p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strongLight was streaming/strong in through the thin curtains, illuminating the duo. They were both in the place somewhere between deep sleep and being awake, not wanting to move for the fear of waking the other and destroying the moment. What were previously strongly-held hands, were now loosely joined. They faced opposite directions, but they managed to still keep their hands held, even when they were asleep they needed the contact. Jim was the first to move, briefly squeezing Seb's hand before detaching himself and sitting up./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Seb murmured, his eyes flickering open and Jim groaned, rubbing his forehead to ease the hangover headache that he wasn't used to. It had been years since he'd drank to that extent. Seb twisted himself around to look at him, "mh, morning."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He didn't look back and just grunted in response. Seb frowned, sensing that it wasn't going to be the romantic morning he was hoping for. So he just admired to view of Jim's back, with his t-shirt that had shifted up his torso slightly, revealing some skin that Seb was only too happy to gaze at for a while. His dark hair was messy from sleep, sticking out in all directions, making him smile. He looked so normal like this, so ordinary. He could pass for anyone from that angle. He was rubbing his forehead and between his eyes, clearly suffering from a headache./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"The lamp was still on by the door and Jim reached to turn it off, sighing. Seb sat up, feeling a little out of place and more than a little awkward. He wanted to break the silence but didn't dare. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and ran his hands through his hair./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Do you want coffee?" He asked, getting fed up of the atmosphere in the room./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Yeah, ta, and some painkillers if you can find them. They might be in the bathroom, actually..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Back in a minute," he nodded, patting Jim's shoulder once and leaving to make the beverages. Upon getting to the kitchen and putting the kettle on, he sighed loudly and rubbed his eyes. His mind was both racing and completely still. He wasn't sure what to make of everything. He wasn't entirely sure how much he'd told Jim and the same the other way. Only faint details and emotions came to his memory. He poured the coffees and looked for painkillers in the cupboard but didn't find any. He took the mugs upstairs to Jim, who was still rubbing his face in various places and generally just looking like he was in pain. He couldn't help smiling at him, "not much of the drinker, eh?" He held the coffee out to him. Jim looked up and took it after a moment./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Thanks. And no, I haven't drank for years... don't know why I suggested it," the regret was obvious in his voice as he sipped on it./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I'll find something for the headache now," Seb went into the en-suite and opened the mirrored cupboard above the sink, assuming that was the place it would be. There were lots of pills there, things he didn't recognise as household things. He frowned, reading some of the labels. 'Moriarty, James. Chlorpromazine,' 'Moriarty, James. Olanzapine.' They were prescription. He didn't know what they were or what they did but they sounded scary and serious. He never knew he was ill, he didn't seem it./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Swallowing his worry, he searched for and found ordinary painkillers and brought them to Jim. He looked at him differently, this man was more damaged than he ever knew, and there was still a lot that he didn't know. He sensed that he could just see the tip of the iceberg./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Jim was too hungover to bother noting that Seb went into that cupboard, so just took the pills and thanked him. Seb sat next to him and sipped his own drink. They both sat there, in silence apart from the occasional loud sip and Seb's leg tremor rubbing on the carpet. The atmosphere between them was different to what it had ever been before and neither could tell if it was better or worse./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""What's the plan for today, then?" Seb asked, his voice quieter than usual, getting fed up with the silence./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Fuck all, if this headache continues," he sniggered, finally looking across at Seb and smiling at him. His head was resting on his hand and his eyes were glinting. He looked beautiful./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""They'll kick in soon. Stop being a pussy."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Just cause you drink all the time, you're used to it."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Exactly. And this is the only time it's a positive thing, so do forgive me for rubbing it in but I'd be an idiot to pass up the opportunity."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"They both grinned and then a phone pinged. It was Jim's, lighting up on the bedside table. He sighed like a stroppy child./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I don't have any other friends so I'm emnot/em bothered by people yet I emstill/em get texts at too-early o'clock in the morning..." He pouted, grabbing the mobile aggressively and checking it. Seb couldn't read it from his angle, but could tell it wasn't good news from Jim exclaiming, "the bastard!"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""What?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""That bloody Holmes guy got my taxi-Nazi killed."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Seb couldn't help chuckling at the nickname./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Then he lifted a shoulder, putting his phone down, "oh well. I have plenty of other things going on. He wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, was he?