#and xiaoge staring at wu xie with those eyes

[xiaobaosnoona]

no self-derogatory talk in front of xiaoge, wu xie, or he'll stare you into submission

[sunriseverse]

26 for either pingxie or poly iron trianle please?

26: a kiss…as an apology.

silly little pingpangxie ficlet, coming right up!

-

They’re covered in marble dust, flakes of leaf litter, and far too many streaks of dark something that Pangzi, frankly, doesn’t want to think about, because nothing good comes of dark streaks from tombs. “One of these days,” he complains, laying flat on his back and having less than no desire to get up, staring at the glinting stars visible through the foliage overhead, “I’m going to get some horrifying disease from these places, and inflict some long-dormant virus on the unsuspecting population of the entire country because of it. No, the entire continent. You mark my words, Tianzhen! I told you so!”

By his side, there’s the faint sound of shuffling leaf litter. “Pangzi,” Wu Xie says, placating. “It’s not that bad.”

“Xiaoge, give him the Look,” Pangzi commands. “Bastard doesn’t take mine seriously anymore.” Also, his limbs are aching from the flat out sprint they’d been subjected to as the three of them had narrowly fled the collapsing tomb nipping at their heels.

Wu Xie makes a sound of protest. “No, don’t,” he says. There’s the sound of shifting at a little distance—Xiaoge sitting up, his shadow falling long and pale across the two of them, still laying down. “Pangzi, tell him not to—ah, hell, Xiaoge, don’t look at me like that…” Wu Xie’s voice goes weak at the end; Xiaoge’s Looks are a force to be reconned with. Big, dark brown eyes, an expression that goes from jade to soulful. Pangzi almost feels bad for him—but only almost. “Pangzi,” Wu Xie pleads, his demeanour already showing cracks, “come on, please? I swear I didn’t mean for you to almost get bitten by those weird fish!”

“And yet my ass remembers,” Pangzi says, archly. “Scars, Tianzhen, scars. For life. Who’s going to look at this old body and think scars like that come from anything worth glorying?”

“The two of us are the only ones who’ll see your ass,” Wu Xie mutters. “Narcissus. Ah, Xiaoge, I’m saying da-ge, I’m saying da-ge, let me live!”

Xiaoge makes a patent noncommittal hum. Wu Xie lets out an overly dramatic whine, and then there’s more rustling leaf litter, and then Wu Xie is scooting into an awkward cuddle up against Pangzi. The line of him is warm, comforting; familiar. Even annoyed as he is, Pangzi can’t help but turn in towards it, just a bit. And, well, then Wu Xie levers himself up into an awkward bending position and kisses him, and that’s even nicer, soft lips and that puppyish charm he’s never quite managed to lose. “I’m not letting you off that easy,” Pangzi mutters against his lips when he pulls back.

In response, Wu Xie blinks down at him. “Even if I say I’m sorry?” he says, and kisses Pangzi again, which, Pangzi would point out, isn’t an actual apology, except his mouth is too busy with the weight of Wu Xie, and his mind is too busy with the recognition of the weight of Xiaoge’s gaze on them, hungry.

When he finally pulls back, Pangzi means to make him apologise properly. Instead, he gets a glimpse of Xiaoge’s expression, and any mock haughtiness flies out the window. “We’ve been teasing our poor Xiaoge’r,” he says, and finally sits up; nudges at Wu Xie. “Go on, don’t keep the man waiting.”

Wu Xie brightens. “So you’re forgiving me?”

“We’ll see,” Pangzi says, aiming for stern and, probably, not hitting the mark. Ah, well. “Get. I want a turn with him too; if you wait, I won’t hold back.”

[dual-domination]

How about this for a theoretical fic summary:

Shen Wei has been somehow cursed and sealed away underground. The Iron Triangle accidentally find him.

Hi there, Fixa! Thank you so much for the ask! It took me a while to answer because it ended as a whole fic, I think I got a bit excited writing this... So here, have the beginning bc this thing is almost 10k, so I'm posting the complete work on AO3 😃

Of fallen gods and forgotten sacrifices

Xiaoge stepped lightly on each of the narrow stones that formed the sinuous path. Full of lichen, the slippery stones were the only way through the gigantic monuments that have been fallen for millennia.

He followed the scent. Without a draft, it was uncertain how the scent was carried there. But he felt it, green-leafed vines, fresh and alive. Fresh was also the scent of blood, which he must be used to, but this time, it burned his nostrils.

Turning back a step, he looked at Liu Sang in silent questioning.

Liu Sang nodded, he could finally hear something. When Xiaoge reached for his hand, the young man tapped in his palm with a fingertip, "Dripping slowly."

Xiaoge tapped back, "Can you smell it?" And Liu Sang shook his head in response. It was too far for him to smell whatever it was that was dripping.

Before letting go of the auburn-haired boy's hand, Xiaoge left him one last word, "Blood."

Behind them, distant and late, Pangzi and Wu Xie balanced each other on the stone path, swallowing their curses every time their feet fumbled and one almost threw the other against the monuments - which Xiaoge had already warned not to touch.

Usually this was an invitation for them to touch anything, but something held them back this time. The fallen monuments maintained the grandeur of times of glory and their stone faces evoked The Three Sovereigns, Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong. But there were five colossal statues there, in the remains of that temple, now shrouded by a mountain and pine forests. 

Reaching the fourth statue, Pangzi looked at Wu Xie, seeking some hint as to who the guy depicted there was. 

Wu Xie ducked his head, observing the carved lines of that face that time hadn't erased it's beauty, he spoke low, "The Mountain God, Kunlun."

"How do you know?" Pangzi couldn't remember hearing that name in years - a god forgotten by men so long that little was known about him.

Wu Xie continued to look at the statue, slowly raising his hand, dragged down by the discomfort in his chest.

"Once wasn't just stone," he whispered as his fingertips touched the icy, smooth surface.

It only lasted a second, Pangzi slapped his hand, "Aiyo, Tianzhen! Xiaoge already told us not to touch the statues! What if you arouse the wrath of one of those grumpy old gods?"

"Not this one. Not him." Wu Xie let go and continued on his way with Pangzi, who ignored his friend's brief rambling.

A few steps further and they reached Xiaoge and Liu Sang, who had stopped along the way to look at the fifth statue.

Pangzi opened his mouth to ask about that statue, but Xiaoge raised his finger in front of his mouth, reinforcing what he had asked them before about keeping quiet there. Liu Sang, who had overheard the conversation just now, just rolled his eyes – he might die because friends not only couldn't stop touching what they shouldn't, they also didn't know how to keep their mouths shut.

And then, Pangzi and Wu Xie also gazed at the face of the fifth statue.

Wu Xie didn't show any reaction, but if Pangzi wanted to speak before, now he was speechless.

That face was just...

Pangzi stared at the statue until his head tilted to look at it from another angle, and every way he looked, there wasn't a doubt there. He knew that face very well - and for many years. He looked at that face almost every day.

He turned to face Wu Xie, with even more questions, hoping Wu Xie shared the same doubts as him, but Wu Xie's face was blank.

Then Pangzi pointed to the statue and gestured, the question becoming clear, "Who is he?"

Wu Xie shook his head, showing that he didn't know the answer; Liu Sang did the same.

Pangzi looked at Xiaoge, who nodded. He knew who the fallen god was.

Even though he had no idea why he knew the face of that god. Or it just seemed. The striking resemblance was what had stopped him and Liu Sang from continuing down the path.

Despite claiming to know, Xiaoge didn't bother to provide anything that could serve as an explanation at the moment and indicated to the group that they should proceed.

Pangzi wanted to protest, but since Wu Xie and Liu Sang could wait to hear what Xiaoge might say about it, Pangzi pretended that he could too, but it kept spinning in his head with every step forward.

Flashlights lit the rest of the way, to where the last statue's hand emerged from between the rocks, holding two intertwined dragons in its palm and the fire that rose from their open mouths. 

Beside the stone hand, the closed doors seemed to have become one, the cracks that started on one side, digging into the other. Dry vines hung down the walls and wrapped around the doors, nature's addition or a last lock to prevent those doors from being crossed - already ineffective.

The smell of fresh vines and blood was so strong there that Xiaoge assumed that the others were finally feeling it.

Liu Sang could hear the dripping coming from behind the doors, a drop falling into an overflowing container.

Around, no other sound than the four breaths. The silence was absolute, no echo from paths already traversed or from other chambers. Just the suffocating stillness of a temple that had become a tomb of those once worshipped.

Xiaoge unsheathed his sword and cut through the dead vines in a single move, making the center that joined the doors appear. Sheathing his sword back, he missed Hei Xiazi, the mercenary must have caught up with them by now.

He turned to Liu Sang, who didn't need any questions – there was always a point on expeditions when Xiaoge would expect Hei Xiazi to already be there. This time, that point was now.

When Liu Sang was about to shake his head, he heard something different coming from behind the doors. Trying to pay attention and define what it was, he was unprepared for what came from behind Pangzi and Wu Xie.

"Mute Zhang, are you going to stand there without opening the door for the rest of the day?"

Xiaoge would roll his eyes if it was like him. Maybe he was doing it, internally. Liu Sang definitely rolled his eyes, mainly because of the fright that Wu Xie and Pangzi took.

"Ai, you want to scare me to death?!" Pangzi complained, as he turned around to purposefully shine the flashlight in the mercenary's face, hitting an innocent Xiao Hua instead.

"Where did you come from?" Wu Xie wondered if he had been so distracted by the statues that he hadn't noticed the others close behind.

"Zhurong's hand," Xiao Hua replied, "There is a passage behind the dragons."

"Zhurong," Wu Xie muttered the name of the fifth god to himself.

"Yeah, this guy," Hei Xiazi spoke as he walked past them until he was beside Xiaoge in front of the door, "the fire god who helped Pangu separate the skies from the earth. Or at least that's what is written in some books out there."

"Xiaoge," Pangzi had another complaint, "why did you tell us to be quiet and this one comes in talking loudly and it's okay?"

But it was Xiazi who responded instead, "C'mon, do you think those guys over there will wake up? They're deader than any corpses we've found so far." Then he turned towards the head of the last statue, now in the distance. "Well, maybe not all of them, but... yeah, it's not dangerous at all."

