Fic: Inception, "Lavender Blue" (MTF!Arthur)
Title: Lavender Blue
Word Count: 600
Summary: Five times Cobb and Arthur avoid important conversations and one time the truth comes out.
A/N: Written for this prompt (my own): "Arthur/Cobb. It’s not that Arthur couldn’t tell or didn’t care about what was going on in Cobb’s head with Mal. Arthur was just showing Cobb the courtesy of letting him have his secrets, since Cobb has long been doing the same for her. (Arthur is MTF.)" (Minor changes have been made to the earlier parts since they were posted there.)
ETA: Edited in response to feedback, 7pm 3/21/11.
ETA 2: Section 3 significantly rewritten 10/8/12.
Lavender blue and Rosemary green,
When I am king you shall be queen;
Call up my maids at four o'clock,
Some to the wheel and some to the rock;
Some to make hay and some to shear corn,
And you and I will keep the bed warm.
- Lavender Blue (children’s song)
Lavender Blue
1.
In the army, Arthur’d hid the truth of herself so long it was second nature. From there, dreamsharing - hiding even inside her own head. But this, she loves: under alone, just creating.
She feels watched, turns. Not alone - Cobb’s staring at her.
It’s too late to dream herself different; he’s already seen. So she just stares back.
“Tell me what to do,” he says.
She squeezes her eyes shut. “Go.”
Her eyes are still closed when the gunshot rings out, leaving her alone again. When she wakes, she sees the unspoken agreement in the way he won’t meet her eyes.
---
2.
“It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” She tries to keep her voice gentle.
“One apology’s all you’re getting, Arthur.”
She could press. She should, if it’s going to affect their work, going to become her problem as much as his. And it has, clearly.
But she thinks about everything Cobb could ask and hasn’t - decides they can both have their open secrets.
At least until it gets even worse, until the trust between them is crushed under the weight of everything left half-told.
Provided they live that long; Cobol’s not known for forgiveness.
For now, she lets him change the subject.
---
3.
They’re supposed to be testing Yusuf’s Somnacin derivative, but Cobb’s attention isn’t on the museum Arthur’s built around them. It’s on her.
“Is this going to be a problem?” He indicates her with a wave.
“No,” she says honestly.
“Are you sure? If you’re gonna run point on this, everyone needs to recognize-”
“Keep them out of my mind and we’re good.”
Which is more than she can say for Cobb, apparently, as Mal chooses that moment to approach, radiating anger.
It’s a stroke of good luck that the timer runs out then, ending both the dream and the conversation.
---
4.
“You good?” Cobb doesn’t seem to hear the question.
Even after the desperate play he made to get them down there, Arthur still trusts him to get the job done - but at the same time, he’s off his game. “Hey, you ready?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine, I’m - I’m ready.” He’s back in the moment, the response quick, no space for thought, for doubt. If he shares Eames’s concerns, he doesn’t express them. He trusts her, too, without question, without conditions.
She presses the button on the PASIV and inwardly laments that she doesn’t have time to thank him for that.
---
5.
“We can still be together. Right here. In the world we built together,” Mal had said. “Or would you rather be with her?”
“Who?”
“Arthur. I’ve seen her when he’s under. The look on your face when I threatened him - it’s obvious how you feel about her.”
“Mal-”
“But you married me. Stay here.”
And then they were out of time. “Cobb, we need to get Fischer.”
When Ariadne tells Arthur the story later, there’s no questions, only a hesitant, “If you need someone to talk to….”
“Thanks,” she says, “but I think I should talk to Cobb.”
She doesn’t.
---
6.
It’s a few jobs later when Arthur makes it back to Los Angeles and drops in on the Cobbs. The kids have missed him, and she’s missed them - but she hadn’t realized until now, until he was standing over her smiling as she hugged his children, how much she’d also missed Cobb himself.
She’s smiling too, when she straightens and looks at him. “You look happy,” she says.
“Getting there,” he replies. “I’ve got the kids back, and I’ve been,” - he looks sheepish - “talking to someone.”
“Good,” she says sincerely. “Speaking of talking, we should….”
“Yeah,” he says. “We should.”
