobb as the latter praised Eames for his forgery. He had paraded around the barroom he'd dreamed up as the godfather of their Inception mark with ease, he briskly walked toward the table Cobb and Arthur occupied, thinking up some witty verbal ammunition to throw Arthur's way. As his mouth opened to speak, he turned considerably pale, leaning one hand on the table closest to him and the other clutched his stomach as a wave of nausea hit him, he considered dreaming up a bowl or bucket as the feeling that he might hurl increased. Cobb, of course, shot up from his chair and grabbed his arm. “Eames, what's wrong?” He asked worried, “are you sick?” He added when Eames didn't even so much as look up at him. “How blind are you, Dominic?” Arthur spat, standing up. The pair attempted to aid Eames to a chair, he recognized this as an attempt to help, but he pulled away from their grasps. “I'm not some nursing case.” He mumbled quietly. “Right,” Arthur drew out, “because appearing as though your next door to passing out is not at all a cause for concern.” His narrowed eyes were fixed on the forger. “I'm not!” Eames persisted, though he swayed a bit as the lightheadedness he was feeling worsened, Arthur grabbed his shoulder to steady him with a resigned sigh, that much Eames was thankful for. Something in his body seemed to settle, even Arthur deemed him steady enough to stand on his own. Eames bolted toward the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. The last thing he heard before the bar exploded was Cobb calling his name.

[dreamhusbandsdarling]

okay, so here's a small part of an unfinished work of arthur x eames fanfic which i probably won't be able to finish it ever, but would love to share it:

Post inception. Eames hadn't seen the team for quite a while, though he still thought about them from time to time. The moments they shared while prepping for inception were one of few happiest memories he had, and even though there were conflicts and endangerment in the process, the results ended up to be pretty satisfying. He considered that as the best mission he had ever been a part of. It was only the most common that people in this line of business are usually tied up together for a few months and go off different paths to never see each other again for a few years, not especially after Dom decided to limit the amount of criminal activities he participates in after getting back to his children. You don't see an extractor as good as him nowadays, therefore it was refreshing to see an invitation to perform another inception from an extractor newbie. He said yes to it anyway, only because someone that he goes back a long way with was in the team. "Arthur. " On the first gathering of the new team, he approached a familiar face with two glasses of wine in his hands. "Ah, I see you decided to take on the job offer. " Arthur got a hold on one of the glasses, "Thanks. " "They'd need someone who's got experience in their team for this job to work out, don't they? " Eames swallowed up the entire glass of wine in one shot. "How were things after parting ways with Dom? " "Well, let's just say that I had a long and relaxing holiday and here I am, back in the business with independent choice of job selection and a better person. " Arthur smirked and took a small sip from the glass. "You're just talking shit. " Eames couldn't help but smile, "Aside everything, I'm very happy to be working with you again. " Arthur looked flustered, his eyes flickering with unspoken emotion: "Me too. Always. " An awkward moment of silence settled between them for a while, their gaze wandering into the decorations in the room - tracing every detail of it as if they cared. Eames could hear his heart beating fast; he certainly didn't hope that Arthur could hear it too. The alcohol is starting to kick in - which ultimately meant that he definitely wouldn't be thinking about what he says in the next few minutes: "What do you think of me, Arthur? " "What? " Arthur looked confused, refilling his glass for more wine. "What do I think of you? " "Uh-hmm. " Eames was still not looking at Arthur directly into the eyes. "Dangerous, certainly. " Arthur made some weird noises from his throat, "You often act before you think, bolder than anyone else in the room, ironically the most clueless one. You pick up fights that you weren't supposed to win, and even if you did win them, you'd end up wounded and hurt. But you didn't seem to care. " "Fair enough. " Eames nodded, hands nervously touching the back of his neck. "Anything else? " "Tainted. I mean, we all are, doing these jobs. You probably weren't the most innocent one in the room. " Arthur thought about it for a while, "Sorry, that was kinda a heavy word. " "It's fine, I totally agree with it. " Eames finished another glass of wine in one shot. "... and flawed. You have a peculiar taste in music, you know that, right? And you don't sing well either, as much as you'd like to. " Arthur laughed. "That's so kind of you," Eames shook his head in disbelief, "I can't believe you'd criticize my singing when everything you just said likely came from a song." "Most probably, I just have it in mind. " Arthur shrugged. "How about me? What do you think of me? " "You? " Eames raised his eyebrows, "After all the nice things you've said about me? " Arthur smiled unapologetically. "Fire away, darling. " Eames scoffed while rolling his eyes. Arthur waited for a while, impatiently, and after reaching out for another drink, he heard a soft and fainted voice coming from beside him: "Beautiful. "