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I wouldn't worry," Seb nodded, standing up, "I mean, I'm surprised he lasted this long, to be honest. Anyway, he was just eating into your bank account. Come on, let's do something bad. Let's... I dunno. Let's just do something. Come on," he grabbed his arm and pulled him up with him./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"This was the only thing to make his eyes light up, "sounds good to me."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strong"A warning. That's/strong what he needs, just a warning to back off," Jim was sat upside down on the sofa, with his feet where his head should be. His hands were in front of him, holding his mobile up. Seb just stood there, watching him in amusement. "If I-yeah... I'll give him a case, he likes them. What can I do?" His eyes tilted back, along with his head, to look at Seb, who shrugged./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Well, you want it to be different, right? So, make it personal."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Hm, personal... not too personal."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Are you going to meet him?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I don't know," the cogs in Jim's brain were moving and Seb was sure he could see them. "Wait!" He gasped as the cogs finally did their job. He quickly flipped himself back upright and put his phone down a little too enthusiastically, causing it to smash onto the floor. He didn't care, obviously. "I've got it."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Well, spill then. Don't keep me in suspense, boss."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He grinned at him, "Carl. Carl Powers."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I'm supposed to know who that is?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Jim was in one of his happy, elated moods. He tapped the seat next to him, "sit down. Let me tell you a story."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He sat down next to him and Jim moved, full of energy, so he was facing him, with his legs crossed like a child. Seb mirrored him, wanting to tag onto his good mood. He knew it would come crashing down later so wanted to get the most out of it while he could./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Tell me, then."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Well, when I was 11, there was this kid in my school. His name was Carl and he was a dick. He picked on me and made fun of me. After he did, everyone called me gay and laughed at me," Jim had found himself absent-mindedly playing with the rips on Seb's jeans, picking at the cotton until it frayed. "so I killed him. I thought it was well thought-out at the time, but it wasn't. I slipped poison into his eczema pills and he had a seizure when he was swimming. He drowned. The police suspected nothing, of course. But someone knew. There was someone who, I discovered years later, had rang into the police no less than fourteen times saying that the death was suspicious. They didn't follow it up, he was just a kid. But I was clumsy. Anyway, turns out, after getting in touch with some people, that the kid was actually Sherlock Holmes."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Woah, coincidence," Seb raised an eyebrow./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I know right. Doesn't that seem personal enough?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""It's a great idea, great story. Something to tell the grandkids and all, but how are you going to bring it up? Just pop around and be like, 'oh, hey, you remember that drowned kid? Yeah that was me.'"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Well, no, obviously not. Luckily for me, I used to be obsessive and I kept a little momento..." he thought as he spoke. He got up suddenly and rushed off. Seb couldn't be bothered to follow him, figuring he would come back in a moment, which he did, holding a pair of white trainers through white latex gloves. "emThese/em."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""What are they?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Carl's shoes. His precious shoes, he was known for them throughout the whole school. If I send these to Sherlock... he can try and figure it out. Then we can arrange a emmeeting/em, per say, and I can give him a final warning to back off."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Great idea, boss," Seb nodded and smiled. "Sounds good to me."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""So, just keep an eye on him, alright? See what he's doing. Keep me updated, okay?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He nodded again, "sure. I'll keep you posted." He was smirking at the sight of a gloved Moriarty holding someone else's shoes and looking generally uncomfortable with them. "Are you going to keep holding them?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He sneered at him jokingly and went to put them away./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strongJim had requested/strong that Seb stayed with him every night, until he fell asleep. He wouldn't tell him why, he just insisted on it and, of course, Seb didn't turn him down. He was more than happy to be with him for as long he could. He was more than happy to keep up his mental illusion that they were in a relationship and it was getting increasingly easier to convince himself that they were. He always left, though, once Jim was asleep. He'd admire him for a while, until it felt too invasive and then he'd go back to his own room, his mind racing. He'd think everything over, daydream, and he'd wish and wish before he fell asleep that he could make them real, that one day they'd be more than a desperate man's fantasy./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Jim decided to put the Carl Powers Plan into action when Sherlock had dismantled a smuggling trade he'd set up a few years ago./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I'm not putting up with this, he's getting in my bloody way."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Warn him, then."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""He's bloody stubborn. He won't leave it be, I know he won't."