Chapter 1: buried in the desert
Chapter Text
When the steady clang of Jimmy’s iron pickaxe turned into the harsh ring of metal on metal, he nearly dropped the tool in surprise.
Realizing that he might have found something interesting, Jimmy held back a grin. He didn’t want to get his hopes up too much, but at least the discovery was a break from the horrible monotony of this mining trip.
He carefully began to chip away at the stone around the object, and boy was it huge. At least twice as tall as him and four times as wide, if not more. What was something like this doing so close to the surface?
It took hours and hours, but Jimmy was only (well, mostly) human, and he still got tired. He carefully marked this place on his map and left marks on the cave walls, planning to return the next day.
When Jimmy arrived back at his quaint home, there was nothing he wanted more than a hot bath—but he couldn’t waste water like that. The town’s water tower was running dangerously low, and it hadn’t rained near Tumble Town in months. He’d just have to deal with using a washcloth instead.
Later that night, after a lazy preen that got at least some dust out of his wings, Jimmy laid awake, fantasizing about what the metal object might be. He was mining mostly for income, much like many of his people—they needed all the funds they could get to build the town up, and now they also needed it to trade for food and water. No water, no crops. No water and crops, no animals. It was a vicious cycle.
If the metal object was a treasure chest—or even just something old made of metal—he could probably get Pix to buy it off of him for a pretty penny. The man’s museum was rather empty the last time Jimmy visited. He hoped that was still the case.
The next few days, Jimmy woke up bright and early to head back into the bowels of the planet. As the week went on, he made steady progress, even buying a soft brush from the general store to scrub off the final layer of dirt on what he had managed to unearth. The mysterious object turned out to have a grayish sheen, though it also had a strange red tinge that Jimmy had never seen before.
On the fourth day, he got lucky. The section he’d been excavating had strange grooves in it, and Jimmy decided to take a break in order to investigate. He leaned against the metal wall, pressing the palms of his hands and his forehead into the chilled material.
To his shock, he heard a whirring and clicking that he barely had time to react to. He leapt back, pulling out his gun, but the sound was just the metal grooves pulling apart. The two halves of what Jimmy now realized was a door retracted, and Jimmy saw the dark void beyond.
For several minutes, Jimmy debated with himself. Going in was dangerous, sure, but so was going mining in the first place. He had his gun, torches, and an ender pearl if things started getting dicey.
He took a deep breath and stepped beyond the threshold, promising the cowering part of himself he would retreat as soon as danger appeared. He was the Sheriff now, and that meant he had to be strong, brave, and reliable. But it also meant he had to make it back to his town at the end of the day. What use was he to anyone if he was dead?
He whirled the torch around, checking every corner. The strange room was filled with tables, packed with brightly colored buttons and strange stretches of reflective material. There was a comfortable looking chair embedded in the floor, and something resembling a ships’ steering wheel. Rocks and dust covered the room, and the huge window that stretched across an entire curved wall was completely shattered. Whatever this was, it had been sitting here for a very long time.
Jimmy continued to explore, passing through a metal door that seemed to be jammed halfway open. He just barely fit through the crack, thankfully. Jimmy might have put on a lot of muscle recently due to all the manual labor that came part and parcel with being the Sheriff, but he was still tall and lean.
As he stepped through, he was met with a soft red glow that pulsed like a heartbeat. It was emanating from a huge tank, one that reminded Jimmy of the alchemical or metalworking tanks he’d seen Fwhip and False use before. Smaller tanks surrounded it in different colors, glass tubing full of unidentifiable liquids connecting them to the largest tank. The glow of the largest one was slightly muffled by the thick layer of dust that covered the coffin-like glass object.
Holding his gun at the ready with one hand, Jimmy took out his brush with the other and began to carefully clear the dirt away. He hissed through his teeth when he caught the first glance of what awaited for him within.
It was a man—or at least, Jimmy thought he was close enough to a man. He was just as strange-looking as some of Jimmy’s fellow Emperors were, but that didn’t really put the Sheriff off.
The man’s eyes were closed, mouth flat, a serene expression frozen on his face. Jimmy thought—hoped—he could make out a slight rise and fall of his chest. He looked so small, suspended in the red liquid.
Should he break the glass? Was there a way to open it? If there was, should even he let the man out? He had no idea who this guy was, or what he wanted. What if he was evil or something?
But Jimmy couldn’t just leave him here, even if that was probably the smartest move. Everyone deserved a chance, no matter how strange the circumstances.
Mind made up, Jimmy began to look around for some kind of latch or release button. He found absolutely nothing, except another one of those reflective stretches of black mounted on the side of the tank.