He turned his head, surprised, thinking that he must've heard him wrong. But there was Eames, mouthing "beautiful" once again carefully and seriously, like honey dripping from his tongue, staring at him so intensely to the point where Arthur couldn't hold his head up to meet his gaze. Amidst the chaotic atmosphere surrounding them, they sunk into a long moment of thoughtful silence as if there was only the two of them in sight. --- "Liam's a dickhead. " Eames murmured resentfully, but Arthur heard him anyway. "He doesn't even have an ounce of idea about what he's doing. Doesn't take any advice either - the idea's not gonna stick. He's way too greedy for this inception to work. " Arthur looked at him quietly, the best he could do was to stay beside him. "It's too late to turn back now. All we need to do is to keep ourselves alive, that's our priority. I wouldn't want to go to Limbo. " "Alive we'll be, alright, " Eames frowned, "Point is, will we be alive when we get back to reality? The CEO definitely has figured that we drugged him by now. We'd be inmates in jail before we knew it. " "Hey, hey, Eames, look at me. " Arthur stepped forward and stood in front of Eames, palms placing on his chest to stop him from moving back and forth anxiously. "You're alright. We're alright, and you know that. If this doesn't work out - we'll leave the scene before he ever wakes up. It's gonna be okay, trust me. " Eames' rapid breathing eased slightly at the sight of Arthur's face, as if he has found solace. He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts out. "You're right. Sorry. " "After all of this is finished, I'll take you to my favourite place. In my hometown, there's an enormous field of endless sunflowers stretching towards the horizon, disappearing as the sky meets the ground and form a line. You'd love it. We'll stay there however long as you wish, long until we'd have forgotten about everything. " Arthur smiled, his voice as soothing as possible. Eames nodded hard, the only thought in his mind right now was how pretty Arthur's eyes were. They were twinkling as if filled with stars. "Yes, I think we should. "

[a-forger-and-a-point-man]

hello!! okay this is sort of a shot in the dark because i'd recently gotten into inception/eames-arthur fics and busted through the archive on ao3 -- i'd been recently inspired to write some of my own but wanted to write about this dynamic i'd read before but i just cannot find the fic!! in it, arthur and eames are contacted for a job during which the extractor employs a 'cleaner'; not very clear but the implication is of someone who essentially acts as a thug/bodyguard?? his name is Ted in the fic. eames and arthur don't really like him/get a vibe that he's a bit off, specifically toward arthur and it ends up with ted basically forcing himself onto arthur in his hotel room but eames cuts in and essentially removes ted. arthur then calls the extractor and it's revealed she knew that ted had issues with someone else (william) and arthur reminded ted of william. i can't really tell you how it ended but i remember other very specific things in the fic. it might've been written around 2014-2011? if that helps! thanks so much for bearing with me anyway!! wld appreciate any/all commiseration over this fic, it was lovely and i wanted to bookmark it but! i remember being taken by the fic because it portrayed a sort of competency to eames that made arthur sort of trust him/his judgement as a colleague before a romantic partner.

Thank you for getting in touch!!

OKAY INCEPTION FANDOM DO YOUR THING let’s help our friend!

because I def haven’t read this one but it sounds really good??????

[wild-chaser]

Wanna share some Arthur/Eames recs?:) What are your fav fics with the pairing and why?

I've Got Nothing To Do Today But Smile

Summary: Arthur's a corporate lawyer, Eames owns the coffee shop across the street, and all good love stories start with a quadruple shot latte.

Feedback: Most re-read by me. I think about it every time there is a motif of somebody waiting with being happy till after one more accomplishment.

In Our Line of Work

Summary: Arthur wakes up and realizes the last ten years of his life have been a dream. He is nineteen, and he can barely remember where he is. What he can remember is the ghost of Eames’ hands pressed down on his chest trying frantically to stop the blood flooding up around his fingers as Arthur died (as he woke up).

Feedback: I just realized I need to read it again. Don't remember much of it as a whole, but I know that some images from this fic stuck with me and come back at random times. Powerful stuff.

Inception: Origin 'verse

Summary: Exploring Arthur and Eames' backstory in the military where they each lead an elite unit in the dream-sharing trials. The Powers That Be would prefer to keep the participants in the dark, but Arthur and Eames find each other, fall in love, and change dream-sharing forever.

Feedback: That series is basically my backstory canon at this point. Absolute must-read.

Skybird

Summary: Arthur and Eames adopt a kid and raise that kid into Neal Caffrey.

Feedback: For those Inception fans who have also seen White Collar, though it is not entirely necessary. It's very much not a typical kid fic; more like a solid backstory explaining a lot of tensions that we see in the movies. If I remember correctly - bittersweet.

[ao3feed-arthureames]

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This (Who Am I To Disagree?)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/uqckXRt

by Lesbian_Fangirl_Forever

When a Chemist during an Inception job screws with the sedation, Arthur's in-dream wound becomes very real. Eames is there when he falls...literally.