ETA: This way to the companion fic, Rosemary Green.
Word Count: 600
Summary: Five times Cobb and Arthur avoid important conversations and one time the truth comes out.
A/N: Written for this prompt (my own): "Arthur/Cobb. It’s not that Arthur couldn’t tell or didn’t care about what was going on in Cobb’s head with Mal. Arthur was just showing Cobb the courtesy of letting him have his secrets, since Cobb has long been doing the same for her. (Arthur is MTF.)" (Minor changes have been made to the earlier parts since they were posted there.)
ETA: Edited in response to feedback, 7pm 3/21/11.
ETA 2: Section 3 significantly rewritten 10/8/12.
Lavender blue and Rosemary green,
When I am king you shall be queen;
Call up my maids at four o'clock,
Some to the wheel and some to the rock;
Some to make hay and some to shear corn,
And you and I will keep the bed warm.
- Lavender Blue (children’s song)
Lavender Blue
1.
In the army, Arthur’d hid the truth of herself so long it was second nature. From there, dreamsharing - hiding even inside her own head. But this, she loves: under alone, just creating.
She feels watched, turns. Not alone - Cobb’s staring at her.
It’s too late to dream herself different; he’s already seen. So she just stares back.
“Tell me what to do,” he says.
She squeezes her eyes shut. “Go.”
Her eyes are still closed when the gunshot rings out, leaving her alone again. When she wakes, she sees the unspoken agreement in the way he won’t meet her eyes.
---
2.
“It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” She tries to keep her voice gentle.
“One apology’s all you’re getting, Arthur.”
She could press. She should, if it’s going to affect their work, going to become her problem as much as his. And it has, clearly.
But she thinks about everything Cobb could ask and hasn’t - decides they can both have their open secrets.
At least until it gets even worse, until the trust between them is crushed under the weight of everything left half-told.
Provided they live that long; Cobol’s not known for forgiveness.
For now, she lets him change the subject.
---
3.
They’re supposed to be testing Yusuf’s Somnacin derivative, but Cobb’s attention isn’t on the museum Arthur’s built around them. It’s on her.
“Is this going to be a problem?” He indicates her with a wave.
“No,” she says honestly.
“Are you sure? If you’re gonna run point on this, everyone needs to recognize-”
“Keep them out of my mind and we’re good.”
Which is more than she can say for Cobb, apparently, as Mal chooses that moment to approach, radiating anger.
It’s a stroke of good luck that the timer runs out then, ending both the dream and the conversation.
---
4.
“You good?” Cobb doesn’t seem to hear the question.
Even after the desperate play he made to get them down there, Arthur still trusts him to get the job done - but at the same time, he’s off his game. “Hey, you ready?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine, I’m - I’m ready.” He’s back in the moment, the response quick, no space for thought, for doubt. If he shares Eames’s concerns, he doesn’t express them. He trusts her, too, without question, without conditions.
She presses the button on the PASIV and inwardly laments that she doesn’t have time to thank him for that.
---
5.
“We can still be together. Right here. In the world we built together,” Mal had said. “Or would you rather be with her?”
“Who?”
“Arthur. I’ve seen her when he’s under. The look on your face when I threatened him - it’s obvious how you feel about her.”
“Mal-”
“But you married me. Stay here.”
And then they were out of time. “Cobb, we need to get Fischer.”
When Ariadne tells Arthur the story later, there’s no questions, only a hesitant, “If you need someone to talk to….”
“Thanks,” she says, “but I think I should talk to Cobb.”
She doesn’t.
---
6.
It’s a few jobs later when Arthur makes it back to Los Angeles and drops in on the Cobbs. The kids have missed him, and she’s missed them - but she hadn’t realized until now, until he was standing over her smiling as she hugged his children, how much she’d also missed Cobb himself.
She’s smiling too, when she straightens and looks at him. “You look happy,” she says.
“Getting there,” he replies. “I’ve got the kids back, and I’ve been,” - he looks sheepish - “talking to someone.”
“Good,” she says sincerely. “Speaking of talking, we should….”
“Yeah,” he says. “We should.”
ETA: This way to the companion fic, Rosemary Green.