Kink meme fill #3
Title: In Need
Pairing: Arthur/Cobb
Summary: Based on this prompt "COBB GETS OFF ON KILLING ARTHUR TO KICK HIM OUT OF DREAMS"
If Arthur had a quarter for each time he thought to himself ‘this isn’t how things were supposed to go down’ he would be able to buy himself lunch. The problem is he usually doesn’t have to say it during a job, but…this is not how it was supposed to go down. They knew the mark had training in preventing extraction, they just didn’t know she was also a sadistic bitch to boot. Once she discovered she was dreaming she made it very clear that killing them was out of the question, but torture…that was another matter. The only reason they even got out of that building was because of Ariadne’s quick thinking and Eames’ impersonation skills. So here they are, running for their lives. No weapons. No real way out. Totally fucked. This is not how it was supposed to go down.
“In here!” Cobb yells and takes a sharp left. One by one they follow, Arthur bringing up the rear and then slamming the door shut. Ariadne leans against Eames as she gulps in air. She’s still not used to being a regular member of their little extraction group, but having her in the field has proven beneficial more often than not so it’s become more or less standard practice.
“Bloody brilliant, Arthur. How did you miss ‘psycho-bitch’ in your profiling?” Eames. Fucking Eames.
“Shut up.” Is all Arthur supplies and then Cobb shoots them both a look that says ‘shut up the both of you’. They fall silent.
“What do we do now?” Ariadne asks, straightening up and brushing strands of hair out of her face.
“We still have a good 3 hours before Yusuf wakes us up.” Arthur supplies and then adds, “They’ll have found us by then.”
“I sure as hell do not want to be found. Did you hear some of the things she was threatening?” Eames says, “I mean, with a proper safe word some of it sounds fun but-“
“Arthur!” Ariadne’s terrified scream makes him tense up just in time to be grabbed from behind, an arm going across his neck. Instinctually he thrusts an elbow back and he can hear Cobb’s grunt of pain when it connects. A glint of light is all the warning he gets before the searing pain of a knife being shoved hilt deep into his neck hits him. Luckily the numbness comes quickly, spreading through his body almost as rapidly as the blood gushes out of him. Cobb’s hand grips his throat tightly and if he were still able to breathe instead of gurgle he’s sure that’d be a problem too. Things get fuzzy, like he has cotton in his ears and he barely registers the sounds of Ariadne’s screams and Eames’ curses before the dream fades away.
---
Arthur’s eyes open in a hotel room.
“Wake them up,” he snaps at Yusuf. Yusuf, to his credit, scrambles up and starts waking up Eames before he even manages a surprised “What happened?!”
“Not Cobb!” Arthur yells, ripping the cord out of his arm and getting up, “I’ll get him.” He stalks over to Cobb’s sleeping form and gives him a kick, literally. The chair tips and Cobb goes tumbling, his head smacking the ground before he fully wakes. The groan is oddly satisfying and watching him curl up with his arms over his head is even more so. Arthur doesn’t get to dwell on it long though because Ariadne jumps out of her seat and throws her arms around him, holding on to him tightly. He can feel her trembling and he puts a protective arm around her.
“You’re okay.” She mumbles over and over and Arthur smiles down at her.
“Of course I’m okay.”
“You can’t die in a dream, remember?” Cobb picks himself up off the floor, shooting Arthur a glare for the headache he now has. “You just wake up.”
“You stabbed him in the neck!” She accuses and Yusuf’s eyes widen even more as he looks at Cobb.
“You what?!”
“We were being surrounded. It was the quickest way without a gun!” Cobb’s voice was starting to pick up. He didn’t like being questioned. He liked being accused even less.
“You could have warned him! You could have…have…” she gestures, not sure what Cobb could have done, just anything except that. Arthur shushes her and rubs her arm gently.
“It’s okay. If he had warned me I would have tensed up and it would have taken longer and hurt more.” The words sound true enough and Ariadne falls silent. She brushes Arthur’s hands off and steps away, needing to gather her thoughts now that she’s over the initial shock.
“So um…do I have to be the one to point out that we failed? And that psycho-bitch is having a nice nap with us standing here having our little freak-out?” Eames breaks the temporary silence that fell over the group.
“We have until tomorrow to deliver. We keep her under and try again.” Cobb states. Simple as that.