Words: 2702, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Inception (2010)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Arthur (Inception), Eames (Inception), Background & Cameo Characters

Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)

Additional Tags: Blood and Injury, Getting Together, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Inception, Protective Eames (Inception), Pining, Not Beta Read, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, How Do I Tag, One Shot, Awkward Kissing, Hospitals, Author Is Sleep Deprived, author is running only on cheesy movies crime shows and peanut m&ms, and a love for dream husbands, dont ask about the plot holes theyre in there so the characters can breathe

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/uqckXRt

[mister-eames]

1/? ok so the idea of arthur singing in the canon inception universe has been rotating in my mind like a rotisserie chicken. what if one time their mark is this big head mafioso guy & the only time he isn't surrounded by security is when he visits a swanky club known for its music. so finally the night arrives when they can make their move, the guy is finally visiting the club but things quickly go to shit when they learn the singer has cancelled their appearance for the night. the team knows

2/3 they only have this tiny window of opportunity to get near the guy, if the guy finds out there's no singer he won't visit tonight & they might have to wait weeks before the mark decides to visit again. cue arthur straightening his bowtie and jumping on stage to confer with the band. as the don enters the club arthur is singing the opening notes of frank sinatra's my way of life (please check out this song), the team breathes a sigh of relief when they see the don give a nod of approval and

3/3 sit down. Eames, however, is stuck staring at arthur dumbfounded because!!!!!!1 sorry for the big build up for me just wanting to say i want to see arthur singing those jazzy easy listening classics. him also singing the world we knew by frank sinatra. my brain would melt. and so would eames'.

NONNIE. NONNIE. Okay. *deep breath* So. When I first heard the first few seconds of My Way of Life I felt like putting on a fancy frock and strutting around, looking around my apartment mysteriously like I'm in a Bond movie 😂 - this song is a whole vibe - thank you for asking me to listen to it.

I love this. The lyrics? Gotta have you near all the time, with your dreams wrapped up in mine? *chefs kiss*. Everyone thinks Arthur can't carry a tune. He's the guy who mumbles awkwardly while everyone else is belting out Happy Birthday to someone, or flat out doesn't even pretend to sing. He's awkward. The most 'musically inclined' he's ever demonstrated to be is finger-clicking and toe-tapping to whatever tune is playing at a bar for after-job-drinks, and only when he's had several shots. Arthur isn't classically trained. Maybe all his notes aren't perfect. But he's got a natural talent, and Eames eyes haven't left his all performance. He's us about Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge -- who knew he could do that???

Now I want Arthur and Eames, be it their own kitchen, or the motel room they're sharing, swaying to those classics, one of those I can't believe what we went through to get here moments.

Thank you for sharing this with me nonnie, I really enjoyed diving into this!

[thenwhatthefukcisthis]

Inception 30 day challenge 2024

Day 06 : A fic rec @inception30daychallenge

https://archiveofourown.org/works/911493

i don’t usually read non arthur and eames BUT, I read this fic Eames/Tom Hansen (500 days of summer) and I really love how the story is told in the pov of the child. I love how human the characters are and how the mistakes aren’t glossed over but addressed and dealt with. it was one of the fics which pleasantly surprised me and I could see why some relationships work and some don’t. and it gives a great insight on how some people are good boyfriends, okay husbands and worst/great fathers. I go back to this on and off and truly enjoy it eveytme . Give it a shot :D

[laiqualaurelote]

Rules: Post 10 of your favourite movies and tag 10 people! Thanks @glamorouspixels for the tag. I’ve actually been thinking about this of late because I’ve listening to Brett Goldstein’s podcast Films To Be Buried With. These are in the order I watched them:

1. Lord of the Rings

My favourite films of all time, based on my favourite book of all time. Also I consider them to be one very long 11.5h movie (yes, I refer to the extended editions).

2. Chicago

One of the first movie musical adaptations I ever saw, which left an indelible impression on me. To this day I could probably describe the Cell Block Tango scene shot by shot. Catherine Zeta-Jones! 

3. Once Upon A Time In Mexico

This bonkers finale to Robert Rodriguez’s El Mariachi trilogy has everything. It has Antonio Banderas as a brooding guitar-playing hitman. It has peak Johnny Depp in the era when it was not weird to have a Johnny Depp phase. It has Salma Hayek looking absolutely smoking. It has Enrique Iglesias, whose guitar has a flamethrower. It has Danny Trejo! Willem Dafoe! Eva Mendes! Mickey Rourke! all playing these absolutely unhinged roles. I adore it. 

4. Sin City

So there are two Rodriguez films on this list, but I don’t think I could do without either. Sin City is perhaps one of the best graphic novel screen adaptations of all time. I was obsessed with this film from quite possibly too young an age, especially with Rosario Dawson as a dominatrix with a machine gun. It’s utter pulp and I’m not sorry.

