Title: Touch

Word count: 1996

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Slight spoilers for the film, language, sex.

Summary: An answer to 2 inception kink prompts and an Inception Porn Buffet prompt (I'm efficient like that). Ariadne and Cobb have a bigger argument than they normally do, and it leads to the inevitable.

Disclaimer: I have no claim to Inception, because if I did there would have been more than just chemistry between Ariadne and Cobb in the film.

As he storms through the doorway, Cobb swings the door furiously behind him, hoping to put a little space between himself and the team, specifically Ariadne. The slam of the door doesn't happen when it's supposed to, and so by the time Ariadne has stalked across the room to stand before him, he turns to her already prepared.

"I said 'This conversation is over'," he repeats, enunciating every word with barely contained fury. The young woman is not phased in the slightest.

Ariadne puts a hand on a jutting hip, looking sharp and unlike herself in the business suit she wore for the kidnapping. Cobb has already changed back into his cargo pants and a navy champ shirt, because his business suit has blood on it. They're polar opposites in many ways.

"And I asked 'Why the fuck did you nearly kill the Subject?'" She gives him a withering glance before she goes to shut door to Cobb's makeshift office to ensure no one overhears the giant row that is inevitably about to take place. She knows they're listening in the open warehouse below.

Cobb never really quit after the inception. He just kept showing up when they were on a job, taking over as their natural leader. Saito and his associates kept them well paid and busy, and Cobb never really had to leave the state, let alone the country, for work. Ariadne was able to finagle a transfer to a college in the area. Yusef was glad for a change in climate. As for Eames and Arthur...neither had ever had a home prior, but they were starting to make one, together.

Normally they all worked together so well, but there were still times where Cobb's emotional instability threatened their work, and it was normal for the two to wander off, have a conversation (really it was Ariadne lecturing him, sometimes it was an all out screaming argument), and everything would be fine.

Not this time. This time there is screaming and accusations in front of everyone and even Arthur, who usually kept his cool, looks concerned. Eames and Yusef quickly volunteered to take patch up their Subject and drop him off, bound, in front of the police station, per their agreement with Saito.

"I have seen you, when you're angry, and what you are capable of," she says, in that firm, serious tone she always takes with him during these talks. "But I have never seen you completely lose it like you did today. If Eames and Arthur hadn't pulled you off of that guy, you probably would have killed him."

"He deserves that," he retorts, leaning against the draft table. "He deserves worse, for what he did to you."

She falters at this, eyes softening and mouth parting out of shock. "He kissed me, Dom," she says, using his first name (only ever in private), hoping it will make him listen. "He kissed me, and I kicked him, and maced him, and if that was the distraction that allowed you to extract the intel, I'm fine with it."

"He wanted to do a lot worse." His blue eyes fix her brown ones with a weighty stare. "You know that."

"Well, he didn't get to, because I shot him," she says, trying to soothe him, but her own anger gets the better of her and she has to continue. "I still don't understand why you felt it was necessary to start pummeling the shit out of him when we woke up."

"He's filth," Cobb answers.

Ariadne cocks her head to the side for a moment, taking in the man before her, hating the conclusion she's coming to. "God," she breathes. "You think you need to protect me, don't you? I am not one of your kids. I don't need you to do that for me. It's not your place to."

His fist comes down onto the metal desk with an echoing bang, and she only jumps a little at the sound. "Jesus Christ, Ariadne, do you honestly think that's how I see you? I know you can take care of yourself. I know it's not my place. But when I saw him touching you, I...I wanted to kill him."

The feminist in her is screaming that there is a whole lot wrong with that statement, that she should start to tell him off for that, but she finds herself asking "Were you jealous?"

Cobb doesn't answer, only stands fully, slowly, like he's trying so hard to contain his emotions, and they both take the few steps left until they are standing in front of one another.

There is something so hungry about his eyes that is serves as it's own response, but then he gives the slightest nod of his head, a jerk of his chin really, and she feels vindicated. There is something in this moment, like some vast chasm, and she's put a toe over the edge of it before, but now?

Now, she's ready for a little leap of faith.

"So touch me," she whispers, and she barely has the words out before Dom is clutching her face and crashing his lips down onto hers. His lips are slightly chapped, and he tastes like coffee, and smells slightly of cigarettes, and his kiss is everything that she thought it would be.

The steadying hands that she put on his waist a moment ago slip around to the back of his overshirt, and she clutches at it while they continue to kiss; the dark-haired woman tries to use the leverage to both lift herself and force him to bend closer to her. She can't help but let out a pleased moan when his tongue scrapes against the roof of her mouth.

