The Wire- "The Detail",Part 1- NC-17
Title: The Detail
Fandom: The Wire
Pairing: Jimmy McNulty/ Stringer Bell
Genre: AU/Drama/Sexual Relationship
Rating: NC-17 for explicit sex, (although not so much in this part) and for very bad language :)
Summary: The Barksdale Detail becomes personal when Jimmy becomes obsessed with Stringer.
Word Count for Part 1: 3,486
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to “The Wire” and I’m not making any money from this.
Prompt 1: Joker prompt- bedroom
****
“Mr. Bell may be running with the hounds, but his heart is still with the fox.”
***
“You know, you’re becoming obsessive over this case, Jimmy,” Bunk said as he watched Jimmy drink his fifth shot of Jameson’s.
“I’m not,” Jimmy replied, slurring his words only a little. It took a lot more than a few shots to make Jimmy more than tipsy.
“You are. Look at you, man! You eat, sleep and think this case all day long! And then at night you drink because of it! Don’t lie to Bunk, you know it’s true!” he cut Jimmy off before he had a chance to protest. “Something about this case is different. Something is getting under your skin. Now tell me what-or who it is before you self destruct!”
Jimmy shook his head. “It’s just- fuck- it seems like we’re going in circles. We get something, they find out and switch up on us and then we have to track them down all over again. It never fuckin’ ends.”
“That’s the job, Jimmy. It’s always been that way. Why is this detail bothering you so much you can hardly function?”
Jimmy sighed. Bunk was probably his best friend, but he couldn’t possibly expect him to understand the real reason this case was driving him crazy.
He couldn’t even understand it himself.
Bunk was right. This detail was getting under his skin. He was also right when he said it was a “someone” getting under his skin.
Stringer fucking Bell was driving him to drink.
“I’m in too deep, I think I lost some perspective,” Jimmy said, instead. It wasn’t a lie. He just wasn’t telling Bunk WHY he lost perspective.
“Why?” Bunk asked.
Jimmy had no answer other than the truth. Maybe, he could tell Bunk who it was without explaining the real reason he was obsessed with Stringer.
“It’s Stringer.” He said, softly.
“Stinger? Stringer Bell? What the fuck, Jimmy? Why are you letting that asshole get to you? He’s just another motherfucker, like the thousands of other motherfucker’s out there we’ve seen.”
“No!” Jimmy said sharply. “He’s not! He’s different!”
Bunk looked dubious.
“Why? What’s so fucking special about him?”
Jimmy took a deep breath. How far could he explain this without telling Bunk the whole truth?
“He’s fucking brilliant, Bunk. He wants to reform things. Build a collective instead of these stupid rival factions. Stop the killings. He’s got a first rate mind. When Avon was away Stringer expanded not only his operations, but the legitimate businesses as well. If he were to get out of the game and get more education he could be CEO of some fucking company. Hell, he could even have his own!”
Bunk stared at him. “Jimmy, have you lost your fuckin’ mind? He’s a goddamn criminal! He and Avon have had people killed!”
“That’s Avon! Look, I’m not saying that he’s a saint. I’m not saying he’s not a criminal. It’s just-we’ve never come across anyone like him before. Most of the guys are straight up “gangstas”, and that’s all they know. That’s all they want to know. Stringer is different.”
“If he’s so fuckin’ special, why didn’t he get out of the projects when he became an adult and make money legitimately?”
“Oh come on, Bunk. You know the life the kids live growing up in West Baltimore. Growing up in the row houses, the Towers. They start so young with the drug crews that by the time they’re teenagers they don’t know anything else. And then there’s Avon," Jimmy said the name somewhat bitterly.
“Yeah? What about him?”
“Well, he’s Stringer’s closest friend. They grew up together. I’m sure Stringer felt like he couldn’t leave him behind. And Avon is too stupid; no check that-he’s not stupid. He’s just short sighted and can’t think beyond corners and reups and drug money. He likes being a “gangsta”. I think Bell likes being a businessman”
“That’s no excuse for him not leaving the game, McNulty,” Bunk insisted.
“I know. It’s that Stringer doesn’t have anyone else.”
“Oh boo hoo. If he wanted to he could. He’d rather hang around Avon and his family. Why you think that is?” Bunk laughed. “Maybe they’re fuckin’!”
“That’s not true!” Jimmy said sharply.
“How do you know? Just because Avon always has women around doesn’t mean he’s not bi. And think about it. Do you ever see Stringer with any women? No. I’m telling you. Stringer’s on his knees for Avon in more ways than one.”
