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One thing Jimmy loves about Tango is his ability to draw a group of people together and make it feel like they’ve known each other for ages. He and Tango hadn’t even known each other for two weeks when Jimmy had fallen head over heals, and it was barely a month into their friendship that they had decided to put a romantic label on it. Tango has an aura about him that makes it 10 times easier to click with him. It even extends to the people Tango talks to. Tango would invite over people that Jimmy hadn’t ever had a proper conversation with and because he was there, it felt 100% natural and easy to carry a conversation with them. In a one on one situation, he’d never know what to say to Cleo, Bdubs, or Etho, but Tango made it so much easier.
Unfortunately for him, Tango had left Jimmy alone so he could go mining. This wouldn’t be a problem on it’s own, I mean Jimmy isn’t THAT clingy, but he’d left Etho behind at the ranch, saying that apparently him and Joel wanted to give them something but Etho didn’t actually have it and had to wait for his soulmate. Although, Etho had informed Jimmy he had no idea what Tango was talking about and it probably slipped Joel’s mind to even ask or tell him.
So here they are, Jimmy awkwardly standing near the open front door, looking outside every once and while for Joel with his wings wrapped around his body to shield himself from the cold, while Etho busies himself with shamelessly searching through their chests. Honestly, if he had asked, Jimmy could’ve saved him his time, they are dirt poor and would literally kill for any supplies right about now. Jimmy shifts his weight from side to side, mumbling a quiet “Where is he?” under his breath as he glances out the door again. He knows the Relation isn’t far from the ranch, so what on earth is Joel doing? He glances down at his communicator, about to send a message, when he receives a notification.
Tango has made the advancement [Sneak 100]
Smallishbeans has made the advancement [Sneak 100]
“Um,” Jimmy looks up to Etho, who was also looking at his comm. He unraveled himself from his wings and Etho continued, “I don’t think Joel’s gonna be here soon…” Jimmy nods in agreement, slightly frustrated. He set back feeding the animals for this, not to mention Tango clearly lied to him. Jimmy puts his comm back in his pocket and lets out a sigh. “You can go now if you’d like. I’ve gotta do some stuff.” Jimmy quickly crosses the room and grabs a stone hoe from a chest, turning to leave the house before Etho stops him in his tracks.
“I mean, I don’t have anything to do, I can just help you out. Joel was just whining about us not being friends last night.” Jimmy turns back around to face Etho, mentally cursing himself for flushing at the height difference between them. “Okay, yeah I won’t turn down help. And yeah, Tango would like us being friends, too, I reckon.” Jimmy knew Tango and Etho were close, well close is an understatement. Tango had let Jimmy know early into their friendship that he was dating Etho, along with a few other people, and that he was polyamorous. Jimmy didn’t mind considering he was too, it’d be a bit hypocritical of him to get mad at that. Tango had been insistent on Jimmy being friends with his partner and Jimmy was the same with his. He hadn’t had the chance to fully bridge the gap yet and establish himself as a close friend, though, so this was a good opportunity to strengthen their barely existing friendship.
“So, whatcha need to do?” Etho asks as he starts digging through their chests again. “I wanna expand the farm and start breeding some of the animals.” Etho takes some sticks from the chest and quickly crafts an iron hoe, making Jimmy slightly embarrassed over the stone one in his hand. “I’ll do the farming, you can do the animals?” Jimmy nods and trades his stone hoe for some seeds and wheat in the chest instead. He blows his horn, grinning like a fool when there’s an immediate response, before getting to work.
It takes almost three hours before Etho and Jimmy both finish and Jimmy swears he’s never felt this sore in his life. He’s drenched in sweat and there’s dirt caked in between feathers from where he fell into mud after one of the horses bumped into him a little too hard. He knows he needs preening, but Etho is still here and Tango’s not back yet to help. He could do the parts he can reach in front of Etho, but something about that thought made his face flush and his stomach churn. He sits down on the top half of the bed and motions Etho over, who sits on the bottom half, letting out a huge sigh as he relaxs. He pulls out his comm and types out a message to Tango.
SolidarityGaming: will u be home soon? i need help preening ;-;
Tango: im so sorry!! me and joel are pretty deep in this cave and i think we wont be able to get out until morning :(
Tango: is etho still there?? maybe he can help
SolidarityGaming: yeah, just embarrassing is all
Tango: he wont judge u i promise!! ill kill joel if he does
Tango: GTG SKRLRTONS DROPPUNG ON ME ILY
SolidarityGaming: stay safe! ilyt!!
Jimmy feels a phantom arrow hit the back of his shoulder and he winces at the added pain in his back. Etho turns and looks at him, worry in his eyes. “You alright?” Jimmy nods and closes his eyes, “Yeah, just sore back, and Tango just got hit with an arrow…” Etho nods sympathetically, eyes on Jimmy as he hesitates to speak again and face flushes. “Plus my wings need preening.”