"Do your job," Xiao Hua wanted to finish that and get out of there, go back to where he had cell phone reception and continue the dispute in the online game he had been playing against Wu Erbai for the last few days.

"Hua'er, don't rush me so cruelly," Xiazi moved closer to the door and those who still had their flashlights lit lowered them. Pulling his glasses from his eyes just enough to look over the top of the lens, Xiazi watched the seal form in the center of the door, glowing in a faint golden light. "That's right, guys, the lock is a seal with Fuxi's eight trigrams. It looks like this thing here was closed by one of the dead guys back there."

"And then how do we open it?" Pangzi had a feeling the answer would be another joke.

"I think," Xiazi pushed his glasses back before turning to the others, "ah, never mind. There's an easy way." He grabbed Wu Xie's arm and pulled him closer to the door, with a grunt of protest that even Liu Sang could not understand. "Here, Wu Xie, you place your hand right here, in the middle of the seal." But he didn't say where the middle of the seal was, or where the seal was at all. Xiaoge was the only one who could vaguely see what was clear only to Xiazi.

Maybe it was just a matter of obviousness, because it was always Wu Xie who touched what he shouldn't and things happened.

Wu Xie placed his palm exactly in the center of the seal.

The sound of a heavy piece of massive bronze dragging between stone latches echoed throughout the entire place, making Liu Sang cover his ears with his hands.

When the sound ceased, the door was still closed.

"We're not there yet, but almost." Xiazi scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"The trigrams," Xiaoge said, trying to observe Wu Xie's face, but it was more expressionless than his own.

"Of course." Xiazi shook his finger as if he was forgetting the most obvious thing in the world.

"Wu Xie, you now draw the trigrams exactly in the sequence they are combined on the seal."

Xiaoge again tried to see the seal more clearly, but he still only saw broken points of what Hei Xiazi could see as a whole.

Hei Xiazi, however, had no idea what the sequence was or even if there was one. He had bets and guesses, like he always did.

Wu Xie raised two fingers and started tracing invisible designs over the doors. With each sequence of strokes, the sound of a new metal gear echoing inside the doors overlapped the previous one.

When he traced the last combination, he brought his palm to the center of the seal again, and then the entire seal glowed visibly for everyone, as well as all the trigram combinations that Wu Xie had drawn on the door. 

Circling the seal, two dragons flashed and disappeared, as did all the golden light. And the doors began to drag themselves through the stones uneven by time, forcing themselves open, causing the surrounding environment to shudder with the movement of the huge pieces.

That's when the smell of blood really reached everyone.

Xiaoge worried, it wasn't the smell of human blood. Besides, what they had come here looking for wasn't just any kind of living thing for it to bleed.

"Wu Xie," Xiaoge called to his friend, who was still in the same place, looking into the darkness of the closed chamber.

"I guess whatever we were looking for," Wu Xie replied, "it's not what we found." He lifted the flashlight again and flicked it on, stepping through the door.

[soundingstars]

//LMAO Wu Xie of course, I couldn't help myself xD//

Despite leaning against the nearest wall, arms crossed, his blade by his side and his face stoic as ever, Xioage was fuming. He knew that Wu Xie was a social butterfly, the one that would brighten anyone's day (but lets not talk about tomb raiding or anything else the younger man could get in trouble with) and would always carry himself with a happy smile.

What Zhang Qiling despised, and he recently noticed, was that Wu Xie was extremely friendly when drunk. Really drunk.

Qiling's dark eyes stared over at the other, frown deepened as not one, not two...but four women tried to talk to him. And what did he do?? Talk to them, very closely.

It wasn’t a lie that Wu Xie was a social butterfly who could easily make someone’s bad mood disappear with the smallest of effort. He could even cause the smallest of smiles to appear across Xiaoge’s face to break that stoic face he tended to see on a daily basis. He did have a knack for trouble when it came to visiting the tombs that tended to catch his attention, but that smile never faded. 

The glass did rest between his fingers filled the drink he tended to favor depending on the situation. A drink that caused him to be a bit too friendly because of the alcohol that was in his system. He probably was going to regret it tomorrow. 

If he wasn’t in a drunken state, he probably wouldn’t have had those friendly talks with the women who decided to approach him. He probably would have noticed the fuming Zhang Qiling who was standing in the corner. 

[bowsie22]

Whumptober 10

Wu Xie's phone is important to him

There are some things Wu Xie guarded with his life. His friends, Wushanju, the notebook. His phone.

Of all those things, his phone was the most important. This tended to surprise people, Wu Xie wasn't known for his love of technology. But his phone contained something very important to him. A gallery of the very few photos and videos Xiaoge allowed him to take before going behind the Gates. There were even a few where he was smiling. A small thing, but it was there. 

They were all Wu Xie had left of Xiaoge. He wasn’t ashamed to say that he spent far too many hours staring at the screen, stroking that small smile.

So, it was safe to say that Wu Xie’s phone was very important to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Honestly, it was pure clumsiness on Pangzi’s part. Trying to cook dinner for four people was a lot of work, especially when they were all banned from the kitchen. He hadn’t seen Wu Xie’s phone, left on the countertop after Pangzi stopped him rooting through the fridge and tossed him out.

It happened in a second. A tea towel in the wrong place, swept across the countertop, and the phone was sent crashing into the wall, the screen shattering. Pangzi froze, staring at the phone on the floor. “Pangzi, what was that crash?” Well, shit.

“I’m so sorry Wu Xie, I didn’t see it until it was too late.” Wu Xie said nothing, staring at the broken phone on the table in front of him. It didn’t respond anymore, didn’t turn on, it was gone. “It’s ok Pangzi, I shouldn’t have been so careless with it. I seem to have lost my appetite; I’ll be in my room.” Pangzi watched his young friend head down the hallway, the click of the closing door echoing in his ears. He had to fix this. But how? He'd cost Wu Xie so much, what could he do to fix it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days were odd for Wu Xie. He drifted through them, often finding himself reaching for the phone that was no longer there. And then there was Pangzi, he’d been so weird since the accident, sneaking out and hiding things from him. Wu Xie knew he should be more concerned, but he was still too numb.

On the fifth day, he realised he needed to leave the Wushanju. He was starting to go a little stir crazy. He also wanted to get Pangzi something. The man seemed to think Wu Xie was still mad at him, so hopefully his favourite candies from the sweet shop down the street would make him feel better.

He returned home, feeling slightly better. He really needed to exercise more; it did make him feel better. “Pangzi, I’m back.” He followed the humming to the living room, where he found Pangzi sitting on the couch, a wrapped parcel in front of him. “Wu Xie, I have a present for you!” Wu Xie smiled, handing over his own present. Pangzi cheered, opening the sweets, gesturing for Wu Xie to open his own.

It was a book. Confused, Wu Xie thumbed through it, breath catching as he realised what it was. Photos of Xiaoge. The ones from his phone and ones he’d never seen before. “Xiao Hua managed to get the photos from your phone and Xiazi remembered he had a few lying around from their time together. We thought this might be safer than your phone. You can’t carry it around, but you can keep it safe.” Wu Xie smiled at his friend, tears in his eyes. Pangzi chuckled through his own tears, pulling the other into a hug. “Thank you Pangzi, I really don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

They spent the rest of the evening going the photos, laughing at the stories they remembered and making up wild stories for the ones they didn’t know. It almost felt like they were together again, like old times. And for now, that was good enough.

[elenothar]

For the WiP titles meme, I'd love to know more about:

Tomb Sirens

Wu Xie & Xiao Hua

Academic Colleagues fic

wu xie birthday week

Forest Weilan

I'm cheating a bit because I know about several of those already. XD

And if you don't want to do all of these, you can pick however many you want. ;D

Only half the list, huh ;D

I'll do brief bits on all of them, let's see...

Tomb Sirens

Not much written for this, though I'm still invested in the idea. Another installment of my ace!Wu Xie agenda, this time featuring tomb critters that seduce with their voice, and only Wu Xie being unaffected and for once getting to save Xiaoge and Pangzi both.

Wu Xie & Xiao Hua

Post heihua movie, Wu Xie and Xiao Hua getting into (and themselves out of, because they can both be terrifying) some trouble

It’s not every day that Wu Xie gets a message from Hei Xiazi that’s not a terrible joke or an even more terrible meme.               Keep an eye on Hua-er for me, will you? The contents of the message, on the other hand, aren’t very surprising. They might both deny it until they’re blue in the face, but Hei Xiazi and Xiao Hua have soft spots for each other a mile wide, and Wu Xie should know. He’s caught them sneaking off for a quick fuck often enough, and besides only people deeply invested in each other can attain that level of personalised bitchiness interspersed with over-the-top protective gestures. Again, Wu Xie should know.

Academic Colleagues fic

That one was a bit of a vague idea, but I wanted (surprise, surprise), to write some more about Shen Wei and Dragon City University, post canon.

These days, Shen Wei keeps his office door open out of sheer stubbornness, overlooking the frequent invasions of people who have no business at the university in order to keep being as approachable as possible to the spooked student body. Which is how he hears Zhang Ruonan, recently returned from her sabbatical looking rather healthier than when he’s last seen her, say loud and clear: “Oh, you’re looking for Professor Shen’s office? You’re in the wrong building, I’m afraid.” She then proceeds to give very detailed directions to a storage closet in the maths faculty building halfway across campus, and a female voice thanks her for her trouble. When Zhang Ruonan appears in his office a minute later, looking rather self-satisfied, Shen Wei raises a brow. “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Zhang Ruonan says. “You don’t need any more reporters haranguing you.”

wu xie birthday week

ignoring the fact that this was meant for wu xie's birthday last year just general tomb shenanigans, vaguely inspired by daemons

“Xiaoge,” Pangzi said, speaking out of the corner of his mouth as if to avoid spooking someone – ok, so maybe Wu Xie was a little spooked at this point, but still, rude – “are you seeing what I’m seeing?” “Hm.” That was definitely Xiaoge’s assenting, which begged the question – what exactly was it that they were seeing? Slowly, he turned his head to the right, expecting a monster maybe, or a heap of treasure, or the entrance to a side chamber they’d overlooked earlier. He very much did not expect to find himself face to face with a hovering, translucent in a kind of glittery way… snake? Furry snake with gem-like eyes in disturbingly familiar shading of brown? He might have to give the other two a pass for staring because Wu Xie was also staring.