“Bunk, shut the fuck up, will ya?” Jimmy shook his head to clear the image of Stringer on his knees sucking Avon’s cock. Or Stringer on his knees while Avon fucked him from behind.
“What? I’m just screwing around. Why do you care what I say about them?” Bunk leaned back in his chair and Jimmy saw a light dawn in his eyes.
“Oh, Jimmy, don’t fuckin’ tell me!”
“Tell you what?” Jimmy looked at the ceiling, at the floor, everywhere but at Bunk.
“You wanna fuck this guy?”
“No-Christ, let’s drop it, ok? I can’t have a fuckin’ serious conversation with you! You asked why I found this case different. What’s different about Stringer? I tell you and you gotta start talking about him and Avon fucking!”
“So what? We talk shit all the time. It’s the truth, isn’t it? You want him and that’s why you’re acting in self medicating mode. You can’t face the fact that you want him.”
“Fuck!” Jimmy yelled. “Yes, ok! I do want him. I also know I’ll never have him, and that’s making me crazy. I fuckin’ dream about this shit, Bunk, when I can sleep. That’s why I drink at night. I want to fall asleep and stay that way. When I wake up I don’t want the first thing I think about to be Stringer but it is. What can I do about it?”
“Step away, Jimmy,” Bunk said softly. “Get yourself off this detail and back in homicide. Stay the hell away from Stringer or you can get in a shitload of trouble. Trouble so bad even the judge who wants to fuck you he’ll do anything for you won’t save you.”
Jimmy leaned back in his chair and smiled mournfully.
“I don’t think I can do that, Bunk. I’ve got to see this through now.”
“Then Jimmy, you are seriously fucked.”
“I know,” Jimmy admitted, and downed another shot.
**
He dreamt of Stringer, on his knees in front of Avon. He was sucking his cock with abandon, deep throating him, bringing sounds of pleasure from Avon’s mouth. The scene changed and Jimmy saw Stringer on his knees on a bed, as Avon prepared to fuck him. Legs spread out, waiting to be filled up by Avon. He saw the expression of pain that turned to pleasure on Stringer’s face as Avon thrust into him. He saw Stringer pushing back to meet Avon’s thrusts. Pushing as hard as he was being pushed. Avon’s face didn’t have the smug look he usually wore. Instead, he had his eyes closed and his face looked like he was in ecstasy.
Even in dreams, Jimmy hated Avon. Envied him the closeness he had to Stringer.
Then the dream changed and it was Jimmy with Stringer. This time it was Stringer who was doing the fucking, and Jimmy lying beneath him. Unlike his dream of Avon and Stringer, however, in his dream Stringer wanted Jimmy to face him, wanted to see his face, look into his eyes. At first it was to taunt him, laugh at him for his weakness and his obsession. Then it was because he wanted to see his face when he came, then it was because he wanted him. He wanted to kiss him, wanted him close.
When they both climaxed, Jimmy woke up, drenched in his own come.
Even in his dreams Stringer haunted Jimmy.
******
“What’s wrong with you?” His partner Kema asked when he came in the next morning.
He knew he looked bad. He had dark circles under his eyes and his normally pale face was even paler.
“Nothing. Just not sleeping well,” he muttered.
“It’s this case,” Kema nodded. “Got us all on edge.”
“Yeah,” he paused. “I’m thinking of packing it in. Going back to homicide, you know?”
Kema looked at him as though he had sprouted another head and said, “You have got to be fucking kidding me. We’ve come so far and now you’re going to give up?”
“That’s just it. We come so far and then they catch up and move forward. For many reasons, the main one being that the powers that be don’t want to know who’s involved in the drug trade! And why? Because it might embarrass those in high places! No one wants us to really work this case. We have to fight for everything we get, and we’re always a step behind. Stringer’s got us running in circles and I’m tired of it. Tired of feeling like a fool, tired of ruining my mental health over this.”
Kema snorted. “Your mental health? Don’t bullshit me, Detective. Now, what’s the fucking problem?”
“I just told you!” Jimmy exclaimed. “Sorry, I don’t want to argue and I don’t mean to sound like I’m pissed. I just need to get away.”
“The Jimmy McNulty I know would never walk away from this case.”
“Well, you don’t know me that well.’
“I know you well enough to see you fight for us every step of the way. You are committed to this case, so now tell me-what the fuck is going on?”
Jimmy sighed. Looking around the office and finding no one around he asked, “Have you ever gotten overly involved in a case? Not just involved, but to the point where it consumes you?”
“Yeah. I know it’s hard.”
“Have you ever become overly focused on a “person of interest” in an investigation?”
