#what is wrong with youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu (affectionate)

[vegaseatsass]

Revenged Love Episode 6

Truly obsessed with how when Chi Cheng and Guo Chengyu notice they're being scammed or manipulated it just makes them want Wu Suowei and Jiang Xiaoshuai more.

Like Chi Cheng is starting to hit his horny limit, and it's very funny that he antagonizes Wu Suowei and then pikachu surprise faces every time Suowei consequently distrusts him way too much to surrender. They really have the weirdest battle of the wills going where because Chi Cheng cannot let himself fully give in to how much he craves Suowei, his deliberately fuckboyish behavior is making it impossible for Suowei to let down his guard for him either. NONETHELESS, at the base of things is still Chi Cheng's appreciation for Suowei as the best scammer he's ever met who mutters in his sleep about how he's getting too good at pretending. It's this unhinged thing where Chi Cheng can't let down his guard because of his own Wang Shuo baggage, not because of Suowei's obvious agenda - in fact, Suowei having an obvious agenda is both part of the attraction for Mr. Snake Appreciator, and a justification for Chi Cheng to continue treating him in his usual dehumanizing entitled sex pest way, "your ass is practically in the air for me", instead of really letting himself be vulnerable. Meanwhile, the glimpses of vulnerability, tenderness, real care he shows are both what Suowei is looking to "exploit" for his revenge, but paradoxically they're also the main things actually hooking him and making him want Chi Cheng in earnest, despite his own plans. Anytime Chi Cheng decides to try to force a reaction out of Suowei, whether that's by oversharing about all the girlfriend sex he's swears he's totally having, or by shoving him up against various surfaces, Chi Cheng absolutely gets the instant gratification legible reaction he wants, but he also shuts down the burgeoning genuine interest Suowei starts feeling for him when he behaves like a human being. But! That interest is notttt something Suowei is remotely comfortable with either, so it also makes him pull away if he notices it in himself, which means Chi Cheng can't just act like a gentleman or patiently wait for Suowei if he wants him to thaw, he can only get unmistakable confirmation that Suowei feels ANYTHING for him by forcing situations where Suowei has to give him a momentarily honest reaction. That lose/lose nature of the approach only deepens his simultaneous frustration AND interest in Suowei as an inscrutable snakey puzzle... and keeps him from the character growth Suowei would need to want to not keep exploiting him back... Just such a crazyyyyyy dynamic I swear.

AND THEN Guo Chengyu, the reason I actually made this post!!!, getting more excited and into the game in episode 6 when he confirms that yes, the only reason he is making any progress with Jiang Xiaoshuai is because Xiaoshuai wants information on Chi Cheng for his emotional support revenge scheme. That's terrific, so hot and sexy of Xiaoshuai, and so totally in Guo Chengyu's wheelhouse as something he can use. He's 100% acclimated from his break with Chi Cheng in the past to approaching human relationships as a four dimensional chess game that he can never win, but the playing of it is itself the most emotionally fulfilling thing he can get out of life. Following Chi Cheng around all these years has just honed him into someone who can not just stick with Jiang Xiaoshuai's rejections but enjoy every minute of them, want him more every time he puts another obstacle up or lets Guo Chengyu in for duplicitous rather than sincere reasons. It's fascinating to me that Chengyu chose to fuck Chi Cheng's boyfriend (I would speculate for Chi Cheng-obsessed reasons), and instead of accepting that things would never be okay between them again, simply completely remade himself in Grimdark Chi Cheng's image, following him around embracing their new dynamic wholeheartedly. They're both so warped by this choice Chengyu made, and Chi Cheng is very obviously fucked up by it, but Chengyu is in perpetual "this is fine" mode over it despite definitely having become just as much of a completely different person than he was before to match his worstie.

Anyway I meant to make this a short little post but I got carried away, but the main point I wanted to articulate is that all four characters don't believe that people can be good or that relationships can be sincere or easy, and all four of them are approaching each other within that paradigm. But the difference between the two friend/frenemy duos, and the thing I am obsessed with, is how much Chengyu and Chi Cheng have turned themselves into people who enjoy the insincerity and fuckery. Suowei and Xiaoshuai actively pursue ingenuine relationships, they make their own beds and lie in it, to protect their own hearts, but they also pretty clearly just want someone to treat them right beneath it all. Chengyu and Chi Cheng probably want that deep deep deep deep DEEP down, but it is buried beneath so many layers of turning mind games and manipulation and exploitation and lies into a kink. Tl;dr we just have all the ingredients for the world's largest and most perfect four-way trainwreck <3

[hinge]

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