Eventually, the sound of footsteps on the tavern stairs filled the air again.

Tango looked up from the fireplace. He'd dangled his hand over the fire grate, and once his fingers cooled down enough, he'd started petting Yellow around their fluffy neck feathers. The bird was happily chittering at him, pausing for a moment when Bdubs entered the room. The moss-covered man waved a greeting and made his way over to the fireplace.

"I've returned!" Bdubs declared with a toothy smile. Etho, still manning the bar, chuckled under his breath before blowing Bdubs a kiss from across the room. Bdubs made a show of catching the kiss and blowing one back to the fox hybrid.

Void, those two are a cringey couple, Tango thought. He loved them for it though, they were goofy and sweet.

"So, how have you been, Tango?" Bdubs asked, plunking himself down in one of the plush armchairs by the fireplace and directing his attention back to the blazeborn.

"Good, good," Tango hummed. "Here, let me step out so I can hear you better." He already felt freshly cooked enough by the fire at this point, and it was a bit hard to make out Bdubs words through its crackling roar. Tango unlatched the grate and brushed the coal and soot off himself before stepping out. After waiting a moment to cool down, he sunk into the armchair next to Bdubs, and Yellow fluttered up to sit with him. "There we go," Tango said with a smile.

"So, whatcha been up to lately?" Bdubs asked, voice sing-songy.

"Not all that much. I've just been traveling around, visiting places." Tango gave his planned answer. It wasn't really true, but it was enough so that Bdubs wouldn't pry. "Oh! And I saw Zed a while back, he visited the Underground," he added on.

Bdubs' eyes widened, "Zed's always fun time," he smiled. "He stopped by here two- no, three weeks back or so. Last I heard from him, he was headed up to this big redstone convention in Rivendell- it's later this month."

"Oh yeah, that thing!" Tango had heard about the convention. He hadn't been planning on going though, since he'd been a bit... preoccupied. But now he probably could! "I might travel out for it, but I haven't decided yet. If I do I could see Zed again I guess, and all the new contraptions he's probably selling."

"That's nice. Etho was thinking of going, but he's decided to stay back and just run the tavern instead." Bdubs explained.

"How's tavern life going for you two?" Tango asked, giving scritches to Yellow when the bird squawked for his attention.

"Oh, it's great, Tango. I just love it here- and Sanctuary is such a beautiful town too," Bdubs gushed. "The tavern is doing wonderful, it's like living in paradise."

"I can imagine it is, surrounded by all that beer and ale all the time," the blazeborn commented back, chuckling under his breath. Bdubs laughed too, with a playful, "Hey!" Tango just gave him a 'what can I say?' shrug.

"Aside from alcoholism— which there is none of in this establishment— it is really nice." Bdubs shifted in his chair, fluffing up his moss coat.

"Yeah," Tango nodded in agreement. Sanctuary was such a lovely place. He wanted to stay, but he needed to make sure it really was okay with Etho and Bdubs. He sighed, pausing a moment before spitting it out. "And, uhm, you guys are okay with me staying here for a bit, right? Because Etho said it was fine, but I really don't have that much coin on me right now, and I don't want to be taking advantage or anything like that."

In response, Bdubs just smiled, waving his question off. "Of course, Tango! You're our friend, of course we're gonna let you stay."

"Even if it's for an... indefinite amount of time?" He didn't want to overstay his welcome, but he also didn't want to leave, so it was definitely a bit of a conundrum.

Bdubs didn't seem to mind though, just shrugging. "You can stay as long as ya'd like. Plus, I'm sure Etho could use an extra hand around the place, if you wanna earn your keep." Bdubs paused, chuckling. "We'll put you to work! And your little bird too!" he joked with an evil grin.

As if they'd known they'd been mentioned, Yellow gave an indignant peep, whipping around to face Bdubs and glaring him down. Bdubs just laughed some more, and Tango giggled along with him too.

"I'm just kidding! I wouldn't put ya to work you little cutie," Bdubs leaned closer to the bird with puppy eyes. "Soooo adorable! What's their name, Tango?"

"Yellow," Tango answered, patting the feathers atop the canary's head. "Well, their full name's Yellowface Squawker McLoudloud, but just Yellow for short," he grinned.

"Aww, what a great name! A great name for a great little bird," Bdubs cooed. "We're gonna give you all the birdseed and all the treats you could ever want you adorable little guy!" In response, Yellow did a happy dance from where he stood on Tango's knee.

In his excitement, Bdubs reached out to pet the bird. Tango waited, smiling cheekily. Yellow let Bdubs scritch at their feathers for about four seconds before they were done, flapping their wings once and chomping down on Bdubs' pointer finger.

