Inception Big Bang: Arthur/Cobb; Part 4
in a phrase to cut these lips
part four
Arthur couldn’t figure out what to make them for dinner, and Dom couldn’t blame him. The Cobb fridge was bare, as Dom had little time lately for grocery shopping. Neither seemed to keen on leaving the house to buy any ingredients, either. “What have you been eating the past couple weeks without me?” Arthur had asked, his brow creasing. Dom didn’t really have an answer for that, not wanting to admit that a lot of take out had been involved.
In the end, they settled on calling Ariadne and asking her to do the work. She agreed, only after making them promise that they owed her one.
Dom wasn’t sure what he was promising, but he felt far too relaxed and content to care.
Then he watched as Arthur fretted about the kitchen, cleaning every possible surface multiple times. It bordered on obsessive, but at least his house would have the cleanest kitchen on the block by miles. Dom followed Arthur with his eyes as he paced back and forth, doing this and that, eventually making him dizzy.
“Hey,” he said, gently grabbing Arthur by the elbow as he reached for the bottle of surface cleaner for the third time in a matter of minutes. “Slow down. You don’t need to do that, you know.”
Arthur shrugged his shoulders together. “I know, I’m just afraid to stop.”
Dom shook his head, not understanding. “Why?”
“Because if I stop, then I might wake up.”
Understanding dawned. Somehow, Arthur thought he was dreaming.
Before Dom could reassure him that this was most certainly not a dream (and since when had that become his job?), Ariadne knocked on the door and Arthur went to let her in.
“Roll your die, for Christ’s sake!” Dom yelled to his retreating back. There wasn’t really any other way he could think of to convince Arthur everything that just happened between them actually, well, happened. He could still taste the feeling of Arthur’s lips on his own, and that was the only evidence that Dom needed.
He didn’t even really know where his top was at the moment, anyway. Having his totem began to matter less and less as time went on, the more days he spent with his children in happiness.
Speak of the devil, Phillipa and James came rushing into the kitchen and into their father’s arms. Dom smiled, kneeling down so he was on their level, and held them tight. In no time, both children were talking a mile a minute, filling the previously empty air with all of their adventures from camp.
“Whoa, one at a time,” he said, which didn’t really stop them from talking over each other.
“I didn’t know Ari was going to pick us up,” Phillipa said eventually, always the one to bring up adult things as she attempted to act older than her age.
“Aunt Ari got us ice cream!” James exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
Dom’s expression widened in mock surprise. “Wow, lucky you. I hope you didn’t ruin your appetite for dinner.”
Phillipa shook her head emphatically. “Of course not.” She insisted on never skipping a meal, even breakfast. Mal always had a love for good cuisine as well, so he knew she must have inherited that trait from her mother.
“Let’s get started on making dinner then,” Arthur said as he entered the room.
“And by us you mean you,” Ariadne confirmed, standing by his side now.
“Right,” he agreed. She walked past him, placing the bags of groceries on the counter.
In less than an hour, Arthur had dinner prepared and the Cobbs sat around the table while Ariadne helped serve them. Dom could get used to this.
They made small talk for a while, indulging the kids as they continued to chatter about more fanciful things. Dom expected the meal to be more awkward than it was, but instead everything just seemed to fit. The only difference from their previous meals together were the looks that Arthur and him shared across the table, Ariadne staring at them knowingly. She seemed to be getting the biggest kick out of the whole thing.
“So, how was your day?” she asked, indicating Dom with a nod. In any other circumstances it would be a completely innocent question, but not this time. Not with the way Ariadne obviously smirked while asking it.
“It was quite enjoyable, actually.”
“Oh?” she pressed him on, leaning forward with her elbows on the table, holding her face in her hands.
“Yes,” he answered simply. He wasn’t about to give her anything. “My class is moving right along and the students seem to be starting to get it, finally. Well, most of them anyway.”
“Do you need any help with the material?” Arthur asked, enthusiastic about carrying on this topic. Anything to distract from the implications in Ariadne’s line of questioning, he supposed.