Forest Weilan

Just me marrying my thing for trees with my thing for Guardian, featuring Shen Wei getting stuck in a tree (not that I got there yet in the writing).

In retrospect, they probably shouldn’t have split up. Nothing good ever comes from splitting up, particularly when it comes to Shen Wei’s propensity to seek out trouble. Shen Wei, incidentally, says the same about Zhao Yunlan, but really, only one of them keeps ending up tied to pillars in various places as soon as he goes off alone. It had seemed the logical thing to do at the time. They’d been asked to help find a missing snake tribe kid (well, Shen Wei had been asked, because he can cover a lot of ground with his portals and Zhao Yunlan had invited himself along). Zhu Hong had been pretty certain there was no foul play involved, just a curious youngster who’d strayed too far into the woods, probably frightened out of his wits by now. Normally the Yashou would handle the matter themselves, but lately they’ve been making an effort at increased cooperation.

WIP titles here

[scaredysap]

Wu Xie stared at Xiaoge, who was perched on the back of their couch, hands stuffed deep in his pockets and shoulders hunched. Wu Xie wondered if he had perhaps misheard what he had just asked.

“So you want to… kiss,” he repeated. Xiaoge stared back through his dark strands of hair. “You want to kiss… Pangzi?”

“Yes,” Xiaoge said firmly, though his posture didn’t seem relaxed by any stretch of the imagination.

“Right. Okay.” Wu Xie wiped his sweaty palms on his yoga pants and nodded a few times. He licked his lips and frowned, raising a questioning finger towards Xiaoge. “And why are you telling me this, again?”

The great Zhang patriarch heaved an equally great sigh as he got off the couch, pacing to the open window. For a second he looked like he was considering leaping into the quickly-warming morning air, rather than spend another minute here talking about emotions with Wu Xie. The latter, on his part, almost wished Xiaoge would do just that and leave him to his coffee.

“I need your help,” Xiaoge said in the end, looking towards the horizon like a man on a mission.

“Oh.” Wu Xie stared at him: he was a familiar pillar of decisive resolve that felt slightly out of place in such a mundane context. Truthfully, sometimes Wu Xie still struggled to remember Xiaoge was someone with simple concerns, such as - apparently - expressing his genuine feelings for someone. “Oh, you’re really serious about this, huh?”

The tension in Xiaoge’s shoulders seemed to ease a little then. He turned back around and gave a tiny nod, with light streaming all around him to cast an imposing shadow on the messy living room and making this feel like some kind of dramatic turning point in their relationship.

“Are you sure about this though?” Wu Xie asked, leaning against the doorframe for support. “I’m not exactly an expert, why do you want me to help you?”

Xiaoge gave it some thought before answering. “You like to help me.”

“Well, yeah but usually it’s about finding lost tombs and old pavilions, not really-“

“You know Pangzi well.”

“So do you!”

“…You owe me.”

Wu Xie couldn’t in good conscience refute that statement. He scrunched up his nose and took enough strides to shake an accusatory finger right in Xiaoge’s face. The Zhang patriarch didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by Wu Xie’s silent fury, if anything he looked smug.

“Ah, fine!”

The corner of Xiaoge’s mouth tilted up when Wu Xie threw his free hand in the air while raising his steaming coffee cup to his mouth with the other one. With a fluid movement he hopped over the back of the couch to sit cross legged on one end of it while Wu Xie settled in the middle as he always did. Scattered papers fell from the short table in front of the couch to the floor, as Wu Xie rummaged through the crowded surface to find one of his many wayward notebooks and a pen.

“Ah-hah!” Wu Xie rejoiced when he finally found something to write with. He tucked a leg under himself and set the notebook against his knee, clicking the pen a few times before turning back to Xiaoge with a familiar sparkle in his eyes. “Right, so, we need to find the perfect moment and create the right atmosphere. We want to make this special.”

“Yes,” Xiaoge said, not exactly meeting Wu Xie’s gaze but still clearly concentrating on the issue at hand.

“Okay, good. So. Pangzi is a real romantic, so we need some classy music and a hearty meal, that is sure to make him feel like a beauty in one of those romance dramas,” Wu Xie began jotting down messy notes almost faster than he managed to speak.

“Not a restaurant. Home cooked meal,” Xiaoge interjected.

“You’re right! A fancy restaurant will make him feel awkward, he likes the homey feel best. Good thinking, Xiaoge.”

They went on for a good long while, brainstorming ideas and then taking care of the details. As the sun rose higher outside their window and Wu Xie’s coffee eventually grew cold, Pangzi eventually made his sleepy way into the living room. He found his boys in a sea of pages and post-it notes stuck all over their coffee table. Wu Xie was draped across the arm of their couch and would have fallen off if not for Xiaoge sitting on his legs, weighing him down. The latter noticed Pangzi’s presence first and raised his head in greeting. Pangzi smiled, raising a hand to return the greeting while he padded into the room.

“Are you two solving problems?” Pangzi asked, making Wu Xie jump and slam the notebook he’d been holding above his face closed. He raised an amused eyebrow at the incredibly guilty display. “Do I wanna know what the problems are?”

“Nope!” Wu Xie instantly responded, shoving the notebook under his skinny butt. “We’re basically done anyway, Xiaoge was a lot of help.”

“Were you now?” Pangzi smirked down at Xiaoge, who avoided his eyes by pulling his hood up. “Right then, I’ll go make breakfast and warm up Tianzhen’s coffee. You two try to at least pick the notes off the floor, please!”

The two conspirators silently watched Pangzi head for the kitchen, only turning to each other when the man was fully out of view.

“Do you think he’s onto us?” Wu Xie whispered.

“Onto me,” Xiaoge corrected him. “You risk nothing.”

“Excuse you? I am very invested in the positive outcome of this endeavour. I want both of you to be happy!”

Xiaoge huffed a gentle laugh through his nose, then flicked Wu Xie between the eyes.

“You ass!” Wu Xie complained, then he howled much louder when Xiaoge got off his legs. “Pins and needles! Pins and needles in my feet, Xiaoge, fuck! You cut off my entire circulation!”

Xiaoge looked down at him, no mercy in his dark black eyes. “Should we amputate them?”

Wu Xie yelped again, curling protectively around his feet as Xiaoge smugly turned away to pick up the mess they had made.

“Hey Xiaoge,” Wu Xie called a few minutes later, when they had finally put everything back into a manageable level of chaos. “Did you want to… practice kissing? Is that why you asked me for help?”

Wu Xie wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen Xiaoge look as uncomfortable as he did just then.

“You could just say no!” Wu Xie punched his shoulder, trying and failing to topple him. “You ass, kissing me wouldn’t even be that bad.”

The line of Xiaoge’s only mouth tightened further.

“Okay, fine, whatever! You’re a terrible friend, I hope you know that.”

"Oh my god, is this really a situation worthy of the moping-hoodie?"

"Yes! Yes, it is," Wu Xie plopped down at the kitchen table and dramatically crossed his arms. "I'm tired of people telling me I should date Xiaoge, it gets awkward every time!"

"I don't know, Tianzhen, I think they might have a point." Wu Xie glared at Pangzi's back but the man kept on peacefully chopping vegetables. "You've got that whole bond thing going on, and you spend a lot of time staring at his abs whenever his shirt is off."

"Everyone stares at his abs, they're objectively perfect."

"Fair enough," Pangzi conceded with a shrug. "What about your important bond though? That sounds pretty intense every time you bring it up."

Wu Xie sank into his chair and pulled up his hood. Then he lowered it again, realizing that the instinctual gesture was very much like the one Xiaoge did when he was uncomfortable. Pangzi hadn't seen it but he sure would have commented on it if he had, Wu Xie was sure about that.

"It is intense. But it's not dating, it's just… different," he said, twirling one of the strings of his hoodie around a finger. "I don't really want to dress fancy and go to dinner with him, I don't want to send him a good morning text every day, I don't want to kiss him. Sure, getting him to hug more would be nice but-"

"But that's why you've got me! I’m always ready to hug my poor, misunderstood Tianzhen," Pangzi intervened. He left his spot at the counter for a moment to give Wu Xie a one-armed hug, putting a brief smile back on his face.

"Yeah, exactly. The thing is… we're fine as we are. We’re there for each other when it counts. Nothing else is needed, we've figured out where we stand."

"Alright then, that's good," Pangzi said, picking the next vegetable from the basket he'd brought from the market. "I was just making sure."

It was quiet for a few moments, the rhythmic tac tac tac of the knife against the cutting board a soothing sound that filled the evening.

"But seriously, you don't wanna kiss him even a little bit?"

"PANGZI!"

"I'm just saying-!"

Wu Xie huffed, throwing his hands up in the air and almost sliding off the chair in disappointment.

"You're unbelievable. If you keep bringing this up, I’m going to start believing you're the one who wants to kiss Xiaoge!"

The chopping stopped. The kitchen became dead quiet. Wu Xie rewinded his words in his mind and then slowly but surely turned to stare at Pangzi's back.

"Pangzi," he said quietly, watching the big man's shoulders go tense. "Do you want to kiss Xiaoge?"

The silence was damning.

"HAH!" Wu Xie's chortling filled the kitchen as Pangzi turned towards him, his face as red as the chili peppers that were going into their food.

"Shut up, Tianzhen! What do you even know about these things?"

"Not a lot, but you sure aren’t an expert either! Thinking that I wanted to date Xiaoge when all this time you…!"

Wu Xie started laughing again, clutching his belly as it ached with cramps.

"Tianzhen!" Pangzi hissed, half crawling all over Wu Xie to try and put a hand over his mouth. "You quit yapping right now, Xiaoge could hear you!"

"You wanna kiss him soooo bad! Ow!" Wu Xie yelped, clutching his shoulder. "You idiot, you poked me with the knife!"

"Serves you ri- OUCH! Tianzhen, did you just bite me?"

"So what if I did, huh?"