Shrieking, Bdubs pulled away from the bird. "They BIT me!" he whined loudly, face pulling into a grumpy frown. Tango laughed in amusement, and across the room, he heard Etho laughing as well.

"Did tha bird getcha?!" Etho called across the room, resulting in an annoyed grumble from the bitten man in question. "I hate both of you," he seethed.

— ● — ● —

Tango walked behind Etho and Bdubs as the led him to a free room in the inn. The rest of the evening had been full of more laughs and giggles, all of them having a great time. He and Yellow and both gotten hearty meals, and Yellow now rested on his shoulder quietly, much more docile and relaxed now that they'd been fed. (If Etho and Bdubs has noticed Tango scarfing down his food at rapid speed to satiate his awfully empty stomach, they hadn't mentioned anything about it.)

"This room should be good," Etho said, pausing in the hallway. "One bed, a bathroom, a desk, and enough space for Yellow to fly around." The fox hybrid grabbed a key from one of his pockets and handed it to Tango. It had a fluffy little goat keychain on the end of it.

"Bdubs and I live in the suite at the end of the hall if you need anything." Etho added on, and Tango nodded in understanding.

Before they headed off, Bdubs pressed a few sheets of parchment that he'd been carrying into Tango's hands. "I thought you might want to write back to Impulse or anyone if you haven't yet. Just, just to let them know you're staying with us— oh- you probably have already, but if you want to again you could." Bdubs explained quickly, rambling between his thoughts.

"I haven't yet, actually." Tango thumbed over the paper slowly. "That's probably a good idea." He hadn't thought about contacting anyone yet— well, he hadn't thoughts about much other than just getting free for a while.

"Thank you," Tango added, hand hovering over the door to his new room. "I'll see you guys in the morning then?"

"Yep, see you in the morning!" Bdubs smiled, before rushing forward and pulling Tango into a quick embrace. "So glad you came to visit," he said when he let go. With that final note, the two left, meandering down towards their room with their hands intertwined.

A minute or two later, once Tango had settled himself into his room, he sat down at the desk. He pulled over the parchment Bdubs had given him and a pencil that had been left behind in the room.

A letter. He could write a letter, that wasn't hard. His pencil hovered over the paper indecisively, and for long enough the Yellow hopped onto the desk to peck at his activities curiously.

"A letter to Impulse," Tango clarified to himself out loud, narrating his thoughts to Yellow. "Impulse of all people." He felt a storm brewing in his head, a new surge of anger welling in his chest with it.

"I can't write to him! I can't just do that after- after... after." Tango stopped himself, voice trailing off. It wasn't Impulse's fault. None of what had happed had been the dwarf's fault. He sighed, and put his pencil to the paper, scribbling out a greeting.

Dear Impulse,

It's Tango! Hi!

He paused, pulling his knees up to his chest in his chair, and staring at the paper contemplatively. In a way it was Impulse's fault though. Tango scratched out and erased a few different sentences, none of them fitting quite right. Half of him wanted to hurl every curse and slur in Impulse's direction, but the other half wanted to take a one way caravan trip straight to his sector of the Underground and give Impulse the biggest hug, for all the months of hugs he'd missed out on.

He turned his attention away from the paper for a moment, giving Yellow a bunch of pets instead. "I'm glad you don't know what it's like, little buddy. What it's like to be alone, to be just completely isolated from everyone you love for so long." He poured his emotions into the bird, not sure why he was doing it.

Yellow just nuzzled his thumb in what Tango characterized as understanding, and they gave a strange chirp. They sounded almost as if they were trying to speak like a human, but that was silly, as they were anything but.

"It'll be okay though," Tango hummed quietly, letting the canary hop away from him and picking up the pencil again. He started trying to formulate another few sentences, but gave up quickly, resorting to just doodling on the paper.

He doodled away until he was too tired too anymore, eyes dropping shut. The bed next to him was looking incredibly soft and inviting as well, and void, he probably needed the sleep.

Tango yawned and discarded the parchment into the bottom of his pack to be forgotten about. He flopped down onto the bed and rolled into the blankets with a long, contented sigh. He could worry about writing letters later. For now, he was drifting off fast, more tired than he'd realized.

"Goo'night, Yellow," he mumbled when the canary fluttered over and landed on the pillows next to him, snuggling down. The bird gave two successive peeps that sounded oddly similar to 'Good Night' in response.

Tango didn't notice, his last thought being that he hoped Yellow didn't get too many feathers in the bed.

— • — A/N — • —

Sweet dreams, Tango! Hope you guys liked this chapter :> We've got new names, new places, and much more in store for the following chapters!!! Ending's a bit rushed but I think I'll leave it as is

See y'all in the next one! :3