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The man carrying him was trying to hold back on cussing.
He could practically feel the words bubbling right under the surface of the other man’s skin, but he was keeping them in for his sake, so his poor ears wouldn’t suffer further abuse.
The old wooden gate was opened very slowly to reduce the squeaking of the hinges. Despite the quick and hurried steps the large man had taken so far, he was very gentle with his hold on him and careful not to jostle him around too much.
A soft whine escaped him as he nuzzled more into the warmth the man radiated and he didn’t imagine the near stumble of the other at the action.
Despite his weakened condition it made a part of him sing in satisfaction that he still had this kind of effect.
“You really have the worst of luck, huh?” the man mumbled, carefully dragging a finger over the drenched fur of his back.
Bad luck was putting things mildly.
A sneeze was suddenly jerked out of him, followed by his body breaking into shivers.
Fury soared through his veins for a moment, before it was gone again, too darn cold to focus on anything else yet.
Pangzi seemed to realize the problem as well, as he removed one hand and fiddled around, before Liu Sang was suddenly removed from his warm cave, making him give a loud yelp of protest. In the next moment he was pressed against one of the less hideous knockoff shirts and then the leather jacket was carefully zipped up, leaving only his head peeking out and – oh. Oh! This was very warm.
Immediately in a better mood, he tucked his head in and under and then wiggled around a bit more for a better position. A soft chuckle rumbled through the man carrying him. “Careful, that tickles.”
His ears immediately pricked up at that and a wicked expression appeared on his foxy face. So Pangzi DID have a spot where he was ticklish. Just to make sure he remembered it right, he innocently pressed a paw into his side, instantly make the other jerk a little in reaction, which in return jostled his leg enough to hurt and he hissed.
“Ah, shit. Sorry, sorry. We are nearly there, then I can take a better look.” the other apologized, even thought this one was Liu Sang’s own fault.
Another door gave a little sound that made him flinch, before a hand was back caressing his head and soothing him, making his eyelids grow heavier.
The magic was gone when he heard a faucet being turned and water sloshing out. Oh no! He had enough of this wetness! He refused to be drenched even more!
Even with only three legs he still managed to weasel his way out of the warm trap that had lured him into a sense of comfort and safety. Pangzi gave a startled yelp, before starting to cuss after all, when Liu Sang slapped him in the face with his soggy tail as he jumped of his shoulder.
The landing could have gone better, jarring his injuried limb a little, but there was nothing to be done about that at this point.
“What’s gotten into you? Is this still the little bit of mushroom Wu Xie feed you?” the male complained and made as if to grab for him.
A warning growl followed by a snarl escaped him and he whipped his tail threatening over the floor. No. More. Water.
The effect was ruined by a little breeze causing him to shiver and sneeze once again.
“Oh Sang-er.” the man sighed before crouching down next to him. “I need to clean your wound to get a good look at it. After we can get you all warm, dry and clean, hm?”
That… did sound tempting.
But.
His eyes narrowed and he yapped angrily at the other. He was already cold and wet enough!
Wang Panzi let him rage his heart out for a while, before sighing and drawing his eyebrows in a frown. “You know… I really can’t understand you in this form.”
Hmph! Excuses!
But fine!
Let’s see what his excuses were, when the form wasn’t his distracting, adorable little fox self!
He felt his fur withdraw, while his body grew, limbs in particular lengthening. A pain shoot through his leg as he straightened up and stood on two human legs, but it wasn’t bad enough to distract him of the other’s face, enjoying his look of surprise as he leaned in, wrapping his arms around his neck. “How is now? Can you understand me?” he whispered into his ear and lightly trailed his fingers over the short hair at the back of his neck, enjoying the shiver running through the man.
“I… Yeah...”, the other managed to get out as he pulled back to look him in the face. “You… You got ears. And a tail.”
Liu Sang blinked, one of the pointy tips twitching, before he tilled his head and gave a small chuckle. “Well, I AM a fox. Of course I do.”
“Yes. I know. When you are a fox. I didn’t know you could have them in your human form too.” Pangzi replied, his eyes glued to the additional pair of ears standing tall on his head.
His words made Liu Sang contemplate for a moment, if he really hadn’t shown his partner this form yet. Huh. That might actually be true.
“You can touch them, you know. I’ll even show you how to do so properly.”, he grinned as he snuggled back up to steal some more warmth that radiated of the other. “Once you’ve upheld your promise of drying, warming and cleaning me up!”
