Chapter Text
The thing was, the cobbler’s children don’t get shoes.
Tango stared longingly into the freezer before he used every ounce of self control he had to lock it up for the night. Skizz would kill him if he arrived at work in the morning to find their stock miscounted. Not that Tango was much of a cook to begin with. Without his buddy’s help he’d probably be eating boiled potatoes.
That didn’t change the fact that it was late and he was starving. He really shouldn’t have worked through his break, but here he was, living with the consequences of his actions like a chump. At this hour little was open, too, and nothing on the way home. Home being a 5 minute walk down the road didn’t help that. If he strolled for a good fifteen minutes in the opposite direction he might reach a McDonald's, but his feet were already on fire. So, he pulled out his phone and made the call.
“Hello, Rancher’s Pizza, how can I help you?” A bored, exhausted voice answered. Tango couldn’t blame them when he felt the exact same.
“Hi, yeah, can I get a large cheese pizza for Tango Tek?” He asked. Normally he got more toppings, but he hardly had the brain power to list it all off and some poor minimum wage worker probably wouldn’t appreciate a complicated order an hour before their own closing time.
There was a brief shuffling on the other end. “Alright, where to?”
That was how he wound up half asleep, sitting on the floor of his apartment, head against his door and stomach growling, waiting for a pizza. After ten minutes that felt like an hour of clicking his boots together he decided it was probably a bit more productive to actually do something while he waited. He grumbled as he went through the miles of laces on his boots to violently kick them off, then began to peel off his work clothes to change. He was halfway across his apartment, head freshly freed from his undershirt, when there was a knock.
Tango threw open the door. There stood the delivery guy, and maybe it was the hunger talking but Tango thought he saw a golden halo and angel wings behind the tall young man. His expression morphed from half-asleep to wide eyes. Right, most people didn’t answer the door in only their pants.
“Oh, um, Tango Deck?” He stuttered, eyes cast down.
Tango pointed a thumb to himself. “Yep, right here. It’s actually Tek, though”
The man’s cheeks tinted pink, “Oh, um, sorry. Must have misheard, last order of the evening and all.” He shifted nervously on his feet, looking anywhere but at Tango. Only occasionally did his eyes flit to his customer.
“Hey, no problem-” His eyes darted to the man’s name tag, “-Jimmy. Guess that means you’re finally free after this!” Tango joked, trying to break the awkward tension. Skizz always complained about how he treated customers but there was a reason he was the waiter. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to work much, Jimmy only giving a small nod.
“Yep!” He squeaked. “I, um, I actually own the place so it’s straight home for me!” There was a cute nervous laugh.
Tango leaned against the door frame, giving him the biggest grin. “Oh, lucky you! Any plans?”
“Not really.”
“That’s surprising for a nice young guy like you.” The second the words left his mouth Tango instantly regretted them. Way to make yourself sound like a grandpa there, Top, Skizz’s voice mocked him. Jimmy just looked like the athletic, sociable sorta guy with a million friends and a party to go to every day of the week, but even in his head that sounded judgmental. Maybe he should stop making a fool of himself with the small talk and just pay for the pizza already. Probably didn’t wanna be standing here playing twenty questions with his last customer of the night. “Well, uh, how ‘bout that pizza?”
Luckily for him, Jimmy didn’t seem to take offence. Or rather, he seemed too distracted. His eyes darted back up, jumping in surprise. “Oh! Yeah, one large cheese pizza. That’ll be 18.50.”
Tango nodded along as he reached into his back pocket, only to find it empty. He checked the rest of his pockets. Nothing. A memory snapped into his mind, of a desk and a drawer he normally stopped at on his way out of the restaurant but had bypassed entirely that day. Great. There was not nearly enough change in his key bowl to pay either.
“So, funny story.” He laughed, trying to act casual. “Kinda left my wallet at work. And I don’t really have any cash on me.”
“Oh?” Jimmy said, eyes wandering once again.
“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Is there, uh...” Tango put on his most charming smile- which was admittedly probably not all that charming. His dinner relied on it, though, damn it. “You wouldn’t happen to open a tab or, perhaps, have some other way to pay you?”
The man was quiet for an uncomfortably long moment, face becoming red. His eyes finally met Tango’s and held them, taking a deep breath. “Um, actually-!” His voice pitched, which may have contributed to his face becoming even redder. “Could I ask...”
“Yeah?”
“Is that Perry the Platypus?”
Tango blinked. His gaze dropped with Jimmy’s down to just beside his right hip. There, indeed, was Perry, depicted smashing through glass. Tango’s grin became impossibly wide as he poked it. “Oh! Yeah! Yeah! That’s him! I got it to cover the scar from my appendicitis!”
Jimmy, too, seemed to barely contain his joy. “Oh my gosh I knew it, it looks so good!”
“Yeah, they did a real great job, you can’t even see the scar.” Tango bragged. “But, uh, about the payment?”
That snapped Jimmy back for only a second. “Oh, yeah, here, just e-transfer it, I can sort it out in the morning.” He held his phone out. Hardly any mind was paid to it while Tango sent the money, making sure to give him a big tip for the hassle. “My gosh it’s so cute, I almost want one now.” Gushed jimmy.
“I take it you’re a fan, then?” Tango chuckled, tapping at the tattoo.