“I’m not going.” Ariadne says and Arthur can’t exactly blame her. Watching a team members throat being opened up wasn’t exactly in the job description. Not unless you read between the lines.
“Fine, you can stay here.”
“So we’ve still got some hours before we try our luck again with sleeping beauty here. I don’t know about all of you, but I need a drink. Excuse me.” And with that Eames leaves the room. A moment later Ariadne follows, then Cobb leaves. Arthur watches him go before looking at Yusuf.
“Keep her under.” He instructs him before he jogs after Cobb.
---
Logically Arthur knows that this had to happen. Logically he knows that it was the surest way to wake everyone up. That doesn’t change the fact that getting knifed in the neck hurts like hell and if Cobb can apologize for every time he shoots him he can damn well better apologize for that too. To his surprise the door to Cobb’s room isn’t locked and when he walks in he doesn’t immediately find him. The sound of running water attracts him to the bathroom and he finds the older man splashing water in his face, gun on the counter, totem disregarded next to it.
“Dom?” Cobb startles and spins, gun up and pointed at Arthur’s head before Arthur can even raise his hands all the way. “Whoa! It’s just me!”
“Arthur?”
“Ya.”
The gun doesn’t lower and Arthur’s heart skips a beat. Now that he’s really getting a chance to look him over his friend looks unhinged. He’s pale and shaking, but the hand holding the gun is surprisingly steady.
“Dom, it’s me.”
“I know.”
“So you can lower the gun.”
Cobb shakes his head and Arthur’s eyes flicker to Cobb’s totem. Did he think he’s still dreaming?
“What’s going on?”
“I had to.” Cobb explains without explaining.
“What?”
“Your neck!” he yells. “I had to!”
Arthur nods, hands still raised, eyes mostly on the gun. “Ya, sure, to wake me up so I could wake you guys up. Absolutely, you had to.” He lets a moment pass and then starts to lower his hands slowly, one reaching for the gun carefully. “You had to, absolutely.” Arthur gasps as Cobb’s eyes flash and he steps forward, the muzzle of the gun jabbing into his gut as he’s backed up against the door frame. “Dom, we’re not in a dream.” He says, a hint of fear entering his voice.
“Ya, I know.” Cobb whispers, but the gun doesn’t move away.
“If you shoot me, I’m not gonna wake up.” Arthur tries again, placing a hand on top of Cobb’s to push the gun away gently but Cobb tightens his hold on the handle and Arthur freezes. “Dom, please.”
“I had to.” Cobb whispers again and Arthur just nods.
“You had to.”
“I couldn’t save her.” Cobb lowers his head until his forehead rests against Arthur’s shoulder and he takes in a shaking breath. “I did it to save her and I killed her.”
“You didn’t kill her.”
“I killed her. And I’ve killed you.” Cobb’s free hand comes up and rests against Arthur’s throat, pressing just enough to feel the rapid beating of his heart. “I could feel it. I could feel you die.”
“I didn’t die. I’m right here. Unless you pull that trigger now, then I really will die.” His words are useless Arthur realizes. Cobb isn’t even hearing him.
“I can feel it every time.” Cobb presses tighter against him and the ever present muzzle in his gut is the only thing that makes Arthur not react to the sudden realization that Dom was hard. Jesus fucking Christ.
“It’s the only thing that makes me feel really alive anymore.” The whispering continues. Arthur’s head is spinning, trying to catch up with exactly what is happening right now. His best friend has him pinned against the door frame at gun point, confessing things that Arthur could happily go on not knowing. Then it all gets taken up a notch as Cobb starts grinding his hips against his leg.
“Dom, stop.” He tries backing up into the wall more but Cobb just follows him back, his face burying into Arthur’s neck and he takes in a shaky breath.
“I can’t.” A breathy moan escapes him. “I just fucking can’t. I could feel your heartbeat slow. I could feel your body going limp. I felt so powerful. God, I felt so good.” Another moan and then something that could have been a sob, Arthur wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Maybe he really was still dreaming. That was certainly the most attractive explanation. But no, his die had landed correctly and he had to accept the fact that Cobb really was getting himself off against him by talking about his death. He should have had that drink before coming here.
