"Just make sure he doesn't view any of it. Not that I-- I don't assume that he'd want to see it. But I know he might be tempted to use it against Sam." Sam being a cop, the whitest of white hats, all of that. "And if he does that, then we'll have war."
Which he really wanted to avoid, but he knew that he'd do anything to avenge Sam. Anything to hurt people that hurt his Sam. And he also knew that Jonathan would protect Edward, even if he'd brought it on himself. They were both predictable when it came to how they felt about their respective men.
"I want to have a nice long talk with Cheon. I just want to be sure the footage is secure first, so nothing can escalate." He didn't want his rightful revenge to backfire. "I want him dead. I just want that death to be painful."
And, yes, ideally he should also avoid things getting out of hand and kickstarting a gang war by killing off Cheon. Still, hard to care. All he had to do was remember what he had felt while holding a sobbing Sam in his arms.
"Then I guess, boyo, me and you will have to have a nice talk with Cheon together. Just so you don't off him before my Eddie can work. Then we can see where we go next. He's trafficking our people, hurting our property and we're not a fan. No reason we can't shake him up a bit." It seemed like the smart thing to do. It was how gangsters expressed displeasure. Jonathan had his tooth cut out by a rival gang leader as a warning once and in some ways, he appreciated it.
It stopped things from escalating too fast and allowed him time to pay respects, be careful and get his revenge when the timing lined up perfect.
"You got time right now? Tomorrow?" He supposed he probably ought to do this with Jonathan, who might rein him in before he went too far. It wasn't as if he could really lay official claim on Sam, so the whole situation was needlessly complicated, as far as gang politics were concerned. "It's not good business anyway. He's brought the cops into my establishment. I did like how much Sam hated that. Didn't like it otherwise. Always dampens the atmosphere a bit."
He frowned, checking his phone. "Part of me wants to cuff Sam to the bed again before he goes into work. I told him that the drug's not out of his system yet, but he won't believe me."
"Depending on dosage of normal meth? You're looking at 2 to 3 days of shit. With a high, strong dose then you're in for a hell of a week. He should be signed off until Monday." But he knew Sam as well as Barty knew Sam and there was no way in hell that Sam would take that much time off work. He had been in this city for a while and he rarely saw Sam off duty.
He finished his drink and then threw his arms out. "Wanna go today? I got nothing on, I cleared my day for you. You wanna use it productively or we could just drink and whine all day."
"Oh, I have plenty to whine about too. I found him cuffed to the bed and in a daze and then I proceeded to be ever so well behaved. Unlocked the cuffs and helped him shower. I had to get in the shower with him because of the state he was in and then he was just sobbing in my arms. But did I take advantage and kiss him? No." Which he still wasn't certain about how good a move that was, tactically speaking. "We just got into a whole conversation about how controlling and manipulative I am and how he hates when I am right about things. I'm not sure how well it went, on the whole."
He supposed it had been a mixed bag. "He was so vulnerable. I really should have gone for it, shouldn't I?" Damn. That was going to be a 'what if' scenario in his head for a while. "You don't get much out of behaving like a gentleman."
"I think you probably did the smart thing in the long run but you could have gone for it and stood a chance. You would have been able to make it work, just harder, and you could already have kissed him." Jonathan explained as he leaned back and pondered what he would have done. Made a move, no doubt there. Fear, pain, upset and neediness - a big turn on for him.
"I would have kissed him." No shock there. "Especially if he cried."
"Of course you would have. I love how you complain about how dramatic Ed gets, but we all know that's at least half the draw for you. Sam was sobbing as I held him. Shaking. It's less of a turn-on for me, it just made me angry." Possessive and protective, he couldn't deny that. Hadn't even tried denying it either. "I've told Sam how I felt and what my thoughts were. I reckon that's the most honest I've ever been with him. Nothing to hide any more now. And he essentially told me to destroy the footage for him. He doesn't want to know about it, but he wants it gone."
