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Liu Sang wasn't eager to go to a bar after finishing up his latest job with the Iron Triangle, but Wu Xie had gotten more considerate the longer he had befriended the odd crew. It helps that his former Ouxiang and now boyfriend has no problem using his silent, judgmental stares when Wu Xie or Pangzi suggest a venue that would probably end up being overwhelming for Liu Sang. So there they are at a corner table in a small bar Liu Sang has been to at least once or twice when he was new to the city.
Early in his career he liked to go out and test his ability to cut out distractions but still successfully gather information. This had been a nice spot for that. It isn’t that loud and today it’s still too early for the late night crowd to make it uncomfortable.
Pangzi and Wu Xie are rambling on about a time in a tomb with giant flying bats. The way they are going on makes them both sound very daring, which makes Liu Sang glance over at Xiaoge every once in a while to get a nod or head shake when the pair make Pangzi sound way too smart or Wu Xie claims to have figured the tomb out way before they reached the final chamber.
"Then this trap went off out of nowhere!" Pangzi leans heavily on the table as he speaks.
"Wu Xie," Xiaoge chimes in without Liu Sang looking at him this time.
"What?"
"Wu Xie set it off."
The look of pure offense on Wu Xie's face makes Liu Sang hide his face behind his glass. It's only years of practice keeping a neutral expression that stops him from bursting out laughing. "How did I set that off? I was nowhere near him! And he was the one that ended up getting hit by that dart!"
"Pressure plate," is the only explanation Xiaoge gives. He glances over at Liu Sang. Seeing his boyfriend holding back laughter earns one of his barely noticeable smiles that few know how to spot. Liu Sang feels lucky to say he is now one of those people.
It's when they're enjoying this little moment between them as Wu Xie and Pangzi argue in the background about who exactly got hit with more darts that someone walks up to their table. "A-Sang?" The familiarity of the phrase brings everyone's attention to the newcomer that Liu Sang immediately recognizes.
"A-Wen!" Liu Sang smiles back at his old friend he hadn't seen since getting busy in the raiding business. He notices everyone's curious stares but Wu Xie and Pangzi being nosy could wait.
"I thought that was you! Even with your hair grown out you still look just as handsome as ever." The easy flirting had always been casual between the pair. Liu Sang hears the small shift of Xiaoge in the seat beside him. It’s almost unnoticeable the way Xiaoge sits up straighter. He puts his hand under the table near his boyfriend, whose hand immediately finds his and gives it a squeeze that Liu Sang returns.
"A-Wen, these are some friends of mine: Wu Xie and Pangzi, and my boyfriend: Zhang Qiling." He gestured with his free hand as he spoke. "This is Dong Wen."
Dong Wen nods her welcome to everyone but stops at Xiaoge, looking him up and down with an appreciative understanding. "Oh, very nice to meet you all. I'm glad to see A-Sang has come a long way from the loner that I knew him as."
"Hey," Liu Sang interrupts the teasing. "You thought I was pretty charming back in the day."
She laughs, shaking her head. "You were different enough to get my attention and proved to be good in bed. That does not mean you weren't a loner."
By now Wu Xie and Pangzi are staring at the two in shock. Pangzi keeps opening and closing his mouth like one of Wu Xie's old koi.
"Okay, fair enough. Fair enough." Liu Sang decides to spare the two from any more surprises this evening. When he looks at Xiaoge, Liu Sang is glad his boyfriend doesn't look upset. They had never really talked a lot about any of his exes. Sure, Xiaoge knew he had them but talking about them and running into one at a bar were two very different things. "How have you been? You finished your doctorate?"
Dong Wen grins proudly. "I did! You're actually looking at Professor Dong of the biomedical department."
"That's great! I'm so happy for you. Is it the research position you always wanted?"
"Still working towards actually running a lab of my own but I am in research yeah. And how about you? How is your vague business consulting going?"
Liu Sang chuckles. It had been a joke between them when he couldn't exactly explain what it was he did for work. Talking openly about the tomb raiding business or even the espionage that his talents often got called on for wasn't a good idea so he rarely gave up much detail. "Good. Very good. I've done pretty well establishing myself as a reliable consultant."
He's surprised to hear a reaffirming grunt from Xiaoge. It makes his chest puff out a bit in pride. The fact that someone like his boyfriend would agree that he was doing well makes him smile.
"Well look at you! I'm really happy for you!" Dong Wen's phone vibrates, pulling her attention away from their table. There's an immediate smile on her face. "I've got to go. My girlfriend is here."
"Is it Zhilan?" Liu Sang dares to ask.
Dong Wen rolls her eyes. "Yeah. You were right. It wasn't a one sided crush on my end."
"Told you."
"Oh, you're so smug. Insufferable," she jokes.
Liu Sang just shrugs. "Give her my best. Hope you have a good evening."
"I will. Hope you have a good evening too. It was great to see you again." She looks around remembering his company. "And it was nice to meet all of you. I'll be leaving first."
There's a respectful response from Wu Xie and a half intelligible one from Pangzi. Xiaoge only nods, squeezing Liu Sang's hand under the table again. "Bye, a-Wen."
The table watches her leave. Liu Sang first looks at the most important person in all of this, Xiaoge. He waits with a silent question. The combination of the small nod, barely there smile, and the soft look in his eyes puts Liu Sang at ease. He doesn't know how he'd handle it if Xiaoge was upset by something as simple as him talking to someone he used to be with after running into each other.
Happy to find Xiaoge okay, he turns his attention to the other two men at their table. Wu Xie is watching him curiously. There's the same uptick in his heart rate as when he finds a new mystery or puzzle. Pangzi on the other hand is still staring where Dong Wen once stood.
