Jim darts around his flat, sorting out everything that needs to be done before tonight. He shoots off an email with the plans for a robbing a bank, texts coordinates to one of his men for a hit, and sends out a general message that if anyone dares to bother him within the next several hours, he'll personally see to it that they never see tomorrow.
He's changed his outfit no less than three times now, which is stupid because it doesn't matter what he wears, he'll still look good. But he keeps wondering if Sebastian will think he looks good and for some reason that matters, so his clothes keep getting tossed to the floor.
Three additional changes later, he's bounding out the door. He's meeting Sebastian at a small Indian restaurant whose owner owes him back for the successful tax fraud that Jim arranged. The man knows better than to say that Jim's been there, let alone he's meeting someone. He understands exactly what sort of business Jim is running.
Jim arrives first and he stands at the door waiting for several minutes. Then he goes inside and sits down. Then he contemplates getting up and going back outside again. He doesn't know what the proper procedure is; he's never actually been on a date before. (Well once, but it didn't end well.)
He's just come to the decision that he should go back out when Sebastian walks through the doors. His brain is caught in a crossfire of Do I stay sitting? Do I stand up? when the older man slips into the sear across from him and smiles. Instantly, Jim feels more at ease, even if that smiles makes his heart skip a beat and his stomach twist in knots. This is a new and unfamiliar feeling; Jim doesn't like it and he's never wanted to murder a metaphorical insect so badly before.
Despite being apparently socially inept when he's actually trying and not just faking it, dinner goes smoothly. They talk about their lives and how the ended up working in the show. Jim, much to his own surprise, doesn't lie. Well, not much. He omits, really. And smudges a few details. He tells Sebastian,
"My parents died when I was young, only fourteen." But what he doesn't say is, "My father broke my mother's neck and I shot him six times." Just small details.
He learns that Sebastian was raised by an uncle, attended university in applied physics (Jim isn't ashamed of how much that turns him on) and served in the military, working his way up through the ranks to colonel before retiring to come back home and try something new. Jim could have just done the research to find out all of that, but it's somehow more interesting to hear it straight from his mouth.
For reason entirely unknown, three quarters of the way through dinner, Jim blurts out,
"It's Jim."
Sebastian looks up at him in confusion. "What? Who's Jim?"
"I am. Well, James. But my friends call me Jim. Well, if I had friends who knew my actual name then I suppose they would." For the love of god, stop talking his brain yells at him. "Richard is just a stage name." he trails off awkwardly, while his brain continues to berate him. What is it about this man that turns him into an idiot?
Sebastian still looks confused and Jim can practically see him processing this information. "So Brook? Is that really your last name?"
"No, it's Moriarty." Why? his brain shouts. Why are you telling him this? Stop talking!
The other man takes a bite of his food, likely stalling for more time while he thinks. "So why did you change it?"
Jim shrugs. "Got a bit of a history, didn't think it would do well if the show became popular and people found out what kind of person is hosting a television show." Technically true.
"So why are you telling me?"
Jim flusters a bit and tries to stammer out an answer but he can't because he doesn't know why. Sebastian just keeps grinning at him.
"You're kind of adorable when you don't know what to say."
Jim just glares at him.
Sebastian laughs and takes another bite before nodding and adding in a thoughtful voice, "James Moriarty. I rather like it. It suits you."
At the end of the night, Sebastian walks Jim back to his flat. Jim kisses him goodnight (which requires Jim to push himself up onto the balls of his feet. Sebastian laughs at him and try as he might, Jim can't actually get angry at him for it, not when he can feel Sebastian smiling against his lips) and he invites Sebastian upstairs.
Sebastian gives Jim another quick kiss and shakes his head, stepping back. "No, I told you. I don't do that. I'm going to do this the proper way."
The face Jim makes is fairly dead on impression of a fish. His cock is pretty much running things and has given his brain the night off. "…what?"
Sebastian takes Jim's hand and presses a kiss to the inside of his wrist. "Good night, Jim." He steps away, still smiling that maddening grin that does stupid things to Jim's stomach, and he walks away.
Jim is torn between the urge to tackle him and have his filthy way with him and the urge to shoot him in the back of the head.
In the end, he does neither, but he does pause to lift his wrist and brush his lips over the spot that Sebastian touched. This man is going to be tough to figure out.