crack_van | so I keep it low, keep a secret code by cm (R)

Fandom: The Losers/Inception
Pairing: Clay/Roque, Clay/Aisha
Length: 5258
Author on LJ: Part of

mumblemutter
Author's Website: AO3

Why this must be read:
You don't need to have seen Inception to enjoy this story, but knowing the movie adds to the layers of this intense and thoughtful story.

Layers upon layers of dreams and guilt and relationships and how things change but don't change, no matter what you do, and it's all in Clay's head, except it's not, entirely, because things are happening elsewhere too.

It's a fantastic study of Clay and Roque and the betrayal between them. Where the Port of Los Angeles is just a layer to pull back, where Roque is something that might only be in Clay's head, and where revenge and planting ideas sometimes turn out differently than you expected.

Excerpt:
Roque used to say, when they'd made all their money, he wanted to retire, get married, maybe get a couple of kids or so. Clay always laughed; the job was an addiction like no other - building unimaginable worlds and scaling impossible heights. The thrill of the chase, always. Extraction isn't for everyone, but those that get into it tend to stay. There is no real way out once it becomes the only way you sleep.

"Then that isn't a choice, is it," and if his manifestation of Roque is a product of his guilt, then the obvious solution is to stop feeling guilty. Except of course Clay doesn't buy into the whole guilt thing, and Roque betrayed them, not the other way around, so possibly his manifestation of Roque is just his subconscious fucking him over for spite.

"You're getting weary, old man," he tells his reflection, and his reflection agrees, that yeah, he is.

so I keep it low, keep a secret code