He maneuvers them backward, until she's pressed against the wall, and distantly she praises his ingenuity when he starts to lift her up, closing the distance between them. She wraps her legs around his waist, and he runs a hand along her leg, pushing her skirt up. Her pulse skyrockets when he hooks a finger under the seam of her underwear and runs the digit tantalizingly close to her flesh, tracing the edge of the cloth.

His lips leave hers, traveling to her neck, and his stubble scratches the flesh it passes over. As he starts to kiss her collarbone, she pushes at the edges of his overshirt, trying to get it off of him.

She's momentarily distracted when he gives a small thrust against her, and the thin panties she's wearing. He looks to her with hooded eyes, bangs in his face. She answers him with a searing kiss.

It's a frantic fumble that follows. A button goes skittering across the room when she yanks at his camp shirt. He gets only enough buttons undone on her blouse to be able to expose her chest, where he presses an open-mouthed kiss before helping her fingers with his belt and pants.

She starts to slip out of his grasp for an instant, and so she shoots a hand out to the draft table to balance herself. Dom slips her panties to the side and slides in, and she's so surprised by the suddenness of the move that what starts as shocked yelp turns into a breathy exhale when he pulls back and slams into her, pushing her into the rough surface of the fake wooden paneling on the wall.

He's thicker than she thought he'd be, and he fills her. Ariadne does her best to clamp down around him. They muffle their groans with each other's shoulders.

It's fucking. There's no other word for it. In an abstract sort of thought that rises to the surface of her mind (perhaps it's just shaken to the location, from the force of Cobb's thrusts) she wonders if this is his way of assuring her that he knows she's not delicate, that she can take whatever he throws her way...that this is his way of appolozing, and for shutting her out for so long.

They are kissing and he slips a rough hand between the two of them, a thumb flicking her clit. The additional stimulation makes her cry out, but he claims the sound with a kiss.

"Do you like it," he rasps, and she's a little envious of his ability to form words, "when I touch you?"

He punctuates his question with a sharp thrust that causes her head to slam back into the wall, and she digs her fingers into his back, into the fabric of his undershirt. The pain is sharp, but otherwise she would be reaching for her totem, wondering if this much pleasure is physically possible. She'll be bruised, can feel the forming bruise on her hip where one of his hands is, but she can't find a reason to really care. If she could dream anymore, something like this would have played out in one.

Her breath is coming in ragged pants, and she can tell from the sound of his that he's just as close as she is. "Yes," she hisses, and he rewards her with another flick. "Oh fuck, yes."

She stifles her moans by biting his neck, flexing as best she can to help them reach the inevitable destination.

The pace, which until now had been frustratingly kept, is abandoned, and it's only a few more seconds before Ariadne comes undone, mouth falling open, mute as she flies and her back arches involuntarily.

Dom rides the aftershocks of her orgasm into his own, slamming into her, a hand latched onto her breast through her shirt. His breath is hot against neck.

They both try to catch their breath, and she's absentmindedly threading her fingers in his hair. She can hear the others in the warehouse below. Arthur is just finishing some long monologue, something she can't make out, and Eames laughs riotously, Yusef's giggle coming a second later.

The lips against her neck are brought together and pressed into the tender skin there. Dom brings his head up and leans it against hers, even as she slips to her unsteady legs. He takes his time slipping the buttons of her blouse back through their slots. She pulls him down for another quick kiss before they both finish righting themselves to face everyone downstairs.

When they walk back down a few minutes later, Eames raises an eyebrow. She's thankful for the dim lighting, because it hides the marks on her neck and the swollen state of her lips. Even as Dom starts to walk away, she cannot help but smugly note she can make out a bite mark on his neck, just below the collar of his shirt. It's time to head home, so they all start preparing to leave.

"There wasn't much screaming this time," he declares. "Everything alright?"

Cobb gives him a dark look before going to collect his papers from the table where he'd tossed them prior to the argument. Ariadne glances from Eames to Arthur, who, beside Cobb at the table, has noticed something on Cobb's shirt, and the lack of something. He looks from his friend back over to Ariadne, eyebrows skyrocketing.

"I think we came to an understanding," she answers the British man, hoping her cheeks aren't as flushed as she thinks they are. Dom continues to clean up, but she sees his lips stretch into a small smile.

Yusef jingles his keys at the young woman. His apartment is only a short drive from hers. "Are you ready to leave?"

She hesitates for only a second before stepping close to their team's leader, grabbing his arm and leading him towards the door. "Yup," she answers brightly, but proceeds to walk out with Cobb.

Eames eyes might be playing tricks on him, but he swears he sees Cobb put his arm around her waist just before the door shut.

The others leave twenty minutes later, after shutting everything down and locking up. Cobb's car is still in the lot.

Eames starts to walk over, but Arthur grabs him by the back of the collar and continues to walk towards their car.

"Trust me," he says. "You don't want to go over there."