"You rabid beast, I'll show you!"

As bickering and sounds of a brawl filled the kitchen, quiet footsteps went unheard in the hallway just outside. Xiaoge put his boots back on with expert ease and soon he was out into the night, headed towards the trio's favourite take-away restaurant. From the sounds of it, dinner wouldn't be ready any time soon.

He walked with a single objective in mind but still, he couldn't help but raise a hand to his own lips and wonder what it would feel like to be kissed.

[januaryisnotanartist]

Lost Tomb: ReCreation Fandom - DMBJ Pairing - Pingxie (implied/past/future) Genre - uhhhhhh... *shrugs* it’s got reincarnation in it? and gratuitous use of Present Tense One-shot (technically. abandoned WIP I forgot I wrote back in... July? ish? last year?)

- 

Xiaoge, Zhang Qiling, Zhang Kylin.

He has a dozen other names besides.

He doesn't know which one he was born with, but Zhang Qiling, Xioage... these sound familiar to him, even when he remembers nothing else.

He knows enough about himself most days, doesn't really wonder on others.

He has a place he stays to rest. He supposes it's a home, mostly it's just where he keeps the invoices from the 11th Warehouse so he can look at his journals when he needs reminding.

They have a whole room just for his journals, just for him. Carefully curated and cared for by specially chosen members of the staff.

Xiaoge was there not so long ago. Three years, that's not long, is it?

The woman in charge had recognised him when he'd arrived, but he hadn't known her. Something about her was wrong. Except there wasn't.

Memories had lurked half hidden, there was nothing wrong with the woman in charge, it was just that the part of him that almost remembered something... had been expecting someone else.

Tiny and cheerful and hair so, so white.

But she was gone, long gone.

Xiaoge's journals vary in details and people of note. There was a selection of a few decades which he knows the story of better than any other. The journals from that time are the fullest.

People, places, adventures.

A family, friends he'd loved the best, had never been able to replace.

A love who had aged and slipped away, one whom no one had ever compared to.

Xiaoge doesn't care to remember those days, because just thinking of them aches. He doesn't care much for the pain when there's no reason to go through it.

So he keeps going on.

There's always people looking too deeply into the past, digging up history which should sometimes stay buried.

Xiaoge likes the Wu family the best, but doesn't let himself think about why.

He's tired of feeling adrift, he gives in to the quiet longing to find someone who could be even a shadow of what he'd once had. Just a sliver of what his own writing had told him he'd acquired once.

The expedition has a familiar rhythm to it. Packing and travel and unpacking and searching.

He keeps expecting to hear a whistle, but for all the machines to search underground, the camp is devoid of the simple drawn out pitch of metal and breath.

Xiaoge keeps mostly to the edges, skirting the stares and whispers. He walks off into the trees anytime someone looks to be approaching him.

He's walking in the dark night forest when a glow catches his eye.

Many things glow in the camp in the night.

But they don't glow that colour. And if he has his directions correct, there hadn't been a glow there ten minutes before.

He investigates.

There's a young man crouched behind some crates, a glow stick in one hand and some photos in the other.

He's walking before he even thinks about it, crossing the ground to stand before the younger man.

He watches, traces the lines of the man's body, his neck, wants to reach out and touch.

Xiaoge doesn't understand what he's feeling, because it feels like victory but he hasn't won anything. Hasn't fought anything.

Then the young man looks up, finally noticing Xiaoge's presence, and when their eyes meet Xiaoge feels like the world is filling with colour he hadn't even noticed was missing.

His mouth wraps around a name, but his voice can't carry it out.

“Wu Xie.”

-

Wu Tian is younger than most of the people on the dig. Younger than all of them actually.

He's the youngest member of his blood family too, the baby. He's been treated that way his whole life, even now that he's completed collage and is on his first real dig.

His family has been in the tomb business for centuries, both tomb raiding and tomb conservation.

Sometimes, he wonders what will happen when they run out of tombs, because the tombs must surely run out one day?

But for now... for now he's still being treated like a child.

His first real dig, and everyone has been treating Wu Tian with kid gloves. They won't let him do anything, barely let him stay in the main tent while they plan out the excavation and exploration.

Won't let him look at the maps or the photos the advance team brought back.

He majored in archaeology in collage, he knows about tombs. (He also has a degree in architecture, but that's beside his current point.)

This tomb had been located by accident, a group of hikers stumbling across newly revealed evidence (and loot) after a rock-slide. They could have at least let him help research who the tomb belonged to!

In the middle of the night, on the tiny camp bed in the tent that he shares with several others, Wu Tian has an idea.

Carefully, quietly, he gets out of bed, trying to limit the creaking of the bed's frame. He sneaks from the tent, ghosting along through the quiet camp, evading the roaming patrols that are there to stop any mercenaries – or more likely, any wild animals – from getting in and disturbing the camp.

Close to the big tent he pauses.

The big tent is used at odd hours, for translation and mapping and communications, and just because it's dark now, doesn't mean it will be for long.

It's not too late to go back to his tent, to go to sleep.

If he gets caught he'll be in trouble, maybe no longer allowed on digs – which would be the Worst Thing, something in his soul sings at the idea of tomb exploration – but if he succeeds in his self appointed mission...

Steeling himself, Wu Tian eases into the big tent, from his pocket he pulls a glow stick and uses it in place of a torch. Less light, less chance of getting caught.

He already knows where the photos are kept. He takes the spare copies so no one will know if he doesn't put them back in time, he deliberately doesn't look at the papers with translations and identifications on them. He wants to try himself, to prove he can.

His glow stick goes back in his pocket when he exits, he sees his way through the camp by what moonlight there is, searching out the accidental alcove he'd found earlier, made by two tents and a pile of boxes placed just so.

It puts him on the outskirts of the camp, facing the jungle, hidden from the tents, the people... from help if an animal decides he looks tasty enough to brave the camp's clearing.

The glow stick is pulled back out, and Wu Tian uses it to examine the pictures, crouched within the artificial alcove.

Between the glow stick and the moonlight, he can make out some writing, engraved on the stone walls on the photo's glossy paper. The tiny glare from the light on the shiny finish gives him trouble, blotting out some of the image that the poor lighting reveals.

He's giving himself a headache. The crouch is making his legs cramp.

This was, perhaps, not such a good idea after all.

Wu Tian shifts his weight, shuffling a little to ease his legs, and rolls his neck and shoulders to ease the tension there.

He pauses mid roll, because there is a man standing almost directly over him.

Wu Tian's heart stutters in alarm, but his body is locked in place.

How?

How had anyone gotten so close to him?

Wu Tian is aware he can hyperfocus a little, but surely he should have noticed someone getting this close?!

He looks up slowly, eyes trailing up the slim body and tightly fitted clothing – there's something off about the hands, his mind notes in a distant, distracted manner – over the strap holding a freaking sword to the stranger's back, all the way up to his hooded face.

The stranger's face is darkened by the shadow of his hood, but he's looking at Wu Tian with an intensity, with a look Wu Tian is completely unfamiliar with.

He doesn't know what it means, no one has ever looked at him like this.

He's so distracted by the stranger's eyes, he almost misses the movement of the stranger's mouth. Does miss what the stranger is mouthing.

“Sorry, what?”

There's the tiniest quirk of the mouth, and the stranger reaches down to pull Wu Tian to standing. Wu Tian stumbles a little, falling into the stranger as his legs protest, his near cramps stretching back out leaving his muscles sore.

The stranger doesn't even sway with Wu Tian's weight, merely helps him right himself.

“You should use a proper light,” the stranger tells him, something almost like fondness in his tone. “You will hurt your eyes.”

Wu Tian's mouth is dry, he can feel the heat of a blush creeping up his cheeks. The stranger is attractive, and concerned about  Wu Tian's well being. If that awareness hadn't been clouding his thought, Wu Tian might have noticed the stranger hadn't asked what he'd been doing hidden away with the photos of the tomb.

The situation hadn't exactly been un-suspicious, but the stranger's worry had been about Wu Tian's health, not his activities.

It takes longer than it should have to realise he should say something instead of staring at the stranger.

“I didn't want to wake anyone,” he blurts out when the realisation does come, and because now his brain is moving again, he also realises the stranger doesn't know Wu Tian shouldn't have the photos to begin with. He doesn't know what else to say that will keep things that way.

The stranger merely steps back with a tiny nod and walks away. Wu Tian stares at the place where the stranger disappeared around the tent, heart racing a little.

-

Xiaoge heads towards his tent, heart beating erratically at the impossibility of it.

It hadn't been Wu Xie's face, but of course it hadn't, Wu Xie had died so, so long ago.

Even the young man's eyes were different.

But they were also exactly the same.

Weren't they?

Xiaoge rarely doubted himself in terms of observational skills, but in this moment he did. Fear slithered through him, what if he'd been wrong?

He turned to peek at the young man, to reconfirm what he'd felt, that somehow, impossibly, Wu Xie had returned to him.

The camp was empty behind him, no one was following him. No young man in sight.

No Wu Xie.

Panic fluttered in Xioage's throat and he hurried back the way he'd come, returning the hidden spot between the tents.

Wu Xie was still there, standing and looking confused, and also a little bit dazed. Glow stick in one hand, photos in the other.

The relief was almost overwhelming.

Xiaoge remembered that most things about Wu Xie were almost overwhelming.

He stepped back into Wu Xie's space – because it was Wu Xie, there was no denying it – and placed a hand against his back. This time when Xiaoge stepped forwards, Wu Xie moved with him.

Two steps and Wu Xie made a small “oh” and started walking rather than allowing himself to be pushed.

“Uh, where are we going?” There was a tiny bit of panicked concern in Wu Xie's voice.

Xiaoge hid a smile, even the voice was different now, but Wu Xie still sounded the same when he thought he was about to be in trouble.

“My tent has light,” Xiaoge said, before Wu Xie could work himself up.

Or worse: come up with an escape plan that would no doubt end with much damage to the camp. (And Wu Xie away from Xiaoge.)

Watching the understanding grow across Wu Xie's new face was nice, because Wu Xie was smiling now. Until he wasn't.

“I don't want to wake anyone up, or be a bother, won't your tent-mates be upset?”

