#6811 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pastelitey · 9 months

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Solidaritek: Keep You Warm

It's the holidays and between Christmas parties with friends and working through the painfully slow process of moving in together, Jimmy is finally ready to say "I love you" to Tango for the first time. If only he could find the right moment to do it. word count: 6811 pairings: Jimmy/Tango, Implied!Grian/Scar tags: Modern AU, Christmas, Christmas party, Mistletoe, Domestic fluff [ao3 link]

When the holidays arrive, Jimmy and Tango are in the middle of moving in together. They’re eagerly waiting for Tango’s lease to be up in January, and have been steadily moving things from his apartment to Jimmy’s in the meantime. The living room is filled with more moving boxes than Christmas decorations at this point, but neither of them are complaining. With every passing day it becomes more real that they’re actually doing this, that after a certain point Tango will stop ‘spending the night’ and will actually start to call Jimmy’s space his own. It makes Jimmy a little dizzy when he thinks about it.

Jimmy gets home a little after five o’clock on Christmas Eve and immediately gets to work. He pulls ingredients out of the fridge and the cupboards to make soup. While he’s never considered himself a great cook, when compared with Tango’s abilities, he looks like he belongs in a professional kitchen somewhere in Paris. So he ends up cooking most days, but he really doesn’t mind.

While he waits for the stock to heat up on the stove he begins rearranging the boxes in the living room, something he really should have done earlier. Some of Tango’s stuff is already interspersed with Jimmy’s within the apartment, but the majority of it is still stuffed into cardboard boxes to be taken care of at a later date. Tango keeps assuring Jimmy that he’ll get around to it eventually, but every time he comes over to get started on it he ends up distracted by something or other.

As Jimmy’s stirring all the ingredients together in the pot he hears keys jangle in the door. It brings a smile to his face, reminding him of the day not so long ago when he’d given Tango the spare key. Tango’s grin at that moment was like a million suns shining all at once, and Jimmy never wanted to look away.

Tango enters the apartment like he always does; in a whirlwind. He’s muttering something under his breath, keys jangling violently before he throws them on the counter. Jimmy looks over his shoulder, smiling fondly at the man as he kicks the door closed, arms filled with a comically oversized paper grocery bag. He kicks off his shoes and when he sees Jimmy looking, greets him with a smile that never fails to take Jimmy’s breath away.

“Hi, Jim!” Tango says chipperly. He sets the paper bag down on the counter and races around the island to greet him properly, with a kiss. Jimmy steps away from the burner right before Tango barrels into him, latching onto him and kissing the corner of Jimmy’s mouth.

Jimmy’s heart swells as Tango pulls away, arms still wrapped around him. “Hi,” he says back, eyes raking over Tango now that he’s up close. He’s wearing his puffy winter coat that Jimmy always jokes makes him look like a penguin, complete with a fine layer of snow dusted across his shoulders. His nose and cheeks are tinged red from the cold, making him look all the more cuddly. And to top it all off, he’s wearing the terrible beanie Jimmy crocheted for him during his phase of thinking crochet was his new big thing. Needless to say, it absolutely was not, but Tango still wears the black and red beanie religiously.

Jimmy’s heart swells and he wants to say it, to tell Tango right now about the feelings that he’s finally accepted. But Tango pulls away as quickly as he sprang into Jimmy’s arms, and the chance is lost. But that’s okay, Jimmy decides, because when he couldn’t sleep the other night because of it he came to the conclusion that when he was going to tell Tango it needed to be during a special moment. And while practically every moment with Tango is special, Jimmy wants to be able to look back on it fondly instead of cringing at his past self for saying it in the middle of the kitchen.

“Let me take my stuff off and then I’ll help you!” Tango says, already unzipping his coat as he prances towards the bedroom. Jimmy smiles, watching him as he goes, before turning back to the pot on the stove. He’s still smiling to himself like a fool, replaying the moment where he almost said it over and over.

Tango reappears a minute later once his layers have been shucked off, dressed in a simple red sweater and the cargo pants he’s determined are still in good shape. Jimmy puts the lid over the pot and follows Tango over to the island where the paper bag sits.

“Did you get the bread?” Jimmy asks, peering into the contents of the bag. It’s snatched out of view almost immediately by a wide-eyed Tango, who rifles through it and pulls out a smaller, plastic bag. He shoves it behind his back with a cheshire grin, replacing the paper bag on the counter.