Jimmy sighed and took out his pickaxe. He hoped this wouldn’t hurt the man, but he could see no other possible way to get him out.
He carefully tapped the seam where the glass had been welded together, hoping that it might be strong enough for him to make the cut clean. He didn’t want the glass to shatter into a million pieces, for both of their sakes.
Drawing his arm back, Jimmy swung hard. A long crack appeared in the side, but the glass was very thick and it didn’t pierce through. Jimmy just kept on swinging.
Eventually, just as the last bits of the liquid were draining out, Jimmy swung his pickaxe one last time and the top of the tank broke free. He carefully removed it, not wanting to cut the man inside on the sharp edges. The man was fast asleep, but as Jimmy put his fingers to his neck, he confirmed with a sigh of relief that Tank Man was still alive.
Jimmy needed to get him somewhere safe. He could always check out the rest of this strange structure another day, after all. Right now, this guy was under Jimmy’s protection, and he needed help.
He scooped the man up bridal-style, surprised by how light he was. Malnourished, probably, and dehydrated to boot.
One force-fed bottle of water later, Jimmy was on his way back to town. He’s strapped the man to the back of his horse and put a blanket over him—the guy certainly didn’t need heat exhaustion or sunburn on top of everything else. He took him straight home and put him on his bed—Jimmy could sleep on the couch, that was fine.
The man was wearing very strange clothes—it looked like some kind of pantsuit, the color white and dull. And it was rather ruined by the odd liquid that had surrounded the man in the tank.
Jimmy carefully put the man in some of his own clothes, careful to respect his modesty. The clothes were big on him, but that couldn’t be helped.
It was hard not to notice that Tank Man was objectively beautiful—pale skin, pointed ears, sharp features, blonde hair that seemed to float and wave around, a runner’s build that was small but compact. Powerful.
However, Jimmy wasn’t a creep, so he tried his best not to look. He just got Tank Man comfortable and shut the door, praying that there was nothing medically wrong with him.
Perhaps he could take him to the town doctor, but he knew that hybrids—especially ones with as many visual indicators as this guy—weren’t exactly well received in Tumble Town. With how some bigots reacted to a pair of horns or hooves, he did not want to see what they would do to someone with a tail, sharp teeth, and bug-like antenna.
Trying to change that awful stigma was one of Jimmy’s priorities for Tumble Town, but there was a reason he still kept his wings bound in public. No, taking the man somewhere that they could be spotted would be far too risky.
He tossed and turned on the couch, but eventually managed to drift off. He was absolutely exhausted from many days of excavating the structure, plus the long walk across the desert.
Jimmy woke up rather abruptly as a door slammed open, blinking sleepily at the faint dawn light that streamed through the curtains. His vision focused, narrowing in on the short man that stood in the doorway. Tank Man was finally up, and his now-open eyes were a bright red. The color covered his entire eyeball, from pupil to iris to sclera. The effect was intimidating, especially with the way his face was contorted into anger and fear, but Jimmy still thought they suited him.
“Who are you, and where am I?” the guy asked, practically hissing the words. Jimmy’s brain kicked back into motion, and he tore his gaze away.
“I’m the Sheriff of Tumble Town, and you’re in my house,” he answered back, voice shaky but firm. He should have slept with his gun, but he’d been so tired that he’d let his guard down. Stupid. At least his wings were hidden.
“Tumble Town?” the guy muttered under his breath.
Jimmy cut in again. “This is the Land of the Empires, if you’ve heard of it? I’m really not the most famous of the rulers around here…well, I’m more like a de-facto leader than a ruler, but you get the idea.”
Tank Man had no recognition in his eyes, but seemed to calm down a bit anyways. “Where’s my ship?” he asked, and Jimmy immediately clocked the raspiness of his voice. It sounded like he hadn’t spoken in years.
“Is that what I found you in?” Jimmy wondered aloud. “If that was your ship, it’s a solid thirty feet underground. It would take a while for us to get it out of there, if it’s even possible.” Us. Jimmy really shouldn’t be making promises like that, with the state that Tumble Town is in.
The guy tapped his ear twice, then loudly let out a long string of words in what Jimmy thought was a different language. He then tapped his ear again, and met Jimmy’s eyes, shoulders slumped. “I guess I’m stuck here for a while, then.”
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I suppose you are.”
A few moments passed in uncomfortable silence before Jimmy gave in and snapped the tension. “Um, what’s your name? I’ve just been calling you ‘Tank Man’ in my head because that was what I found you in…”
The guy let out a little snort at that, and Jimmy’s stomach fluttered. He must be hungry or something, which made sense first thing in the morning. “It’s Tango, of the Tek variety. Just Tango is fine.”
