Something was very wrong.
Seb wasn't stupid; he knew that the sound of crying was always a bad sign, especially when the sobbing was coming directly from his mother's bedroom.
It had been late on Saturday night; Seb had returned home from spending the evening in Jim's bedroom watching a film through his laptop and eating a very gooey mixture of melted chocolate, popcorn and marshmallows. Going round Jim's house was always a weird experience. Jim still forced him to shimmy up the drain pipe and enter through the window instead of the door. Most of the time Seb remained hidden within the other's bedroom and Jim grew very uneasy whenever they ventured into the other rooms of the house, constantly looking about, his limps so tense they could snap. They tiniest noise would make Jim squirm and he would rush Seb in whatever they were doing in the kitchen and herd him back into the safety of his bedroom as fast as he could. It got to the point where Seb just bought his own food along and held in any urge to go to the toilet in order to avoid the twist in Jim actions. But like always, Seb never asked what the problem was, he just did what he was told.
Arriving back home at just before ten at night, Seb unlocked the front door and navigated his way through the dark house. Light seeped onto the upstairs landing from under the doors of the other bedrooms like spilled ink. Inside the bathroom he pulled his dark grey t-shirt over his head and dunked his face in the sink, water splashing onto his vest top and soaking his hair with dark patches. Droplets rolled down his neck as he brushed his teeth, the minty taste scrapping away the sugar which had filled his mouth throughout the night. Jim had a surprisingly sweet tooth whilst Seb was more of a savoury person, but no one could say no when a small teenage boy with large dark eyes wrapped in a solar system blanket offered you a bowl full of sugary delights. Seb was certain that his boyfriend probably shouldn't be consuming so much sugar with his braces, but Jim had a habit of doing exactly what he was told not to.
Rubbing his face with the hand towel and draping it back over the rail, Seb plodded back into the dark hallway, feet soft against the carpet as he headed towards his bedroom, t-shirt lying across the back of his neck. He had his hand on the door to his bedroom when he heard it. The hitched sound of sobs being caught in someone's throat. A low stifled sound squeezing out of the windpipe followed by the sniff of a nose.
Sebastian turned, scowling as he looked towards the room across the hall where his mother slept. The door had been left ajar and light seeped into the darkness, illuminating a strip of amber down the side of Sebastian's face. Gingerly stepping closer to the door, carefully avoiding the floorboards which would creak under his weight, Seb peered through the gap in the door lying one hand on the frame. He couldn't see his mother, only the heeled shoes she had stepped out of and left on the carpet when she returned home earlier that day.
He was torn. Like any teenager who heard the sound of their mother figure crying, Sebastian instantly wanted to barge in and comfort her. It came like an overwhelming instinct, urging him to fling the door open and take her in his arms. It came hand in hand with the role of being the 'man of the house' which had been subconsciously placed upon him since moving away from his father. But he also knew what his mother was like. She was the type to endure and the idea of letting either one of her sons see her in such a state was out of the question. With this in mind, Sebastian bowed his head and backed away from the door.
That night he lay awake, listening until the crying subsided. Even then, he couldn't sleep.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Jim looked up a little alarmed when he realised the question was aimed at him. He had been creating a solar system around the notes he had taken in his English book, curled up in the plastic chair with his back against the wall in the back corner of the classroom. They had a substitute teacher this lesson since the usual teacher had come down with a bad case of stomach flu and the class was alive with chatter after finishing the very little work they had been set...if they had even bothered doing it that is.
However Jim's back corner peace was interrupted by a girl sat on the row in front suddenly turning round to address him. Jim looked up at her heavily painted face and her shirt which had the collar gaping and her bright pink bra could be seen through the white fabric. He was pretty sure it was against school uniform policy but she was no doubt already aware of that.
"Excuse me." Jim said, pausing in his doodling and tapping his pen against the paper. By now the girls- whose name he didn't even know- friends sat either side of her turned in their seats to face him, arms crossed over their chests as they look upon Jim as if he was the spawn of the devil.