“I haven’t wrapped your present yet!” Tango explains, inching his way back towards the bedroom, positioned so that Jimmy can’t see behind him. Once close enough, he dashes into the room, certainly to hide the gift out of sight. Jimmy rolls his eyes fondly and turns back to the paper bag, head swimming with adoration for the man.

They eat their dinner and talk about their days with that yuletide log youtube video looping in the background. Tango got off work early to do some last-minute shopping for his secret santa gift for tomorrow, which Jimmy has been on his case for for the past two weeks. He’s sympathetic when Tango describes how busy the shops were, but ultimately it was worth it when Tango found the perfect item for his secret santa. Although they’ve agreed to keep their secret santa’s identities secret, Jimmy is fairly certain that Tango’s is Grian, based solely off of the fact that it took him so long to even come up with an idea for what to get them.

When their dinner is finished, Tango makes them hot chocolate(one of the only things Jimmy trusts Tango not to burn) and they settle on the couch to watch a cheesy Christmas movie Jimmy loved when he was a kid. The entire time they’re watching he keeps assuring Tango it was better when he was ten years old, which only makes the other man cackle and curl into Jimmy’s side even more. It’s moments like these that are so immensely precious to Jimmy, and he knows he wouldn’t trade any of this for the world.

When the movie is over Jimmy decides it’s time for bed. Tango wants to stay up but Jimmy can see the dark circles growing under his eyes and forces him into some pajamas so they can get to sleep. Most of Tango’s pajamas consist of Jimmy’s casual clothes, which he really doesn’t mind, especially since he likes seeing Tango in his things.

They tuck themselves into bed and even though the bed is big enough for them both to sleep comfortably on their own sides, Tango always insists on curling up to Jimmy like a clingy cat. Jimmy watches the snow fall outside through the window as Tango gets comfy, running his hand absentmindedly through Tango’s hair as he begins to still on top of Jimmy’s chest.

“G’night,” Tango says, his voice rumbly against Jimmy’s diaphragm.

Jimmy smiles, pressing a kiss against Tango’s head as best he can at the awkward angle. “Goodnight.” Another set of words hang on the edge of Jimmy’s tongue, ready to catapult themselves into the space between the two of them and possibly disrupt everything. Maybe right now, curled up in bed with Tango’s head on Jimmy’s chest on Christmas Eve, it would be the perfect time to say it. Years down the line they could reminisce on Jimmy’s perfect timing and laugh fondly about it.

But he takes too long to think about it and Tango is already out like a light, snoring softly. Jimmy shakes his head affectionately at the other man, pulling him closer and closing his eyes, thinking I love you as sleep whisks him away.

~ ~ ~

When the morning arrives and Jimmy wakes up, it’s to the early morning winter light filtering in through the window and to the smell of something delicious wafting in through the open bedroom door. Jimmy stretches his arms as he registers Tango is not in bed, and begins wondering what Tango is up to in the kitchen. He doesn’t smell anything burning yet, so there’s still hope.

When he peels himself out of the warm bed, he puts on his bunny slippers(a gift from Tango once the weather started turning) and carefully makes his way to the kitchen. He tries to make his steps as loud as possible, knowing how easily Tango can startle when he’s focused on something. Thankfully as soon as he rounds the corner Tango is greeting him with that gorgeous smile of his and some sort of frosting or food coloring on his face.

“Morning!” Tango greets cheerfully. “I’m making pancakes!”

Jimmy hums softly, walking over and surveying the accumulating mess on the counters and stovetop. “So that’s what I could smell.” He plants a kiss on Tango’s cheek, nuzzling into him and enjoying his warmth.

“Don’t worry, I have the stove turned down so I don’t burn them this time.” Tango flips an artificially colored green pancake onto the only Christmas themed plate Jimmy owns, holding it up to Jimmy. “Look, Christmas trees!”

Jimmy looks down at the unfortunately shaped blob that kind of resembles a tree, more in color than shape. Jimmy can’t help but crack a smile, but manages to hold back a laugh.

“Is that what it’s supposed to be?”

Tango rolls his eyes. “Uh, yeah! I also made some in the shape of stockings, but they look more like candy canes, just without the stripes.” He dances off to the island with the plate in hand, where he adds the Christmas tree pancake to a growing pile of the breakfast treats. Jimmy has to admit that Tango is decent at making pancakes, for whatever reason. Even if he makes a mess of the kitchen while doing so, Jimmy has no reservations against allowing Tango to take the reins when he decides he wants pancakes.

