moving day

[searchingfordistraction]

". . . you want me to what?"

"I know you heard me."

"I think," Moran said, "it's time we discuss my next pay rise."

Jim rolled his eyes. "This isn't a job, Seb, it's a favor. You're free to say no."

Moran eyed him for a moment. Then he pulled out his mobile.



Long story short, here he is now, in a fake flat, with fake possessions in need of fake removal to another fake flat, with Jim all kitted up as Rich Brook on the sofa next to him, waiting for the doorbell to announce the arrival of a man who decided Icarus Removals was the kind of name that would inspire confidence in potential customers.

Jim fucking owes him.

Comments

[searchingfordistraction]

He smiles, sharp and with no humor in it at all.

"Or you'll find out."

[mm_z]

"Charming," Douglas says. He's bored now. He has half a mind to stick around to make sure this psychotic little bastard doesn't hurt Martin, but he really would like to have an 'I told you so' moment.

"Anyway, I really must be going now."

He doesn't bother with a goodbye, and on his way out, he passes Martin. After a brief argument about emptying pockets (which Martin somehow manages to win), Douglas gets into his car and drives off.

(Martin, to his credit, actually manages to resist picking up a rock at throwing it at the car as it drives away.)

[searchingfordistraction]

Rich emerges from the flat a moment later and steps up next to Martin, frowning.

"He seemed nice."

[captaincrieff]

"Sorry about that," Martin says. "Most people don't actually like him, so it's OK if you don't. They only tolerate him because he'll drive you mad otherwise."

He frowns at the spot the car had been parked and goes back to loading boxes onto the trolley.

[searchingfordistraction]

He shrugs.

"It's all right," he says. "Not your fault."

One of those statements may be a lie. Hint: it's not the second one.

[captaincrieff]

Martin sighs deeply, trying to calm himself down. It's a small miracle he hasn't had a heart attack yet, for all Douglas does to his blood pressure.

"I've only got a few boxes left," he says. "Then we can go back and get the rest from Sebastian. He's probably needing more help."

[searchingfordistraction]

"Yeah."

He runs his hands through his hair, giving himself a little shake.

"Good thing I came instead," he remarks, deliberately lightening his tone. "Seb would have punched him."

Which would not have done much for anyone's punctuality.

[captaincrieff]

"I don't think he'd be the first."

Oh, was Martin supposed to defend Douglas right there? Sorry, he's not really in the mood to lie to himself (or Rich) about the relationship he has with him.

He takes the boxes inside now that he's somewhat calmed down and stacks them next to the rest, having completely forgotten where they'd come from. Seb can work it out when he unpacks.

[searchingfordistraction]

His fault for leaving them unlabelled, anyway.

Rich is quiet as they finish up; he doesn't talk again until they're back in the van, when he blurts out,

"I may have done something a bit stupid back there."

[captaincrieff]

"Oh, god," Martin says. "You didn't try to bet him on anything did you? He always wins, usually because he fixes the results somehow."

He's still convinced that Douglas somehow manufactured that thunder storm.

[searchingfordistraction]

"No, um."

He is not squirming. But he might be blushing a little.

"You know that performance art thing I told you about? Where I play that mad criminal?"

[captaincrieff]

"Oh, you didn't?" Martin asks.

And then he laughs, because what else can he do?

"I guess that explains why he was so keen to get out of there all of a sudden."

[searchingfordistraction]

"Yeah, I did," he confesses.

He looks hopefully up at Martin.

"You're not angry?" Because that was kind of what he was expecting. He'd be less than thrilled if it were him.

[captaincrieff]

"Are you kidding?" asks Martin. "I can count on less than one hand the amount of times I've seen someone get one over on Douglas."

He's actually quite chuffed, and can't wait to rub this one in Douglas' face.

[searchingfordistraction]

He relaxes, immensely relieved, and grins.

"I tried not to let him get to me, but I couldn't help it," he says. "But I could tell that if I put one foot wrong, you'd hear about it for the rest of your life. So I guess I decided to get creative."

[captaincrieff]

Martin hears about everything for the rest of his life. He's used to it.

"Well, hey. Now that I know we live in the same, you know... place, you'll have to let me know when you're doing something. I'd love to see you in action."

Acting, he means. Even when he is relaxed, he's still a bit awkward. It's something of a gift.

[searchingfordistraction]

Somehow, despite the fact that he was already smiling, Rich manages to brighten further.

"Yeah! I will. I mean, I haven't got anything live on right now, unless you count the performance art. Which, I guess there's nothing stopping you coming to the Tower that day, and you wouldn't get in any trouble as long as you didn't let on you knew me. But you'd have to miss all the really good bits." He shakes his head. "Sorry, I'm rambling, that's probably not the best idea."

He's still smiling, though.

[captaincrieff]

No, it doesn't really sound like the best of ideas, if we're honest.

"You'll have to let me know when you've got something on," he says. "Something that won't end in a dozen police cars, that is."

And Martin'll just have to hope that when he does get something on, it's not at a time when MJN are halfway around the world with another engine failure.

[searchingfordistraction]

"I will," Rich promises.

Any unease that had been lingering in him from Douglas's visit has been entirely wiped away.

[captaincrieff]

Martin rather likes hearing that.

They make it back to the flat without crossing paths with any other annoying co-workers. Martin once more doesn't waste any time in getting back inside to get the rest of the boxes and to help pack anything that may still need to be done. Since it seems to have been mostly Seb doing all the packing work, it wouldn't surprise Martin if Seb was still going at it.

At least by now, nothing about his attitude should betray the chance meeting with Douglas, and just how well that had gone.

[catslash_rp]

The packing is nearly done. Funny, how much faster completely unnecessary work can go without Jim around.

(Moran can tell something has happened to irritate Jim, but he gives no sign of it. Jim will fill him in later if he needs to know.)

"He didn't slow you down too much, did he?" he asks Crieff, half-joking.

[captaincrieff]

"What? Uh. No."

Obviously something slowed them down, but it wasn't Rich.

"Everything went just fine."

Lies. He covers this by loading up more boxes. He's not the worst liar he knows, but he is pretty horrible.

[searchingfordistraction]

"I had trouble with the keys," Rich puts in. "What do you need so many keys for? Do you keep them as souvenirs?"

Look, he's not going to be the one to tell Seb someone was in his new flat without permission just because Rich and Martin combined couldn't seem to stop him.

(Seb flicks him a glance, but obligingly says something about how he should probably thin them out, yeah, now Rich mentions it, and lets it go.)

[captaincrieff]

Martin will get to that subject once they're finished. Causing a problem now will just delay things further, and he doesn't even want to get into the mess that will cause.

"I've got a few that I still don't know what they do, and I've had them for years," Martin says. "And I'm afraid to get rid of them, because that's when I'll remember what they're for."

And with that, he's out to the van with another stack of boxes on the trolley.

[catslash_rp]

The rest of the move goes off without a hitch.

Contrary to Moran's initial expectations, Jim is still with them at the end of it. He's not even trying to guess why.

"Thanks, Martin," he says as he writes out the check (which he will make certain he is reimbursed for; even with the tip it's not that much, but it's the bloody principle of the thing). "Care to join us for a beer before you go?"