“Tango,” Jimmy tried out, smiling a little. It was a nice name, and a fun word to say. “You can call me Jimmy, if you’d like. ‘Sheriff’ is a little too formal.”
Tango let out a full laugh this time, the sound bright and free. “I wasn’t ever planning on calling you Sheriff, Jimmy.”
Jimmy let his head fall back on the couch, groaning. Did he really have to deal with yet another troublemaker with no respect for the law?
Apparently the answer was yes, because Tango just kept laughing at Jimmy’s dejected expression. Still, Jimmy felt a warmth deep in his chest. He supposed he could put up with a little disrespect, if it meant he got to hear that laugh again.
Chapter 2: you cranked the heat up
Chapter Text
Jimmy soon got to making breakfast, as both of them were, as Tango had put it, “hungry enough to eat a ravager.” Whatever that was.
Tango started asking if they could go into town after eating, and Jimmy winced. He tried to quell the idea in the most gentle way possible, but failed miserably, and ended up having to tell Tango why he shouldn’t go in vivid detail.
Tango twisted his face into a scowl, one of his very sharp teeth sticking out. “So this is one of those planets?”
He spit out the words, his tail lashing behind him.
Jimmy winced. “Well, there are plenty of other empires around where hybrids are a majority of the population... but here? Yeah.”
Tango raised an eyebrow. “So you’re saying that the empire belonging to you is the most bigoted? Should I be concerned about that?”
Shit. How did Jimmy explain this without revealing himself?
“I’m working on that,” he said lamely, knowing it was a cop out. “And I do my best for the hybrids that do live here. There’s just… not as many of them as there are humans, and when I’m worried about bandit raids every night I can’t exactly be going after the people in my own town.”
Tango just huffed, unable to argue with Jimmy’s answer, but not satisfied with it either.
Jimmy went back to staring at the bacon in his frying pan, its sizzling too loud in the silence that followed. He elected to focus on getting breakfast done before he tried to start another conversation.
“So… you’re from another planet,” he hesitantly began after Tango slowed down his eating, the hybrid inhaling enough food to satisfy Jimmy twice over. Fair enough, Jimmy supposed, if the man had really been in space for void knows how long.
“Yup,” Tango replied curtly, tapping his fork on the side of the plate. The hybrid seemed constantly restless, always fidgeting or moving around.
“Well… what is it like there?” Jimmy tried, wondering what he was doing wrong. Was Tango still upset about the hybrid thing, or was it something else?
Tango looked up at Jimmy, and a shadow passed over his face. He opened his mouth to speak, hesitated, then went back to picking at his food. Jimmy decided that topic was probably a dead end (at least for now), and promptly backed off.
They finished up breakfast soon after and went their separate ways. Jimmy was off to work, and he had no clue what Tango would be up to in his absence. Honestly, Jimmy was unsure if Tango would even still be there when he returned this evening, but he hoped so. He had so many questions, and the man was obviously still recovering from his ordeal— certainly, he was in no condition to be trekking through the desert solo.
The day passed by at what seemed like a snail’s pace, and Jimmy was bone-tired by the time he dragged himself home in the late afternoon. He liked helping people, and he liked managing the town, but he absolutely detested the huge piles of paperwork that seemed to magically appear on his desk every morning.
He unlocked his door and swung it open, finding Tango hunched over on the sitting room floor. The man was surrounded by piles of wires, springs, and bits of scrap metal, his hands stained red with the lifeblood of complex machinery.
“How was work?” the hybrid asked, not even looking up.
“It was work,” Jimmy sighed, sitting down cross-legged on a relatively clear patch of floor. “What are you trying to make there?”
Tango met his gaze, a wry tilt to his mouth. “You’re not going to ask me where I got all this stuff from?”
Jimmy floundered for a long moment, his face burning. The other man always seemed to know just what to say to throw him off, forcefully wresting back control of the conversation. Tango steamrolled right ahead, unbothered. “Jeez, no need to be so enthusiastic,” he teased.
Jimmy breathed out, dropping his shoulders and rolling his neck around, enjoying the satisfying pops. “Just a little tired, sorry. Long day.”
He looked back up to meet Tango’s red gaze, and the man’s expression had softened. “To answer your question, I’m trying to make a communicator that can broadcast radio-waves throughout this galaxy. I’ve got a few parts here from my old comm unit that got fried in the crash.”
Jimmy blinked a few times, understanding approximately none of that. Tango just giggled at him. “Not really a redstone guy, eh?”
