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Tango couldn’t sleep.
There was no reason for it, honestly, other than that he just couldn’t.
So, he decided to at least get some things done if sleep wasn’t going to happen. The farmhouse he and Jimmy lived in didn’t clean itself, and they were often too busy with the ranch during the day to get that sort of thing done quickly.
It was honestly a pretty productive night, all things considered. Tango did the laundry, and started on the dishes.
Actually… If he remembered correctly, Jimmy had a few cups in his room. He should probably grab those if he was doing the dishes anyways.
Carefully, Tango pushed open the door to Jimmy’s bedroom. Sure enough, a few mugs were settled on his desk, empty. Tango picked them up silently, and turned to check the side of the room Jimmy’s bed was on.
And he immediately noticed that Jimmy was bundled up tightly, shivering in his sleep under his blankets.
Oh. Right. It was winter, wasn’t it? It never got too cold in Tumble Town, of course, but once the sun set the temperature dropped fast, made even worse by the short and somewhat cold winter days.
Tango never really felt the cold, netherborn as he was. He hadn’t really noticed outside of the sun setting a little earlier. But Jimmy? Of course he’d be cold. Most of the heating on the property was for the barn, not the farmhouse, after all.
Quickly leaving to put the mugs with the other dishes in the kitchen, Tango decided he should do something to fix this.
And he had just the idea!
He walked back into Jimmy’s room, and gently shook his shoulder to wake him.
Red eyes were met quickly with blue ones, though they were heavy-lidded and unfocused from sleep.
“-ango? Wha… s’mthing wrong?” Jimmy asked, clearly a bit disoriented.
“Are you cold?”
“What?”
“Are you cold? I came in here to clean, and you were shivering.”
Jimmy sat up in his bed then, and rubbed his eyes.
“I mean- yeah? It’s winter. Why aren’t you asleep?”
“Doesn’t matter. I had an idea to make you less cold, though!”
With a confused tilt of his head, Jimmy silently prompted Tango to go on.
However, Tango didn’t reply. Instead, he moved to the opposite side of the bed, and got under the covers, laying down.
“... I’m confused.” Jimmy seemed, for whatever reason, stunned.
“I’m from the Nether, y’know. I’m warm!”
“Oh!” Realization seemed to dawn on Jimmy then, and it was a little hard to tell in the dark of the room, but his face reddened by just a little.
“I mean, yeah, that would solve the problem. But, uh, are you sure?”
“Of course! Ranchers look out for each other, don’t they?” Tango then held his arms out, a bit awkwardly as he was laying down, in a gesture of being open for a hug.
“... Y-yeah, I guess they do.” Carefully, as if he was worried about breaking something, Jimmy moved closer to Tango.
It was certainly warmer. Just being near him was like putting on clothes fresh from the dryer. It really would be easier to fall asleep like that, especially with how cold it tended to get…
Though, it'd be weird for Jimmy to just cuddle Tango, right? They lived together, sure, but they were just close friends by now. This was new. But still, it would be so nice. Jimmy liked Tango a bit more than he should, after all, but it would be bad to indulge that.
Before he could overthink it any more, Jimmy felt a warm and comforting pressure on his head. It was Tango’s hand, ever so gently combing through his hair, with just enough force to be grounding but not in any way uncomfortable.
And he was warm. So warm. The summer heat of the mesa was long gone by now, but it never seemed to leave even the air around Tango.
“I can tell you're overthinking this, y'know.” Tango said, with a smile in his voice. “I know you're tired, you've been doing all your sheriff-ing all day. Just… Follow my instructions, ok?”
“... Alright, sure.” Jimmy was too tired to try and argue with that logic.
“Close your eyes.” It was a simple enough request, and Jimmy's eyelids were heavy enough that he wanted to anyway.
“Alright. Comfy?”
“Yeah, ‘m comfy.” That was half true. He'd be more comfortable if he was warmer.
“Good. Just stay still, okay?”
“Oka-”
There was the sound of blankets shuffling, and then warm arms were around Jimmy. Tango was so close, and so warm. It was wonderful, and Jimmy wondered why he ever tried to avoid cuddling in the first place.
Without thinking about it, he melted a little into Tango's hold, which was met with a soft and endeared chuckle.
“See? I'm sure that's a lot better than shiveriffing under a million blankets.”
“‘s a lot better. Thank you, Tango…”
Jimmy was asleep before he knew it, happy to be warm and comfortable.
Once he was sure Jimmy was out, Tango responded.
“Of course. I love you, rancher.”