fly me to the moon (and let me dream among the stars) by saucy_kate (PG-13)

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Fandom: INCEPTION
Title: fly me to the moon (and let me dream among the stars)
Pairing: Arthur/Eames, Cobb/Saito
Length: 6,670
Author on LJ: saucy_kate
Author Website: tag listing on author's fic journal
Why this must be read: So far, I've recced fics that have amazing world-building in the figurative sense, but Inception canon allows for actual, literal world- building! This fic has all kinds of fun with the concept of the dreamscape and the way you can build whatever kind of universe you want in it. In this fic, after Inception Saito decides to look into dreamscape tourism, which is possibly just an excuse to get the gang to go on a field trip. This naturally leads to all kinds of debates about what to build and where to go when you can build anything and go anywhere--with plenty of room for Arthur/Eames snark and teasing and falling in love.

The things the team does with dreambuilding in this fic are delightful: space travel, fantasy worlds, steampunk, even the Regency--they do it all (and of course Eames is in Slytherin). The best part of this fic is watching the whole ensemble from Inception working as a group towards the common goal of having fun, and it's impossible not to have fun with them. And, of course, the delightfully sweet and saucy Arthur/Eames dynamic.

"You have so little imagination about this," Eames points out, reaching over Arthur to gesture at the list of ideas for possible group dreaming retreats. The list reads: TROPICAL ISLAND, JAPAN, GREECE, UNDERWATER, THE MOON??? and it's not even like he came up with the last one – that's Ariadne's contribution. "Using the PASIV device for pleasure," (and Arthur hates the way 'pleasure' rolls off Eames' tongue) "means that you are essentially limitless. You can go anywhere. You can do anything."

"Yes, I'm aware," he says stiffly. "Do you have any better ideas?" Of course Eames does; why else would he be pestering Arthur in the first place?

"You've forgotten time travel. You could go into the past or into the future, or you could go into worlds that never existed. You could recreate a fictional world. Saito'll make a killing alone just from all the people who wish they could attend Hogwarts," Eames adds with a mutter.

"What was that?" Arthur is confused, as he always is when the others forget that he's a pop culture black hole.

"Nothing, darling," Eames murmurs in his infuriating way, writing lazily with Arthur's marker, 'TIME TRAVEL, FICTIONAL WORLDS, HOGWARTS' in jumbled, hard-to-read letters at the end of the list. He saunters away smugly and Arthur glares after him, partly because his idea is nothing short of genius and partly because it's Eames.

fly me to the moon (and let me dream among the stars)