When the Woman that You Love by sinuous_curve (NC-17)

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Fandom: INCEPTION
Title: When the Woman that You Love
Pairing: Ariadne/Mal
Length: 4,266
Author on LJ: sinuous_curve
Author Website: author's works on AO3
Why this must be read:

Another mainstay of Inception fic is, of course, sex with projections. It's inevitable that a canon that causes you to question reality breeds all kinds of fics where characters aren't sure what's real, or even *who's* real. Ariadne/Mal poses an interesting problem along these lines, because Ariadne *only* knows Mal from Cobb's mind. I really love how this fic deals with the questions that come when Mal starts showing up in Ariadne's dreams after Inception, and I love that Ariadne knows full well she's not real, but can't shake the addiction anyway.

Disturbing, eerie, mysterious, and hot, hot, hot--this fic is a fabulous example of the mindfuckery this fandom does so well. :)

She opens her eyes to Cobb’s living room. To Mal’s living room. She sees the furniture and the pictures on the walls, the kitchen to her right with copper pans hanging from a rack on the ceiling. She can smell it and feel the light brush of air from an open window on her cheeks.

Mal leans against the back of the couch, smiling softly.

“This isn’t my memory,” Ariadne says. “It can’t be real.”

“There is no such thing as a real memory,” Mal says, standing and taking a step closer. “Ariadne. Chere. All memories are created.”

In the cold light of reality, Ariadne can judge even the most perfectly created simulacrum of dreams to be false. There’s always something missing, something too perfectly created in perfect worlds. A sense of scent or touch or sound.

Mal’s body radiates warmth and she smells like perfume and soap. There’s a freckle on her neck that Ariadne never noticed before. She exudes calm and she is nothing like the guilt-twisted monster Cobb called his wife.

When the Woman that You Love