En Route to Transylvania, by Weatherfront - PG-13

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

Fandom: INCEPTION
Title: En Route to Transylvania
Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Length: 5,158
Author on LJ: weatherfront
Author Website: author's fic journal
Why this must be read: When this fic was first written, just 2 weeks after the movie came out, Inception fandom was experiencing this incredible burgeoning influx of energy and activity, like some kind of mega-star spewing out tropes and future fandom classics into the fannish galaxy. My friends and I, after weatherfront wrote this hysterical fic, went around shrieking, "YOU'RE WAITING FOR A PALFREY!" and "WE HAVE TO HIDE YOUR TEETH!" at each other. It was the kind of fic we had to have giddy conversations about, the kind of fic that seemed to come right from the middle of this weird/incredible fan-nebula, half meta-parody and half pure love. This silly little fic about vampires and peasants and goats and beanceptions is so, so not silly at all: It's everything I love about Inception, and Inception fandom, and Arthur and Eames, and community, and love.

Bonus: absolutely do not skip over reading the tiny, beautiful epilogue. ♥

A couple days pass, and then a couple weeks, and Arthur doesn't go anywhere. The steaks out in the icehouse seesaw back and forth in number. At first Arthur insists on sleeping in the barn, presumably hanging upside down from the rafters, because that's what vampires do.

"Except you only sleep in the daytime," says Eames, "and I only sleep at night. You could just use the bed."

Arthur looks like he's just discovered the wheel.

He helps Eames drive his goats out to pasture in the morning, the hint of fangs flashing when he yells at them to keep in line. Sometimes he goes back to the house in the afternoon, where he curls up on Eames' bed and doesn't wake until the sun sets. Sometimes he sinks into the grass where they stop, sleeping there instead, the dandelions bright as butter against his hair. Eames watches him, because even asleep he's hell of a lot more interesting than his goats.

"That Arthur's a looker," he tells Ariadne one day. "But I guess all vampires are."

"I wouldn't know," she says. "I've never met one before."

"Neither have I," says Eames, "I guess. But still."

Ariadne only smiles.

Saito sends Arthur bundles of clothes, not town-slick like he was wearing when they found him, but tasteful and well-cut nonetheless. Arthur hangs them up in Eames' closet. He surveys the general effect, then rearranges everything inside into color-coded gradients.

"What's that for," asks Eames.

"I can't live in chaos," says Arthur, and that's when Eames really knows he's staying.

Sometimes, before lunch, Arthur visits the people they know. He talks to Ariadne while she hammers away at glowing metal, about the feel of mahogany to the touch, about the way people carve whorls and curlicues into expensive drawers in the city. Ariadne listens, and occasionally her hand stills in motion.

Arthur watches over the village at night, shooing away the deers and boars that like to uproot Cobb's vegetables. Cobb is busy trying to woo a lady in town, planning the bean inception of Fischer's land, and farming his own crops with what time he has left, but it's clear that he takes to Arthur. Cobb brings him souvenirs from town, a pocketwatch, a handkerchief. Eames asks Cobb if he hasn't been spending more money on Arthur than that lady of his. Cobb denies it.

Yusuf thinks Arthur is the most conscientious person he has ever met in his life. Arthur is only really supposed to wipe down the counters and serve the orders, but he remembers the names of all the regulars and their favorite drinks. Yusuf saves the best cuts of meat for Arthur, and when the trickle of customers dies down, he slides him a tankard of blood across the bar with a paper umbrella on top.

Arthur settles in.

En Route to Transylvania and epilogue

Comments

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

...I was admittedly really skeptical, but "beanception" is the best thing I've ever heard of.

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

omg i am excited for you to experience this fic :D IS THE REDNESS YOU PERCEIVE THE SAME AS THE REDNESS I PERCEIVE?

[stars-inthe-sky.livejournal.com]

I laughed out loud at that! And "palfrey," once I Googled what that was. Amazeballs.

[gezana.livejournal.com]

So glad you're reccing this fic, I just reread it a couple of days ago <3

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

It gets better every time I reread it! COM BACK RTHR <33333333333