5. Brick

I maintain this high-school neo-noir with baby Joseph Gordon-Levitt is still Rian Johnson’s best film, and this is despite the fact it was so low-budget they had to fake a transition by pulling a garbage bag over the camera and then playing it in reverse. It also contains a scene with a chicken jug that will live in my heart forever.

6. Singing’ in the Rain

Do they make them like this any more? They do not. I can’t begin to pick what I love most about this - the hysterically funny script, the OT3 vibes, the fact that nearly every musical number is a colossal achievement of its own (Donald O’Connor running up the walls in Make ‘Em Laugh! The tap-dancing in Moses Supposes! Cyd Charisse in that green dress in Broadway Melody!) or even just the comic genius of Jean Hagen, which could sustain an entire film on its own.

7. Inception

This film managed somehow to be both a cinematic masterpiece and fandom catnip, which is rare. As an architecture/urbanism geek who also loves heists and devastatingly competent men in suits, I feel like this film was made for me. Also, Arthur/Eames! One of my all-time ships. 

8. 28 Days Later

Best second-generation zombie film, for my money - both stunningly shot and horrifying. The way the final mansion massacre is filmed while John Murphy’s soundtrack builds on that eerie four-note crescendo - chills. Also, young Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris! really the most beautiful zombie film ever. 

9. The Maltese Falcon

I dithered over whether to put this or The Big Sleep in the bracket of “classic book-to-film noir adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart” - I love them both equally - but went with this because it is, marginally, the better film (and the better book - Raymond Chandler could write the hell out of a novel but he could not tie up his plots). It also has the fantastic villain duo of Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, as well as a young Elisha Cook Jr as the gunsel who gets played for a sap. That ending! “If they hang you, I’ll always remember you.” 

10. In the Mood for Love

This is, hands-down, the greatest film on this list. Definitely one of the greatest films ever made. Every single shot is a work of art. That iconic scene of Maggie Cheung buying noodles in a dark high-collared cheongsam, walking down a smoky alleyway swinging her tingkat to the strains of the plaintive violin of Shigeru Umebayashi’s theme, brushing past Tony Leung in his steam-rumpled suit - it gives me shivers. I’ll never be over the ending of this film. I’ll also never be normal about buying noodles.

So I’m not going to tag 10 people because I’m too tired but like talk about your favourite movies if you want to! 

[bumbleboa]

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms

I was tagged by @cleflink ! This is going to be hard for me, why do you ask me to choose between my favorite children...

1. Kuroba Kaito (Magic Kaito/Detective Conan)

Let's start easy with my current active fandom. I adore Kaito, adored him since I first saw him on my sister's tiny TV in 2002 while we watched afternoon anime. I haven't stayed active in the fandom continuously over the last 20 years, but I always come back and whenever I do, I remember why I love him so much.

2. Arthur (Inception)

There are a couple of movies that I have seen several times in the movie theater, because I watched them once and then dragged all my friends to watch it with me. One of these movies was Inception. But I don't think I would have latched onto Arthur this much if it wasn't for the fandom. Many of the fics in that fandom are still so dear to me and the character exploration in them was A+.

3. Furiosa (Mad Max Fury Road)

Speaking of movies I watched several times in the movie theater: I think I watched this movie 5 times, dragging everyone in there with me to witness this movie on a big screen. Every single time was worth it and I love Furiosa so much.

4. Q (James Bond)

While we are talking movies, I can't pass up on mentioning Skyfall! Watched that while I was in film school and fell in love with the beautiful cinematography (highly recommend looking for movie screencaps online, I'd frame so many of these shots). And then there is Q, who made me leave the movie theater and desperately look up fic because I wanted to see more of him (which was hilarious, because the movie released a week ahead of the US in Europe and US Tumblr was incredibly bitter about it)

5. Oikawa Tooru (Haikyuu)

This guy!!!! This guy right here! I love him, I love his hubris, his passion and his ego and he got one of the most satisfying character arcs in the entire series. He came so far! Talk to me about Oikawa and I will not shut up.

6. Nami (One Piece)

My forever girl! She was the reason I wrote fanfic back in the day (and no, none of you will ever get to see it). The Arlong Park storyline left a huge impact on me.

7. Dave Strider (Homestuck)

Speaking of incredibly satisfying character arc! I didn't start out rooting for him but he grew on me like an invasive plant species.

8. Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson)

Now that I write these down, this is another depressed and traumatized boy coming to terms with homosexuality, clearly there has been a theme. I have drawn so much Nico fanart in the past. He deserves all the happiness.

9. Dick Grayson (Batman)

Fun fact, I am on Tumblr because of this guy. Back in 2011, when I had no idea what DC comics were about, Young Justice aired. And I got curious. And fell headfirst into the Batfamily from there. This was a hard choice, because Damian is also my boy, but Dick was the one who made me dive deep and make a Tumblr so I could share some silly doodles with people.