Kema looked at him, her brows furrowed in concentration. She didn’t like where this was going.
“In what way?” she asked, slowly.
“In any way. Got into their head so much you find yourself thinking of them all the time, thinking of situations the way you think they would. Following them when you’re off duty, shadowing them, fucking dreaming about them.”
Kema nodded. “Yeah, that happened to me once. I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Listen, Jimmy I get where you’re coming from. But you just put your head down and go on. Because we almost got these guys by the balls.”
Jimmy winced at that, remembering his dream.
“What? What did I say? You don’t think we almost got them by the balls, I get that. But we will-soon.”
“Kema!” Jimmy blurted out.” Have you ever wanted to fuck a suspect? Ever dream of them fucking you so hard you come just from imagining it? Ever get so aroused when you’re watching them, and it’s not the adrenaline of the chase, or the feeling of power or anything like that? It’s just pure lust-and you know you could so easily give into it. And there’s a part of you that thinks they want that too, and it would be more than just hot-it would be all consuming?”
Kema stared at Jimmy with her mouth open. “You want to fuck Stringer?”
“Yes! I-really don’t know how or why this happened. But it’s in my head all the time. He’s in my head all the time.”
“Man, you are fucked.” Kema said.
“Thank you. You sound just like Bunk.” Jimmy sat down and put his head on the desk. “What am I going to do?”
“I think you’re right. You should withdraw from the case. Stay as far away from Stringer as you can and get back to homicide.”
Daniels chose that moment to walk in.
“What? Don’t even fucking think about it, McNulty. You‘ve pushed for this and you fucking got it. You’re not backing out now.”
“But Lt,” Jimmy began.
“I don’t want to hear it!” he said as he walked into his office and shut the door.
“You have to try and talk to him later,” Kema insisted. “You can’t be around Stringer when you feel this way. You could compromise yourself and this case, and you don’t want that.”
Jimmy nodded. He really didn’t want that.
But goddamn it, he really did want Stringer Bell.
***
The rest of the day passed with the usual flurry of activity. Going up on the roof and taking pictures of the guys who answered pages and hooked up with the various other mid level guys.
Jimmy couldn’t keep his mind on his work though, and his responses to Kema’s few attempts to make an observation or point something out to him were met with either distracted, unfocused answers or no answers at all.
“For fuck’s sake, Jimmy. Get your head in the fuckin’ game. If you can’t stop thinkin’ about Stringer you ain’t worth shit up here.”
“So what are you saying? I shouldn’t be part of this detail? I tried that. You heard Daniels reaction. You’d think I was committing treason!”
“Well, in his eyes you almost would be. After all, you’re the one who pushed for it.”
“Kema. I know that! You also said I should still talk to him. I tried again and he practically chewed my head off.”
Kema sighed. “Look, keep things in check for a few days, or at least try to. Then you can ask him again.’
“What good would that do?”
“I don’t know. Maybe if he sees you’re feeling like you might blow it he’d be more sympathetic. So you don’t say you’re burnt out. You say you’re emotionally involved and you need distance. You’ve done a lot on this case, more than anyone. You tell him you need a little while to get things sorted.”
McNulty snorted. “He’d never fall for that.”
“Don’t kid yourself, McNulty. Daniels is a compassionate man. He’s just under the gun on this one.
“Which is another reason why he won’t want me taking a break.”
“He would if he thought it would jeopardize the case otherwise.”
McNulty thought about it. “So what should I give as my reason?”
“How about you tell him a version of the truth? You’re too emotionally involved and you don’t want to fuck up the case.”
McNulty sighed. He didn’t know if there was any way Daniels would agree to it, but it was worth a shot.
“Ok, I’ll try. But for the rest of the afternoon I have to follow up on something.”
“Jimmy,” Kema called after him. “Be careful.”
“I always am. Don’t worry.”
Kema rolled her eyes at him and went back to taking pictures.
***
Jimmy got increasingly frustrated as the day went on. He’d been tailing Stringer all afternoon and all he saw him do was visit their sleazy lawyer, a real estate development, a restaurant that was being renovated, and now here he was at a copy shop.
After waiting a little while, Jimmy couldn’t handle it anymore and went in to confront Stringer directly.
A young teenage guy approached him. “Can I help you sir?” he asked.
“No, thank you,” he replied.
At the sound of Jimmy’s voice Stringer looked up from the papers he was working on. “Go ahead,” he said to the young sales guy. “Go in the back and start on the inventory.”
“Ok,” the boy left to go start the inventory.
Neither man paid any attention to him.
Their focus was on each other.