His words seemed to shake the other out of his daze and made him chuckle. “Alright, alright. A cold and wet fox is an unhappy fox, got it, got it. I swear, I spoil the three of you too much. Alright come here, let me just wrap you up in this big fluffy towel here.” the man commented, while wrapping him up in a pre-warmed cloth, fresh off the heather. Right after he stripped out of his leather jacket and draped it over his slim shoulders and pulled the long red-brown hair out of the collar, letting it flop back on top of the jacket, but no longer run wet rivets down his back.
“There you go. Now take a seat and hold still for a bit, while I’m going to check your leg.”
His ‘seat’ was the closed toilet, something he didn’t appreciate a lot, especially given the fact, that the smooth surface seemed to suck all the warmth from his towel and felt cold when part of his leg bumped against the porcelain.
Callused hands carefully wrapped around his left lower leg and drew it up, making him automatically till back for balance.
Pangzi was critically eyeing the puncture wounds, where red liquid was still oozing out. “I’m afraid these will need stitches.” he stated, while absently patting the unharmed smooth skin over his ankle.
Stitches?! “No.” he denied it, shaking his head and crossing his arms. “Don’t want them.”
“Liu Sang.” the other started, but he shook his head again. “No. They’ll scar!”
“Better scars then having holes. C’mon, you’ll still be pretty.” the other coaxed, only making him frown and pout even more. “Don’t want them!” he huffed, his tail making an attempt to puff out, but was still too wet, so he used it to make angry slapping sounds instead.
“I’m afraid there aren’t really any alternatives.” Pangzi tried again.
Hmph. Fool. “Give me some of your breath and I’ll fix it myself!”
“My breath?” echoed the other for a moment, before he seemed to remember what he’d done with the other two before and chuckled. “You want to kiss? Sure. You cold have just sai-”
Just kiss? Liu Sang rolled his eyes before diving right in, interrupting his speech. He didn’t need much. Just a little.
A sigh escaped him as the other opened his mouth for him after the initial surprise and he sucked the energy in, enjoying it’s flow and how it prickled under his skin, traveled through his body to settle around the still bleeding wound.
As he pulled back, his lips curved up, seeing the slightly dazed look on Pangzi’s face and trailed a thumb over the side of his face to bring him back.
“Wow. That was different than usual.” this one commented a moment later, after blinking a couple of times.
He made a soft hum, before leaning in again for another one. This one was softer, less punishing and he felt arms wrapping around his middle as the other pressed close, warming up his skin.
By the time they kissed, he felt warm and tingly for a different reason than the other’s warmth and couldn’t help but lick his lips.
“Feeling impish today, are you not?” the physically older man grinned, before pressing a kiss on top of his nose, laughing when he wrinkled it in reflex.
“I’m a fox.” he huffed, as if that explained it.
“Uh-uh.” Pangzi agreed, booping him on the nose next, before drawing him even tighter into his arms. “My fox. Well, ours. You knew we were a three in one package from the start.”
Liu Sang rolled his eyes and gave a huff himself, but didn’t stop himself from pulling the other close and tucking his head against the other’s shoulder and neck.
A hand was trailing down his leg and he felt him shift against him to take a look, followed by a whistle and some more caressing of smooth and soft skin.
“Pretty handy trick you got there.” he commented, before pausing and frowning a little. “Any reason why you don’t normally use this to heal?”
The long haired youth shrugged a little and wiggled for a more comfortable position – the lid of the toilet was not comfortable after all. “Can only do it as a fox.” he muttered. “And I don’t show that side of myself to just about anyone. Besides. Those old buildings with their feng shui and whatnot often have their own enchantments. Some are powerful enough to limit my powers, even if I wanted to use them.”
“Thunder City?” Pangzi guessed, making him shiver and nod. He didn’t have many good memories about that place, but one made him grin all of sudden.
“Are you even aware” he started with a wide smile that instantly made the other wary. “That you pretty much proposed to me with those nuts?”
The other mouth’s dropped and his arms flailed a little. “Wait? What?! How?! Why?!”
“You protected me, cared for me and then provided food when I was injured which also doubled as a token of affection, after spending a certain amount of time with me together.” Liu Sang enjoyed informing him with delight dancing in his eyes, while watching the other male flush.
It was rare enough to make the other go speechless, but here he was, archiving a feat worthy of praise.
The tiny squeak that came from the other made it even more delightful, before he suddenly got serious, instantly making him so as well. Was there danger?
His ears instantly stood at full attention, but he couldn’t pick anyone else up nearby. Not even Wu Xie or his Ouxiang returning – which frankly was a bit annoying, shouldn’t they have found and dealt with the asshole setting up traps on their privat grounds yet?