10. Moist von Lipwig (Discworld)

A conman and a liar with a soft heart, who ends up being the most upstanding person around, trying his best. His books in the series are some of my faves and I should reread them

This is so long already and still just scratches the surface of characters I love/d. I don't know who hasn't been tagged yet, so please feel free to grab this from me and do it yourself💛

[roosterbox]

Fic Rec Friday 4/28/23

Title: Next Big Thing

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandom: Inception (2010)

Relationship: Arthur/Eames (Inception)

Characters: Arthur (Inception), Eames (Inception)

Additional Tags: HGTV

Summary: Eames is certain that they will excel at being celebrity judges.

Arthur is not so sure.

But then, that's usually how their relationship goes.

———

This rec. Hooboy, this rec. I had to re-read this fic to insure that, yes, it really is still just as good as it was in 2015. I was absolutely correct.

First, don’t be intimidated by the length. It’s 231 chapters, but every single one of them moves so quick, you’ll have it halfway done before you realize. Easy breezy beautiful Covergirl.

Second, the best single thing about NBT might be the Original Characters. There are a lot of them - befitting a fic about a reality competition show! - and every single one is interesting. Even the ones who are jerks (*coughcoughAlec*). I dare you to read this and not fall at least a tiny bit in love with Sunny or Gon or Julia or Misty Rainbow. Speaking of Ms. Rainbow, there is a scene in this story that, when I first read it eight years ago, affected me so much, I had to put my phone down and pace around my room for like five minutes. So good that I remembered it word for word. You’ll be happy to know that The Scene is still incredible, even now. The unquestionable high point of the story for me, though everything around it is also amazing.

Another aspect I appreciate (and did back then too!) is how the Drama(tm) is never about risking Arthur and Eames’ relationship. Never once did I fear that there would be a big fight or a breakup or something. Which is very soothing to know - that while all this nonsense swirls around them, our boys are always together and in love. That constant is like the calm eye of the reality TV storm.

Overall, this one comes very very highly recommended. I know I say that a lot, but seriously, if you call yourself a fan of inception fics and haven’t read this one? Please do!

———

Next Week: Time for some Hannigram again! This one is one of my favorite one-shot AUs. Built around a simple premise: what if Will’s dad (and, naturally, Will too) lived/worked at the Lecter household in Lithuania? What if Will and Hannibal grew up together? Definitely intriguing.

See you next time!

[emotionalcadaver]

Part 16: Because You'll Be Together

Fandom: Inception

Pairing: Robert Fischer x OC

Summary: They're only in the first layer of the dream, and things have already gone wrong. 

Word Count: 3,354

Notes: Warnings for depictions of kidnaping (kinda) and violence. 

Previous Chapter • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Chapter 4: Disappointed

It was raining down in sheets over them, leaving her drenched within seconds. 

Ah, shit. Who was it who’d had too much to drink?

She bet it was Yusuf. He’d been sipping the first class champagne the few times she’d glanced over at him. 

Beside her, Robert was on the phone, shouting into it over the roar of the storm. He wrapped the arm holding his briefcase around her, pulling her closer to him as if that would help to shield her from the torrential downpour they were stuck in. Squinting through the rain, she tried to discern where her other teammates were. Robert had begun walking briskly, pulling her along with him before stopping at a street corner. He let her go, but she remained pressed against him, her soaked clothes already causing her to shiver a little. He gave her a comforting pat on the head before extending his hand towards a few incoming taxis. One of them screeched to a halt in front of them, and he quickly hung up the phone and tucked it away. She recognized Arthur behind the wheel of the taxi, Saito in the passenger seat next to him. 

“Come on, sweetheart,” Robert said, taking her hand and ushering her into the cab and out of the rain. She was still shivering, and the moment he was seated beside her he set down his briefcase to put his arms around her and pull her into his chest, rubbing his hands up and down her arms to try to warm her. She could hear his voice buzz in his chest as he rattled off an address. “Snappy,” he added, and she bit her lip in response to him using what she had long ago coined as his businessman voice. 

The door opposite the one they’d gotten into flew open, and she was unceremoniously shoved into the middle seat and closer to Robert as Eames slid into the backseat with them.  

“What are you doing?” Robert asked, hugging her closer to him protectively.

“I’m sorry, I thought it was free,” Eames said. Alice raised an eyebrow. 

“Well it’s not!”

Eames shot him a charming grin. “Maybe we could share.”

“Maybe not. Can you pull over?” he asked Arthur. “Get this–” he cut himself off when Saito held a gun to his head. Alice had to take a deep breath and remind herself that the whole thing was just one big act. Robert wasn’t in actual danger.

Though she would have admittedly felt a little better if it were anyone else on the team besides Saito pointing the gun at him. 

Robert sighed a sigh that was more fitting for someone who had been moderately inconvenienced rather than someone who was being kidnapped. “Great.”

Alice burrowed closer to his chest, and he hugged her tighter, glancing between the three men in the cab with them uneasily. Alice knew that none of them would hurt her, but Robert didn’t. He reached into his suit jacket.

