Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The hero jumped from the roof of a building, his wings opening up. He flew into the air, flying towards the chaos happening in the city, his dirty blonde hair breezing through the forced wind.

He pulled out his gun, landing on one of the buildings. He took a deep breath, pointing the muzzle at the villain who was causing the mess and fires. “That’s enough.” Jimmy said, tightening his grip.

The said villain turned around. His appearance had blue flaming fiery like hair, his long tail was the same as his hair. A long black coat with blue traveling along the zipper area, a black shirt and pants, and a mask covering his eyes.

He smirked, putting his hands up in the air, increasing the fire around them. “Aw, has the little birdie come out to play?” He mocked Jimmy.

“I won’t let you get away with this.” Jimmy said, the villain rolled his eyes. “Yawn, how many times are you gonna say that before you actually catch me?” He said, checking his gloved hand. Jimmy saw anger, getting irritated by that quickly. “Y-You?!-” Jimmy said, his grip on the gun getting tighter.

“I what? C’mon use your words, birdie.” The villain spoke, leaning forward with his hands in his lap. Jimmy shot a bullet at him, which he dodged with ease.

“You missed.” He smirked. Jimmy shot at the fire creature again, each shot missing him.

Jimmy flew into the air, shooting the again, but the fire creature only increased it to make more smoke, making it harder for Jimmy see and to shoot him.

Jimmy covered his mouth and shutting his eyes, coughing. He opened his eyes again, squinting. He opened his wings, flapping them rapidly getting rid of any smoke that clouded his vision.

His eyes darted around until they spotted the creature running away from the scene. Jimmy flew downward tackling the creature down.

The blazeborn yelped, he growled at Jimmy, his tail hitting him. Jimmy yelped as he burned, patting down his pants. When he turned his head back to the villain, he was punched in the face and kicked off.

Jimmy’s body did a flip, his wings flapped, helping him land. The villain panted, getting up. “You know, you’re pretty pathetic for a hero..” He said, dusting off his body. “Shut up!” Jimmy yelled at him. “Did I hit a nerve? Ooops.” The creature shrugged, with his hands in the air.

Jimmy tried grabbing his gun, he patted down his holster. Empty. His eyes widened as he realized it wasn’t there. “Looking for this?” The creature smirked, holding Jimmy’s gun, spinning it around in his hand. “I must say, this is a nice gun! It’s a shame it belongs to me now.” He said, tossing the gun between his hands like a toy ball.

Jimmy looked at him, firmly. “Give it back.” He knew the chances of that were very unlikely, in fact close to zero. “Why should I? You’re trying to arrest me after all.” the other replied, looking at Jimmy with a smug smirk. He then pointed the gun at the hero. “You’re gonna listen to me now, birdie. If you move even an inch towards me, I hope you can tolerate a bullet wound through your chest.” He said. “Put your hands in the air.” He commanded, moving the muzzle towards Jimmy’s chest. Who never felt more humiliated in his life.

Jimmy listened, putting his hands up in the air. The blazeborn took a step towards him, his fiery tail swaying behind him. Without a word, he punched the Hero in the face, before kicking him the stomach, knocking him down. Jimmy grunted, his head hitting the hard concrete. He punched Jimmy again, knocking him out.

The villain scoffed at how easy it was to knock out Jimmy. “Too easy…” He murmured, he knelt down, patting down the other to check for weapon. Suddenly his wrist was grabbed, and he was flipped around. His face now eating the concrete, Jimmy quickly got on top of him, holding the creature’s wrist, twisting it.

“I gotcha!” He exclaimed, with relief. His head was pounding like a heartbeat was inside it. But that was problem for later. He grabbed his handcuffs, putting one around the villain’s wrist.

The villain gritted his teeth, his tail burning Jimmy again, he threw his head back, yelping in pain. The creature took this chance to elbow Jimmy in the face, and handcuffed his wrist.

Jimmy groaned, his nose now bleeding. He glanced at his wrist confused as he was handcuffed to the villain he was trying to capture! “Wh-what is this!?” He yelled. “Handcuffs, birdie.” The villain replied, kicking Jimmy in the gut.

Jimmy used his free hand to hold his stomach in pain. He stood up, lifting his leg up to kick the blazeborn creature, who dodged his kicks and punches. “Whoever taught you how to fight clearly did not do a good job, let me tell you that.” He laughed, whilst he grabbed Jimmy’s wrist, burning it. “Or are you self taught?” He tilted his head as he smashed Jimmy’s head against the pavement with his handcuffed hand.

Jimmy panted being tired and winded now. The blazeborn rolled his eyes. “Are you too tired now? C’mon we’ve barely fought now.” He said, holding Jimmy’s head against the pavement, as he searched for the keys to the handcuffs, finding them quickly. He unlocked his side, and smiled as he handcuffed the wounded hero to a pipe.

“This was really fun, hero. It truly was, you make this just so easy for me! It makes me wonder who in the world hired you.” The blazeborn smiled, gently slapping Jimmy’s face. “I must get going now, bye bye Birdie!” He said, making a cloud of fire appear jumping on it, and flying away.

Jimmy panted, his fingers clutching into a fist. His knuckled turned white, before slowly being released. He pulled out his communicator. “I...I need help…” He spoke into it.

Jimmy looked up at his wrist, he groaned, gazing around for the keys. He found them, just… 10 feet away from him… He face palmed, pulling his eyes in frustration. How does something like this always happen to him every time he fights that blazeborn…?

His assistant soon showed up, getting out of the car, running to where Jimmy was. They sighed, as they saw the state the embarrassed Hero was in. “Hey… Grian.” Jimmy muttered with a weak smile on his face.

“Tim, how did you let this happen again?” The other avian asked, grabbing the keys to the handcuffs, freeing Jimmy’s wrists. “Don’t… Don’t even ask.” The other replied, looking away.

Grian helped Jimmy into the car, driving back to their apartment they shared together. Jimmy sat there, feeling absolutely defeated. Grian put the car into autopilot, and helped Jimmy clean up his wounds.

The car parked itself into the garage. Grian got out, helping Jimmy out. Grian went over to a door, putting in some pass code, opening a hidden door behind the books cases. He entered, helping Jimmy. He sat him down, and went to get some medical stuff.

Jimmy softly groaned lying down, holding a towel to his head. “...I thought for sure I had him, Grian. I was so sure.” Jimmy vented, feeling awful that he let the villain who had been terrorizing the city for months get away again. “...I know, Timmy.” Grian answered, coming back. Jimmy sighed, sitting up as he took off his shirt, and pants, then lied back down.

Grian grabbed some alcohol, dabbing the bottle against a small towel, he moved Jimmy’s hair out of the way. He gently dabbed it against his wounds, earning a small hiss after each one. “Don’t move.” Grian told him, dabbing the towel against the open cuts on his head. “What do you think I’m doing?” Jimmy retorted. “Not being still?” Grian replied, with a small frown on his face.

After cleaning the wounds, he grabbed some bandages. “Sit up.” he said, he wrapped some bandages around his head, making a cute little bow at the end. Jimmy leaned back against the wall, holding his burned arm up for Grian. The other took it, cleaning it up. “...Do you think they’ll notice these?” Jimmy asked. “What? No, of course not!” Grian scoffed, sarcastically.

Jimmy rolled his eyes, letting Grian clean his burn wounds, and wrapped bandages around them. “...Is it worse than the other ones?” Jimmy asked, looking at the other scars on his body, caused by the same blazeborn from earlier. “Surprisingly no, he went easy on you this time.” Grian replied, putting the stuff away.

Grian handed Jimmy some fresh clean clothes to change into while he put his hero outfit into the wash. “...Maybe I should let someone else handle that guy… Every time I try to capture him. I get my ass kicked.” Jimmy said, putting on a plain white shirt along with a blue sweater.

“Yeah who? You’re one of the only heroes who have the balls to fight him.” Grian answered, passing Jimmy some pain killers.

“What about Cuteguy?” Jimmy asked with a small smirk on his face, glancing over at Grian who turned red. “Cuteguy retired years ago! Besides, I’m in no condition to fly anymore, Jimmy.” Grian replied with a small sigh.

“My injury, it’s…” Grian muttered, gently touches his own wings. “...Right, sorry..” The canary said, not meaning to bring up bad memories for the other.

Grian cleared his throat. “Anyways! How about dinner? I could call Joel and ask him to bring us some fast food or something?” Grian said, as him and Jimmy left their secret bunker.

“Dinner sounds really good right now…” Jimmy said, pressing the up button on the elevator to their penthouse. The avian smiled, “great! I’ll let Joel know right now.” He said, dialing a number. Jimmy tuned out whatever else Grian said, his head was still hurting like hell, even with the painkillers.

Maybe he’ll just lie down until the food arrives, that seems like a good option...

. . . .

Tango sighed, throwing his mask, belt and coat onto his bedroom floor.

“What an exhausting day…” He breathed, flopping onto his bed, his fire turning into it’s orange original color, he stared up at his ceiling. He let out an exhausted sigh as he got up.

He grabbed his coat, digging out the hero’s gun. He smirked as he held it. Oh how he just loved to mess with that canary. He got up to put it on his shelf. Tango caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, his facial expression contorting with disgust. “I should shower…”

He muttered before grabbing his towel and heading to the showers. He turned on the showers, letting his fire like hair soak.

He sighed, feeling relaxed in the water. Eventually zoning out, staring at the wall…

Moments later, he snapped out of it and went back to his shower.

When he came out with a towel wrapped around his neck, he saw a message from his group called “TIES”, a name his buddy came up with.

“Top! You still meeting us at the bar?”

His friend Skizz messaged him. He cursed under his breath, he totally forgot about his plans for tonight! He glanced his bruised face…

Eh, he’ll just slap a bandaid over it. His friends won’t question anything.

“yup”

Tango turned off his phone, and got dressed. He kept glancing over at his bed… Oh how a nap will be good right now…. But taking a nap will make him late to his plans.

He got dressed in a red top, black vest and pants, with red shoes on. He grabbed some orange shades, flicking them opening and put them on.

He then headed out of his house.

When he got to the bar, he saw “TIES” sitting over at the bar. He went over and sat down beside his buddy Etho. “Tango!” Etho said jumping a little as he saw Tango. “What’s up?” Tango replied with a bright smile.

“Top, you made it!” Skizz smiled, going over and putting Tango’s head in a playful lock. “Of course I did! Did ya think I wouldn’t make it?” Tango laughed as Skizz ruffled up his hair.

“Almost, you cancel our plans last minute, we thought you wouldn’t make it to this one.” Impulse replied, pouring himself a drink when the bartender wasn’t looking.

“Sorry for that again, you know… Work n shit.” Tango said stretching his arms, as Etho slid him a shot. Skizz shrugged going back to his seat. “Eh, don’t worry about it.” Skizz shrugged it off like nothing.

“We’re just happy that you’re here now.” Skizz replied, taking a sip of his drink. “Isn’t that right, Dipple Dop?” Skizz said nudging Impulse, who nodding along with Skizz. “Mhm, so just enjoy the night, Tango! Don’t worry about work or whatever until tomorrow.” Impulse said with a smile.

Tango nodded, he turned his head staring at the shot Etho had slid over to him. Well a drink or two wouldn’t be so bad.

“To TIES!” Tango announced, holding his shot glass in the air, the others soon followed suit.

“To TIES!” The four clinked their glasses together, downing the whole thing in one go.

The rest of the night was a total blur.

Chapter Text

Jimmy can barely remember what happened last night other than he fought Soul Fire again. He sighed, slowly siting up, but his head still ached.

He reached for his phone, grabbing it and opening up social media. He scrolled through his normal account for a second, before switching over to his Hero account where his account was flooded with clips from the fight yesterday.

Jimmy groaned, seeing the comments under the clips:

“Solidarity’s incompetent”

“He let the villain get away again”

“Cute Guy would’ve caught him by now”

“Heroes really are incompetent now”

He turned off his phone, this wasn’t good for his mental health.