“Probably. Teaching dream-sharing kind of requires first-hand experience, you know? And while I’ve had a hell of a lot of experience, there’s always more to experiment.”
“You two should experiment together,” Ariadne said, with much more excitement than that statement required. Dom mentally scratched his head, trying to figure out why exactly she was so thrilled about this idea. It was kind of cute, in an obnoxious busybody sort of way.
“I think we’ll do just that,” Dom said. “You can watch over the kids sometimes while we’re occupied with dreaming?” he asked, knowing that he had her trapped. She would understand what he had left unspoken. The only way he was going under again for any length of time was if he had someone he trusted looking after his children.
“Sure,” she answered, drawing out the word. “If you pay me.”
Dom narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t make enough from the Saito job?”
“Maybe, but it never hurts to have a little extra. Besides, my time is valuable.”
“Of course,” he said, hinting at sarcasm.
“It’s settled then,” Arthur said in all seriousness.
“What are you guys talking about?” Phillipa asked. She hadn’t spoken for a while, and Dom had almost forgotten that she was even still listening.
“Nothing, sweetie,” he responded. How do you explain something like their current conversation to a six year old?
“Yeah right.” She clearly didn’t believe him. No, she was way too smart for that, of course.
Arthur continued for him, trying to appease her. “Ari’s just agreed to be your new babysitter, how does that sound?”
Phillipa scrunched up her nose. “I’m not a baby and I don’t need a sitter.” Typical defiance.
“Yes you are, you are a big baby!” James screeched, then giggled at his own joke.
“I am not,” Phillipa argued, sounding incredibly offended. “You’re the crybaby!”
“Hey,” Dom interrupted, knowing he had to nip this one in the bud or risk having two upset children on his hands. “Nobody here is a baby, okay? Aunt Ari’s just going to be around more often to play with you guys when Daddy and Arthur have to work, if that is acceptable to you.” Good work, Dom, he silently praised himself. Give the choice back to the children, or at least make them think they had a choice. He knew Mal would be proud.
“Okay,” Phillipa agreed, her demeanor completely shifting in a more positive direction. Dom recognized how much she appreciated having a female figure around who wasn’t as old as her grandmother.
“Fine,” James said, already moving on from the discussion to playing with his mashed potatoes. Luckily they didn’t have much of an attention span at that age.
Dom looked to both Ariadne and Arthur in turn, and was filled with a rush of comforting warmth at their obviously pleased smiles.
Oh yes, Dom could definitely get used to this. And he would try his damnedest not to let that fact scare him as much as it probably should.
*
The next day’s lesson covered the concept of subconscious projections and the implications they had when it came to sharing dreams with another person.
Of all the topics Dom had laid out for his class curriculum, this was the one that scared him the most. All morning, before arriving at the college, his thoughts were plagued with images of Mal and the fiasco that was his own subconscious.
Trying not to think about it was like telling himself not to think about elephants. Didn’t work.
His students were inquisitive enough. In fact, they asked more questions than they did in any of his previous lectures. Daniel, a boy with long brown hair and a mischievous smile, raised his hand after Dom explained that the dreamer could talk to another person’s projections to get information.
“Yes?” Dom said, acknowledging the boy’s raised arm.
“Are you ever able to control your own projections?” he asked.
Dom swallowed. “Not likely. As I said, it’s your subconscious at work. For example, think about your own dreams. Are you able to control what happens to the people you dream about?”
“No,” Daniel said, smirking. “If I did, Angelina Jolie would be naked in them.”
The rest of the class laughed awkwardly. What a charmer. Dom just smiled in response. “It works sort of like that. Somehow, your conscious wants and desires don’t always match up with your subconscious mind. When dream-sharing, there may be information that you’d prefer to keep hidden, but your projections are more forthcoming with these secrets. So it’s really impossible to control-”
As he spoke, the door at the back of the classroom slowly opened and a familiar figure entered. Dom’s mouth remained open mid-sentence while Arthur found an empty seat at the back of the lecture hall. He hadn’t mentioned anything about dropping in, so of course Dom was going to be a little surprised. Still, the lesson needed to go on.
