Chapter Text
Being a detective is no easy job. On the outside, it even seemed like a fun one, getting to solve mysteries and crimes and then getting paid for it. But it reality, it was a tiresome, almost restless job. One Jimmy had come to have a love-hate relationship with. He didn't hate his job, but there were times where he wished he'd tried getting a job in art/animation instead. Maybe he could've sold scrapbooks instead of solving murder cases. But alas, this was his job, and for some strange reason he wanted to keep it.
His current case had been like whiplash. Every time he thought he might be getting anywhere close to the answer, it'd always lead to a dead-end, it'd always be the wrong guy. He'd always be the talk of the office for his yet again failure.
what was his case? It was actually a very personal one. About a month ago, a friend of his came into the office, explaining that his husband had been missing, having not contacted him even though his phone appeared to be working, not responding to any texts and being totally MIA. And one by one, more of these strange random disappearances kept happening, weirdly always being people who were either friends with Jimmy or friends of his siblings. That was the main reason he'd been assigned this case, and it was also the main reason that Joel hadn't given his case to someone else. Or maybe the main reason for that was because Joel had more faith in him than most of the office, being his brother and all.
He knew he could do it, he had no doubt about that, he just didn't know how at this point. Finding himself re-reading the list of current missing people again and again.
Bdubs
Cleo
Ren
The victim list seemed to have no similarities, other than the fact that all of these people knew each-other. They don't seem to have a pattern or preference in anything, unless they like they're victims being friends? But that just sounds weird. Jimmy felt more guilty about this case than any other, because he not only knew the victim's friends and family personally, he also was their friends. He was tasked to find his missing friends and yet still after a month he's barely found a single lead.
But his guilt and thoughts were interrupted by a knock and the door to his office slowly opening. Unsurprisingly, it was Scott.
"Hey Jimmy." he said, "How are you doing?"
"Oh, hey Scott. And I'm...fine. Just thinking about stuff. Are you good?" Jimmy replied.
"I'm ok. Um...say, do you have any updates?"
Jimmy sighed. Scott had been asking almost everyday for updates, mainly because his partner was one of the victims. He felt terrible. He wished he could tell Scott that he did. That he was at the very least a single step closer to figuring out who did it. But that'd be a lie, and frankly the last thing he wants to do is give him false hope. "...No, i don't. I'm sorry."
"Oh, i see..." Scott sniffed, it seemed like he wanted to cry. "Can you tell me when you do?"
"Of-course! I'll tell you the second i do!"
Scott smiled at him, "Thanks Jimmy."
Jimmy shot him a smile back, "No problem, what are friends for?"
Scott left, closing the door behind him. The second Jimmy heard the click of the door he felt a wash of guilt come over him. He was an absolute loser. He barely had anything. He was a disgrace to not only the industry, but his friends. He wasn't cut out for this, he should just quit while he's ahead. He should just listen to the rest of the office and hand the case off to someone else, someone more qualified.
And maybe it was guilt, maybe it was him being naive or foolish, or maybe it was something else. But something just kept urging him on to continue with this case, to not give up like his colleagues keep saying he should and to try. That no matter how many dead ends he bumped into, he should continue trying. T--
wait. Jimmy remembered something. That a certain criminal he was familiar with had been recently arrested. One that was notorious for slipping away from police miraculously on hundreds of occasions. One that was always so full of surprises. One that for a while, when Jimmy still worked as a police officer on the scene, was someone he'd been personally assigned to catch.
You know how they say that to beat the enemy you have to understand how they work? well, then getting a criminal to help catch a criminal would be smart, right? Yeah, that'd work! Only one problem with that...
The criminal he was thinking of probably wouldn't be willing to help him. Then again, Jimmy would also rather die than admit to him that he needed help. He'd tease him relentlessly for it, and then still not be willing to help. He needed some form of bargaining chip. He needed something to offer him that he just couldn't pass up. He--
And he thinks he might just have it.
---
Jimmy was now walking down the halls of the prison, his ears still ringing with what Joel had told him before he left. 'Your joking, right?' he had first said. Infact, the entire conversation hadn't left his mind, it had been ringing in his ears since he left Joel's office and drove to the prison.
"Jimmy, I love you, but you can't just let him out of prison!" Joel explained.
Jimmy at this point was kind of getting annoyed. He was so certain that this was a great idea, even if Joel wasn't willing to hear him out. "Please! Just let me try! we might finally have a chance if he can help us get some leads!"
"And if he doesn't?"
well, that was a big risk. Because the only deal he knew he'd take was benefited him both ways. But still, it was worth it to solve this.
"well...that's a risk, but what's life without taking risks?! Don't you trust me?!"
Joel sighed, "Jimmy, look. I know you've held a lot of guilt in your heart while working this case. I know you wanna solve it. Your my baby brother, of-course i trust you, it's just that...i don't trust him. This is the longest we've had him in custody! Life is about taking risks yes, but i don't think this is one we should."
"But if he helps us, then we'd find our friends! I know it's risky, but it's worth it to find them!" Jimmy argued. "This is the only thing I've been able to come up with, at least let me try!"
"You know how stupidly risky this is, right?!"
"...Just...please?"
Joel was hesitant, but he sighed, and grabbed a pair of keys out of his desk and handed them to Jimmy. "I'll give you a week. If he finds nothing, he goes back to jail. If he finds something, you two can continue. Got that?"
Jimmy's face grew a wide smile, "Oh thank you soooo much Joel!" he ran out of the chair and gave his brother a hug, "I promise you won't regret it!"
"Yeah-yeah, don't mention it." Joel rolled his eyes, "Now go before i change my mind."
