#and flowers to nie huaisang as well he just wants nice things!

[songofclarity]

skdhhejdh i like to think there were gay men throwing flowers at nmj but wwx was just so caught up in his comp het that he only noticed that the women weren’t

Honestly, if you suggested that there were gay and straight men cheering Nie MingJue's name at the top of their lungs and/or throwing flowers to him, I would be inclined to believe you because I am all for it! The novel simply specifies the men were cheering while the women were just standing in closed-fist silence and letting their hearts burst with yearning and just, RIP them all but I’m different!

I’m getting the impression that people are treating my post/this situation as inclusion/exclusion of who was doing what along gender and sexual-orientation lines. Could an older gay man have thrown flowers to Nie MingJue? Absolutely! Could a little straight girl have thrown flowers to Nie MingJue? Of course! The author wrote it with generalized gender groups but having one or two or more people acting outside the norm wouldn’t be wrong! It happens in real life!

What I noticed was that Wei WuXian throwing a flower was not something that drew attention. Men throwing flowers isn’t apparently worth social commentary. What does make it stand out is that he throws a flower at the very unimpressed Lan WangJi, and no one wants to deal with them arguing right now -- because Wei WuXian throwing a flower to him, with their turbulent history, is perceived as teasing at best or mockery at worst.

But this is true for Nie MingJue as well: Nie MingJue looks heated as a solar flare so to see any delicate flowers fluttering about him would draw attention. To see any flowers would raise the question: who would be so bold!? Such a question would absolutely be of Wei WuXian’s interest, because Nie MingJue is indeed fearsome to behold, but Wei WuXian is not interested because he doesn’t see anything beyond the women holding back.

With that said, my “but I’m different” post is just playing on the grand scheme of things, because it was never defined that Nie MingJue didn’t receive any flowers. The main take-away, as I understood it, was that everyone else, from the Lan Sect to the Jiang Sect to the Jin Sect, was getting a torrential downpour of flowers while Nie MingJue, noticeably, did not.

When men who were high up on the list of cultivators entered, almost all of them couldn’t be spared from being showered with a faceful of flowery rain.

As the one ranked seventh, Nie MingJue, however, was an exception... even if the maidens could already feel their hearts bursting from their chests, clutching in their palms sweat-soiled flowers, they didn’t dare toss them out no matter what, afraid that they’d anger him and his saber hacked into the watching tower. However, many of the male cultivators who admired ChiFeng-Zun cheered for him. The cheers almost brought pain to the ears. (Ch. 69, ERS)

I love this because it’s a clear show-don’t-tell of what Wei WuXian identifies more clearly later on during empathy:

On Koi Tower, people came and went. Before Nie MingJue’s high viewpoint, the crowd parted again and again, with both sides nodding at him in respect, calling him “ChiFeng-Zun”. Wei WuXian thought, Such a show of extravagance is going to reach even the heavens. All these people both fear and respect Nie MingJue. There’s quite a few people who fear me, though not a lot who respect me. (Ch. 49, ERS)

The power Nie MingJue holds is unmatched! No one is throwing Nie MingJue flowers out of fear, but they respect/admire him so much they literally can’t shut up about it. Where he walks, the sea of people part. The power of the gods is being challenged. And dropping flowers on him might evoke the god-like wrath that made him MVP of the Sunshot Campaign.

Nonetheless, he still could very well have gotten a few flowers from anyone! But compared to how many flowers all the other top-ranking cultivators was getting, it was negligible. Nie MingJue’s aura and reputation precedes him. Even though we have evidence to show he means no harm towards innocent men, women, or children, people are still in fearful awe of him.

In closing, we should also bring up how if Nie MingJue isn’t getting a face full of flowers then Nie HuaiSang isn’t getting any secondary flowers either! Our boy came dressed to the nines, has rings on his fingers, has his fan in hand, has his saber for once, and he’s having a great time! But he, too, could do with more love in the flower department!

The Qinghe Nie are good men and deserve all the flowers from everyone is what I’m saying 🥺

[ibijau]

Counterfeit AU / Epilogue

Nie Huaisang, at last, is reunited with Nie Mingjue

Nie Mingjue looks up at the stranger in front of her with no small amount of circumspection. She doesn’t particularly look like the man she was in another life, Nie Huaisang notes. None of them do, strictly speaking, though from life to life, they somehow always keep certain mannerisms. Lan Xichen still does that thing where he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath when he’s particularly annoyed, while some of Meng Yao’s nervous smiles are still the same even on different lips (but those tense smiles are less frequent in this life, something for which Nie Huaisang is grateful).

So while Nie Mingjue doesn’t look the same, there’s definitely a certain familiarity in the judging way she inspects the man who was once her brother.

She doesn’t look particularly impressed, is what Nie Huaisang is getting at, and that too is painfully familiar. He knew this would be a bad idea, he’d told Meng Yao and Lan Xichen that it wouldn’t go well, but they insisted, pushing and arguing for weeks, and now…

“Come on Beastie, say hi,” Meng Yao encourages. “You don’t want to be rude, right?”

The little girl shakes her head, but her lips remain pinched as she steps closer to Meng Yao and clings to his legs.

“Hey, is something wrong?” Meng Yao nervously asks, though he probably sounds perfectly calm to anyone who doesn’t have the advantage of several lifetimes of study to know any better. “It’s ok, that’s my friend Huaisang, he’s nice.”

“He looks funny,” Nie Mingjue mutters at last. “He doesn't look real.”

While Meng Yao is puzzled by that statement, Nie Huaisang understands. It happens sometimes that certain people will notice there’s something not quite right with immortals. Animals, some children, and a handful of particularly observant adults will look at people like Nie Huaisang and realise they’re seeing something that shouldn’t be there. Lan Xichen also seems to fall in that category and occasionally looks at his brother and Nie Huaisang with startled wonder, but Meng Yao doesn’t seem particularly bothered that he’s hanging out with old monsters.

“If you want I can make a grimace,” Nie Huaisang offers. “Then I’ll look real funny.”

Nie Mingjue’s glare intensifies and she shakes her head.

This isn’t going well at all.

Meng Yao swore it would be going well. He repeated it when he left earlier to pick her up at her school. He said she’d taken to Lan Xichen instantly, that she’d befriended the moment she saw him, and that she was excited to meet Meng Yao’s other good friend. For well over three months now Meng Yao has promised that Nie Huaisang has nothing to be worried about, that it’ll go very well, but now he’s there and this isn’t going well.

“Beastie, do you want Huaisang to leave for now?” Meng Yao asks, because while he said this would go well, he also made it clear that if it somehow didn’t, they wouldn't force the issue, and would wait some more and try again another time.

Nie Mingjue hesitates, still glaring at Nie Huaisang, but eventually shakes her head.

“It’s Lan-ge’s party,” she says. “He’s Lan-ge’s guest, he can stay. Meng-ge, can I go play now?”

“Not too much screen time, you know your mother doesn’t like it,” Meng Yao says after a nod. “Oh, but later, you should show Sang-ge what you’ve done with his game, I’m sure he’ll be very impressed.”

Both Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang startle. If he’s honest, however much he’s bemoaned the lost of his Switch for months now, he couldn’t bear to make the trip to the Hanshi to get it back. It hadn’t occurred to him that Meng Yao might have picked it up. He’s seen a few times a console in Meng Yao’s living room, of course, but it’s covered in cute little stickers and it just didn’t click that it could be his.

“You made the pretty city?” Nie Mingjue gasps, sounding impressed. “I’ve taken good care of it! The museum is almost full now, and I’ve planted flowers. Can I show you now?”

Unsure how to deal with that sudden change of mood, Nie Huaisang can only nod and let the little girl lead him to the living-room. In a second she’s forgotten all her previous wariness, and is happily chatting about that game, and how she captured so many bugs, and that one time her Lan-ge had to help her because she’s accidentally changed a pattern and wasn’t sure how to put it back, but Lan-ge has a little brother who also plays, so they were able to fix everything and he gave her some nice new things with which to decorate.

Before long, Nie Huaisang and her are chatting about that game. It feels like a dream. He’s never been able to talk to his brother like this, Mingjue always too serious and intense. They’d never really had anything in common back then, and all the love in the world couldn’t change the fact that they were too different to get along. 

But things aren’t like that anymore. 

Nie Huaisang could become friends with this Mingjue.

The thought almost makes him want to cry, and he’s a little relieved when Lan Xichen’s arrival provides a distraction. Mingjue drops the game on the sofa and runs to greet him, Nie Huaisang following closely behind. Lan Xichen, while removing his coat, glances over the two of them with the slightest air of worry on his face, before smiling when he realises that things appear to be going well.

“Lan-ge! Did you sign many books?” Mingjue asks.

“More than I expected. I should have taken you with me to help me sign them.”

“I write very well,” Mingjue agrees. “I could help you a lot. But I was in school, I couldn’t have come. Next time, Lan-ge should sign books in the weekend, so I can be there to help.”

“I’ll tell my publisher to consider that next time,” Lan Xichen promises. “Now, would you do me a favour and go ask Meng Yao if I can have a snack? He’ll be less cranky about it if you’re the one asking.”

Mingjue grins and dashes toward the kitchen, where Meng Yao is currently working on their dinner. Nie Huaisang will probably join him very soon and offer his help, while Lan Xichen, by far the lesser cook between them, will keep Mingjue occupied and set the table with her help. 

For now though, Lan Xichen takes Nie Huaisang’s hand and pulls him closer, stealing a kiss.

Nie Huaisang doesn’t know if he’ll ever get used to that. He dreamed of it when he was young, so long ago, before thinking the chance had been lost for good when his brother died. To be given this second chance is overwhelming, especially when he's still half sure he doesn't deserve it. But he's always been selfish and entitled, so being undeserving doesn't stop him.

“How did it go?” Lan Xichen asks.

“A little rough at first, until we found a common interest to talk about.”

“So she did not scream at you, or accuse you of avenging her the wrong way, or yell at you to go practice the sabre,” Lan Xichen notes, rather unkindly in Nie Huaisang’s opinion. Those were very valid fears to have, all things considered.

“You’re mocking me,” Nie Huaisang laments.

Lan Xichen laughs and steals another kiss.

“I am, a little. But only because it went well, and you were so dramatic before.”

Nie Huaisang’s heart starts racing in his chest. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he likes that Lan Xichen knows how to tease in this life, and that he’s more assertive than he was, all the way back then. It gives him the same pleasure that seeing Meng Yao expressing his anger does.

They’re the same people, but they’re also not. They’ve changed just enough to become the people he would have wanted them to be when he first met them.

It scares him a little how happy he is. There have been a few times in those last three months when he thought again of disappearing, overwhelmed by the fear of losing them. Meng Yao and Lan Xichen are very patient with him about that. Apparently, Lan Xichen is currently working with Wei Wuxian to see if there’s anyone among immortals who might act as a therapist, claiming that if there isn’t, someone should really get to it already. Nie Huaisang isn’t sure his problems can be solved that easily, but he’s willing to try.

Meng Yao and Lan Xichen have changed over centuries of reincarnations, it’s only fair that he should try to improve himself as well.

“I wouldn’t mind some help in there!” Meng Yao shouts from the kitchen. “That is, if you want to have anything edible tonight. I know Wei Wuxian said he’d bring something, but that’ll just be something horrifyingly spicy, so we can’t count on that.”

“We’re coming,” Lan Xichen replies, and they do, though not before Nie Huaisang takes a second to kiss him again.

Meng Yao is washing some vegetables when they enter the kitchen, while Mingjue is helpfully kneading some dough. Lan Xichen starts taking out of the fridge a few things they’ll need, while Nie Huaisang goes to wash his hands in the sink and steals a quick kiss from Meng Yao who blushes beautifully.

“Absolutely shameless,” he grumbles without heat.

“I’m too old for shame,” Nie Huaisang cheerfully replies.”Now, what do you need help with?”

A wet cabbage gets thrown at him.

“Mince that for me,” Meng Yao orders. “You’re on cutting duty today.”

Nie Huaisang complains and whines about being cruelly used and abused as a mere kitchen hand when he could be a chef, but sets to work anyway. 

Meng Yao, done with washing vegetables, gets ready to pre-cook the meat. Mingjue is making a mess with her dough while laughing at a silly little story Lan Xichen is sharing about his day.

Nie Huaisang sighs, his heart so full that it feels several sizes too big for his chest.

He’s happy at last, and it is worth every day of lonely waiting he’s had to do.

[gffa]