“I can’t stop it. I need it.” Cobb starts to pant against his neck, his body moving spastically against Arthur’s and he gets this sudden horrific image of Cobb accidentally pulling the trigger mid-climax. Arthur squeezes his eyes shut tightly as Cobb grunts his release and arches hard against him, but thankfully he doesn’t pull the trigger. Instead he just slumps against him, gasping in air. “God, Mal, I’m so sorry…”
And just like that it’s all too much. Arthur grabs for the gun while twisting his body the opposite way. Cobb doesn’t resist and the gun goes clattering to the floor. The second he’s free Arthur runs, slams his shin into the coffee table before getting to the door. He rips it open and runs down the hall as fast as he can.
---
It’s been a month and neither of them has mentioned that day. They ended up getting the job done, Ariadne has more of less stopped having nightmares filled with blood and Eames acts like it never happened to begin with. A few times Cobb approached Arthur and it seemed like they would have to talk about it, but each time the moment passed and they carried on like before.
Cobb was fucked up in the head. It’s not like this was news to Arthur and just because he suddenly got his life back didn’t mean all his demons went away. Arthur knows that too. He’s had plenty of sleepless nights to contemplate exactly what happened. He traces it back to Cobb feeling powerless because of Mal’s suicide and needing something to ground him, to make him feel like he’s in control. In this case what makes him feel like he’s in control is putting a bullet in Arthur’s head every now and then. God, it doesn’t sound any better no matter how you try and spin it.
Cobb was fucked up in the head. The easiest thing was to accept it, move on and live with it because damnit, that’s his best friend. He knew Mal, he knew what they were like together and he knows you can’t just recover from having something so vital ripped away from you like that. So it all comes down to if Arthur can give Cobb what he needs. And the short answer is yes, yes he can because Arthur is fucked up in the head too. He can give Cobb something no one else can and he can deny him something no one else can. See, while Cobb feels like he’s in control when he kills Arthur, it’s really the other way around because if he so chose Arthur could snuff his own lights out and wake himself back up. The point is he doesn’t because he chooses not to. And that’s why they don’t talk about it, why they never will, because it’s just too fucked up for words. All that needs to happen for them both to go on is for Cobb to pull the trigger and for Arthur to let him.
Pairing: Arthur/Cobb
Summary: Based on this prompt "COBB GETS OFF ON KILLING ARTHUR TO KICK HIM OUT OF DREAMS"
If Arthur had a quarter for each time he thought to himself ‘this isn’t how things were supposed to go down’ he would be able to buy himself lunch. The problem is he usually doesn’t have to say it during a job, but…this is not how it was supposed to go down. They knew the mark had training in preventing extraction, they just didn’t know she was also a sadistic bitch to boot. Once she discovered she was dreaming she made it very clear that killing them was out of the question, but torture…that was another matter. The only reason they even got out of that building was because of Ariadne’s quick thinking and Eames’ impersonation skills. So here they are, running for their lives. No weapons. No real way out. Totally fucked. This is not how it was supposed to go down.
“In here!” Cobb yells and takes a sharp left. One by one they follow, Arthur bringing up the rear and then slamming the door shut. Ariadne leans against Eames as she gulps in air. She’s still not used to being a regular member of their little extraction group, but having her in the field has proven beneficial more often than not so it’s become more or less standard practice.
“Bloody brilliant, Arthur. How did you miss ‘psycho-bitch’ in your profiling?” Eames. Fucking Eames.
“Shut up.” Is all Arthur supplies and then Cobb shoots them both a look that says ‘shut up the both of you’. They fall silent.
“What do we do now?” Ariadne asks, straightening up and brushing strands of hair out of her face.
“We still have a good 3 hours before Yusuf wakes us up.” Arthur supplies and then adds, “They’ll have found us by then.”
“I sure as hell do not want to be found. Did you hear some of the things she was threatening?” Eames says, “I mean, with a proper safe word some of it sounds fun but-“
“Arthur!” Ariadne’s terrified scream makes him tense up just in time to be grabbed from behind, an arm going across his neck. Instinctually he thrusts an elbow back and he can hear Cobb’s grunt of pain when it connects. A glint of light is all the warning he gets before the searing pain of a knife being shoved hilt deep into his neck hits him. Luckily the numbness comes quickly, spreading through his body almost as rapidly as the blood gushes out of him. Cobb’s hand grips his throat tightly and if he were still able to breathe instead of gurgle he’s sure that’d be a problem too. Things get fuzzy, like he has cotton in his ears and he barely registers the sounds of Ariadne’s screams and Eames’ curses before the dream fades away.