He wonders why Joel gave him a chance. His brothers were always the first to call him pathetic and dumb. He knew they loved him, so he never took it too personally, but it also made him think about what really changed Joel's mind. Did he let it happen just for some big 'i told you so' moment on him and Grian's part? Or did his brother actually believe in him? well, whatever it was, he'd find out eventually.
---
Tango had been sitting in his cell. Longest he'd been in one in all honesty. I'd been a week of being here, he'd jokingly scratched tally marks into the wall using his nails. He didn't really mind prison, mainly because he'd be out soon enough. The only reason he wasn't out already was because half of team ZITS were out of town, and frankly Zed wasn't the best at melee combat. He'd apologized profusely for it through Tango's watch, even if he reassured Zed that prison wasn't half bad and he didn't mind staying till their friends got back.
You'd think Tango would be going mildly insane in a bland old cell, but he had things to keep him entertained. well, more like people to keep him entertained, because he found himself casually messing and flirting with the guards. Not to get out per-say, just more so to get in their heads and bother them. It seemed to be working, as multiple times the guard assigned to check up on him would change, so his mind-games were working atleast!
Now, don't get him wrong, it wasn't like he hadn't tried to escape. He tried burning the bars, he tried burning the cell, he tried burning the guards, did he mention he tried burning the bars? Yeah, a lot of his plans involved burning stuff. But he'd tried other things too! But all his sneaky plans seemed to be things the prison had called for, so he'd failed miserably. But again, prison wasn't too bad, so he wasn't too butt-hurt about failing.
But eventually he heard foot-steps coming towards his cell. He assumed it was another guard, or maybe even a visitor. He would've never expected who it was.
He still had the same tall cow-boy boots he'd always worn, walking with a chain of clanking keys in his hands. Interesting. 'wonder why he's here?' Tango thought to himself. After all, he hadn't seen him since he became a detective. Maybe he was here for something related to that? Either way, Tango had this weird mixed conflicted feeling about if he wanted to see him again, or if he wanted him to just pass him by. Surprisingly, he stopped by his cell.
"well-well-well," he started, "Mr. Tango of the Tek variety, we meet again."
"why hello there cow-boy!" Tango welcome, "Long time no see huh?"
"Don't call me that!" Jimmy huffed.
Tango rolled his eyes, "Yeah-yeah, eat it feathers. why'd you stop by anyway? Did you miss me that much~"
"A-- No! I don't care about you that much!" Jimmy at this point was already blushing.
"So your implying you do care about me~" Tango cooed. This was all just to get into Jimmy head. Sure, Jimmy was pretty conventionally attractive, Tango wouldn't deny that, but it wasn't like he actually liked him. He was just flirting with him because he was easy to fluster, and to Tango, messing with him was just so much fun.
"--Just shut up!"
"Aw, what's the matter sunshine? Ruffled your feathers already?"
"N-no! I..."
Tango walked over to the bars, floating up so he could meet Jimmy's eyes, "Aw, your cute when your flustered~" he booped the other's nose.
Jimmy was even more red than before, "H-Hey! I'm n-not 'cute'!"
"But being cute is in your nature sunshine!" Tango giggled, "Your just a little, oblivious, cutie-pie of a bird!"
"I--I..." Jimmy seemed like he could talking anymore, his face had turn almost entirely red.
Tango grinned. "Aw! Look at you, your blushing!" he cooed.
The second Tango said that, Jimmy moved his wings to cover his face. "N-No I'm not!" he stuttered.
Tango sighed, "Now, as cute as you are, if i flirt with you all day, I'm gonna have a murder charge to my name. So, what do you want?"
Jimmy seemed to try and compose himself, laying down his fluffed up feathers and taking a deep breath before speaking, "You, actually."
Tango scoffed, "Me? Really? Y'know if you really like me that much, maybe consider just asking me out instead of being all vague. who knows, i might say yes~"
"I-- for your information, I am not here to ask you out." Jimmy glared, "I'm here for a different reason."
"Then forget it." Tango groaned, "I'm not in the mood to be a witness for some silly little crime they've given you. I actually quite like prison, and i definitely prefer it over going with a cop."
Jimmy had a new found smug look on his face. Turning away from Tango, he sighed, "Fine, i guess you don't want the chance to...have a get out of jail free card."
Now, as much as Tango would've preferred to keep his bluff up and ignore Jimmy, his offer sounded...enticing. And he could tell Tango was interested by the slight sparkle in his eyes. Even after he turned around the smug smile on his face hadn't wiped away.
"Oh, so you are interested?"
Tango sighed, "You are reaally good at making things sound interesting cow-boy. Fine, I'm intrigued, what do you want?"
"well...you see, i-i..." Tango caught on to what Jimmy was thinking.
"You need my help, don't you?"
Jimmy was hesitant to respond. That's unsurprising, he was always stubborn after all.
"Come on, say it~"
"I need your help." Jimmy quickly blurted. Tango had a wide grin on his face, the response felt like music to his ears. well, he had nothing better to do anyway. Might as well take the get out of free card by just playing nice for a bit.
"That's all i needed to hear." Tango said, "Fine, I'll help you. Got nothing better to do anyway."
Jimmy smiled, reluctantly opening the cell door and handing Tango the keys. "There you go then! Now we've got only a week, so follow me!"
Tango just shrugged, following him through the prison. He wasn't exactly sure what Jimmy wanted him for, maybe he actually was gonna take them on that date offer? Like, he wouldn't be that opposed to one, but that wouldn't really make much sense? He doesn't think the prison would let Jimmy let him out just to ask him out, and even if they did, it definitely had nothing to do with this. well, either way, there was one thing Tango was sure off:
That it was about to be a long ride.