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Jimmy equated loving Tango with the wind in his hair as he soars through the skies.
It’s freeing, joyful, and intense. The open skies sing straight down to the wisps of his soul and the atoms that made up his very being. And seeing the blaze’s smile felt much the same. Sometimes Jimmy felt like if he closed his eyes and focused deeply, he could see their souls reaching for each other, their soulbond affecting more than just their shared lives.
It’s a normal day as Jimmy muses. He’s laying on their shared bed, on his stomach with his wings flared behind him. Tango’s claws rake through his feathers gently, so much more tender than he would’ve expected with his sharp claws. When he found a loose feather, it was tugged loose. When he saw crooked feathers, they were straightened. The avian had let Grian preen him before, but something about Tango’s soothing hands was different.
In moments like these, Jimmy forgets they’re in a death game. He forgets he’s a curse, destined to kill them both.
Tango is never happy when he voices these thoughts. The fire on his head flares and his blaze rods whirl and Jimmy would think him angry if it wasn’t for the softness in his eyes. And the blaze can read him now, the sudden tense muscles in his shoulders. His hands pause.
“I feel like burning everyone who has ever made you feel like that,” he says fiercely, as if he could read Jimmy’s mind.
The avian's sigh is quiet. He sits up, his wings drawing tightly to his body, feathers shaking in discomfort. Jimmy hates his wings sometimes, he can never fully conceal what he’s feeling.
“It’s true, though.”
Tango’s frustration is palpable. Instead of replying, he tugs Jimmy into his lap, arms encircling his waist. This close, the avian can feel the heat from his flames. He’s never scared of getting burned though, and he never has been.
Tango draws him into a feather light kiss, a brushing of lips that reveals more than words the blaze has already said a thousand times before. The back of his hand brushed Jimmy’s cheek, trailing down to cup his jaw as he deepened the kiss with enough firm insistence to quiet Jimmy’s mind.
“You silly bird,” Tango says.
The avian huffs a laugh, surrounding them with his wings. They’re quiet for a bit, the only sound is their synced breaths. When there’s no fear for their lives, or even the adrenaline of wrangling a warden, it feels like each inhale goes directly into Tango’s lungs, and his own exhales come from Tango’s.
“We both know I’m doomed, Tango,” Jimmy says, rushing to keep talking when Tango opens his mouth. “Even Grian thinks so.”
“Grian doesn’t know everything,” the blaze says indignantly. “You know I’ll protect you the best I can and even if we are out first, it won’t be your fault. I’m a failure at PVP. And this soul-bond isn’t one-sided. I’m just as likely to get us splatted at the bottom of the ravine as you are to die while mining.”
Jimmy hums. Every time he talks to his rancher, he marvels at his ability to set his mind at ease. He knows he has a habit of overthinking everything, until insignificant moments and fleeting thoughts have been turned over in his brain so much they feel world-ending. He’s never been particularly introspective, but Tango brings out sides of him he didn’t even know he had.
“Grian thinks he knows everything,” Jimmy says eventually. The blaze snorts with laughter, his blaze rods knocking together with his sudden movement. Jimmy feels satisfaction curl in him at the sight. If he could, Jimmy would pull the very sun down to Earth just to see Tango glow brightly. His smile was radiant, and the avian longs to see it every day as long as he lives.
“I wasn’t finished with your wings, silly bird. Lay back down.”
This time, Jimmy lays on his back. One of his wings is tucked behind his back on Tango’s lap, while the other spreads out across the bed. His claws resume combing through his feathers. The avian closes his eyes as he relaxes again. Tango preening him turns him into Puddle-Jimmy, every single time. Tango hums quietly under his breath and the familiar rasp of his voice almost puts Jimmy to sleep.
The thrill of adrenaline that Jimmy felt through their bond when Tango manipulated their warden to the surface exhausted him, and he was feeling it second-hand. The avian felt a swell of gratitude at Tango’s insistence to preen him, after the day they had. Tango’s bursting laugh when he saw the twigs and ruffled feathers in his wings quieted his arguing quite quickly though.
In quiet moments like these, Jimmy knew he was in love. Utterly. Perfectly. In quiet moments like these, Jimmy was also intimately familiar with fear. This was a death game, as Grian liked to remind them. Soon, when Jimmy inevitably got them killed, Tango would go back to Hermitcraft. Without him.
“You can’t fully relax if you don’t lose your tension,” the blaze said. He sounded exasperated. Jimmy knew he wasn’t dismissing his fears, but Tango viewed things such as being separated by servers inconsequential. It won’t change anything, he’d say. You’re mine no matter where you are.
Jimmy felt like tugging his hair until it melted his brain. Maybe he was dramatic, but he was tired of overthinking all the time. Tango sighs.
“Jimmy,” Tango says. It’s spoken in a tone that makes the avian’s eyes snap to his. Tango’s eyes were pained, as if he was feeling Jimmy’s fear running through his veins as equally as he did. “Please stop being scared. Have I ever lied to you?”
“No,” Jimmy whispers. The blaze smooths his hair away from his forehead, breathing deeply.
“These death games do quite a number on you, don’t they?”
Jimmy laughs. It’s not really funny, but he feels helpless enough without crying. The sun is setting outside, the rays shining through the windows of their doors. The cows are mooing in hunger, and a horn goes off in the distance.
“Silly bird,” Tango says fondly. “I’ll keep reminding you how awesome you are, even from Hermitcraft.”
Jimmy imagines him in his citadel, messaging him cross server on his communicator, redstone dust staining his fingers. His heart finally eased.
“You better,” Jimmy threatened. Tango’s answering smile was shining. Jimmy fell asleep to their warden roaring in the ravine and the crackle of his blaze’s flames under moonlight.