Jimmy kicked the blanket off, letting his legs hang off the edge of the bed. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm down.

He heard a few meows and looked to his side and saw his cats sitting by the door, looking at him innocently. He smiled picking up his cat Norman.

“Morning, boys!” Jimmy said, petting Norman on the head, as the other cat Flick meowed, rubbing his head against Jimmy’s leg. “Are you guys hungry? Let’s get you guys some breakfast.” Jimmy said going over to the kitchen.

He put Norman down, going over to the cabinet, grabbing some cat food. He made sure to separate the bowls so the two cats wouldn’t be fighting.

Jimmy saw a note on a counter, and picked it up. It was from Grian, who left early for work.

“Don’t worry about coming in for work, I told Joel and Lizzie that you’re taking a few days off”

That was a relief. He didn’t have to worry about work for a few days now.

It wasn’t really a big deal anyways, Joel and Lizzie were his friends, of course they’d understand if Jimmy was feeling under the weather, plus he worked at a restaurant. Didn’t want to get anyone else sick.

Jimmy sat down on the couch, what was he gonna do now? He didn’t want to just lay around all day.

“I could go on a walk.” Jimmy said talking to no one, but himself. His headache didn’t hurt like it did yesterday, “but I should probably take pain killers.” He muttered, getting up.

He went to the bathroom, taking a few pain killers, hoping they would kick in soon.

In the meantime, he cleaned around the penthouse. He had nothing better to do, he didn’t feel like walking this early in this morning.

Jimmy adjusted some of the framed pictures above the fireplace. He smiled remembering his college days.

But one photo caught his interest… Tango tek. An old friend from college. He’d stopped by the Fairy Fort restaurant every now and then to talk to Jimmy, and order food for his buddies.

Jimmy liked him for a while, but he never had the guts to make a move on Tango, despite Grian trying to set them up a couple times.

Perhaps he should call Tango some time. He kept dusting the shelves, sweeping the floors. Doing everything he can to pass the time.

Eventually, he sat down to read a book. His cats jumped up beside himself, looking at what he was reading. Flick jumped off and onto the cat play thing that was for Grian’s cats, but they shared it.

Jimmy began reading…. Not really though. God, this boredom was killing him.

He glanced at the clock. 12:00PM. That’s a good time to go on a walk. He got up, getting changed into a basic fit. The one he always wears.

Plain white T shirt, blue jacket, black pants, and shoes.

He checked himself in the mirror, making sure his hair looked good.

He grabbed his keys, and turned to his cats. “I’ll be back in a bit.” He told them, as if they could understand him. He closed the door, heading out.

He left his apartment, walking along the river close by. He needed to clear his head.

He began dozing off, letting his mind wander. He didn’t know what he should be worried about… The fire villain causing him problems almost every week, the hero government, work. Or all three.

“...Am I even worthy of being a hero if I can’t catch Soul Fire…?” He mumbled, feeling unsure of himself.

He often questioned his reasoning for being a hero, the short answer is. He wanted to save people, just like every other superhero you know.

But is that really a good enough reason?

He wondered if he was strong enough for the role. Was it out of his league?

Was he being too hopeful thinking he could catch someone who could burn his wings to a crisp? His main source of strength.

No, snap out of that, Jim!

Jimmy slapped his cheeks, trying to maintain a positive attitude. He won’t get anywhere if he doubted himself.

There’s always room for improvement! He isn’t training with the Former Cute Guy for nothing after all.

“...I can do it, I can do it.” Jimmy whispered to himself, hyping himself up. “No more of that negative energy.” He told himself.

Thank goodness no else was around to hear him talk to himself. That would be embarrassing!

Jimmy continued his walk along the river, enjoying the peacefulness… He missed this… No chaos, just the peace and quiet.

“-Ch out!!!”

What was that? Probably just some commotion in the distance, nothing to worry about.

“Watch out!!!” Someone yelled behind Jimmy.

Jimmy turned around confused, but before he could do anything someone ran straight into him, knocking him down to the ground.

“Torchy!” Someone yelled holding onto a leash. “O-Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” They exclaimed, being right on top of Jimmy.

They had orange fire like hair, same as the tail. A red and black color palette for their clothes… Wait.

“Tango?” Jimmy said, confused. “Jimmy?” Tango looked down at the canary.

“Torchy, stop!” Tango said pulling on a leash, as he got off Jimmy. Jimmy got up, dusting his pants as he watched Tango bring the dog closer to him.

“That’s enough! Geez, where’d you get all this energy..?” Tango said picking up Torchy, in frustration.

“I didn’t know you took this route.” Jimmy said in a surprised tone. “Eh, not really.” Tango replied, petting Torchy.

“We wanted to try something new, so we came here.” Tango said, fixing his shades. “Hey, you live around here, right?” He said to the other.

Jimmy nodded. “Oh yeah, it’s one of these apartments, although we’re kinda passed it.” Jimmy chuckled awkwardly.

“Ah, I see.” Tango said. Jimmy couldn’t help but admire how Tango looked here… The way his hair swayed in the breeze...

“So, you wanna walk together?” Jimmy suggested.

Jimmy and Tango walked together along the river, talking with each other. Tango made sure Torchy didn’t suddenly run off again like he did earlier.

But suddenly Tango paused, gazing at a Solidarity billboard before walking again.

“Sorry, sorry, I got kinda distracted there… I just..” Tango paused, he sighed staring at the ground. “What’s wrong? Do you not like….” Jimmy asked, not finishing that sentence.

“Not really.” Tango answered, before clearing his throat.

“W-Well don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the guy! He’s a hero and… He does good things! I just don’t like the shitty people he works for…” Tango answered, gritting his teeth as he said that.

He let out a nervous chuckle. “I just, in a world fully of different hybrids and creatures. How come I’m one of the few ruled as “dangerous”? I get it, fires aren’t really a safety thing, especially when you work with redstone. But you don’t have to make it seem like we’re all dangerous!” Tango exclaimed, his hair turning more into fire.

Jimmy saw this, and kinda panicked. “Tango, careful. Your fire-” Jimmy said, Tango perked up, glancing at his tail.

He took a deep breath in and out, his fire slowly going out. “Sorry, I just got emotional…” Tango said. Before letting out a weak laugh. “...Looks like I just kinda proved their point…” He said.

Jimmy felt bad, and shook his head no. “It’s fine, Tango. You aren’t dangerous, you know how to control your fire. You probably have more self control than most people.” Jimmy said, trying to cheer Tango up.

Tango glanced at him, then sighed. “...Yeah, thanks.” He replied.

Jimmy could tell Tango wasn’t exactly ‘happy’, but he was calmer now.

“What do you do for work again, Jimmy?” Tango asked, changing the subject, it wasn’t exactly subtle, but it’ll do.

“I work as a waiter at the Fairy Fort.” Jimmy answered. “Oh yeah! I think I caught glimpses of you through the window when I passed by.” Tango replied.

“I work in red stone engineering. Meaning, I work with train rails, lights, mailboxes. Etc etc.” Tango said. “In fact, I was supposed to work today, but they called me and said they didn’t need me to work today.” Tango said, frustration in his tone.

“They’ve actually been giving me less and less hours, and-” Tango said realizing he was gonna rant again. “Nevermind, you probably don’t wanna hear it.” He muttered.

“No, it’s fine if you wanna talk about it. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Jimmy replied.

Tango just nodded. “We are! But I know you have your own problems.” Tango said. “I shouldn’t burden you with them.”

Tango then suddenly stopped, and smiled. “Okay, well I should get going now. It was nice talking to you, Jimmy!” He said.

“We should do this again sometime.” Jimmy said, smiling. “I go to the park and I feed the birds every Saturday during the afternoon, if you’re interested.” A lie. He needed an excuse to hangout with Tango more.

“Mhm of course.” Tango hummed, picking up Torchy. “See you, Jimmy!” Tango said as he walked away.

“Bye Tango!” Jimmy said waving bye. He sighed, turning his heels around, walking towards his apartment again.

What Tango said got Jimmy thinking, maybe he shouldn’t work for the government anymore, considering the way they treat half the population is unfair.

Like they’re just dangerous animals. They only tolerate the animal hybrids because most of them are not dangerous and considered “safe” around the people.

But others like Tango, who are considered “mutants” are treated… Less kindly.

But then he wondered… Does Soul Fire feel the same way as Tango? That this is unfair. Blazeborns, demons, vexs, and other creatures should be treated like everyone else.

It’s not completely impossible. Maybe that’s it.

“...What if… I try understanding him instead trying to capture him?” Jimmy muttered to himself. “Maybe we can even become friends!”

He smiled, “I should try that.” Jimmy said, now jogging home.

When Jimmy got home, he went into the secret bunker Grian and Mumbo built. It was for Cute Guy previously, but it was repurposed

He got changed into his hero outfit, which had an ‘S’ on his chest area for Solidarity. It was blue body suit, with, red and white stripes around his torso, blue leggings, separated by a black belt with another S on it, and red slightly heeled boots.

He put on his mask to hide his identity, and left through the secret exit. He flew out of the bunker, and went to the main city.

He flew around hoping to find Soul Fire somewhere.

Jimmy sighed, realizing he didn’t even come out here with a plan, hell he didn’t know even if he was gonna see Soul Fire today.

“Fuck, I should’ve thought about this more.” Jimmy mumbled, landing on top of one of the roofs. He put his hands on his hips, pacing back and forth.

“He won’t even listen to me, what was I thinking? I can’t just my little pony my way through everything!” Jimmy exclaimed in exasperation.

“Help! Someone help!” Someone yelled from below. Jimmy perked up, looking down and saw a woman getting robbed.

“Hey, leave her alone!” Jimmy said, jumping off the building, and flew down. He punched the thief in the face, ripping the bag away from him.

“H-Here, you go Ma’am.” He said handing the bag back to her. “Oh thank you, Solidarity.” she replied, holding her purse close to her chest.

“Solidarity!” Another person called out.

“I’ll see you around.” Jimmy said picking up the guy, quickly flying to the police station and dropped him off there before flying over to the next commotion.

For the next hour, Jimmy spent his time helping people from the “weaker” villains, the kind of villains who are “mutants” but not powerful enough to cause any major trouble. Or just general bad guys.

Jimmy then helped a little kid get their cat from a tree. As he was about to fly away some paparazzi and journalists swarmed him.

“Woah..!” Jimmy gasped in surprised.

“Solidarity over here!”

“Mr Solidarity this way!” They shoved their microphone and cameras in his face.

“Solidarity, is it true you haven’t caught Soul Fire yet?”

“What about the people? What’s gonna happen to them if you don’t catch this guy sooner?”

“Is it true you knew Cute Guy before he retired?”

“Are you actually trying to capture Soul Fire?”

They kept asking him questions, yet gave him no time to answer.

“One at a time, please!” Jimmy pleaded, putting his hands up. Despite all the training he’s gone through, nothing can quite prepare him for the paparazzi… Every. Single. Time.

“I-I’m still working!” Jimmy said opening his wings, and flying out of there.

Some people shouted at him, but he sighed landing on top of one of the rooftops. Resting his arms on the railing.

He could see the paparazzi people trying to find him from the ground.

“...I wonder if Grian had to go through anything like this.” Jimmy muttered, letting out an exhausted sigh.

“Somebody, help!” He heard someone call out. “I’ll be there!” Jimmy retorted, flying down to help.

Another hour passed before he knew it. Helping people, stopping robberies, and avoiding the paparazzi and journalists as much as possible.

He took a rest on another rooftop.

He sat down on the ground, closing his wings.

“No sign of Soul Fire at all… Ugh…” He groaned, irriated.

“Oh, someone’s looking for me I see, huh?” Someone called out.

Jimmy immediately turned around, getting up.