Xiaoge gave a single shake of his head.

“There is no one to bother.”

“oh.” 

[eirenical]

XIAOGE xD

[In reference to this game.]  Thanks, @laireshi!  ^_^

To explain a few of these answers:

they’re like a blorbo to me: only got a tiny tick because I HATE the word ‘blorbo’ with a PASSION.  HATE IT.  It’s... not even that I have a problem with the idea of the term?  But the particular combination of sounds that make up the word feel like nails on a CHALKBOARD in my mouth.  I can’t STAND it.  It’s right up there with my niece’s ‘blueblerries’ from when she was a kid.  I just... THOSE SOUNDS.  THEY ARE BAD.  IN MY MOUTH.  I DO NOT LIKE THEM.  TT^TT

they’re deeper than they seem/they’re not as deep as they seem:  There is SO MUCH MORE TO XIAOGE THAN MEETS THE EYE.  SO MUCH.  When Wu Xie first meets him, he’s like “who is this stuffy oil bottle (menyouping) anyway? He doesn’t even talk.”  But we all know how much has been going on with him up until that point.  SO MUCH MORE than is readily obvious.  BUT AT THE SAME TIME...  XD

From chapter 208 of Sha Hai, translated by merebear:

As a result, my general response to such a remark was to stay quiet, not speak, and stare at him coldly.

This was the oppressive atmosphere method Black Glasses had taught me, which he said he had learned from Poker-face. Poker-face was the kind of person that would make you feel very uneasy if you weren’t his buddy, and that uneasiness would only increase. People who knew him would realize that he was really just taking a nap when he was leaning there, but people who didn’t know him would feel that such a gloomy guy was full of evil intentions, and ready to torture them.

...SOMETIMES there is much more to him than meets the eye, and sometimes... HE’S JUST NAPPING WITH HIS EYES OPEN.  XD

Free Space: SOMEONE REALLY NEEDS TO PROTECT HIM FROM HIMSELF.  TT^TT

why do they look like that: ...TLT1′s Xiaoge.  I love you DEARLY.  BUT.  I have not forgotten your Bieber hair.  I don’t think I ever will.  OTZ

[thosch3i]

look there's a lot of pingxie scenes you could handwave as ~brotherhood~ if you really wanted to but there is literally NO heterosexual explanation for this one

(side note: granny huo technically doesn't say "wife" but just "a beauty")

but anyway. wu xie's first reaction being to look at xiaoge with a semi-panicked expression? xiaoge staring back at wu xie so intently with those slightly widened eyes? and the funniest fucking part, pangzi staring at xiaoge like that? (pangzi's first reaction when hearing someone talk about wu xie's love life is to look at xiaoge?)

so either

1) wu xie heard "bring home a beauty" and immediately made the completely correct word association beauty = xiaoge and looked back at him, flustered, while xiaoge is staring right back at him like "im sorry wait is this you announcing to the world that we're together? does the entire mystic nine know now. was that a proposal*. wu xie. wu xie." (side note: reminds me of this part of the novel where he heard about how huo xiangu was apparently the most beautiful woman ever and that if you looked in her eyes you'd be willing to do anything for her and wu xie's first thought was "oh so like xiaoge!")

or

2) wu xie panicked because he subconsciously didn't want xiaoge to assume he had any intention of marrying some random girl, so he turned around to look at xiaoge instinctively, and xiaoge is staring back at him, his expression so intent because he's hurt at the thought of losing wu xie to some "beauty" and trying to hide it

either way. I'm just saying. no heterosexual explanation for this at all guys

*not yet, you gotta wait until he gets the betrothal knife ready and engraves it

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Sorry if thats too much to ask, but do you by any chance know in what book there's a scene where Xiaoge breaks his arm saving Wuxie in a snow (or smth)? Or at least roughly where should I look for it? (I'm just not ready for the whole thing yet 😂)

Oh, not too much to ask at all. That I can tell you precisely, bc it's like one chapter before he goes behind bronze gates for 10 years, so it's hard to forget. It's the very end of volume 8, chapter 79 (snow blindness). And yes, he broke his wrist bc he hurriedly jumped from height of 30 metres to catch him. And then proceeded to lie to him that he broke it before saving him xD

But I do suggest to also check like 2 chapters before that when they quarrel like a true married couple, the "fuck you, if you won't listen to me, I'm not listening to you, so shut it and walk, I'll follow" lmao Wu Xie was so fucking done, and that was also when Xiaoge threatened to hit him with a rock from 100 metres and carry him into safety, if he wouldn't stop following him. It would all be funnier if I didn't know where this was all going tbh.

And chapter 78 marked in my phone as true pain, bc there is one my fav angst moments, when they sat before fire. When Xiaoge tried to capture every feature of Wu Xie's face before he basically sacrificed himself and Wu Xie just was so dumb about it, I felt like dying.

"He looked at me silently for the first time. I also stared back, since he refused to avert his gaze. After a while I started to think that his eyes couldn't possibly be focused on me. But when I found out that he really was looking only at my face, I suddenly felt something strange. "Is something wrong with me? Is there some creature behind me?" I kept asking him, but he stayed completely silent. I knew he was occasionally weird at times, but I couldn't at all understand what was happening right now. After a while, he suddenly asked me for a cigarette."

He was fucking drinking him in before leaving for 10 years, he smoked for the first time because he couldn't handle it and mr higher education just went like "well, the way you just stared at me like you tried to stock up for years to come was indeed weird. oh wow, you do know how to smoke!" . I was just literally internally screaming at this point. I was like "NOT ANOTHER ONE! YOU'RE SO SMART HOW ARE YOU SO DUMB!"

Then he was crying, I was crying, it was a mess xD

Later books like the finale and restart parts are my faves, so I came back for many moments and I navigate pretty well in those in general, but any pingxie moments you can ask, I'll probably know. It's not on my wangxian and rinharu level of knowledge yet, bc here's much more info to sort out, but I'll get there soon lmao.

P.S. Yeah, I understand about not being ready, it's a real commitment for sure lolz and I still can't quite tell if I love or hate the novels honestly, I mean, I obviously love them, but I just broke my brain trying to puzzle some shit together, I still don't get so many part, and NPSS being like "sorry I was drunk during this" just made me go lol okay got it. Like yeah, esp during Restart I was up until 5am crying "I w-w-won't go to sleeep until he's back", it's hella amazing and addicting, but in the entirety it's madness. Author's notes help a bit, but its a freaking maze xD. Like I do not regret one bit, but I promise you, you'll be mad for sure haha.

[merinnan]

Starting to work on my prompt fill list! Bet you thought I’d forgotten this one, @lacommunarde! This one’s for your prompt “Did you get any sleep last night?”

--

It started, as most things did, with a tomb, some traps, and Wu Xie. And Wu Xie triggering said traps in said tomb.

In his defence, he didn’t mean to set off the trap. He didn’t even know it was there – none of them did. Not even Xiaoge, with his apparent sixth sense for tomb traps, or Liu Sang, with his hearing, had realised that there was a second trap on top of the one that they had identified until it was too late, and Wu Xie was staggering back, choking on a cloud of fine white powder, right onto the trapdoor mechanism that Xiaoge had just warned them about.

He was aware, through his watering eyes and burning lungs and the godawful sound of stone grinding against stone, that the white cloud was expanding as more powder sprayed out into the room from the open-mouthed statue that he’d been examining and had made the mistake of touching in precisely the wrong spot. He could hear Pangzi coughing, could see Liu Sang jumping back, pulling his shirt over his nose and mouth. As the floor gave way beneath him, Wu Xie could see Xiaoge darting forward into the cloud, hand extended, dark eyes fixed on him as they widened in alarm.

He was sure, just before he hit the freezing cold water, just before his vision went dark and his awareness went blank, that he felt a firm, familiar hand around his arm, and heard a panicked “Ouxiang!” from somewhere above them.

*

The first thing that Wu Xie became aware of was a thundering headache right behind his closed eyes, beating in time with his pulse. Thump, thump, thump. Pain, pain, pain. He tried squeezing his eyes shut even harder, but it didn’t help at all.

The second thing he became aware of was the truly foul taste in his mouth, what tasted like a mix of vomit and something sickeningly floral sweet. When he tried to wet his mouth and swallow away the taste, he became aware of the third thing, which was that his throat was parched dry and felt like it had been scoured.

Between these three things, it took him several moments to become aware of some additional facts – that he was sitting on something hard, probably rocky ground, judging from what felt like stones digging into his leg through the slightly damp probably-a-sleeping-bag that he was wrapped in. he was propped up against what he thought was a rocky wall against his back, and to his side he was leaning against something big, fleshy, and warm. Pangzi, his brain helpfully provided, aided in its identification by a loud and familiar snore.

Also, that he was stripped down to his underwear inside sleeping bag, there was something both sweet and foul-smelling nearby, barely masked by the scent of strong coffee, and he could hear a fire crackling somewhere in front of him.

“I know you’re awake.” The voice was familiar, cranky, and so very tired, but, most importantly to Wu Xie right now, it set his headache to throbbing even more. He groaned, trying to get his eyes further shut, before giving up and cautiously cracking first one eye open, then the other.

He was, as he expected, met by Liu Sang’s judgemental gaze. Or it would have been judgemental, had those pretty eyes not been slightly dull and surrounded by the darkest circles Wu Xie had ever seen, ones that couldn’t even be hidden by the large, sturdy glasses that Liu Sang wore on tomb expeditions. The younger man looked pale and slightly haggard, and even more exhausted than Wu Xie felt. Wu Xie blinked at him, then groaned again, trying to sit up properly and look around.

They were in… to be honest, calling it a ‘cave’ would be generous. Large crack in the side of a larger cavern would be more accurate.  He was, as he thought, wrapped in his sleeping back and propped up against Pangzi, with both of them propped up against the very back wall, their packs on Pangzi’s other side, and not much more room back here than that. In front of him, the crack widened a little, enough for Liu Sang and Xiaoge, both shirtless, to be sitting side by side in front of a camp stove, where a bubbling pot produced the blessed smell of coffee, and Wu Xie managed to free his hands from the sleeping bag enough to make some slightly pathetic grabby hands at it before he realised that Xiaoge’s hand was bandaged, and that the entrance to the crack was entirely walled off by a line of fire.