"I said what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"Yeah, a creep like you can't just become 'friends' with one of the most popular guys in school."
"So we're asking, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
It was to do with Sebastian. Jim sighed, picking up his pen and started doodling absentmindedly again. He'd been expecting an attack from Seb's unwanted army of girls, and finally after a lot of whispering the guns had started to emerge.
"My company is obviously a lot more entertaining." Jim said, impervious to the heated glares he was now receiving. The blond girl sat directly in front of him was in Jim's chemistry class, the one who would try to back Seb into a corner whenever he went to receive tools for a practical lesson. At first, seeing the terrified look Seb shot Jim from over the girl's shoulder as he tried to push her away with a pair of tongs had been amusing and Jim had teased Seb about it ever since. But seeing the action repeated over and over again started to become frustrating.
Needless to say Jim had a personal vendetta against this girl.
"If you're saying that he likes you better then you're wrong." The brunette on the left said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Yeah you're just obsessed with him, you follow him about like a lost puppy."
Jim fought to keep the smirk off his face as images of Seb curled up in his arms on his bed, reaching up for kisses and nuzzling his cheek against Jim's chest. This whole situation was a little ironic.
"He doesn't even like you, he put up with you because he feels sorry for you."
Jim scowled. Anger was boiling in his blood and his doodling was starting to become vicious scribbles across the page. Space junk started to fill the solar system, whirling black holes engulfing planets and stars in its furious jaws. Jim could feel it. The ugly feeling that he pushed down and smothered the best he could but never killed it. He wasn't hopeless, he didn't need people's sympathy, he didn't need other people's approval.
"Really. Well I've got news for you sweetheart, Sebastian doesn't like you either. He doesn't know your name or who you are despite your numerous advances. He doesn't even look at you, he is disgusted by you, you vile piece of poisonous bacteria."
The bell went and Jim pushed out of his seat without regarding the flabbergast expression on the girl's face. Swinging his bag over one shoulder and storming out of the classroom, Jim pushed open the block doors and walked out across the campus. He carried on until he reached the fence around the back of the canteen. Throwing his bag over the tall metal wire, Jim quickly follow suit, flinging himself off the top of the fence and landing into the dirty grass billow with a thud.
Fat droplets of rain started to fall from dark grey cloud above and Jim scowled, dragging his bag along the tarmac. It wasn't hard to walk out of school, barely anyone was about to see the lone schoolboy wondering through town, tie loose and shirt collar undone and teachers rarely noticed his presence at the back of their classrooms so it was not like he wasn't going to be highly missed.
Cutting round the back of the housing estate, Jim walked into the park where he and Seb had strolled on their first night out together. They hadn't returned there since, mainly because the park benches were now the favourite hangout of everyone they disliked. Straying off the path and sliding down the wet grass hill, Jim hoped over the low brick wall and into the play area on the other side.
The tarmac was soft and black and covered in spray paint for children to play hop-scotch and stepping stone games. There was a swing set with flaking red paint and a slide with a wooden climbing frame which was covered in graffiti. A new round-a-bout had been fitted over the Christmas period after the other rusted stiff. Jim realised how pathetic sitting on a swing by yourself in a play park was, and he mentally made a note to never do this again as he dropped his bag and flopped down onto the cold metal seat. Luckily it wasn't completely wet from the rain just yet.
It would have been worse if Jim had just sat there, but instead he started working round in circles, looking up and watching as the chain twisted around its partner knotting and clanging together. He kept his eyes open as he quickly lifted his legs towards his chest. The world whirled by in a stream of acrylic colour, making him blind to the surroundings. There was a coldness to the air that whirled around him and the light rainfall hit his face.
"Having fun?"
Slamming his shoes down onto the tarmac, Jim skidded to a halt, hands gripping the chains hard. He scowled. Seb stood on the edge of the tarmac, sleeves rolled up as he kicked at the grass. His hair was slightly damp and goose bumps covered his arms.