There he was, Soul Fire, resting on a cloud of fire… That smug smile on his face… Oh how Jimmy hated it.

“Y-You?!” Jimmy exclaimed, hovering his hand over his holster where his gun should have been.

“Yes, it is I.” Soul Fire said proudly. “Was the little birdie looking for me? I’m flattered.” He said, his tail swaying. As he got off the fire cloud.

“Yes. Yes I actually was.” Solidarity replied, scanning him up and down. “I’m always trying to look for you.”

“So you could bring me justice or whatever bullshit you heroes spit?” Soul Fire rolled his eyes.

“O-obviously?! You’re hurting innocent people!” Solidarity yelled, his hand gesturing to the people below the them.

“...Are they really innocent though?” Soul Fire said, crossing his arms. “...What?” Jimmy replied confused.

“Ever since “heroes” appeared, people began thinking they can just stand back and watch suffering happening thinking a “hero” will stop by and help. But what are the chances of that actually happening?” He said.

“That’s not true.” Solidarity muttered. “It’s not? Really? Then tell me, when that woman was being robbed how come nobody stopped to help her?” He asked the canary.

“B-because…” He muttered, Soul Fire raised an eyebrow. “Because…? Use your big boy words, Birdie.” He said mocking Solidarity.

“Will you stop that?!” Solidarity shouted. Soul Fire hummed. “Hm… No I don’t think I will.” He retorted, shaking his head.

Solidarity let out a deep breath in and out. “I’m going to arrest you.” He said.

“Last time you pulled out your handcuffs, you got handcuffed to a pipe. That was literally yesterday, or is your memory that shit?” Soul Fire replied, crossing his arms and leaning forward.

Oh how he just knew to get on Solidarity’s nerves!

“Can you not- ugh.” Solidarity groaned, gently pinching his temples. “Can I not what, Birdie?” Soul Fire said, calling him that nickname again.

He has the perfect chance to talk to Soul Fire right now, yet he isn’t taking it. He needs to hurry up before the villain runs away again.

“I need to talk to you.” Solidarity said firmly, and with authority.

“...You just wanna talk? Well that explains why you haven’t thrown a single punch yet.” The blazeborn shrugged.

“Go ahead, Birdie. I’m right here.” He said, being surprisingly cooperative, the real question now is,

“...Will you actually listen?” Solidarity asked.

“Sure, I’m not in the mood to commit arson today…” Soul Fire yawned.

“I…” Solidarity spoke, trying to form the words in his head first. Soul Fire raised his eyebrow, with an unimpressed.

“I…. I want to understand you!” Solidarity yelled. “And I want to be your friend!” He exclaimed.

There was silence, nothing but the wind blowing passed them.

“…What the fuck.” Soul Fire replied. He scoffed, putting his hands on his hips. “You can’t be serious. Where did this suddenly come from? Didn’t you want to arrest me like 10 seconds ago?!”

“I’m still going to arrest you, you’re still an asshole and a villain who’s hurt people after all, but I want to know why you act the way you do… Why you think the way you do… Maybe you aren’t just some cruel villain like I thought.” Solidarity muttered, his gaze going down to the ground.

“Pft-” Soul Fire laughed. “That’s fucking bullshit! No, you don’t.” Soul Fire yelled at Solidarity. “In fact, I should kill you, right here right now.” Soul Fire aimed his hand at Solidarity.

“No, wait-!” He saw flames heading his way. Solidarity quickly jumped off the building, and quickly opened his wings flying in the air.

“Oh so the chicken can fly!” Soul Fire said looking up at him. “Two can play at that game.” Soul Fire said, making a fire cloud appear and got on it.

He flew into the air, and aimed more fire at Solidarity, at his wings specifically.

“I just wanted to talk to you!” Solidarity yelled, dodging the fire. “Well I heard you, and I don’t like hypocrites either.” Soul Fire glared at the canary hero.

“Do me a favor. Die for me.” He said with a stone cold expression on his face. He aimed his palm at Solidarity, shooting more fire at him.

Solidarity yelped, diving out of the way. He flew up, flapping his wings making a lot of wind, causing Soul Fire’s fire cloud to disperse.

Soul Fire nearly fell, but Solidarity tackled him to one of the rooftops.

Solidarity grabbed his wrists, pinning them to his back. “Get off!” Soul Fire yelled, burning Solidarity’s legs. Solidarity hissed in pain, but he wasn’t gonna let the same mistakes happen again.

He handcuffed Soul Fire’s wrists together, successfully this time. “I just wanted to talk to you!” He exclaimed once again.

“You think I can be reasoned with? That’ll just randomly change my mind, because you told me too?!” Soul Fire yelled.

“It doesn’t work like that, Birdie.” He wrapped his tail around Solidarity’s waist, throwing him off.

“You just think everything is sunshine and rainbows, huh?” Soul Fire said, getting up. Heating up his wrists to melt the handcuffs.

“I don’t! I’m not asking you to suddenly become good, I just want to understand you!” Solidarity replied.

“A little late for an epiphany, don’t you think, Birdie?” Soul Fire tilted his head. “you’re an idiot if you thought that was gonna work, seriously.” The blazeborn said, as his tail created a ring of fire around him.

“...Maybe I am an idiot. But I won’t stop trying!” Solidarity replied, looking at the blazeborn firmly.

Before turning around. “...I’m gonna let you go.” Solidarity said, avoiding his gaze with the fire villain, knowing everyone will be pissed off at him, but then again. He did come out here without any weapons like a dumbass.

“…” Soul Fire looked at him, shocked. But his angry expression quickly returned. He made a fire cloud appear again and got on. The sound of metal could be heard falling to the ground as Soul Fire flew away.

Solidarity assumed those were the handcuffs, probably very damaged by now…

He sighed, waiting for the handcuffs to cool off before picking them up. He opened his wings, flying up into the air, and flew back to his apartment.

When he got back, he immediately saw Grian sitting there with his arms crossed.

“...What was that?” Grian asked. “I can explain-” Jimmy said taking off his mask. “You just let him go?!” Grian exclaimed, standing up. “You know all that was on the news, right?”

He took a deep breath. “...I can understand you didn’t have any weapons on you, but you could’ve taken some with you! Mumbo and I didn’t make those weapons just for decorations!” Grian said, frustrated.

“I know you’re upset with me, you have every right to be! I messed up, and could’ve gotten seriously hurt.” Jimmy said, pinching his temples gently.

“I… I wasn’t thinking.” He sighed deeply.

“...Clearly.” Grian responded. “We need to make changes to your hero suit. If you’re gonna keep fighting Soul Fire, you need a fire proof suit, c’mon change..” Grian said, still very upset with Jimmy.

Jimmy went to his bedroom, changing out of the suit. He gently touched his waist where Soul Fire’s tail burned him… It wasn’t bad thankfully.

Still hurts, but it was just light burns. He handed his suit to Grian.

“Next time you go fight him. Bring weapons!” Grian bonked his head with a news paper. “You know where I’ll be.” The avian said, going over to the elevator.

Jimmy nodded. As Grian left, he groaned, putting his hands on his head. “Ugh why… The day isn’t even over yet and I’m exhausted!!”

“Of course he wouldn’t listen, what is wrong with me?!” Jimmy exclaimed, his two cats looked up at Jimmy confused.

“...Maybe he won’t listen to me now…” He muttered.

“I can still do something about this.” He left to his bedroom, sitting at his desk going on his laptop.

After hours and hours of searching about blazeborns, Jimmy eventually fell asleep at his desk, with notes and crumbled papers scattered around his desk.

Grian came into the room, holding a plate of food for Jimmy. His eyes slightly widened as he saw the sleeping canary. He softly sighed, going over and grabbing a blanket, gently draping it over his shoulders.

“...What am I gonna do with you?” He mumbled, looking at the laptop screen, gently closing it.

Chapter Text

When Tango got home after the fight with Solidarity earlier this afternoon. He lied down on his bed, he didn’t even bother changing out his villain outfit yet.

“…He wants to understand me…?” He muttered to himself. “Solidarity the hero of Hermittopia wants to understand me.” He scoffed, before laughing covering his eyes with his hand.

“What a joke!” Tango exclaimed. “He suddenly wants me to become good and a hero?” He laughed.

“...Doesn’t he realize that no world like that exists…? Or is he just reading the script the shitty hero commission gave him…?” He asked himself.

He sighed sitting up, finally taking off his belt and coat. He glanced at the gun he stole from the hero, gently picking it up.

“...He’s so pathetic it’s funny.” Tango said with a small light chuckle.

“...And yet…” He muttered. “...I can’t help, but admire his innocence. Genuine or not.”

Tango was about leave his room, when he heard his phone ringing. He dug through his drawer trying to find the damn thing.

He picked it up, and answered it without even looking at the contact.

“Hello?”

“Hello Tango?” Zed’s voice spoke through the phone speaker.

“Oh Zed!” Tango said. “How are you?” He asked.

“Doing great. I just finished my shift at the clinic. I was wondering if you could stop by. I want to talk to you about Soul Fire.” Zed said, from what it sounded like. He was leaning back in his chair.

“Uh, sure!” Tango said. “Be there in… 20 minutes!” He replied.

“Great, see you then.” Zed said hanging up the phone.

Tango tossed his phone aside, rushing to his closet grabbing a black t shirt, and a maroon button up shirt, only buttoning it up halfway.

Nothing too crazy, he was just going to Zed’s house.

Zed was one of the people who knew Tango’s identity as Soul Fire. He knew Zed would never betray him ever. They were childhood friends after all.

Tango grabbed his shades putting them on. He knew he didn’t really need them, but it made him look cool. At least that’s what he thought.

The blazeborn grabbed his keys, and headed out the door. He walked maybe 5 blocks before turning a corner, and bam! He was at Zed’s house.

He rang the doorbell, waiting for Zed to answer. Zed opened the door, greeting Tango with a smile.

“Tango!” He said hugging him.

“We live so close yet we rarely see each other, weird isn’t it?” Zed said, pulling away.

“I know, right?” Tango laughed, “come in, come in.” Zed said stepping aside letting Tango enter.

Zed went over to a bookshelf, tilting the book slightly down. Which opened a secret door, like one of those classic spy movies.

“I wanted to talk to you about what I saw on the news earlier.” Zed said going over to a table, pouring himself some tea.

Tango sat down across from the goat. “It was on the news?” He asked confused. “Oh yeah.” Zed replied, sipping on his tea.

“Want some?” He asked the other.

“I’m good.” Tango declined, putting a hand up, putting it back into his pockets.

“I want to know what happened out there. Me, and everyone else who was watching only saw the fight. Nobody heard the conversation between you two.” Zed said, staring down at his cup.

“But it looked deep, so what happened?” Zed asked, looking at the blazeborn with a bright smile.

Tango sighed, quickly trying to form the words in his head. “...I saw him, and couldn’t resist messing with him, just a bit. But then he said he was looking for me.” He spoke.

“I wasn’t surprised since well the police are looking for me almost everyday, but then he said he wanted to talk to me. I was willing to listen since why not? If he says something that pisses me off, I’ll just blast his face off.” He explained.

“...He said he wanted to understand me… Be my friend.” Tango said, staring at his gloved hand, his fingers clutching into a fist.

“That… Pissed me off. What do you mean you wanted to be my friend when you were yelling about how much you hated me yesterday?” Tango muttered.

“Is it a trick to arrest me? To lower my guard…!?” He mumbled, his hair flaming into fire. Zed nodded, listening to Tango.

“I hate him! He thinks I’m stupid enough to just believe him!” The blazeborn yelled, his fire turning blue.

“If you hate him so much why do you like him?” Zed asked, sipping on his tea.

Tango suddenly calmed down, looking up at Zed confused. “What…?” He muttered.

“I said if you hate him so much why do you like him?” The other repeated. “I know you admire him, Tango.” He said.

