Author Notes: Hello again, everyone! Enjoy the next chapter in PZ's POV :)
Beta & Co-author: jeangirlmy
- Chapter Start -
The next morning, Wu Xie wakes up to a familiar click-clicking sound.
When he opens his eyes, the Princess Mute statue is standing at her usual place, gazing at him from the foot of the bed. The smell of coffee in the air means Pang Zi is already preparing breakfast. Turning his head, he sees the shellfish crawling along the bedframe.
"Hey, princess," Wu Xie says softly. "Didn't Pang Zi and I tell you that our bed is off limits?"
She drops from the frame and starts trekking across Pang Zi's pillow and then Wu Xie's.
"So are our pillows."
She vanishes under the blankets. A small lump pops up and starts moving down to the foot of the bed.
"And our blankets." Wu Xie forces a sterner note into his voice.
The lump stops.
"Come here."
The lump turns around and travels back towards him. When it reaches the edge of the blankets, the shellfish reappears and crawls onto his waiting hand, scuttling up his shoulder and pressing against his neck.
"Is that supposed to be 'I'm sorry'?" Wu Xie asks in amusement.
She presses harder and he huffs.
"Or 'I'm hungry'?" He asks and plucks her off his neck. "Either way, you seem to be back to your playful self. I'm glad."
He slides off the bed, still carrying her in his palm.
"Pang Zi, I have a hungry shellfish here!"
"Tell her to wait or prepare her own breakfast," Pang Zi calls back.
Wu Xie pads out to the living room and places her back in her fishtank before heading to the bathroom. By the time he gets washed up and dressed, Pang Zi has coffee and a steaming plate of mantou waiting on the coffee table.
The shellfish is at her corner of the table, steadily making her way through a mantou with a tiny sauce plate of coffee beside her. Wu Xie looks at Pang Zi.
"Caffeine. Really? She'll be all over our apartment today."
Pang Zi shrugs, blowing the steam off his mug.
"Like she doesn't already act like she owns this place."
"True." Wu Xie bites into his mantou.
- o -
Unfortunately, he doesn't get to stay home for the whole of next week. He receives a text message from a Wang JunYi the next day, telling him to apply for a job at Warehouse 11 and promising him clues about his missing uncle.
Pang Zi agrees to keep the shellfish fed and watered. He can't help marveling at the fact that he - a bachelor at forty years old - now has three females to take care of. His old crush PiaoPiao who's now divorced, her daughter Xiao Mei, and the shellfish.
- o -
As a new employee, Wu Xie's unable to leave Warehouse 11 until he gets promoted. He keeps in touch with Pang Zi via phone. Pang Zi is fretting about PiaoPiao desperately trying to raise money for her daughter's operation. Wu Xie promises to help once he's done solving his current mystery at Warehouse 11.
"I miss her," he says apropos of nothing.
"Who, PiaoPiao?"
"No!"
Well, your shellfish misses you too," Pang Zi says dryly. There's a soft clicking sound on the phone followed by "Stop pulling my hair!"
"Is she there?" Wu Xie asks, grinning.
"What do you think? No, you can't speak to Tianzhen! What am I saying? You can't speak anyway!"
Wu Xie starts laughing.
- o -
A week later...
Pang Zi whistles to himself as he gets ready to go out. Wu Xie has solved the mystery of the Leaking Vase with Bai HaoTian's help. He's promoted to L4 which means he's no longer confined to Warehouse 11 twenty four seven.
"Right. Princess?" Pang Zi picks up the shellfish and holds her up to his eye level. "I'm off to meet Tianzhen for lunch and will be back in a couple of hours. Don't think I don't know why you've been sticking to me all morning. You know you're not supposed to be seen in public. What would people say if they saw you, huh? You'd cause a riot!"
He places her back in the tank and gives her a stern look.
"Stay there and be a good shellfish. Pang-ye will bring back something nice as a reward."
It's only two large steps to the front door. Pang Zi is through it and closes the door faster than you can say "Shellfish."
"There we go! That's how Pang-ye gives someone - or something - the slip." Chuckling to himself, he locks the door and goes to his van. He doesn't see the shellfish clinging onto the back of his leather jacket and keeping very still.
- o -
Twenty minutes later, Pang Zi is sitting opposite Wu Xie with two steaming bowls of soup noodles between them.
"She was in my hair all morning," Pang Zi complains and pauses to slurp the soup. "Ahh, this broth is tasty. But guess what? Your Pang-ye is way smarter than her. I managed to-"
He breaks off and frowns, feeling something crawling up his back.
"I managed to give her the-"
He breaks off again as that something runs down his arm and scuttles across the table to Wu Xie.
Princess!" Wu Xie laughs as the shellfish runs up his arm and presses against his neck. "So you got the better of Pang Zi after all?"
"Hmph." Pang Zi slurps a mouthful of noodles. "No treat for you, princess!"
- o -
By now, the shellfish is as familiar with their apartment as Wu Xie and Pang Zi are. Likely even more since she can and does investigate all the nooks and crannies that they can't. Or can't be bothered to. Too bad they're equally oblivious to how their home never has any ants, flies or roaches in it, even when they leave food out.
"I am so talented. Where can you find such a good man like me?" Pang Zi asks one evening. He's standing in their tiny kitchen, mixing a bowl of ground meat and some seasonings.
The shellfish jumps from Wu Xie's shoulder onto the kitchen counter and starts moving along it.
"PiaoPiao got herself a keeper!" Pang Zi continues, singing his own praises. "And I can cook too!"
"Come on, I need a helper," he tells Wu Xie. "Hurry up and peel some garlic for me."
Without missing a beat, he picks up the shellfish who's nearing the stove and turns her around. Wu Xie reluctantly gets up from his chair to join him. Picking up two cloves of garlic, he starts peeling them.
"I don't know if PiaoPiao likes to eat this or not," Pang Zi continues, shaping the meat into little balls. "I hope she will."
"Who are you cooking for so painstakingly?" Wu Xie asks, suspicious. Seeing the shellfish nearing the end of the counter, he picks her up and turns her around.
"PiaoPiao, of course."
Wu Xie tosses the two cloves in the air and goes off. Pang Zi stares after him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He demands. Looking down, he sees the shellfish staring up at him with the two garlic cloves impaled on the tips of her nails.
"Thank you, Princess," he says and pulls them free. "You're a much better helper than Tianzhen. One extra meatball for you."
She wriggles her fingers in reply.
- Chapter End -
A/N: Thank you for reading! Hope you're enjoying the silliness. Please leave a comment if you did :)