"Where's your jacket?" Jim asked blandly relaxing into the swing and sway slightly back and forth. Seb shrugged. Jim rolled his eyes.
"What are you even doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question." Jim frowned at the response as Seb dropped his bag and came to sit on the swing next to Jim.
"I mean" Seb started, driving his hand through his dark blonde hair. "I saw you walking away from school when I was walking towards gym and one of the girls was having a total bitch fest about you."
At this point Seb was finding it hard not to smile "Apparently you compared her to bacteria."
"I called her a vile piece of poisonous bacteria, if she is going to talk about me she might as well quote me properly." Jim huffed but there was a smirk on his lips. Seb chuckled.
"Besides, it's not hard to skip gym and we wouldn't want you going on a rampage just because some blonde bimbo pissed you off."
"Correction, you wouldn't want me going on a rampage, no one else would care unless it reached the police."
There was a silence. Seb knew when Jim wasn't in the mood to speak and there was no point in try to milk him. A pair of women each with prams and umbrellas walked passed, pausing in their conversation at the sight of two teenage boys who should clearly be in school. Instead of confronting them, like all people they walked on resuming their conversation about something which had happened the previous Friday.
Jim screwed his nose up at the rain which was starting to fall heavier than before. The school uniform might not be the most expensive thing in his wardrobe but there was something distressing about seeing an outfit getting ruined in the rain. Launching himself from the swing seat, Jim grabbed his school bag and strode away from the park, not bothering to call for Sebastian and assuming he would just follow behind.
Sebastian never disappointed. He followed right behind Jim, not quite by his side but not dragging so far behind to be considered unaccompanied. Jim lead Seb without a word, taking him away from the rain and back towards his home.
No one was home so for once Jim let Seb through the front door, dumping his keys on the hallway table before jogging upstairs. Seb wiped his shoes on the doormat before taking two steps up the stairs after Jim.
"So why did you called that girl a piece of bacteria?" Seb finally asked, kicking off his shoes and flopping down onto the bed. His clothes were wet and cold and he unbuttoned his shirt to simply wear the white t-shirt underneath. Jim threw his bag into the corner along with his blazer and shoes before picking a CD off his desk. It was newly bought and still had the plastic wrapping on which was ripped off eagerly. It was a CD Jim was obviously excited about having. He didn't reply instantly, slipping the CD into the stereo and letting play loudly through the speakers as he slipped on a different t-shirt and an extremely baggy jumper Seb recognized as the one he had left behind last time he had been in Jim's bedroom.
"Because." Jim said over the sound of Lana Del Rey's voice "I could and she deserved it. Don't ask boring questions."
Waving a hand dismissively Jim crawled onto the foot of the bed, closing his eyes and slumping into the bedcovers. Seb folded his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.
"You can tell me stuff you know...if you've got stuff on your mind that is." Jim snorted
"Shut up."
"No, don't dismiss me like that, I'm trying my hardest and you're just throwing it back in my face."
"I don't see why you should care about what goes on in my mind, I don't see why you should care about what people should say about me, I don't see why you should care about what I do. It's not effecting you in the slightest."
"Oh so you think I like it when people push you about and sneer at you and be complete bastards to you?"
"It's not like they are doing it to you."
Seb sat up. Jim was still lounged on top of the bed with his eyes shut, perfectly passive to the conversation. Sometimes it felt like he was talking to a robot.
"I care Jim, because I'd like to think that I am in the very least you're friend."
The corner of Jim's mouth twitched downwards in disapproval. Seb sighed and shook his head, lying back down on the bed. It was impossible. The feel of Jim's weight shifted and suddenly large eyes are inches away from Seb's, a warm weight straddled over his waist and a firm grip on his wrists.
"You are not my friend." Jim snarled, so close that his breath tickled Seb's face. Seb frowned. "You are my boyfriend and nothing less."