---
Arthur’s eyes open in a hotel room.
“Wake them up,” he snaps at Yusuf. Yusuf, to his credit, scrambles up and starts waking up Eames before he even manages a surprised “What happened?!”
“Not Cobb!” Arthur yells, ripping the cord out of his arm and getting up, “I’ll get him.” He stalks over to Cobb’s sleeping form and gives him a kick, literally. The chair tips and Cobb goes tumbling, his head smacking the ground before he fully wakes. The groan is oddly satisfying and watching him curl up with his arms over his head is even more so. Arthur doesn’t get to dwell on it long though because Ariadne jumps out of her seat and throws her arms around him, holding on to him tightly. He can feel her trembling and he puts a protective arm around her.
“You’re okay.” She mumbles over and over and Arthur smiles down at her.
“Of course I’m okay.”
“You can’t die in a dream, remember?” Cobb picks himself up off the floor, shooting Arthur a glare for the headache he now has. “You just wake up.”
“You stabbed him in the neck!” She accuses and Yusuf’s eyes widen even more as he looks at Cobb.
“You what?!”
“We were being surrounded. It was the quickest way without a gun!” Cobb’s voice was starting to pick up. He didn’t like being questioned. He liked being accused even less.
“You could have warned him! You could have…have…” she gestures, not sure what Cobb could have done, just anything except that. Arthur shushes her and rubs her arm gently.
“It’s okay. If he had warned me I would have tensed up and it would have taken longer and hurt more.” The words sound true enough and Ariadne falls silent. She brushes Arthur’s hands off and steps away, needing to gather her thoughts now that she’s over the initial shock.
“So um…do I have to be the one to point out that we failed? And that psycho-bitch is having a nice nap with us standing here having our little freak-out?” Eames breaks the temporary silence that fell over the group.
“We have until tomorrow to deliver. We keep her under and try again.” Cobb states. Simple as that.
“I’m not going.” Ariadne says and Arthur can’t exactly blame her. Watching a team members throat being opened up wasn’t exactly in the job description. Not unless you read between the lines.
“Fine, you can stay here.”
“So we’ve still got some hours before we try our luck again with sleeping beauty here. I don’t know about all of you, but I need a drink. Excuse me.” And with that Eames leaves the room. A moment later Ariadne follows, then Cobb leaves. Arthur watches him go before looking at Yusuf.
“Keep her under.” He instructs him before he jogs after Cobb.
---
Logically Arthur knows that this had to happen. Logically he knows that it was the surest way to wake everyone up. That doesn’t change the fact that getting knifed in the neck hurts like hell and if Cobb can apologize for every time he shoots him he can damn well better apologize for that too. To his surprise the door to Cobb’s room isn’t locked and when he walks in he doesn’t immediately find him. The sound of running water attracts him to the bathroom and he finds the older man splashing water in his face, gun on the counter, totem disregarded next to it.
“Dom?” Cobb startles and spins, gun up and pointed at Arthur’s head before Arthur can even raise his hands all the way. “Whoa! It’s just me!”
“Arthur?”
“Ya.”
The gun doesn’t lower and Arthur’s heart skips a beat. Now that he’s really getting a chance to look him over his friend looks unhinged. He’s pale and shaking, but the hand holding the gun is surprisingly steady.
“Dom, it’s me.”
“I know.”
“So you can lower the gun.”
Cobb shakes his head and Arthur’s eyes flicker to Cobb’s totem. Did he think he’s still dreaming?
“What’s going on?”
“I had to.” Cobb explains without explaining.
“What?”
“Your neck!” he yells. “I had to!”
Arthur nods, hands still raised, eyes mostly on the gun. “Ya, sure, to wake me up so I could wake you guys up. Absolutely, you had to.” He lets a moment pass and then starts to lower his hands slowly, one reaching for the gun carefully. “You had to, absolutely.” Arthur gasps as Cobb’s eyes flash and he steps forward, the muzzle of the gun jabbing into his gut as he’s backed up against the door frame. “Dom, we’re not in a dream.” He says, a hint of fear entering his voice.
