Work Text:
Jimmy knew it was dumb, okay. Basically the first rule of being a hero was don't let people know your identity. And he had broken it in multiple ways.
It was dumb. It was so dumb of him to blurt his name out to a complete stranger. Even if they had given Jim a name. That didn't mean that Tango was telling the truth, but it was hard to not believe the man when concern had washed across his face. It was more than what he usually got from most people he knew and it made something in him squirm.
It still meant it was dumb of him to give out his own.
He could have gone with his stupid hero name, though he hated it so much, yet for whatever reason he felt he could trust Tango with something so precious to any hero or villain.
And that wasn't all. The blaze hybrid then pulled Jimmy into his house without concern for his own safety and healed Jimmy up. It baffled him so much why a stranger would be so kind and generous.
It was why he had written his first note, though he had crossed it out as well as his number, he figured if Tango truly wanted to bother with him at all the blaze hybrid would send some sort of message.
And he had.
Jimmy wanted to scream. He was sitting on his brother's couch when he got a text from an unknown number. Usually he would give it a cursory glance over and delete it immediately but this one caught his eyes and he couldn't stop looking at it.
Hey, it's Tango, I hope you're alright.
He couldn't take his eyes off it. Simple, sweet, and caring, all in one small message.
"Whatcha got there Tim?" Came Grian's voice from behind him, making him jump in fright. He closed his phone screen from Grian's prying eyes but doubted he was quick enough.
"Nothing!" Jimmy shouted and he turned to glare at his brother.
The michevious smirk on Grian's face said he had already seen all he needed and was about to tease Jim mercilessly. "Who's Tango, hmm?"
Jimmy could already feel his face heat up so he turned back towards the TV in false hope that his brother would leave it be, though he knew it wouldn"t really happen. "He's no one."
"Oh really?" Grian came around and sat down on the arm of Jimmy's chair, staring at him with that unnerving look he got sometimes. Jimmy always cracked when Grian used that look. "He's no one, is he?"
Jimmy grit his teeth as he continued to feel Grian's stare at the side of his head, he wasn't going to fold this time, surely.
He always did though.
"Okay, so I may have got hurt last night," Jimmy turned in time to see Grian roll his eyes and mutter 'of course you did', but he continued on anyway. "And Tango may have helped me."
"Oh, is that why you didn't come home last night," Grian smirked as he continued, "did you give your saviour a bit of a reward?"
"What! No!" He was surely red in the face now. Grian was the worst for making a sentence sound dirty without it being dirty at all. The little shit. "He let me sleep on his couch while I healed."
"Sure he did." Grian jumped off the couch and meandered back to his work room and Jimmy hoped that would be the end of it but he knew better than that. "I'm not fixing your suit by the way, you're going to have to do that yourself."
Jimmy grumbled, he had figured as much anyway and when he had cleaned his suit last night it had been a lot more mangled than he had initially thought. The Goat's stupid pet dragon had gotten a little too close and had managed to get a good swipe on him when he was distracted with other things. Then, because of the force of the swipe, he had only just stopped himself from crashing to the ground below. His wing twitched with the phantom pain of the recent break and his thoughts turned to Tango who had cared enough about a stranger to help him.
The man had been way too nice, and sweet, and generous. The blaze hybrid had literally been a shining light for Jimmy when he was lying in the cold alleyway in pain, and Tango hadn't even wanted anything for his help. Who even does that these days, it was so rare to find someone so nice that Jimmy couldn't get Tango off his mind.
He opened up his messages again and looked at the text. He could freely admit that he had hoped Tango would message him. He knew he'd done a poor job of hiding his number in hopes the other would be curious about it. And he had.
"Are you going to message him back?" Grian said from behind Jimmy, causing Jimmy to jump again, he looked curiously at the phone then to Jimmy's face. He hadn't even heard his brother come back into the room. No wonder everyone called him a pesky bird, he seemed to love making people jump.
Jimmy shook his head at Grian's antics and turned back to his phone and let out a little, "yes." before thinking of what to say. He didn't want to be too forward but he also wanted Tango to message him again. What to say, what to say...
A thought popped into his head and he quickly wrote the message and sent it before he could regret what he said.
It read: I guess I didn't cover that up well. It's Jimmy btw.
"Really, Tim?" Grian said, his face unimpressed.
"Go annoy someone else why don't you." Jimmy said as he made his way to his own room, closing the door in Grian's face.
"You can't run from me Tim!" His brothers voice echoed through the door. Why he thought it would be a good idea to live with his family was beyond him.
He looked down at the phone again and saw no new messages, he had taken a while to reply so maybe Tango was doing something else now. Jimmy decided to get to fixing his suit instead of sitting and waiting for a new text to come through because he knew that was exactly what he would do if given the chance.
The tattered remains of his suit hung out the side of his bag and he pulled it out and held it up for inspection. On second thought, it might just be better to make a whole new suit than to use his old one. He could definitely take some aspects of his old suit apart to reuse but most of it was not worth it. With the mountain of work he now had ahead of him he sighed and rubbed his eyes. He would get back at The Goat for this eventually, hopefully, probably not, but he could hope.
With that he started to make his new suit. Just getting the basic shape took longer than he thought it would, his pattern was older than he thought and his suit had obviously stretched in the time he had been wearing it. Though before he even got to sewing it together he heard his phone go off with a message.
He was not ashamed to admit that he pounced for his phone, grabbing it and turning the screen on. Tango had replied to him and Jimmy grinned ear to ear as he opened it up.
Tango: Yeah, you might need to hide it better next time. Sorry if you didn't want me to message you but I wanted to make sure you were alright and safe.