“Have your projections ever given away your secrets before?” the same nosy kid asked. A hush seemed to fall over the class until the silence became deafening. For the first time, standing on a platform in front of a hundred or so students, Dom felt very alone.
He looked over the sea of faces staring back at him, but the only face he took in was Arthur’s. They held each other’s gaze for a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity.
“Yes,” he said simply, not wanting to give any more away for multiple reasons. But he thought of one more important thing to tell them, for whatever it was worth. “I guess the parting lesson is, be careful who you take into your dreams with you.” Most of the students nodded and smirked, while some of the more vivacious girls giggled out loud. He pretended to ignore them.
Dom checked his watch. It was five minutes early, but it would have to do. The sight of Arthur looking back at him intently was more than a little distracting. “That’s all I have for you today. Enjoy your weekend.” The words were barely out of his mouth before the students were packing up to leave.
While the classroom emptied, Arthur slowly made his way up to the front. Dom packed his briefcase, only glancing up nonchalantly to see him walking down the stairs.
“What’s up?” he asked, before realizing that it might be serious if Arthur felt the need to actually come to his work. He started to panic a little. “Is anything wrong?”
“No, nothing like that,” Arthur reassured him, as he must have heard the worry in Dom’s voice. “I was just curious to see what you’re like as a professor.” His mouth curved up in a lop-sided grin.
“I see,” Dom answered. “Was it to your liking?”
“Well I didn’t get to see much,” Arthur started, taking a significant pause. “But I like what I saw.” His gaze lowered down Dom’s body and back up again with a recognizably sly look.
“Stop that,” Dom said, no real malice behind the words. His breath began to quicken.
“What?”
“Flirting with me. It’s not like you.”
“Not like me in a good way or a bad way?” Arthur asked, taking a few steps closer until all that remained between them was a podium.
Dom closed his eyes and exhaled. “Good way.” Took another breath.
“Then why should I stop?” Arthur reached over the podium and grabbed onto Dom’s tie, pulling him forward until their lips nearly touched, when they heard a voice.
“Oh, I forgot my-”
Dom reared back as if from an electrical shock, and the way Arthur sort of half-stumbled was almost comical.
“-cell phone,” the voice finished. Dom looked up to see one of the giggling girls from earlier staring back at him with wide eyes. Well, this would surely go down as one of his more embarrassing moments. “I’m sorry, professor Cobb,” she said with a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
“No, it’s perfectly fine, um...”
“Erica,” she supplied.
“Erica, right.” He smiled tentatively. “I promise I’ll learn all of your names eventually.”
She nodded, grabbing her phone before practically running up the steps in the other direction. When the door closed behind her, Arthur turned around and glanced back up at him. “Well,” he said. “You want to go get coffee?”
He nodded emphatically. “Definitely.”
Arthur nodded. “Lead the way then.”
“You just want to stare at my ass, don’t you?” Two could play at this game.
Miraculously, Arthur was able to keep a straight face. He’d be a good poker player, that was for sure.“Perhaps.”
Dom laughed, picked up his briefcase and began to strut in the direction of the stairs, Arthur following close behind.
*
Dom was accosted by the aroma of coffee grounds that permeated the tiny college campus coffee shop as soon as he opened the door. It invigorated him, and he genuinely felt like he could take on the world again just as soon as he got some glorious caffeine into his system.
He ordered coffee for the both of them (Dom’s with creamer and two sugars, black for Arthur) while the point man did his job of grabbing them a table by the window, overlooking the student common area.
Dom brought him the coffee and took pride in the fact that he hadn’t needed to ask for his order. Most of their caffeine intake occurred during late nights of working together, going over every last detail for their next job. Sitting together in public like any other normal couple on some kind of coffee date was surreal.
“That girl is totally crushing on you, you know that right?” Arthur asked as Dom took his seat.
“What girl?” he asked, feigning innocence.