He turns off the burner when Tango forgets to and they clean up the mess of pancake batter and food dye together. Tango makes Jimmy admire his pancake creations before they eat them, and Jimmy has to give praise to each individual pancake before they can even take the syrup out of the cupboard. It’s worth it, in the end, when Tango kisses Jimmy as a little prize and Jimmy feels like he’s floating.

He wipes the pancake batter and flour off of Tango’s chin after some resistance and he feels the words rise up in his throat again, but manages to keep them down.

After they eat their Christmas themed pancakes, Jimmy has to brush his teeth feverishly to get some of the food dye off, and then after that it’s time for presents.

Jimmy is quite proud of his present for Tango. He’d been planning it for a while, as he first saw Tango ogling it through a shop window back at the beginning of September. It’s a multi-tool kit with lots of bits and bobs that Jimmy is sure would come in handy with some of Tango’s projects that he likes to work on. He even made sure he got the red one, Tango’s favorite color. He bought one of those little gift boxes people usually put jewelry in with a little custom tag and he even googled a calligraphy website to put Tango’s name on it and make it extra special.

It’s all worth it, too, because when Tango opens the box he practically starts bouncing off the walls. Jimmy’s face is peppered with kisses and he gets to hear Tango’s little ramblings about how much he loves it, which makes Jimmy only grow more affectionate for him. Thankfully before he can even start to consider telling Tango the thing he’s been dying to tell him, Tango is shoving his gift into Jimmy’s lap.

Giddy, Jimmy opens the gift bag and pulls out an immense amount of tissue paper. At the bottom of the bag, wrapped in one last layer of tissue paper, is a fuzzy, blue and red sweater. Jimmy smiles as he holds it up, but the smile disappears once he sees what’s on the front of it.

“It’s Captain America!” Tango says, snickering to himself.

Jimmy gives Tango an unimpressed look. “I can see that.”

As Tango begins laughing, Jimmy just shakes his head affectionately. It really is a nice sweater, save for the tacky image of the patriotic superhero that’s stuck to the front of it. He begins wondering if he can use a pair of scissors or something to take it off, but then Tango might be upset, so he better not.

“Did you just buy this for me so you can steal it from me?” Jimmy asks with a raised eyebrow. Tango knows that Jimmy loves his sweaters, but Jimmy knows that Tango loves to steal said sweaters.

Tango, looking quite pleased with himself, shakes his head. “No, actually.” He pulls something out from behind his back, and soon Jimmy is gaping at the red and yellow sweater displayed before him. “I got a matching one for myself!”

Tango’s sweater has Iron Man plastered on the middle of it instead of Captain America, but the pattern is the same. Jimmy puts his head in his hands as Tango laughs, but at least he’s enjoying himself.

“I can’t believe you,” Jimmy says, face flushing a deep red color. He never should have told Tango about the Captain America knock-off avatar he used for all the old games he used to play.

“I figured we could wear them to the party, so everyone knows we came together!” Tango explains with a grin, already pulling his sweater over top of his pajama shirt.

Jimmy pouts at Tango goodnaturedly. “Everyone already knows we’re coming together.”

“Please?” Tango says, leaning close with his hands clasped in front of him.

Jimmy looks over his sweater one last time and rolls his eyes. “Of course I’m going to wear it.” He gives Tango a quick peck on the lips, holding the sweater close to his chest. “Thank you.”

It hadn’t been what he was expecting, but it really is sweet. Jimmy could care less about the worth or practicality of whatever gift he received, all that mattered to Jimmy was the thought behind it. And yeah, it would certainly be embarrassing to wear to the Christmas party, but at least Tango would be wearing a matching one beside him.

And just the thought of matching with Tango—visually showing off to all their friends that they’re together—makes Jimmy happier than ever.

~ ~ ~

Thanks to the terrible traffic and the winter roads, Jimmy and Tango end up being some of the last few people to arrive at the party. After finding a parking spot, Jimmy carries the sweet potato casserole he cooked up while Tango’s in charge of carrying the secret santa gifts. The sun is already going down as they approach the front door, warm lighting emanating from the windows of Grian’s home. Thankfully the walkway has been cleared so they make it to the front door in one piece.