“Maybe what he said triggered something?” He said putting his cup down gently on the small plate.

“...It’s a trick, I know it.” Tango said. “He works for the hero commission, obviously they’ll want him saying whatever bullshit to lower my guard.” He added.

“I see.” The other hummed. “...Did a part of you think he meant it?”

“You’ve seen it yourself how friendly Solidarity is. Did you think he actually meant it?” Zed asked him.

Tango went silent for a moment. Yes, a part of him did want to believe Solidarity was being genuine for a second there.

“...Yeah, I did.” Tango said leaning back in the chair. “But that was in the face of the public, he’s just acting. He still said he’s going to arrest me.” He muttered, scoffing. “Maybe that was just him giving himself a pep talk.”

“...I can’t trust him. As long as he’s in the hero commission, fuck him.” He said, a small scowl forming on his face.

Tango couldn’t trust the winged hero for even a second. If he did, he’d be staring at prisons bars right now, probably something even more harsh than that.

“I see.” Zed replied, with a small nod. “My, you’ve had a busy day today, haven’t you, Tango?” The goat smiled. Tango chuckled awkwardly. “Certainly have…”

“What about we work on your new gear?” Zed suggested getting up, putting on gloves.

“I already told you, I don’t want any special gear.” Tango rolled his eyes. He had fire powers! Why use gears and weapons?

“Oh I know, but it’s still fun to design. Plus you never know if you’ll ever need it in the future.” Zed said, grabbing a custom gun.

“I don’t want to kill the bird.” Tango said, resting his head against his palm.

Sure he hated the hero, but he didn’t want to kill the guy.

“Self defense, Tango. You’ll need ranged attacks too.” Zed said. “You can use your fire as bullets.” He said, tossing Tango the gun.

Tango held it, closing one eye and aimed it at a dart board. “It’s small, easy to use, and easy to hold.” Zed said, crossing his arms proudly.

“Huh.” Tango hummed, examining the gun.

The gun was a small pistol with black fading to orange, then red near the muzzle.

“It doesn’t need bullets, but it does need fire.” Zed told him. “Just heat up the gun.”

Tango shrugged, heating up the gun. He then shot at the dart board, a small bullet of pure fire came flying out hitting the target in the center.

“Ooo, nice aim!” Zed complimented Tango, grabbing a fire extinguisher, putting out the small flame.

Tango smirked. “I wonder what the birdie will think when he sees that I got a gun of my own…” He muttered, cocking his head to the side, an grin appearing on his face.

“I’m guessing your keeping it?” Zed asked. “Hell yeah I am.” The other retorted.

A few days later…

Jimmy punched Grian, who was holding a boxing cushion. He punched the cushion this time with more force and aggression.

“That son of a gun…” Jimmy snarled under his breath, punching the cushion, kicking it.

Grian softly grunted as Jimmy punched harder this time, nearly knocking him over.

Grian wobbled, regaining his balance. “You sure are pissed about something.” He commented. “Don’t even…” Jimmy said punching the cushion again.

“I’ve had a stressful couple of days...” Jimmy said, stretching his back.

“Is Soul Fire giving you problems again?” Mumbo asked, entering the room lifting the goggles off his eyes.

Jimmy sighed, backing up from Grian. “It’s not just him… The hero commission are giving me a handful… They’re pissed I let Soul Fire go, but then again. It’s not like I exactly had him, I just put handcuffs on the guy.” Jimmy replied, pulling his arms over the edge.

“Huh, I see I see.” Mumbo hummed, nodding. “Is the gun finished?” Grian asked the inventor.

Mumbo nodded, dusting off his hands. “Yes! I actually came in here to tell you guys that. Along with the handcuffs, and your suit.” He responded.

“Now Jimmy, try not to lose this one!” He scolded, pointing a finger at the canary. Jimmy softly laughed in a guilty way.

“Will do, sir…” He muttered, scratching the back of his neck. “So, my suit is fireproof now?” He asked.

Mumbo nodded. “Yes. Now you should get less fire injuries. Sorry we didn’t add this sooner, mate…” mumbo sighed, in an apologetic tone.

“Don’t worry about it, Mumbo. It’s fine.” Jimmy replied with a small smile, as he grabbed his water bottle taking a sip of water catching his breath.

He sighed, feeling relived that he doesn’t have to worry about Soul Fire’s powers for a while.

“Can I see the suit?” Jimmy said, stepping out of the boxing ring. “Of course, of course.” Mumbo said leaving the training room.

Grian carried his water bottle, following Jimmy and Mumbo out of the room, and into the ‘inventing’ / repair room.

Jimmy’s hero suit was hanging up, all patched up. “Here, watch.” Mumbo said grabbing a lighter, and held it under his sleeve, then switched it off.

No damage taken! It was completely untouched from the fire.

Jimmy’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Oh my gosh!” He said excitedly, his wings opening up slightly due to his excitement.

“I must say, it is not completely fire proof though, despite what I said, it is not.” Mumbo said, awkwardly playing with his thumbs.

“Oh, but so wait-” Jimmy muttered confused, not exactly understanding.

“But! But, it can withstand extremely high temperatures of heat, so don’t worry.” Mumbo said with a proud nervous smile.

“Ah, so it’s fire resistant?” Grian raised an eyebrow, sipping on his ice cold water. Mumbo nodded. “Exactly.” He said, snapping his fingers.

“Ah I see.” Jimmy said examining the suit.

“I’m still working on a fire proof material, don’t worry. I just hope that’ll do for now.” Mumbo, putting his hands together in a pleading motion.

“This is more than enough, thank you Mumbo.” Jimmy said being really thankful for his friend’s inventor.

“You did a great job there, Mumbo.” Grian said patting him on the best. “I-It’s nothing really.. I just learned from my previous experiences.” Mumbo said, tilting his head slightly, blushing. Feeling a bit embarrassed.

“You still did an amazing job!” The avian praised him.

While the two talked in the background, Jimmy looked over at the gun Mumbo made for him. He still felt pretty bad that he lost his previous one, but nothing he could do now.

But at least he has a brand new one! Jimmy picked it up, holding it. It was light, easy to carry around.

“I can’t lose this one, in fact I shouldn’t lose any at all.” He said to himself.

“What was that, Tim?” Grian asked, cocking his head to the side to get a better look at Jimmy.

“Nothing! I was just talking to myself.” Jimmy said, his face heating up, turning red.

Grian chuckled, shaking his head before perking up. “Oh right! Tim, don’t you have that Hero commission meeting tomorrow?” He asked.

Jimmy sighed, in disappointment. “...Don’t remind me…” Jimmy muttered, with an exhausted expression dawning on his face.

“Ugh, those meetings were always so stressful… You never know what to say, what to do…” Mumbo muttered, crossing his arms.

Jimmy felt even more nervous now. This was the first meeting in a long while… The only conversations he has had with the commission was over the phone, and even then it was usually only 5 minutes long max.

“It’ll be fine. I just have to calm down. Answer yes or no to everything, it’ll be fine.” He told himself, drinking some water.

“Timmy!” Grian called out to the canary, shaking his shoulders. “Ah! What?” Jimmy said, being caught off guard. Being scared half to death by Grian.

“Let’s go meet up with Joel at the Bread Bridge Bakery.” Grian said with a smile.

“Get your mind off this hero and villain stuff for now.” He said, placing his hand on his hip.

“Right now? But-” Jimmy said. “Get changed, and go.” Grian said dragging Jimmy to the elevator.

“I’ll stay here, and clean up.” Mumbo said to them. Grian gave him a thumbs up, pressing the close button, closing the doors to the elevator.

Minutes later, Jimmy was in the car with Grian on their way to Bread Bridge Bakery. Although it was more of a cafe, despite it being called a ‘bakery’.

Joel, Jimmy, and Grian often went there as a trio. They would sit there, get coffee, eat desserts, and just chat. It was a really wholesome time.

“I’m not sure this is the right time, Grian. I should really prepare for the meeting.” Jimmy said, staring at his notes. “That meeting isn’t until tomorrow! You got a whole day to worry!” Grian proclaimed. But then he paused for a moment.

“Tim, I don’t wanna see you destroy yourself. Yes, I know this is important, but you’ve been stressed out all week, and just today you’ve taken that stress out on me during our sparing, which I suppose is a good thing.” Grian said, looking over at Jimmy, before focusing on the road again.

“Just take an hour off, no worrying about Soul Fire, and no worrying about the commission, okay?” The avian said.

“...I know my days as Cute Guy were great, and I saved the day and shit. But I was burning myself out. I rarely gave myself days to rest. It was always get up, work, leave to fight villains, go to the commission. I made so many sacrifices to my relationships… And I-” Grian said, but cut himself short.

The parrot winged avian took a deep breath in and out. “I don’t want you going through the same burn out and getting depressed.” He said, wanting the best for Jimmy.

“Not to mention, you have to keep everything a secret. You can talk to Mumbo and I about it, but eventually you’ll just blow up, and want to tell someone else, anyone else about them.” He spoke from personal experiences.

Jimmy glanced over at Grian, listening to him. He did see it for himself too…. He hated watching Grian going through that...

He watched Grian get depressed for days on end, due to all the burn out. Thankfully, he has gotten much better now, and he can imagine why Grian doesn’t want him going through the same things.

“Okay.” Jimmy muttered. “I won’t worry about it. I won’t think about it starting now!” He exclaimed.

“I don’t want to worry you. I’ll take care of myself. And I’ll take breaks!” Jimmy said.

The other softly smiled at this. “You promise?” he asked. Jimmy nodded. “I promise!” Jimmy said, putting his hand on his chest.

“Do you even promise to not make anymore dumbass decisions anymore?” He asked, raising an eyebrow, snickering slightly.

“Uh…” Jimmy paused. “…I can’t completely promise that…” He smiled.

Grian soon parked the car, and got out the car. Jimmy opened his side, getting out. He saw Joel through the window. He smiled, walking up to the entrance doors beside Grian.

The little bell rang at the top, which caught Joel’s attention.

He looked up from his phone, and grinned. “Grian, Jimmy! Over here.” Joel called out to them.

Grian smiled going over Joel. Jimmy following behind Grian.

“Did you order anything yet?” Jimmy asked, pulling out a chair for himself, as he sat down. “Only some yorkshire gold tea. I was gonna wait for you guys before I ordered anything else.” Joel replied. “But I want a sub sandwich.”

“I’ll order maybe a blueberry muffin.” Grian said grabbing the small menu. Jimmy glanced at the menu, after sparing for two hours. He could use something to eat… “A cake…” He said softly. A carrot cake.” Jimmy specified, putting the menu down.

“Okay, I’ll go order right now.” Grian said as he went over to the counter. Temporarily leaving Joel and Jimmy alone with each other.

“How have you been, Jimmy? Lately you’ve been taking lots of breaks from work.” Joel asked Jimmy, adding a little sugar to his tea, mixing it together.

“I’ve just been a bit ill, nothing to worry about.” Jimmy replied, brushing it off. “You sure?” Joel asked looking up at the canary. “Absolutely.” Jimmy nodded, with a smile.

“Okay, I just wanted to check. Lizzie wanted me to ask since she’s worried about you, mate.” Joel said, sipping his tea.

Jimmy chuckled, he felt bad that he couldn’t tell Joel the truth, but he couldn’t know about his identity as a hero…

“How has the restaurant been?” He asked Joel. “It’s been alright. Actually, Tango stopped by yesterday with Skizz. He was looking for you.” Joel answered. “Looking for me?” He pointed at himself.

“Yes.” Joel replied. “I think he wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to the bar or something last night. I tried messaging you, but I guess you didn’t see it.” Joel said.

“Oh…” Jimmy murmured. He checked his phone and saw that Joel had in fact messaged him yesterday at around 5. Unfortunately he was busy dealing with some creepers that had gotten lose from one of the labs at that time.

