I am FINALLY done with finals, which means that I have tomorrow off, and then I have to start a new summer school session. Lucky me.

Yes, this is the LAST CHAPTER. Thank you so much for reviewing, favoriting, following, and reading this-it means a lot to me. I had a ton of fun writing this. THANK YOU.

1. The Pickup Line

"You are so whipped," says Eames.

"Head over heels," agrees Cobb.

"Pining away," chimes in Yusuf.

Saito opens his mouth to add another comment, but before he can, Arthur yells, "Enough! I get it!"

Saito snickers. "So what are you going to do? Are you going to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone?"

Cobb laughs and high fives the Japanese energy tycoon. Eames and Yusuf look slightly confused. Arthur rolls his eyes.

"Hilarious. I'm peeing my pants right now, I'm laughing so hard," he says dryly, giving Yusuf a look when he mentions peeing. The chemist blushes.

"Seriously, though, what're you going to do? She won't be at the warehouse everyday while we go out for lunch to give you girl advice," says Cobb. "What are the odds of her having to stay behind and finish up a maze all the time? She's Ariadne, for God's sake."

"I don't know! You're the guy who managed to get married. You tell me!" he cries, exasperated.

Cobb is silent for a moment, and Eames speaks up.

"Do something she won't expect," he offers.

He vaguely remembers telling her the same thing. Unfortunately, he also remembers having it backfire horribly. It's not the best of memories, to say the least, and Arthur can feel the doubt creeping in that this will work. He hasn't had too much success in the past.

Then again, though, maybe it's worth a shot, and he can feel the corners of his mouth curling up as an idea infects his mind.

The next day, he walks into the warehouse and immediately spots Ariadne drawing out escape routes for his level. He does not hesitate to make his way over to her.

"Hey, Ari, I've got a question for you," he says nonchalantly.

She looks up and says, "What is it?"

Arthur dares a glance at the rest of the team. The four men are watching, wide-eyed. Yusuf whispers, "Is he really going to do it?" to Eames, but Arthur doesn't care.

He takes a deep breath. Now or never, he tells himself.

"Are your legs tired?" he asks.

She blinks. "What? No! What kind of question is th—"

Arthur holds up a hand. "You didn't let me finish," he tells her with an extremely serious face.

She nods.

"Are your legs tired?" he asks again, and she lets him pause for a second before he allows a small smile to grace his face before continuing.

"Because you've been running through my mind all day long!"

She gapes. The men watching in the corner are all laughing silently, but neither pays them any notice.

She opens her mouth to say something, but no words come out.

Arthur begins to go back to his desk and see what she does next when he is struck by another idea that he cannot resist.

"By the way," he says, "do you have a raisin?"

"I—no?" she answers, even more confused.

He grins. "How about a date?"

He finally allows himself to laugh at the shock on her face, and after a beat of silence, she begins to laugh, too.

She sobers up first. "Sure, Arthur," she says.

He stops laughing, as well. "Do you mean it?"

She nods.

"I do, too," he murmurs. She smiles, and it's a fuller smile than he's ever seen on her, even with her exes.

"So are you free tonight?" she asks.

"I'll pick you up at seven," he replies. She smiles even wider at him, and he smiles back, and all of the sudden they are leaning in when—

Eames, Cobb, Yusuf, and Saito all begin clapping and whistling, and the two look up, startled.

Eames winks at them, and the point man feels the urge to smack him.

Ariadne stands up. "I'm going to grab breakfast," she announces, the smile still lighting up her face.

As she's walking out the door, she turns back and looks back at the point man.

"Oh, and Arthur?" she calls out.

"Yeah?" he says.

"Do you live in Tennessee?"

"What? No! I'm from L.A.! I already told you that," he says, confused.

She smirks. "You didn't let me finish," she says, echoing his previous words.

"Do you live in Tennessee?" she repeats.

Pause.

"Because you're the only ten I see!"

She winks, blows him a kiss, and walks out of the warehouse laughing as he gapes, and then finally smiles at her retreating figure.

Sweet, sweet success.

Fin.