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Then make him," Seb shrugged, looking up at him from his gun which he was polishing. "He's no different to your clients, is he? Scare the shit out of him."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"So they put into place the things they needed in place. Organised a few crimes, killed a few people, semtexed some others. It was all in place, and all the two men had to do was watch them dance./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strongThey sat in/strong Jim's office, their two chairs next to each other, squeezed onto one side of the desk so they could both see the laptop. Seb had a large bowl of popcorn in his lap that they both dipped into, watching Sherlock and John run around trying to be good. Jim was leaning on Seb's shoulder, like he did often. They didn't have to do anything, except Jim had to occasionally type some threatening things into a mobile, which sent it to his "voices." Seb was going to go and kidnap them, but Jim didn't want him to go. He wanted him to watch it with him, which touched Seb a little. He wasn't used to him being so clingy, but he liked it./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Don't you think they should get together?" Jim perked up, pointing at the pair on CCTV footage./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Aren't they already? I thought they were."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Nope, they're in denial."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"They smiled at each other and Jim grabbed a handful of popcorn./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""So when are you meeting him?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""When he solves this, probably. He'll put a message out. It's so funny, he thinks I want those missile plans."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""You already have them. Is he really that stupid?" Seb sniggered. Jim had gotten them weeks ago and wasn't interested whatsoever. Not his forte./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He shrugged, "apparently so."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Seb looked across at him and grinned, "I'm glad I didn't kill you."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Yeah? You are?" He looked different from this angle, his eyes seemed bigger./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Yeah. My life would be boring if I had."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Mine would be too," a smile was playing on his lips but then it disappeared. "Sebby, I need to tell you something."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""What's that?" He kept his tone light but he knew something was up./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""This thing, the Sherlock thing, it's probably going to be quite dangerous."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""So's everything else we do," he shrugged./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""But this is different. I'm involved in this one. My face will be out there, they'll know me. It's different. This is dangerous. Seb, this might kill me."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He frowned at him, "no it won't. You're much more than this. Something like this, like emhim/em, can't kill emyou./em"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""This meeting might. Trust me. It's dangerous."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Seb gave up resisting it and put his arm around his shoulder. Jim looked startled but then relaxed into him, "Then make the most of life while you have it then."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""You know, I just might."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strongSebastian felt a/strong little annoyed, like he had been replaced. Or maybe that it was bothering him that he was at all replacable. But then again, this was a special occasion./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Jim was standing there, beside the pool, hands in his pockets looking adorable, yelling at Sherlock. Seb was holding a rifle, pointing at the detective, along with the other snipers around him, who he'd never met before. There were lots of them, but he couldn't count or he'd go off-target and Jim would get angry. He was on edge. Jim's words were rolling around his head, 'emthis might kill me, this might kill me./em'/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"The whole thing played out, which included Jim getting held by John, leading to Seb nearly having a heart attack, and then he left through the door which led to the stairs near where Seb was, by the changing rooms. Seb rushed down to him, his head throbbing. Jim leaned against the wall and looked at him./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He had the grin on his face of a madman, but there was an underlying sadness that only someone who knew him, like Seb, would notice. When he reached him, they were face-to-face. They were both breathing a little heavier than usual. Jim looked beautiful when he was happy. Seb could see the worry in his eyes and it felt... final./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Seb, this emis/em going to kill me."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"The words he never, ever wanted to hear had just been spoken and he didn't know how the react. His heart was thudding in his chest and he knew, suddenly, what he had to do. He had nothing to lose if Jim was about to die. If he was about to die, there would be no consequences./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"So he put his hands on either side of his face, holding him against the wall of the disused changing-room, and pressed his lips against his. He was desperate, but gentle. It felt surreal to finally do it, after dreaming about it for so long. He was so thrilled to even be kissing him in the first place, that he didn't even notice whether or not he was kissing him back. His lips felt soft and warm and just how he thought they would. They tasted how they looked: delicious. He didn't want it to end – it felt too perfect. But it had to. Seb's thumbs stroked the skin back on his cheeks gently and then he pulled away./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He look in his shocked image and whispered, "I love you."