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It could have been a casual, normal, boring, but relaxed day at Wushanju.
Of course, one must consider that such a thing was pretty much impossible. Wushanju was the home of not only one chaotic and trouble-attracting mess called Wu Xie, but of the Iron Triangle as a whole.
One would think having three of these idiots in one place really was more than enough. But no. Of course not.
What COULD have been a really lovely day to casually do one's circles in a recently cleaned and upgraded pool, OF COURSE had to be by one more harbinger of calamity that was considered part of Wu Xie's circle of friends.
Black like the night and supposedly blind like a mole, but that was a lie.
Anyway, that menace came in via the rooftop from who knows where, caring under his arm a peach-creme colored peacock, who seemed to endure it with the highest dignity possible.
"Yoho!", the black clad man called out, while carefully putting the peacock down onto the floor, which immediately stretched out it's tail feathers and started raising its neck. Surveying its surroundings as if inspecting its new property. Hrmph. If this peacock thought it was going to stay here, already strutting around like it owned the place, then it was most certainly in for a surprise.
"Oooh! It's Shades!", came PangZi's loud booming voice, followed by a chuckle, moving to grab the older male into a bear hug. "It's been ages. What brings you here?"
"Ah, just this and that. Actually, right now I'm just here to drop this off. Don't worry, Xiao Hua is going to pick it up later.", the other male grinned, pointing a thumb at the animal slowly making it's way through the inner garden.
"Anyway, what does a man have to do to get a cool beer around here?"
Again the explosives expert laughed, before dragging the man in leather back inside with him, towards the kitchen.
They were barely out of sight when Wu Xie came from a side corridor, having done whatever in one of the storage rooms.
"Did I hear Hei Xiazi just now?", he called out, almost bouncing down the stairs, while casting his eyes around, looking for their old friend. He didn't spot him, obviously, but the peacock did and promptly gave a shriek.
Once more the old spirit of the pond wished to have gained enough energy to take on a human form. Just to roll his eyes at the troublemaker. Of COURSE the super rare pink peacock saw Wu Xie, found him unsightly and decided to go on an attack spree. Really. Just typical.
Slightly impatient, he slapped his back tail onto the surface.
Busy in their game of tag, which consisted of Wu Xie screaming for help, while doing some overdue running workout exercise, they did a few rounds around the extensive pond.
The two males, following the exaggerated cries for help, were chuckling once they realized Wu Xie wasn't in real danger and took a sip of their beer bottle, that they had brought with them. They even went so far as to cheer him on as he hurried past. "PangZi!!! Don't just look! HELP!"
"Nah, don't mind me. Just go and get acquainted with your new girlfriend. Seems like you two are having fun already.", he hollered back, before chuckling and taking another deep gulp, followed by a happy sigh.
"XiaoGe! XiaoGe! HELP!", the heir to the Wu family cried out again, wondering why his friend hadn't already come to his rescue.
The man in question actually had been on the roof for a few minutes already, ready to leap in, but the spirits of Wushanju had taken on their cat forms again and were drapped over his legs and shoulders, begging for him to stay and enjoy the show for just a tiiiiiiiiiny bit longer.
He actually smirked as much as he could in this form. It was in times like this, that he and the spirits of Wushanju REALLY got a long well without needing to communicate at all.
Of course HIS fun couldn't last forever and as the young master tired out and the peacock came closer to snap at his ankles or the back of his knees and as such the Zhang pushed the spirits aside and leaped down.
His hand went for the blade he'd brough with him, but he was suddenly ambushed left and right by PangZi und Hei XiaZi, who held him back. "You can't hurt the bird, XiaoGe! Do you have ANY idea how much this one is worth?! It's a one of a kind rarity. And Xiao Hua adores it, so I doubt he'd forgive even Wu Xie begging him for forgiveness on his knees if anything happened to him.
The silent male went still for a moment, before pushing the sword at the other member of the Iron Triangle, pulling himself free from Shades and snatching Wu Xie up into his arms, when the male came running towards him again and held him up over his head, ignoring the startled yelp.