“Xiaoge? You got hurt?” Wu Xie asked, his voice a little raspy both from unconsciousness and from how dry and sore it was. Xiaoge looked up at him, eyes scanning him, before eventually shaking his head. “But…” Wu Xie waved at the bandaged hand.

“Shibie,” Xiaoge said, his voice soft enough that Wu Xie could barely hear it above the fire, and the sound of water in the cavern outside.

“Shibie?” Wu Xie looked around again, this time noticing blood smeared on walls, noticing spent flares tossed beyond the line of fire. “They’re gone now?”

“Finally,” Liu Sang said, and Wu Xie noticed how the usual snap and fire was so subdued, so tired. “Ouxiang drove the rest of them away when he woke up.”

“What do you mean, ‘when he woke up’? What happened?” Wu Xie frowned, blinking himself more awake, and noticing more details about the place. He could see his clothes - all of their clothes, actually, spread out on the ground close to the fire, evidently drying out. And one patch of ground that had everything well clear of it, dark with water and some discarded water bottles next to it, and… lumps. And that was where the awful smell was coming from. He wrinkled his nose, looking back at Liu Sang and Xiaoge.

“You all got poisoned,” Liu Sang said flatly, then gave a huge yawn before glaring at Wu Xie as if he was personally responsible, but still reached out to scoop out a cup of the strong-smelling coffee and shove it into Wu Xie’s hands.

“The white powder,” Wu Xie guessed, taking a sip and almost gagging. That was… that was a lot stronger than he generally had his coffee. He took one look at Liu Sang’s glare, sharp enough to cut glass even through the obvious exhaustion, and meekly took another sip. “Wait. All?”

“All,” Liu Sang confirmed.

“Even Xiaoge?”

“Even Ouxiang.” Beyond Liu Sang, Xiaoge just nodded with an ever-so-slight shrug.

“But…” Wu Xie let go of the cup with one hand to wave around at where they were, at the blood, the fire, the packs, and at what was clearly a patch of vomit that someone had attempted to wash away.

“Ouxiang managed to drag you out of the water and in here,” Liu Sang said, before breaking off in another yawn and scooping out another cup of the coffee. Wu Xie was secretly gratified to see the face that Liu Sang pulled upon sipping it was similar to his own, before Liu Sang just went ahead and downed a full half of the cup anyway. “I dragged Pangzi here, and I am billing the both of you for how much my back hurts now,” he added. “When I said I heard shibie, ouxiang cut his hand,” and here that trademark glare was turned on Xiaoge, who just shrugged again, and Wu Xie felt himself sympathising with the both of them for different reasons, “and smeared his blood on the walls before he passed out. But I suppose it worked,” Liu Sang conceded, “since no shibie tried to get in that way. There was enough dried plant matter and some old washed up wood here that I was able to set up the fire to keep them from coming in that way most of the time. The flares worked for the rest.”

Wu Xie looked at the fire again, and the spent flares, silently counting them. Unless he missed his guess, that was almost every flare they’d brought with them, and Liu Sang must have had to go through everyone’s packs for them. Then he glanced at the smelly patch, down at himself, then at their clothes.

“You all spent half the night throwing up,” Liu Sang grumbled, catching the glances. “It was disgusting. I’m a specialist, not a nursemaid. It’s a miracle none of you choked.” He gulped down the rest of his coffee, then scooped out another cup. “I think the smell of it is partly what kept attracting the shibie, too.” He drained half the second cup, not even pulling a face this time. “Once you finally stopped, I got you all out of your clothes, wrapped you up, and sat you up so you wouldn’t choke on the coughing fits that came next.”

“Oh.” Wu Xie wrapped both hands around his cup again, staring at Liu Sang, and trying to find the right words to what he’d just heard. That Liu Sang, by himself, had nursed them through poisoning and vomiting while having to contend with shibie. He looked again at how pale Liu Sang was, noting how he was swaying where he sat, and shaking a little from the amount of coffee he was downing.

“How long were we out?” he finally asked, and Liu Sang shrugged before glancing at his watch.

“You? About ten hours. Ouxiang woke up a couple of hours ago and drove the rest of the shibie away, again in a completely unsanitary manner.” He glared at Xiaoge again. “And you can’t even use the excuse that you’re less affected by germs and drugs and such, ouxiang, because you were affected by the poison just like Wu Xie and Pangzi were.”

Xiaoge gave one of his barely-there smiles, and just patted Liu Sang on the shoulder. Wu Xie was about to smile at the sight, before he realised something.

“Liu Sang,” he said. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

The eyeroll that that question netted him was truly epic.

“What do you think?” Liu Sang said. “Between the three of you trying to choke on your own vomit, then on your own breathing, and shibie not leaving us the fuck alone, when do you think the only conscious person should have slept?”

Wu Xie caught Xiaoge’s eye over Liu Sang’s shoulder, and the man nodded slightly. They were clearly going to be here a little while yet, since Pangzi was still asleep, and this little place had been made as safe as possible through the efforts of both Xiaoge and Liu Sang. Liu Sang, who had only saved all three of them, and was clearly not going to look after himself.

He reached forward, taking the now empty cup from Liu Sang’s hands, then wrapped the man in a hug and pulled him close to him, ignoring the squawk and weak flailing to get away.

“What are you doing?!” Liu Sang demanded, and Wu Xie aggressively cuddled him closer while Xiaoge picked up the sleeping bag laying across his lap and tucked it around Liu Sang instead. “Ouxiang?!”

“Thank you,” Wu Xie told him. “I don’t know what we would have done without you. But you’re clearly exhausted, so sleep now, okay?”

Liu Sang blinked up at him through his glasses, opened his mouth to say something, and whatever it was was cut off by another huge yawn.

 “We’ve got you,” Wu Xie told him, reaching up to take his glasses off and pass them to Xiaoge, then gently pat the still-damp hair. “You took care of us, so we’ll take care of you now. We can figure out how to get out of here once you’ve rested.”

“But…” Liu Sang mumbled through another yawn, then startled slightly when Xiaoge tucked the sleeping bag around a little tighter and patted his shoulder.

“Sleep,” Xiaoge told him. Liu Sang blinked at him, then at Wu Xie, still gently patting his hair.

“Just for a little bit,” he finally conceded, and closed his eyes. Wu Xie silently counted to one, two, three, and then Liu Sang was asleep, exhaustion winning out over stubbornness. Wu Xie smiled down at him, then at Xiaoge, and leaned back to rest some more.

They weren’t going anywhere until they were all rested and recovered, after all.

[sunriseverse]

For the drabbles!!

5. “I heard a noise.” Iron triangle

HI RAY thank you for the prompt!!! this is about 10x as long as an actual drabble BUT have some iron triangle fluff :)

-

Pangzi and Wu Xie are very sly—or, at least, Xiaoge thinks, bemused, they are attempting to be sly. For anyone else, anyone who doesn’t know them as well as he does, it would, perhaps, even work, but Xiaoge has been through almost every imaginable situation with them, and so, his ability to discern what they are attempting to do is probably significantly higher than the average person’s.

Take, for example, right now: Wu Xie, blinking sleepily up at him over a bowl of xifan, a hint of focus in his gaze as he asks, in what must be an attempt for a casual tone, “So, Xiaoge, what are you up to the next few days?”

From anyone else, this might be a normal question; after all, it’s hardly unnatural to wonder what someone you live with it planning on doing. What makes it suspicious, though, is that Wu Xie has always been content to leave him to his own devices, and the fact that Pangzi is clearly hanging onto every word, significantly more awake than Wu Xie is. Xiaoge takes a moment to think, both because he would like to eat a little bit more in case Wu Xie starts bombarding him with further questions, and because he doesn’t want Pangzi to be alerted of the fact that he knows they’re up to something. In the end he shrugs and says, “Nothing.”

“You should get out into the woods!” Pangzi says. “The weather’s so nice, I bet it’s nice and cool in the mornings. You haven’t gone out much recently, have you?”

Xiaoge glances at him, glad he doesn’t have the urge to stare at people (usually), because if he were anyone else, he’d stare at Pangzi for how suspicious that string of sentences was. As it is, he just noncommittally eats another spoonful of breakfast—or lunch, really, but Wu Xie never gets up until after ten, so breakfast with him is lunch for the rest of them—and wonders what, exactly, the two of them are up to.

“You could take photos,” Wu Xie suggests around a yawn. “I always hear birds, and there’s probably more in the woods. Not to mention the sunrise—those are beautiful. Hey, you could put that camera Hei Yanjing sent us to good use! It’s not doing anything but collecting dust on the shelf, anyway.”

This time, Xiaoge does allow himself to stare for a moment, fond amusement rising in his chest. They’re definitely up to something, but it’s not anything harmful, or he would have realised it by now, and so, he feels fairly content to just let it play out however it will, so he says, “Alright,” and pretends not to notice the elation that spreads across Wu Xie’s face, quickly hidden, or the crafty gleam in Pangzi’s eye.

They clearly want him out of the house for some reason, so Xiaoge takes his sword and heads into the forest after they finish eating. It’s hardly a hardship—the solitude of the woods is welcomed; as much as he loves Wu Xie and Pangzi, they tend to be loud men, taking up entire rooms with their presence. Some days, it’s hard to be around that sort of brilliance for long, even if today that isn’t the case. He takes the camera Hei Xiazi had sent as a gag gift, and hangs the strap around his neck, not particularly worried about how it might weigh him down—after all, the most dangerous things around here are the goats, and they don’t usually attack, nor can they climb trees, so he has an escape route if he ever needs one.

He goes into the woods the next day, as well as the one after that. The others think they’re being sneaky, but the back of Wu Xie’s had has a smear of frosting on it when he gets back one day, and the next, Pangzi comes back from a trip into the city with a packet of birthday candles hidden at the bottom of the bag of necessities they can’t get from the village market. Pangzi hurries him out of the kitchen (“I heard a noise, go check that that old crow isn’t back.”) in an attempt to make sure he doesn’t see them, but Xiaoge’s gaze is sharper than he gives him credit for. They are trying so hard to hide whatever it is from him, and while it isn’t working, Xiaoge can’t help but feel a warm, sunglow affection curling beneath his ribs at their attempts.