There was this viral tweet that went around about THE UNTAMED awhile back that was basically the cycle of every fan of the series that I have ever met: 1. Wtf, THIS is the show everyone is losing their minds over? This isn’t even good! 2. Well, I guess it’s not that bad, it’s pretty watchable and fun, it’s all right. 3. I would now die for these characters. So, when I swore this drama wasn’t going to be a big fandom for me, I was just going to watch the show and then fuck off again, I should have known better. Because here I am, crying about feelings about the entire cast and devouring fic and yelling at anyone who will spend even five minutes listening to me about how much I love the OTP, how much I love the Yunmeng Siblings and their Terrible Communications Issues, and the Tragic Sibling Duos and the Tragic Doomed Loves and The Cutest Juniors In The World and how I want to lock ALL OF THEM IN A ROOM until they sort out their feelings! THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - EMOTIONAL CONSTIPATION RUNS IN THE FAMILY - YUNMENG SIBLINGS FIC: ✦ Still in the Water by airgeer, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jin ling & lan sizhui & jiang cheng, 45k    A year after Jin Ling’s early succession to the position of Sect Leader, a letter is delivered to him under strange circumstances. A night-hunt follows. ✦ no one lights a candle to remember by asravine, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jiang yanli (& wangxian), 7.9k    “Didi,” Wei Wuxian says softly. His thumb on Jiang Cheng’s cheek is calloused and warm and burns of affection. Jiang Cheng barely stops himself from leaning in. “Didi, don’t cry because of me.” ✦ can people untie themselves, uncurling like flowers by annemari, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji, 19.3k    Wei Wuxian gets hurt on a night hunt. Jiang Cheng is displeased to find out that he’s been wandering around on his own instead of living with Lan Wangji in Cloud Recesses. He ends up fixing it. ✦ bark, bite by chashmish, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & lan wangji & jin ling (& wangxian), modern au, 3.4k    Jin Ling finds a dog and learns some new things about his uncles. ✦ before you stumble by ribena, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui (& wangxian), 9.8k    “Uncle,” Jin Ling says. “Just because Uncle Wei - I mean, Wei Wuxian - just because he’s leading the night-hunt, he’s teaching, he’s not doing anything wrong, he even notified you ahead of time -” ✦ Five Dogs, One Cat by ryfkah, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui & lan jingyi & nie huaisang, 13.4k    If you’ve ever believed me in anything, believe I want what’s best for Jin Ling, the first line of the letter reads. Jiang Cheng has to stop and take a moment before he continues on to the next line: You must come to Carp Tower as soon as you can and lavish praise on the ugliest dog I’ve ever seen. ✦ Life is Very Long by Vamillepudding, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui & lan jingyi (& wangxian), 12.7k    Wei Wuxian is a good for nothing, possibly evil, possibly fake uncle. But he’s Jin Ling’s good for nothing, possibly evil, possibly fake uncle. So it stands to reason that when Jin Ling starts to suspect that Hanguang-jun is mistreating his husband, he immediately recruits Jiang Cheng for a rescue mission. ✦ a symbol to remind you that there’s more to see by paperminds, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui & lan jingyi & ouyang zizhen, 9.7k    For as long as Jin Ling can remember, he has been immune to the majority of supernatural hauntings that plague the cultivation world. Or: what if Jin Ling had received his first-month birthday gift. ✦ plea from a cat named little plum blossom by rolameny, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling, 5.1k    Jiang Cheng is trying. Jiang Cheng is having a very trying day. 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But like this— ✦ nothing gold can stay by rikke, lan wangji/wei wuxian & cast, nsfw, 10.3k    Before Wen Chao can throw him into Yiling Burial Mounds, Lan Wangji finds Wei Wuxian. ✦ Wait, What? by MarbleGlove, lan wangji/wei wuxian & lan xichen, time travel, 1.5k    AKA, that time sixteen-year-old Wei WuXian showed up at Cloud Recesses, took one look at Lan WangJi and declared, “That’s my future husband!” … and Lan WangJi said, “Mm” ✦ Beyond All Reach by airinshaw, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & nie huaisang & lan xichen, NSFW, 27.4k    Wei Wuxian heads back to Cloud Recesses to find out more about a curse someone has placed on him, that appears to do nothing. Until he meets back up with Lan Wangji and finds out that what the curse really does is stop them from being able to touch. ✦ Key Differences by pupeez4eva, lan wangji/wei wuxian & cast, 5.6k    Wherein Wei Wuxian ends up meeting an alternate version of himself who, much to his horror, never married Lan Wangji. Obviously he has to do something to fix this. ✦ the heart is hard to translate by vespertineflora, lan wangji/wei wuxian, NSFW, rough sex, non-con play, 10.8k    The moment comes almost out of the blue when, one relaxed spring afternoon, Lan Wangji decides that he’s ready to offer Wei Wuxian an opportunity to play out that very delicious fantasy about their stolen first kiss. ✦ Pigtail Pulling by protos_metazu_ison, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & nie huaisang & lan xichen, 3.7k    Wei Wuxian trips over Jiang Wanyin and sends both of them to the ground in a tangle of limbs and bruises. ✦ The Last Three Feet by etymologyplayground, lan wangji/wei wuxian & lan sizhui & lan wangji, 3.7k    A moment of down time in the Cloud Recesses. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - SOMETIMES YUNMENG SIBLINGS FIC, SOMETIMES WANGXIAN FIC: ✦ put your heart where your mouth is by protos_metazu_ison, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng, 19.9k    Having lost a month’s worth of memories might have been fine if Wei Wuxian hadn’t managed to forget the part where he and Lan Wangji got engaged. If that was, actually, what happened. He hasn’t figured out that part yet. ✦ Orchids in Lotus Pier by Vamillepudding, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & lan xichen & jiang yanli & jin zixuan & cast, 21.6k    Against all odds, Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng become friends. It’s just Jiang Cheng’s luck that people think they’re courting. And it’s just Lan Wangji’s luck that regretfully, Wei Wuxian is also People. ✦ Deeper grows my longing by feyburner, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng, 4.4k    Jiang Cheng stared at him. “How are you this dense,” he said flatly. “Wei Wuxian. The common people aren’t scared of you, they’re scared of your husband.“ “My what,” said Wei Wuxian. ✦ A Civil Combpaign by Ariaste, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jin ling/lan sizhui & cast, 31k    “And,” said one of the pompous ministers, “there’s the matter of a marriage to consider as well!” Jin Ling, who at the beginning of that sentence had expected to slam into the very last wall of his patience and lose his temper entirely, paused. “A what?” ✦ Being Known by dragongirlG, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jin zixuan/jiang yanli & jiang cheng/wen qing & nie huaisang & wen ning & lan xichen & yu ziyuan & lan qiren & cast, 36.3k wip    Teenage Lan Wangji drunkenly confesses his lust for Wei Wuxian during the guest disciple lectures at the Cloud Recesses and wakes up betrothed to him by way of forehead ribbon. 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THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - WHEN I WASN’T LOOKING, I DEVELOPED NIE BROTHERS FEELINGS FIC: ✦ Pushover by nirejseki, nie huaisang & nie mingjue & lan xichen & jin guangyao & cast, 1.9k    Every once in a while, not often, people who know them well will say that Nie Mingjue lets Nie Huaisang walk all over him. That isn’t quite right. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - YOUR HONOR, HAVE YOU SEENA-YAO’S PRECIOUS FACE? - LAN XICHEN/JIN GUANGYAO FIC: ✦ half cloak & half dagger by Fahye, lan xichen/jin guangyao (& background wangxian), NSFW, 13.1k    Jin Guangyao lifts his head and smiles. "I’m considering a problem.” “Can I be of any assistance with it?” He drops a kiss on Lan Xichen’s chest. With the nail of one finger he lightly traces the characters for irony on Lan Xichen’s side. “Not this one, er-ge.” ✦ Hindsight by clockwork_spider, lan xichen/jin guangyao, ~1k    Three years after the incident at the GuanYin temple, Jin GuangYao and Nie MingJue’s coffin was unsealed and their corpses, depleted of resentful energy, were finally laid to rest, their spirits released. In his dream, Lan XiChen is visited by the spectre of his sworn brother. ✦ beyond reasons by welcome_equivocator, lan xichen/jin guangyao & lan wangji, 5.2k    “a-yao,” he says, and you are almost surprised to hear it, but he is still facing away from you, “i know about the music.” ✦ Spring Dawn 《 花落知多少 》 by iskendaris, lan xichen/jin guangyao & nie mingjue, modern au/reincarnation au, 4.5k    Meng Yao is given a second chance when he’s reincarnated. He doesn’t want a repeat of the past. However destiny has a way of interfering, and he finds himself working together with student president Lan Xichen?! Really, what is this fate?! ✦ Hold the Baby by Moonsheen, lan xichen/jin guangyao & jin zixuan/jiang yanli & lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng, 6.4k    A collection of shorts: In which a chance encounter and a fussing baby causes a slight change to Jin Guangyao’s MO. ✦ Ornament by syriala, lan xichen/jin guangyao & nie mingue & lan qiren, 1.6k    He starts to go into the bow again, and Lan Xichen intercepts his movement, stops him from bowing in a move that he might have learned from Nie Mingjue, and then his brain must short-circuit, because the only thought Lan Xichen has is that Meng Yao has the perfect height for forehead kisses. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - EVERY OTHER KIND OF FIC: ✦ fierce corpse Jin Zixuan by EHyde, jin zixuan/jiang yanli & jin ling & cast, 10.6k    Jin Zixuan died at Qiongqi Path. Then, Wei Wuxian brought him back. But what place does Koi Tower have for a fierce corpse? ✦ The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere by FairestCat, jiang cheng & wen qing & lan sizhui, 2.3k    There are rumours going around of a woman – a healer – travelling the countryside alone. Jiang Cheng needs to know if the rumours are true. ✦ If you only knew then (the things I only know now) by Nillegible, jiang fengmian/yu ziyuan & wei wuxian & jiang cheng & nie huaisang & lan wangji & & lan xichen & jin zixuan & cast, time travel (of a sort), 34.7k wip    Yu Ziyuan receives a warning, a letter in Jiang Cheng’s handwriting, familiar, though it seems to have evened out over long years of practice. This was from her child, but not. This Jiang Cheng, grown up in ways that it hurt to contemplate, had endured the death of his family, his Sect, and his soul. ✦ partly frozen, partly flowing by astrolesbian, lan wangji & lan xichen & lan qiren (& background wangxian), 4.9k    To discourage Lan Wangji from this idea would be to discourage him from loving, and Lan Xichen has always known that to be impossible. All he could do was nod as his brother looked at him, and finished, calmly, “Zewu-jun, I accept any punishment you see fit.” ✦ Delight in Misery by nirejseki, lan wangji & jiang cheng & lan sizhui & jin ling & lan xichen (&background wangxian), 17.4k wip    For the first time in his life, Lan Wangji didn’t want to go home. (what if he had another option?) ✦ into the light of a dark black night by dragongirlG, lan wangji & lan xichen & madam lan, 3k    On a snowy night in the dead of winter, Wu Yuhua, formerly known as Madam Lan, unexpectedly spends one last night with her sons before escaping from the Cloud Recesses. FULL DETAILS + RECS HERE

[smiting-finger]

alive, and back on my usual nonsense

So after getting preoccupied with other things and temporarily falling off the face of the planet (for like an entire year ಥωಥ), I was thinking about the kdrama Mr. Queen (which I've been meaning to watch), and the Chinese novel it was based on (太子妃升职记, which I read a few years ago and very much enjoyed), and this popped out--

Wei Wuxian’s first thought is that there seem to be an awful lot of female voices around, for a bedroom inhabited by two men. Did he drink too much last night? It wouldn’t be the first time he’s overindulged on a trip to the town and woken up in a strange place the next morning, but that kind of problem has been cropping up a lot less frequently now that he has Lan Zhan around to ferry him home.

(Sometimes literally, on his back. His broad, strong--)

But perhaps Lan Zhan had gotten drunk, too? In which case, Wei Wuxian should consider them lucky to have woken up surrounded by people, rather than chickens, rabbits or, notably, on one occasion, mounds of resentful cabbages.

The chatter around him continues, pitched high with youth and - is that anxiety? It's interspersed with the odd interjection from what sounds like one (calmer, if more exasperated) older woman and a man. Probably not a nunnery, he decides. Perhaps the back rooms of a pleasure house? Although, if that’s the case, this amount of excitement over a mere two men is honestly a little excessive.

He reaches out tentatively, but pats all the way across the mattress to the edge without finding his usual bedfellow. A much less tentative venture towards the other side produces similar results.

Hm.

Wei Wuxian cracks open an eye and heaves himself upright, absent-mindedly scratching at his (unusually soft - as much as he hates to admit it, maybe Nie Huaisang has a point about drinking less and training more) side and squinting into the too-bright light until the person-shaped blur in front of him sharpens into focus.

“Niang niang!” a complete stranger cries tearfully, clutching at the sleeve of his other arm. “You’re awake! Thank Heavens, you’re awake! Physician Liu, quick, quick!”

A cushion is produced from somewhere and thrust expectantly between Wei Wuxian and the elderly man sitting at his bedside.

He sighs. It’s probably not worth fighting.

Wei Wuxian smacks his upturned wrist onto the unusually lavish brocade and is only a little surprised when it’s covered by a cloth before the physician reaches to take it.

(Do they think he’s diseased?)

((Is he diseased?!))

(((Is that why Lan Zhan isn’t here?)))

He looks at the row of young girls (+ 1 matron) kneeling along the wall to his left, dressed identically to the first and also now beginning to prostrate themselves and wail about “Niang niang!” and blessings and deserving to die.

Not a pleasure house, then.

He looks around at the rest of the richly-furnished room and its intricately-carved wooden furniture, the wealth of jade carvings and the obscene amount of gold that's gilding … everything (so shiny). The opulence of it all would put even Jin Guangshan to shame.

So, not a nunnery either.

He looks down at the small hands, delicate wrists and - he clutches one abruptly just to make sure his eyes aren’t deceiving him - breasts of the body that he certainly was not inhabiting yesterday.

“Well,” he says aloud, unable to stop himself from wincing at the high, soft voice that emerges despite fully expecting it. “It’s not the first time this has happened.”

===

Two days, one diagnosis of shock-induced memory loss and some discreet enquiries (as well as some indiscreet enquiries) later, this is what he knows about his situation:

He’s the main consort (unfavoured) of the crown prince of whatever place he’s landed in;

Three days ago, following a disagreement with one Consort Yun (favoured, main competitor for husband’s affections);

In the course of this disagreement, both women somehow fell into a palace lake and mostly-drowned;

Consort Yun (admittedly quite pretty) was revived at the scene, but Wei Wuxian took a full day to “miraculously” recover;

Angered by the unseemly behaviour of her daughters-in-law, particularly upon learning that the Crown Princess’s first act upon waking was to stumble upon a chance meeting between the Crown Prince and Consort Yun in one of the pleasure gardens and bodily throw herself between them (a tactical error on Wei Wuxian’s part. He’d been trying to throw himself over the battlements to freedom, but he’d gotten lost and scaled the wrong wall), the Empress (Crown Prince’s political opponent, not particularly fond of either consort) grounded both of them to their respective residences for a month, with no visitors allowed.

Which brings him to his current position, feeding the fish in his personal pond as an excuse to be alone. Not truly alone - he shoots a pointed glance at the maids watching anxiously from the other side of the courtyard - because he’s apparently a “suicide risk” now (and honestly, yes, he’d meant to throw himself off that roof, but he hadn’t meant to die - it’s simply that this new body’s cultivation level is not what he’s come to expect even from Mo Xuanyu’s modest abilities), but alone enough to start planning his next move.

Direct escape is out - he didn’t have a plan for what to do once he’d gotten out anyway, and honestly he’s better-resourced for finding out how he got here in the Palace than anywhere else, so it’s no great loss.

“What do you think, Master Fish?” Wei Wuxian asks a gold and black spotted koi with particularly sage-looking whiskers. “Shall I just stay here for the time being?”

It’s not a terrible place to be for the time being, he must admit, throwing more food into the water and watching the fish swarm. Being grounded, he’s at no risk from the Crown Prince’s amorous attentions for a month (a salute of gratitude to the Empress for the inadvertent protection). And thanks to Consort Yun and her voluptuous figure (and if the Crown Prince is more partial to that than the Zhao Feiyan style of willowy fragility that Wei Wuxian seems to have inherited, who can honestly blame him?), he’s at no great risk from them after that, either (a salute of gratitude to the unknowing sister-in-arms, taking one - and hopefully a great many more after that - for the team).

According to his maid (sleeve-clutcher extraordinaire, who even now is boring two holes into his skull with her woeful gaze from across the way while he does nothing more suspicious than scatter another handful of feed towards some latercomer fish), the body he’s inhabiting comes from a powerful military lineage. In particular, her father is (was?) a powerful general who currently commands more than half the nation’s military forces and has the absolute trust of the Emperor. So that more or less keeps him safe from the machinations of the majority of the nest of vipers in this palatial cesspit.

That just leaves the Empress, who - if his servants and the smuggled letters from the Original Goods’s mother (a salute of gratitude to the worthy woman for spelling it out so that even such an interloper as he can understand) are anything to go by - would definitely kill him to damage the Crown Prince’s political standing or throw any sort of roadblock in the way of him from becoming Emperor.

Less immediately - if his secret informants are anything to go by (a salute of gratitude to the resourceful host for cultivating such a valuable resource if not her dantian) - it also leaves the Crown Prince, who, upon cementing his power as Emperor, would also definitely kill his current Crown Princess in order to wedge his beloved Consort Yun into the Empress role.

Really, the only road to any sort of security for someone in his position is to raise the next Imperial heir, outlive the Original Goods’s faithless husband and become the Empress Dowager.

Hopefully Wei Wuxian will be long gone by then, but if leaving means the Original Goods will return (from … Mo Xuanyu’s body? The Ether? Or???) - well, he doesn’t want to repay her hospitality by leaving her house in a mess, so to speak. So he’ll try to set her on that career path, if he can.

But that’s an aspirational goal. First, he has to not-die before he can find out how to get himself home.

And find out how to get himself home.

If getting himself home is even possible.

Wei Wuxian dumps the rest of the fish food in the water and yells.

(It startles the maids, the fish and the poor eunuch the Crown Prince has sent as a spy into falling out of the tree he’s been hiding in and into the prickly bushes below.)

===

The problem with “staying for the time being” is … well, how interminably boring it is. The approved list of hobbies for an Imperial consort seems to consist of: eating (but not too much), sleeping (but not too much), embroidery (which he can’t do), reading (but only texts on female virtue and the occasional terrible novel), playing music (but not the flute), conversing with his maids (who are very sweet, but are all like, 12) and walking in the gardens (which he’s not allowed to do).

Honestly, it’s no wonder all the consorts turn to scheming and murder.

It only takes a week of confinement for him to snap and sneak himself out for a nighttime adventure, setting off to explore the grounds and see … a night-blooming flower, a ghost, a rat, he’ll take pretty much anything at this point.

In the end, he finds none of these things, but the walking is still pretty nice, and he even hears the faint sounds of a guqin wafting over from one of the other consorts’ residences. (He should probably learn who lives where at some point, but it’s not exactly a priority. What’s he going to do with the information when he can only visit during the nighttime? Peep?) When Wei Wuxian wanders closer, the notes resolve themselves into the familiar strains of Flowing Waters, and his breath catches on a sudden surge of longing to hear the same song, played by a different set of fingers.

(First played on a familiar guqin and then, later, accompanied by soft humming between soft, worn sheets, played across the edges of Wei Wuxian’s ribs, along the dip of his spine, and finally lower, into--)

((Is Lan Zhan thinking about him?))

(((Is Lan Zhan looking for him?)))

Stumbling blindly on, he’s so caught up in missing Lan Zhan that he misses the first few stanzas of the next piece, and it isn’t until the music starts to rise in a familiar refrain that he freezes.

He knows that song.

He’s one of the only two people who know that song, which is in fact how he got caught out the last time he found himself in a farce of an identity charade, by the only other person who knows that song, who must be - who must be -

Lan Zhan, his blood sings in his ears as he takes off in a dead run towards the source of the playing. Up ahead of him, small courtyard glows softly with the light of the only burning lamp in their vicinity. Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan-

He scrambles up the wall with the ease of a lifetime’s practice, using bloody-minded determination to make up for the lack of muscle memory.

“Lan Zhan,” he yelps, forgetting to whisper in his excitement as he flings himself over the top and into the branches of a convenient, wall-side tree. “Lan Zhan, it’s me, I-”

This is, naturally, when his foot slips. He manages to catch hold of a branch, but his tender hands and puny wrists, unused to holding up anything heavier than a chicken leg, fail to maintain their hold through his weight, and he tumbles down the trunk into a sad puddle of fabric on the ground.

“Lan Zhan,” he gasps, fighting to untangle himself from the ridiculous train that, admittedly, made a considerable contribution to cushioning his fall. He clambers up onto his hands and knees--

--and looks straight into the wide-eyed stare of Consort Yun.

===

“I cannot believe,” Wei Wuxian growls, palming the ample softness of one exposed breast with one hand, while shoving the other deeper into the many (too many) layers of fabric between them and between Lan Zhan’s splayed legs, “that after everything that’s happened, you’re still taller than me.”

Lan Zhan huffs a laugh that turns quickly into a moan, and Wei Wuxian swallows it, smothers Lan Zhan’s gasping breaths with his own parted lips and sucks them greedily down even as he coaxes out more with twisting fingers here, another tug to Lan Zhan’s poor, abused nipple there.

He slides his fingers back between slick folds and then upwards again, pushing in and out in a few languid strokes before curling them to make Lan Zhan arch harder against the wall behind him, tilt his head back and expose a beautifully vulnerable stretch of neck to Wei Wuxian's teeth.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan murmurs, and his voice is different, the shape of his lips is different, but the way Wei Wuxian’s name fits inside his mouth (tender, beloved), the way he tucks the flyaway strands of hair behind Wei Wuxian’s ear, the look in his eyes when their gazes meet (warm, open, knowing) are the same, same, same.

===

===

I am entirely too lazy to write the rest of it, but afterwards they regroup and it turns out LWJ has been in this world for exactly one more day than WWX, having woken up in Consort Yun’s body when she was “revived”. Consort Yun is the daughter of a high-ranking Minister in the Treasury or something, so Lan Zhan been using his new position as the daughter of a ~scholarly family~ to build a reputation for being really into Buddhist scripture, and eventually he’s going to request to be allowed to go to a nearby Temple to attain some virtuous brownie points for the Imperial family via prayer as his penitence.

That there’s also an elderly monk living there who’s got a reputation for being super good with the divine mysteries and spiritual lore about curses and whatnot is totally immaterial, if Lan Zhan happens to run into that guy, it’ll be a total coincidence, yeah.