“Erica,” Arthur said, rolling his eyes up to his brow. If his eyes rolled back any further, they’d be at the back of his head. “Your student.”
“No way. She’s barely eighteen.”
“So? That never would have stopped me.” Arthur gave him a pointed look. And wasn’t that all kinds of ridiculous. After all, Dom still saw himself as an old man sometimes, and thought that others looked at him the same way. He often forgot that they all still saw his physical age of thirty-seven instead.
“That would be highly inappropriate,” Dom said, but his expression said something else entirely.
“Good thing I’m not your crushing student then.”
Dom hadn’t been publicly affectionate with anyone since Mal, but he placed his hand on top of Arthur’s and squeezed his fingers, a smile crinkling his eyes. “Maybe not the student part, but I definitely would say you were crushing,” Dom replied with a newly acquired confidence.
Rhetorically he asked, “What was your first clue?”
This was fun. Fun. Dom tried to remember the last time they’d been like this together. Casual. Just two guys hanging out, delicious banter going back and forth. Dom couldn’t even recall, but it seemed like a damn long time.
Dom hid his grin behind the rim of his cup as he brought it up for a sip of the too-hot liquid. It burned his lips, but he enjoyed the taste of it going down all the same. Arthur watched, licking his lips unconsciously. Once again, Dom felt himself extremely tempted to lean forward and suck on that bottom lip that currently had Arthur’s attention. If they hurried, they could probably get home in time for some intimate activities before Ariadne and the kids arrived home.
“We could get out of here,” Dom suggested, putting his cup back on the table. “Go back to my place?” God that sounded cheesy to his own ears, but Arthur thankfully didn’t seem to mind. In fact, the mischievousness in his eyes was clear and suddenly Dom knew what Arthur’s answer would be.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
*
The arrangement between the three of them, Dom and Arthur and Ariadne, was working out rather well, all things considered. Arthur helped with the teaching job by talking over lesson plans with Dom, grading the occasional assignment, and exploring a new dream technique every now and then. Ariadne took over most of the duties around the house pertaining to the care of James and Phillipa.
The children now had three parents. While this would be a smothering prospect for most other kids, it seemed like they couldn’t be any happier with the arrangement.
Dom didn’t explicitly tell them about his newly defined relationship with Arthur, mostly because he didn’t know what to call it himself. However, as was their way, they appeared to understand that something between their dad and uncle had changed.
“Daddy, does Uncle Arthur live with us forever now?” James asked one day, catching Dom off-guard. True, Arthur had lived there for an extended amount of time, but Dom hadn’t been thinking in terms of the future or how long Arthur would stay. It wasn’t something they discussed, which Dom just then realized might be a problem.
Either way, James wasn’t going to accept silence for an answer.
“I’m not sure, James. But Arthur is welcome to stay here for as long as he wants. Is that okay?”
James nodded. “Yeah. Arthur is my favorite uncle.”
“He’s your only one,” Dom said, laughing.
“But since he’s not your brother we’re not really related. Phil says Arthur is our second daddy. ‘s that true?”
Suddenly Dom stopped laughing. He didn’t know where Phillipa had gotten that idea from, but she had mentioned learning about families in camp. Maybe that’s how she figured out something was odd about their family situation.
Dom was still trying to get used to the idea of Arthur being more than just a platonic friend, let alone a father to his children. Still, once again, James looked up at him with big blue eyes that were so like his own, silently demanding an answer. “Would that be all right with you?” Dom asked.
James shrugged. “Sure, I don’t mind. Arthur makes me waffles.”
Relief flooded through him. Somehow, if James (and Phillipa) could accept him living there, then Dom could too.
That wasn’t to say that the change came completely easily. There was still Arthur’s feelings and needs to consider. While he claimed to love Dom unconditionally, Dom knew that living with himself wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. His slight neuroticism got the best of him at times, but more often than not Arthur was able to stabilize his mood. For that he was grateful.