The peacock immediately came to a stop, but not before glaring challenging at the man holding her prey. Realizing that it wouldn't win THAT staring match, it tilled its head to the side and up, before marching off once more.
Once a safe distance away, XiaoGe slowly settled his friend back down, who refused to let go and kept clinging to him, while suspiciously watching the bird.
Said bird decided to inspect the ponds closer and tilled its head down.
With a mental snort he shot through the water and nipped at it's neck. The shriek must have quite something from what the spirits shared with him and it amused him even more than when Wu Xie had taken off earlier, when the bird was now running around like a headless chicken.
His senses tingled as another familiar presence entered his area.
Almost at the same time, Hei Xiazi set down his empty bottle and gave a salute. "Alright, this has been fun, but I gotta scram. Work's calling. See ya."
With that he was gone over the roofs again, just in time to miss Xie Hua storming in. "Where is he?!"
"Who? Shades? You just missed him.", Wu Xie managed, so surprised by sudden the arrival of his cousin.
"Tch. Who cares about him? I'm talking about Xiao Tao!", the leader of the Xie family dismissed the question with a flicker of his wrist. "Little Peach?", PangZi repeated, both eyebrows raising up.
They didn't get to do much more banter thought, as said animal made a dash for Hua'Er.
Rather than attacking the man thought, it immediately hid behind him and made some pathetic sounds, as if it had just been through the most traumatic experience.
PangZi snorted at it and rolled his eyes.
"I can't believe you'd do this.", the handsome male huffed and glared mildly at the Wu heir. "Hey, I didn't do a thing!", this one protested, still happy in the safety of his XiaoGe's arms.
"What did Hei XiaZi do with your bird anyway?", PangZi asked.
A sudden, almost manic gleam entered Xie Hua's eyes. "See for yourself!", he almost growled, his mobile phone suddenly in his hand and opening the gallery on the most recently sent pictures of Shades.
It showed then, that a lot of things were a matter of perspective. While Master Little Flower saw their dark friend dragging a 'poor and defenseless' bird around the town and various entertainment sources... to everyone else it looked as if Hei XiaZi and the rare peacock were having the time of their life. One pic in particular stuck out, cause it showed the two of them riding a roller coaster DOWN, both chill and wearing sunglasses.
Xiao Hua was just finishing his angry rant over the one who had temporary stolen his bird, when Liu Sang came into the courtyard and suddenly came to a stop.
The elder koi could only imagine what the kid was seeing. Wu Xie still clinging to XiaoGe who endured it all with a mix of stoicism and a hint of amusement. PangZi trembling from trying to hold in his laughter at the younger man's anger over something that wasn't much more than a successful attempt of the blind man to rile up his chosen partner. And then of course there was the 'poor' and 'traumatized' bird, who'd likely not get to enjoy this much fun and entertainment again any time soon.
Now that he thought about it, with the way the Xie leader dotted on the bird, he couldn't help but wonder if the sunglasses wearing man hadn't done it all in a fit of jealousy to get the other's attention.
Really. Kids these days.
Liu Sang however, did the only thing one could do, when suddenly the peacock had a change in mood and let out a shriek at Wu Xie, that immediately made this one climb up onto XiaoGe as if the other was a tree.
He twitched, sighed, then turned on his heel and walked out.
Sometimes he actually was jealous of the other. Right now he wasn't certain if he wouldn't have loved to do this too.
Ah. But it seemed the boy had been too slow.
PangZi had spotted him, just before he'd fully made his exit and nearly lounged himself at the other. Whether just to drag the other into the group's shenanigans or to potentially direct the conversation elsewhere, least the peacock-abuse-rant started over, or not ... well, only the explosive expert would know.
He had a feeling thought, that this day was going to be one long day in Wu Xie's memories.
'Little Peach' certainly seemed to have plans to engrave this day deep in the man's memories.