So WWX also starts on the divine penitence route, and if everyone thinks it’s because the Crown Princess refuses to be outdone by Consort Yun, then even better, and two weeks into confinement they wear the Empress down into letting them make the trip, and when they get there, turns out the monk is Nie Huaisang.

(NHS: “OH THANK GOD, I’ve done the research but the lynchpin of this mess is definitely somewhere in the Palace and I could not for the life of me figure out a way to get in.”

WWX: “That's nice, but seriously, how come you got to stay a man?”

NHS: “My friend, I may be a man, but my balls are currently swinging somewhere around my ankles.”

WWX: “...show me.”

And LWJ is like “NO.” except WWX can tell by the look in his eye that he sort of wants to see, too).

So they return to the Palace and WWX whirls into one of their morning audiences with the Empress, distraught about a ~dream from the ancestors~ where they warned him about disrupted ley lines or accumulated resentment or an offended minor god that needs investigation by someone, and “How convenient, because we met just the guy!” And the Empress looks like she was Done Five Years Ago, but the Empress Dowager, who’s old and doddery, is like “oh no, you must bring him!” and the Empress mutters “to fucking what, offend some major gods and really do the job properly?” and that’s how they find out the Empress is Jiang Cheng.

In the meantime, the confinement edict expires and WWX+LWJ are allowed to return to their regular programming, which means that as the legal wife, WWX can continuously summon LWJ to his residence for increasingly tenuous and spurious reasons. The best thing is, it’s not even out of character for the Crown Princess, who used to regularly summon Consort Yun to subject her to not-so-veiled barbs and petty torments. So WWX summons LWJ, and then immediately expels both their entourages from the room, instructing that no one is to enter on pain of death.

So LWJ’s maids are gnashing their teeth helplessly while all sorts of piteous moans, pained gasps and the occasional scream emanate from behind the closed door, and when their mistress finally emerges there are no marks on her body, but she’s weak-kneed and having trouble walking straight, so who knows what kind of terrible tortures the Crown Princess has visited upon her.

The Crown Prince obviously hears about this, so he bursts in one day without warning, only to find the two sitting together, the Crown princess’s arms around Consort Yun’s waist, her cheek pillowed on one heaving bosom, and although she’s smiling besottedly at him now, he could have sworn that he felt killing intent being directed at him only a second ago? And to tell the truth, he’s not really in love Consort Yun either, it’s all an act to keep the two consorts (and their families) pitted in a power struggle against each other until he can finally outmanoeuvre the Empress and cement his position as heir to the throne (and also to protect his actual favourite, a third consort who’s a nondescript nobody with no political backing). So the fact that “It was all a misunderstanding, we’re friends now,” his Crown Princess says sweetly (and did she … rub her cheek against his Consort’s chest? Must be his imagination) is not the worst thing (at least neither of them/their families can be enlisted by the Empress in support of her son, and if they’re caught up with Being Besties, then at least they’re not bullying his actual favourite), but for some reason he still feels kind of … threatened? Like someone’s making moves on his wife, which is absurd because they’re both his wives, but the vibes he gets from the first one in particular are kind of … off?

In any case, the crew solve the mystery, find the lynchpin object (which turns out to be a jade dildo belonging to one of the Emperor’s favoured consorts because of course it is), and wake up in their real bodies, in their real world, to a very apologetic hermit-inventor-cultivator whose property they stumbled onto while pursuing a resentful beast. Turns out they triggered the glamour/enchantment/psychic maze world he created as a security system because, “I just didn’t want to risk people getting into my stuff, you know? I’ve got some things that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands”. WWX is like “oh yeah, for sure” and JC is like “WHAT DO YOU MEAN FOR SURE? HOW IS THIS AN UNDERSTANDABLE RESPONSE, IF YOU’RE AFRAID PEOPLE WILL TOUCH YOUR SHIT THEN JUST ENCHANT SOME FUCKING WARRIOR GOLEMS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.”

[rueluxprince]

A Comprehensive List of Jin Ling’s Many Uncles

- an indulgent headcanon extrapolated from canon. It’s fiction but we’re still doing some media analysis.

- Jin Ling’s POV

- Canon-compliant

- accidentally deleted the original post, so reposting again

Mo Xuanyu: crazy queer uncle. You’re disgusted and confused by him and you also want to protect him. He bows too low to you.

Wei Wuxian: that other crazy queer uncle. Life coach. Believes wholeheartedly in learning via Direct Experiences. Will be disappointed in you to hear you didn’t get into a fight in boarding school. Somehow imparting a lesson on how to be a good person while stealing peaches with you at midnight. You’re sure enough of his love that you know you’re not gonna die when he tosses you head first into a hoard of angry ghosts.

Jiang Cheng: crazy angry uncle. Dad. High expectations. Really wants you to do well in swordsmanship. Got you a tutor to teach you how to shoot when you’ve turned out to obviously be better at that. Loud murder thunder on the outside, soft loving rain platter on the side. You’re sure enough of his love that you can scream back just as loudly when you two argue about what future path to take.

Jin Guangyao: crazy evil uncle. Mom. No expenses spared since you obviously deserve the best. Gave you a puppy you didn’t think you needed. Smells soft and nice and likes it very much when you hug him out of the blue. Tucks you behind him and plays the calm placater when your other uncle come storming in demanding how you’ve managed to blew up some horror death tomb the other day. You’re sure enough of his love that the possibility your lord-uncle may dispose his heir-nephew never even crossed your mind.

Lan Wangji: uncle by marriage. Apparently. You have no idea how to interact with him except to sit next to him in silent support as Wei Wuxian flounces around in dramatics around you at a bunch of low level resentful spirits. He gives you a silver nugget when he gets up.

Lan Xichen: uncle by... Not marriage apparently. For some reason you’re more scared of him than your Jiujiu. You tone down your voice by 50% when he’s around. Recommended some really good tutors to homeschool you. Always passes you an extra sweet when xiao-Shushu pretends he’s not looking. Taught you breathing exercises and the language of flowers. He’s always at your house and you don’t know how to feel about that.

Wen Ning: uncle by... friend osmosis? Idk you hang out with Lan Sizhui too much and apparently mi uncle es su uncle. You’re still very conflicted about him but he once rescued you and four other juniors from a lightning snake monster by running four miles really fast and carrying all of you in his arms. Apparently it was nothing. You are now marginally less conflicted. You suspect it’s the osmosis thing again.

Nie Mingjue: uncle by sworn brotherhood? Once gave you a really rough head pat when you were a baby. He had really large and warm hands. You don’t remember much else.

Nie Huaisang: uncle by sworn brotherhood’s brotherhood? You avoid him when you’re a child because you’re a bit vain and you don’t like his type of frivolity. He sends you presents on your birthday. You avoid him when you’re a young adult because if you ever see him you will probably rip his face off with your bare hands. He sends you inter-sect business letters.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 08 first part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary goodness)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Rabbits

The Jiang kids have some quality time with the rabbits. Initially Jiang Cheng says it’s wrong for gentlemen to hold rabbits, which is definitely in no way related to gay-rabbit-god symbolism, but changes his mind when he discovers how fun men rabbits are to cuddle. 

Jiang Yanli says, in a moment with zero foreshadowing, that if they take one rabbit away from the others, it will miss its family and be lonely. Also if a rabbit were to watch from the rooftop while a mean enemy rabbit poured wine on the corpses of its parents, that would be extra upsetting. For a rabbit. So let’s leave all the rabbits where they are. Check. 

Speaking of cute fluffy creatures that are upset, we see this distressed look on Wei Wuxian’s face kinda often when he’s talking with Jiang Cheng.  

There are some sibilng relationships where you will always do anything to help each other because you survived a shitty childhood together, but as adults you find you don’t actually share values, and that your interactions are kinda toxic -- for both of you. This seems like one of those. 

Even though he’s younger, Jiang Cheng is in the role of the elder sibling who is being abused by the parents, and is handing the abuse on down the line to the “younger” sibling, in the form of constant criticism and casual hittings. Wei Wuxian isn’t actually younger, but he is lower ranked because he’s not a blood relation, and he gets plenty of parental abuse as well. It’s...not a healthy family. 

(more after the cut!) 

Lan Wangji has been lurking nearby during this conversation, and after the Jiangs leave, he looks at the rabbits and says farewell.  He clearly means farewell to Wei Wuxian, or else he has a really unhealthy level of yearning being directed toward the rabbits. At least, for a vegetarian.

Uninvited Gusu Guest

Lan Xichen is meditating, and because the Director of Photography loves us, we get a bunch of nice closeups of his exquisite face. He hears a noise thing and tells Wen Chao to come in, which results in a dire bird scream and Wen Chao’s muddy feet intruding on his day. Why did Wen Chao bring the bird with him? He’s trying to be sneaky, right? So...ok whatever.

Wen Chao acts like a dirtbag and menacingly reminds Lan Xichen that his didi just hit the road all by himself. Lan Xichen gets so upset he curls his fingers slightly. His beautiful, beautiful fingers.

Is it slapping time yet?

Road Tripping

Fortunately for the Lan brothers, Lan Wangji isn’t going to be alone for long. Wei Wuxian is determined to follow him, and where friend-maker Wei Wuxian goes, an assortment of other helpful cultivators will soon follow. 

Wei Wuxian leaves a note to say “I’m running away from home with the hot boy I met in summer school” and signs it with a smiley face, the dork. Jiang Cheng is angry, as usual; Yanli has confidence in Wei Wuxian, as usual, and Jiang Fengmian is autocratic and doesn’t explain what he’s thinking, as usual. JF is aware of the Yin Iron, however, so he may understand that WWX will be useful in protecting it on the road.  

Lan Wangji has changed his hair, upgraded his crown, and put on the most absurdly beautiful outfit of the entire show to go on a solo road trip totally without any hot infuriating boys. 

Quick, Lan Wangji, catch this callback to that time you rejected my advances back in Gusu! This time Lan Wangji catches the offered fruit and keeps it, presumably to consume furtively when he wakes in the dead of night, restless with unslaked thirst for Wei Ying. Or, you know, to have with his lunch while they’re riding on the boat. 

This is a level of synchronized walking-with-shoulder-contact that would make the Guardian boys proud. Lan Wangji is all touchy feely now that he’s out from under the eyes at Cloud Recesses. 

He also has upped his troll game, actually smirking after he says “boring” to Wei Wuxian’s declaration of I’m-gonna-come-along-you-can’t-stop-me. 

He also...doesn’t seem angry? Like, he is still seriously on edge, but it feels like he left the boiling rage at home.  Lan Xichen is right; having a friend IS good for Lan Wangji. And for whatever reason, Lan Wangji is ready, now, to accept Wei Wuxian’s friendship.

We Rate Birds

Wen Chao has the weirdest fucking pet. This bird has a resentful energy problem, obvs, but it also seems to be invisible except for resentful energy, but it leaves random feathers behind at places, and then when Wei Wuxian kills it, it’s a regular bird corpse with a little smoke. “Imbued with Yin Iron energy” seems to be the explanation. But Nie Huaisang said they see a lot of these in their neck of the woods. Did he mean “just a regular bird” and didn’t notice the billowing black visual FX? Either way I want to see a nest full of baby dire Yin birds, I bet they’re hideous cute. 

Wen Qing has a new outfit and an elegant fiery golden crown. There’s probably some plot stuff happening here. Wen blah blah Yin Iron blah blah. She’s so pretty. I love her ears and her cool double hair parting. The girls’ hairlines are always nice and soft, presumably because they get to wear their own front hair instead of a lacefront like the boys are glued to stuck with. 

I Call it Bondage

After the fun they had in the ice cave, it’s only fair that Wei Wuxian gets to have a turn tying up Lan Wangji. 

One of the fun things in clipping The Untamed is that the show’s editors generally didn't drop any frames when they intercut the various scenes, meaning that some longer shots can be spliced back together by removing the other camera portions, as with these two string-pulling bits.

Lan Wangji totally lets Wei Wuxian put a leash on him, quickly declaring it boring and taking control of it, pulling Wei Wuxian along behind him. 

Incidentally, at this stage about half of Wei Wuxian’s talisman’s are blue. After he loses his core, they are 100% red, but nobody notices that. Well, maybe Nie Huaisang does because he notices a LOT, but nobody says anything. 

After they play around in the field for a bit, Lan Wangji’s magic bag of plot advancement goes off, sending them to Flower Town. 

He’s Leaving Home Bye Bye

Meanwhile, at Lotus Pier, we get a nice view of the rooftops. I’d hate to be the guy whose job it is to hang up bells and tassels at any of these places. 

Jiang Cheng sneaks out to go join his brother’s road trip. He gets caught, because his idea of sneaking is to walk out the front door in broad daylight and leave the door open behind him. 

Jiang Yanli tells him to go ahead, though and he scampers off to have...the last carefree fun of his entire life, actually. Sigh. 

Flower Town

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji go to Tanzhou and immediately run into Nie Huaisang, because sure, why not. China’s not very big.

Lan Wangji’s startle response

Wei Wuxian’s startle response

Nie-Xiong and Wei-Xiong are delighted to see each other, once Wei Wuxian explains that Lan Wangji isn’t there to bust them. 

While Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang squee over each other, Lan Wangji ...tries to deal with that. His reaction is probably a mix of jealousy and social anxiety. This town has got to be overwhelming for him after the order and quiet of Cloud Recesses; he even admits--aloud!--that it’s too crowded for him at one point. Add in his boyfriend’s travel partner’s number one enabler, and it’s not a comfortable situation.

Oh great now they’re going to want me to get high and make out with them, ugh

However, with Lan Wangji in the mix, the Nie-Wei dynamic shifts away from mischief making, and they very quickly become a friend trio sharing a serious purpose. When Wei Wuxian, in his second life, refers to NHS as “that old friend of ours” when talking to LWJ, he’s not wrong. Nie Huaisang and Lan Wangji become friends during this trip, and arguably remain friends, within the limits of Nie Huaisang’s revenge remit. 

From one point of view, Nie Huaisang is grown-up Lan Wangji’s very best friend (not counting his eventual husband). Everyone in the cultivation world knows what Lan Wangji’s heart desires most, after Nightless City, and Nie Huaisang gives it to him. By, uh, manipulating a crazy guy into ritual suicide. Hey, no gift is perfect.

Continued in Next Post! Soon!

[guqin-and-flute]

In Your Hands--Ch. 3 [Peony to Lotus!Verse]

[Chapter 1][Chapter 2]

[This whole fic is the second chronological installment of the Peony to Lotus!Verse]

[First Installment] [Ao3 Series]

“...A-Jie?”

“Mm?” Yanli opens her eyes, going from the deep red-orange of the sun on her eyelids to the fresh blue of the world. She cranes her neck around to look over at A-Cheng. 

And finds that he’s no longer basking beside her and is instead sitting up, elbows on his knees, hands fiddling with something on the ground in front of him. 

It had taken some convincing to get him to actually lay down in the grass with her as A-Xian and A-Yao man the kites for target practice below them in the waterfall grotto--he is so concerned with being proper and respectable that he hardly lets himself relax anymore. He isn’t even relaxing now. While his gaze is on the disciples playing and training below their bluff-top vantage point, his lips are tight, his face troubled. Sitting up, she scoots closer to him and nudges her shoulder up against him, playfully. “What is it, A-di?”

The wind dances over the dewy spots the sun-warmed grass had left on her robes, lifting up the fresh and living scent of plants and water as she waits for his jaw to work over the words before they come out. For all that he blurts out whatever he wants about (or at) Xianxian, he is always careful when it comes to something regarding her. So she waits, gentling her energy and leaning closer to rest her temple against his hunched shoulder, rubbing her thumb along the tough leather of his bracer. 

“Are you...happy?”

She smiles, even though he can’t see it. “Of course I am, A-Cheng. It’s a beautiful day and we’re spending time together. Why?”

“I mean, are you happy...in general? With….” As he pauses, she follows his still stuck gaze and finds it on A-Yao in the shade holding a kite string, listening to something a shimei is saying with a patient smile. “I didn’t...we didn’t force you, did we? You really seemed to like that peac--well, you know. Wei Wuxian and I were wondering…” He looks back to his hands, twisting grass between them fitfully, but she sees his gaze dart to her sideways from underneath his eyebrows. “Are you happy?”

Sweet, romantic boys; the ones who had planned her wedding in full when they were only 8. Both still haunted by the wounds left by her parents’ relationship in their own way. Who had both been more than unimpressed with Jin Guangshan’s attempt at what he clearly saw was a hand-me-down marriage--a marriage they were apparently forgetting that, had she not insisted on for the good of the Clan, wouldn’t have even happened. “With you all taking such good care of me, how could I be anything but?” she teases, but his anxiety stays on his face, so she pets down his hair.

As for Jin Zixuan…. Yanli hadn’t flinched when A-Cheng had said his name, but that familiar drain had opened up in her chest, pulling her down and in until she’s a little smaller, a little sadder, a little...less. Yes. She had wanted to become worthy of that match, for her Clan, for her mother, who had promised her to it since she was just a girl. She had tried.

She just hadn’t been enough. 

“Is he good to you?”

Yanli shakes herself from her thoughts and sits up. She laces her fingers together and cushions her chin on the back of them with a faux thoughtful air. “Hmmm, is he good to me? Well, let’s see. I think I’ve received about 4 more gifts from him this week alone and he practically waits on me hand and foot.” She grins despite herself, that familiar giddy curling in her belly. “I would certainly say so.”

At this easy reply, he slants a curious, self conscious look that fits the round faced child she can still remember better than a would-be-stern Clan Leader and hesitantly asks, “Are you...in love?” while waggling his finger back and forth, as if indicating the space between her and her husband.