“I must’ve been busy, I’ll make sure to message Tango later.” Jimmy answered. “Good, yeah I’ll let Lizzie now that nothing too serious is going on with you.” Joel replied. Soon Grian came back with their food.

“Muffin for me!” Grian placed the plate in front of the spot he was sitting at. He placed the other plates in front of the other two.

Jimmy grabbed his fork, and dug it into the carrot cake, taking a bite out it.

Joel wrapped a napkin around his sandwich, taking a bite, he held it over the plate, making sure nothing got on the floor.

As time passed, they eventually finished hanging out with Joel, and went their separate ways.

When Jimmy got home, he petted his cats and gave them some food later heading to his room, gently closing the door so the cats wouldn’t enter.

Jimmy sat down at his bed, pulling out his phone and checking his messages. He saw the one from tango last night, around evening.

Bad timing to message him due to Jimmy being busy as “Solidarity” at the time.

“Hey Jimmy! I was wondering if you wanted to head to the bar with Skizz, Impulse, and I!”

Jimmy smiled at the fact that Tango invited him. He pressed the contact, replying.

“Sorry I didn’t see your message sooner, I was busy :(“ Jimmy replied adding a sad face at the end. Just moments later he saw the three text bubbles pop up.

“That’s okay, don’t worry about it”

“You wanna meet up at the bar tonight? Just the two of us?”

Just… Tango and Jimmy alone..? That would be so awkward, wouldn’t it? But he couldn’t just pass up an opportunity like this! It was either reject Tango and wait another hundred years to be asked out by him, or accept it now and deal with the awkwardness later, that is if there even is awkwardness.

J -“Sure, when do you wanna meet there?”

T- “Does around 9 sound good?”

J- “Sounds great, see ya!”

Jimmy smiled, like a teenage girl who just got asked out on a date. Jimmy had to make sure he dressed good! But not too good, just right now the bar.

Jimmy jumped off his bed, searching through his closet. He found a leather jacket and sunglasses. Okay the sunglasses might be a bit much, but the leather jacket! That’s cool, right?

Jimmy took off his other jacket, putting on the leather jacket. He checked himself out in the mirror, he clicked his tongue nodding in approval.

“Nice, Jim. Niceee..” Jimmy said carrying out the end a bit there. He wanted to see what he looked like with the sunglasses on, he put them on, and he thought he looked so cool! Kinda like a bad boy…

“No, it’s a bit much.” He softly laughed, taking them off… Well, he could just take a picture and post it on social media. Show the world how cool he looked.

He grabbed his phone, opening camera. He put the sunglasses back on, and he posed in front of the mirror. He flaunted off his jacket, showing it off.

He thought this photo was absolutely silly, hell it probably was. He snapped the photo, and laughed at himself. “I look so stupid..” He laughed, adding it to his story. He closed his phone thinking nothing of it.

He took off the jacket and glasses, since he didn’t have to leave until later that evening.

Meanwhile…

The blazeborn was lying down on his bed, with his dog Torchy lying down on his stomach. So now he couldn’t move or else he’d wake up Torchy.

Tango looked at his phone, just scrolling to pass time. He was checking out Solidarity’s instagram page.

He scrolled through the photos of him and the interviews with journalists and paparazzi. He let out a small chuckle at how nervous he seemed in some of the interviews. He kept looking through the page, until he accidentally pressed the home page button

He saw that Jimmy’s story has just been updated. He pressed it, and saw Jimmy in the leather jacket. He laughed out loud, finding it hilarious, yet strangely attractive.

“Pft- Bwahahaha! Ehahaha!” He liked the picture. Torchy perked up, his head and ears lifting up slightly then went back to resting on Tango’s stomach again.

“S-Sorry… Sorry Torchy.” Tango apologized, petting the dog on its back. He snickered at the photo. “So dumb…” He mumbled. He found this picture so dumb, and he loved it.

He was so used to Jimmy wearing more casual style clothing.

“Wear that to the bar” He messaged Jimmy through the dm’s. He smiled, then went back to looking through Solidarity’s account.

Jimmy heard something coming from his phone, he turned it on and saw on the notification on his lockscreen.

“Gh-” He nearly spat out his drink. He swallowed his tea before shouting, catching Grian’s and his cats attention. “HE SAW IT ALREADY!?!” Jimmy shouted. Grian turned to Jimmy from the couch, confused as hell.

“What in the…” Grian muttered, side eyeing his roommate.

Well this was embarrassing… It hasn’t even been 20 minutes since he posted it, and Tango has already saw it. Jimmy turned bright red, banging his head against his phone screen.

He felt like burying himself alive at that moment. He didn’t actually know if Tango was joking or not, well either way. He did plan on wearing the leather jacket there, at least he knew Tango liked it now…

. . . .

When 8:00PM eventually came around. Jimmy entered the bar, indeed wearing the leather jacket, along with the sunglasses just sitting on top of his head from earlier.

He saw Tango sitting at a table near the wall. Tango looked up from his phone, and waved Jimmy over. “Jimmy! Over here!” He called out.

Jimmy went over to Tango, pulling out a chair sitting across from the blazeborn. “Look at you! All dressed up in a leather jacket!” Tango scanned him up and down. Jimmy blushed, sheepishly. “I-I just found this in my closet, I thought it looked funny.” Jimmy said.

“Don’t be ashamed, just own it, man!” Tango said, lightly punching Jimmy in the shoulder. “I didn’t expect you to like it.” The canary said, looking at Tango.

“Are you kidding me? You look like rockstar!” Tango exclaimed proudly.

“You think so?” Jimmy tilted his head down towards the jacket. Tango nodded. “Absolutely!” He said.

“You got the sunglasses and everything, just own it.” Tango said. Jimmy smiled, feeling more confident. “If you say so, then yeah I will own it!” Jimmy proclaimed.

“Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.” Tango grinned. “Now you want a beer or something?” he asked, passing Jimmy a menu of the different kinds of drinks they have.

“Beer sounds nice for now.”

Chapter Text

Hours into the night went by. Tango ordered some drinks for him and Jimmy, ordering a new one every time they finished a drink. They chatted the night away, chugging down drink after drink.

Tango had a higher tolerance for alcohol than Jimmy, he went to the bar so often that he just got used to it. Jimmy on the other hand, not so much...

The only times Jimmy went to the bar was on special work occasions. Like when the restaurant would get a certain amount of customers, special celebrations, and promotions.

Even then, he barely drank, therefore he is an absolute light weight.

Tango did his best to make sure Jimmy kept sitting up right. This isn’t the first that Tango had to take care of a drunken person… I mean, he has had to help Skizz and Impulse almost every week! So this was nothing to Tango.

“So then, I nearly slipped! Almost dropped all the food I was carrying..” Jimmy said, telling Tango about a work story from when he first began working at the Fairy Fort.

“Wow, that must’ve been terrifying!” Tango said, taking a sip of his beer. “It so was… I was worried I was gonna get fired on my first week there! Unbelievable…” Jimmy said, taking a big swig of beer.

“After, I got scolded… Hard. Luckily Lizzie was willing to give me another chance..” Jimmy muttered. Tango nodded along, listening to whatever Jimmy would ramble about.

But he did notice one thing, Jimmy is drinking an awful lot…

“Hey Jimmy, do you usually drink this much?” Tango asked him. Jimmy looked at him confused, before smiling. “Oh no, not really. Haha..” Jimmy responded with a laugh.

“Maybe you should slow down, you still need to get home remember?” Tango said nervously laughing. Tango wasn’t exactly the most sober person in the room , but he wasn’t drunk either.

“Okay okay, I’ll slow down..” Jimmy said stretching his arms. Tango nodded, taking a sip of his drink.

Jimmy did stop for a few minutes, before going right back to drinking again. Tango sighed watching him. “I guess I’m the one driving tonight..” He said gently pinching his temples.

Tango stopped drinking entirely after that, and listened to Jimmy ramble in a heavily drunken tone…

Jimmy didn’t even realize it himself, but he was drinking his worries away.. He didn’t want to think about the hero commission, Soul Fire, he didn’t even want to think about work. He ordered another drink, chugging that one down along with the other drinks.

Drink after drink, getting drunk within the minutes. Jimmy didn’t stop, he didn’t know how. He just really liked drinking… It made him stop thinking about his problems.

When he drank, he didn’t have to think about the Hero Commission and how they treat him. He didn’t have to think about Grian worrying about him, he didn’t have to worry about Soul Fire…

He could just feel… Happiness just for tonight.

He’d ramble to Tango about who knows what? He drank until his vision began getting blurry and everything just became shapes all around him.

He heard noises in front of him… Like someone was snapping their fingers in his face…. Honestly though, he had no clue what was going on…

“Jimmy? Jimmy, you there?” Tango spoke, waving his hand in front of Jimmy’s face. The other nodded. “Y-yeah… yeah I’m… here…” Jimmy said, feeling his head spin.

Tango grabbed the glass away from him. “Okay I think that’s enough, buddy..” He moved the glass away from the drunken canary.

“Nooo…” Jimmy said, reaching for the beer glass, leaning over the table. Tango kept the glass away, putting it on another table. “We should get you home now, alright?” Tango said helping Jimmy up.

“I don’t wanna think..… I need…” Jimmy muttered, standing up with the help of Tango. “Ugh…” He held his head, shutting his eyes.

“Let’s sober you up first..” Tango said taking Jimmy over to the bar. He helped Jimmy sit on the bar stool, Tango sat down next to him. He called the bartender over, and order just water for Jimmy and himself.

The bartender handed Tango two glasses of cold ice water. Tango grabbed a straw, putting it in the glass to make it easier for Jimmy to drink.

“Here, don’t spill it.” Tango said sliding the glass to Jimmy. “Thank you, Tan-Tango..” Jimmy said with a small stutter, sipping on the water.

Tango let out a small low snicker, he never thought he’d ever see Jimmy like this. He sipped on his water, keeping an eye on Jimmy.

“Tango…” Jimmy said dragging out his name a little, the blazeborn looked over at Jimmy. “Yes, birdie?” He asked, using the name he’d use for Solidarity knowing Jimmy was too drunk to process it.

“Can you take me home…? I’m sooo tired..” Jimmy said, slumping over the bar. “Sure, birdie…” Tango said. “..So familiar…” He muttered Jimmy utter under his breath, but he didn’t quite catch what it was.

“What was that?” He asked, gazing down at the canary. “Nothing…” Jimmy replied, hanging his head down on the bar. Tango chuckled, sipping on his water.

He pulled out his phone to call Skizz. “Hey Skizz, can you come pick me and Jimmy up from the bar in maybe 15 minutes?” Tango asked.

Sure Tango was 100% more sober than Jimmy in every way right now, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

Jimmy glanced at Tango, he couldn’t help but admire how the other looked in the light…

The way the yellow lights glistened off Tango’s orange fire like hair, the way his beautiful eyes shined, how his shirt was unbutton exposing some of his chest, how his hands looked in those black gloves, his lips…

Jimmy didn’t know if that was the alcohol in him talking, or his those were his genuine thoughts. Either way though, those thoughts were extremely gay. “Tango…” He muttered.

“Yes?” The other responded, looking at Jimmy. “...Nothing you just look so pretty right now..” He muttered. “Oh.” Tango perked up, not expecting Jimmy to say that.

“Uh, thanks?” Tango replied awkwardly, a red blush appearing on his cheeks. Jimmy looked up at the shorter blazeborn, blushing, his cheeks heating up.

Jimmy just spoke without thinking at all. He should probably shut up now… But the word vomit kept coming out of his mouth.

“You l-like so pretty, Tango… Did you know that?” Jimmy said with a wide drunk grin. Tango laughed. “No, I didn’t.” He replied, resting his chin on the palm of his hand, with a slight tilt to his head.

That made Tango look even more gorgeous in Jimmy’s eyes. “Well now you know..”

