An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: General Audiences
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Liu Sang & Wang Pangzi, Wang Pangzi & Wu Xie, Wang Pangzi & Zhang Qiling
Characters: Wang Pangzi, Wu Xie, Liu Sang, Zhang Qiling
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Space Opera, Psychic Abilities, Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, ish, Spaceships
Series: Part 11 of Network of the Heart
Summary: Pangzi did not like the stowaway that Xiaoge and Tianzhen had decided to adopt. The brat was mouthy and suspicious, and Pangzi was sure he was up to something.
When Xiaoge left the three of them behind on the Yun Cai to go feed his ship and strange things happen, Pangzi knows exactly who to blame and he's not having any of it.
"Are you talking to Xiaoge?" Tianzhen asked, finally making an appearance on the flight deck and immediately stealing the entire bag of Pangzi's chips.
Pangzi nodded, leaning back in his chair again and putting his feet back up on the console. "I was. He reached the radiation field about 15 or 20 minutes ago, and his ship is feeding. He said he'll try not to be too long." He swiped the bag of chips back from Tianzhen. "Where's the jinx?"
"Do you have to call him that?" Tianzhen asked around a crunching mouthful of chips. "And Liu Sang is asleep. He wouldn't say why he was so anxious about Xiaoge making him stay behind on Yun Cai, even though I assured him it would only be for a few hours. I was afraid he was going to stress himself sick, so I convinced him to take some sedatives. He's in Xiaoge's cabin for now."
Pangzi just grunted at that. "Well, I don't think Xiaoge will mind, and I suppose there isn't anywhere else he could sleep," he allowed. Certainly not in his cabin, and Tianzhen needed his own in case he wanted to nap, too.
"No," Tianzhen agreed. "Not with him being a baby ship."
Pangzi levelled him with a look. "And what exactly is a fucking 'baby ship', Tianzhen? No weaselling out of it this time, there's just the two of us and all the time in the universe until Xiaoge gets back."
"Well, it's..." Tianzhen hesitated, then gave a brilliant, innocent smile. "I'm not exactly sure."
Pangzi heaved a deep sigh. Of fucking course Tianzhen didn't actually know, no matter how much he acted like he did.
"But I do have a theory," Tianzhen continued. "I think it means that Xiaoge thinks that Liu Sang might be from the same race as him. Or maybe the same race as his ship, and 'baby ship' means that ships like that start out being people-like when they're young, and grow into being more ship-like as they get older."
Pangzi closed his eyes and counted to ten before looking at Tianzhen again. "Tianzhen," he said patiently, "that has got to be the stupidest fucking theory I have ever heard in my life, and I've been travelling with you for several years by this point. A humanoid growing into a giant fucking ship like Xiaoge's? Impossible." He fished the last few chips out of the bag. "Xiaoge thinking Liu Sang is from his race, whoever they are, sounds a lot more likely, I guess. Even if they don't really look anything alike."
"Most humanoid races have a lot of variation," Tianzhen said. "Especially the ones that are really close to humans. Besides, they do have some similarities, like their fingers. Haven't you noticed before that they both have really long fingers? And they're both really pretty, too."
Pangzi side-eyed him hard at that. It was bad enough that he had to put up with Tianzhen's unacknowledged crush on Xiaoge, the last thing he needed was Tianzhen developing a crush on the brat as well. "Long fingers and pretty," he said flatly.
Tianzhen just nodded in agreement, as if he didn't come out with some of the most batshit insane things at times. "That's right. I know it's not much, but that's what I've got to go on right now, unless Xiaoge ever decides to be more forthcoming. Or we find out more about him and where he's from and what happened to him."
Pangzi grunted again, brushing crumbs off of his fingers. That went for both of them, to be honest - Xiaoge didn't remember anything from before he and Tianzhen had woken him up, and the brat was stubbornly close-lipped about his own past, other than a flat refusal to ever go back to Malaz."Well," he began, then stopped, grabbing hold of the console with a gasp as the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach turned into a wave of overwhelming fear that almost blanked out his ability to see, leaving him panting and shaking once it passed. Beside him, Tianzhen was curled up on the ground, whimpering.