She covers an unlady-like snort of laughter that threatens to escape before she bites her lip against its persistent aftershocks and lowers the hand. “Why do you ask that like you’re going to get in trouble?” Something about the way he asks it just seems so young.

Flushing, he squirms and looks back down the bluff, but she sees the smile trying to fight its way onto his compressed lips. “I’m just curious!” When she continues to grin, he shoots her a look of reproach and complains, “A-jie, don’t laugh at me!”

“I’m not, I would never!” She laughs and rubs his shoulder to lessen the sting of the tease. “You’re so funny. But...I think...I don’t honestly know. I love talking with him and learning about him; I love...making him happy and seeing him smile. I get excited to spend time with him. I was always under the impression that being in love is something huge and earth shaking--from all the legends and epics--and when you know you know, but…” Yanli takes a deep breath of the clean, full air and looks back down, catching her eyes on the lovely, now-familiar shape of A-Yao in profile. Now, he’s looking up at the kites while shading his eyes, a small smile still on his lips. “But I’m just...happy. It’s lovely, with him, and honestly, I would be completely content if this is all it is.” It would be enough.

She searches this thought, a little, pushing at its edges. For a family? For children? To want? The answer within herself doesn’t feel nearly as urgent as it used to when it comes back with ‘Maybe. There’s no rush.’ She marvels a little at how much she actually believes it.

Watching her watch A-Yao, A-Cheng smiles tentatively in the side of her vision. “That sounds really nice, A-jie.”

“It really is. He’s very...doting.”

At this, A-Cheng snorts. “Unsurprising, considering how he was with Nie-xiong.”

“Oh? Were they close, A-Yao and Nie-er-gongzi?” 

“He definitely was devastated when Jin-xiong was kicked out of the Unclean Realm. I always got the feeling that he was something in between a shixiong and a babysitter, but they always got along well, from what I saw. Actually,” he furrows his eyebrows thoughtfully, tilting his head as he watches the disciples milling about, joyful fragments of shouts drifting up with the breeze. “Come to think of it, I don’t know that he’s seen him since….They weren’t in contact during the Sunshot Campaign, we know that much. Maybe they got to talk at the banquet?” His face darkens at the memory--where Jin Zixuan had officially called off the engagement, but he doesn’t speak on it. “I wonder what Nie-xiong thinks of him being here.” His scowl lightens to mere irritation and he scoffs, voice testy, now, as he adds, “Hasn’t bothered to visit.”

Hmm. She plucks this blossoming idea like a little flower to keep for later. Perhaps this is something else she could give her husband. 

And oh, that distant past, when she had first seen A-Yao in the classroom of the Cloud Recesses, standing humbly beside Nie Huaisang with his head down. A whole lifetime ago, when her family and Clan still lived and her biggest worry was Jin Zixuan’s aversion; it felt like an entire version of her had lived and died since. If she set herself to it, she could even remember the specifics, like how she had been impressed by his eloquence and the competence of his bearing--even when his parentage had been publicly mocked. In truth, she had been more focused on Wei Wuxian behaving at the time--to her shame. She had known it was wrong even while it happened, could have said something, anything at all. 

At least she would, now.

Turning to smooth her hand down his cheek to soothe his ruffled feathers over Nie Huaisang’s neglect and difficult memories, she catches sight of A-Xian charging up the hill with fiendish purpose under the rolling shadow of a cloud. He canons into A-Cheng like a vaguely sweaty firework without slowing.

A-Cheng squawks in disgust as it bowls them both over into the grass and the two of them begin to scuffle about it. A-Xian pants, “Shijie, I don’t think your husband has ever shot a bow before! Ow! You shit!”

A-Cheng sits, grinning and triumphant, on the back of Xianxian’s shoulders, digging his brother’s face into the grass and dirt. But just for a second or two, before he is flipped off and pinned, until he is shoved over and on and on, growling insults and play threats at each other like wrestling puppies. Eventually, laughing, Yanli stands and tugs A-Xian’s arm from the writhing pile, more of a hint than actually physically intervening. But he obediently heaves himself up, sweating, panting, and grinning, all harder than before. A-Cheng gives him a faux-surly punch in the side in retaliation and it very nearly starts the whole thing over again until Yanli firmly puts herself between them with a grin, brushing grass clumps from their hair and clothes. “Honestly, you two! I don’t envy the laundry women, just look what you’ve done to your robes. I should make you two clean them!” A-Cheng at least pretends to look halfway chastised while smiling, but A-Xian just looks proud. That is, until she continues, “And I hope you didn’t embarrass A-Yao about it. You know he wasn’t raised with the same training we were.”

At this, he cocks her an half pout, tucking his chin down and sticking his lip out. “Shijieee, all I said was that he must be worried he couldn’t beat our youngest shidi because he wouldn’t even try. Then he started ignoring me!”

A-Cheng rolls his eyes and tuts, loudly, before saying, “You asshole,” just as Yanli sighs.

Shaking her head, she tilts it in gentle scolding. “Maybe because you compared him to an 8 year old? Xianxian. You have to be careful; you know what people say about him. He needs to be safe, here. Where did you leave him?”

“Oh, he’s still down there, organizing clean up. He wasn’t offended--unlike some people,” here, he shoves at A-Cheng’s shoulder, who elbows him back. “Just the usual smiley Lianfang-zun. You know how he is, shijie, he doesn’t get upset over stuff like that.”

He’s always smiling, that doesn’t mean anything, Xianxian. You of all people would understand that. Yanli raises an eyebrow, gentle but not smiling. His childish act mellows behind his dirt smudged face and he looks away, pouting for real and rubbing his nose. “Sorry, shijie,” he mutters. 

“Mm, it’s not me you have to apologize to, A-Xian. It’s about time for you to organize cleanup now, don’t you think?”

He heaves a dramatic sigh, but grudgingly nods before perching on the edge of the bluff, shouting down through cupped hands. “Jin-gege-e-e, your wife wants you!” When he turns around, he points at A-Cheng nonchalantly. “You’re helping.”

“Oh, am I?” A-Cheng smirks, folding his arms and puffing up, very clearly preparing to pull rank.

“Uh, yeah, if you want this back!” Suddenly, A-Xian spins and sprints down the hill, holding his fist up over his shoulder.

“Wei Wuxian! What’d you take?! Hey! Stop!” 

As he pelts down the hill after him, Yanli has to laugh because, in the second before he had run, A-Xian had had nothing in his hands at all. For a moment, in this new peace, she closes her eyes and folds her hands over her belly, savoring the sun shining warm--almost hot--on the top of her head and the playful shouts of her brothers and the disciples below. Then, she hears footsteps. When she opens her eyes, she sees A-Yao making his steady way up the hill, his face pleasantly blank. The closer he gets, however, his eyes warm and the edges of him soften until he is here, reaching out and taking her hands. “A-Li? What do you need?” He smells like grass and water and sun.

“Was A-Xian being terrible again?”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “Oh no, he’s just being Wei Wuxian. You look flushed--shall I walk you back?” 

But day by day she is learning each of his little lies and she recognizes this as one of them. Strangely, as the weeks go by, the masks he wears have been bothering her less and less; partially because she is beginning to understand that they are protection for him. Like armor or clothing--he would feel naked without them. If she can still tell what he wants, if she can still peek under them, she is more than happy not to pry them from him when he still needs their safety. (Of course she wishes he didn’t feel like he needs them in their home, with the people who would be his family, if he let them. But, like growing seeds or proving dough, these things take time and that, they certainly have.) He is becoming less of an impenetrable fortress and more of a foreign land that she can more easily navigate as she learns the language. It allows her to leave these smiles hung up like beautiful paintings she can name. Underneath this, he is tense and displeased; his smile-curved eyes opaque, his jaw holding tension. This one is Humiliation.

Twining her arms around his trim waist, she thrills in that wanted way she does every time he lets her hold him before she tucks her cheek to his to murmur, “I told him not to tease like that. I know it hurts you.” While she may have become more inclined to leave him his shields when he puts them up against her, she can’t help but talk around it, just a little. She cares less about the hiding and more about the fact that he suffers.

“...It’s fine.” He says nothing more, but his hands move to hold her back, one smoothing up between her shoulder blades as his face tips down against her neck, nose and eyelashes pressing. Not a talking problem, then. So she rocks, a bit, from her ankles to her hips, swaying them both slowly together in the rustling breeze with something like playfulness and something like comfort. “What are you doing, this afternoon?” She asks the air behind him, eyes cast to the wisping clouds passing slowly across the sky.

“Mm, I had planned to organize a list of new merchants in the area for Jiang Wanyin. Is there something you need me to do instead?"

"Is it urgent?"

"Not that I saw. Why, A-Li?"

"I was going to make dumplings tonight and I would love it if you joined me. If you want," she adds, diffidently. “I made the dough this morning.”

He startles, a little, and draws back, looking genuinely surprised. He opens his mouth, then closes it. Then smiles warmly. “I’d be delighted.” 

The sincerity of that smile makes her grin and she bounces a little on her toes--and he laughs. Clearly, he's pleased she wants to spend time with him. And she's pleased that he's pleased. And he seems to be pleased that she's pleased that he's pleased and around and around they go--it might have been embarrassing if it weren’t so fun.

It turns out that he’s as quick a study at being a kitchen hand as he is at anything else he does; he absorbs her instructions thoughtfully and works diligently, his noon-sky blue sleeves patterned with little whirls of teal tied back with a simple strip of cloth as he chops up the chives and garlic and ginger. His knife strokes are as rhythmic and sure as the kitchen is hot, with little wisps of breeze edging around the wet billows of spices and green and cooking pork. “You are so much easier to work with than Xianxian,” she tells him from down the smooth, sunbathed counter where she’s perched on a stool, rolling out the rounds of dough. “I love him dearly, but he tries to put absolutely everything in his mouth, even now.”

A tiny smile picks at the corner of his concentration tight lips. Then, with a flick of an eye to see if she’s watching, he wordlessly pops a little shred of ginger into his mouth from the neat pile he has made. “You!” Yanli gasps in delighted outrage at his audacity and leans over to ineffectually tap at the counter near his elbow--she can’t quite reach him, sitting down.

At this, he laughs outright and offers his wrist out, knife blade carefully angled away . She gives the back of his wrist a playful little swipe with her fingertips, leaving streaks of flour. “I thought I would make it a little more familiar for you,” he says, by way of excuse. “More what you’re used to.”

“Absolutely incorrigible,” she replies, fondly, righting herself again.

Here in the kitchen, where she has history and proficiency--where she is master--it’s as easy as anything to tease and tend with absolutely no worry at all. She isn’t agonizing if she is providing enough or saying the right things, because she knows exactly what must be done when, and he is masterful at following directions the very first time she gives them. Conversation is light and inconsequential around her instructions, and she is able to conserve her energy staying seated on the stool, maneuvering him about the kitchen as her arms with little guilt at all.

 In what feels like no time, they sit beside each other at the floured, bowl littered counter; bowls of filling, of water, of flour. Their shoulders brush. “So you wet the edge like this, because the dough isn’t completely fresh anymore--”

“Mn.”

“And you spoon in about this much--not much more or it will burst in the pan.”

“This much?”

“A little more, I think. Perfect! Then, like this. Then you fold the sides.”

“Too much?”

“Mmn, next time it can be a little tighter, but that’s good for your first one! Pinch it and--beautiful!” She pauses a moment to savor the look of her husband with flour speckling his quick, capable hands and lean forearms, seriously contemplating the dumpling. “You’re a natural.”

The withdrawing he had done behind his shields that morning is nowhere in sight when he looks over at her with unmistakable pride in his bright eyes. “Well, I have a wonderful teacher.”

She bites her grin back and waves the compliments away, laying out the next wrapper in front of her. “Oh, you.”

“Where did you learn the art of food?”

“Liu-popo, one of our cooks! I think I first got interested because I was sick for a lot of my childhood and she always made me the most wonderful meals. And when we found out about my heart and my health...well….” Mother stopped pushing once she realized Yanli would never be able to keep up with the training of the other disciples because there was no way for her to improve. No way for her to contribute to the Clan in a meaningful way. “I had a lot more free time. My room was by the kitchens, and I have always loved the smells and the bustle of it all. The more I was there, the more Liu-popo would let me mix things, tell me how they worked and what flavors went together. At dinner, seeing people eat what I made...knowing I did that, knowing I made them happy and full…it felt good.” She gives a little smile and glances at him. “And there's so many things you can do once you understand the basics, too. You can experiment and make new dishes!”

He wets the edge of his next dough wrapper and says, conversationally, “Like Wei Wuxian and his talisman inventions.”

This startles a laugh out of her and sparks from her dangling earrings in the sun dance off the warm gold glow reflected from their bodies onto the wall around the window. “Oh, no, it’s nothing special.”

“Really? I think it’s very similar. You’re perfecting something and helping people. Bringing them together and taking care of them, feeding their bodies and keeping them strong? That’s just as important.”

She hesitates and looks out the window. She never thought of it that way. The lotuses are pearly and bobbing in the bright breeze, their heady scent sneaking in light and fragrant under the punch of the spices. Their brilliance under the sun leaves dazzling green after images when she blinks. “Do you think so?” Assigning that much importance to it seems borderline ridiculous--what she does and what her brothers do is hardly comparable at all. She struggles to make herself useful while they blaze their way through the world, changing it with their will and sword edges. They are proper cultivators, proper warriors.

There is a pause, then a gentle hand lays over her wrist, slightly gritty from the flour coating his palm. “If you had asked me what I would have preferred when I was in the Scorching Sun Palace--a talisman or a warm meal from someone who--” it feels like he swallows a word back here, smoothly substituting, “cares, I know which I would have chosen. Without question.”

Even this feels like a kind exaggeration designed to make her feel better--soup instead of life saving magic? But this little rare little bauble of personal experience he was handing her was something more important than soothing her pride, so she smiles over at him. “You’re very sweet. But what about you? You’re a natural! Did your niang teach you how to cook?”

At this, his face slides from serious earnest to pleasant veneer and, with a spike of cold anxiety, she fears she has put her hand on a door that she thought she was being invited into, only to find it forbidden. But he merely turns back to spooning in the pork filling and says, lightly. “I’m sure she knew how--she was well educated in most things. But we didn’t tend to frequent the kitchens.” There is a silence she fears is the end of this particularly enticing thread. But then, eyes still on the pre-dumpling, he says, “She taught me other things, though. How to read and write. Proper etiquette. The basics of a guqin….”

There is a pause, and this feels almost uncertain, him tilting on his toes on the precipice of a step she desperately wants him to take, so she hazards, “Like Lan-zongzhu.”

A smile, small and fond, before he forces it brighter at his hands, efficiently twisting the little peaks. “Just like. He’s had more formal training, of course, but she was able to play quite well.”

Yanli knows some of this, of course. His mother had been famous for how educated she was despite her occupation--the refined courtesan of Yunping. But that’s not who she had been to A-Yao. She had been his mother. “She was a very talented woman.”

“Yes.”

“You loved her very much.”

Softer, smile greying; “Yes.”

A silence stretches, a bird outside trilling to accentuate it, so she says, quietly. “I’m sorry, we don’t have to talk about her, A-Yao. I didn’t mean to pry.”

That smile hikes wider and he looks over at her, where she can see in full the raw tension that hides just barely underneath and she wants to shower him with praise and thanks for the gift that it is. “You’re my wife, A-Li. There’s no prying; you can ask me anything you want to know.”

Mmhm, she thinks, I can ask, but you won't necessarily answer. What clever wording; sneaky. No need to push. Just like with A-Xian, she will let him take the time he needs to tell her what's wrong. As long as he knows she is always there to listen. “Well, I love hearing about her….” Then shyly, she adds. “Would she have liked me?

When his face softens completely, there is something in the corners of his mouth that makes her think of tears, though there’s no trace of it anywhere else. His voice is low when he says, “She would have adored you.”

She reaches out and touches his cheek with her flour coated hand, crumbling a swath of white up to his cheekbone. The way he’s looking at her is almost like yearning in his eyes, searching and wanting, even though she is right here, right with him, staying. A warmth rushes in her chest. “I would have loved to have met her, A-Yao. She must have been amazing--and you honor her so well.” It's truth. Nothing but.

Little lines pierce where his dimples should lie and he swallows, blinks. “...I try,” he says in a voice she has never heard from him before; it’s small. Clotted and uncertain. His eyes widen and he stiffens, and she feels him tightening, receding--so she pretends she doesn’t see it, pretends that she doesn’t know that that had been a slip of vulnerability that scares him.

She takes away all pressure--her hand from his cheek, her gaze from his face--and turns away to fuss over another circle of dough. Sprinkling more flour on the counter, arranging everything just so in front of her as she smiles. “Well, you’ve proven to be a wonderful kitchen hand, so you should help me make dumplings for all the holidays, since you’re so good at it. New Years and Dongzhi and--oh, I should teach you the dances we do for the Dragon Boat Festival! I perform one every year for Lotus Pier, when I can. Or,” she straightens with realization. “Oh!” When she turns to him, he’s considering the dumpling he’s pinching with far more concentration than is warranted. “Oh, you grew up in Yunping! Do you know any?”

He clears his throat without looking up, smile uncomfortable. “I know a few. Quite a few. My mother taught me to dance because she didn’t know any martial arts to prepare me for cultivation outside some of the books she managed to find. But she knew starting me in a physical discipline young would help. I’m...adequate.”

Even more corners of her life she could tuck him into! More things she could share with him! A way to draw him from the shell he’s desperately trying to retreat back into! Excitedly, she twists on her stool, swiping her hands on her apron. “Oh, show me, please, I want to see!”