“Ya, I know.” Cobb whispers, but the gun doesn’t move away.
“If you shoot me, I’m not gonna wake up.” Arthur tries again, placing a hand on top of Cobb’s to push the gun away gently but Cobb tightens his hold on the handle and Arthur freezes. “Dom, please.”
“I had to.” Cobb whispers again and Arthur just nods.
“You had to.”
“I couldn’t save her.” Cobb lowers his head until his forehead rests against Arthur’s shoulder and he takes in a shaking breath. “I did it to save her and I killed her.”
“You didn’t kill her.”
“I killed her. And I’ve killed you.” Cobb’s free hand comes up and rests against Arthur’s throat, pressing just enough to feel the rapid beating of his heart. “I could feel it. I could feel you die.”
“I didn’t die. I’m right here. Unless you pull that trigger now, then I really will die.” His words are useless Arthur realizes. Cobb isn’t even hearing him.
“I can feel it every time.” Cobb presses tighter against him and the ever present muzzle in his gut is the only thing that makes Arthur not react to the sudden realization that Dom was hard. Jesus fucking Christ.
“It’s the only thing that makes me feel really alive anymore.” The whispering continues. Arthur’s head is spinning, trying to catch up with exactly what is happening right now. His best friend has him pinned against the door frame at gun point, confessing things that Arthur could happily go on not knowing. Then it all gets taken up a notch as Cobb starts grinding his hips against his leg.
“Dom, stop.” He tries backing up into the wall more but Cobb just follows him back, his face burying into Arthur’s neck and he takes in a shaky breath.
“I can’t.” A breathy moan escapes him. “I just fucking can’t. I could feel your heartbeat slow. I could feel your body going limp. I felt so powerful. God, I felt so good.” Another moan and then something that could have been a sob, Arthur wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Maybe he really was still dreaming. That was certainly the most attractive explanation. But no, his die had landed correctly and he had to accept the fact that Cobb really was getting himself off against him by talking about his death. He should have had that drink before coming here.
“I can’t stop it. I need it.” Cobb starts to pant against his neck, his body moving spastically against Arthur’s and he gets this sudden horrific image of Cobb accidentally pulling the trigger mid-climax. Arthur squeezes his eyes shut tightly as Cobb grunts his release and arches hard against him, but thankfully he doesn’t pull the trigger. Instead he just slumps against him, gasping in air. “God, Mal, I’m so sorry…”
And just like that it’s all too much. Arthur grabs for the gun while twisting his body the opposite way. Cobb doesn’t resist and the gun goes clattering to the floor. The second he’s free Arthur runs, slams his shin into the coffee table before getting to the door. He rips it open and runs down the hall as fast as he can.
---
It’s been a month and neither of them has mentioned that day. They ended up getting the job done, Ariadne has more of less stopped having nightmares filled with blood and Eames acts like it never happened to begin with. A few times Cobb approached Arthur and it seemed like they would have to talk about it, but each time the moment passed and they carried on like before.
Cobb was fucked up in the head. It’s not like this was news to Arthur and just because he suddenly got his life back didn’t mean all his demons went away. Arthur knows that too. He’s had plenty of sleepless nights to contemplate exactly what happened. He traces it back to Cobb feeling powerless because of Mal’s suicide and needing something to ground him, to make him feel like he’s in control. In this case what makes him feel like he’s in control is putting a bullet in Arthur’s head every now and then. God, it doesn’t sound any better no matter how you try and spin it.
Cobb was fucked up in the head. The easiest thing was to accept it, move on and live with it because damnit, that’s his best friend. He knew Mal, he knew what they were like together and he knows you can’t just recover from having something so vital ripped away from you like that. So it all comes down to if Arthur can give Cobb what he needs. And the short answer is yes, yes he can because Arthur is fucked up in the head too. He can give Cobb something no one else can and he can deny him something no one else can. See, while Cobb feels like he’s in control when he kills Arthur, it’s really the other way around because if he so chose Arthur could snuff his own lights out and wake himself back up. The point is he doesn’t because he chooses not to. And that’s why they don’t talk about it, why they never will, because it’s just too fucked up for words. All that needs to happen for them both to go on is for Cobb to pull the trigger and for Arthur to let him.