“Liu Sang.” the other started, instantly getting his full attention. “Seeing how you accepted my token of affection back then… Doesn’t that mean we are officially married?”
It was Liu Sang’s turn to stare, than squawk. “It doesn’t count!” he claimed, pushing at the infuriating male’s shoulders for some distance and crossing his arms underneath the leather jacket still wrapped around his upper body. “Wu Xie made me take it!”
Pangzi didn’t seem to see it the same way, as he pulled him close again and pressed a kiss against his neck, making him squirm a little at the affectionate gesture. “But you kept them. I know you didn’t throw the away. Didn’t you even snap at Xiao Bai when they felt out of your pocket and she reached for them?”
“They were a gift!” he throw back haughtily, still refusing to look at him. “They were mine!”
He could practically feel the shit-eating grin spreading over the other’s lips against his skin, before he suddenly pulled away and gave his human ears a nip. “Your ears are all red, Sang-er?” the other practically sung, before squishing him close.
“C’mon.” he murmured then. “Being engaged to me isn’t that bad, is it?”
It wasn’t. But. With nuts! Didn’t the man realize the innuendo the gesture had? Besides, he wanted a proper proposal with something more worthy than… nuts.
“If you want this to count, then you better do this properly.” he grumbled, which didn’t seem to deter the man at all. “If it’s a proper courtship you want… that I can do.” he promised hotly against his skin, making him shiver.
“Let’s start right now, hm? I did promise you a bath, did I not? And then I shall cook us a feast.”
It shouldn’t fluster him as much as he did. It shouldn’t even affect him at all. But this was Pangzi, someone who’d managed to rile him up from the start without even trying much.
“Do what you will!”, he huffed, not yet ready to admit that yes, that sounded lovely and something he wanted.
“Very well then, your foxy highness.” the other laughed and easily lifted him into his arms to carry him over to the bathtub and shower him with not just warm, clean water, but also drown him in so much affections it made him squirm.
The level of affection the Iron Triangle practiced – not just as lovers, but also as friends – was still something he had yet to get used to.
His skin was still warm and tingling by the time he was seated at the dinner table, wrapped in the softest and fluffiest blankets, while Pangzi was happily humming away in his realm – the kitchen. As always the food smelled so delightful, that he could almost taste it in the air already.
It was then – just as the man was about to to finish up – that the other two came back.
“Ew, no offense guys, but you stink.” the cook protested, before his eyes narrowed. “Did you walk through the whole house with those dirty shoes?!”
Both man paused where they had been about to head straight for Liu Sang to check up on him, then slowly trailed their eyes down to the mud-caked boots.
“Uhm… no?” Wu Xie tried, before already starting to back away, while Xiaoge’s eyes darted between the man and the half-fox human and seemed to still be estimating if checking his fine-looking partner was worth the risk taking even one step further under his furious looking partner’s gaze.
In the end both were quick to withdraw to get showered and changed and the promise that they would clean the mess up themselves.
Pangzi only rolled his eyes and muttered some more, making the youth at the table grin and curl a bit deeper into the softness. They all know that even after the other two had cleaned their traces away spotless, sooner or later the larger man would still whip the floor down himself. It was just something he did. Like marking territory.
When the two returned, they weren’t stopped from taking a seat left and right of him this time and let them slid away the blankets to get a look and feel on his freshly healed leg.
He did however pout and turn his head away when they went for a kiss.
“You left me alone with Pangzi!” he complained.
“Yes?” Wu Xie asked confused, not getting the point. “Did he not treat you right?”
Liu Sang glared at him. What a stupid question! Out of all of them Pangzi was the only one who could be trusted to handle an injured person right!
Wu Xie was decent too, he supposed, but lacked a certain finesse, while Xiaoge was … very practical, even if he did always try to be more gentle with him and the others, than he was with himself.
“You left, while I was injured.” he huffed, hoping that he was getting the point across this time.
Xiaoge seemed to get the message this time, ducking his head a little in shame, but Wu Xie just had to be his oblivious self when it came to this.
“What he’s trying to say” Pangzi injected himself. “is that he would have preferred for you to prioritize spoiling him and kissing it better, rather than you two running off in anger and a thirst for revenge.”
Well… that wasn’t quite wrong, but the way his loudest partner worded it made him seem unreasonable, something he didn’t like at all.
At that moment the other’s eyes meet his and he saw a mischievous twinkling in them, making him raise an elegant eyebrow. What was the other up to now? “Especially with nothing to show in the end.”