Just as Jimmy raises a hand to knock on the door, it swings open and someone plucks the glass pan right out of his arms. “Thank you!” Grian cheers with a devilish grin, before slamming the door on them. Jimmy takes a second to comprehend what just happened as he hears Grian shout about the arrival of the sweet potatoes followed by hearty laughter from the other partygoers.

“Did he just do what I think he just did?” Tango says, giggling despite Jimmy’s unimpressed expression.

“He did,” Jimmy grits out. He knocks on the door properly this time, despite not hearing Grian lock it behind himself. Jimmy imagines Grian must be getting a kick out of himself right now.

When the door opens the second time, Scar is standing in the doorway. “Well hello there! Glad to see you two could finally make it!” He ushers them inside the warm house and Jimmy is immediately overwhelmed by the smell of good food ruminating throughout the place.

“Thanks for letting us in!” Jimmy says with a shake of his head, pulling off his coat before helping Tango to do the same.

“Not a problem!” Scar says with an easy smile. Jimmy feels slightly less silly about what he and Tango are wearing when he sees the obnoxiously bright Christmas cat sweater Scar is currently donning, complete with little blinking lights and golden pom-poms. He looks like a walking Christmas tree that someone’s got their cat stuck in.

“Where’s the gift table?” Tango asks, spinning around as they survey the unfolding festivities. It seems like everyone else has arrived already, with Cleo, Ren and Martyn gossiping on one end of the couch, Gem and Bdubs fighting over control of the speaker and what Christmas song to play, Joel and Lizzie splayed out on the carpet and playing with the dog—wait, whose dog is that?—and even more voices coming from the kitchen.

“Gift table is in the dining room, I can take them for—Oh. My. Gosh.” Scar’s jaw drops and his eyes physically light up, and it takes Jimmy a second to register what’s going on. “Are those Marvel Christmas sweaters I see?”

Tango beams with pride. “Mm-hm! Check them out!”

Jimmy tries not to die of embarrassment as Scar oohs and ahs at their sweaters. Tango, on the other hand, seems very pleased with himself and is currently getting a kick out of how red Jimmy’s face is right now.

“Those are absolutely amayzin’!” Scar’s grin quickly melts into a pout. “I wish Grian would have done matching sweaters with me.”

“Speaking of Grian!” Jimmy says, peeking around Scar and towards the kitchen. “I need to figure out what he did with our potatoes!” He ducks around Scar but when he turns to ask Tango if he’s coming, Scar already has an arm slung around his shoulder and is pestering him about his favorite Iron Man movie. He decides to leave Tango to it as payback for making them wear the ridiculous sweaters in the first place. Tango should have known Scar was going to lose his mind over them.

Unlike Jimmy’s apartment, Grian’s house is decorated head-to-toe with Christmas paraphernalia. There’s a tree set up in practically every room, festive wall hangings strung about and those little Christmas village figurines decorating every available surface. Jimmy makes sure to keep an eye above him every time he passes under a doorway just in case Grian decided to break out the mistletoe again.

For every single holiday season that Jimmy has known Grian, he’s always thrown parties for them and their friends to celebrate. And Grian, being the cheeky little prankster he is, used to hang up a fake mistletoe in a random doorway and not tell people about it until two people were under it. He loved watching everyone awkwardly dart around it the whole time and calling people out if they wound up under it with another person, to everyone else’s dismay. But the fun came to an end when last year Grian and Scar wound up under it and he immediately ripped it off and declared there would be ‘no more mistletoe’. So even though Jimmy has no idea if Grian put it back up this year, he’s going to keep being cautious about it.

When Jimmy gets to the kitchen it’s bustling with activity. Skizz and BigB are at the counter sneaking popcorn and chocolates out of the treat bowls while Impulse tries to fend them off, claiming they’ll ‘ruin their appetites’, while Pearl and Mumbo are helping Grian get everything set up for dinner.

Mumbo is the first to spot Jimmy, greeting him with a smile. “Jimmy! Welcome in, bud.”

“Hi Jimmy!” Pearl says, running from one end of the kitchen to the other with a steaming tray in hand.

Grian narrows his gaze at Jimmy from over his shoulder. “Alright, who let this guy in?”

“You invited me,” Jimmy says, planting his hands on his hips. “Now what have you done with my potatoes?”

“Oh, are those yours?” Mumbo says, looking down at the exact dish Jimmy just had stolen from him two minutes ago. “I was wondering where they came from.”

