wraithvault

Rating: T
Categories: M/M
Fandom: 盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV)
Relationship: Liu Sang/Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling
Characters: Liu Sang (DMBJ Series), Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie (DMBJ Series), Wang Pangzi
Additional Tags: Ficlet, Pre-Slash, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Poly, Flowers, Fluff
Status: Complete
Wordcount: 1374
Published on AO3: 2022-03-13

Notes: Flufftober 2021: Day 19 - Flowers

Disclaimer: I do not own 盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot or any associated trademarks.

It's not that Liu Sang thought that Wu Erbai would never hire him again, because Liu Sang is the best at what he does and they both know it, but rather that he didn't think Wu Xie would trust him enough to go into a tomb with him. There's a difference between working together because you need to, or even saving someone because you know they'd be hurt if you didn't, and voluntarily putting yourself into a vulnerable position with someone you know has abused that before.

So he kind of didn't think that this would happen again. This being, exploring a tomb with Wu Xie. But—it goes fine? Liu Sang listens and does his job and he doesn't actually stick around in the tomb itself longer than he needs to map it out. That's not what he's being paid for and if he's going to risk his life (and with Wu Xie in a tomb, he'd come to understand, there was always a risk) than he would do so after his salary had been agreed upon.

So he drags himself through a very dark tunnel, getting out the same way he came in, and then spends the next four days just loitering around in case the raid goes south and his help is needed. It's not. Everything goes fine.

It's honestly kind of unsettling.

When Wu Xie, Zhang Qiling and Pangzi finally come out, they're all covered in dust and dirt. Liu Sang stays out of their way, figuring that there's no need for him to come any closer now that he can tell that they're alright. They seem in high spirits, too, smiling as they chat. Liu Sang kind of wants to turn away, but he also wants to see them being happy and safe, and confirm with his own eyes that he hasn't screwed things up this time.

Well, not that he'd really been apart of this adventure. But still. Better to be safe.

As the calm settles over the camp with their safe return (and quite a few pieces of treasures, too), Liu Sang sits on a log and picks the flowers by his feet. They're pretty enough, he supposes, the color somewhere between purple and pink. He doesn't smell them, but the leaves are soft in his hands as he spins them around.

Zhang Qiling is approaching, which is bad enough on its own, but Wu Xie is following not that far behind. For a second, Liu Sang debates if he should move, but then—no. No, he'd done his job well, this time. There's nothing to be dissatisfied about.

So he stays put, passively tracking their movements as they get closer. And when Zhang Qiling is close enough that Liu Sang assumes he can hear him as well, he calls, "Have you come to pick flowers for Wu Xie, ouxiang?"

There's no reaction from Wu Xie, so presumably he can't hear Liu Sang yet. Zhang Qiling doesn't respond, not even his heartbeat reacting, even though Liu Sang is sure that he can hear him. So he grumbles a little, but settles down to wait and keep picking flowers. When he has enough of them, he pulls a hairband off his wrist and twines it around them, resulting in a very poor-looking flower bouquet.

He's frowning at it when Zhang Qiling steps into the clearing and doesn't say a word, as is his habit. Liu Sang looks from the improvised flower bouquet to Zhang Qiling and back again, his frown only growing heavier.

"You didn't stay," Zhang Qiling says at last, moving slowly like he's trying not to spook a small animal. The mere thought is kind of humiliating and Liu Sang dutifully glares at him. But it fizzles out quickly enough, that glare, his ouxiang just not someone he can successfully glare it. It's kind of unfair.

"I wasn't paid to stay," he says, nudging his foot against some other flowers. He glances at his bouquet and decides that he might as well, and so bends down to grab a few more.

Zhang Qiling almost sounds fond when he says, "You could have stayed anyway."

Liu Sang's lips twitch at that, and then he turns to face Wu Xie who's just stumbling out of the treeline. Straightening up, he undoes the band holding his bouquet together and begins to put the new flowers in. "Would you have trusted me if I stayed in the tomb with you, Wu Xie?" he asks, focusing his gaze on the flowers.

"Yes," Wu Xie answers, easily, not a moment's hesitation, not a single tremble to his voice, not a skip in his heartbeat. Liu Sang doesn't look up, but he doesn't need to. He can hear Zhang Qiling sitting down on the log beside him, can hear Wu Xie hitting Zhang Qiling's shoulder until Zhang Qiling gives in and scoots over enough to make room for Wu Xie, too.

As a result, Zhang Qiling is plastered against Liu Sang's whole side. Liu Sang shudders at that, his heart doing a complicated summersault in his chest, and his breath hitching in his throat. Zhang Qiling must have noticed it, he's too good to not have.

He licks his lips and binds his new bouquet together.Then he has a homemade—shabbily-made—flower bouquet in his hands, and no idea what to do with it. It seems like a shame to just drop it back on the ground (plus, it has one of his favorite hairbands on it, which he did not properly think through) but it would be silly to keep it with him. And it does look really sad and loopy, not exactly something to his taste.

"Here," he throws the thing over Zhang Qiling's head, watches out of the corner of his eyes how Wu Xie snags the thing out of the air. "You can have it," he adds imperiously, already beginning to suspect that it was a bad idea.

But Wu Xie simply smiles at him, says, "Thank you," and holds the flowers to his chest.

Zhang Qiling glances at the flowers, then at Liu Sang, then bends down to pick up flowers. He doesn't make the same mistake that Liu Sang did, doesn't try to make the small flowers into a bouquet. Rather, he twists them together until he has the beginnings of a flower crown in his hands, the flowers purple and pink and white.

Wu Xie ooh's and aah's over it, leaning shamelessly against Zhang Qiling to watch him work. Liu Sang crushes that spark of jealousy in his chest ruthlessly, determined not to fall into that trap again. Instead, he listens to the sound of the flowers twisting and turning and being braided together, of Zhang Qiling's calm breaths and steady heartbeat. The sounds flow into each other effortlessly, a calming symphony.

Liu Sang unconsciously focuses on them, his hearing not narrowing down (hearing doesn’t work like that, fool) but his attention waning to other sounds. He lets the sounds of Zhang Qiling’s and Wu Xie’s heartbeat surround him, feels the push and pull of their voices as Wu Xie speaks at length and Zhang Qiling grunts.

(The thing is, Liu Sang thought he’d ruined this. It’s his own fault, and he’s not afraid to admit it, but... he assumed, with the way things ended... well, he’d just assumed.)

He heard the sound of Wu Xie tearing up flowers, and so when he hands over a bouquet to Zhang Qiling, Liu Sang glances over to see the result. It’s not—much better than Liu Sang’s, at least. But Zhang Qiling holds it to his chest likes its the most precious thing in the world. Then Wu Xie throws another bouquet over Zhang Qiling, the man bending so it actually gets over his head, and Liu Sang catches it on reflex.

His hand almost crushes it. He blinks at the flowers, then at Zhang Qiling, then at Wu Xie. Wu Xie merely grins at him, bright and happy and—

Fuck.

“Thank you,” he mutters, looking away. He can hear Wu Xie’s heart skipping a beat, can sense the quiet satisfaction radiating from Zhang Qiling, can feel Wu Xie’s gaze on him.

He holds the flowers tighter.