The tips of his ears redden adorably, and he winces. “I don’t...A-Li--”

There are not many things she will push him on, except on matters where he paints himself as unworthy, but this! This she absolutely has to see, here, just them, sharing the things that make them who they are under the kitchen counter in private. “Please, oh, please! I’ll even dance with you, if you don’t want to do it alone! We’ll go together!” She stands and shrugs her shoulders to free her arms some mobility from where her apron captures the joining of her sleeves, letting her hands rest on the air in delicate anticipation.

He’s startled into looking up at her, eyebrows pinching. His face is colored in embarrassed alarm. “I only ever performed alone, my partner dances aren’t--”

Performed! She could crow. And she will get that story in time, oh yes she will. “Then you choose! Whatever you want, I’ll follow you! Whatever you want, whatever!”

At this insistence, reluctantly, slowly, he stands, dusting off his hands before untying the cloth that keeps his sleeves back. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, to her utter rising delight he shrugs out of his heavier blue outer robe entirely to drape over the edge of the rack of unpeeled vegetables. It leaves him in 2 lighter, tighter layers of shades of plum and navy. The lack of patterns on the fabric simplifies his lines, rendering him limber and neat as he places his feet just so.

Immediately it is clear that he is not merely adequate, as he claimed. When he lifts his hands, the intent behind them shows someone who has had control of their body’s movements from a very young age and knows where every square inch of it is at all times--no less talented or powerful than those lifelong cultivators that she knows. He is watching her. She glows with the trust of it all and follows his first step. 

There is no music, and so she sees his quick tempo and meets it with a wordless, half remembered song, all ‘da da’s and breathless notes as they move. And they dance, wheeling tight in the modest space of the kitchen floor. The dance he chooses is, as he said, not usually a couple dance, but she knows it and mirrors him, light and lilting, stepping quick and smooth. Some of the sweeps of his arms and legs are the masculinized version of what she knows, so she reflects in compliment when she can--when the counters and bulbs of hanging garlic and strings of peppers don’t block her path. It’s amazing, it’s easy, it’s fun.

She watches his face flash pass during a turn--once, concentration; twice, surprise; thrice, realization. When he faces front, he looks tentatively pleased. 

She arches her back and kicks up her foot in a sharp arc in improvisation, grinning cheekily and that real, crooked grin of his is back, with something different, something--is that teasing? Arms spread like wings for balance, he responds in kind, but the arc of it is wider, higher, until, for a single moment, the billow of his robes is a flower blossom on the impossibly straight line of his legs, up and down. She whoops in undignified awe in the middle of a measure, abandoning the tune.

In the end, she bumps the corner table with her hip and teeters a moment, arms wheeling for balance even as she laughs. When he catches her wrist and pulls her back, Yanli collapses onto him, arms around his neck as she giggles, helplessly elated. Struggling back upright, she grabs his face in her palms and plants a quick, hard kiss on his lips. 

His fast breath tastes like ginger. 

They are both flushed and panting in the heat of the kitchen, wisps of humidity frazzled hair escaping their respective guan and pin. And they are both grinning. “You must perform with me,” she wheezes.

Breathlessly, he lets out a short laugh, smile going wryer but not disappearing. “Ah, I doubt anyone wants to see me.”

“I do!”

Again, he chuckles. “Then I’ll dance for you.”

He’ll dance for her! That golden bubbling is back in her chest, permeating the whole of her until she feels like sunlight. “Think about it at least?”

With an air of extreme indulgence that tells her that he has thought and has already decided, he nods, one dimple pressed in deep. She lets it go. Oh well, next year. 

He helps her sit because her lungs are tight and her legs going to jelly, but she is so helplessly pleased by him and the gifts he keeps giving her. So she kisses him again, because she likes to and she can, and feels his palms press her closer by her shoulder blades and feels so very very wanted.

[spaceskam]

rest in my arms, sleep in my bed

Summary: Jiang Cheng goes to Qinghe before a snow storm.

Tags: post-canon, fluff, implied sexual content, morning after

ao3

Nie Huaisang was a selfish man and he was willing to admit it.

Many things he’d done in his life were born of selfish desires and he was happiest at his most selfish. His disciples seemed to understand that and seemed to be content with it, though a part of that selfishness was making sure they were good, taken care of disciples and therefore it worked in their benefit. He couldn’t risk having shitty people that he was required to trust and rely on‒that would not be happening again.

Still, that selfishness had also led to him doing exhiliratingly dumb things like dragging Sandu Shengshou into his bed. It was absolutely a dangerous prospect and could’ve very easily gotten him killed or at least a few broken bones, but Nie Huaisang apparently had caught him at a good‒or bad, depending on how you looked at it‒time and he needed someone to go a little wild on who would also pet his head and call him embarrassing pet names just to see how red he could get.

That was a while ago now, though, and they’d fallen into a nice pattern of not seeing each other for months on end and then showing up when they needed a day of pretending they weren’t sect leaders with someone who was just as fucked up and unqualified as they were. It was pretty effective and gave Nie Huaisang a large amount of time and space to wallow in self-loathing. Granted, he was pretty sure Jiang Cheng did something like that too, so they were basically fated at this point.

Last night, however, the idiot himself had flown to Qinghe and stupidly misunderstood how weather worked. Nie Huaisang’s functioning theory was that he was so angry that he didn’t feel the cold because as soon as they banged it out and he got some fucking rest for what was probably the first time in a week, he was freezing. Nie Huaisang had wrapped him up in the thickest blankets he could find and cooed at the way he burrowed into them like an adorably angry baby.

Sometime during the night it only escalated and snowed so hard Nie Huaisang was beginning to think they might have to send a quick letter to Lotus Pier to let them know their fearless and highly feared sect leader was incapacitated by way of being scared of the weather.

“Fuck this fucking white shit,” Jiang Cheng grumbled in his heap of blankets on Nie Huaisang’s bed. It was usually made by now so it was slightly annoying that it wasn’t, but he could excuse it. For today, at least. Extenuating circumstances.

“Does it not snow in Lotus Pier?” Nie Huaisang mused from where he sat cross-legged on the other side of the bed. He had ink grinded and was working his way through a painting, one of a pretty tree in the snow. Part of him wanted to paint in Jiang Cheng pouting under said tree, but he assumed that would go as well as that time he painted Da-ge smiling with a flower. “Does it not get cold?”

“It does,” Jiang Cheng said, sounding like an absolute child from inside his pile, “But not like this! This is torture. Inhumane. Wrong. Lotus Pier gets, like, windy. A bit snowy, sometimes, yes, but fuck all of this shit.”

“You’re such a baby.”

“You are not allowed to talk to me like that!” Jiang Cheng snapped, but he didn’t move from his blankets and therefore it meant nothing. Truthfully, even if he had, it wouldn’t have meant anything. Jiang Cheng was just like that. It was part of why Nie Huaisang liked him so much.

“Seriously, this is nothing. You should come when it gets too cold to snow.”

“ Too cold to snow?” Jiang Cheng repeated, absolute disbelief and horror in his voice. Nie Huaisang found himself smiling.

“Darling, you’re adorable when you don’t know things.”

“Says the Headshaker,” he grumbled.

Nie Huaisang huffed a laugh and carefully put his ink and painting on his bedside table that existed solely for a place to put nightly paintings and ink. Once it was settled, he crawled back over to the lump of blankets and draped himself over it.

“If you’re truly that cold, I can think of a few ways to warm you up,” he said. Jiang Cheng grunted in disdain because he thought he needed to be manly and Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes.

“No offense, but I’m too cold for that. I’m pretty sure my dick has climbed into my body,” he said. Nie Huaisang rolled onto the other side of the mass of blankets, sliding his hand beneath them. “If your hand is cold, I’m going to fucking‒ Fuck! Why do you feel like ice?! What is wrong with you?! Are you even human?!”

Nie Huaisang laughed and dug under the blankets more to press his cold fingers into his skin. That was another reason that he liked Jiang Cheng so much. He made him laugh. That was something he hadn’t done earnestly in well over a decade.

“ Stop, ” Jiang Cheng whined, finally letting his stupid facade drop. Nie Huaisang felt motivated by it and started to make his way into Jiang Cheng’s blanket heap. “You’re so cold, what the fuck, you’re letting the cold air in!”

“You’re a cultivator, aren’t you warm naturally? Your core is so strong, can't you just get over it?” Nie Huaisang asked, easily slipping his foot to press against the back of Jiang Cheng’s thighs. He jumped and half-assed swatting at his leg. Nie Huaisang hooked his leg around him and pulled himself in. “Here, you big baby, I’ll tuck you in.”

He took a second to seal off any passageways into the blanket heap, closing them in together. Once he settled, he got a good look at Jiang Cheng’s pouty little face in the darkness of the blankets. Somehow, he still seemed to be glowing. As much as Nie Huaisang never cared to grow his own core, he couldn’t deny that it helped create some breathtaking men. That in itself was a gift.

“Do I need to get one of my disciples to take you back to Lotus Pier?” he asked. Jiang Cheng’s eyes slowly slipped across his face and then down between them where they were pressed together, more or less. Nie Huaisang raised an eyebrow and waited for him to meet his eyes again. “Well? Do I?”

“I don’t need help. ”

“Yes, but it isn’t safe to fly on your sword in this,” he pointed out, “And it definitely isn’t safe to travel on foot alone. I don’t care how known and powerful you are.”

“What,” Jiang Cheng said, voice a bit quiet, “Are you actually worried about me?”

Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes again. “Imagine the kind of attention we’d get if you died in the middle of nowhere from exposure and the last place you’d been was the Unclean Realm. I do not want to deal with your brother or either of your nephews, thank you very much.”

Jiang Cheng stared at him, eyes still squinted like he was trying to read him. Fortunately, that was something he’d been notoriously bad at for his entire life. It was a good thing that he was pretty and strong.

“You know, you’ve gotten pretty lucky that you’ve basically got your foot in every other major sect. You’re running YunmengJiang, your nephew runs LanlingJin, your other nephew is the last living QishanWen, your brother is shacking up with an important member of GusuLan, and you’re shacking up with the man running QingheNie. Look at you, making connections by chance,” Nie Huaisang said, patting him on the chest. Jiang Cheng blinked three times in succession.

“How did you know about Lan Sizhui being a Wen?” he asked, “I didn’t tell you that and surely Wei Wuxian didn’t.”

Nie Huaisang huffed a laugh and pushed further into Jiang Cheng’s space until they were nose to nose, twirling his hair around his finger. He was so dumb and so, so cute. Nie Huaisang should've taken advantage of him when they were young.

“Darling, when will you learn I know everything?”

Jiang Cheng scoffed, but he didn’t push him away. Instead, his hand pressed against his back and pulled him in tightly.

“No wonder you and Wei Wuxian get on so well. You’re both know-it-all assholes,” he said. 

Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes and poked him in the chest, deciding not to comment. He and Wei Wuxian got on so well because they knew different, complementary things. But it was less that they got along and more that they could respect each other for that‒and that they both knew what the other was capable of even if they didn’t know the specifics. That was enough to keep distance.

Jiang Cheng didn’t need to know that if he didn’t already.

“Ah, would you like me to get him to come here and lead you back? I bet he’d love that,” Nie Huaisang said. Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes at him all over again.

“Asshole.”

“Mm, quite.”

Jiang Cheng made a little mocking noise and paired it with his hand carefully combing back Nie Huaisang’s hair. He was sure he looked a mess with all the blankets, but he could handle that later.

“How long will it snow for?” Jiang Cheng asked.

“Alright, when I said I knew everything, I didn’t mean I could predict the weather,” Nie Huaisang scoffed. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and gently flicked the base of his spine. Chills shot all the way up to his neck. “My guess would be it’ll stop by this evening, probably.”

“Then I will stay until the morning,” Jiang Cheng decided. Nie Huaisang raised an eyebrow.

“Really? You’re just going to invite yourself to stay another night? How hospitable of you, Jiang Wanyin,” he said. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and then gripped him a bit tighter before rolling him onto his back and placing himself on top of him. Nie Huaisang gave a mocking, “Stop it, you’ll let the cold air in!” 

“Didn’t you offer to warm me up earlier? Has that offer been retracted?” he asked, lowering himself down until Nie Huaisang could feel his breath on his lips. 

“Of course not, I have no intention to let my guest suffer.”

“Asshole,” Jiang Cheng said, but his voice was soft and he was smiling.

“Baby,” Nie Huaisang accused right back, but he was grinning all the same.

Jiang Cheng kissed him then, a way to silence him and a way to get warm all the same. And he would be staying another night, officially the longest they’d spent time together since this whole tryst began.

And perhaps Nie Huaisang wouldn’t be able to wait another handful of months before doing this again.

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Episode 5

Nothing. Just heart eyes. Mischievous heart eyes for Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian, this annoying little shit—he wants to tease Lan Wangji because he’s such a fuddy-duddy, but he’s also genuinely into him. And I don’t necessarily mean that in a romantic way, because I don’t think Wei Wuxian has any of those feelings for Lan Wangji at this point—but he is definitely fascinated by him. He’s so different from Wei Wuxian, almost his complete opposite on the surface, that I think Wei Wuxian can’t help but want to know more about him.

I like this part for a number of reasons (most of them are obvious, so I won’t really go into it—it’s a wangxian scene, amirite?), but this little exchange of dialogue tugs at my heartstrings a little because it’s the first time that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji actually talk to one another—like a real exchange, not just Wei Wuxian talking and Lan Wangji ignoring him, although, plenty of that happens as well. Lan Wangji lets his guard down a little here to say Wei Wuxian didn’t apologize sincerely. Like, I’m giving you a chance here—if you’re really sorry and want to repent for what you did, then I might give you another chance. I don’t think Lan Wangji wants to hold a grudge anymore, and I think that becomes pretty evident later, even after the whole porno incident.

And then Lan Wangji decides he’s tired of talking to Wei Wuxian, and uses the silence spell on him again. Hahaha, always makes me laugh. And Xiao Zhan is super adorable when he’s having his tantrum.

These two just make me so sad. My heart really aches for them, especially for Wen Qing, who really is doing everything to help her brother right now. One thing I love about this series/book is that it shows so many types of devotion: romantic love, platonic love, love for sisters and brothers, grandchildren, cousins, mothers, fathers—while the subject matter is often heavy and downright depressing, there are really some beautiful love stories to be told, and it sounds cheesy, but it makes my heart really full.

I like the nuance here of Wen Ning serving her, almost as if he’s a servant—he bows his head, pours her tea, puts it into her hands—and then she touches his face, as if reminding him that she’s just his big sister. I don’t know, I’m probably reading too much into that, and there’s obviously a dynamic that I don’t know or understand, not being a part of that culture. I just noticed it and thought there might be something there.

I see you looking at Wei Ying. But seriously! Lan Wangji could just ignore the guy and wait until he’s done. Instead, he’s peeking at him, fully aware that Wei Wuxian is still working on transcribing texts. Wei Wuxian’s fascination with Lan Wangji is only rivaled by Lan Wangji’s fascination with Wei Wuxian. The scene at the lecture that causes Wei Wuxian to be kicked out feels like a major turning point in the relationship. Yes, I think Lan Wangji was keeping an eye on Wei Wuxian prior to that point, but it was more of, “I’m keeping an eye on you because I feel like you’re just trying to make trouble.” Now, I think he fully realizes that Wei Wuxian is no dummy—he’s a clever young man—and it can’t be lost on Lan Wangji that Wei Wuxian is always seeking his attention. That’s got to be a little flattering, even for a fuddy-duddy.

I think there are a few things going on here after Wei Wuxian gives him the drawing: 1. Lan Wangji is embarrassed! Why is Wei Wuxian drawing a picture of him and adding a flower in his hair?! No one has ever done something like that for him and, of all people, why Wei Wuxian? 2. I think he feels slightly touched to be given a gift, especially from Wei Wuxian, who is such a prankster. 3. He doesn’t hate it! He places it carefully on the desk in front of him, as if it’s something nice that he doesn’t want to wreck. We know Lan Wangji has no issues destroying things he doesn’t like, as he demonstrates when he rips up the porno mag. He easily could have crumpled up the drawing and tossed it away, but instead he keeps it, which suggests that he DOES like it and IS touched by the gift.

Hey, remember that time that Lan Wangji got so angry with Wei Ying that he actually broke a rule? I do! It’s one of my favorite lines: “Piss off.” (note: that text is not actually him saying piss off, the screenshot is from earlier)

Wei Wuxian is such a little shit! And as he later says to Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang, he pulls this little prank to get Lan Wangji back for making him transcribe all the texts and using the silencing spell on him. Even though he’s supposedly apologized and repented for breaking the rules, Wei Wuxian still feels like he needs to retaliate against Lan Wangji. Like, I love the guy, but he’s such a shit! Wangxian would have been wangxian so much sooner had he not been like this for so long! Yes, Lan Wangji is a stick in the mud, but Wei Wuxian causes trouble on purpose. I love all these scenes, but it does get a little frustrating that Wei Wuxian just doesn’t get it, y’know?

I like here how Wei Wuxian seemingly doesn’t understand why Lan Wangji is mad, and then looks all offended. And I included angry Lan Wangji just because.

Jiang Cheng is me: You literally offended everyone in that room, and then you played a trick on Lan Wangji, which made him so angry that he told you to piss off. I’D tell you to piss off too! I seriously can’t blame Jiang Cheng for all his eye rolls and exasperated looks at this point in the story. Wei Wuxian lives to make trouble, it seems, and Jiang Cheng just wants to learn and make a good impression for the Jiang Clan. If you can’t tell, I really like Jiang Cheng.