Jimmy huffs. “He just took my potatoes and left me on the doorstep, shivering in the cold!”

Pearl gasps, affronted. “Grian, how could you do that to poor Jimmy?”

“You can’t just make off with someone else’s potatoes, G,” Mumbo says, shaking his head.

Grian rolls his eyes as he dusts off his hands. “I did nothing of the sort—what on earth are you wearing?”

All eyes turn to Jimmy and he feels the room gets ten times warmer.

“That’s… definitely something,” Mumbo says.

Jimmy crosses his arms against his chest, attempting to hide the decal of Captain America. “It’s just a sweater, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Tango’s got a matching one.” Jimmy spins around to see Joel standing just behind him, looking smug as he eats directly from a bag of chex cereal.

“Joel!” Pearl cries, snatching the bag of cereal out of his hands. “Those are for the muddy buddies!”

Grian starts giggling which only makes Jimmy’s face heat up even more. “Oh, this I’ve got to see!” He darts out of the kitchen before Jimmy can stop him, telling Pearl to keep an eye on the oven for him.

“Oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing,” Jimmy says, hiding his face behind his hands.

Mumbo pats him on the shoulder. “Cheer up, mate! You should have seen the sweater Scar tried to get Grian to wear.” That does not make Jimmy feel any better, seeing as Grian isn’t wearing the silly sweater but Jimmy is.

Despite the fact that Jimmy is wearing the sweater for Tango, he still feels properly flustered about it, especially upon seeing everyone else’s reaction to it.

Impulse walks into the kitchen balancing multiple different bowls of snacks, probably to get them away from Skizz and BigB. He lights up when he sees Jimmy’s sweater. “Hey, I’m glad I’m not the only one who wore a silly Christmas sweater!” Impulse’s is a more classic Christmas sweater, complete with Santa’s sleigh and the eight reindeer, but it’s not nearly as absurd as Jimmy’s.

Joel snickers and Jimmy has half a mind to slap his hand over his friend’s mouth. “You should see the one Tango’s got on, Impulse.”

“Oh?” Impulse says, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

“What’s Top wearing?” Skizz asks, popping his head into the kitchen.

“Joel!” Jimmy groans as the two dart off, surely to find Tango so they can pick on Jimmy even more. Jimmy turns and glowers at Joel, who just shrugs in response. “You are the absolute worst.”

Joel grabs a chocolate out of the snack bowl Impulse has newly relocated. “You make it too easy, sometimes, Jim.” Jimmy tries to pretend he’s not listening by watching Pearl stir the soup on top of the stove. “You must really love him if you’re willing to wear that stupid sweater for him.”

Jimmy stiffens up at that. Out of all the things Joel could have said, why that? He can’t have known about Jimmy’s internal struggle with that exact word, right?

Jimmy just deflects from Joel’s statement and attempts to busy himself by helping with the dinner preparations, deciding that it’s going to be a long night.

~ ~ ~

Once everyone else has gotten over the hysterics of Jimmy and Tango’s matching sweaters, the party goes pretty smoothly. They have dinner and there’s barely enough room for them all at the table because of how much food there is, and because Grian’s table was certainly not meant for so many people to be eating at. But it’s nice and cozy even when they’re all squished up next to each other. Jimmy’s sweet potatoes seem to be a big hit, even if Joel and Grian keep denying that they were Jimmy’s doing.

After that it’s time for secret santa presents and Jimmy sits on one end of the couch with Tango pressed into his side. He hadn’t expected it to take so long to go around the circle and dish out all the presents, but considering how many of them were involved in it, he decides that he should have seen it coming. Gem gifts Jimmy an adorable cat calendar and Ren seems to be a big fan of the retro aviators that Jimmy thrifted for him. And Jimmy was correct in assuming Tango had Grian, and Grian’s reaction to the gag gift is absolutely priceless.

There’s a bit of downtime before the next activity wherein Impulse and Skizz attempt to convince Jimmy to come play hockey with them. Normally Jimmy would be happy to come along to an activity with some of Tango’s friends, but he’s seen how these guys play hockey, and it’s no joke. Jimmy came along to watch one of Tango’s last games and he swears he’s never seen the three friends ever get so competitive. But he has to admit, Tango does look good when he plays. Really good. So maybe it’s not a good idea for him to join them, he might just get too distracted by his boyfriend and make them lose the game.