That was a concession for Sam, he supposed. Accepting that sometimes the crooked way was the most direct way. "He said that he loves and hates that I fix things for him."
"Oh, I complain cause I can but I wouldn't change Edward. I wouldn't change his self hate, his anxiety, his endless need for attention or his new boyfriend even. That's just Edward. I don't pretend. I love his drama as much as you love how strict Sam is with himself, with you and all of us rotten bastards. It's annoying but it's them." Jonathan knew his poison and he gladly picked it every time but that didn't mean he wouldn't be upset by the effects sometimes.
"I think it's conflicting for him. It must be nice but he knows it's always illegal and our DI Tyler hates breaking the rules." The luxury of your problems fixed came at a moral price. A tricky thing indeed. "He likes that you can take care of him and he hates he needs it."
"He gets himself in over his head. He's no good at going undercover, but he has to do things himself or he thinks they won't be done properly." Which, to be fair, was sometimes accurate. "I do love him for it. He's always himself. That's why I behaved. I think it's the best way to make him conflicted. That I can be good even when I'm bad."
A bit of grey introduced into his ever so black and white way of thinking. "Although I'm different from you when it comes to the new potential partner. I don't want anyone to think they can touch Sam. Even if it's a poor woman who doesn't realise how gay he is."
"Different strokes and all that. Some people care about other aspects more or less. It's the way it is, I suppose." Jonathan dismissed lazily as he got out his phone and idly texted Edward as he talked. "I'm telling my Edward he has a computer job tonight. We'll have the footage as soon as we can. So the question is, you wanna go talk to Cheon before or after I've got my boy to do his thing."
He didn't mind, he just wanted to plan out his day and how stressed he was expecting to be. He was hoping he could be back in the evening to see his horse win on the telly. He sold a bloody good one last month and it was in a derby. Fuck knows how.
"I should probably wait until tomorrow. Just in case." In case of what? Two things he was concerned over, one being that Sam might hit him up over the drug still doing things to him. If his damsel was in distress and actually reaching out right now, he did not want to miss out. Not now when it actually seemed as if they could possibly get back together.
Then there was his other thought. "I'm not sure I won't show my hand with this. If Cheon suspects that this is tied to what he did to DI Tyler, it could make things worse unless Ed's already dealt with the footage."
"I told Edward to get his arse back here so we'll have it sorted by tonight. Just keep your phone about and I'll call when we have it." Jonathan promised, wondering when Edward could pull it off by. Then again, he was a fast little bugger so he didn't doubt he could. "I can do tomorrow evening, after I've finished arranging my family and giving out the jobs. All that boring bullshit."
Jonathan pulled out a cigarette and smiled at Barty. "I hope your damsel calls. This time, take the in and make a damn move."
"I'll see. You know, he's just waiting to be proven right with how I'm nothing but a puppet-master. And since I am nothing but a puppet-master, I know I have to play things right." He grinned, looking at his phone once more before shrugging and getting to his feet. "Thanks for your help, Jon. I'll owe you after all this."
He always made good on any favours he owed. Simply better for business. "What I really want is to give Gene Hunt a bit of a headache after all this. I blame him. Sam wouldn't have been in this position if he wasn't... Well. All that DCI Hunt is."
"Everything is always DCI Hunt's fault. I could name 100 balls ups that man has caused. Fucking disgrace, ain't he?" Jonathan shook his head in mock disbelief. He did blame Hunt but he kind of liked him. He was a prick but a fun prick. His out-dated style of talk, his aggression, his yelling - very traveller. And boy did Gene hate when he told him that.
"I think the cause of all of Manchesters's issues is a toss up between DCI Hunt or our favourite lawyer, Tally. Take your pick, honestly. From opposite sides, they're fucking this city up." Jonathan laughed. "I love it."