Wu Xie’s shoulders dropped. “There wasn’t a trace of him at all. Whoever placed those traps either has done so long ago, or just slips in every once in a while to see whether there’s something in them.”
“Not the point, Wu Xie.” Pangzi smiled at him and shaking his head a little with a look of affection. “What Liu Sang wanted...” he drawled that part, glancing over at the fox and making the hairs at the back of his neck raise. “was a token of affection. Provided care and protection.” he listed making the heat raise to the fox’s cheeks as he realized what the other was up to. The hissed ‘Pangzi’ did little to deter the man thought and he looked proud and impish when he let the next part slip. “If you did, then perhaps I wouldn’t be the only one officially engaged to him.”
A mournful sound escaped Liu Sang, who let his head drop into his hands. He shouldn’t have said anything. Ever. There was only a road of regret awaiting him now, wasn’t it?”
The shrill squeak of “WHAT?!” that followed the moments of silence made his ears hurt again and he shifted without a second thought, sliding down the seat and onto the floor like liquid and about to skitter off, when a strong hand grabbed his middle and picked him up.
A whine escaped him as his Ouxiang pressed him against his chest, carefully but firmly holding him and looking at him with a dark, yet questioning gaze.
“Hey, careful with that, he only just fixed himself up.” Pangzi said, thought didn’t really mean it, fully enjoying himself as he explained what Liu Sang had let slip counted as proposal and that they were now courting.
“Change back.” the dark male demanded and the fox only hesitated for a moment before sighing and giving in, ending up sitting naked sideways over the other’s lap.
“If it’s a token of affection you need...”
The unfinished sentence was his only warning, before the other devoured his mouth – there was no other way to describe it and even that almost didn’t do it proper credit. The other wasn’t just kissing him thought, but also sharing his breath with him, filing him up with his own seemingly endless energy until his head was swimming from the sensation. It literally felt like Xiaoge was all under his skin, filling every nook and cranny.
“Let me pay you like this in installments… for the rest of our lives?”
Oh wow, the man certainly knew how to not just tempt, but get a fox.
Unable to stop himself, he gave a small breathless nod.
Beside them Wu Xie was whining. “If it’s food and affection it takes, I can do that too! Not as good as Pangzi or Xiaoge, but I want you to me mine as well!”
The words tinged with a hint of jealousy startled a chuckle out of them, before Liu Sang huffed. “No one wants your stinky tofu.”
At Wu Xie’s troubled and put out expression the fox realized that the other really was serious and concerned and sighed, before amending his words. “Rather than that, aren’t you providing a home already?” And buying him various stuff that he didn’t ask for, but wanted and appreciated. But he couldn’t bring himself to say that, not wanting to sound like he was after the third one in the triangle for his money.
His comment instantly made the Wu heir light up like a christmas tree, who then stood, bent over the table and slid his hand into his hair to till his head up into a kiss.
Xiaoge left them to it until Liu Sang broke away with a shudder as he was started to freeze without any blankets or clothes to cover him up.
“Right, put our fox back before he gets a cold.” Pangzi chuckled, while carrying the food over to the table. “You can use your bodies to warm him up later.”
“Don’t I get any say in this?” the redhead grumbled as he was placed back in his earlier nest of blankets and tucked in.
“Are you trying to say you don’t want that?”
“I might not.”
“L-i-a-r.”
“I said I ‘might’. Perhaps I’d just like to be asked first.”
Pangzi rolled his eyes and then turned to Wu Xie. “This is the last time you feed him one of those mushrooms unless it’s a controlled environment.”
“It was supposed to be!” the younger man instantly protested. “How could I know someone put trap on our land!” And then he pouted, crossing his arms before his chest, just a tiny little bit upset, making Pangzi poke his cheek and then grin as he leaned in to kiss it better.
“Don’t frown so much, or you’ll get wrinkles. Wouldn’t want to be the old looking one next to handsome me, do you?”
They kept bantering during the course of their meal, also drawing Xiaoge into it. Pangzi especially enjoyed pointing out the fact that Xiaoge was pretty much paying ‘the courtship fee’ with his body – and it was darn fine body, as anyone could tell.
By the end of the day they ended up on the couch, where Wu Xie ended up leaning into Xiaoge’s side, while Pangzi had his head on the oldest man’s lap and a curled up fox on his lap, who enjoyed soaking up his warmth and getting his fur patted.
Tomorrow, the Iron Triangle had secretly agreed, their courtship of their fox would truly begin.
Perhaps the head of the one who gotten him hurt would be a great start. Old fashioned but effective.