Chapter Text
Joel and Etho had long since gone and the house got quiet again. Jimmy and Tango busied themselves with tearing down what remained of the house. Full rebuilding would be in session.
Also a talk. That too.
“Did you, uh, work through everything with Joel?” Tango asked, seeming to hesitate.
“If you mean with the jokes, he was cool with cutting them out, yeah.” Jimmy tore down a wall before attempting to rebuild it. He felt an odd twist in his stomach, one he could only associate as a Tango-feeling. He looked back, watching as Tango worked on another corner of the house. “What’s wrong?”
“Uh… nothing.” Jimmy stared until Tango turned around. “What?”
“I’m sorry but I refuse to believe that’s true. I’d know. Know how you can feel my feelings?” Jimmy could reverse the question back on him.
Tango looked down at his feet. “Yeah.”
“I can feel yours. So…” He put the partial stack of birch planks into a pile. Jimmy then crossed the small room, standing right next to Tango. “I wanna know what’s wrong, rancher.”
His heartbeat threatened to quicken.
Possibly overstepping. Possibly saying the wrong thing. Possibly about to blunder again.
He took a deep breath. This felt right. This was the right thing to say. Jimmy could make good decisions. He could trust himself on this.
“I just feel like I’m—” Jimmy watched him expectantly. Tango looked away, wringing his hands slightly. “I should be a better soulmate. You— you deserve better. And I just lost it when the ranch burned and didn’t do anything to help afterward.”
“It was my fault the ranch burned. I was the one that stole Scar’s horse,” Jimmy reminded him.
“Yeah, but still. And I knew you were feeling horrible, and I didn’t do anything about it. Even when I could have.”
Jimmy gripped onto Tango’s shoulders. “My feelings aren’t your responsibility.” He released Tango from his hold. “And I wouldn’t have taken it well if you’d tried to help me. Not that I was a lost cause, but—”
There was a long pause between the two of them.
“It’s not your fault I was scared of you. I– you have done everything to prove you’d never get angry with me. I just assumed you’d be like everyone else.”
“I still left you.”
Jimmy tsked quietly. “That was not abandonment. And you’ve been far better to me than everyone else. Don’t let yourself believe you’ve been horrible, ‘cause you haven’t.”
He took a few blocks from a nearby pile, getting to work on “Tango’s section” of the base.
“I’d never be angry with you,” Jimmy said. “Or disappointed or frustrated or anything. I don’t think I can be.”
He saw Tango give a small smile. A slight improvement — which he would take as a success. Jimmy could make things better.
“Thanks.” Tango got back to work too. “Sorry for dumping all that on you.”
“No, I asked.” The old wall was torn down and a new one was quickly put up. “I care. I wanted to know.”
“And you’re okay now too?”
Jimmy smiled back. “Yeah. Absolutely sure of it.”
There was plenty of work ahead of them. Once the house was rebuilt, they’d have to repopulate the cows. (Fortunately, there were still those few left.) And maybe reinforce the place a bit so it wouldn’t be as flammable. Granted, they were still using oak planks.
And there would always be days when Jimmy would act off of instinct, stealing something or fighting for something and getting killed or his base getting burned as a consequence. And there would be days where communication would be lacking, and both he and Tango would feel terrible but fail to express it. But they’d get through it. They both knew how, now, after all.
“We’re winning this game, you know. As the best pair of soulmates. We’ll show ‘em,” Jimmy said, as they placed the last few blocks in place.
“They won’t see us coming!” Tango looked back at the base with pride. “Oooo— Wardens. We need wardens,” he said excitedly.
“Wardens?”
“Yeah. We’re bringing one up to the surface, Jimmy. And it’ll kill everybody.”
“And ourselves,” Jimmy tacked on.
“Probably. But... it’ll be cool, and it’ll show them who’s boss. Nobody burns the Ranch and gets away with it.”
“YEAH!”
And even if they didn’t win, they’d leave the series far more confident than before, far more assured of themselves. If that wasn’t a personal win, Jimmy didn’t know what was.