Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

‘Twas the night before xmas and all the lifers were laughing and sharing time with loved ones.

no it wasn’t.

and no they weren’t.

They were all standing in the circle listening to Grian talking.

A new life series began, “Double-Life” or whatever Grian said it was. The Watchers always told Grian the rules and told him to tell the others. As much as Jimmy was glad he didn’t have to deal with them he didn’t have it easy like the others. Him and Martyn both became Listeners when Evolution ended. He hated it. He could sometimes accidentally hear someone’s thoughts or a conversation from another room that he wasn’t meant to hear. It ruined his relationship with Scott after he died in 3rd life. After all 3rd life was where the canary curse fully set in, that’s when it got worse, and now he has to deal with someone pretending to suck up to him because they feel bad for him, or that he is gonna make them die first so they try to make him feel not as bad for it. 

“Alright-“ Scott said after Grian finished explaining, only for everyone to run off in different directions whilst saying bye in and out of sync.

Jimmy ran off in a random direction, hopefully he’d be able to be linked with someone who wasn’t Joel or Grian, though he’d also hate being paired with Scott, the fake sorrow and sympathy he gives Jim just pisses him off. Hopefully he wouldn’t be paired up with his sister either, he loves Pearl but she can get a bit chaotic after not getting a good amount of sleep. As Jimmy ran around getting supplies and checking whoever he ran into was or wasn’t his soulmate he eventually was searching for some supplies and talking to himself only for-

<TangoTek was blown up by a creeper>

<SolidarityGaming died>

Jim sat up in the tree he woke up on, his breathing was heavy, the wound he was barely feeling scarred onto his skin. What happened? Did he die? There weren’t any hostile mobs near him! Wait, communicator, that’ll have the answers. Jimmy pulled his communicator out while climbing down from the tree, just a bunch of the others saying “oh no!” “wonder who’s paired” and “oop” 

Scroll up Jim, find where it says you died… Here we go… 

He scrolled up a bit on the chat and saw it. in its full terrifying glory. 

“<TangoTek was blown up by a creeper>”

…Tango huh..?

“Where is he..?” Jim walked around a bit and saw a bit of a flame in a tree, letting out a small sigh of relief for finding that his soulbound didn’t run he called out “Tango! What happened??” 

“Uh- H-hi!…” Tango went on to explain that he was spelunking and got bombed with a rampage of mobs……and that he was sorry. He said he was sorry like twenty times while explaining! …Maybe this won’t be as bad as he thought…

~~✿~~~✿~~~✿~~

(time skip cuz i’m lazy asf)

“Hey Jim, wanna play a game of ‘Chicken’??” Tango asked as he dumped out a bag of seed for the chickens to eat in their newly built ranch. It’s been a few days since the whole thing started. But it has gotten a bit boring in between all the other shenanigans.

Which was probably why Jimmy agreed to play a game of chicken with Tango. I mean the rules were simple, pretend to be in a strictly non-sexual but somewhat of a romantic relationship. See who falls first yadda yadda fun game to play until they end up losing their last two lives. That’s exactly what they both thought would happen. That’s exactly what Jimmy thought would happen, that they both were joking enough to not actually fall.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…. How in Void’s name did I actually fall for him?! I mean sure he’s kind, sweet, funny, handsome— No, no, no. Stop thinking like that Jim! Jimmy sat on the railing of the porch as he death-stared the ground 

(I’m gonna be honest with you, long story short, Jim fell hard, he didn’t tell Tango and lost their last life to that stupid enderman. Byeeeee!!!! 👋)

[………..SIKE-]

He had to tell Tango, that was their stupid deal, besides what’s the problem?? It’s not like Tango would disown him as his soulbound like Scott and Cleo did with their pairs…. Right? Jimmy took a deep breath in and gently hopped off the railing only to be snapped out of his thoughts by a voice that has become all too familiar to him the past week, Jimmy looked over to the gate that was at the fence that led you into the ranch, there was Tango, him and his beautiful and stunning blazeborn features made him shine brighter than the sun to Jim, but in the best way possible. 

“Hi Tango!” Jimmy started to walk towards Tango only to have his organ feel like they’re being squeezed out in a tight hug. “Oof-“

“JIMMYYYYYYYY, MY RANCHER!!!!” Tango’s grip tightened around Jimmy’s waist as He squealed with excitement of seeing his soulbound. “How’re ya doin’?”

“I’m doing g-good- could you loosen your grip please?” Jimmy managed to wiggle just enough to free his arms and hug Tango back

“Huh?? Oh! Yeah, sorry Jim.” Tango let go much to Jimmy’s despair. “Glad you’re doing good though!”

“Mmhm… oh, I have something to tell you-“ He started talking only to be cut off by Tango grabbing his hand and dragging him inside the ranch.

“Really?? I do too! But let’s eat first?” Tango walked into the kitchen after nudging Jimmy with his elbow, completely oblivious to the amount of blushing Jimmy had done in the past few moments.