“What were you guys talking about?” Tango asks as he rejoins Jimmy a few minutes later, holding two glasses of sparkling cider. He offers one to Jimmy who takes it gratefully and tries not to get lost in Tango’s eyes before he can answer his question.

Jimmy shrugs and raises his glass. “Oh, nothing. They just were trying to get me to join you guys at hockey.”

Tango’s eyes light up and Jimmy already knows he’s a doomed man. “Oh, Jimmy! You totally should, it would be so much fun!”

He rolls his eyes playfully. “I dunno, Tango, I don’t think I’m a hockey guy.” It’s true, but it’s also because his infatuation with Tango will be a huge detriment to the both of them. And he’d never hear the end of it from Tango and their friends if something like that happened while they were on the ice.

“Timmy playing hockey? Now I’d like to see that!” Martyn chuckles as he walks by, a plate of apple pie in hand.

“Martyn’s just jealous ‘cause you’d beat him,” Tango says, voice lowered as he snakes a hand up Jimmy’s chest. Jimmy’s head goes fuzzy as he feels those words dancing on the tip of his tongue again.

Martyn blows a raspberry as he walks away to join a conversation with Scott. “Not a chance, Captain!”

“Get a room, you two,” Scott says with a self-satisfied smirk. Jimmy shakes his head as Tango pulls away from him, frowning. They both know it’s only playful joking, but sometimes it is bothersome when their friends ruin a moment.

Jimmy pats Tango’s shoulder. “How about some apple pie, huh?”

The glimmer returns to Tango’s expression. “Ooh, yes please!”

“Be right back!” Jimmy hands his glass to Tango and makes his way to the kitchen, passing by Cleo and Etho who are cooing over the dog in Pearl’s arms—must be Pearl’s dog, then. Lizzie and Joel are in the kitchen already, sampling the different desserts that have been provided. Jimmy keeps his eyes for the apple pie that he’d seen on Martyn’s plate, only he doesn’t spot it amongst the puddings and plates of cookies.

“Right, who ate all the apple pie?” Jimmy says, going as far as to open the fridge to check for it.

Lizzie looks around with her lips pressed into a thin line. “It looks like it disappeared! I think we need a real hero to figure out who took it!”

Jimmy shakes his head. “Right.” He grabs two paper plates and puts a cookie on each of them, making his way back out to the living room to Tango, only to find everyone grouped up and laughing about something. Jimmy almost wonders if he’s going to find out he’s the butt of another joke, until he realizes that Grian seems to be at the middle of all the fun.

When Jimmy gets up to the clumping of people, he finally gets a look at what they’re all laughing about. Grian’s face is just about as red as the fuzzy sweater he’s suddenly sporting, complete with little photorealistic cats decorating a Christmas tree with working, blinking lights. Scar stands just off to the side in his similar sweater, absolutely beaming.

“Aw, Grian!” Jimmy coos, “you look so cute!”

Grian crosses his arms across his chest, possibly to hide the ugly sweater. “This is all your fault, Tim!”

Scar slides an arm around Grian’s shoulder so that they’re side by side and their sweaters can be admired as they were meant to be—together. “Don’t we look wonderful, Grian? I’m so glad you finally agreed to wear the sweater!”

“Oh, me too!” Pearl says, brandishing her phone and snapping plenty of pictures. Grian tries to grab the phone out of her grasp but she dances away in time, and so begins a stand-off between the two. Jimmy steps away from the chaos, desperately attempting not to drop the frosted cookies onto the nice, clean carpet.

“Told you it wouldn’t be so bad.” Tango takes one of the plates from Jimmy and smiles up at him before taking a bite, keeping eye contact with Jimmy the whole time.

Jimmy wraps an arm around Tango’s side and pulls him close, all the while watching Grian try to unlock Pearl’s phone to distract himself from saying something prematurely. “I guess not.”

It was worth wearing the silly Captain America sweater to see Grian get his own comeuppance, but that doesn’t matter to Jimmy in the long run. It’s making Tango happy, so what’s the harm there?

~ ~ ~

When the party begins fizzling out and people start heading home for the night, Jimmy and Tango offer to stay behind and help clean up. Jimmy doesn’t really mind all that much, and it seems like Grian appreciates the help.

“This thing is so itchy,” Grian complains, scratching at his arms and sides through his sweater. “I don’t know how Scar puts up with it.”