Tango didn’t think much of this. People spoke about him way worse than Jimmy when they’re drunk. He liked that Jimmy thought he was attractive, even if he was drunk out of his mind and probably just yapping shit.

“Top! Jiggles!” Skizz said entering the bar holding his car keys, strutting over to Tango and Jimmy.

“Skizz~!” Jimmy smiled, pulling himself up. “Woah! Jiggles is drunk drunk! What’d you give the poor guy, Top?” Skizz asked, with a laugh.

“Just beer, he just kept drinking and drinking.” Tango said, shrugging. “You give him some water?” Skizz asked, glancing over at Jimmy. “Mhm, and got myself some too.” Tango said holding up the glass.

“Let’s just get Jiggles home, ehehe.” Skizz laughed going over to Jimmy. “Are we going home?” Jimmy asked, looking up at Skizz.

“Mhm! You got it.” Skizz replied. “Woooo! I wanna go home.” Jimmy said, lifting his arms in his air. Tango and Skizz hooked their arms under Jimmy, helping him out of the bar.

Jimmy stumbled out of the bar, holding onto Skizz and Tango, mainly Tango though.

“Top, you hold him.” Skizz said, fully giving Tango to Jimmy. Tango yelped, holding Jimmy upright. Jimmy looked at Tango, completely groggy and dazed.

Skizz unlocked the car, opening the back doors and driver’s door. Tango and Skizz helped Jimmy get into the back. Skizz glanced over at Tango, nudging him in the elbow.

“Top, get in with him.” He grinned. Tango looked at him baffled. “What?”

“You heard me, get in the back with him and make sure he doesn’t throw up or something.” Skizz responded with a shrug.

Tango didn’t argue any more surprisingly and just got in with Jimmy, sitting beside him.

Skizz began driving back to Jimmy’s apartment. “Where does he live again?” Skizz asked, not knowing where Jimmy lived.

“Near Tumble Town Apartments, although I’m not exactly sure which one.” Tango answered, holding Jimmy’s waist to keep him sitting up.

Jimmy yawned being tired, he rested his head on Tango’s shoulder, shutting his eyes. Tango glanced over at Jimmy, turning red. His hair spiked up, turning even fire like once more.

Skizz watched this through the rear view mirror. He cackled, watching Tango get all flustered and shy. “Shut up!!!” Tango shouted at Skizz. If Skizz wasn’t driving, and he had something on him to throw at the tatted muscular man, he would’ve thrown it by now.

Skizz let out another cackle, whilst he continued driving. Tango let out a sigh, shaking his head at Skizz, he looked back at Jimmy. He softly smiled…

Jimmy looked so peaceful… Tango gently moved a strand of hair out of his face, he snapped out of it when he saw that Skizz was watching again. Skizz made eye contact with him, raising his eyebrows up and down at Tango.

“Avert your eyes! Keep them on the road!” Tango yelled at him, blushing again. Skizz snickered, turning his eyes back to the road.

“Jerk..” Tango grinned, looking out the window. “Okay turn here,” he told Skizz, watching him turn the wheel. The car entering the neighborhood of apartments.

“Jimmy, Jimmy..” Tango gently shook the taller awake. “Huh, what…?” Jimmy muttered, waking up. “Which apartment is yours?” The blazeborn asked.

Jimmy sat up, still being a bit groggy. He looked around, and pointed at a specific one. “There…” He yawned. Skizz nodded, driving in front of the apartment complex. Tango unlocked the door, and helped Jimmy get out.

“You can stay here, Skizz. I’ll only be here for a few minutes.” Tango said, hooking his arm under Jimmy’s shoulders. “Okay, Top.” Skizz replied, pulling out his phone to listen to some music in the meantime while he waited for Tango.

“Do you have your keys, Jimmy?” The other nodded, handing Tango his keys. Luckily Jimmy had labeled everything, so it wasn’t hard to tell what key went where.

Tango opened the main entrance door, he was greeted by stairs, and dimmed lights. There was an elevator if you turned around the corner.

“Almost there, Jimmy.” Tango held Jimmy up, walking over to the elevator. Jimmy stumbled, but he walked with Tango.

“Which floor is yours?” he asked. “Top…” Jimmy said being out of it. Tango hoped that was true as he pressed the top floor button.

Tango walked over to the penthouse, using Jimmy’s keys to open the door. He gently pushed the door open, entering the penthouse. It was dimly lit up, nothing but a lamp turned on. The city lights helped brighten up the place.

Tango helped Jimmy inside trying to make as little noise as possible, knowing Jimmy had a roommate who was probably sleeping by now as it was incredibly late into the night.

Jimmy and Tango stumbled into the canary’s room, he helped Jimmy sit down on the bed. “Let’s take these off.” Tango said taking off Jimmy’s sunglasses on his head, putting them on the nightstand, he grabbed Jimmy’s leather jacket taking it off.

“You still look like a rockstar.” Tango whispered in his ear, he chuckled watching Jimmy get all flustered. He hung up the jacket on the chair. He heard Jimmy taking off his belt, while he lied down…

“My head really hurts, Tango..” Jimmy spoke under his breath. “Do you have any killers anywhere?” Tango asked him. Jimmy nodded, pointing towards his bathroom that was connected to his bedroom.

“In the cabinet…” Jimmy whispered. The blazeborn nodded, entering the bathroom. He saw feathers splayed out on the floor, he walked passed them and opened up the cabinet.

He saw a few pill bottles among other stuff. He checked the labels, checking for any pain killers. He eventually found them and grabbed the bottle, popping out two.

As he was about to exit, he glanced down at the feathers, giving one of them up, shoving it in his pocket. He turned off the bathroom light, going back to the drunken canary. “I’ll go get you some water, okay?” He spoke gently, leaving the pills on the nightstand.

Jimmy nodded, getting comfortable in bed. But as Tango was leaving, Jimmy suddenly got up rushing to the bathroom, shoving the toilet seat up, kneeling in front of the toilet and throwing up. Tango rushed back to the bathroom, helping Jimmy.

He knelt down, and held his hair back, as Jimmy retched into the toilet. Tango gagged a little, but he used to doing stuff like this with Impulse and Skizz.

“Ngh…” Jimmy groaned, as he panted before throwing up again. Tango patted his back, rubbing it. “There there, you’ll live…” Tango sighed.

“Oh god… I’m so sorry Tango…” Jimmy teared up. “Don’t worry just let it out..” Tango said not really caring. This type of situation was nothing new to Tango. Jimmy choked, throwing up all the beer he drank earlier.

“I drank way too much…” Jimmy muttered, panting heavily pulling away. “That’s pretty obvious..” Tango chuckled, reaching for some toilet paper to wipe Jimmy’s mouth.

“You must feel so disgusted by me now…” Jimmy said, as Tango wiped his mouth. The other looked at Jimmy, shaking his head. “No, not at all. This is normal, Birdie.” Tango said.

“Really..?” He lifted his head up. Tango nodded. “Mhm.” He hummed.

Tango continued helping Jimmy clean himself up. He helped Jimmy change his shirt, and put the dirty one into the laundry basket.

He sat Jimmy down on the bed, and went to go get him some water from the kitchen tap. He helped Jimmy take the pain killers for his head ache, and then he tucked Jimmy into bed.

“Comfy?” He said, covering Jimmy with the blanket. Jimmy nodded. “..Very…” he murmured with a yawn. “I-I’m sorry.” He apologized. Tango gazed at him curious. “For what?” He asked.

“For drinking too much, I should’ve slowed down… I-I don’t even know why I drank so much…” Jimmy muttered, looking away from the blazeborn.

“Don’t apologize, you just got carried away. Happens to everyone, it certainly happens to my friends almost every week.” He chuckled. Jimmy softly smiled at Tango. “Okay…” Jimmy said. “Now get some sleep, you’ll need it.” Tango told him.

“One last thing…” Jimmy spoke, Tango turned back to the canary. “Hm?” He hummed. Jimmy grabbed Tango’s shirt, pulling him close and kissing him right on the lips.

Tango’s eyes widened, and he pulled away from Jimmy. “I-I…” He muttered.

Jimmy looked at him completely dazed, he yawned stretching. “Goodnight, Tango…” Jimmy said, lying down burying him in the blanket. Tango blinked watching Jimmy act like nothing happened.

“N-Night Jimmy…” Tango muttered, still totally in shocked. He quietly exited the room, closing the door. He felt his face heating up, and it just wouldn’t stop. He felt his fire heating up as well. He slapped his cheeks, flustered. “Oh my god…” He muttered.

Skizz turned his head, watching Tango entered the car in the passenger seat. “hey Top- What the hell. What happened?” He asked Tango noticing his hair was completely on fire!

“Don’t ask, and don’t tease me about it!” Tango told Skizz, pointing a finger in his face.

Let’s just say Skizz didn’t do any of that. He did in fact ask Tango about it, and teased him about him.

Skizz dropped off Tango at his place. He exited the vehicle, “see you later, fuck face.” Tango said shutting the door. Skizz full belly laughed at this.

“You know you liked it!” Skizz called out. Tango rolled his eyes, walking up to his door unlocking the door.

He watched Skizz drive away, he sighed shaking his head, entering his house.

. . . .

The next morning Jimmy was dealing with the consequences of his actions from last night. He had a horrible head ache. He could barely remember what the hell he did apart from arriving at the bar.

He spent the first 30 minutes of the morning throwing up again, Grian stood outside of the bathroom passing him water and tissues. “Jesus Timmy, how much did you drink last night?” Grian asked.

“A lot apparently- Hgn…” Jimmy threw up again. Grian rolled his eyes, pushing his glasses up.

“When I said I wanted you to not think about your stress problems, I didn’t mean drinking them away!” Grian exclaimed, rolling his his sleeve on his arm, checking the time on his watch. “I really need to head to work now…” He muttered.

“Go.. I’ll be fine…” Jimmy groaned, grabbing the tissues Grian was passing him. “You sure?” Grian asked, glancing down at the other. Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, go. I’ll be fine.” Jimmy said.

Grian clicked his tongue, checking his watch again. “...Call me if you need anything.” Grian said as he left. “Oh and don’t forget about the meeting you have with the commission today… Actually I should’ve stopped you from going to the bar last night.” The parrot avian said, whilst he walked out of the Jimmy’s bedroom.

As Grian closed the door to his bedroom. He panicked mentally, he completely forgot about the meeting he had! He was so distracted by Tango that he just forgot.

He had to get rid of this hungover before 3:30PM.

Tango was awaken by a dog licking his face. “Torchy, I’m up…” He said tiredly, carefully pushing the dog away from his face.

Torchy barked, licking Tango’s hands. “I’m up, I’m up…” Tango sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Hey Torchy…” He said petting Torchy’s head.

Torchy barked, wagging his tail. “Just five more minutes please…” He murmured, lying back down. Torchy frowned, barking again.

“Okay you win!” Tango said, giving in easily. He got up, he looked around for a shirt to put on, since he took off his last night.

He grabbed a random shirt, putting it on. He got up going to the kitchen, Torchy following him.

Tango grabbed his food bowl, and some dog kibble. He poured some into the bowl, and refilled his water bowl. “There, drink up…” He said, kneeling down as he petted Torchy.

He went over to the couch, lying down. He sighed softly, stretching his back and arms. “What a long night…” He said under his breath as he gently touched his lips… He can clearly remembering Jimmy kissing him, how Jimmy gently bit his lip…

“...What the heck was going through your head…?” Tango muttered, he knew he sure as hell wasn’t gonna confront Jimmy about it. He saw some pretty crazy things when people were drunk, but none of them just kissed Tango like that!

“He was just drunk.” Tango shrugged. “Meant nothing by it.” He said, and was fine with it meaning nothing. He didn’t see Jimmy as crush or anything like that.

But he wondered if Jimmy liked him like that. That’s one awkwardly conversation in the making right there…

Tango shook his head, he got up from the couch. He went outside into the backyard, pulling out a cigarette from his pockets.