Lan Xichen asks if his brother has found out who got into the Back Hill, and Lan Wangji pauses, lets out a sigh, and says, “Wei Ying.” I don’t fully know what all that means, but my interpretation is that he’s disappointed. As if he expected more of him, was trying to find a way it wasn’t him, but then finally admits that it was indeed Wei Wuxian. Of course, Wei Wuxian actually tried to tell Lan Wangji who it really was sneaking around the Back Hill, but Lan Wangji didn’t want to listen. At least, in this case, they know Wei Wuxian is relatively harmless, and maybe Lan Wangji’s admission is more that he feels a bit like he failed to find out who the true threat is.

I should count how many times they say “Lady Wen” in this scene. It’s already up to three and it’s only five seconds in. But seriously, Jiang Cheng, could you stop drooling?

The final count was five times. Slightly less than I thought, but the first four times did actually occur before the two boys even stepped inside.

This scene also has a cute moment with Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian (“You were sick because you were missing me!”)—cute to the point where Jiang Cheng must have rolled his eyes. Although, I think it’s this moment that Wen Qing witnesses that makes her think twice about Wei Wuxian. In her mind, she compares him to her own little brother, so her heart softens a little.

Lan Xichen: I looked at you, and you seemed to want them to go. Don’t you want that?

Lan Wangji: HEART EYES

Okay, but he looks very soft here, doesn’t he? By all accounts, I don’t know why Lan Wangji would want to go ANYWHERE with Wei Wuxian right now, but he feels drawn to him, despite being bothered by him, despite being pranked by him. He really doesn’t know what’s in his own heart. Thank goodness Lan Xichen is there.

With how long Wei Wuxian was waving around that liquor, I’m surprised Lan Wangji didn’t dump it out sooner. His tolerance for Wei Wuxian is getting better! He’s not using the silence spell on him anymore, he answers some of his questions (or uses silence to answer in some cases). Progress! Progress is happening here!

I also like that even when Wei Wuxian is with Jiang Cheng, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning, he still seeks out Lan Wangji for conversation and company.

Lan Wangji is angry at Wei Wuxian, because he’s angry at himself, and he’s angry at himself because he’s frustrated by his own feelings: he wants to hate Wei Wuxian—he’d feel better if he hated him, but the fact is, he keeps finding more reasons to like him. And his response to those frustrations is to try and push Wei Wuxian away.

“Stay away from me.”

If you’re just casually watching this series, you see Lan Wangji just being angry and annoyed by Wei Wuxian for quite some time, until probably they go to the Wen Indoctrination camp. But the changes in his attitudes toward Wei Wuxian in particular are more subtle than that. I think Lan Wangji is trying to warm up in his own way, but he just becomes frustrated by his own feelings. Maybe he likes Wei Wuxian, but doesn’t understand why, or maybe it’s just that he doesn’t want to hate him. At this point, Lan Xichen has already told him a few times that he needs to make friends, and how about Wei Wuxian? He’s also noted that he could tell that Lan Wangji wanted “the boys” to go along with them. It would be frustrating to have someone, even someone you greatly respect, to tell you how you’re really feeling, especially when you’re as stubborn as Lan Wangji.

And Lan Xichen actually smirks after this, hahahaha!

She’s touching my leg, she’s touching my leg!!! You can’t tell me he didn’t think about this in bed every night for at least a week. I’m sure it’s extremely obvious already to Wen Qing that he’s crushing hard on her, and that must make her a little uncomfortable. I don’t think the feelings are reciprocated in the slightest.

Okay, but imagine if they’d let Su She go on his own like he wanted. He’d probably have died, or certainly run away. His spiritual power seems very weak, as he can’t call his sword back once he sends it into the water. Luckily Lan Wangji is there to save him.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

[folderolsfollies]

Sangyao Arranged Marriage.... III

[Part 1] [Part 2]

Word Count: 2.7k  Rating: T Warnings: None to date (Besides discussion of canon events)

Nie Huaisang idly notes that it had taken three servants blanching and running through the halls of the Jinlintai at the sight of him freely wandering through its gilded passageways before he’s caught. He tears his gaze away from a beautiful and entirely inaccurate mural commemorating Jin victories during the Sunshot campaign. There’s Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun in front of him, pieced out in larger-than-life gold. Jin Guangyao, the hero of the Sunshot campaign, is absent from the scene.

He fully turns when he recognizes a quiet but unmistakable pair of footsteps. Jin Guangyao, alone, moves with a leopard’s prowling grace.

“San-ge, thank god you’re here! I got so lost…” he lies hurriedly before Jin Guangyao can say anything, clasping onto his arm. This close, the warm, spicy smell of cloves curls towards him. “Oh! You smell nice,” he says, entranced into losing his train of thought, and leans forward, to where the scent is deepened by the heat radiating out from Jin Guangyao’s jugular. “Have you remembered my trick with the incense?” he says, remembering frozen nights in Qinghe carefully draping his long sleeves over the incense burners. At the time, Meng Yao had kept his sleeves sensibly bound to the wrist, but Nie Huaisang had noticed the hungry way that he had stilled to watch all these invisible tricks of the gentry from out of the corner of his eyes, even back then. It had been the first time anybody had wanted to imitate Nie Huaisang. It had been the first time Nie Huaisang had felt the urge to impress someone, stirring new and strange within him.

“I will always remember your kindnesses, Nie Huaisang,” Jin Guangyao replies in the present, polite to a fault, and admirably suppressing his clear desire to ask what exactly Nie Huaisang is doing in Koi Tower. His San-ge, always so thoughtful! “The Jinlintai welcomes you.”

Nie Huaisang finally remembers his twice-stated promise, and, releasing his arm, darts backwards from him like a startled fawn.

“Jin-er-gongzi, thank you for the hospitality,” he says formally, and bows as deeply and as properly as any Lan.

Strong hands catch him from beneath the elbows before the arc of his bow is complete, and he’s hauled back into a standing position. They stand there for a long moment, with Jin Guangyao’s hands wrapped tight around his forearms, and Nie Huaisang’s hands gently draped on his arms. For a moment, Jin Guangyao’s face is startled into openness, as he looks at Huaisang with his large deer-soft eyes, and Huaisang looks back at him.

There’s a lock of Nie Huaisang’s hair, braided for the dust of summer travel, curling around Jin Guangyao’s sleeve and tickling his wrist. Jin Guangyao swiftly tucks it behind Nie Huaisang’s ear, his thin, cold thumb briefly brushing over Huaisang’s cheekbone. His fingers flex against Nie Huaisang’s scalp, briefly, before he releases him, and Huaisang beats down the brief impulse to envelop those cold hands in his own warm ones.

“Let’s go to my office,” Jin Guangyao finally says, and smiles, a small, reflexive thing.

The room Jin Guangyao brings them to is bright and well appointed, and utterly impersonal. There are no decorations. It is the office of a bureaucrat. It is the office of someone who can leave it at any time. Nie Huaisang, kneeling across from Jin Guangyao at his plain desk, feels suddenly desolate at the idea of bright Jin Guangyao entombed in this dingy room. Even in Qinghe, stark as it was, Meng Yao’s office had a few scattered effects, even if it was mostly scraps given by Nie Huaisang. Huaisang wants to give him something beautiful, something that would chisel him into the very walls.

He’s been silent too long. “San-ge, if I get you a fan, would you hang it there?” Nie Huaisang says, pointing randomly at an alcove in the corner. He’s sure to make the words sound artless, casual. Nie Huaisang knows enough to spare Jin Guangyao the sensation of pity.

It must work well enough, because Jin Guangyao says indulgently, “Of course, Huaisang.”

“Don’t just agree with me! What if it’s awful?” Nie Huaisang says.

“I doubt you would ever choose anything that was not in exquisite taste,” Jin Guangyao demurs.

For some reason, at that, Nie Huaisang flops on his elbows and sighs heavily. He thinks he sees Jin Guangyao’s lips twitch up briefly from the corner of his eyes, but when he darts a glance up at him his face is smoothed into placidity once more.

A servant comes in, bearing a tray laden with the dainty little walnut cakes Nie Huaisang favors, placing them on the table to Jin Guangyao’s polite murmur of thanks.

When she leaves, Nie Huaisang leans in, hiding them both under his fan. “Ah, San-ge, what was her name?” he asks.

“Tang Zhu,” Jin Guangyao says in response, and doesn’t ask why Nie Huaisang was curious, sparing Nie Huaisang from having to answer that he simply wanted to see how quickly he would answer, plucking facts out of his well-ordered brain. Sometimes Nie Huaisang’s thoughts spin out from him, wild and untethered and frightening; at those times, Jin Guangyao’s straight-pathed mind settles something deep within him.

When Meng Yao had first entered the Unclean Realm, there had been a long stretch of months when Nie Huaisang had been anxious and sulky about this new addition to Qinghe’s roster, the slight figure at his brother’s right side who carried no saber and who had nevertheless earned such a large portion of his brother’s respect. It had lasted until the day Huaisang had trailed him silently through the secret passageways of the realm to see him pinching off crumbs of bread for one of the stray cats that jostled around the gates. He had felt an affection tinged with the bloody edge of loneliness. He’s like me, he had thought. He could be like me.

He had looked at him then. Jin Guangyao, only two years older than Huaisang, had seemed to have a steady presence that burned brightly within him, outshining any golden core. And Nie Huaisang never really stopped looking at him.

He spreads his fan in front of his face. He has a sudden hope that Meng Yao remembers how they’d use his fan as a silent method of communication with each other back in Qinghe, the way a brisk tap meant rescue me, a shift from hand to hand meaning, watch out! Da-ge coming. When he twists his wrist he thinks with each flutter: trust me, trust me, trust me. “Jin-er-gongzi, how are you settling in?”

Jin Guangyao looks trapped between exasperation and banked amusement, and Nie Huaisang feels such a rush of nostalgic affection that it makes his teeth hurt. “It would be best if you do not refer to me as such in Koi Tower,” he says instead of replying, lightly scolding. “Our positions are dissimilar.”

Nie Huaisang tilts his head unhappily, but smiles to cover it. “Then you’ll be my San-ge. What would you like to do while I’m in here distracting you?”

“I’d like to do my work , Huaisang,” Jin Guangyao says, pointedly, picking up a sheaf of papers on the table.

It gives him pause. In Qinghe, Meng Yao was as familiar to him as the downbeat of his own heart; Jin Guangyao in his Lanling gold has new expressions he doesn’t know how to read. Has he been presuming too much on a friendship grown stale through time? He doesn’t know. He has to know.

“Then forgive me for encroaching on your time, San-ge,” he says, penitently. He may have pulled the words from a drama. “I can see myself out.” He stirs to leave.

“Huaisang,” Jin Guangyao says, and stops. Hope blooms in Nie Huaisang’s chest like a rose, flowered but barbed. Jin Guangyao’s lies are quick and fluent, easy to surface. Deliberation means he’s close to the truth. His smile is a little sad at the edges. “I can spare some time,” is what he settles on. “What brings you to Lanling?”

“Mostly, just avoiding Da-ge,” Nie Huaisang says, shamelessly. He feels giddy, pricked all over with excitement at the familiar cadence of the conversation.  “He’s been after me to keep to a training schedule.”

“He only worries for you, you know that,” Jin Guangyao says patiently.

“Ah, I know, I know that,” Nie Huaisang says, “but this is peacetime! Surely the point of the war was to actually enjoy the rewards of peace.”

“Sometimes leadership demands sacrifice, even if it is peacetime, Huaisang,” says Jin Guangyao, offhandedly. Nie Huaisang puts his fan on the table.

Are you happy? He thinks. But then again, when he knew him best, Jin Guangyao was many things, and happy wasn’t necessarily one of them. When he thinks that he feels such a melting tenderness towards his old friend he has to hold his own hands.

“You always work very hard,” Nie Huaisang agrees. “But San-ge, shouldn’t you enjoy some of the rewards of peace too?”

“Nie Huaisang, you are not subtle,” Jin Guangyao chides, but his smile has turned more fond.

Caught out, Nie Huaisang grins back at him. “I’ve badgered Da-ge into finally letting me host a yaji for the next full moon, you should come, if you can make the time.”

“If I can make the time,” Jin Guangyao echoes neutrally.

“San-ge,” Nie Huaisang, pouting, “I’ll even sweeten the pot; should I invite someone for you?” Jin Guangyao will suggest Lan Xichen, who will be a good buffer between Da-ge and San-ge; he waits for confirmation.

Jin Guangyao looks down at his papers. “It would be a good opportunity to strengthen your relationship with some of the tributary sects. Some of the smaller sects produce fine artisans, like Laoling or Dingtao,” he says, neutrally.

Nie Huaisang tosses his hair back in exasperation. Jin Guangyao looks up again, tracing the arc of its movement. “You know that’s not what I meant, San-ge - wait, since when does Laoling produce artisans?” Laoling, a minor city kissing Lanling’s borders, produces golden maize in the summer, sticky purple jujubes in winter; it does not, to Nie Huaisang’s knowledge, produce any scholars of the Great Arts. Jin Guangyao’s smile freezes; Nie Huaisang feels triumphant. “You’ve been holding out on me, San-ge! Who’s in Laoling?”

Jin Guangyao ducks his head, affecting a modesty Nie Huaisang is sure is feigned: “Lord Qin’s eldest daughter. Now that my brother’s engagement is secure, it’s time to start thinking about my own marital duties.”

“You wish to marry... Qin Su?” Nie Huaisang asks, astonished. Qin Su is sweet, Qin Su is pretty, in a delicate fashion, and Qin Su has a winsome manner that would, Nie Huaisang imagines, make a person who cares for such things want to sweep her up in their arms. Nie Huaisang would rather be swept up, but he is not blind to the appeal.

“She is a generous and loving woman, and she would make anyone a fine wife.” says Jin Guangyao, and there is an admonishment cloaked in his even tone. There’s Jin Guangyao’s protective streak again, and it sends warmth into Nie Huaisang’s chest even as it feels odd, to hear it directed on the behalf of someone else.

“No, I know that,” says Nie Huaisang, so blankly that it seems to mollify Jin Guangyao. “But I had thought… Zewu-Jun…” he trails off, suddenly aware that he is shown more of his hand than he had planned, but helpless against the rush of curiosity. Zewu-Jun is the top cultivator of the cultivation world, the pride of Gusu Lan. Nie Huaisang could never possibly strive to his heights - it exhausts him thinking of trying.

That would be the caliber of a suitor that he would find for Jin Guangyao. That was the caliber of a suitor he had thought he had found for Jin Guangyao.

Jin Guangyao’s eyes glint, and for a second Nie Huaisang is pinned under a piercing gaze. Jin Guangyao has not looked at him like that for a long time, and there is a small, hungry part of Nie Huaisang that would take the anger, if it means having the honesty. “You should be careful about what you think, and who you tell your thoughts to,” Jin Guangyao says. There you are, Nie Huaisang thinks.

Nie Huaisang makes his mouth twist. “Ah, I’ve upset you,” he says mournfully, “I only want you to be happy.” Jin Guangyao doesn’t smile, precisely, but his gaze softens slightly.

“I’m sure you do,” he says.

But something within Nie Huaisang thrums like a badly plucked qin. So that’s the type he likes, he thinks, without knowing why. Agitated, he taps blindly at his wrist with his fan. It’s then when he realizes that to many, a betrothal to Jin Guangyao would be seen as an insult. It feels like a betrayal to remember, but a greater betrayal to have forgotten.

(Once, Da-ge and him had overheard a chef say “What a pretty child the young master is, too bad about the mother.” Da-ge had her thrown out the next day.)

“I’ll set aside your usual room, Huaisang,” Jin Guangyao says, in lieu of asking how long Nie Huaisang is planning on staying, which is rather deft of him. Nie Huaisang squirrels the phrasing away for safekeeping and raises his hands placatingly.

“Ah, no need, no need, San-ge, I just stopped by to say hello before proceeding to Lanling! Between the two of us, it’s a little difficult going shopping in Qinghe, everybody knows Da-ge there,” he says, knowing that his face is steadily turning more flushed and batting cool air at his face with his fan.

Jin Guangyao’s face is as smooth and impassive as a creamy block of white jade. “And what would Nie-er-gongzi need in Lanling that you wouldn’t want your brother to know that you’re buying?” He tilts his head, smiling as serenely as ever.

Nie Huaisang squirms and points at him with his fan accusingly. “Ah, you’re teasing me! That’s so unfair, nobody would ever believe me if I tell them that you have a sense of humor.” He wrinkles his nose against the laughter that threatens to bubble out of him. Decorum, Huaisang.

Jin Guangyao raises his eyebrows. The dimples deepen. “And who would you plan on telling?”

Nie Huaisang grins back at him. “You know I can’t tell anyone, you’re the only person I can actually gossip with.”

“I don’t indulge in gossip, Huaisang,” Jin Guangyao says primly, which is an obvious lie, and has been since the day Nie Huaisang had first met him. “It’s frivolous, and detrimental to the spirit.”

“But San-ge, I’m very frivolous,” Nie Huaisang points out. “Spare a thought for us lost causes.”

“You’re not a lost cause,” Jin Guangyao says, and for a moment he looks almost angry, the raw emotion rippling across his features the way a shark fin breaches water. He calms, and smiles placatingly. “You’ve been raised to this, you and your brother both.”

Jin Guangyao lies. Huaisang knows this. But sometimes, he lies to craft the world into a better shape than it is.

Nie Huaisang smiles at him. “I’ll invite the Qin family at the end of the month; I want to help you.”

He watches Jin Guangyao come to a decision. “You’d be putting me in your debt,” he says, as if doubtful.

Nie Huaisang thrills. “No debts between us, San-ge, we’re brothers!” he says, full of innocence, and watches Jin Guangyao relax in increments - softening his brow, the corners of his eyes, the rigid line of his shoulders entombed in layers and layers of fine silk. That’s never been true, but what would the thoughtless Second Young Master know about obligation? The trick with trapping a wild animal is that you can’t let them know that you see them, or it gives the whole game away.