Jimmy shrugs, scrubbing the food grime off the last plate in the sink. “Have you considered that maybe it’s ‘cause he wanted to match with you?”

Grian goes quiet so Jimmy glances at him from over his shoulder. The dirty-blonde has gone still at the other end of the counter, wet rag in hand and a contemplative look on his face.

“I can’t see why he’d want to do that.” Grian shakes his head in disbelief. “Maybe he just enjoys looking ridiculous.”

Jimmy dries off his hands and gives a hearty sigh. He can try and help Grian get over some of the embarrassment related to the cat sweater, but he can’t coach Grian through realizing some of the unspoken feelings between him and Scar. It seems to be obvious to everyone but the two of them, so much so that Jimmy has even caught wind of Scott and Martyn making bets on how long it will be before one of them breaks.

“Anything else you need help with?” Jimmy asks, surveying the freshly cleaned kitchen. The dishes are done, the counters are wiped off and the leftovers have already been divvied up, so it seems like the kitchen may be good-to-go.

“You can see if Joel and Lizzie want some help taking down the decorations in the entryway,” Grian offers. Jimmy nods and heads off to the entryway, a bit baffled at how quickly Grian is to take down all the festive decorations. He’s always been a firm believer in leaving them up at least until New Years.

But Joel and Lizzie have the decorations in the entrance handled, and Scar and Mumbo are almost done with cleaning up the dining room, so it appears that it might be time for Jimmy to head home. He just has to find Tango, first, since he hasn’t seen the man since he started helping Grian in the kitchen.

He’s making sure he’s got all his things together when Tango comes into the living room, rather excitably, telling from the grin on his face.

“Jimmy!” Tango says cheerfully. It makes Jimmy’s heart throb with how excited he gets seeing Jimmy, even though they see each other practically everyday.

“Everything is all cleaned up,” Jimmy says, grabbing his coat. “You about ready to go?”

Tango rushes forward and grabs Jimmy’s coat from him. “Hold that thought! There’s something I want to show you.”

Jimmy quirks an eyebrow. “Oh?”

That’s all he gets to say before Tango’s dragging him through the house. Jimmy isn’t paying much attention to where they’re going, mostly baffled at Tango’s behavior. It’s not until they get to the hallway that Jimmy knows leads to the basement where Tango finally stops. He doesn’t bother to turn the light on, just looking up at Jimmy with a cheshire grin.

“You gonna tell me what we’re doing in this corner of the house?” Jimmy asks, looking to his left and right for an indicator to explain Tango’s strange behavior.

Tango just giggles in response, before taking a step closer to Jimmy and pointing upwards.

It hits Jimmy before he even looks up and sees the plastic plant tacked up on the ceiling.

“Holy moly.” Jimmy hides his face in his hands as Tango’s giggles become louder and more delighted. “I completely forgot about the mistletoe after everything that’s been happening tonight!”

“I’ve been looking for it all night!”

He pulls his hands away from his face, jaw slack with surprise. “I thought Grian swore he wasn’t going to put it up after what happened last year?”

Tango shrugs. “Guess he changed his mind.”

“That would explain why he put it in such a hidden location.”

Tango hums, looking up at Jimmy with a coy smile. “Still waiting on that kiss.”

Jimmy smiles, already leaning in. “Right.”

His eyes flutter shut instantly, their lips meeting with a practiced ease. Jimmy relishes in the feeling of finally having a private moment with Tango. Away from prying eyes, he allows himself to melt into Tango’s embrace, adjusting the angle of his head as Tango’s hand cups the back of his neck.

Jimmy can’t help but smile into the kiss, his hands instinctively framing either side of Tango’s waist. His thumbs travel below the hemline of Tango’s Iron Man sweater and press against his skin, which elicits a huffy laugh out of Tango at the sensation. Jimmy’s heart soars the longer the kiss goes on, the gentle yet firm slide of lips making his head swim with affection.

All Jimmy can think right now is I love you, I love you, I love you. He might just implode on himself if he holds it in any longer, so he makes up his mind—he’s going to say it right now.

Tango laughs affectionately when they part, his warm breath ghosting over Jimmy’s lips and sending shivers down his spine. Tango’s thumb traces the curve of Jimmy’s cheekbone delicately and the most accurate way he can describe how Tango is looking at him right now is as if Jimmy hung the moon and the stars for him. Jimmy is absolutely, positively smitten.

He loosens his grip on Tango’s waist and opens his mouth to finally say it, but someone else turns the corner before he can form the words.