Jimmy reluctantly agreed as he helped his soulbound start up dinner, after some debating the two settled upon some soup, potato soup to be more specific. So as Tango got the water boiling in the pot, Jimmy was set to cut up the potatoes. They didn’t talk much while cooking except a few things here and there, but the silence wasn’t bothersome for either, it was calming and comfortable. Once the soup was done cooking they got their bowls and spoons and got some soup, and went outside to sit on the picnic blanket they set up before the soup was done. Now normally the soup is at least decent but for some reason that Jimmy has no clue as to why, the soup tasted magnificent, like it was cooked with something warm, not the water, a warm feeling that sits cozy and wrapped inside Jimmy’s heart.

What on Earth… this tastes so delicious, more so than every other time Tango and I have made this dish… Even though it’s the same recipe as the last few times. Well it’s nice either way.

Tango clearly agreed with whatever Jimmy was thinking about the soup, that was if the wonky, squiggly, and genuine smile meant what Jim thought. 

{ Pov swap because i said so :33 }

Tango was smiling like a little kid and blushing so much he probably looked like a tomato. The soup tastes so good alone, but even better because he made it with Jimmy. and there was absolutely nothing that would’ve made this moment even better. Except of course him and his soulbound holding each other in their arms and— No. No, he didn’t mean that. He- holy crap. He’s in love with Jimmy. That wasn’t meant to actually happen… This whole game was just laughs and stuff… Damn it, he knew that feeling wasn’t just happiness alone… Thankfully Jimmy has to tell him something, hopefully he can tell him after and not get teased about it as much.

“Could I tell you what I needed to say earlier?” Jimmy speaks and breaks up Tango’s thoughts. “Though if not that’s completely okay!”

“No, it’s alright, I don’t mind, though could I tell you two things after?” Tango reassured the semi-panicked man in front of him.

{ ANNNDDDDD THIS SHALL BE IN TWO PARTS CAUSE I BURNT MYSELF OUT AND WANNA ADD MOREE <3 }

Chapter Text

The pair were staring into each other’s eyes looking for something until Jimmy spoke up.

“Yeah, uh you can tell me the less important one if there is one, right now if you want..” Jimmy gently said as he sat down his bowl on the other side of him that Tango wasn’t on. 

“Oh yeah, I found loads of goats, and managed to get one in a small enclosure out back!” He smiled brightly like he was awaiting praise. 

And that praise was received, though probably not the best way for him due to this newly found information about his feelings toward his rancher.

“oh, Tango! Thank you, thank you! We can finally try and get ourselves goat horns!” Jim clapped his hands together and took one of Tango’s in between his own. Tango just hoped Jimmy couldn’t see the growing tomato red blush on his face… nonetheless, it left a small happy smile creep its way onto his lips.

“W-well, I mean you asked and I delivered!” Bloody hell, Tango was a mess right now. Stuttering, blushing, lovey-dovey mess. Thank god it was dark out. The shorter man looked up at Jimmy, then spoke once more. “What was the thing you wanted to say..?”

“Oh right! I uh…” Jimmy’s voice went so quiet that Tango could barely hear him, but he could make out some of it ‘you…. -nd i’m sorry,…. but could i maybe— …. —you?’ Tango was vaguely sure that somewhere he heard the word ‘kiss’ but he had zero clue when. It was only made clear that when Jimmy finally opened his eyes that if Tango wasn’t looking right at him he would’ve missed it: Jimmy looked at his lips. Even though it was for a split second, he knows what he saw.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t really hear you…buuut, does this answer your question?” Tango gently but swiftly cupped Jimmy’s face and locked their lips together,

the kiss was warm, soft, and sweet. Jimmy was shocked at first but he quickly melted into it as he wrapped his arms around Tango’s neck, and burying a hand into Tango’s hair. The pair accidentally fell over which separated the kiss but Tango took it as a chance as he propped himself up with an arm and pinned Jimmy to the ground in a gentle manner.

“Uhm- h-hi..?” Jimmy cocked his head to the side as the wings on his head did their best to hide his blushing face.

“Hey there, songbird. Ya wanna help me pick up? You can get cuddles when we head to bed.” Tango took note to the dark red blush that crept its way onto Jim at the nickname. But he pulled himself and his soulmate up after he got a nodded yes.

The two made quick work to clean up and bring everything into the house, setting the blanket on the couch, the dishes in the sink, and eventually getting into jammies for the night. The pair crawled into their nest of a bed — Jimmy made it like a nest, he mentioned that due to the canary part of him he likes his bed being a nest — Tango held onto Jimmy and let himself heat up thinking about the past hour, and the many that were to come after this one. 

Today was probably the best he’s had for a while now.

Tango never got to tell Jimmy what he wanted to say… y’know what? I think the kiss said all it needed to <3