#pangsang

"Those're nice," Pangzi says, deciding that he should give Jinx a compliment, and his fingers are, admittedly, very nice. Pangzi thinks about his fingers a lot.

"Mm," Liu Sang says. He curls his hand into a fist, and then shrieks.

"What?!" Pangzi exclaims, trying to stand up so that he can protect Jinx from whatever it is that's scared him.

"They're gone!"

"What's gone?"

"My fingers," Liu Sang says miserably, staring down at his own hand. "They disappeared."

Pangzi blinks at him. Yeah, Jinx definitely swallowed more Dust than he did. "Open your hand."

It takes Liu Sang a minute, but he does eventually, and then gasps in delight. "Oh!"

"Told you," Pangzi mutters. wondering where Tianzhen and Xiao-ge have gone off to. He remembers them saying something about going to get backup, or supplies, or some shit, but that could be his brain making things up again. It wouldn't be the first time dust has caused that.

He catches Liu Sang staring at him quizzically. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Where're yours?" Liu Sang asks suspiciously.

"My what?"

"Yours," Liu Sang repeats, holding up his hand and wiggling his fingers.

"Oh," Pangzi says, and then has to do a great deal of looking around in order to find his own fingers, which turn out to be at the ends of his arms. "Right here."

Liu Sang nods, satisfied, and then turns to someone else. "Where're yours?"

"Who're you talking to?" Pangzi asks, squinting to Liu Sang's right, and suddenly sees a blob that morphs into Wu Xie. "Tianzhen!"

"Hi," Tianzhen says, looking amused, which Pangzi has no idea why that could be. The only funny thing is Jinx's hair, and they already went over that. "My fingers are here, Liu Sang." He holds out his hand, and Liu Sang takes it in his own, nodding very seriously at the presence of fingers.

"You know whose fingers are nice?" Pangzi says dreamily. "Xiao-ge."

"His fingers are nice," Tianzhen agrees, and Pangzi always knew he was smart.

Liu Sang, meanwhile, is glaring at him like Pangzi's eaten the last chocolate protein bar, which he has not. "Where'd you put him?" he demands, as if Pangzi has hidden his beloved ouxiang away somewhere.

"I didn't put him anywhere," Pangzi retorts. "Xiao-ge goes where he wants."

"Right now he's trying to disable the other traps," Tianzhen says cheerfully, which doesn't make Liu Sang look any happier.

As if on cue, Xiao-ge's voice floats down the tunnel towards them. "Wu Xie?"

"Coming!" Wu Xie says. "You two, don't move." He disappears down the corridor before Pangzi can tell him that he's never moved in his life, he's very good at not moving.

He's concentrating so hard on not moving that he almost doesn't notice when someone sniffles next to him, a watery breath escaping from them. He looks over to Liu Sang, who is staring at the space Wu Xie had once occupied, and seems to be trying very hard not to cry.

"What is it?" Pangzi asks.

"He's gone," Liu Sang says mournfully, one hand reaching out as if he's trying to touch a non-existant Wu Xie. "Where'd he go?"

"He went with Xiao-ge," Pangzi says, trying to be reassuring. "He'll be back."

That doesn't seem to cheer Liu Sang up at all. "Where'd he go?" he asks, more insistently this time, and a single tear rolls down his cheek, falling from his chin and making a little wet circle on his knee. His eyes are large and watery behind his glasses. "I don't want him to leave."

This is surprising, since all Liu Sang does is ask when the Iron Triangle is going to leave him alone, when he's going to get his life back, when he'll finally regain the peace and quiet he apparently hasn't had since they all fell under a beach together, but right now he's looking very worried that Wu Xie has suddenly gone away for good, and Pangzi knows that feeling.

The cure, as far as he's aware, is a hug, and since Tianzhen isn't here, Pangzi will have to make do. "C'mere," he says, opening his arms. "He'll be back soon."

Liu Sang wrinkles his nose. "I'm not hugging."

"You should," Pangzi insists.

"No."

"You're scared," Pangzi teases him. "You're scared of hugging Pang-ye."

"No," Liu Sang repeats, though he sounds more unsure of himself now.

"I bet you can't," Pangzi says, knowing that challenging him will make Liu Sang do whatever he can to prove him wrong. "I bet you can't come and give me a hug."

"I could if I wanted to," Liu Sang says haughtily, but Pangzi can sense the lack of confidence behind it.

"Mm," Pangzi says, "I don't think so. I don't think you could even walk over here if you wanted to."

"I could!" Liu Sang protests, his eyebrows furrowing in a way that's actually very cute, though Pangzi won't tell him that. Yet.

"Walk then," Pangzi says. "Come on, walk towards me. I bet you can't even take a step." His arms are still open, waiting, starting to feel a little stiff, but he's good at patience.

Liu Sang frowns at him, gauging the distance from his rock to Pangzi's, and then slowly, stutteringly, stands up, and puts one foot forward, then another. His eyebrows are stuck together in intense concentration, like they are when he maps out difficult tunnels.

The third step is the hardest, and Liu Sang wobbles, tipping forward. Luckily, three steps was all he needed, and so he just pitches forward into Pangzi's arms, his face smooshing against Pangzi's chest as he wraps him up tight, sighing in contentment at having a team member safe with him. Safe with Pang-ye. Yes.

"Good Jinx," he murmurs softly. "Nice, good Jinx."