“Hey Jim, Grian wants you to take home some of that fruitcake Cleo brought—” Joel freezes once he realizes he’s walked in on them, and Jimmy levels him with an unimpressed look. But Joel doesn’t even begin to muster out an apology, because once he spots the decor in the doorway above them, he’s running off to tell Grian that someone finally found the mistletoe.

Tango groans, canting forward and burying his face in Jimmy’s chest. “We can’t have one moment without being interrupted, can we?” He looks back up at Jimmy with that signature smile of his and Jimmy absolutely melts.

“I love you,” he says before he can stop himself. The words slip past his teeth easily, like second nature. They’re monumental and carry so much weight, yet Jimmy doesn’t shy away from the admission. He’s been dying to tell Tango this for so long that finally getting it out there is a weight lifted off his shoulders.

Tango’s chest rumbles against Jimmy's with the soft murmur of a laugh. “I love you, too.”

Tango goes to kiss Jimmy again but Jimmy stops him, gently pushing on his chest to put some space between them. Tango looks up at him with a sudden confusion painted on his expression, but Jimmy just stares at him.

“No, Tango,” he says, insistent, “I love you.” He says it more forcefully this time, like it will make Tango understand that he really, truly means it.

Tango cocks his head, brow still furrowed like he doesn’t know what Jimmy’s playing at. “Yeah, and I love you, too.”

Jimmy stares, slack-jawed and mortified. “That's not— I don’t—” He groans in frustration, burying his reddening face in his hands. Why is Tango acting so nonchalant about this? It’s a huge deal to Jimmy!

“What? What’s the face for?” Tango asks, worry wrought in his tone. He gently places his hands on Jimmy’s arms and it only makes the affection Jimmy holds for him grow.

Jimmy huffs, pulling his hands away from his face yet avoiding Tango’s gaze. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you that all day, working myself up to it and finding the perfect moment and—” He shrugs flippantly, feeling his face become warmer and warmer. When he looks at Tango, his hands are over his mouth and his eyes are wide in shock, like he’s realized what he’s just done.

“Oh no,” Tango says with a giggle. “Really?” Jimmy nods, embarrassed out of his mind. Tango practically shrieks with laughter, coming closer and linking his hands behind Jimmy’s neck. “You’re adorable, Jimmy.” He goes up on his tip-toes and begins aggressively peppering Jimmy’s face with kisses.

Jimmy fights back the giggles but is ultimately unable to hold them back. “Stop it, stop it.” Tango starts giggling too and nearly loses his balance and knocks them both over, but Jimmy is able to right the both of them before they hit the floor. They’re only laughing harder now, and holding the other close. Jimmy revels in the closeness of their embrace, and the fact that he finally said it, and got a positive response. But, against his better nature, Jimmy doesn’t quite feel convinced just yet.

“You didn’t say it just because I did?” Jimmy asks, pulling away from the embrace so that he can look Tango in the eyes. “I’m not trying to pressure you or anything, I swear.”

Tango stares up at him with a blank expression. “Are you kidding?” he asks, deadpan. Jimmy shakes his head, genuinely worried for the answer. It comes in the form of Tango grabbing him by the side of his face and grinning from ear-to-ear. “I’m crazy about you! Hello? Matching sweaters, the mistletoe, the fact that we’re literally moving in together?”

Jimmy laughs as Tango jostles his cranium around. “Okay, okay! I got it.”

Tango smiles contentedly, hands now traveling down Jimmy’s chest. “And don’t you forget it.”

As if slotting into place, Jimmy ducks down and fits his lips against Tango’s. This kiss is gentle and slow, timed perfectly to the steady beating of Jimmy’s heart. He feels lighter, and his chest is filled with the warmth of knowing that he is loved by the very same man he is in love with. He grips the fabric of Tango’s sweater, smiling through the kiss at the romantic nature of their matching sweaters. They’re reminders that Jimmy will always have a piece of Tango with him, and the same for Tango.

Tango breaks the kiss just long enough to mumble against Jimmy’s lips, “I love you.”

And Jimmy smiles, heart full and more happy than in his wildest dreams. He pulls Tango as close to him as humanly possible, because he can never get enough of him. “I love you, too.”

#trafficshipping #solidaritek #team rancher #rancher duo #fanfic #fic #my writing #mine #christmas #i love this fic so tumblr can have it too!

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