“Oh! Do you need help?” He turns his body to face Jimmy’s and scoots closer without even waiting for a response, hands already raising up, clearly eager. The blush on Jimmy’s face darkens and tears his gaze away from Etho’s. “If you’d like to help,” He sees Etho nod out of the corner of his eye, “then you can.” He hears Etho shift closer and feels their knees meet. He turns so his back is facing Etho and shifts his wings to lay on his lap. “Have you ever preened before?” He asks tentatively. “Yeah, I’ve preened Skizz more times than I can count. It’s actually been kinda weird having no one to preen.” A shiver runs down his spine when fingers card through feathers without warning, brushing against sensitive areas. He lets out the breath he was holding and his muscles relax. “I’ll be gentle.”
Etho’s hands are warm, definitely not Tango warm, but warm nonetheless. It’s pleasant and has Jimmy leaning so far back to press against them that Etho has to push him to get him to sit up straight. Jimmy’s embarrassed with how quickly chirps and trills began to spill from his mouth without his permission, how his entire body felt warm, how he has that sickly sweet honey feeling in his stomach. What makes it worse is that Etho knew the connotations that came along with an avian letting someone preen their wings and still wanted to do it, was eager to do it even.
Etho moves to the inner parts of Jimmy’s wings, the areas he couldn’t actually reach, and works the feathers there, gently pulling out broken or lose ones and scrapping the dirt caught in between them. Jimmy lets out a particularly long trill, eyes feeling heavy and brain foggy. Etho hands continue working as he chuckles, “Feel good?” Jimmy rests his head on top of the headboard of the bed and mumbles a quiet response, “Amazin’.”
Jimmy barely hears the front door open, too caught up in the feeling of Etho’s hands, and jolts when he hears a harsh laugh from Joel. Etho’s hands shoot away and he lets out an involuntary whine. He turns to face Joel, scowl on his face, but softens when he sees Tango. “Looks like you two are having fun.” Joel teases, arms crossed in a manner that Jimmy thinks is meant to be intimidating?
Jimmy rolls his eyes in annoyance, “Can you buzz off, it was just getting good.”
Joel puts a dramatic hand to his forehead and falls roughly against Tango, who almost falls too from the surprise added weight. “They’ve replaced us!” He whined, clutching at his chest. “I dunno, I got two people in MY bed, looks like they replaced you!” Tango drops Joel, walking over to his soulmate, and Jimmy feels Etho jolt from the pain. “Hey, I thought you weren’t gonna be back til morning?” Jimmy asks curiously after giving Tango a quick kiss.
“Yeah, well, I told Joel to hurry it so that we could make it up here tonight since you’re whole, yeah, but looks like you got it covered.”
Joel piped up from his place on the ground, “Seduced my soulmate into helping you preen!” Tango scoffed and turned to trade insults with him. Jimmy ignores the other two’s bickering, turns to look at Etho, and puts on his best puppy dog eyes. Tango says he can’t resist them so he hopes Etho is the same.
“Can you please finish preening my wings?”
Jimmy can tell Etho’s smiling from the way his eyes crinkle up and shine. “Mm, yes, of course.” Jimmy smiles and turns back around, resuming his position before the other two barged in. At some point, Tango and Joel joined them on the bed. Tango sat in the corner beside Jimmy while Joel laid behind Etho, messing with his tail and getting smacked in the face every so often. It was nice and Jimmy felt that honey feeling in his stomach again and the warmth from Tango’s own happiness settled in his chest. “Almost done.” Etho mumbles, and his voice sends butterflies through Jimmy’s stomach. He feels that hazy feeling fall over him again as he chirps, the combination of Tango’s hand now rubbing circles on his shoulders and Etho working diligently on his wings making him feel like he’s floating.
Jimmy could tell that Etho had finished, no more feathers were being pulled and he had stopped scratching out dirt, fingers simply running across Jimmy’s wings aimlessly despite being finished with the task at hand. Jimmy turns around, ignoring how Etho’s hands chased his wings, and pulls on his vest to force him to lay down, only to climb on top of him and nuzzle his face into the crook of Etho’s neck, chirping happily. He feels Tango shuffle to rest against Jimmy’s back and sees Joel come up to cuddle up into the other side of Etho.
He feels a kiss being pressed to his head and looks up to see an unmasked Etho, scarred lips pulled into an crooked grin. “Goodnight.” Jimmy whispers breathlessly as he buries himself back into Etho’s neck, getting a chorus of ‘goodnight’s in return. That sweet feeling in his stomach feels like a permanent addition, and he smiles softly to himself. He could get used to this.