"So she seemed nice. You two have known each other for a while?" Wu Xie breaks the silence with the kind of fishing statements that Liu Sang guesses would make his grandmother proud.
"Yeah. We met back when I first started getting into the business."
"That was what, 4 or 5 years ago?"
Liu Sang shrugs. "Yeah something like that." He knows Wu Xie is leading up to something but he's not sure what the other is up to yet.
"Just how much older is a-Wen than you?"
And there it was. The set up for more teasing. Liu Sang is spared from answering because Pangzi has finally unfrozen and lets out a shocked noise as his head snaps to look at him. Sympathetically, Liu Sang rubs his own neck at the harsh movement.
"Sang Bei'er!" Pangzi almost shouts. "What?! What happened to our hissy kitten? Who is this tomcat that gets praise for his … performance?!"
Wu Xie laughs at his friend's usual brashness. He exchanges a look with Xiaoge that Liu Sang doesn’t quite catch.
"Just because I'm not an old man like you doesn't make me a kitten, Pangzi."
"Ai, watch yourself." He points at Liu Sang. "I'm so confused. I thought you weren't into that."
"Not into what?" Liu Sang plays ignorant, wondering just how worked up he could get the other.
"You said your interest in our Xiaoge wasn't like that! That you admired him and once you got to know him less as a weird fan boy, you liked him for him not his body!" Wu Xie continues to laugh, covering his face with one hand as he tries to muffle the sound. "Stop laughing, Tianzhen! This is serious! Our poor Xiaoge!"
"I do like Xiaoge for more than just his body. Doesn't mean I can't appreciate it too.”
Pangzi lowers his voice to not include the entire room, but it's still just as intense. "But you said you weren't into people for their bodies! That you'd never been. That you were …. That you were… Ah what's the word?"
"Asexual," Wu Xie helpfully supplies now that his laughter has mostly died off.
"Yeah! That's it. Asexual."
Liu Sang rolls his eyes. Xiaoge sits relaxed again by his side, all tension gone once Dong Wen left. He's completely used to and unbothered by Pangzi's nonsense. Unfortunately that means Liu Sang is probably on his own to deal with the two men across the table from him. He sighs before preparing himself for whatever Pangzi might say next. "I am. What's the big deal?"
"But that woman!"
"Is an ex-girlfriend of mine whom I'm still friends with, even though we fell out of touch a while back."
"An ex-girlfriend who you had sex with?" Pangzi almost whispers and leans across the table again.
"I don't know why you're freaking out so much. That's not a crazy thing for people in a relationship to do. Not a requirement but still not surprising."
"But-"
Wu Xie surprisingly comes to Liu Sang's rescue. "It's not a requirement of being asexual to dislike sex, Pangzi. Some do enjoy it … or are very good at it apparently." He smirks at both Liu Sang and Xiaoge.
"But this is Sang Bei'er! Oh, our poor Xiaoge. What has this wicked tomcat done to you?"
"Nothing he didn't enjoy," Liu Sang responds defensively. It's one thing for himself to be teased, but he doesn't like any joking of him mistreating his Ouxiang in any way. He knows he's starting to feel on edge, but Xiaoge shifts their joined hand to his abdomen. He moves Liu Sang's hand so it's between Xiaoge's hand and stomach, holding it firmly there to ground his boyfriend.
Wu Xie notices the subtle shift, nudging Pangzi to break him out of his rant. Liu Sang is always surprised when the intense focus that he's seen be exclusive to Xiaoge and Pangzi is extended to him. "Stop being dramatic, Pangzi. You know how happy they are together." A small nod is directed towards Xiaoge. Liu Sang realizes his boyfriend had probably silently asked his best friend to intervene.
"Ai, okay okay. Sorry, Liu Sang. I'm just surprised, is all. You were such an awkward fan boy when we met you. It's hard to imagine you having enough game get laid without fawning over someone like you did with Xiaoge.
"And I can never picture anyone liking you, old man."
Pangzi raises a hand to swat at Liu Sang but it's easy for him to duck out of the way with the table separating them. "Kids these days! So disrespectful." It's back to their normal teasing. The well timed interruption stopped anyone from escalating to the point of hurting each other.
They return to their casual conversation, but Xiaoge keeps Liu Sang's hand close to him. The occasional squeeze makes Liu Sang smile every time.
Eventually Xiaoge speaks up, "Home?" Liu Sang nods but as the other two at the table start to stand up, Xiaoge talks again. "His home."
Pangzi lets out a bark of laughter. "Oh he's tired of our company, Tianzhen. Guess we've just got to be two lonely bachelor's tonight."
The couple stands up and Xiaoge still doesn't let go of his boyfriend’s hand. Liu Sang ignores Pangzi's complaining, just smiling to himself. As they're walking away he does hear Wu Xie's response, "Actually, I've got a date tonight." This launches Pangzi on a spiral. The outrage is hilarious, but Liu Sang is a bit more concerned with Xiaoge who seems on a mission to get them out of this bar and to his apartment as quickly as possible.
He laughs lightly, bringing their joined hands up to give Xiaoge's a peck. Across the room he catches sight of Dong Wen sitting across from a woman he only vaguely recognizes. Their eyes meet and she must be able to read the situation pretty well because she mouths, 'Have fun' before Liu Sang is out the door.
Being pulled against Xiaoge's body as soon as his apartment door is closed wasn't how he was expecting the early evening out with the Iron Triangle to go, but he'll never complain about a night slowly taking apart his boyfriend until the other loses his “poker face” composure.