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"However, Jim didn't change his mind upon this revelation. His face was blank. He looked away from his eyes and walked back through the doors, into the swimming pool, to his death./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Seb murmured, his eyes flickering open and Jim groaned, rubbing his forehead to ease the hangover headache that he wasn't used to. It had been years since he'd drank to that extent. Seb twisted himself around to look at him, "mh, morning."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He didn't look back and just grunted in response. Seb frowned, sensing that it wasn't going to be the romantic morning he was hoping for. So he just admired to view of Jim's back, with his t-shirt that had shifted up his torso slightly, revealing some skin that Seb was only too happy to gaze at for a while. His dark hair was messy from sleep, sticking out in all directions, making him smile. He looked so normal like this, so ordinary. He could pass for anyone from that angle. He was rubbing his forehead and between his eyes, clearly suffering from a headache./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"The lamp was still on by the door and Jim reached to turn it off, sighing. Seb sat up, feeling a little out of place and more than a little awkward. He wanted to break the silence but didn't dare. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and ran his hands through his hair./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Do you want coffee?" He asked, getting fed up of the atmosphere in the room./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Yeah, ta, and some painkillers if you can find them. They might be in the bathroom, actually..."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Back in a minute," he nodded, patting Jim's shoulder once and leaving to make the beverages. Upon getting to the kitchen and putting the kettle on, he sighed loudly and rubbed his eyes. His mind was both racing and completely still. He wasn't sure what to make of everything. He wasn't entirely sure how much he'd told Jim and the same the other way. Only faint details and emotions came to his memory. He poured the coffees and looked for painkillers in the cupboard but didn't find any. He took the mugs upstairs to Jim, who was still rubbing his face in various places and generally just looking like he was in pain. He couldn't help smiling at him, "not much of the drinker, eh?" He held the coffee out to him. Jim looked up and took it after a moment./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Thanks. And no, I haven't drank for years... don't know why I suggested it," the regret was obvious in his voice as he sipped on it./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I'll find something for the headache now," Seb went into the en-suite and opened the mirrored cupboard above the sink, assuming that was the place it would be. There were lots of pills there, things he didn't recognise as household things. He frowned, reading some of the labels. 'Moriarty, James. Chlorpromazine,' 'Moriarty, James. Olanzapine.' They were prescription. He didn't know what they were or what they did but they sounded scary and serious. He never knew he was ill, he didn't seem it./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Swallowing his worry, he searched for and found ordinary painkillers and brought them to Jim. He looked at him differently, this man was more damaged than he ever knew, and there was still a lot that he didn't know. He sensed that he could just see the tip of the iceberg./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Jim was too hungover to bother noting that Seb went into that cupboard, so just took the pills and thanked him. Seb sat next to him and sipped his own drink. They both sat there, in silence apart from the occasional loud sip and Seb's leg tremor rubbing on the carpet. The atmosphere between them was different to what it had ever been before and neither could tell if it was better or worse./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""What's the plan for today, then?" Seb asked, his voice quieter than usual, getting fed up with the silence./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Fuck all, if this headache continues," he sniggered, finally looking across at Seb and smiling at him. His head was resting on his hand and his eyes were glinting. He looked beautiful./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""They'll kick in soon. Stop being a pussy."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Just cause you drink all the time, you're used to it."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Exactly. And this is the only time it's a positive thing, so do forgive me for rubbing it in but I'd be an idiot to pass up the opportunity."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"They both grinned and then a phone pinged. It was Jim's, lighting up on the bedside table. He sighed like a stroppy child./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I don't have any other friends so I'm emnot/em bothered by people yet I emstill/em get texts at too-early o'clock in the morning..." He pouted, grabbing the mobile aggressively and checking it. Seb couldn't read it from his angle, but could tell it wasn't good news from Jim exclaiming, "the bastard!"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""What?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""That bloody Holmes guy got my taxi-Nazi killed."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Seb couldn't help chuckling at the nickname./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Then he lifted a shoulder, putting his phone down, "oh well. I have plenty of other things going on. He wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, was he?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I wouldn't worry," Seb nodded, standing up, "I mean, I'm surprised he lasted this long, to be honest. Anyway, he was just eating into your bank account. Come on, let's do something bad. Let's... I dunno. Let's just do something. Come on," he grabbed his arm and pulled him up with him./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"This was the only thing to make his eyes light up, "sounds good to me."