But there were other bumps in the road. Arthur said he’d been with a man before (Dom forced himself not to think about who it could be) but besides some drunken explorations in the past this was Dom’s first time. He couldn’t help feeling a little self-conscious, not to mention awkward. A big divide separated making out with Arthur from touching Arthur’s naked skin. Having very male hands pull him into an embrace and a male chest pressing up against his own was different, but not wholly unpleasant.
He just needed some time to get used to it.
As relationships went, Arthur was understanding and fine with taking things slow. After all, as he’d told Dom, he had waited this long to be with him. Over time, he had developed a good sense of patience. Maybe having Arthur live with him permanently wouldn’t be as difficult as he initially thought.
When Dom suggested that Arthur move out of the guest room and invited him into his own bed, Arthur readily accepted.
Late at night, when the kids were already tucked in and fast asleep, Dom and Arthur would be caught in that blissful moment between wakefulness and sleep when Arthur curled into him, humming softly. Dom would hold on to Arthur, stroking his hair or sometimes his arm, trying to get used to the feel.
Eventually he didn’t have to try anymore, and having Arthur in his bed felt as natural as building dreams.
*
Getting towards the end of the summer session, there was one more lesson that Dom needed to cover with his students. The whole class had been leading up to this point, and it was finally time to teach them.
A dream within a dream.
It had been months since Dom had used layered dreaming, but it was almost like riding a bicycle. You never really forgot.
The first level was Cobb’s design. It seemed safer to have his dream be the first one down, just in case something happened to go wrong and they needed to get out quickly. Dom chose a setting closely resembling a small city in South America, where the green plants were plentiful and there were more than a couple majestic waterfalls to encounter. He was pretty pleased with himself. Even if it was only in his mind, the rainforest was damn beautiful.
Arthur smiled at him as they walked through the forest, close enough that their hands brushed against each other with each step. A light rain drizzled and the sky lit up in what appeared to be a rainbow.
Arthur laughed then. “Is this supposed to be some subconscious hint that you’ve accepted the gay lifestyle?”
He chuckled in response. “No, well not exactly. I think it just means I’m happy.”
The other man stopped walking, turned to face Dom. Arthur searched his face, looking for the answer to an unspoken question. He didn’t say anything out loud, but something in Dom’s expression must have answered his question. Arthur nodded. “Gay also means happy, you know.”
“Well, yes.”
Dom watched Arthur closely now as they continued walking. He was watching so intensely that he didn’t notice the PASIV case underneath his feet, and almost fell when he tripped on the Somnacin device. Arthur chuckled at Dom, whose eyes held a look of shock that came from the jolt of nearly falling on one’s face.
“Shut up,” Dom mumbled, bending down to pick up the case.
“Guess your subconscious is telling us that it’s time to go deeper.”
“I’ll have to remember to tell my students about this,” Dom said, reminding Arthur and himself why they were here in the first place.
“Make sure to include the part about the gay rainbow and how those thoughts lead to you wanting to go deeper into your partner’s mind.”
“Thank you for your never-ending contributions, Arthur.” Dom winced when he realized how much he sounded like Eames, but it was too late to take back now.
The point man gave him a brilliant smile. “You’re welcome, as always.” He looked as smug as the cat who got the creamy milk, or whatever that ridiculous saying was.
“Just stick the damn IV in your arm,” Dom said, trying to hide his own amused grin but failing spectacularly.
One moment Dom was laying down in the forest, and the next moment he woke up inside an army barracks.
And Arthur was nowhere to be found.
*
When Dom first woke up and realized that Arthur was not around, his first reaction was to panic. The fact that the setting for this dream level was clearly a military base did not help to settle his nerves at all.
He searched and searched all over the base, aimlessly trying to find his way through this dreamscape that he didn’t design and didn’t have much control over. It wasn’t long before Dom began to feel an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. When he left the barracks and came across the base’s hospital, he realized that it wasn’t just a coincidence, but that he’d actually been here before.
It was the same hospital that kept Arthur bedridden during his dream-sharing training.
Dom unconsciously shivered before pressing on in the direction of the hospital building. On his way there he stopped, as a forest seemed to unfold itself right before his eyes. All of a sudden he understood.