Safe, Tango wanted him safe. It was so sweet of him that Jimmy felt his face flush. This man would be the death of him he was sure of it.
Jimmy: I'm good. I may have hidden my number poorly for a reason.
Tango: Oh, really? Well I'm glad to hear that.
Tango: I was wondering actually
Tango: If you maybe wanted to get a coffee or something sometime?
Jimmy couldn't help the little happy giggle that escaped him as he tried not the text back in all caps.
Jimmy: Yes, of course. I would love that.
Tango: Amazing. I'm free the day after tomorrow. Let me know if you're free and give me a time and place.
Jimmy: I'm free then too! How about Giga Pies at 11!
Tango: perfect
He wanted to shout to the universe. He was so lucky! He had a date with a cute guy and he didn't know what to do with himself. He now had a list of things he needed to do; finish his new suit pronto, maybe pick up some flowers or something for his date? What did you even give someone on a first date?, and get his work done so he could freely enjoy himself. Being a freelance artist was good, it meant that he could work at his own pace most of the time.
He worked with his brother as an artist. Which was both awesome and annoying as hell. On the one hand Grian was the real artist and just knew how to make things look good. Jimmy would make the basic shape and colour palette and Grian would enhance it tenfold. On the other hand Grian could very much be a slave driver when it came to getting work complete, but then again Jimmy was good at annoying his brother when he didn't want to finish a project too.
They worked well together. Even if both would never admit it out loud to the other. They also both knew each others secret identity, so they didn't have to be secretive about much. Which was another blessing and curse.
Okay, suit first then he could maybe ask a few of his friends about date things. He felt beyond giddy as he started to sew up his new suit. Maybe he could show Tango how he was going so far. Sure, they hadn't talked much, but it couldn't be that much of a bad idea. Tango knew he was a hero already, what was the harm in sending him a photo of fabric. He could always go with the cosplay story anyway, if anyone ever asked.
With that in mind Jimmy took a photo of his mess of a sewing project and sent it to Tango with the caption.
Jimmy: This is what I get for ruining my only costume.
He hoped Tango understood but if not he would just blow it off. He was partway through sewing on the arms when he got another message.
Tango: I didn't know you did your own work, very nice!
Tango: You'll have to show me the finished project when you're done.
Jimmy beamed as he looked down at his messages, thankful that he remembered to lock his door so his brother wouldn't see him smiling at his phone.
Jimmy: I'll give you a private show
Jimmy: Wait! Not like that! I didn't mean it like that!
His face was flushed with colour at his stupid mistake, his wings ruffled and surrounding him like they could protect him from his own stupidity.
Tango: hahaha, it's fine, I understand.
A sigh left him as he went to put his phone away. If he kept talking with Tango he wasn't going to get his suit done at all and Grian would be relentless in teasing him about it. He put it on silent and face down on the table. First he needed to finish his suit then he could talk with Tango.
It was three hours later when he was finished. He hadn't even realised it had been that long. When he got into something creative time seemed to fly passed without him realising.
He lifted up his phone and saw a new message from Tango, there was an image attached to one of them and he scrolled up to see what he had sent.
Tango: Sorry if the laughing offended you, you just make me laugh is all, in a good way
Tango: I know you're busy but look at this when you can.
The image after it was of Tango, his face was red as he was trying to blow into a horn of some kind. It reminded Jimmy of those horns small villages use to worn of danger. They were pretty uncommon in the city, for obvious reasons, but they were pretty cool.
He saved the photo to his phone, setting the picture to Tango's contact, and smiled as he sent back a message to Tango.
Jimmy: Where did you get that? I want one!
Jimmy: and don't worry about laughing at me, I do plenty of stupid things, I'd be concerned if you didn't laugh.
The reply was almost instant and Jimmy jumped, not expecting it at such a late hour.
Tango: That's good to hear. And my boss at work gave me some! I have two of them so when you're free you will have to come and grab it.
Jimmy: I could come now if you're free.
It was optimistic of him but screw it. He had known the blaze for a day and felt in love with him already. Sure his friends always teased him about that kind of thing but it was just who he was. He had a lot of love to give.
Tango: sure am. See you soon.
A giddy laugh left Jimmy again as he packed his now finished suit in a bag and changed clothes. He thought for a second about giving back the ones he had gotten from Tango but figured the blaze hybrid didn't mind if he kept them. Maybe he would ask Tango in person if he wanted his clothes back, maybe not.
He was so excited that he unintentionally ran straight into Grian as he left his room, the two of them nearly falling over with the force of Jimmy's strides.
"Woah there Tim, slow down!" Grian explained as he grabbed a hold of Jimmy's arm for stability. "Where are you going in such a rush?"
His wings fluffed up in embarrassment as he hunched in on himself slightly. This was the exact opposite of what he had wanted to happen. He really didn't need Grian questioning him as he tried to leave the house.
"Ah, well, just going to- um, to Martyn's for a bit." He stuttered out the first thing to come to his mind as he clutched his bag against his chest.
"Oh really?" Grain squinted his eyes in suspicion and Jimmy knew he wouldn't be able to lie to Grian for long but if he told his brother what he was planning on doing then he would try and stop Jimmy and he really didn't want that.
"Yup, gotta go, bye!" He shouted as he raced out the door. Grian tried to grab at his arm as he ran out the front door but missed by a hair as he left as quickly as he could.
"I'll find out eventually, Timmy!" Grian shouted at him as he fled. He jumped into the sky and was off, flying away from his brother's words. For a moment Jimmy felt like he had won for once but then he realised that Grian could have easily caught up with him, as his brother was a much faster flier. It made something in Jimmy's stomach twist as he flew away from their house.
What could Grian know that he didn't?