“There’s five hundred dollars in there,” he tossed his wallet into Eames’s lap. “The wallet’s worth more than that. So you might at least drop me at my stop.”

Alice craned her head up where it was still resting against his chest to look at him. He looked quite good, with his wet hair all slicked back like that.

She filed away a mental note to mention it to him later.

Eames started to speak, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by the ping of a bullet striking the glass of the cab. He ducked with a cry, and Alice yelped, hunkering down into the cab. Tires shrieked, the taxi stopping and then jerking.

“Cover him!” Arthur shouted, and Eames lunged for Robert, yanking a dark hood over his head, shouting as he shoved Robert down into the seat moments before the air around them exploded into gunfire. Alice huddled down next to Robert.

“What the hell is going on?” Eames shouted. Alice peeked up through the half shattered windows at the men carrying guns descending on them.

“Oh, no…” she whispered. 

“What?” Eames asked, pulling his gun from his jacket and returning fire as the cab continued to jerk with Arthur’s attempts to get them out of the gridlock they were trapped in. Alice just shook her head, dread building. Yusuf had told her it would be safe…

Eames must have seen the mounting panic on her face, because he pushed her down gently back against Robert.

“Just stay down.”

The car jerked and spun, tires squealing against the wet pavement, gunfire echoing around her, but they seemed to actually have gotten moving which was good. Even though she felt vaguely carsick over not being able to see out the windows from where she was huddled down with Robert.

“Are you alright!?” Arthur shouted.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay,” Eames sounded a little out of breath. He bent over to check on them. Alice gave him a little thumbs up. “Fischer’s okay. Unless he gets carsick.”

“Saito?” Arthur asked, and was met with silence. Alice stared at Eames with wide eyes. He met her expression gravely. Robert was clutching her so tightly it was a little hard to breathe, and she squeezed him back, heart pounding in her throat.

The car rolled to a stop momentarily, and Eames tossed her a bag matching Robert’s to put over her head, jumping out of the backseat to open up the door to the warehouse, the cab lurched back into movement, and then stopped for good. 

“Get Fischer in the backroom, now!” Cobb came barrelling over from the other car, yanking the cab door open and plucking Robert out.

“Alice!?” Robert cried out as he was torn away from her.

“Get him in the back room!” Cobb started to drag Robert away.

“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Robert screamed, even as he was being yanked away, unable to see anything thanks to the hood still pulled over his head. Yusuf took him, pulling him towards the back room. Alice went to follow him and Cobb held a hand out. 

“Not yet.” 

She tailed him around the cab, where Arthur was dragging a limp Saito out of the passenger seat. He was alive, but there was blood pooling from his chest. Shit. Cobb and Arthur bustled over him while she jogged over to help Eames yank the warehouse doors shut, locking it. 

“Why the hell were we ambushed!?” Cobb was shouting at Arthur. “Those were not normal projections, they’ve been trained for god's sake.” 

“You’re right,” Arthur was still on the ground, putting pressure on Saito’s wound.

“How can they be trained?” Ariadne asked, voice raising. 

“Fischer’s had an extractor teach his subconscious to defend itself so his subconscious is militarized. It should have shown in the research, I’m sorry,” Arthur said. 

“Well, why the hell didn’t it?”

Arthur looked taken aback at Cobb’s tone. “Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! This was your job, goddamn it! This was your responsibility! You were meant to check Fischer’s background thoroughly! We are not prepared for this type of violence!”

“We have dealt with some security before. We’ll be a little more careful and we’re going to be fine!” Arthur was shouting too.

“This was not a part of the plan; he’s dying for god's sake!” Cobb exploded, pointing at Saito. “And you!” he rounded on Alice. “This was you, wasn’t it!?” he gestured towards the outside. “You’re the one who trained Fischer’s subconscious to defend itself.”

Alice gulped. “Yes, but–”

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything!?”

“I did! I told Yusuf, he said that the sedative would take care of it!”

Yusuf, who’d just come back in from putting Robert in the back room, looked like a deer caught in headlights. Cobb snarled. 

“And neither of you thought to mention it to any of the rest of us?”

“I didn’t think it would be a problem! Yusuf said it wouldn’t be a problem!” she argued. 

“I didn’t know they would be this well trained,” Yusuf sputtered. “His mind must be very strong…”

Under any other circumstance she would have been very proud of Robert. She’d always known that he was a hell of a lot stronger than he looked, and he’d soaked up everything she’d told him about dream sharing and extraction like a sponge. It shouldn’t have been that surprising, all things considered. 

Eames was approaching Saito, gun in his hand. “Let’s put him out of his misery,” he aimed the gun at Saito’s forehead, and Cobb seized him, slamming him against the side of the cab.

“Don’t do that!”