He used his finger to light up the cigarette. He waited for the cigarette to burn a bit before grabbing it between his fingers, inhaling it before pulling it away from his lips.

Smoking wasn’t something Tango did often, it was something Tango did when he was having one of those type of days. Smoking was something that helped Tango ease his mind a bit.

“I wonder if I’ll see Birdie today..” He grinned thinking about Solidarity again. It was wild to think about how Tango hated his guts, yet wanted his attention, and loved messing with him.

“I should pay him a visit today.” Tango said, tapping the ashes off, and putting the cigarette back between his lips.

He heard something from his phone… It was a message from Jimmy.

Jimmy did everything he could to get rid of hangover as quick as possible even though he still had a couple of hours before the meeting. “Oh shit, oh fuck..” He cursed panicking pacing around the room holding a glass of water.

“I should ask Tango.” Jimmy said pulling out his phone.

J – “Hey Tango, I have a massive hangover… I guess I drank too much haha”

J – “I was wondering if you had any advice on getting rid of these?”

He sent, now all he had to do was wait. Within minutes he got a response.

T – “I honestly don’t have a lot. But you should drink a ton of water, drink some fruit juice, or maybe ginger tea? And try eating soup as well”

Jimmy nodded reading the things Tango listed. He went over to the kitchen refilling his water bottle, and started making ginger tea, and warming up some leftover soup he had.

. . . .

A mere few hours later. Jimmy was getting ready for his meeting with the Hero Commission. He sighed, as he put on his domino mask.

He put his hero suit on, and he fixed his hair. He made sure his wings were preened, and looked good. He opened his balcony, before closing it behind him.

He opened his wings, and flew out heading towards the main city. He eventually flew onto the landing line on the roof. “Hello Solidarity.” The security said.

“Hello. Has the meeting begun yet?” He asked, he knew he was on time. He was just asking for conversation sake. “Nope, not yet.” The guard replied. “You arrived just on time.” He added.

Solidarity nodded, entering the building. He said hello to people walking by, greeting people. Just being polite to everyone. He walked down to the office rooms, he stopped in front of the meeting room where the meeting was being held, obviously.

He stared at the golden double doors in front of face. He took a deep breath, pushing the doors wide open.

He was immediately met with 20 different faces of the Hero Commission board all staring at him.

“Solidarity! Glad you could make it.” The president smiled, standing up, clapping his hands as he did so.

“Have a seat… We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

“Have a seat, Solidarity. We need to talk…”

The president spoke with the authority. Solidarity saw an empty chair, close to the president’s chair… He walked down the room, feeling all eyes on him.

He pulled out the chair, sitting down. He looked over at the president. “If this is about Soul Fire-” Solidarity was cut off. The president put his hand up, interrupting the hero.

“This is about many things, Solidarity.” he spoke, scowling at Solidarity slightly. The canary hero quickly shut his mouth.

“Let’s start off with how you let Soul Fire get away, yeah?” Solidarity frowned at the sarcastic smile the president gave him.

“...I wasn’t prepared.” Solidarity replied, the president rolled his eyes. “That’s obvious…” He muttered.

“You’re a hero. Solidarity… So why on earth weren’t you prepared? You need to be ready on all times.” The president said sighing.

“I-I’ll catch him next time, sir!” Solidarity exclaimed, his wings fluttering slightly at this. The president raised his eyebrow. “Can you?” He asked, catching Solidarity off with that question.

“...Look, Solidarity, if this is too hard for you we can always assign a different hero to take down Soul Fire, maybe someone with water-”

“No!”

Everyone turned their heads to Solidarity as he shouted.

“I mean-” He coughed, clearly his throat. “No, I can do it, sir. I just need more time.” Solidarity said with a small nod. The president scanned him up and down, resting his elbows on the desk.

“You 100% sure you can?” he asked. Solidarity nodded. “I can do it.” He said with confidence in his tone. The other clicked his tongue before sighing leaning back in his chair.

“If you say so…” He muttered.

The last thing Solidarity wanted was to get assigned a different villain to arrest, he wanted to take out Soul Fire specifically himself, he didn't want another hero doing it.

He didn't care if it would bump him down a rank, he just wanted Soul Fire to be his villain. No one else's.

Solidarity even knew himself that there were probably a better villain with better suiting powers that could capture Soul Fire, but he didn't want that.

“The next topic. You’re climbing up the ranks, Solidarity. Meaning you have a new reputation to hold.” The president said, with a small shrug to his shoulders.

“There are things you can say, and things you have to keep secret, you know that right?” The president tilted his head. Solidarity nodded, having nothing say to that.

“Good, so we’ve arranged some interviews for you to do, something to just raise your popularity and reputation.” He smiled.

“Interviews?” The hero muttered, he wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of those… He liked having a bit of privacy, especially since everyone is always trying to figure out his identity.

“Mhm, we’re gonna do maybe 5 interviews on Sunday next week. We’re currently setting up a small room just for those.” One of the board members said. “You should clear your schedule on that day.” Another said, looking at their clipboard.

Solidarity knew he didn’t have a say in this, so he nodded along. “Got it.” He said.

“Reputation is important, Solidarity. We almost had to shut down the Hero Commission, do you remember that?” The president asked. Solidarity nodded. “Yes, sir.” Solidarity said.

“Good, the Hot Guy incident really damaged us, we were hoping that you could fix that since well you’re actually a hero. You know Cute Guy, right?” The president said.

‘I know him a little too well.’ Solidarity thought to himself, nodding along with the president.

“He was never really an ‘official hero’, he was more of vigilante who took out villains while trying to prove that the Hero Commission was bad and corrupted..” The president explained.

“That was until the Hot Guy incident… I won’t get into the details, but after that he was seen as the new number 1. Since we were getting a lot of backlash from the public… They saw him even more as a hero after the final battle against Hot Guy.” He sighed.

Solidarity listened to the president… He never knew much about the Hot Guy incident other than people died.

Grian never told him the details either, and everyone else refuses to talk about what happened.

They refuse to talk about it as if it never happened in the first place...

But what happened to Hot Guy after his final fight with Cute Guy is anyone’s guess. After all, Hot Guy never died.

“So try your best not to fuck up our reputation again, we might not ever recover.” The president said with a small snarl to the canary, and oh if looks could kill Solidarity would be dead.

Solidarity gulped nervously. “O-of course..”

The board members talked among each other, Solidarity would nod along listening to their points. He glanced around the room, and noticed a fire in the distance outside the window.

“I think there’s a fire going on…” Solidarity said, lifting his hand up pointing at the smoke he saw. The president turned around in his chair noticing the smoke.

“A hero will handle it, don’t worry.” He shrugged, turning back around. He simply just brushed off the problem like nothing.

What has this world come too…? It’s come to the point where people glance at a problem and brush it off now that heroes exist.

Solidarity looked at him, hesitantly. Before turning his head. “What else do we have to talk about?” He asked.

“Nothing that really concerns you, just financial business, and which heroes to send out to what villain.” The president told him, shrugging.

“Oh.” The hero hummed. “...Can I leave now then..?” He asked, glancing at the door. “Not yet, we’re assigning you with another villain to take care of.” The president said.

“It’s a small one, we would have assigned a different lower rank hero, but they’re all busy with their own villains.” He sighed.

“This one shouldn’t take more than a day.” The president said.

A weak villain to arrest… Shouldn’t be too hard. It’ll probably be a lot easier than Soul Fire, that’s for sure. “Yeah… Yeah I can handle that.” Solidarity said. “That’s what we thought.” The president gave Solidarity a fake smile.

“Now that’s all, any other news that comes up. We’ll contact you immediately.” The president said. Solidarity nodded, getting up from his seat, pushing it out.

“Thank you for giving me another chance with Soul Fire…” Solidarity said with a small bow. “Of course, of course..”

Solidarity could tell they still wanted to assign another hero to take out Soul Fire and Solidarity is currently their number 1 hero. If Solidarity can’t take out Soul Fire then it says a lot about Solidarity himself, and the Hero Commission.

“We’ll send you the information on the villain.” One of the board members exclaimed across the table, tapping something onto their tablet.

The hero nodded, keeping his eyes on the doors.

Well that meeting was surprisingly short.

Solidarity exited the room, and went back up to the landing line. He opened his wings and flew out of there. Within seconds, he got a message from the Hero Commission.

He checked his watch, looking at the villain information. He read the description of the villain. The villain sounded harmless, they were a witch with basic powers.

“Ah, I could handle that.” Solidarity said under his breath. He flew around the city looking for the villain.

As Solidarity flew around the city, the conversation about Hot Guy played in his mind again… He remembered the many years ago when Hot Guy used to be the number 1 hero in all of Hermitopia.

But something happened causing Hot Guy to betray the company, which costed the Hero Commission everything. That should’ve been his first sign not to join the Hero Commission...

After a bit of flying around, he spotted them and flew down pulling out his gun. He shot a few shots at the villain’s legs.

“Stop right there in the name of the law!” Solidarity exclaimed flying in the air, the villain winced, quickly running off, summoning zombies from the ground to slow down the hero. Solidarity flew higher into the air.

He shot at the zombies right in the brains, and chased the villain down the alleyway.

Soul Fire watched this fight happen from the one of the rooftops, for once he decided to help. He pulled out his new custom made gun. “Let me help you out, shall I birdie?” Soul Fire spoke to himself aiming directly at the witch villain running.

He closed one day before shooting it down, watching the fire bullet move at the speed light and hit the villain right in the back.

The villain caught fire almost instantly, and began panicking trying to put out the fire.

Solidarity stopped mid flight, watching this confused. He turned his head around to see where the gunshot came from and he saw Soul Fire on the rooftop a few buildings away. Soul Fire smirked, and winked at the confused hero.

“That little-” Solidarity snapped out of it, turning back to the villain, helping him put the fire out. Afterwards before the villain could get away, he snapped the handcuffs onto the witch’s wrist.

“Looks like you stopped him, birdie. By the way, you like my new gun?” Someone said behind him… Solidarity knew that voice anywhere.

“Why’d you help me?” He asked, holding the witch making sure he didn’t run away. “Because I wanted to show off my gun, you like?” Soul Fire spun his fire based gun in his hands.

“Besides, you still got the job done, right?” Soul Fire smirked. “”And I wanted to see the progress you made with “understanding me”, remember?” Soul Fire said, leaning against a fire cloud he made.

“Oh that, yes! Yes, I’ve been a ton of research on blazeborns these past couple days.” Solidarity gasped.

“Can’t wait to here about it…” Soul Fire rolled his eyes.

“if anything’s bothering you… You can just tell me, I won’t judge you.” The canary said to the blazeborn.

“Pft-” Soul Fire scoffed. How dumb could Solidarity be? “Why would I tell you shit?” He looked the hero up and down like he was crazy.

“I-I just read that blazeborns have a really hard time fitting in, and I just thought…”

“You thought what? That I was venting my anger?” Soul Fire said, cocking his head to the side.

“Well… I suppose to you aren’t wrong, but that’s not the only reason.” Soul Fire said, if it that actually true or not… Uh not sure.

Solidarity perked up, lifting his head up. He felt like he managed to get the blazeborn to open up a little. “But I’d never tell you in a million years, Birdie.” The villain smiled. As the two chatted, the witch villain that controlled the zombies noticed how distracted Solidarity is.

He took this chance to step on his foot, and kick him in the shins. Solidarity yelped, shortly letting go of the witch. The witch laughed and ran. Soul Fire quickly ran over to the witch and knocked him out.

He caught the unconscious body, then looked up at Solidarity with a dead pan stare.

“...And they call you the number one hero…” He muttered. “I could’ve caught him again.” Solidarity said in defense.

“Oh I’m sure.” Soul Fire rolled his eyes. He put the witch against the wall. “Now to do what I came here to do.” Soul Fire said, he created a ring of fire around him and the hero.