With that Jim closed the small gap to kiss Seb. Seb's mouth opens quickly, allowing Jim's tongue into his mouth and letting it flick against the roof of his mouth. It's not as clumsy as it used to be, but they could both do with a lot more practise in the art. Jim's hand leaves Seb's wrists, travelling down his arms and dancing across his chest. Seb cups Jim's face in one hand as the other settles on his slim waist.
Jim fingers are distracting and bold, hands spreading out over Seb's abs and across his stomach. They feel and probe, not sleek or smooth but curious and inexperienced and having no idea about what kind of pleasure touching in the right places can bring. But neither of them are thinking about that, this is merely an important learning experience. Seb turns adventurous and allows his hand to slide over Jim's hip and onto his arse.
Jim pulled back suddenly, surprised and out of breath. Heb breathed heavily and quickly accepts the position of Seb's hands in the knowledge that his own fingers are very close to the waist band of Seb's school trousers. He fingers them lightly, the pads of his fingers picking at the scratchy fabric. It would be so easy to slip his hand down but how would the added fraction disrupt the already fragile equation. The likeness of a positive outcome had the same probabilities of a negative one, a little like flipping a coin.
The sound of the front door slamming sounded from downstairs. Jim jolted backwards. The coin had been flipped for him and the odds had not been in favour. Propelling across the room, Jim all but dived onto the stereo plug, flipping the power socket t the wall and letting the speakers frazzled out abruptly. If Gillian was home, Jim knew that a confrontation would be waiting if he was found to not be at school. At the sound of footsteps up the stairs, Jim grabbed Seb, clapping his hand over the other's mouth and squeezing the two of them under the bed. It was simply an extra precaution but one Jim had always taken since he was a child.
Seb's breath was shallow as Jim clung to him, silently suffocating in the cramped space under Jim's bed. The creaking of the floorboard subsided and one of the doors across the landing opened and closed. Jim let out a long exhale through his nose. Seb gently squeezed his wrist.
"Do you want to come round mine?" Seb whispered. Jim bit his lip and nodded. Crawling out from under the bed, Seb slides open the bedroom window and drops down the drainpipe. Once on the ground, Seb holds out his arms to Jim who is follows after Seb down the pipe, feet and fingers latching in the brackets and the brick work. Ignoring Seb's outstretched arms, Jim drops down onto the gravel. Jim gives Seb a look before linking their arms together.
"I'm perfectly capable of things without your assistance." Jim says playfully, but running off into the street and pulling Seb along with him
"Hey Jimmy." Jim looked up from the latest issue of Vanity Fair as his elder brother burst into his bedroom without knocking "Got a job for you twerp."
Suddenly the magazine is out of Jim's hands and thrown hitting the opposite wall with a smack and flutter of pages. Jim scowled at his brother, folding his arms across his chest and glaring.
"What do you want?" Jim spat bitterly.
"Some of my uni documents need signing, something to do with transactions from mum's bank account into mine. I didn't pay too much attention to it. Just be a good boy and get it sorted will you...get mum to sign."
Jim sighed. 'Getting mum to sign' was code for 'get your forgery pens ready Jim.'
"Fine, but what do I get for it, you know I charge."
"Twenty quid and the latest issue of Vogue"
"There is no way I'm committing felony for twenty quid."
"Forty then."
" Fifty and no less, you also owe me money from last time so I believe that makes it ninety, I'll give you a ten pound discount because I'm nice."
Gillian growled but accepted. Jim smiled when a fat issue of Vogue, alongside the bank documents, was placed into his outstretched hands. The money would come later when the act was complete.
His mother's signature and general handwriting was second nature to Jim. When Jim was younger his parents never signed a consent slips for school trips, or payments or anything for that matter. It wasn't clear if they were just strict, over protecting or simply not interested, all Jim and his brother's knew was that they had to take matters into their own hands. Forgery was simple, with a steady hand, attention to detail and a good memory and as luck had it, Jim was gifted in all three aspects.
Having a criminal flare was also useful, and it was something that the two youngest Moriarty brothers's had a stomach for.