"Ah, yeah. Tally. I think Sam hates no one more than him." So maybe Barty should not have slept with him, but it had been fun at the time so he could not bring himself to truly regret it. Perhaps he would, in future, should Sam ever find out about it. "Did you know that he wanted to question your people on the trafficking? DCI Hunt, that is. So I've got a feeling that he's itching for it, you must have pissed him off somehow."
No surprise there. "He hates me because he's platonically in love with Sam, but his hatred for you is red hot as well."
"It's the drugs. He hates drugs. Makes him an unstoppable bull in a China shop. And you know me, I love a good chemical." Jonathan was responsible for most of the drugs in this city and he knew how much Gene hated him for it. He also didn't much like his involvement in the boxing world either. In general, Gene just had a lot of reasons to hate his guts.
"I just ignore it. Look, sometimes people hate you. And you don't really give a shit yourself. That's my current situation." He was happy to just smile at Gene and act a friend, despite the hate.
"I enjoy it. Honestly, I think it will end up working in my favour. Sooner or later, Sam is going to be so pissed at Gene over something that he'll come have sex with me just because Gene doesn't want him to." It was a strange play, but he also strangely didn't doubt for a moment that it would work. "As for you, seems as if he just keeps your people locked up for a few hours every now and then. Although Tally has made that a lot more of a hassle for them too."
Good time to be a criminal in the city, honestly. "One last question. Do you have any advice on how to deal with what Sam has in his system?"
"Hydrate, avoid stress, sleep a lot and-- oh." Jonathan got up and left without much explanation. He did that often so he didn't doubt for a second that Barty would know he'd come back. And he did, about five minutes later, holding a cut off blister pack of two pills. "One today, one tomorrow. It's quetiapine. Antipsychotics are good against meth, so are benzos but I would recommend at his dose, this. He should take them with water."
He set them down and slid them over to Barty. "Let me know how he does on them. I'm curious. And make sure he doesn't drive after taking them, they're sedative."
"He won't avoid stress or sleep a lot, but I'll see about the hydration." Also something Sam was notoriously bad at. No surprise there. He was bad at anything that didn't directly pertain to police work. He took the pills from Jonathan and nodded, trusting that his friend knew his boundaries well enough to not be conducting any strange experiments here. "It's supposed to be very addictive, aye? I need to make sure he doesn't think to ever try again."
Seemed like a slippery slope for a workaholic like Sam.
"Yeah, it is. The best is advise on that is get to the end of the week. Once you're passed the week, the urge really deflates and you just remember the bad feelings. Right now, it's mostly a 'oh, that was nice' sort of thing." And if Sam did get addicted then Jonathan could help more but for now, it was getting through that week that was always key for preventing hardcore addiction.
"It's interesting, to see how his brain responds to a stimulant. No ADHD in that one." No surprises there, he didn't think Sam's brain worked chemically in that direction. He felt he was more an OCD sort.
"That'd be more your boy, wouldn't it? ADHD." At least that was his guess when it came to Ed. Even if he had more than just a suspicion that there was a lot more with that one. He didn't seem to be addicted to anything at least. Anything other than drama and strong emotions, at least.
Made him wonder just what he was in for with Sam. "I wish he'd let me be around him right now. Maybe I can tell him I need to be supervised so I don't commit any crime. Handcuff us together."
"I'm sure you can find a way, slippery snake like you."
He had no doubt that some way, Barty would find his way back into Sam's life and take care of him. And if Barty somehow didn't find a way, he assumed that Sam would swiftly come crawling back. It seemed a lot like a Sam thing to do. "Just keep visiting, be persistent and I bet you two will be dating by the end of the year. I bet my safe on it."
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Which he really wanted to avoid, but he knew that he'd do anything to avenge Sam. Anything to hurt people that hurt his Sam. And he also knew that Jonathan would protect Edward, even if he'd brought it on himself. They were both predictable when it came to how they felt about their respective men.
"I want to have a nice long talk with Cheon. I just want to be sure the footage is secure first, so nothing can escalate." He didn't want his rightful revenge to backfire. "I want him dead. I just want that death to be painful."
