Sebastian watched closely as Jim - James - looked out of the window.

He knew that Jim wasn’t coming back. It wasn’t like one of those crappy movies that would be on TV once a month where the patient saw their childhood home and suddenly remembered everything.

He almost wished it would happen, by this point he didn’t care how cheesy it would be. He didn’t even care that Jim would probably kill him for daring to keep him alive like this.

His mind wandered - or rather fled, because he could barely stand this - to the last time he had been on the London Eye with Jim. It had been timed perfectly. They had set the explosives then Jim had practically dragged him halfway across London and shoved twenty or so tourists aside to get the chamber that would be at the exact highest point to catch the view. Jim had watched, laughing like a maniac, as the building went up in flames, so far in the distance. The consulting criminal must have come up with over twenty analogies for what the explosion looked like from so high up, but none of them had quite matched. It wasn’t like a candle, not really just a spark…

James did no such thing. He watched pensively, ignoring the few other tourists that milled around him.

When they reached the bottom again James still didn’t say anything, he simply took Sebastian’s hand and allowed the sniper to lead him back out into the streets of London.

It was only in the taxi on the way home that James said anything. He was leaning against Sebastian’s shoulder, half asleep and making small movements with his hands.

“Like a lighter, Seb. Phwoosh.”

And Sebastian froze, stuck still as James fell asleep against him.

—-

((I’m becoming slightly fond of this little AU. Hope you liked it and feel free to send prompts, image prompts, headcannon questions and general spam my way))