“What the-” Solidarity gasped, he pulled out his gun and aimed it at Soul Fire. “Stop this right now!” Solidarity tightened his grip on his gun.

“Why? We barely just barely started!” Soul Fire cackled, increasing the bright blue fire around them. Soul Fire watched Solidarity’s body movement.

He watched how Solidarity’s wings opening up, how he kept his stance. Soul Fire smirked, loving this. “C’mon, shoot me!” Soul Fire encouraged.

This caught Solidarity off guard by a lot. “...Huh, what?” Solidarity said, lowering his gun by a bit. He was so confused by what Soul Fire said… Shoot him? Why would he want that…?

“I dare you to shoot me, birdie! Didn’t you want to arrest me?” Soul Fire lifting his arms up. “Y-Yes, but I never wanted to kill you!” Solidarity proclaimed.

“Eh, what’s the difference?” Soul Fire shrugged. “if you won’t kill me then…” The blazeborn suddenly moved at the speed of light, suddenly being behind Solidarity, moving insanely fast!

Soul Fire punched him in the back, making the other stumble. The hero immediately turned around, punching back. Soul Fire backed up, avoiding Solidarity’s punches.

Soul Fire shot at Solidarity, aiming at his wings. He purposely missed, he only wanted to freak out the hero. Solidarity dodged the fire, and he was suddenly shoved against the wall.

“I love how I manage to capture you so easily… Weird, isn’t this supposed to be the other way around?” Soul Fire said, pinning the hero’s wrists.

Solidarity scoffed, looking at the fire villain with a slight glare. “If you’re gonna pin me down, at least ask me out to dinner first!” A wing suddenly hit Soul Fire smack in the face.

Soul Fire’s head recoiled to the side, Solidarity’s wings swung in front of him pushing Soul Fire off him. The canary flew up, quickly flying down again pushing the villain to the ground.

“You piss me off, you know that?” Solidarity glared, holding him down. Soul Fire looked up at Solidarity dead pan staring at him. “I know, that’s why I love messing you, birdie.” He winked.

Solidarity felt his cheeks heating up. He shook his head, pushing the villain’s wrist down. “You know, you make it really hard for me to like you…” Solidarity said.

Soul Fire raised an eyebrow. “Huh?” He sang.

“Didn’t you want to understand me? Become my new best friend?” He mocked. “Oh shut up,” he retorted, exasperated. “Just because I want to understand you, doesn’t mean I have to like you…” He scowled.

“Whatever.” Soul Fire’s tail slapped Solidarity’s leg, but due his new fire resistant suit. He didn’t feel anything. He kept staring daggers at the villain below him.

“You got a new suit, hm? Impressive, only took you a full year!” He taunted. “Can you just shut up!?” The hero exclaimed.

“No, I don’t feel like it.” Soul Fire shrugged. “But you have me now, so why don’t you just go ahead and arrest me!” He teased. The canary hero knew better than to actually arrest him, Soul Fire wouldn’t just make it easy like that.

“No, this is too easy.” Solidarity said.

Soul Fire hummed. “I’m giving you a chance to arrest my ass, and you won’t do it?” He asked. “You made it too easy, knowing you. You have something planned.” Solidarity said. “Aw, how cute. We’ve fought so much that you know I wouldn’t make it easy for you.” Soul Fire winked, his fire hair scorching.

“Speaking of which,” The blazeborn kicked Solidarity right off him. Solidarity flew up into the air, pulling his gun out, pointing it at Soul Fire.

“You wanna do a gun fight? Sure, I’m up for that.” Soul Fire pulling out the gun of his own. He aimed at Solidarity, shooting the bullets at him.

Solidarity flew higher into the air, avoiding the fire bullets.

“Are those bullets made out of fire?” Solidarity asked confused. “Glad you noticed.” Soul Fire created a fire cloud jumping on it. He shot at Solidarity again, aiming for his wings.

Solidarity kept soaring through the air, shooting bullets at Soul Fire, not trying to kill him, just injury him.

Solidarity swiftly flew behind Soul Fire, hastily shooting him the back. The gunshot hit Soul Fire on the side, near the lower back, injuring him.

Soul Fire yelped at this, moving his hand to his side. He glanced down at his hand seeing the blood. “Ah, shit…” Soul Fire muttered, he turned his head and saw Solidarity flying above him.

“I don’t want to kill you…” Solidarity muttered, carrying the gun in his hands. “But you have no problems crippling me, yeah makes total sense.” he said, sniping at the hero.

Solidarity dodged the shots, and flew in front of Soul Fire. “...I still mean it when I said I want to be your friend…” He mumbled, pitifully.

“Well friends don’t fight each other trying to turn the other in to the police, now do they?” Soul Fire stared daggers at Solidarity, lowering his head.

The villain’s bright blue eyes glared against the sunlight. “We can be friends! We can work together as heroes together!” Solidarity exclaimed. “I can convince the hero commission, and then-”

Another gunshot flew right passed Solidarity’s head. “God, can you just shut up!? Is this your way of making fun of me?” Soul Fire yelled. “I bet you think I’m doing this because I’m lonely, right? That if you just became my friend, everything would be fun and dandy!” Soul Fire snapped at the Hero.

“You’re just a fake, you don’t actually care about anyone but yourselves.” He snarled as his tail snapped like a whip. His hair flared up, as he got more and more enraged.

“What do you mean..?” Solidarity asked under his breath confused. “You don’t know? You really do have shit for a brain.” Soul Fire rolled his eyes.

“I know you don’t actually want to be my friend, you only want to lower my guard.” Soul Fire said shooting at the hero.

Solidarity dodged just barely avoiding the gunshots. “No, I do! I really do want to be your friend!” He exclaimed, he didn’t attack back. He wanted to show Soul Fire he really did mean no harm.

Soul Fire scoffed bitterly, he grumbled in pain, holding his side feeling it bleed out. He looked at the hero, softly panting. “This isn’t over, next time I see you. I will try to kill you.” Soul Fire said, using his fire cloud to swiftly get away from the hero.

Solidarity simply watched Soul Fire get away again… He knew he could so easily knock him down and arrest him, but he didn’t want too. He genuinely did want to understand Soul Fire and be his friend…

Even though he hated him. But he felt that maybe he could come to like Soul Fire the more he understood him…

Soul Fire hid around the back of some random building. He removed his belt from his waist, and took off one side of his jacket. He lifted his shirt, looking at the wound on his side.

“Fuck…” Soul Fire muttered, it didn’t pierce through anything, thank god. But it still went through his side pretty deeply… He used special magic to summon some alcohol, a small towel, and some bandages.

He exhaled, as he slumped down the side of the wall, he bit down on his sleeve to muffle his screams,then begun cleaning his wound.

He dampened the towel in rubbing alcohol, before lightly pressing it against his wound. He hissed, and grumbled at the pain.

He held the damp cloth against his wound, letting out shaky gasps. “Holy fucking shit…” He huffed, painfully.

He panted, pulling the cloth away. He grabbed both ends of the cloth, squeezing it tightly, forcing out the excess liquid. After squeezing out the extra liquid he lightly pressed the cloth against his wound again.

He held it down with his elbow as he unrolled the bandages, and wrapped it around his wounds. He knew he could definitely do this better, but he just needed to temporary stop the bleeding at least until he got to Zed…

Tango huffed, he wasn’t sure how exactly he was gonna get to Zed’s house since he had fly on a fire cloud, not to mention the goat’s house was far away as hell. “Fuck it,” he bit his tongue, tying the bandages, making they were secure.

He pulled his shirt back down, and put his jacket back on. He put his belt back on, except he kept it a bit loose. So it wasn’t compress the injury.

He created another fire cloud and hopped on it. He flew up, looking around for any heroes. Once the coast was clear, he flew up into the sky, hurrying off to Zed’s house before he fucking bled out.

Upon arriving and banged on the door, and rang the doorbell for what felt like a hundred times before Zed answered. “Tango?”

Tango panted heavily, leaning against the door frame, gently holding his side. Zed rushed the injured one in, shutting the door with the foot. He wrapped his arm under the blazeborn.

Zed lead him to the hospital looking room in his house. He sat Tango down, helping him take off his belt, coat, and shirt. Once he saw the injury, and softly winced.

“Oh, that is pretty bad…” The doctor mumbled, he put on gloves and a mask, quickly grabbing some scissors cutting off the bandages Tango had wrapped around himself.

Zed grabbed some proper medical supplies, and removed the towel from the wound, and began cleaning the wound.

Thankfully the bleeding had somewhat stopped for now, which made things easier.

He cleaned the wound with a warm wet towel, removing the blood, he gently applied pressure to the wound. While using his free hand to get the antibiotic cream, he removed the warm towel, drying the surrounding area with a clean tissue.

He applied the antibiotic cream, earning a pain hiss from Tango. “Ggh! Fuck!” Tango yelped out, painfully instinctively leaning down to hold his stomach. He quickly stopped himself, moving his arms out of the way for Zed.

Zed said nothing to that, grabbing a thread and needle. Zed quickly glanced around shoving a clean towel into Tango’s mouth. “Bite down on this, this is gonna hurt,” he warned.

Tango bit down on the towel taking a deep breath, moments later he was shutting his eyes yelling in pain as he bit down hard on the towel.

“Arghh!!!” Screaming out in pain while biting down on the cloth. He gripped the table tightly, clutching his fingers.

Zed stitched up the wound, being heavily focused.

Tango tried his best not to move, he felt like he was going to pass out, he felt his nose bleeding, he panting heavily, hissing his pain every few seconds.

Zed wrapped bandages around the wound, tying the bandage at the end. He then looked up at the exhausted villain. “You there, Tango?” Zed asked, twisting the end of a tissue, shoving it in Tango’s nose.

“Hah…. Hah…” Tango huffed heavily sweat dripping down his face. He tiredly took out the cloth from his mouth.

“I might actually kill that fuck face…” He spoke out of anger.

Zed clicked his tongue, moving Tango’s hair out of the way. “Oh Tango…” He muttered with pity.

“Stay here for tonight. I need to keep an eye on you.” Zed said as he put everything away.

“Yeah, sure thing…” Tango said staring at the floor being in a daze.

All he heard was buzzing in his ear, and the room felt like it was spinning… He felt nauseous… Zed grabbed some medicine, spilling some onto a spoon.

Tango saw only shapes, barely making out what was what… He opened his mouth by a little being spoon fed whatever medicine Zed gave him.

He saw and heard muffled noises… That must’ve been Zed speaking… But he couldn’t hear anything. Tango said something, but even didn’t know what he said.

Zed went back to him, helping him up.

Everything was so blurry, the bright lights in his face, didn’t help. Seconds later, Tango felt himself lying down, with a cold cloth on his head. “Get some rest, I’ll check up on you in a few hours.” He understood that…

Tango watched Zed from the bed exit out the room, only leaving the door a few inches open.

Tango stared at the door for a few seconds, soon shutting his eyes, seeing nothing, but black.

Solidarity saw the blood on the wall, he panicked and wondered if he really injured the villain… This was all so much. He got a message from Joel asking Jimmy if he wanted to meet up at the Bread Bridge Bakery, honestly…

He didn’t want to go at all. He thought about what he wanted to do. Go home and sleep is what his brain came up with. He preferred doing that over anything else...

He declined Joel’s request, opening his wings, flying out of the main city.

Today was exhausting for both the hero and the villain…

Jimmy opened the doors to his penthouse. He changed out of his hero suit, and went over to his bed, flopping down exhausted. He looked at his pin board in the corner of his room.

He stored his Soul Fire research there, he got up again glancing at his research. So far, it meant nothing… He was still no closer to finding out who Soul Fire is, what his motivations are, or what even his goal is…

“...I’ll try again tomorrow.” He said to himself, going back to his bed, and lying down.

“I should get some rest…” He sighed.