“What can I help you with, officer?” Stringer asked. He had a fake smile on his face and it still went straight to McNulty’s groin.
“I’m Detective- McNulty. Remember from the court case? The witness killed in the projects? And the DeAngelo Barksdale murder case? The one where said witness pointed out Avon’s cousin as the shooter?”
“Yes. I recall he was exonerated of all crimes.”
“Yeah, but Bird wasn’t.”
Stringer said nothing at first, just continued to look through his papers.
“Detective. I don’t know nothing about those murders. And I think you know that, or else you wouldn’t be following me all over town.”
McNulty was silent for a moment. Shit, he must really be getting sloppy if Stringer knew he’d been chasing him.
“Am I that fascinating to you, Detective? I’m not even into that shit- as you can tell from your surveillance. I’ve got enough right here to keep me busy.”
“Copying things?” Jimmy asked in a sarcastic tone.
“No, owning things, Detective. You got any warrants, writs or case files you need copied, please let me know.” He paused for a moment and smiled at Jimmy. That smile that was half predatory, half mocking. “I also got a restaurant and I’m into real estate now too.”
He took a card out of his pocket and gave it to Jimmy.
“Where you living now, McNulty?” He asked.
Jimmy was a bit taken aback by that. “Where am I living? Why?”
Stringer went on as though he hadn’t asked why. “If you‘re thinking of making the move to downtown, I got some nice property by the water, near the hippodrome. Beautiful one, two and three bedroom condos that’ll be going on the market in a few weeks. Why don’t you give me a call then and I’ll show you around?”
Jimmy stared at him. Was he really inviting him to look at condos, was he trying to flaunt his legitimate status in Jimmy’s face-or was this something else?
Jimmy didn’t know what to say, so he fell back on sarcasm. “You disappoint me, Stringer. I had such hopes for us.”
Stringer smiled. That same mocking smile he was wearing the day he went into court and said “nicely done” to Jimmy when their case ended up being nothing much.
Underneath the mocking smile was something else, however.
A look that Jimmy could’ve sworn was almost sexual.
“I don’t think I’m gonna stop looking at you, Stringer.” McNulty said, wincing at the way that sounded.
“Look away. Knock yourself out,” he paused.for a moment. “Officer.”
Jimmy didn’t rise to the bait, feigning nonchalance as he walked away.
*****
He stormed into the office totally pissed off.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Greggs asked.
“He spent the day following Stringer,” Freamon told her. “He’s trying to get as much done as possible in the weeks we have left before the court order expires.
“Jimmy!” Kema scolded. “I thought we talked about this!”
“Talked about what?” Freamon looked puzzled.
“Thanks Kema. Why don’t we take out an ad?” Jimmy sighed and sat down heavily into the chair.
“An ad about what?” Will someone tell me what the hell is happening here?” Freamon asked, impatiently.
“I was just saying I was getting a bit obsessive about the case and wanted to get out”
“You?” Freamon asked, incredulously. “You’re the one who’s been pushing this shit from the beginning!”
“I know. I know! Ok, I know!” It’s just that I feel like I’m losing my objectivity and it’s making me less effective. I get around him and I want to -“
Kema snorted and Freamon looked alarmed.
“Want to what? What are we talking about here?” he asked.
“Nothing. I get frustrated is all.”
“You can’t let these people get to you, Jimmy. And you don’t want to try anything stupid with Stringer. The last thing we need is for the case to be blown because you couldn’t keep your hands off Stringer.”
“What? What the fuck does that mean?” McNulty groaned inwardly. Was he really that obvious? Just what he needed- everyone involved in the Barksdale case knowing about his obsession with Stringer.
“I mean, I know you can sometimes get so caught up with a suspect that they get under your skin. And then you don’t know who the pursuer and who is the pursued. They push your buttons and before you know it you’re beating the crap out of them.”
McNulty let out a sigh of relief. Better that Freamon think McNulty wanted to beat Stringer than know he wanted to fuck him.
“Oh, yeah. He does have that ability. Today he tried to sell me a fucking condo.” Jimmy threw the card on the table in disgust.
He zoned out for the next few minutes while Freamon explained to Prez that Stringer had now become the “bank” for the crew. Their legitimate money would fund their illegitimate activities AND be a way to launder the drug money back through the businesses.
“I’m gonna call it a day. I’m kind of tired.” Jimmy stood up, said goodnight and left.
He had to get out of there.
He stopped to buy a bottle of Jameson’s and had just started to drink it as he pulled into his driveway.
He didn’t see Stringer until he was almost at the door.
.End of Part 1