“I have to go now, there’s only so much time before Da-ge figures out I’m not actually at Lotus Pier,” Nie Huaisang explains, with a trace of regret. He places a hand on Jin Guangyao’s slim wrist as he moves to leave, silk and skin nearly indistinguishable to the touch. “But it was good to see you again, Yao-ge.”

Jin Guangyao blinks slowly down at the hand at his wrist, and then upwards at him. “The pleasure was mine entirely, Huaisang.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

NMJ is the only one that knows bc he’s the only one that NHS truly trusts, he’s the only one who knows why NHS focuses so much in painting and art, NHS doesn’t know why or how but with a little bit of spiritual energy he’s able to bring what he paints in paper to the real world and with that the Nie sect has the beasts of legends under their command

on ao3

“How about you draw a flower?” Nie Mingjue said without much conviction. It was hard to have conviction when you knew it was pointless.

“No!” Nie Huaisang shouted, unsurprisingly, because toddlers always shouted. They seemed to have a great deal of feelings and sound for such small frames. “Taotie!”

Nie Mingjue grimaced. “No, no, not Taotie,” he said quickly. Never Taotie, not again. “How about the Baihu? Nice fuzzy tiger?”

“No!”

“Fenghuang? You like birds.”

Nie Huaisang considered it. “I like birds,” he agreed.

Nie Mingjue heaved a sigh of relief. “Me, too,” he said enthusiastically. “I love birds.”

He had never had especially strong feelings about birds, but he was willing to develop some.

“Okay,” Nie Huaisang said, and patted his thigh comfortingly. “I’ll draw you a bird, da-ge.”

“…thanks,” Nie Mingjue said.

When Nie Huaisang was done, he proudly presented Nie Mingjue with the results of his work.

Nie Mingjue put the baby phoenix in the new aviary he’d secretly had constructed behind his father’s back, thinking to himself that the high-grade construction materials he’d insisted on were totally worth losing his allowance for the next year.

The phoenix chick - it looked like a plucked chicken with maybe three feathers total - weakly coughed smoke.

Because of course it did.

Sometimes Nie Mingjue wished that he could just tell someone about Nie Huaisang’s unusual gift – it was a pretty big burden to bear, and he really wasn’t sure he was old enough for this type of responsibility – but no one else deserved to know. If they didn’t have the good taste to like Nie Huaisang when he was no one and nobody, pointless and useless, they didn’t deserve the benefits of knowing him now that he could do stuff.

Even if it was weird stuff. 

Stuff like his ability to summoning the things he drew into existence. 

Even things that might not really exist.

Besides, the thought of Nie Huaisang getting wrapped up into war and politics when he was still so young –

No, better to just store away what he made and hope he grew out of it.

And no more Taoties.

-

“Lan Zhan said his uncle shows people his artwork,” Nie Huaisang said, sitting on Nie Mingjue’s table in the family study. “Why don’t you ever show my artwork?”

“You do art?” their father asked absently, most of his attention on the report he was reading.

“Huaisang does great calligraphy,” Nie Mingjue interjected very quickly. “You’ve seen it – it’s beautiful. And his poems are very well crafted, too.”

“But Lan Zhan said –”

Nie Mingjue mentally resigned himself to not being friends with Lan Xichen any longer, no matter how well they’d gotten along, on the basis that the other boy would probably take it personally when Nie Mingjue murdered his brother.

“He also said stuff about rules,” he said. “Hundreds and hundreds of rules. Do you want to listen to all of those, too?”

“No,” Nie Huaisang said sulkily, five years old and bitter with it. “But…”

“How about we show Lan Wangji your aviary?” Nie Mingjue coaxed. “Go ask him if he’d like to see it. I bet he’s never seen anything like that – and you can ask him what type of animal he likes best, too!”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes went wide at the thought and he dashed off.

“You spoil him far too much,” their father commented. “An aviary – you talk about it more than he does, and you’re always getting birds to fill it up for him, too. Why are you so devoted to him learning to like birds?”

“Better than him liking fierce beasts,” Nie Mingjue said, omitting to mention exactly where he obtained the birds that filled the aviary. “Or corpses.”

“If he liked fierce beasts, perhaps he’d be more martially inclined.”

No, we would be, Nie Mingjue thought. He’d gotten a lot of spare practice with Baxia trying to fight corpses that had no business being there during the period in which Nie Huaisang had gotten temporarily interested in the things in his father’s stories – and that was before Nie Huaisang had learned about yao.

“I don’t want him growing up morbid, that’s all,” he said.

“You’re his brother, not his nursemaid,” their father said, a little exasperated. “Nor are you his mother. Why are you fussing over him so?”

Nie Mingjue huffed and shook his head. “How goes recruitment for the border?” he asked instead, and listened to his father tell him about how people barely a year or two older than him were being sent to risk death in the name of sect honor.

Not Nie Huaisang, he promised himself. Not yet.

He’d tell his father when Nie Huaisang was old enough to handle the consequences.

-

“Huaisang, didi,” Nie Mingjue said, and tried to smile, even though it pained him. “Can you do me a favor? A really, really big favor?”

Nie Huaisang sniffed, clutching at his arms and shaking. “What, da-ge?”

“You remember Jiwei? A-die’s saber? Can you draw that for me, please?”

It only made it worse.

-

“Da-ge?”

“Yes, Huaisang?” Nie Mingjue asked, scowling at the map. It didn’t get any better the longer he looked at it, but maybe if he kept glaring he could cow it into submission.

“Don’t you want me to help?”

Nie Mingjue looked up at where Nie Huaisang was wringing his hands by the door. “Help? With what?”

Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes at him, like it was Nie Mingjue being dense instead of him having started a conversation in the middle. “Uh, with border defense?”

“Why would I ask you to help with that?” Nie Mingjue asked blankly, then realized how his words could be misconstrued. “Not that I wouldn’t ask you to help, of course, but you’ve never really liked battlefield strategy, and anyway you are only twelve –”

“Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang whined. “I meant drawing!”

“…as in maps?”

Nie Huaisang’s glare could light fires.

Nie Mingjue coughed and put aside his work to focus on his brother. “Huaisang, why do you think I would use your drawings in planning out a possible battle?”

“Because they’re useful?” Nie Huaisang said, crossing his arms. “I can make things appear, da-ge, just by drawing them. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but that’s not something that normal people can do.”

“I know,” Nie Mingjue said. “It’s not. But just because it’s not normal doesn’t mean it’s not a wonderful ability, Huaisang.”

Nie Huaisang looked a little bit appeased.

“But just because it’s wonderful doesn’t mean I’m going to abuse your ability,” Nie Mingjue continued. “You should be playing, not working, and if anyone tells you otherwise, you tell me and I’ll straighten them out.”

Nie Huaisang came up and hugged him. “So it’s not that you’re not ashamed of me being weird and useless?”

“I think we’ve already established that an ability like yours is far from useless. And I don’t care how weird you are, principles are principles: you’re too young to be used for battle. Sorry, Huaisang; my hands are tied.”

Nie Huaisang laughed at him and left, looking much happier.

-

“So what would you like?” Nie Huaisang asked, eyes sparkling. “Me and my brush are at the ready, here to help!”

Nie Mingjue rubbed his forehead. “If you’re sure…”

“Da-ge! I’m seventeen – you were already sect leader for two years by my age. And it’s not like I’m going out there on the front lines or anything; I’m just going to draw some stuff for you.”

“You say ‘just’,” he grumbled. “It does drain your qi, you know. That’s why you took such a long time to form a golden core…”

“Yes, but I did get there eventually, didn’t I? And anyway, it’s fine, I’ll do it instead of my usual landscapes. What would you like? A dragon to devour our enemies? The white tiger, nipping at their heels? A taotie –”

“No Taotie.”

“You’re so weird about that,” Nie Huaisang complained, rolling his eyes again. “Fine. Then what?”

“Sabers,” Nie Mingjue said, giving in. “Standard steel, not spiritual. Horses, feed, saddles. Say, how are you at drawing arrows?”

“Da-ge,” Nie Huaisang said. “I can draw you the beasts of legend, and you want me to draw you arrows?”

“Yes. As many as you can bring yourself to create, really; everyone’s always short on arrows. More rice would be good, too –”

“This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting when I volunteered to help,” Nie Huaisang grumbled.

“Are you going to do it for me or not?” Nie Mingjue asked, unimpressed. “You asked me to use you, not to give you an art project.”

His brother heaved a sigh. “Yes, yes, I will. Can you explain to me why this is your choice, at least?”

Nie Mingjue ruffled his brother’s hair. “Huaisang, when you draw something, it comes to life. Fully to life, as a separate and independent creature of its own – if you draw a dragon, who’s to say that the dragon will choose to fight the Wen sect, instead of turning on us? It wouldn’t be much help if we had to run out, sabers drawn, to deal with whatever it was, only to be exhausted before the Wen sect even arrived.”

“…oh.”

“When we’ve made some progress in the field, I promise to let you help build fortifications,” Nie Mingjue said. “You can start thinking of really nasty traps –”

“Da-ge?”

“Yes?”

“…is that why you hate the idea of me drawing Taotie so much?”

Nie Mingjue coughed.

“Da-ge!”

“Don’t worry about it. It was always really good saber practice…”

-

“And if anyone tries anything against you at the camp, you draw something really mean, okay?” Nie Mingjue said, pressing paper and a brush into his brother’s hand in addition to the ones he’d hidden away in his luggage - there was a chance that might be confiscated upon his arrival. “I don’t care what it is.”

“I know, I know –”

“Promise me!”

“I will!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed. “I promise already!”

“Not just if they’re aggressive. Even if things just look suspicious –”

“Suspicious? Like what?”

“If they take you somewhere secluded,” Nie Mingjue said, face drawn with worry. “Somewhere where it’d take us a long time to find your bodies. I don’t care if you put other people in danger from your creation, okay? Don’t make me have to find your corpse.”

Nie Huaisang was silent for a moment. “I understand,” he finally said. “I promise.”

-

“I’m never drawing anything legendary ever again,” Nie Huaisang sniffed into Nie Mingjue’s collar. “That Xuanwu was awful. It tried to eat all of us!”

-

“Do you want me to help with the logistics, Sect Leader Nie?” Meng Yao asked.

“You already help with the logistics,” Nie Mingjue said, not really paying attention. If it was serious, Meng Yao would bring it to his attention – he was a truly remarkable aide-de-camp. “You already help with everything.”

“I appreciate Sect Leader Nie’s confidence in me,” Meng Yao said, smiling a little. “But no, I meant – with the imports.”

“Imports?”

“Every week we receive new shipments of goods – food, weapons, defenses – from Qinghe, and we don’t send any money back. Surely such expenditures are putting a strain on the Nie treasury..?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Nie Mingjue said. “Huaisang is handling it. It’s good for him to have responsibility.”

Meng Yao looked a little skeptical, but in his defense, he’d met Nie Huaisang.

“Really,” Nie Mingjue assured him. “He’s not going to hurt our budget – it’ll be fine. They’ve come steadily every week so far, haven’t they?”

“If Sect Leader Nie is content, then so am I,” Meng Yao said, but he was pouting a little, perhaps at the perceived lack of trust. He did so love to be helpful.

“You know I trust you with my life,” Nie Mingjue told him. “But this is something that Huaisang is, for once, best placed to handle. Don’t worry about it.”

It wasn’t really his secret to share, after all. Maybe when the war was done.

-

Nie Mingjue was on his back in the throne room of the Fire Palace, staring up at the man who murdered his father and who was about to murder him, too, when he heard the sound.

A high-pitched squeal, unlike anything else he’d ever heard – a little like a pig, a little like a wolf, a little like the long slow grate of metal against metal. It burned on the ear, a vile sound on the verge of being physically painful.

“What is that?” Wen Ruohan asked, frowning. He was standing above Nie Mingjue, his foot crushing down on his chest; Baxia was out of reach, knocked away, but at least no longer in the traitor Meng Yao’s hands. “Meng Yao…?”

“I - I’m not sure, Sect Leader Wen,” Meng Yao said, looking equally confused.

Nie Mingjue laughed.

They both looked at him.

He grinned up at them, blood in his teeth.

“What?” he said. “Never heard a Taotie before?”

[ibijau]

Price of Wishes pt8 / On AO3

While Lan Xichen learns to be a Lan, Nie Huaisang makes new friends

If Nie Huaisang thought the Cloud Recesses were boring last year, it’s nothing compared to being there now. None of the other guest students have arrived yet when he gets there, and Lan Wangji is in seclusion with Lan Xichen to teach him the basics of being a Lan, and the other Nie disciples are out enjoying their last moments of liberty before classes start, and Nie Huaisang is all alone, stuck in his cabin, spending his days copying various texts as offerings for Lan Xichen.

It’s boring.

It’s lonely.

After spending almost every waking hour in the company of Lan Xichen during their journey from Qinghe, Nie Huaisang got used to having someone to talk to. Someone interesting, who doesn’t mind that he’s not too clever. Someone patient, who listens to what he has to say. Someone kind, who smiles at him like he really wants to be there with him.

To go from that to being completely alone is something of a harsh awakening: that’s what life is really like, all these nice moments with his god were just a temporary reprieve from reality. Sometimes Nie Huaisang just wants to run away again, because the Cloud Recesses are just too depressing. He doesn’t, though. First, because he got into so much trouble last time he tried to run away, and it terrifies him to imagine what might happen this time. Secondly, because if he leaves,his god’s powers might stop working and Lan Xichen will be in terrible trouble, which is unacceptable. 

They’re a team.

So Nie Huaisang, sad and lonely as he is, dutifully spends his days copying a list of books that Lan Wangji gave him. It is tedious work, but Lan Qiren hears about it and comes to see him so he can praise him for trying harder to be a good student this year. He even suggests some different, easier books for Nie Huaisang to check, which he probably intends as a kind gesture. It’s hard to say for sure, but Nie Huaisang can’t shake the feeling that Lan Qiren is better disposed toward him than he was before. Of course, last year Nie Huaisang was just that little idiot who distracted Lan Wangji from his studies. Now, on the other hand, he’s the clever boy who noticed that Lan Qiren’s other nephew was unwell and who helped him make his way home undetected.

It makes Nie Huaisang very uncomfortable to see how much other people seem to like Lan Xichen. It was one thing when Nie Mingjue was friendly with him, because that was explicitly on Nie Huaisang’s list. But when other people speak well of Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang feels guilty, like he’s lying to them and deceiving them. Which is exactly what’s happening, of course. And he knows every person who likes Lan Xichen is another person who will be furious if the truth ever comes to be revealed.

But that’s not the only reason Nie Huaisang is uneasy when he hears others praise Lan Xichen. The truth is a little uglier, a little worse.

Nie Huaisang doesn’t want Lan Xichen to be liked by other people, because then his god might also like them back and realise that he’s made a huge mistake in accepting to be tied to Nie Huaisang in any way. His god will realise he could do better.

Perhaps that’s why, in between books and lists of rules, Nie Huaisang makes sure to drop a few more personal offerings here and there. A flower he found while walking to the dinner halls, a quick sketch he made to relax, a favourite poem he hopes Lan Xichen might enjoy. Little things to make sure Lan Xichen doesn’t forget him even after several days apart, to remind him that Nie Huaisang isn’t just there to feed him with his belief.

Then, after almost a week, other guest students start to arrive, and Nie Huaisang’s loneliness eases a bit. He doesn’t really expect to make friends among the other boys, since he failed to do so last year (nobody wants to befriend an idiot that’s bad both in class and in a fight), but at least observing them should offer a fun distraction, and he thinks about writing down his observations to entertain Lan Xichen.

Out of everyone who has come to study in the Cloud Recesses this year, Wei Wuxian stands out. 

There is something about Wei Wuxian that draws people to him like moths to a fire. Nie Huaisang feels it from the first moment he sees him, an instinctive pull to get close and try to befriend him. He knows the other students do too, all of them enchanted by this boy. Wei Wuxian is the sort of person who can make any story fascinating, whose every plan sounds like good ideas. Nie Huaisang, after being so bored, feels alive again now around this extravagant boy who refuses to see rules as more than suggestions. Nie Huaisang is so glad that he’s made this new friend. 

And they are friends. Out of everyone present, out of several talented young masters, Wei Wuxian quickly selected him as a new companion for himself and Jiang Cheng.

Nie Huaisang can hardly believe it at first. He’s never been chosen by anyone before. Everyone he loves just tolerates him out of obligation: Nie Mingjue is his brother, Lan Wangji is awkward around strangers, and Lan Xichen has a contract with him. Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian could have picked anyone, or even no one at all since they appear to already make such a good team… and yet, from the first moment they’re introduced, Wei Wuxian decides that Nie Huaisang must be included in all their conversations, all their games.

Nie Huaisang can’t believe he was chosen as a friend by such cool people.

He’s not even particularly hurt when he realises after a few days that he’s not Wei Wuxian’s first choice.

They’re all hanging out in Nie Huaisang’s cabin when that particular revelation comes about. The three of them were meant to be studying, and they even brought their notes for that day’s lesson and some paper to copy it in an attempt to memorise it. But none of them has even made an attempt at preparing any ink. Instead they’re sitting on cushions, eating candies that Nie Huaisang smuggled and chatting about their impressions after a week of classes.

It’s no surprise when the topic of Lan Wangji comes up, and it’s even less unexpected that Wei Wuxian is the first one to mention him.

“I really, really want to befriend that Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian confesses. “I’ve told you about our duel in the moonlight, right?”

“Too many times,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, shoving a few more candies inside his mouth. “Please, don’t tell us another time or I think I’ll fall asleep.”

“You don’t get it,” Wei Wuxian retorted. “He’s just extraordinary. I’ve never seen anyone fight like that. He’s like a martial god turned mortal!”