Jim's criminal life was not as colourful as some liked to think. He had never had a taste for killing insects or small animals as a child, which according to record was a common trait in the lives convicted killers. Jim was more a petty criminal, stealing from stalls and corners shops, pick pocketing, forgery, he prided himself on hacking into the school database one time without being caught. There was no underlining reason, Jim just got bored and the challenge was thrilling.
Taking the document to his desk, Jim switched on the lamp and took signature samples out from the top desk draw. Using a black pen, Jim copied his mother's signature perfectly with long, feminine strokes which had wound its way into his natural handwriting after years of forging.
He waited a couple of hours before venturing out of his bedroom and following the smell of cigarette smoke down to the kitchen where his brother sat at the tiny round table. Jim inhaled deeply through his nose, shivering as the passive smoke filled his lungs and holding it until his lung screamed for release. Cigarettes had a scent Jim couldn't get enough of. Gillian looked up from his university textbook, spotting the document in Jim hand and holding out his own hand. Jim eyed it, drawing the hand with the document in backwards as the other reached forward.
"First my money." Jim said coldly. Last time he had been coned out of his money and there was not a chance in hell that it would happen again. Gillian raised his eyebrows, taking the cigarette between his fingers and blowing smoke in Jim's direction.
"You know that isn't how this works little brother, now hand it over"
It would be at this point that the eldest Moriarty brother, Shawn, would intervene. He would take Jim by the shoulder and move in front of him, telling Gillian to leave Jim alone and the two would glare at each other, facing off like rival lions before Gillian unwillingly obeyed. But Shawn now lived in Belfast and Belfast was very far away.
"I know you have the money; I've seen it, so give it to me." Jim growled. Gillian stood, stepping forward and Jim took a cautious step back. A jolt of fear spread through Jim's stomach but he refused to be walked all over.
"Yeah I'll give it to you later Jim." Gillian said smoothly but Jim shook his head, dodging as his elder brother made a grab for the document. Jim ducked under the other's arm and leaned against the counter. He took the document in both hands, wiggling the edges back and forth and pulling lightly. Gillian froze and Jim grinned.
"I'll do it, it would be so easy to rip it in two, or three, of four. So give me my money and I'll give you yours and that way everyone is happy."
"Don't you dare."
"Try me."
Jim's cockiness only lasted for a split second. Gillian lunged forward, grabbing Jim by the wrists and bending them in wrong direction. Jim yelped, the document falling from his hands as his fingers crippled. It fluttered to the floor and landed softly on the tiling. Pain flared in Jim's wrists as he tried to move to ease the angle his wrists were held at. His mind blanked as he begged, pleading his brother to let him go.
Eventually Gillian let go of Jim's wrists, grabbing the back of Jim's head and slamming his face down hard onto the table. Jim gritted his teeth and watched as Gillian ground out his cigarette in the see through ash tray right next to Jim's face. His face hurt and his wrists which we now pinned behind his back were sore. He cringed as Gillian stale nicotine breath washed over him.
"Know your place brother." Gillian hissed, finally letting go. Jim closed his eyes and allowed his legs to collapse from beneath him. slumping in a heap on the tiling, Jim breathed evenly to try and calm his racing heart, ignoring the tears which had pooled in his eyes.
Gillian shook his head, picking the document off the floor and turned back to Jim. Digging around his trouser pocket he took change from his pocket and flicked it onto the floor. Jim watched as the ten pence coin clatter onto the kitchen floor next to his hand.
Gillian walked off, whistling as if it was a job well done.
"I can't believe you don't use your mobile." Jim tutted, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his thick high collar coat and leaning against the wall. Droplets of condensation rolled down the yellow paintwork which was sticky with grease. Sebastian shrugged, fishing notes out of his wallet and passing them over to the person at the counter.
The pair stood in a cheap Chinese take away shop which lay only a few streets away from Sebastian's house. The Dublin air was unusually cold for January and the windows of the take out were steamed up with heat from the kitchen. It reminded Jim for the first night Seb had asked him out to dinner almost two months ago.
