This seems like something out of a dream.

First, his mom tells him that they'll be getting new neighbors. Apparently it's a family from the city, who (like a lot of people who move out here) decided that they could 'do with a change of pace'.

Next he finds out through gossip (which a lot of the teens around here do, and he's into it) that the new family has a cute son about his age. (And an older son and daughter but that's less interesting).

Hoo boy, his little gay heart is fluttering already.

In the days leading up to the new family moving in, he begins to work doubly hard around the ranch, in the hopes that his mom will decide that he is 'responsible enough' (he is perfectly responsible, he just has a habit of pranking people) to take the basket of baked goods that she is making over to the family.

And, lo and behold, it works.

On the day the family is supposed to move in, Tango wakes up even earlier than the sun (normally he wakes up at about dawn) and starts with his chores for the day. Collecting eggs from the chicken coop, organizing the tack (the hands can never put it back correctly and dad has forbidden him from talking to them about it (they're trying their best his ass, they literally don't care)) and, as it gets later into the early morning, he feeds the animals and takes the cattle out into the pasture.

"Tango!"

His head snaps up to look back at the house as his mother calls him name, hands easily unlocking the gate for the sheep pasture without looking thanks to muscle memory.

"Yeah, mama?!" He calls back as he lifts the gate.

"Come inside please!"

Half an hour after that exchange, Tango is on his way to the new house with a wicker basket in his hand.

His mother had made him change out of his mud-soaked boots and dirty work shirt (fair enough, gotta make a good impression), so he's wearing a thin white tank top and jeans and boots instead.

He arrives at the new house and knocks on the door, slicking his hair back subconsciously.

The cute boy opens the door, and Tango can feel his heart stop in his chest.