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Jim knew that Sebastian wasn't a patient man. For a job, for his work, for a kill, Colonel Moran could be very patient. Outside of work, Moran was anything but. The first word Sebastian ever learned in a new language was never curses (like the normal, dull people would) or practical words (toilet being the most practical), but the words for speed (Hurry up, faster, quicker). When trying to get Moriarty out of the flat to head off to work Moran would start yelling in Russian. "Bistra, Bistra," (faster, faster). Sebastian didn't like to wait.
This was why, at the end of a month after Moriarty confronted Sebastian about the ex-soldier's infatuation with Molly Hooper, Jim felt very comfortable with being surprised that Sebastian hadn't acted on his feelings for the doctor. Jim had waited for any sign of Sebastian's disloyalty. He gave Moran plenty of opportunity. Molly had been around a lot more since they get back from Israel, and had spent the past two weeks sleeping in Sebastian's bed.
Moriarty had noted that sometimes Sebastian would get up in the middle of the night for a few hours. It was a sign of weakness that Moran couldn't stay in bed with the doctor. Yet Moriarty recognized it also as a sign of strength. Will power was something most people didn't have. Moran had very strong will power, but he only used it for selected occasions. Sebastian had Molly Hooper pressed against him night after night, vulnerable and easy prey to the stronger man. Yet neither had succumbed. In fact, Molly Hooper seemed completely oblivious about it all.
On the first of the new month Jim woke at three in the morning to find Sebastian watching MASH again. "Up to watch the sunrise?" Jim asked. Sebastian didn't even bother jumping, just turned around and looked at his boss.
"You know why I'm up," Sebastian said blankly before turning back to the TV.
"Too bad the woman and the bed are in there," Moriarty said, vaulting over the back of the sofa, plopping down next to Sebastian.
"Exactly," Sebastian said, leaning back in the sofa.
"You want me to send her away?"
"No," Sebastian said quickly. He froze, wondering if he'd just made a very serious mistake, then he sighed. "I'll take the pittance," he said.
"I'm sure most men wouldn't see such an opportunity as such."
"If, hypothetically, I were to sleep with Miss Hooper there are only three possible outcomes. One: You can kill me for betraying you. Two: you can kill her for leading me astray. Three: You can kill both of us, though I doubt that you will."
"You think very highly of yourself." Moriarty's voice was blank.
"I think that you don't see any point in getting rid of two of your own when getting rid of just one will do, especially when the other will remain anyway." Sebastian sounded exhausted, like he wasn't sleeping.
"True," Moriarty said. "Which option do you prefer?"
"One," Moran said, making Jim cock an eyebrow.
"Never a good idea to admit weakness around me, you know," Moriarty said in a taunting tone.
"Like I had another choice. Either I'm an idiot in love, or a coward. Frankly, I'd rather be a coward."
"Stupid men die for honor."
"And cowards die a thousand deaths," Sebastian said. It was an old argument, one they'd been having (in the most academic sense) since Sebastian came to work for Jim Moriarty.
"You haven't acted on it at all," Jim said, jumping back topics.
"No."
"You don't plan to."
"No," Sebastian said, taking the remote and pausing his show. He couldn't watch it with Jim talking to him anyway.
"You're a fool, Moran."
"I am well aware, sir," Sebastian said, glancing at his boss. "I'm not going to act on it. I wouldn't put her in danger, not that she would go for me over you in the first place. I could seduce her, but she'd hate me for it forever, especially if it turned you away from her. And most of all: I will never, never betray you for any reason. She's your woman. It was my duty, therefore, to protect her as well as you, and this includes protecting her from myself."
"You're very philosophical today," Moriarty said, a queerness to his tone.
"It happens when I become sleep deprived."
"Molly doesn't know."
"No, she doesn't." Sebastian hesitated, looking at the blank screen to avoid looking at Jim.
"You don't plan to tell her."
"I never will."
"Then I should, she who she picks," Jim said, moving to stand up. He didn't get very far, though. Sebastian's hand and shot out, grabbing his arm.
"Christ, Boss! You can't!"
"I can't?" Moriarty was smirking. That was a bad sign. Jim hated being told he couldn't do anything.
"Boss, please. You can't tell her. She can't know. If she knows she's going to want to deal with it. I'm handling it right now. I can't handle it if she looks at me and I see fear. I can't handle her worrying about being in my bed and what I'll do to her and what you'll do if I slip. I'm handling it right now. I'm happy with what I have. So please, for all that I have served you and have been loyalty you and will never slip in that loyalty, will just grant me this?"
Sebastian begging was fascinating. Jim could never get him to do it for anything. He'd never tried very hard, he didn't want to break his best sniper, after all. It was just a game to him, a puzzle. It fascinated Jim that Sebastian could beg like this. He begged for a woman. He begged for the merest scrap of affection. He begged to be able to at least look at something that would forever torture him because he could not truly touch it.
But Sebastian did make a few good points. Molly belonged to Jim completely. She lived her double life (friend to Sherlock Holmes, lover to Jim Moriarty), but she would pick Jim over Sherlock. This was why Jim found her so interesting. The perfect little girl picking scraps of affection from a man who couldn't love her and was a criminal, to a man who could provide her at least some acknowledgement and friendship (on a very shallow level) and who worked for the angels. Molly Hooper wasn't that different from Sebastian Moran, when Jim thought of it.
Sebastian was loyal, very loyal. When Jim inevitably would have to kill Colonel Sebastian Moran, it would be for a failure of a mission, not for lack of loyalty. Sebastian's abilities for fail him before he would waver from Jim's side. Jim realized he really wasn't being fair to his sniper. Sebastian was a better man than Sebastian himself believed. Violence aside, Sebastian was the perfect man for Moriarty to have. He liked (or at least could deal with) everything his boss liked. This extended to his boss's woman.
When Jim thought of it that way, it wasn't so much that Sebastian and Molly would be cheating on him. They were his, things that belong to him. They could were like his pets. Two pet cats mating didn't make them any less property of their owner unless their owner chose to abandon them.
"Alright," Jim said.
"You won't tell?" Sebastian asked, sounding hesitant, but relieved.
"No, but you will," Jim said.
Sebastian tensed. "Boss… please?" He sounded so desperate. Jim could see it in Sebastians mind: telling Molly. Molly's reaction (shocked and initially accepting, and kind rejection). Molly beginning to look at Sebastian differently. Molly refusing to be around Sebastian. Sebastian being denied Molly completely by Molly's own choice.
"Don't be so melodramatic," Jim scoffed. "You'll tell her, and ask her out for a coffee."
"I don't understand," Sebastian said.
"You two fucking is no more than two of my Ethernet cables tangling up in the drawer: a temporary annoyance that doesn't make either of you any less useful," Jim said, waving it off.
"I don't… are you… Boss, are you telling me to date your woman?"
"I'm telling you that unless I want her at that particular moment, you are allowed to do with her as you wish. Though, you should know that I don't like having damaged what belongs to me."
"I would never hurt her," Sebastian said instantly. It was a loving confession. Jim just stared at him blankly.
"Go back to bed," Jim said, taking the remote and hitting play again. At the moment Jim found Hawkeye Peirce more interesting than Sebastian Moran.