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strong"A warning. That's/strong what he needs, just a warning to back off," Jim was sat upside down on the sofa, with his feet where his head should be. His hands were in front of him, holding his mobile up. Seb just stood there, watching him in amusement. "If I-yeah... I'll give him a case, he likes them. What can I do?" His eyes tilted back, along with his head, to look at Seb, who shrugged./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Well, you want it to be different, right? So, make it personal."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Hm, personal... not too personal."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Are you going to meet him?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I don't know," the cogs in Jim's brain were moving and Seb was sure he could see them. "Wait!" He gasped as the cogs finally did their job. He quickly flipped himself back upright and put his phone down a little too enthusiastically, causing it to smash onto the floor. He didn't care, obviously. "I've got it."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Well, spill then. Don't keep me in suspense, boss."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He grinned at him, "Carl. Carl Powers."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I'm supposed to know who that is?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Jim was in one of his happy, elated moods. He tapped the seat next to him, "sit down. Let me tell you a story."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He sat down next to him and Jim moved, full of energy, so he was facing him, with his legs crossed like a child. Seb mirrored him, wanting to tag onto his good mood. He knew it would come crashing down later so wanted to get the most out of it while he could./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Tell me, then."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Well, when I was 11, there was this kid in my school. His name was Carl and he was a dick. He picked on me and made fun of me. After he did, everyone called me gay and laughed at me," Jim had found himself absent-mindedly playing with the rips on Seb's jeans, picking at the cotton until it frayed. "so I killed him. I thought it was well thought-out at the time, but it wasn't. I slipped poison into his eczema pills and he had a seizure when he was swimming. He drowned. The police suspected nothing, of course. But someone knew. There was someone who, I discovered years later, had rang into the police no less than fourteen times saying that the death was suspicious. They didn't follow it up, he was just a kid. But I was clumsy. Anyway, turns out, after getting in touch with some people, that the kid was actually Sherlock Holmes."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Woah, coincidence," Seb raised an eyebrow./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I know right. Doesn't that seem personal enough?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""It's a great idea, great story. Something to tell the grandkids and all, but how are you going to bring it up? Just pop around and be like, 'oh, hey, you remember that drowned kid? Yeah that was me.'"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Well, no, obviously not. Luckily for me, I used to be obsessive and I kept a little momento..." he thought as he spoke. He got up suddenly and rushed off. Seb couldn't be bothered to follow him, figuring he would come back in a moment, which he did, holding a pair of white trainers through white latex gloves. "emThese/em."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""What are they?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Carl's shoes. His precious shoes, he was known for them throughout the whole school. If I send these to Sherlock... he can try and figure it out. Then we can arrange a emmeeting/em, per say, and I can give him a final warning to back off."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Great idea, boss," Seb nodded and smiled. "Sounds good to me."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""So, just keep an eye on him, alright? See what he's doing. Keep me updated, okay?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He nodded again, "sure. I'll keep you posted." He was smirking at the sight of a gloved Moriarty holding someone else's shoes and looking generally uncomfortable with them. "Are you going to keep holding them?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He sneered at him jokingly and went to put them away./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strongJim had requested/strong that Seb stayed with him every night, until he fell asleep. He wouldn't tell him why, he just insisted on it and, of course, Seb didn't turn him down. He was more than happy to be with him for as long he could. He was more than happy to keep up his mental illusion that they were in a relationship and it was getting increasingly easier to convince himself that they were. He always left, though, once Jim was asleep. He'd admire him for a while, until it felt too invasive and then he'd go back to his own room, his mind racing. He'd think everything over, daydream, and he'd wish and wish before he fell asleep that he could make them real, that one day they'd be more than a desperate man's fantasy./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Jim decided to put the Carl Powers Plan into action when Sherlock had dismantled a smuggling trade he'd set up a few years ago./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""I'm not putting up with this, he's getting in my bloody way."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Warn him, then."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""He's bloody stubborn. He won't leave it be, I know he won't."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Then make him," Seb shrugged, looking up at him from his gun which he was polishing. "He's no different to your clients, is he? Scare the shit out of him."