"I just don't see the point in it, it's not like I need it or anything." Seb defended as he took the white plastic bag filled with two number 6's, two cans of coke and a side portion of prawn crackers. They skipped the fortune cookies, neither of them believing that fate lay on a simple slip of paper.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard." Jim said, opening the door and holding it open for Sebastian. He was silently thankful that Seb hadn't asked about the bruises on his wrists and he walked cheerfully at the other's side.
"To you yes, you're permanently attached to that iphone of yours."
"And in the 21th century that is not an extraordinary thing."
Seb pulled his coat tighter around him with one hand and rolled his eyes. Jim noticed and elbowed I'm sharply in the ribs.
"C'mon , you know where I am if you need me...not that you need me anyway but it's not like I live thousands of miles away."
Jim scowled, bowing his head and kicking a stone on the pavement with the toe of his converse trainers.
"But what if you leave?" Jim whispered.
Seb frowned, chuckling and wrapping his spare arm around Jim's shoulders.
"I'm not going anywhere , not yet anyway."
It was only a ten minute walked from the Chinese take out to Seb's house and they quickly found themselves back in Seb's kitchen. Sebastian's mother had gone to her friends for the evening and Arthur was in the living room watching what sounded like a James Bond film from the muffled chatter of the television from behind the closed door. Jim looked out of the sliding French doors which lead onto the night darkened garden as Seb moved around him fetching cutlery.
"Seb." Jim cooed "Can we eat outside?"
"What? No it's freezing out there." Seb protested, looking in Jim direction and shivering at the thought of going back out there.
"Please, I see your mother has placed fairy lights on arbour, it would be shame not to appreciate her handy work."
"They've been there since we moved in Jim."
"And I am still yet to see them lit." Seb sighed in defeat.
"Fine, grab some blankets from upstairs and I'll meet you out there."
Jim grinned, squealing in delight before running off upstairs. It made Seb smile and a warm feelings spread in his gut as he gathered up the take away and opened the sliding doors. Outside it was freezing and Seb's breath fogged in the night as he ran up to the arbour and placed the bag of food onto the paving slabs. The arbour was Sebastian mother's pride and joy, decorated with fairy lights and climbing plants which would flower in the spring. Quickly running into the shed, Seb grabbed a pair of solar powered camping lanterns and allowed the white light to glow in the darkness.
The sound of the sliding doors slamming shut made Sebastian look up. He laughed as Jim came waddling up the garden, arms piled high with blankets. Jim scowled at Seb and dumped the blankets on the paving slabs.
It didn't take long to organize the blankets into a spread out heap and soon the two boys were wrapped in fleeces and sat on a thick duvet with tubs of chow mien noodles and egg friends rice between them. The fairy light glow like little amber fireflies above their heads and the white light from the camping lanterns outlined Jim's soft features perfectly.
"You can see Orion again." Jim mumbled with a mouthful of noodles as he looked up at the stars. Seb smirked, looking up and instantly spotting the constellation Jim had taught him to see what seemed like so long ago.
"Orion was a hunter." Jim muttered distantly, no fully aware of what he ws saying "got killed by a scorpion or something like that... I haven't read the myth. It's a myth after all, something primitive people used to explain the existence of giant balls of gas burning somewhere several light years away in space. I guess it was a lot more interesting back then."
"I thought you liked science. " Seb pointed out, teeth crunching on a prawn cracker. Jim nodded and then scowled.
"Yes but its so boring isn't it, everything is so boring. Everyone is made up of the same structure of bones and organs and muscles, all of us gooey bags of blood and meat each desperate to be anything but ordinary. It's so stupid."
Seb could tell that Jim was in one of those moods where he didn't make much sense, but he listened despite the fact Jim wasn't all there.
"If Orion was real." Jim said, pushing the empty box of noodles away and lying back against Seb with his head in the other's lap. "Then he probably had children, I mean, butch hunters often got around a bit."