It all comes to head about four days after the initial morning where he had noticed it. He comes back from the woods with a half dozen photos of wildlife, and only has a moment to step over the threshold before Wu Xie is rushing up to him and exclaiming, “Xiaoge! Close your eyes!”, which is all the warning he gets before Wu Xie is raising his hands to block his view. Amused, Xiaoge allows him to do so, closing his own eyes as he slips the camera strap off. Wu Xie, realising that he’s not looking, takes the camera from him, with the order to stay where he is. Xiaoge does as told, breathing evenly as he waits—an action which draws in the scent of burning wax. So that’s where the candles went, he muses.

A few moments later, Wu Xie bustles back, and takes him by the hand to lead him down the hall and towards the kitchen. It’s sweet, that Wu Xie bothers—Xiaoge could probably navigate their home deaf and blind, just from muscle memory, but the fact that Wu Xie takes the time to carefully lead him along, warning him to avoid various obstacles, is sweet. When they reach the kitchen, Wu Xie makes him sit down in the large chair in front of the window, and Pangzi says, “Okay, you can open your eyes,” and when Xiaoge does, he’s met with the sight of a slightly-lopsided black-frosted cake with gold accents that may have once been attempts at flowers, but which resemble more piles of stones.

“Happy homecoming!” Wu Xie exclaims, grinning, and takes a seat next to Pangzi on the other chair.

“Go on, blow the candles out!” Pangzi encourages, smiling as well. There’s fifteen candles—one, Xiaoge realises, for each year since he’s returned from beyond the Bronze Gate. The flames flicker cheerily, wax running slowly down the sides.

It’s moments like these—Wu Xie’s leg pressing against his own, Pangzi’s hand finding his under the table, the affection clear in their expressions—that remind him of the enormous love that lays between them, sometimes barely noticeable from how accustomed he is to it, but awe-inspiring as soon as it catches his attention again. He can’t help but smile as he leans forward to blow out the candles, and Wu Xie and Pangzi cheer, before Pangzi gets up to bustle around for a knife to cut the cake, and the sunlight is spilling in through the window and illuminating everything in a soft glow, and—nothing in life is perfect, not really, but this comes close.

[puppy-phum]

pingxie thoughts (and prayers) pt. 1

i’m trying to make a series of my random thoughts on ultimate note pingxie (i might go to other versions too but who knows when). idk if this fandom really needs my two cents but here yall go either way. at least i get my screams out of my chest. (apologizing if my english breaks bc of my feels, this really isn’t my first language) 

The Jacket Scene 

This is about the scene where Xiaoge, Pangzi and Panzi discover Wu Laosi’s body with Wu Xie’s coat covering it and what happens before, during and after that scene. I had some thoughts on how this one moment connects the things that happened in the previous episodes, and what Pingxie seems like after this very small but significant ordeal. (placing under cut bc this is long. with some pics!)

The thing is, with this whole drama, that we’ve rarely seen the worried side of Xiaoge before this. We have seen him coming in and sweeping Wu Xie off of his feet and rescuing him from whatever situation the boy has put himself into but we rarely see his worry. And throughout Ultimate Note, we finally see a lot of that. (this post by @jockvillagersonly​ already talks about the snake egg scene and all the worry so I guess I don’t have to get into detail here.) But, ever since the beginning of this, ever since Xiaoge once again sweeps Wu Xie right off of his feet (figuratively) in Golmud Sanatorium, he shows a lot of concern towards Wu Xie. Though he gets it out in varying ways but. Let’s not blame him for that, shall we? 

First of all, he doesn’t want to rope Wu Xie into coming with them on this journey; he very blatantly wishes Wu Xie to turn back and leave. It sounds a bit rude and Wu Xie reads very wrongly into it. It’s just that Xiaoge doesn’t want Wu Xie to get hurt on yet another journey. He just wants Wu Xie to be safe and where does that lead him? Into worrying.

So, what gives us this jacket scene in the end is that even if Xiaoge holds very tightly onto his feelings and doesn’t talk about them or, god forbid, show them (especially to Wu Xie if they’re related to him), other ppl are still very much aware (e.g. Hei Xiazi, A-Ning and Pangzi). Example: When A-Ning talks with Wu Xie about him joining this expedition, she states that she doesn’t care about Wu Xie’s life but Xiaoge does (which,,, Wu Xie looks flabbergasted. Poor soul). She sees what Wu Xie, unfortunately and infuriatingly, does not. He understands Xiaoge’s silent and somehow reluctant care. 

All of this then means that when Wu Xie’s team goes missing as they explore the shipwreck (or they just can’t contact ppl with their radios anymore bc of reasons), Xiaoge is absolutely losing his shit. He is already doing this before that (cue the scene with Hei Xiazi a lot earlier, in the pic above) but this is his last straw. He flees the camp to go look for Wu Xie, all his deals be damned. He might look cool and composed while doing this but his eyes are very telling. He is losing his fucking mind and no normal guy stands in his way (Wu Laosi being the one in his way is somehow so ironic in the light of what’s about to happen).

Then Pangzi and Panzi walk in, taking Xiaoge with them. And I find it so very amazing that Pangzi is able to see right through Xiaoge. But this knowledge is comfortable, caring. Pangzi might speak about Xiaoge’s worry in a teasing way but it’s how he goes at these things. And with Pangzi, Xiaoge can show his worry (even if he’s being emo about it and sucks it in like the cool guy he is bc… idk my dudes, maybe for the same reason he doesn’t even look at Wu Xie when he gives him that compass in the desert, boy has problems ok). He’s safe with Pangzi who doesn’t force Xiaoge into admitting his feelings but shows him how ridiculous he’s being bc of course they can worry about Wu Xie. They’re all worried about Wu Xie.

Then, after all the wandering in Devil’s City, they finally get to the shipwreck and there’s a camp but! Surprise! It’s full of corpses. Killed by corpse bugs. And then we see Wu Laosi (A-Ning’s right-hand man? I think?) wearing Wu Xie’s jacket. Xiaoge spots the jacket like a blood hound, drawn to it in an instant. And we as viewers know that it’s not Wu Xie laying there, that he’s long gone and having a not-so-fun adventure through the Devil’s City with A-Ning, but our guys do not. Xiaoge does not. We can see how his face freezes as he notices the body and then goes to look at it. He doesn’t even touch it, he just stares. Pangzi has to pull the jacket off of the body bc Xiaoge is too shocked to move.

And maybe he does know that it’s not Wu Xie (like he lets Pangzi think later bc he’s Cool and Collected) bc he’s just so accustomed to that body but. For a second he really does believe. And if we think about him earlier, when he was saving Wu Xie from the desert, his first words for Wu Xie who regains his consciousness were, “Sorry, I was late.” Bc he wasn’t there early enough to prevent Wu Xie from collapsing and being in pain. He wasn’t there early enough to keep Wu Xie from harm. And at this moment here, Xiaoge comes to remember that perhaps, comes to think about how he might actually be late one day. He thinks about it so intensely and it makes him so frustrated that he just furiously slices that stray corpse bug into half with his sword (even if it has no point when Pangzi and Panzi already have their knives out and ready to go). He’s just so mad about the thought of someone or something harming Wu Xie and him not being there to prevent it that Xiaoge, our Poker Face, has a temper tantrum. What a day this has been for him. Might consider other emotions after a couple more years, it’s becoming exhausting and I feel him on that. 

But then this just leads us to the overwhelming protectiveness we see during their journey in the jungle before they get to the Heavenly Queen Mother’s Palace (and Xiaoge goes to the jade meteorite and forgets everything but let’s stay in this happy-ish place still). We see him attending to every tiny movement of Wu Xie. He’s there to steady Wu Xie when he stumbles, he’s there to keep branches off of his face, helps him to cut down damn vines. There’s that egg removal scene with overwhelming fear. There’s the snake repelling mud and them sleeping in that tent. There’s Xiaoge catching Wu Xie from mid air more than once. He just... pours over, in a sense. Suddenly, he’s come to face the mortality of this boy he travels with and he’s painfully aware that he is the reason why Wu Xie is there in the first place. Wu Xie even states it himself when he’s yelling at Pangzi about lying to him when he said he was going to Beijing. Wu Xie says he’s the only one who’s in Devil’s City and on this journey just for his own accord (and at this moment, Xiaoge knows it also means he’s the reason bc Wu Xie has promised him things). 

It’s a horrible thing to know for Xiaoge. And I think this jacket scene just brings out all of that, reminds Xiaoge of why he didn’t want Wu Xie here in the first place but had to accept his involvement still. Reminds him of what he can still try to prevent as he was given this chance. Wu Xie really becomes his first priority here, and it shows up even starker in the way he puts Wu Xie’s survival over his own mission while working with Chen Wenjin. He outright refuses to do things before Wu Xie is safe. He somehow accepts, silently determined as he is, that there’s no other option for him anymore. He’s stuck with Wu Xie as strongly as Wu Xie has stated that he’s stuck with him. And sometimes I just wonder how many times Xiaoge must’ve seen nightmares of Wu Xie dying, especially after the scare this one simple jacket gave him. How many times he blamed himself for those. How many more times he wanted to apologize for being late (bc maybe one day he would have to tell that to Wu Xie’s corpse).   

[elletromil]

So last prompt for @unexpected-nightview (or at least last from this particular series of prompts XD)

Since it was left up to me, I decided on no ship (at least not in the forefront) and to play a bit with two characters I think could have a super interesting dynamic

--

“You’re a terrible cook.”

Tiezui walks into the kitchen just in time to put out the fire.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Food,” Zhang Qiling succinctly explains in his habitual manner, as he lets Tiezui push him away from the stove.

Tiezui stares at the still smoking pan now resting at the bottom of the sink for a short moment before looking back at the other man.

“Aiya, Xiaoge,” he shakes his head in saddened disbelief, “ to qualify as ‘food’, it needs to be edible.”

Zhang Qiling shrugs lightly, apparently unconcerned by such mores.