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"So they put into place the things they needed in place. Organised a few crimes, killed a few people, semtexed some others. It was all in place, and all the two men had to do was watch them dance./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strongThey sat in/strong Jim's office, their two chairs next to each other, squeezed onto one side of the desk so they could both see the laptop. Seb had a large bowl of popcorn in his lap that they both dipped into, watching Sherlock and John run around trying to be good. Jim was leaning on Seb's shoulder, like he did often. They didn't have to do anything, except Jim had to occasionally type some threatening things into a mobile, which sent it to his "voices." Seb was going to go and kidnap them, but Jim didn't want him to go. He wanted him to watch it with him, which touched Seb a little. He wasn't used to him being so clingy, but he liked it./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Don't you think they should get together?" Jim perked up, pointing at the pair on CCTV footage./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Aren't they already? I thought they were."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Nope, they're in denial."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"They smiled at each other and Jim grabbed a handful of popcorn./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""So when are you meeting him?"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""When he solves this, probably. He'll put a message out. It's so funny, he thinks I want those missile plans."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""You already have them. Is he really that stupid?" Seb sniggered. Jim had gotten them weeks ago and wasn't interested whatsoever. Not his forte./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He shrugged, "apparently so."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Seb looked across at him and grinned, "I'm glad I didn't kill you."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Yeah? You are?" He looked different from this angle, his eyes seemed bigger./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Yeah. My life would be boring if I had."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Mine would be too," a smile was playing on his lips but then it disappeared. "Sebby, I need to tell you something."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""What's that?" He kept his tone light but he knew something was up./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""This thing, the Sherlock thing, it's probably going to be quite dangerous."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""So's everything else we do," he shrugged./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""But this is different. I'm involved in this one. My face will be out there, they'll know me. It's different. This is dangerous. Seb, this might kill me."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He frowned at him, "no it won't. You're much more than this. Something like this, like emhim/em, can't kill emyou./em"/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""This meeting might. Trust me. It's dangerous."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Seb gave up resisting it and put his arm around his shoulder. Jim looked startled but then relaxed into him, "Then make the most of life while you have it then."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""You know, I just might."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"strongSebastian felt a/strong little annoyed, like he had been replaced. Or maybe that it was bothering him that he was at all replacable. But then again, this was a special occasion./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"Jim was standing there, beside the pool, hands in his pockets looking adorable, yelling at Sherlock. Seb was holding a rifle, pointing at the detective, along with the other snipers around him, who he'd never met before. There were lots of them, but he couldn't count or he'd go off-target and Jim would get angry. He was on edge. Jim's words were rolling around his head, 'emthis might kill me, this might kill me./em'/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"The whole thing played out, which included Jim getting held by John, leading to Seb nearly having a heart attack, and then he left through the door which led to the stairs near where Seb was, by the changing rooms. Seb rushed down to him, his head throbbing. Jim leaned against the wall and looked at him./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He had the grin on his face of a madman, but there was an underlying sadness that only someone who knew him, like Seb, would notice. When he reached him, they were face-to-face. They were both breathing a little heavier than usual. Jim looked beautiful when he was happy. Seb could see the worry in his eyes and it felt... final./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT""Seb, this emis/em going to kill me."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"The words he never, ever wanted to hear had just been spoken and he didn't know how the react. His heart was thudding in his chest and he knew, suddenly, what he had to do. He had nothing to lose if Jim was about to die. If he was about to die, there would be no consequences./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"So he put his hands on either side of his face, holding him against the wall of the disused changing-room, and pressed his lips against his. He was desperate, but gentle. It felt surreal to finally do it, after dreaming about it for so long. He was so thrilled to even be kissing him in the first place, that he didn't even notice whether or not he was kissing him back. His lips felt soft and warm and just how he thought they would. They tasted how they looked: delicious. He didn't want it to end – it felt too perfect. But it had to. Seb's thumbs stroked the skin back on his cheeks gently and then he pulled away./p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"He look in his shocked image and whispered, "I love you."/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.8004px;" align="LEFT"However, Jim didn't change his mind upon this revelation. His face was blank. He looked away from his eyes and walked back through the doors, into the swimming pool, to his death./p