“He’s in agony, I’m waking him up!” Eames argued. Cobb’s breaths were heaving. 

“No. It won’t wake him up.”

Alice felt like she was teetering on the edge of a cliff.

“What do you mean, it won’t wake him up?” Eames asked. “When we die in a dream we wake up.”

“Not from this,” Yusuf shook his head. “We’re too heavily sedated to wake up that way.”

“What?” Alice could feel the heavy darkness weighing in her voice.

“Right, so what happens when he die?” Eames asked the dreaded question they were all wondering.

“We drop into limbo,” Cobb said, and Alice felt like the floor had fallen right out from underneath her.

“Are you serious!?” Arthur burst out.

“Limbo!?” Ariadne asked. Alice didn’t really hear the explanation that Arthur gave her, not that she needed to anyway. She knew all about limbo. Primarily from Cobb’s recounts about it when he was there with Mal. It felt like her ears were ringing. Everyone was still arguing but she couldn’t hear them, taking a staggering step towards Cobb, grabbing him by the arm.

“You promised,” she whispered to him. The idea of Robert getting stuck in limbo made her feel sick. 

“Would be easier to keep that promise if you hadn’t trained Fischer to tear apart anyone who pokes around in his subconscious.”

“That was years ago and I never once thought that any of you would have a need to go worming around his mind,” she spat, taking a step back, pointing towards the back room. “I gotta get back in there.”

Cobb’s jaw clenched, but he dismissed her with a jerk of his head. “Go.”

Stepping into the back room, she found Robert sitting against a wall, bag still over his head, she pulled her own on, plunging the world into darkness, and sat down beside him. 

“Alice?”

“I’m here,” she curled into his side, his warmth comforting her a little bit.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“I’m okay. They just asked me a couple of questions and searched me. That’s it.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“You’ve been kidnapped because you were with me.”

Oh, sweetheart…she bit her lip. “It’s really okay.”

“You think we could take them?” he asked after a moment.

“I think that would probably result in one or both of us getting shot.”

“You can fight.”

“I can shoot a gun and throw a punch. Not much more,” she could hear the boom of approaching footsteps. Here we go.

The hoods were ripped from their heads unceremoniously, only to be greeted by two figures wearing masks covering their faces. Robert looked up at them, annoyed.

“I’m insured against kidnapping for up to ten million. This should be very simple.”

“Shut up! It won’t be,” the masked Cobb said.

Alice listened as he and Arthur spun a story about Maurice’s personal safe, demanding a combination that Robert didn’t have. Cobb stormed from the room.

“We have it on good authority you do know,” Arthur said. Alice curled closer to Robert’s arm.

“Yeah?” Robert scoffed. “Who’s authority? 

Screams started from the other room.

“What’s that?” Robert asked.

“Good authority.”

There were more screams, and she felt Robert stiffen under her hands.

“Uncle Peter,” he whispered, wiping his face with his palm. When he spoke again his voice was unsteady. “Just make them stop.”

“The combination,” Arthur demanded.

“I don’t know it,” Robert said, voice growing desperate.

“Why does Browning say you do?”

“I don’t know. Just let me talk to him and I’ll find out.”

The door burst open, Cobb dragging Eames, disguised as Peter, into the room, handcuffing him to a pipe next to Robert.

“You have one hour. Start talking,” the door slammed behind him and Arthur as they exited. 

“You all right?” Robert asked, a hand reaching out to touch Peter’s–Eames’s–shoulder. “You okay?”    

Eames groaned. “Those bastards have had at me for two days,” he said, in a very good impression of Peter. Not that it was surprising. Eames was a very good forger. 

Alice got comfortable against Robert’s side as she let Eames work, listening carefully as he asked Robert for a meaningful combination of numbers related to his experiences with Maurice that could be used to open the safe. As if such a thing even existed.

Robert laughed humorlessly. “We didn’t have very many, uh, meaningful experiences together.”

“Perhaps after your mother died,” Eames suggested. Alice cringed at the memory. Maurice yelling at Robert for crying, Robert weeping in her arms, the coffin lowering into the ground… 

“After my mother died, you know what he told me?” the pitch in Robert’s voice lowered, brows pinching in a rather uncanny impression of Maurice. It was a little spooky. “Robert,” he quoted. “There’s really nothing to be said.”

Eames groaned. “Oh, well, he was bad with emotion.”

“I was eleven, Uncle Peter,” Robert snapped. Alice stroked his arm soothingly and he let his cheek fall to rest against the top of her head with a sigh. Eames continued to question him, but he wasn’t getting very far. Certainly not gaining any new information that Alice didn’t already know. 

“What is in the safe?” Robert asked.

“Something for you. Maurice always said it was his most precious gift to you. A will.”

Robert’s brow furrowed. “Maurice’s will is with Port and Dunn.”

“That’s an alternate. This would supersede the other if you want it to.”