“You’re a terrible cook,” Tiezui snorts, amused in spite of himself and judging from the slight tilt of his head, Zhang Qiling doesn’t dispute the claim.

Now he understands why Wang Pangzi had threatened Zhang Qiling so colourfully whenever he approached the kitchen the few days Tiezui had had to share a safe house with the Iron Triangle a couple of years ago.

If this is the usual result of Zhang Qiling’s attempts at cooking, he can see the wisdom in such a strong reaction.

And while their situation isn’t as dire as the last time, Tiezui would still rather not burn this house down before Rishan and Wu Xie find their way to them.

“I guess we’re lucky I’m not.”

Another shrug and Tiezui gets the distinct impression that, edible or not, Zhang Qiling would have eaten whatever burnt mess he would have ended up with.

It’s a wonder he hasn’t died from food poisoning yet.

Tiezui quickly rummage through the fridge and pantry, selecting ingredients for something quick but filling. He doesn’t eat that much himself, especially not when he’s still worried for his husband, but he remembers that Zhang Qiling is something akin to a black hole when it comes to food.

The nice thing about staying in one of Xie Yuchen’s safe-houses is that there is a surprising amount of fresh produce to choose from. Not that he would have snubbed instant food or cans, but Rishan has rather spoiled him over the last two years when it comes to home-cooked meals.

He sets his ingredients on the counter and push the vegetables towards Zhang Qiling along with a cutting knife. “Come on, you’re on chopping duty.”

His eyes widen with surprise at the gentle order, before eyeing the knife dubiously.

“Come on,” Tiezui insists, “I’ve seen what you can do with a blade. You can definitely chop some vegetables. You’ll get to eat faster if you help.”

Zhang Qiling looks up from the knife to stare at him, silently expressing his skepticism at Tiezui’s faith in his skills.

It’s a mistake.

He’s trying too hard to sell the narrative of his ineptitude and unfortunately for him, Tiezui is neither Wu Xie nor Wang Pangzi. He doesn’t get fooled easily, even by a Zhang.

Yes, everyone has their own limitations in life. But you don’t get to live as long as Zhang Qiling without picking a few basic skills. Even with the memory loss, the other man is stubborn enough that he’d quickly learn again whatever he’s forgotten.

And while the Iron Triangle spend a lot of time together, it’s a known fact that Zhang Qiling sometimes goes off on his own for extended period of times. And Tiezui rather doubts there would be that many people willing to feed him during those expeditions of his. Or that Zhang Qiling would even trust anyone enough to accept their food.

“Don’t worry, even if you help, your secret is safe with me,” Tiezui reassures him with a roll of his eyes. “Anyway, even if I told them, I don’t think it would change anything. They like being able to take care of you too much for that.”

That’s one of the first thing anyone notices about the Iron Triangle. How much they care about each other. In a tomb, it’s slightly more obvious with Zhang Qiling’s propensity to push the other two behind him and take head on whatever is threatening them on his own, but that’s only part of it.

If you were to ask Tiezui, what really shows the level of Zhang Qiling’s commitment to his two friends is his willingness to let them take care of him. It’s in how he accepts them worrying over him, even if they all know that there’s very little that is actually a challenge to him. It’s in the small contented smiles he can’t never quite hide from someone watching closely whenever Wu Xie and Wang Pangzi nags at him to eat or sleep more.

Tiezui is used to the Zhangs. He’s married to one after all.

They don’t like having to rely on anyone but themselves. They don’t like appearing weak.

A Zhang willingly showing any kind of vulnerability is a show of trust. It’s a proof of devotion.

It’s just too bad that they’re so emotionally stunted. They never completely realise that the people who want to take care of them understand that perfectly. They never realise that those same people would rather rip their own heart out of their chest than to ever betray them.

“It’s either that or you wash the dishes afterwards.”

There’s the tiniest moue of disgust appearing on his face before Zhang Qiling picks up the knife and Tiezui wisely says nothing.

They work in silence for a minute or two before Tiezui starts chattering about this and that, unperturbed by the lack of response from his companion. That he is staying at all to help is acknowledgement enough from any Zhang he’s ever known.

[bowsie22]

There is no love without suffering

Xiaoge and Wu Xie finally meet

Wu Xie loved his family. Well, most of them. His grandmother was a woman to be feared, but she also kissed all his childhood injuries and cared for him when he was sick. His Ershu was, for all intents and purposes, a gangster. But Wu Xie knew that if anyone even looked at him wrong, his Ershu would deal with that person within the hour. That probably shouldn’t have been as comforting as it was.

And then there was Sanshu. For all that Wu Xie loved the man, he could admit that Sanshu had some shortcomings. Sure, his uncle was responsible for bringing him to tombs and introducing him to the family business. But he was also responsible for multiple panic attacks, random attacks from strange men and Wu Xie nearly dying in tombs. So, the bad outweighed the good.

And then Sanshu asked Wu Xie and Pangzi to join him on a job, a big one. Desperate to get away from his Ershu’s matchmaking attempts, Wu Xie agreed and Pangzi and he were gone within two days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So do we know who your uncle has with him?” Wu Xie looked up from his notebook where he was sketching the train station they had just left. “Well, we can assume Pan Zi. After that I have no idea. You think he tells me things like that?” Pangzi laughed, knowing his young friend was right. Sanshu shared only what he thought was necessary. Unfortunately for everyone else, that tended to be the bare minimum. Deciding not to worry about it, Wu Xie closed his notebook, taking out a pack of cards. Fleecing Pangzi in poker sounded a lot more fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wu Xie had missed Pan Zi’s hugs, they really were the best. He had also missed Pan Zi, the man was more of an uncle to him than his actual uncle sometimes. Over Pan Zi’s shoulder he saw a man. He was young, attractive(very attractive), wearing black and staring at Wu Xie, dark eyes sending a shiver through the man’s body. Who was that? Pan Zi, noticing the distraction, gestured the young man to approach. “Wu Xie, this is Xiaoge. Your uncle hired him to guide us through the tomb.” Shaking the other man’s hand, Wu Xie winced at the strong grip. He could feel callouses, the sword over the other man’s shoulder explaining them. “Nice to meet you Xiaoge.” The man nodded, dropping Wu Xie’s hand, moving to stand at the edge of the camp, back turned to the group. What an odd man. Attractive though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xiaoge had never felt like this before. When Sanxing had told him that Wu Xie, his nephew, would be joining them, Xiaoge had been annoyed. Another person to protect, someone else to waste their time. And then the man had arrived to camp. He was cute. Slim, messy hair, glasses almost too big for his face. He was adorable and Xiaoge was drawn to him for some reason, staring as Pan Zi pulled the young man into a hug. Damn, he was glad that Xiazi wasn’t here to see this, the man would never let him live this down. Walking over when Pan Zi called him, Xiaoge accepted the handshake. Wait, was that? No, no way. It couldn’t be. He tightened his grip, needing to make sure. And there it was. A line of scar tissue across Wu Xie’s palm, exactly where Xiaoge cut every time he needed blood. This was his soulmate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This Xiaoge guy was kind of intense. He had spent the entire trek to and through the tomb at Wu Xie’s side, pulling him away from traps and dangers. Wu Xie was slightly concerned that his shoulder was dislocated at this stage. Sanshu was ahead of them, concentrating on the map in his hands, Pan Zi holding the torch for him. Pangzi was at their back, holding back a laugh every time Xiaoge grabbed Wu Xie. He really knew his Tianzhen too well, aware that the younger man was more than happy about the constant touching. Overall, it had been an easy tomb, the traps easy enough, nothing too dangerous. The five men were relaxed, making their way slowly through the tomb. And then they heard the rustling, the sound of feet skittering across the floor. Wu Xie knew what that meant, having dealt with these things more than once. Shibie. Dangerous, fast, he knew they couldn’t outrun them. Sanshu stepped back, pushing Xiaoge in front of the group. “Well, do your thing, this is why we brought you with us.” What? What was Xiaoge going to do? He could see the shibie now, moving as a large group towards them. There was a lot of them, how could one man handle them? He watched Xiaoge remove a glove and unsheathe his sword. Wait, he wasn’t going to do what Wu Xie thought he was going to do, was he? Waiting until the last possible moment, Xioge moved, his sword cutting through his palm and blood flying through the air. It created a barrier between the group and shibie, who refused to cross it. As the blade cut through Xiaoge’s palm, Wu Xie had a moment of realisation. Oh shit, he thought as pain lanced through his palm and blood started dripping. This is his soulmate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trip out of the tomb was a lot less relaxed. Pangzi bandaged up a shocked Wu Xie’s hand, while Pan Zi looked after Xiaoge. Sanshu was silent, staring between his nephew and his soulmate, muttering something under his breath. Reaching camp, Pangzi and Pan Zi dragged Sanshu to the river, close enough to hear an attack, but far enough that Wu Xie and Xiaoge could talk. Wu Xie lit the fire, avoiding eye contact with the other man. He knew they needed to talk about this, but how did he start? This was the man who he thought was being abused as a child, the man he was determined to save. And now here he was, his soulmate in front of him. “So, you’re my soulmate huh?” Xiaoge nodded. Huh, a man of few words. If Pangzi were here he’d make some stupid comment about Wu Xie having more than enough words for the two of them. Sighing, Wu Xie pulled Xiaoge to sit beside him. Pan Zi was great at many things, first aid was not one of them.

He unwrapped the sloppily tied bandage and opened the first aid kit from his bag. He wiped the wound clean, rubbing on antibiotic cream. He had never been this nervous doing first aid before, but then he also had never had his soulmate staring at him. God, those eyes could really see into his soul, couldn’t they? He tied off the bandage, not letting go of Xiaoge’s hand. He stroked a gentle finger along the wound, not sure what to say. “Wu Xie.” He looked up, blushing at the softness in those dark eyes. “Wu Xie.” What was this? “Are you just saying my name?” The older man smiled, a small, beautiful thing. “I like your name, my soulmate’s name. I finally know it, I want to say it as much as I can.” Wu Xie blushed, not expecting the silent man to be so sweet. They still had a lot to talk about but he figured, as Xiaoge pulled him into a gentle kiss, that there would be plenty of time for talking later. Right now he just wanted to enjoy being held in his soulmate’s arms.