Well, this was definitely a different job than usual. No killing targets from afar, no cleaning up bodies after others. No. Keeping an eye on the boss’ brother. It was different, but Severin surely wasn’t complaining. It was an easy job. Sure, it took him a lot of time and he had to be careful but it was the easiest thing in a long while.
The man made a mental note to thank his boss and most likely his brother as well for this. For now, he needed to keep his mind at the guy he was following. The bloke was called Richard and all Severin had found out was that he was so terribly mundane. He couldn’t believe that this was Jim Moriarty’s twin. They were nothing alike. Sighing deeply, he casually followed him from a decent distance.
Severin did not realize that the other was on to him. To be honest, he had thought he was doing a marvelous job and that he would never be noticed. Suddenly, Richard picked up his pace, Severin did so too. Maybe the guy needed to go to the bathroom badly or remember he needed to make a phonecall. It didn’t even cross his mind that Richard might feel a bolt of fear because he was being followed.
It was rather dark and cold that night, people going to warmer places. The streets were slowly getting more empty and quiet. Curiosity spiked when Richard unexpectedly turned into an alley. That was odd. The past few days they had taken the same route every time. They were relatively close to the flat so it was unusual for Richard to not continue his way. That, and it was dangerous for thin framed, unarmed young men to walk through alleys like that at a time like this.
Severin jogged after him and went around the corner. No Richard to be seen. Confused, he walked a few steps deeper into the alley. When he passed the inlet where Richard was waiting in, he felt both incredible relief and some kind of horrible dread. He stood there, awkwardly, for a good long moment before he scratched the back of his head and mumbled a hello. “So. Uhm. This is awkward. I-.. guess I shall be going now. Don’t stay in here too long, it’s not safe.” Dreading an angry call of either Jim or his brother, he turned around and walked out of the alley.
However, he couldn’t really leave. It was his job to stay near the man, so he waited next to the entrance for Richard to start moving and go home again. Severin was having an internal reprimand- where his mind scolded him for being so uncareful and blunt- when he heard a sound behind him coming from the ally.
The young man coming into view was, needless to say, not what Richard had expected. A thick muscled man with a rough face and gruffy voice, perhaps… but a slender framed, youthful faced man muttering a surprised ‘hi’ was not what he had pictured.
“Hi…” The actor found himself murmuring back, doe eyes blinking at the man. His brow furrowed as the other continued to talk. Not safe? The guy who had been stalking him for however many days, who did god only knew what for his brother – who just so happened to be the criminal mastermind in all of London and most of Europe – was talking to him about safety?
Right, so not a murdering pedophile who kidnapped people… Still a right weirdo though.
Richard wasn’t in the mood to chat, especially with a man assigned to keep tabs on him and report to brother dearest. All he wanted to do was work: go to auditions, get a job, act. Wasn’t that simple enough? Why was it Jim felt the need to uproot that whenever he found himself finally finding a normal routine?
Without another word to the other man, he turned and moved back down the alley to the other end. Though with the quick movements and slippery pavement it was easy for the actor to lose his footing. Falling was perhaps not the most common thing for someone trained in physical movement to do, but at least he went down gracefully, landing on his arse rather than his face.
If it wasn’t cold enough being early evening in London, it certainly was now with wet trousers. He’d somehow managed to scrap his knee on his way down too. Great, what a way to top off a completely rubbish day.
Pushing himself up quickly, Richard cleared his throat and hurriedly made his way home as if nothing happened; he refused to look back at the man he was sure was still following him – most likely laughing at him now. He was so done with the day. He was going home, taking a nice hot shower and crawling into bed.
Upon arriving back at his flat, that was exactly what Richard did, he stripped his clothes and tossed them into the hamper – glad to be rid of the sticking jeans – and made a bee line for the shower. He only took the time to change into a pair of loose pajama bottoms before making his way into the kitchen. His stomach had been growling at him all through his shower and it wasn’t until he started drying off that he realized he had missed lunch.
