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There have only been a few occasions when Tango could see Jimmy look like he was at peace. In Double Life, he caught the avian asleep in the stables, surrounded by the comfort of the animals that reminded him of home. Or maybe they just wanted more of the wheat he had brought them. Tango feels like the animals liked Jimmy more than they liked him.
Tango could only count the times that happened on one hand. Now that the death game is over and the players returned to the safety of their home servers, Jimmy no longer has a crease in his brow or the painful tension in his shoulders. His wings no longer puff up at every little sound and creak, and he does not look on edge when hearing someone outside anymore. The stark contrast in behavior has left Tango reeling sometimes; he has only known the version of Jimmy from the life servers, but he still has that same warm-welcoming smile and honey-sweet optimism that the blaze hybrid fell in love with.
It’s winter, and while the mesa Tumble Town resides in does not get snow, it can be freezing at night. Tango is not worried about that, though; the blaze side of him keeps him warm enough for the change, and it seems a particular canary hybrid loves it, too. Tucked under his chin, Jimmy breathes slowly, happy and content with the comfort of the warmth of being wrapped up in his rancher’s arms brings him.
Tango smiles fondly at him; as the resident sleeper of the two, he rarely sees Jimmy like this. Most nights, he would stay up late working on just about anything, only coming to bed well after Jimmy had fallen asleep. Or he would be interrupted by the avian and dragged to bed against his will. Tango had never seen his face in this kind of setting before because of the darkness nighttime brings, but now he can see Jimmy’s sleeping face so clearly, illuminated by the light trickling through their blinds.
Feeling so warm and happy, Tango closes his eyes to soak it all in, takes a deep breath through his nose, and slowly exhales with his mouth. He rubs his thumb up and down where it rests on Jimmy’s lower back and follows along the curve of his spine like he is riding the ocean waves. When his thumb gets tired from all the movement, he lightly scratches Jimmy with his index finger. He can feel himself getting lulled back to sleep the longer he lays here; his blinking has grown slower, and his eyelids feel heavy.
Tango takes another deep breath, but this time, he exhales fast, and his sigh is audible. He drags his hand up Jimmy’s back, ruffling and bunching his overnight shirt, and stops on the back of his neck. He continues his scratching, this time using all of his fingers. Bringing them in tight together, then pushing and spreading them out. Tango’s thumb catches on Jimmy’s hair a few times, so he brings his hand up to the back of Jimmy’s head and buries his fingers in his hair. After giving the avian a good massage and detangling his hair, Tango angles his head back to give himself some space, then plants his face in his hair and takes a deep breath in again. He saves this moment and takes it all in, as well as the smell of vanilla shampoo, and once Tango’s lungs fill up, he holds his breath and kisses Jimmy’s hair.
Tango can feel a cramp building up in the bridge of his foot, and he realizes he’s been kneading with his feet the whole time. He stops before it worsens and feels tingling sensations run up and down his legs, not used to being still again. An itch in his lower back makes its presence known, and it’s not something he can scratch away; it’s an urge rising—an urge to be constantly in motion and restless. The blaze hybrid sighs once more. Tango feels like he could die from not getting up to move around, but he also feels like he could die from being away from Jimmy right now.
Speaking of Jimmy, his blonde hair is glowing gold, illuminated by the sunlight shining through the blinds. Tango wanted curtains that completely block out the sun, but Jimmy likes to use the sunlight as his personal alarm clock, and he was okay with that. Smiling fondly at the memory of picking out blinds and curtains, Tango runs his hand through the golden hair, twirling a few strands between his fingers. He always thought Jimmy’s hair was beautiful, and it’s not the blaze hybrid side of him that is attracted to gold saying that. The avian takes excellent care of his hair, always ensuring he looks well-groomed. Even his messy bed-head looks fantastic, and Tango is sure all the ruffling he’s done to Jimmy’s hair this morning will look good on him, too.
Tango drags his attention away from Jimmy’s golden hair down to his bright yellow wings and runs a hand down the feathers, barely touching them like fragile glass. He shifts the arm trapped underneath Jimmy and scratches behind the avian’s ear feathers. Enamored with his rancher, Tango fails to realize when Jimmy wakes up. He startles when he hears Jimmy hum, his ears twitch back, and his tail thumps against the blanket, trying to shoot outwards but failing. He doesn’t realize his hands have stopped moving until Jimmy speaks up.
“Mn, don’t stop…” His head, still buried in Tango’s collarbone, causes his voice to become muffled and quiet. Tango laughs fondly and continues the motion like Jimmy ordered him to.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” The comment gains him a hit to the chest, and Tango can feel Jimmy pouting against him. “Did you sleep well?” He asks teasingly but is also genuinely curious, and Jimmy picks up on that.
Lifting his head to look Tango in the eyes, Jimmy hums, “You’re very warm.” His smile is dopey, and his eyes are squinting, laced with sleep; Tango thinks he still looks gorgeous.
Tango’s smile widens, and he quickly kisses the avian’s lips. It feels like it ended before it started, but it doesn’t fail to make his stomach swirl. “Well, I’m glad you got some good sleep. You better not have been overworking yourself before I got here.”
“Hm, even if I was, I don’t think you have any room to talk, mister,” Jimmy calls out his hypocrisy and boops him on the nose.
“Hm, I think I liked it better when you were asleep. Go back to bed.” Tango pushes Jimmy’s head back under his chin and tightens his arms around him. They lay like that for a while before Jimmy moved his hand to Tango’s hip and pushed back slightly.
“Why are you up at this time anyway? You don’t normally go to Goblands until afternoon.” The avian tilts his head and questions him.
Tango peeks one eye open and thinks Jimmy looks like a puppy with his head tilted to the side like that. “No, I don’t need to go to Goblands today. And I just kinda woke up for no reason?”
“Huh…” Jimmy looks lost in thought but quickly brightens up the next; Tango swears he could see a glowing lightbulb floating above his head. “So, I’m hearing I have you all to myself today?”
Tango laughs and pinches Jimmy’s side, “Yep. One Tango Tek all to yourself.”
As soon as he finishes, he hears Jimmy mutter a quiet “Good,” the avian shifts closer to him, pushing him to lie on his back instead of his side. He props a leg up on Tango’s lower stomach and drapes an arm across his chest, trapping him in place. “Wake me in an hour.”
Tango shakes his head at the antics and places a hand on Jimmy’s knee, tracing patterns and shapes underneath his kneecap. Despite their banter, he’s excited to spend the whole day with him. Between their abrupt end in Double Life, their inability to reach each other for months on their respective home servers, and working in Goblands from noon to midnight, they haven’t been able to spend much time together. Tango was willing to take anything they could get, but he felt sick being so far away from his rancher. It was like a hole punched through his chest, both literally and figuratively, when their soul bond snapped. He doesn’t think he’ll ever forget that feeling. But being here now, with Jimmy’s alive heart against his chest, somehow still beating in sync with his own, made it all worth it.