M.01

Jim continued to stand defiantly in his place, the hot rush of blood that lay in his cheeks began to settle and slowly drift towards the back of his neck; he compelled himself to stare into Moran’s rarely meeting gaze. A horripilation of cold seemed to run in an indiscriminate path across his exposed body, certain planes only guarded from the caress by the flushed contact of his own skin.

At the outburst Jim’s face twisted into a wry smile, distracted by the sensation of the fabric against the skin of his palm, he kneaded it lightly as he listened, the man pitying his vulnerable state. He seemed awkward as he tried to make light of the situation.

"You snapped?" He spoke bitterly as he continued to knead the fabric, downcast eyes occasionally glancing at the man but never at his face, "because I teased you.”  His overly bared teeth met over the word, drawing it out, the elongation leaving stretched lips to frame his mouth squarely; causing the syllable to hiss angrily from it’s dentine prison before a sharp tongue came to beat the very front of his palate in conclusion of the word. He nodded repeatedly, wetting his lips before meeting the Sebastian’s eyes, as he spoke he clothed himself in the robe. “Strangely enough I wasn’t teasing you, Sebastian. I received this—” he broke speech only to acknowledge his wound  before continuing, “— for a declaration of my feelings.”

He scoffed at his own words, grinning at the man. His feet padded lightly across the carpeted room as he moved, coming to a stop behind the man. Jim placed his palms against the Moran’s hips, fingertips curling about the ridges of bone against which they lay. Stretching onto the tips on his toes to rest his chin on a convenient shoulder, he used his leverage to press himself flush against the body; forcing it to sway clumsily with him as he spoke.

Really, he couldn't have fucked everything up worse if he'd tried.

Of course, he still wasn't even entirely convinced that Jim went in for all that sex stuff. Sure they'd had a rather quick and embarrassing couple of minutes after he'd been chained up, but that never really led anywhere and resulted in nothing more than frustration and a minor head injury. And, on top of that, Jim had been the one to stop it. No, and this was without taking into account the issue of whether or not Jim was actually capable of feeling something for another human being, especially if that human being was him, Moran himself. 

It all seemed quite preposterous to say the least... that is to say, from Moran's standing. 

"Well, you'll forgive me if I find it hard to believe you," he uttered simply for lack of anything else to say, because really, what can you say to that? 

His voice felt tight in his throat, though it didn't appear to sounds as such. At least, he hoped it didn't. Oh god, he was getting flustered.

His poised fingers held their position of function momentarily in the air as purpose was torn away from them, Jim hadn’t noticed at first, eyes preoccupied with their current point of focus, the sharp curl of the man’s mouth as his teeth snapped out of his vision; planned smile removed as quickly as it had been placed.

The air thickened as Sebastian moved away, Jim felt his cheeks turn hot in answer to the rejection, he tried to calm himself at once before being forced to deal with the knowing yet playful gaze once more, his small hand palmed at the back of his neck, ruffling his damp hair slightly. He forced his arms to return to their resting state at his sides before forcing a smile, one that felt more like a predatory baring of teeth than a reassurance. He seemed stuck between emotions, drifting far too quickly between embarrassment at his vulnerability, and anger towards Sebastian for putting him in the position. He laughed loudly, an unnatural eruption from his throat that seemed to vibrate through the air.

"And how exactly, might I get weird about this? You would do well to remember that you’re the reason I will have to bear this mark." He drove a pointed finger enthusiastically into the air around his wound, the dark unhealed scar that lay there stark upon his face looked jagged and coarse against his ashen skin. "All because you, got weird about this.” 

Well this was... new. Not so much Jim's nakedness. He never appeared to much care about exposing himself (that much was now overtly obvious). However, a rosy staining of cheeks was definitely not something Moran had ever seen upon the Irishman before, flushing to his ears as he was.

There was something peculiar about the sight, something unnatural, as though Jim could just turn around in the next moment with a cheesier grin twisting his lips and a laugh in his throat over just how perfectly he'd played Sebastian, how this was just another silly game and yes, and yes! how perfectly Sebastian had played his part, making a damned fool of himself yet again.

It was convincing though. The indignation as he stood, bare-chested, bare-arsed in the middle of Sebastian's bedroom whilst he himself stood fully clothed and at a complete loss for what he was supposed to do. There were no orders to follow, no indication of what he should be doing.