#wu xie is all in on dirtying more clothing for mount doom

[momosandlemonsoda]

For prompts uhhhh, Pingsang with Liu Sang wearing Xiaoge's clothes?

So I cheated a bit on this and merged your prompt, @aurawolfgirl2000 , with one that @foxofninetales provided: Them figuring out how to share dresser/wardrobe space. WU Xie thought he had taken out all of Xiaoge's stuff but Liu Sang finds something leftover.

My obligatory disclaimer that this may or may not make it into the final version of the arranged marriage AU, but it is definitely helping get the gears turning. AM!AU basically follows the Reboot timeline, this is set after Wu Xie's illness is revealed and Ershu sends him back to Hangzhou, but before he starts the Warehouse 11 arc.

*

It’s colder than Liu Sang expected, or maybe he just adjusted to the weeks in a warmer climate, because he’s shivering in his long-sleeve shirt this morning. Normally he’d just pull on a sweater, one of his own or Wu Xie’s, but the only clean ones he can find are his grey cardigan that shrunk in the wash so it’s weirdly uneven and Wu Xie’s too-scratchy fisherman’s sweater that always makes his skin come up in a rash. He’s dug through all their drawers and now he’s pawing through the closet for the third time, cursing Wushanju’s terrible washing machine. The thing is probably 15 years old and it destroys more clothing than it cleans. He blames that for his own bad habit of waiting until the laundry has piled up like Mount Doom before even trying to tackle it. He never used to be this laundry-averse when he had his own place.

Maybe, he thinks, dragging the hangers from one side to the other, today is the day that he gives in and goes washing machine shopping with Pangzi. He jerks on another hanger and whatever was barely hanging onto it slips to the floor. He bends down to pick it up and finds— oh. He takes a few steps back from the closet to where the light is better and, yes, that is one of Zhang-ye’s hoodies. Or at least, he’s pretty certain it is. He can’t imagine anyone else who lives here having a navy blue zip-up jacket with black piping around the seams and hood in a size so small he’s not actually sure it will fit him.

He holds it up a little higher, turning it this way and that. Then he shivers— he really is freezing. He could put it on, he thinks. Wu Xie will surely recognize it; chances are, Pangzi will too. If Wu Xie can generally be relied upon to be circumspect, Pangzi won’t bother. Does he want to hear comments and comparisons—

And honestly, Liu Sang wonders, does it really matter? Since their return from southeast Asia on Ershu’s orders (and oh, hadn’t that been a fun trip, Wu Xie’s lungs still fucked up from the dust and humidity, fighting every step of the way not to be sent home like a child; Pangzi refusing to speak to Liu Sang but as protective of Wu Xie as a mother with her xiao huangdi; himself still smarting from Ershu’s vicious frustration while managing his husband’s idiot tendencies to downplay every facet of his worsening health) things had changed. That kiss in the jade mines had cracked something open, and they both recognized that there was too little time left. They’ve spent every night back in Hangzhou making up for lost time. Who cares if he wears Zhang-ye’s jacket, he thinks, when Wu Xie might be thinking of Zhang Qiling, but he’s here with him.

With that thought, Liu Sang pulls on the hoodie, the material soft and warm over his shirt. It’s tighter than he expected, the close fit that Zhang-ye seems to favor so different from the loose cardigans he prefers and how Wu Xie’s sweaters hang on him. He’s amused to find the sleeves a centimeter too short, even if the shoulders fit perfectly. He zips it up, puts on his watch, pulls his hair back, and slaps a little of the cologne Wu Xie had given him at his throat. Then, taking a deep breath, he heads down the hallway to the kitchen for breakfast.