This wasn’t just a dream at all. This was based off a memory; Arthur’s memories. Which was dangerous for many reasons, and it was Dom’s responsibility to pull him out of it. Luckily he’d already done this once before, and as the memory of the last time Arthur ran away came rushing back, Dom had a pretty good idea of where to start.
He went into the woods.
Dom followed the trail that he somehow seemed to know by heart. When he heard a whimpering coming from behind a giant tree in the distance, he knew that he was on the right path. Dom ran as fast as he could towards that direction and stopped practically out of breath when he found the other man, who was kneeling close to the ground and making an almost inhuman noise.
Arthur twitched when Dom reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but he didn’t turn away.
“Arthur,” he said simply, not quite sure what else to say. He looked back at Dom pathetically, his eyes wide open and scared. It had been so long since Dom had seen him like this; he’d almost forgotten that Arthur hadn’t always been as well put-together as he liked to portray.
“Arthur,” he repeated. “Come back with me.”
“Where am I?”
Dom had to squeeze his eyes closed and take a deep breath to calm himself down. It was almost like hearing from someone stuck in limbo who didn’t know how to get themselves out. He was terrified that this could be turning into a Mal situation all over again. He could not lose another person he loved to trap of dreams within their own minds; he refused.
That’s when the realization hit him for the first time and his heart beat faster in his chest because of it. He loved Arthur. It was more than just the love he’d feel for a friend, but not quite the same as the love he had for Mal . It was a different emotion for two different people, but the truth remained that he was very much in love with Arthur, the man who currently sat broken in front of him. Dom had to figure out a way to put him back together again. He had to.
“You’re with me, Arthur,” he started. He reached for one of Arthur’s hands and wrapped it in his own, trying to offer some physical reassurance that he could be trusted. “We’re in the forest inside your own dream. Your mind must have designed the dreamscape based on your memory. Do you remember?”
Arthur nodded meekly, not meeting Dom’s eyes but instead keeping his gaze on their interlocked fingers. “I remember this place, from when I was in the army. It’s like re-living my past all over again.”
Dom nodded and squeezed his hand tighter. “We got out of that together, and we’ll do the same here.” He sat down next to Arthur and leaned against the man’s shoulder, then moved his hand to Arthur’s knee. Anything he could do to convey to Arthur that they were in this together. He turned towards Dom and it looked like some of the weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
“How long do we have to stay here?” Arthur asked.
Dom looked down at the timer on his watch and frowned as he calculated the time in his mind. “Ten minutes in real time, so nearly ten hours here in the second level.”
It felt like Arthur shrank in on himself beside Dom, arms curling around his own body. “Why did we give ourselves so much time?”
“It was supposed to give us a chance to explore the dream levels. I didn’t expect that you would build the place based off of your memories.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Arthur responded quietly. “My subconscious must have dreamt this place up. I hadn’t actually put that much thought into it, I guess.”
“That’s so unlike you,” Dom said without any hint of sarcasm. It was quite unlike the point man to go into any situation unprepared, when he was usually so precise and detail-oriented.
“I had other things on my mind.”
“Oh? Such as?” Dom wasn’t about to let that one drop without an explanation first.
“I’ve been thinking about us. Trying to reason in my mind how we could make this thing work.”
“I didn’t realize it was even a question.” Dom turned until he was facing Arthur head-on. “What is there to figure out?” He realized that their relationship should be the least of his worries right now, but if it had been affecting Arthur that much then it must be important for them to talk it out.
“I told you from the beginning that I didn’t know how long I could stay. I love it there in L.A., and I love you, but I would never want to wear out my welcome.”
“You never could,” Dom said, not quite believing what he was hearing. “You’re always welcome in my house.”
Arthur sighed and started leaning in closer until his head nearly rested on Dom’s shoulder. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think or do anything. He just let Arthur lie against him and enjoyed the feel of having physical contact with another human being, even if it was only in their own minds.