Alice took a deep breath. This was it. It had to stick here, or it wouldn’t follow them down into the lower levels of the dream, and then it might not take at all. She was confident that it would, if anything at least from the shock that the idea would bring to him. They just had to hope that Robert continued to think about it and didn’t just outright dismiss it.

“It splits up the component businesses of Fischer Morrow,” Eames continued. “It’d be the end of the entire empire as we know it.”

“Destroying my whole inheritance?” Robert shook his head. “Why would he suggest such a thing?”

But Alice was watching him closely, and she saw the spark of hope that ignited behind the icy blue of his eyes. The potential for escape. She squeezed his arm. 

“I just don’t know,” Eames mumbled. “He loved you, Robert. In his own way.”

Alice had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from scoffing. The only thing that heartless man had loved was himself and his company. 

“In his own way…” Robert repeated. “At the end he called me to his deathbed. He could barely speak. But he took the trouble to tell me one last thing.”

Alice straightened, suddenly on high alert. Robert hadn’t yet told her what Maurice had said to him in his last moments that had left him so upset. Nearly inconsolable for hours, and she was pretty sure it hadn’t just been because his father was dead. No, Maurice had said something, with his dying breath, that had just about destroyed what little remained of his son’s spirit.

“He pulled me close,” Robert’s voice trembled, just barely. “And I could only make out one word: disappointed.”

Alice felt her heart squeeze and break for him. Oh, Robbie…

He swallowed hard while Eames sighed. Robert looked down at his hands, eyes glassy. Alice stroked his arm, cuddling closer to him, craning her head up to kiss his temple. Her poor, sweet, sweet baby.

Maurice had never deserved him. Not for a moment. 

The three of them sat in silence. From her spot nestled against Robert, Alice looked up at Eames sadly.

The door flew open, a masked Cobb and Arthur storming up to them.

“Time’s up.”

Robert backed against the wall, one arm out like he was trying to shield her from them. 

“All right. I don’t know any combination. Not consciously, anyway.”

Cobb pulled a gun on him and held it to his face. “How about instinctively, huh?” he held a phone to Robert’s mouth, explaining that he had someone at the safe right now, ready to type in the combination. “Give me the first six numbers that come to your head right now.”

“I have no idea.”

“Right now!” Cobb turned the gun onto Eames. “I said right now! Right now!

“Five, two, eight, four, nine, one,” Robert listed off. Cobb held the phone to his ear, like he was listening to someone on the other end speak. “You’ll have to do better than that,” he ordered Arthur to bag them, Robert groaning pitifully next to her. She squeezed his hand as the bags were pulled over their heads and they were yanked to their feet, guided out of the room. They let Alice go and she pulled off her sack, watching miserably as they pushed Robert in a van and dripped a few drops of a sedative over him until he went limp. Eames hopped out of the van and yanked his bag off.

“What’d you get?” Cobb asked.

“That boy’s relationship with his father is worse than we imagined,” Eames reported, a little more gleefully than Alice would have liked. The other team members around her were rushing to get Saito and themselves into the van. She jogged over to the windows, cringing at the sight of projections armed with guns approaching the building. 

“Projections will be here soon,” she called to them, running over to join Eames by the van. Arthur had seized up a gun and was firing at the projections. Alice winced at the answering gunfire, pressing her back instinctively against the side of the van for cover, and stared at Eames.

“Is he seriously using that tiny little gun?” she asked, eyeing Arthur. It wasn’t a small gun by any means, but in a dream where you could think up just about anything, it seemed rather pathetic. Eames glanced over at Arthur, rolling his eyes and jogging over to him, what looked to be a huge grenade launcher appearing in his hand. Much better.

Climbing into the van, she seated herself next to Robert, buckling both their seatbelts. Eames and Arthur rushed to join them all in the van a moment later. Yusuf started up the engine and they began moving. 

“We need to shift his animosity from his father to his godfather,” Cobb said as everyone began to fumble with the IVs of the next PASIV. 

“You’re going to destroy his one positive relationship?” Ariadne asked.

“Hey!” Alice protested from her spot in the back with Robert and Eames. Ariadne shot her an apologetic look.

“Sorry.”

She focused on helping Eames get Robert and Saito hooked up to the machine, then herself. Arthur and Cobb were arguing over whether or not they should run with the Mr. Charles approach. Alice knew that one. An interesting idea in theory, but the actual application of it was tedious at best. 

“We need some kind of distraction,” Cobb said. Eames looked delighted.

“No problem. How about a lovely lady that I’ve used before?”

Alice started. “Wha–”

“Oh, don’t worry, love. Nothing will happen,” he patted her arm and shot her a wink.

“Eames…” she groaned. That wasn’t really what she was worried about, but there was no time to argue. She leaned back in her seat, pulling her bag over her head. 

“Sweet dreams!” Yusuf shouted to them.  

She closed her eyes and let herself fall down another layer. 

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