Seb laughed at that, pulling the blanket up around Jim's shoulders. Jim smiled, twisting onto his side and tugging the edge of the blanket up to his chin. Seb ran his fingers through his hair and pulled the blanket around his shoulders a little tighter as a breeze of cold air whirled around them. Jim's eyes were closed and he was rubbing the light bruised on his left wrist.
"I reckon you'd be Orion Sebastian." Jim muttered.
"Are you saying that I'm terribly butch and I sleep around a lot?"
"No"
There was a pause before Jim spoke again
"But I reckon that I'd be the scorpion, always the winner in the end."
Seb shook his head and smiled. He didn't take what Jim said seriously when he was half asleep, most of it was rambling which he wouldn't remember in the morning and by the time Seb had finished the last of the prawn crackers Jim was fast asleep in his lap.
Gently easing Jim's head off his lap, Seb gathered the empty boxes of Chinese takeout and placed them back into the plastic bag. Then he carefully gathered Jim into his arms, carrying him bridal style back into the house, Jim's head against his shoulder with his arms tucked on top of his belly.
As Seb walked through the hallway, the front door opened and his mother walked in, slipping her shoes off. She looked up and took one look at her eldest son with his boyfriend asleep in his arms and paused. Seb smiled and she reluctantly smiled back, something close to sadness in her eyes.
It was Sunday. Seb had done his normal routine of homework, lounging and boxing and had just had one of the warmest showers of his life. Practising in a shed with no heating was still cold no matter how hard he exercised and the warm water rolling over his skin, washing away the cold gritty sweat was like heaven.
Normally Jim would be over, curled up in Sebastian grey duvet eating marmalade on toast and sipping some of the herbal teas Sebastian's mother kept. Sometimes he would complain about not being allowed to listen to the CD selection he had bought along with him and other times he would happily sing along to Ella Fitzgerald whilst wearing one of Seb's thick jumpers and getting the sleeved sticky with marmalade. But this time Jim had decided not to come round just because he didn't feel like it.
Pulling on a pair of jogging bottoms, Seb went downstairs in the hope of lying on the sofa and watching old black and white films which his mother adored.
"Sebastian, can you come here for a moment." The soft sound of his mother's voice called from the kitchen and Seb willingly did as he was told. Inside the kitchen, Arthur sat at the breakfast bar, drumming his fingers on the counter as his mother stood near the oven. She looked exhausted. Seb took a seat next to his brother, propping his face up with his hand. Their mother took a deep breath, playing with the fabric of his dress nervously. Just as the two Moran brothers started to become worried, she raised her chin and set her lips in a firm line.
"Sebastian, Arthur...you're father and I have been discussing and he has requested that we move back to London."
The silence was deafening. The words hadn't registered yet, they fused in Sebastian's ears, jumbling together and slowing the process of his brain. His mother swallowed and reluctantly continue .
"We think it is best for you boys to be back with your father in a place where you can reach your full potential. I know we have been in Ireland for almost three years now and we have all settled in nicely but- "
"Wait what?" The words had suddenly registered and the words burst from Seb's mouth. He felt like an oncoming train had just hit him and his body was now set alight upon the electric tracks. Seb swallowed but his mouth was dry. "But...but what about Jim, I, I can't, not yet."
"Sebastian I know it's hard but you must consider the future and-"
"No, don't say that, you don't mean it mum you're only doing what he's telling you to do." Seb snarled, fist clenching as he closed his eyes tight. Arthur eased off the bar stool and went to stand next to the wall away from his brother and his growing rage.
"Seb sweetheart please you must understand." Seb's mother said, nodded to Arthur who disappeared out of the room.
"But I don't understand. We are all happier here, I don't see why you put up with him, and I don't see why he should be allowed to ruin everything." His mother's mouth twisted downwards and her eyebrows arched. She wrapped her arms around her eldest son and he pressed his face into her shoulder.
"I know, but there isn't anything I can do, you have to understand that Sebastian, you have to understand that for me."
"I said I wouldn't leave" Whispered Seb, clinging to his mother tightly "I said I wouldn't leave just yet."