“I just need to know that this is something that can last,” Arthur said eventually. Dom turned his body around to look at him, but they were so close that it put his mouth almost right against Arthur’s face. So Dom put his arm around him and leaned forward the remaining inch to place a chaste kiss on Arthur’s cheek.
“You can stay as long as you want. Forever, hopefully.” Arthur wrapped his arms around Dom in return, and they spent an unquantifiable amount of time just sitting like that on the forest floor as they held on to each other.
“Forever sounds good,” Arthur whispered into his ear. Dom just held on to him tighter.
*
They woke up next to each other on Dom’s bedroom floor. The kids were still out with Ariadne, and the house was unusually quiet. Dom glanced over to see Arthur looking back at him. He blinked the crust out of his eyes before leaning over to pull out Arthur’s IV first. The expression on Arthur’s face was clearly one of appreciation, and it made a warmth form in the bottom of his belly.
After the cords were out of their arms and laying forgotten in a tangled mess on the floor, Arthur collapsed against him and Dom tried his best to hold him up.
“Tired?” Dom asked. Not surprisingly, sleep during dream-sharing was not nearly as restful as normal sleep usually is; and he didn’t want to think of the alternative, the idea that something else could be wrong with Arthur now besides just exhaustion.
“Need to make sure you’re really here,” Arthur mumbled under his breath.
“I’m here,” Dom confirmed. “Do you need to check your totem?”
Arthur shook his head against Dom’s chest. “Tell me I’m not dreaming. I’ll trust you.”
Dom was cautious about his answer, but he responded anyway. “You’re not dreaming.” Arthur nuzzled into his neck and dropped a soft kiss there. They both hummed in contentment at that. Dom kissed his temple before moving down to Arthur’s lips, a soft mouth meeting Dom’s own. Their shared experience had brought them closer somehow, even moreso than all the months of performing extraction together, and Dom had grown more attached to Arthur in the past hour than he had ever thought possible.
Dom felt like he needed to crawl inside Arthur and claim him for his own. So he did.
They fell on to the bed together, starting off at a frantic pace until Arthur placed a calming hand on his chest and he was able to slow down. But he needed that reassurance, that physical touch to prove that Arthur was in fact there and he wasn’t leaving. When they made love, Dom focused more on the man he was with and his own feelings for him rather than the physical pleasure of it.
At some point, Dom paused and cupped Arthur’s chin, forcing him to look into his eyes. He couldn’t think of a better time to say what he’d been needing to say for months.
“I love you, Arthur.”
The seriousness and concentration seemed to melt off of Arthur’s face in an instant, replaced with the brilliant smile that Dom so rarely got to see. That one look was enough confirmation for everything they’d been through together lately, that it was all worth it.
“Thank you,” Arthur said. Dom silently accepted the sentiment, and delighted when Arthur gave him another soft kiss. Arthur did not need to return the phrase; his feelings were made clear through every movement of his body and touch that he gave Dom.
“Do you have to go to work tomorrow?” the question interrupted Dom’s thoughts.
“Yeah. I’ll be giving my lecture on multi-level dreams.”
“Just make sure you don’t tell your students about this part,” Arthur said, smiling. Dom laughed in return.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said with a wink.
*
Life continued on like normal from them on, at least as normal as things could be for them.
When Dom wasn’t teaching he stayed at home with the kids, or sometimes he went out with just Arthur if Ariadne was free to play the role of babysitter. Occasionally Dom would take on legal jobs with Arthur, and they always seemed to do better when they worked together as a pair than when they were separated.
They still dreamt together sometimes, getting information for clients or testing the boundaries of the mind. And most of the time Dom didn’t know where their dreams would take them in the end, but it didn’t matter to him either way.
It didn’t matter as long as they were together, and would still be together when they both woke up.
I'll do anything for you
Kill anyone for you
So leave yourself intact
'Cause I will be coming back
In a phrase to cut these lips
I love you
The morning will come
In the press of every kiss
With your head upon my chest
Where I will annoy you
With every waking breath
Until you decide to wake up
~Coheed and Cambria