“Yeah! It’s one of my favourite shows.” Beamed the taller man, practically giddy. “None of my friends ever watch it with me though, they don’t like cartoons.”
Oh, Tango knew the type. “Pssh, well it’s their loss! You ever want a buddy to chill with and watch some real quality television you come right over!” That was probably a reckless thing to promise to a stranger, but Tango didn’t care through the excitement. Neither did Jimmy from the little hop and nod he gave. “Matter of fact, you’re off work and I ain’t got no plans, why dontcha bring that pizza in and we have a watch party?”
Jimmy nodded too vigorously and waltzed in, throwing all his equipment and tag into his delivery bag while Tango showed him to the couch. If either one of them were a serial killer the other would probably be dead about now. Tango’d made new friends in much stranger fashions, though.
They popped in the first bluray and with a couple of pepsis from the fridge they tore into the pizza. Not half bad, Tango had to admit, even without much on it. Chatter filled the room through the first episode, complaining about their day.
“She gave me literally thirty seconds to deliver her order before she got up out of her seat and marched out the door.”
“Oh my gooosh.” Jimmy groaned in solidarity.
“Yeah, yeah, her daughter was so embarrassed, she just apologized and kept eating on her own. Mom came stomping back like 10 minutes later after she realized.”
“Some people. I had a guy like that yesterday...”
And that was how it went until the show grabbed their attention entirely when one of Tango’s favourite jokes played out. The two men laughed along to Phineas and Ferb’s antics until far too late for how early both of them had to be up the next day. So late that before either knew it they were passed out on the couch, Jimmy having long since toppled over onto Tango’s shoulder, knocking Tango over as well. episodes played quietly in the background until they ran out, leaving nothing to accidentally wake either from their slumber.
The next morning Tango woke up with a sore back and a killer headache from sleeping with his neck in the worst position imaginable. Jimmy was gone, though not for very long given how warm his spot still was. While Tango was pulling himself together and cleaning up the recycling his phone pinged. It was a text, preceded by an e-transfer confirmation.
Had to get to work, thanks for the pizza! :)
Tango collapsed on the couch with a huff and big smile. He quickly typed out a reply.
Thanks for making it! lmk if you ever wanna watch some more, got the whole series
REALLY!? :D is Sunday okay?
More than okay!!
Tango laughed at the string of emojis Jimmy sent in response. Most made sense, though he wasn’t sure about the basketball. Either way, it was cute. Despite the pain in his everywhere and not having much time to get ready Tango couldn’t help start his day feeling better than he had in a while.
-
Jimmy couldn’t stop staring at the texts from Tango, already vibrating with excitement for Sunday. So enthralled was he, that he failed to pay attention while he walked through the back door. Not until he realized all the lights were off, at least. He looked up just in time to get hit with a blinding beam of light. “Agh!” He hissed, “What the heck?”
“Hello, Tim.” The voice was low and dangerous, accusatory even.
“Grian?” Jimmy grumbled, searching with his hand for the light switch.
“We have a couple of questions for you, Jimmy boy.” A second voice joined in, smirk audible.
Fingers finally connected with the light switch. Grian stood with his arms crossed over his apron, Joel next to him with his phone pointed at Jimmy, flashlight on. Oh boy.
“What.” He said bluntly, not in the mood for whatever this was already.
Grian tutted as he waltzed over. The sleeve of Jimmy’s uniform was grabbed, rubbed between analytical fingers. “Unwashed, just as suspected.”
A hand yanked at some of Jimmy’s hair, Joel having snuck up on his other side. “A real mess, not even brushed.”
“And you never brought the equipment back last night.”
“Nor did you come home.”
Jimmy groaned, “So?”
Both were in his face, shouting in unison, “Who is it?”
“Who’s it who?”
“The devil who corrupts my sweet baby brother into proudly making the walk of shame into our fine establishment!” Grian squawked, fluttering about dramatically while Joel snickered.
“I don’t know what that is.”
There was a melodramatic sigh. “Jimmy, who’d you sleep with?” Joel finally said, bluntly as he is known for.
Jimmy’s whole disposition shifted, as he was once again reminded of his wonderful night. “Oh! Tango. I met him on my last delivery last night. There was an issue with payment so we were chatting and one thing led to another...” He smiled, giggling slightly to himself as he recalled a particularly funny skit Tango was able to voice word for word alongside the show.
When he zoned back in, though, Joel and Grian had not left his personal space. In fact, they were eyeing him harder, a mix of judgment and pride.
“Oh, so that’s why you wanted to open a pizzeria offshoot of the bakery.” Grian rolled his eyes while Joel’s hand clapped down proudly on his shoulder.
He was being made fun of. There was something very important Jimmy was missing. What was new? His brothers weren’t going to ruin his day, though. He stuck his chin up and walked past them towards his side of the building. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He, in fact, hadn’t the slightest clue, it was true. But showing weakness like that in front of Grian and Joel was a dangerous game.
“Sure.” Joel rolled his eyes. “Next time you use your pizza making to get some, though, at least leave early enough to change before you get here.”
So Jimmy was left alone, ruffled and confused. He didn’t smell that bad! “whatever.” He muttered to himself as he went to start preparing dough. No teasing was going to ruin his day, no sir. Not when he only had two more days until Sunday.