“Not really,” Jimmy admitted. “I’m not bright enough for that, and I never had much interest in it anyways.”
“Don’t put yourself down too much, it’s tricky stuff!” Tango said, squinting one eye shut so he could see the bundle of wires in front of him better.
“Anyways,” the hybrid continued, “this should hopefully reach one or two of my friends, if I’m still in the right galaxy. Maybe they’ll come get me, and save me the trouble of fixing my busted ship…” He lit up at the prospect, glowing from within.
“That’s possible?” Jimmy asked, in awe. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of something like that, aside from the telephones that False makes. And those require a lot of wiring to connect the two people talking…”
“Seems like you guys are pretty far behind the technology of my home planet, but that’s alright!” Tango mused, “Not everyone can be as great as us.” He puffed out his chest, a sharp tooth catching his lip as he smirked.
Jimmy made a show of rolling his eyes and scoffing, but he had to admit that he found the idea of space travel and long distance wireless communication amazing. What else did Tango’s world have that the Empires didn’t?
“Are you hungry for dinner?” Jimmy asked, getting up to move to the kitchen. “I don’t have much right now, but I can make some beans and biscuits.”
Tango shrugged. “I dunno what that is, but sure! Whatever you made earlier was good, and now that you mention it I haven’t eaten anything in... eight hours? My stomach isn't pleased with me, that's for sure.”
Jimmy wagged a finger at him. “You, sir, need three meals a day. You’re skin and bones, and if you’re going to dig out your spaceship you need to build up some muscle.”
“Okay, Mom ,” Tango shot back, dusting off his hands and leaving a terrible mess on the floor.
He then sauntered over towards the kitchen, tail wagging. Coming right up to Jimmy’s chest, Tango poked him in the sternum and gazed up with a shit-eating grin. “I guess you would know all about muscles though, huh?”
Jimmy felt his face heat up, and he just prays that he isn't turning bright red. Tango was almost a head shorter than him, which was made painfully obvious by their position. He was so… so…
Tango poked him again. “Hello? Is there not enough oxygen, way up there?”
Jimmy blinked, shaking off his thoughts. “There’s plenty, thank you very much. Do you want to help me bake the biscuits?”
The smaller man stepped back and made a show of thinking about it, scratching his chin. “The real question is, do you trust me not to burn down your kitchen?” Tango finally said, smoothing a hand over Jimmy’s countertop. “Because if the answer is yes, I’d love to help. I’ve got to learn to cookificate lunch all by my lonesome, after all.”
Honestly, Jimmy wished he could come home at lunch and eat with Tango. The idea certainly appealed to him a lot more than sitting alone in his office, eating whatever room temperature lunch he’d managed to pack in his scramble to get out the door.
Wait. Actually, why couldn’t he do that? He was technically his own boss, and he could just take a slightly longer lunch break. Screw it, Jimmy was allowed to have this.
“Who says you’ll be eating lunch alone?” Jimmy replied, elated that for once he could catch Tango off guard, rather than the other way around. “I could always stop by in the middle of the day, just to make sure you aren’t causing any trouble.”
Tango turned over his shoulder, batting his eyelashes. Jimmy could have sworn that his red eyes glimmered. “Oh really? You'd miss me that much?”
Jimmy just sighed in defeat. He really could never win.
Much later, there was a long argument over dinner about who was taking the bed, each man firmly declaring that they were happy to sleep on the couch. Eventually, though, Jimmy got Tango to cave— after all, the hybrid was still recovering.
“...Can we go back to my ship tomorrow?” Tango mumbled as Jimmy moved to turn the oil lamp off. “I wanna see the damage. Collect some parts. Y’know.” The hybrid was obviously exhausted, curled up under the covers. But even as tired as he was, Tango still talked with his hands, making all kinds of outlandish gestures to illustrate his words.
Seeing Tango in Jimmy’s bed, wearing Jimmy’s clothes, with a sleep-addled voice… well, it made Jimmy’s stomach swoop in a way he was definitely not going to acknowledge.
“Sure,” Jimmy immediately agreed, hardly even needing to think about it. “We can leave early, before it gets too hot.”
“Too hot… Mhm. Definitely.” Tango seemed to find this incredibly amusing for some reason, letting out a little giggle after he spoke. Cute.
Jimmy whispered a quiet “Goodnight,” before finally plunging the room into darkness and stepping back into the hall. His ears just barely registered a faint “G’night” back from Tango.
TheAmberShadow on Chapter 1 Tue 01 Aug 2023 03:46AM UTC
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