And, yes, ideally he should also avoid things getting out of hand and kickstarting a gang war by killing off Cheon. Still, hard to care. All he had to do was remember what he had felt while holding a sobbing Sam in his arms.
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It stopped things from escalating too fast and allowed him time to pay respects, be careful and get his revenge when the timing lined up perfect.
"What do you think? Shall we have a chat?"
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He frowned, checking his phone. "Part of me wants to cuff Sam to the bed again before he goes into work. I told him that the drug's not out of his system yet, but he won't believe me."
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He finished his drink and then threw his arms out. "Wanna go today? I got nothing on, I cleared my day for you. You wanna use it productively or we could just drink and whine all day."
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He supposed it had been a mixed bag. "He was so vulnerable. I really should have gone for it, shouldn't I?" Damn. That was going to be a 'what if' scenario in his head for a while. "You don't get much out of behaving like a gentleman."
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"I would have kissed him." No shock there. "Especially if he cried."
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That was a concession for Sam, he supposed. Accepting that sometimes the crooked way was the most direct way. "He said that he loves and hates that I fix things for him."
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"I think it's conflicting for him. It must be nice but he knows it's always illegal and our DI Tyler hates breaking the rules." The luxury of your problems fixed came at a moral price. A tricky thing indeed. "He likes that you can take care of him and he hates he needs it."
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A bit of grey introduced into his ever so black and white way of thinking. "Although I'm different from you when it comes to the new potential partner. I don't want anyone to think they can touch Sam. Even if it's a poor woman who doesn't realise how gay he is."
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He didn't mind, he just wanted to plan out his day and how stressed he was expecting to be. He was hoping he could be back in the evening to see his horse win on the telly. He sold a bloody good one last month and it was in a derby. Fuck knows how.
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Then there was his other thought. "I'm not sure I won't show my hand with this. If Cheon suspects that this is tied to what he did to DI Tyler, it could make things worse unless Ed's already dealt with the footage."
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Jonathan pulled out a cigarette and smiled at Barty. "I hope your damsel calls. This time, take the in and make a damn move."
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He always made good on any favours he owed. Simply better for business. "What I really want is to give Gene Hunt a bit of a headache after all this. I blame him. Sam wouldn't have been in this position if he wasn't... Well. All that DCI Hunt is."
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"I think the cause of all of Manchesters's issues is a toss up between DCI Hunt or our favourite lawyer, Tally. Take your pick, honestly. From opposite sides, they're fucking this city up." Jonathan laughed. "I love it."
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No surprise there. "He hates me because he's platonically in love with Sam, but his hatred for you is red hot as well."
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"I just ignore it. Look, sometimes people hate you. And you don't really give a shit yourself. That's my current situation." He was happy to just smile at Gene and act a friend, despite the hate.
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Good time to be a criminal in the city, honestly. "One last question. Do you have any advice on how to deal with what Sam has in his system?"
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He set them down and slid them over to Barty. "Let me know how he does on them. I'm curious. And make sure he doesn't drive after taking them, they're sedative."
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Seemed like a slippery slope for a workaholic like Sam.
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"It's interesting, to see how his brain responds to a stimulant. No ADHD in that one." No surprises there, he didn't think Sam's brain worked chemically in that direction. He felt he was more an OCD sort.
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Made him wonder just what he was in for with Sam. "I wish he'd let me be around him right now. Maybe I can tell him I need to be supervised so I don't commit any crime. Handcuff us together."
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He had no doubt that some way, Barty would find his way back into Sam's life and take care of him. And if Barty somehow didn't find a way, he assumed that Sam would swiftly come crawling back. It seemed a lot like a Sam thing to do. "Just keep visiting, be persistent and I bet you two will be dating by the end of the year. I bet my safe on it."
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Barty waved one more time and then left the room, already texting Sam. He had those meds. That was an excuse to go and see him, surely.