While Jiang Cheng’s expression only grows darker, Nie Huaisang startles at that turn of phrase. Lately he doesn’t like to think too much about gods of any sorts, and that particular comment hits just a little too close to the truth.

“Nie-xiong, you know Lan Zhan pretty well, right?” Wei Wuxian asks. “Don’t you think you could properly introduce me to him? Maybe then he’ll stop giving me the cold shoulder. Nie-xiong, Nie-xiong, please help me and I’ll fulfill any wish you have! I just really want him to like me”

This, far more than any comment about gods, makes Nie Huaisang uneasy.

After all, there are limits to how stupid he is. He’s noticed that Wei Wuxian, after accidentally fighting with Lan Wangji once, on his first night in Gusu, has become a little obsessed with the other boy. Everyone has noticed that. Wei Wuxian is always trying to catch Lan Wangji’s attention, always offering to spend time together. So far Wei Wuxian is convinced that his efforts are in vain, that Lan Wangji hates him, but…

But Nie Huaisang knows Lan Wangji. 

He knows that his friend should not be sitting like this in his uncle’s class, because he’s never done that before, and should have even less reason to do so this year, when he’s meant to be helping Lan Xichen learn how to be a Lan. And Lan Wangji doesn’t just walk around in random areas of the Cloud Recesses, where he somehow always nearly bumps into Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji might refuse to chat, might reject every offer to play together, but that doesn't mean he’s indifferent.

If Nie Huaisang were a better friend to either Wei Wuxian or Lan Wangji…

A decent friend would help them realise that they like each other and are just expressing it in different ways. A decent friend would realise that Lan Wangji never once displayed the slightest romantic interest in Nie Huaisang, and that there’s no reason to keep hoping for that to change. A decent friend would do the right thing.

Well Nie Huaisang is a shitty friend then, because he’s not ready to accept the idea of Lan Wangji being in love with anyone who isn’t him, and he’s determined not to help.

Something must show on Nie Huaisang's face, because Jiang Cheng punches Wei Wuxian’s shoulder and starts scolding him.

“Look, you’ve made Nie-xiong uncomfortable!” he grumbles, before turning to Nie Huaisang. “Don’t you worry, he’s just like that. He’ll get fascinated by people for a while, bother them until they pay attention to him, and then he moves on to someone else as soon as he’s tired of them. He never bothers with anyone for very long.”

“That’s not true!” Wei Wuxian objects. “I’ve bothered with you for how many years now?”

“It’s different!” Jiang Cheng retorts, looking furious all of a sudden. “I don’t think you want with Lan er-gongzi the same relationship you have with me! Or am I not enough for you now?”

Wei Wuxian bursts out laughing, and sets out to comfort Jiang Cheng, promising him that he’s the best shidi in the world, that nobody will come between them, that Wei Wuxian will never leave him behind. Jiang Cheng grumbles and scoffs, but it’s clear that he enjoys being told that sort of things, and Nie Huaisang suddenly wonders at the relationship between those two. They’re shidi and shixiong, and they often act likes brothers or very close friends rather than like the future master of a sect and one of his disciples, but… but it’s not unheard of for boys of a same sect to fool around together, and there’s really something odd about these two, Nie Huaisang thinks.

The way Jiang Cheng acts so possessive of Wei Wuxian makes him think of his own feelings for Lan Wangji or Lan Xichen.

“Do you want to go out for a walk?” Nie Huaisang asks when he gets tired of watching the complicated game of affection between his two friends.

“Didn’t we say we’d be studying?” Jiang Cheng objects, glancing at their abandoned school work.

“We’ve been here nearly a shichen, and we haven’t gotten anything done,” Nie Huaisang retorts. “I don’t think we’ll study today, so let’s at least do something fun. I’m so bored.”

“A walk does sound pretty nice!” Wei Wuxian quickly agrees, probably thinking that they might stumble upon Lan Wangji somewhere. They probably will, too. They always do. Nie Huaisang already regrets suggesting they go out, but it’s already too late, since Jiang Cheng too has now agreed, albeit more reluctantly. So they all get up, gather their things, and prepare to head out.

When they open the door, they find themselves face to face with Lan Wangji.

Or at least it appears to be Lan Wangji, until his eyes meet Nie Huaisang and he smiles brightly in a way that denounces him as Lan Xichen.

It has been well over two weeks since the two of them have had a chance to meet, and in that time Lan Xichen appears to have become more radiant than ever. Either the Cloud Recesses are doing him a lot of good, or Nie Huaisang daily prayers and offerings have been feeding him well. That, or Nie Huaisang had just forgotten how handsome his god is.

“Oh, you’re not Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian exclaims when he recovers from the surprise, sounding first puzzled, then delighted. “I didn’t know he had a brother. Jiang Cheng, did you know?”

“Hmf,” Jiang Cheng just answers, eyeing Lan Xichen with suspicion, the way he does everyone who might be more handsome or more skilled than himself.

For less than a heartbeat, Nie Huaisang wonders if it is possible that Lan Xichen’s power of persuasion failed to work on these two, just as it did on Lan Wangji. He quickly decides that it is very unlikely. Lan Wangji is truly exceptional, there is no one else like him in the world, that’s the only reason he resisted Lan Xichen’s power. Those two are very cool, sure, but there’s no way they’re a match for his god.

“I hope I’m not disturbing anything,” Lan Xichen politely tells Nie Huaisang. “I’ve finally been given permission to leave the house again, and I wanted to chat with you, Huaisang. But of course if you’re busy…”

“No, I’m not busy!” Nie Huaisang exclaims, ignoring the way Wei Wuxian snickers at that half lie.

He really isn’t busy, though. They were just going for a walk out of sheer boredom. Between that and a chance to chat again with Lan Xichen, to hear about his progress, to find out if perhaps Lan Xichen missed him a little, when Nie Huaisang missed him so much… of course it’s an easy choice. And while Wei Wuxian looks ready to tease Nie Huaisang to death for being so willing to ditch them, Jiang Cheng is a little more kind, or perhaps just eager for a chance to spend time alone with Wei Wuxian. He grabs his shixiong by the arm and, after a quick bow to Lan Xichen, he drags away Wei Wuxian who protests and complains but doesn’t offer any real resistance.

Nie Huaisang is really curious about what’s going on between these two, but right now it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but Lan Xichen who came looking for him the instant he was allowed outside again. Perhaps he really missed Nie Huaisang.

It would be nice to have been missed by Lan Xichen. Just that thought sends Nie Huaisang’s poor heart racing.

Meanwhile, Lan Xichen quietly watches Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng go away, and only turns his attention back to Nie Huaisang when the other two boys are completely out of view.

“Hello, Huaisang,” he says, smiling warmly. “You seem to be well.”

“You too. How have things been?”

“I’ve learned a lot,” Lan Xichen says. “I can read a little now, and I know most of the rules of this place, even if I don’t always understand them.”

Nie Huaisang hears himself giggle at that, and quickly presses one hand to his mouth to cover the noise. He too doesn’t understand all those rules, and there’s something oddly comforting in knowing it’s not just because he’s stupid, that a litteral god might struggle too.

“You must have been so bored, with nothing but those rules!”

“I would have been,” Lan Xichen agrees, “if not for your other offerings. I’ve enjoyed those poems a greal deal. Are they of your invention?”

“Of course not,” Nie Huaisang exclaims, embarrassed and pleased that anyone could think him capable of writing such beautiful things. “They were just things I’ve read.”

Lan Xichen considers that new information, and smiles again.

“Thank you for sharing those with me,” he says with such sincerity that Nie Huaisang feels his cheeks heat up. “It had been a very long time since I enjoyed poetry, and I think I used to like that a great deal before. I also liked the flower.”

“Oh, I just picked it up, I don’t even know why.”

“I liked the paintings as well.”

“Well, those are mine,” Nie Huaisang confesses with a grimace. “Which you could probably guess from the fact that they’re not very good.”

Again, Lan Xichen takes a moment to consider that statement. There is a slight frown on his face, which makes Nie Huaisang fear that his god will be disappointed to find that he was offered something of so little value, a mere sketch by someone so talentless.

“I think they were very beautiful,” Lan Xichen says instead, again sounding so earnest that it is almost painful to hear. “That one of a mountain you offered a few days ago… it gave me a lot of comfort to see it. It reminded me of home, of my temple in the mountain, where you found me. I’d started feeling a little lonely in that house, especially since Lan Wangji has been so busy with other things, but that painting reminded me why I’m making those efforts.”

“R-really?”

Lan Xichen’s expression eases into a new smile, one that feels like being touched by sunlight.

“Yes. And now, I’m seeing you again, and I don’t feel lonely anymore.”

“Oh, now I feel a little bad,” Nie Huaisang mumbles. “I’ve spent most of that time with new friends, while you were all on your own like that… but I’ll work harder now, and prepare even better offerings for you! I’ll do my best so things are good for you”

“I’m happy with anything you can give me, and I’m glad you’re making friends,” Lan Xichen assures him. “I think you deserve to have many friends. Although, those two people who were with you when I arrived…” Lan Xichen hesitates, his eyes darting in the direction when the two boys went. “Might I ask who they were?”

“That was Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian,” Nie Huaisang explains. Then, because he’s a bit of a masochist apparently, he asks: “Maybe Wangji has mentioned them?”

A shiver ran through Lan Xichen’s body as he turns to glance over his shoulders, trying to catch another glimpse of the two boys.

“Which one is Wei Wuxian?” Lan Xichen asks, confirming Nie Huaisang’s fears that the other boy has caught Wangji’s attention.

If his heart hadn’t been broken yet, then this would certainly have done it. But of course, someone like him, how could he have competed with a person such as Wei Wuxian? Still, Nie Huaisang tries his best to smile as he answers the question and explains which one of the two is Wei Wuxian. He refuses to let his pain show, because he knows he shouldn’t be hurt by this. He has no rights over Lan Wangji’s heart.

“Ah,” Lan Xichen says. “Then we have a problem. That person is not a human.”

[meltingheartsandcores]

I had an idea and thought it was funny so:

This takes place after Cloud Recess but before the Wen stuff, WWX is visiting NHS in the Unclean Realm and they’re gardening. It starts with WWX POV and ends with WWX POV but the middle is mostly NMJ’s POV. 

It’s a mix of MDZS Donghua canon and Untamed canon but it doesn’t really matter. The only difference is NMJ is clean shaven here.

It’s mostly one sided Mingxian with WWX talking about how hot NMJ is, so. 

Enjoy? 

“So, how has Madam Jiang and Jiang-Zhongzhu been?” Huaisang asks as the pair wade around the small pond. 

 “As good as they ever are.” Wei Wuxian groans, “Ai, sometimes it’s exhausting though. Madam Yu is always so angry with me and Uncle Jiang is always so lenient. Finding common ground sucks.” 

“Have you told them this?” Huaisang asks, as if not telling your clan leader when you think they fucked up is foreign to him. Honestly, it probably was, considering Huaisang didn’t mince his words to his brother. Most of the time. 

Wei Wuxian snorts, “You can’t just say that sort of stuff. It has to be polite and buried under six compliments and formalities. I mean, you wouldn’t tell Lan-Zhongzhu he’s stuck up, right?” 

 Huaisang giggles, ”I wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t put it past you though.” 

 Wei Wuxian rolls his eyes, “Yeah, well, maybe to annoy him. But as a legitimate complaint? Doesn’t happen. You don’t do that. Tell your Clan Leader when you have a problem with their attitude. Or anything that isn’t detrimental to your health. It’s just not done. You can’t speak freely to Sect Leaders.” 

 “You say that like you didn’t say upon meeting Dage, ‘Insanely hot, is this even possible? How can someONE!’” Huaisang’s imitiation of Wei Wuxian turns into a panicked shout when Wei Wuxian tackles him down into the shallow pond. Huaisang doesn’t stop, “‘How can someone be so hot? What God allowed-‘“ Huaisang trails off into laughter and Wei Wuxian gives him a noogie. 

 Not far, hidden by some decorative paneling, stood Nie Mingjue who looked onto the pair with amusement. He hadn’t been happy when he found out Huaisang had ditched Saber Training again to play in his garden, but friends were always nice to have. 

 “Why do you have to bring that up!” Wei Wuxian demands sitting in the pond beside Huaisang, keeping Huaisang’s head above the water as Mingjue’s brother just lays in the pond. 

 Huaisang laughs and Mingjue has a very bad feeling suddenly, “Because he forgot your name-“ Oh that little! “He couldn’t remember your name for an entire year and just called you,” Huaisang takes a break to laugh before finishing, “just called you Insanely Hot Guy. Obviously in reference to your first words to him, but Zonghui was so confused!” 

“Ai, well, I am insanely hot.” Wei Wuxian states with no irony, and gets smacked in the face by Huaisang for his trouble. “Why is there even a pond here? I thought you didn’t have this stuff.” 

 “We didn’t. I made it!” Huaisang was incredibly proud.

 “Why?” 

“Because it’s pretty.” Huaisang sits up, but the hand Wei Wuxian had been using to support him follows so the pair end up sitting close together with Wei Wuxian’s hand on the back of Huaisang’s head. If Mingjue didn’t know his brother, he’d assume it was some intimate setting. “And! You always talk of how good Lotus seeds are, and how pretty the flowers are, and we could use some beauty here.” 

“What, your brother isn’t enough?” 

 Huaisang sighs, “Why does everyone think Dage is so hot?” 

“Because he’s tall, ripped, and could probably snap me in half without any real effort.” Wei Wuxian says with zero hesitation.

 “That’s attractive?” Huaisang asks with clear disbelief. Mingjue was with him. The tall and ripped stuff he knew. The third thing was confusing him. 

Wei Wuxian shrugs, “It is to me. Although I also love small scheming men who helped me shave off Lan Qiren’s mustache.” 

“Ah! Not so loud!” Huaisang shushes, “Dage will be furious if he finds out I had anything to do with that!” Huaisang vastly overestimates how much Mingjue’s cares. And vastly underestimates how much he loved seeing the esteemed Grandmaster Lan with no facial hair. He’s such a baby. 

“Fine fine. What was disturbing about that is that he’s hot. How can someone so hot decide terrible facial hair is the way to go? Huaisang, promise me you’ll never let Chifeng-zun grow terrible facial hair.” 

“I’ll shave it off myself.” Huaisang promises. Well. There goes the plans for the mustache. Mingjue has no doubt Huaisang would sneak into his rooms and shave his face in his sleep. Furthermore, Mingjue’s not confident in his ability to say ‘no’ if Huaisang begs him and looks at him pitifully. 

 Actually, he’s entirely confident he’ll fold like a paper crane if Huaisang does that. 

“Good.” Wei Wuxian stands up suddenly, “Now! You said we’re making a Lotus Pond? I can help with that!” Huaisang stands up too fast, looking very eager and happy, and upon trying to grab Wei Wuxian for stability, drags him back down. 

Mingjue huffs a laugh at the scene, mostly because Wei Wuxian looks so disappointed in Huaisang, and apparently decides dumping a handful of water over Huaisang is entirely appropriate. Huaisang doesn’t even protest, or try to get back at Wei Wuxian. 

 Mingjue tenses when he hears familiar footsteps, he peers behind him and sees Elder Qin slowly making her way down the walkway. Thankfully, her sight was worse than Mingjues, so she does not see him.  He was not waiting around for her to reach him though. He was avoiding her for a reason. Sucks to be Huaisang. 

“Huaisang!” Mingjue yells, walking off the walkway and into the garden. 

 “Da Ge!” Huaisang calls with a yelp and both boys try to stand up but their legs were entwined from their previous fall and made them fall again. 

“If you have time to garden you have time to practice your saber.” 

 “But Da ge,” Huaisang whines, and Mingjue doesn’t let him get another word in, silently picking Huaisang up by the back of his clothes, he doesn’t hesitate to grab Wei Wuxian by the back of his collar too. 

“Uh, Chifeng-zun.” Wei Wuxian starts, clearly confused.

 “Time to garden, time to train.” Mingjue repeats and walks away from the pond and Elder Qin. 

Huaisang, used to this, had brought his legs up and essentially curled himself into a ball, Wei Wuxian, not so used to it, lets his legs drag a while before pulling them up as well. Normally Wei Wuxian would complain about how uncomfortable it was to be pulled by his collar, like he did with Lan Zhan, but right now, he has bigger problems. Well, not bigger, but more pressing problems he really doesn’t want anyone to notice. 

 Apparently another thing that made Chifeng-zun hot was his ability to pick Wei Wuxian up with one hand with barely any effort. Who knew?

[zeldahime]

thanks to the 3zun discord and cleromance on twitter, i have now written modern!rule 63!3zun. 3zun lesbians is all i want in life, i think

i don’t really describe them so i just want to let you know that meng yao is like 5′2 and 95lbs and high femme; lan huan is 5′10 and lives in Women’s Business Attire; and nie mingjue is still 6′3 and built like a tank 

----

Prompt: “Can you keep a secret?”

--

"Can you keep a secret?" Lan Huan whispered. Meng Yao was asleep next to her, her fine hair tangled on the pillows, her face relaxed. She almost looked like a completely different person, as young as Lan Huan felt, with the tension of her life temporarily relieved. "I think I'm in love with you." 

Meng Yao slept on, as Lan Huan gently ran her hand over her lover's face, down her neck and arm.

Lan Huan hated that the bed would be empty when Meng Yao woke up at seven. Meng Yao had barely anything in her apartment, just clothes and schoolbooks and other necessities; she barely had groceries and had no decorations. She was too proud to accept gifts, and when Lan Huan had tried to leave some things of hers behind accidentally-on-purpose, Meng Yao had conscientiously made sure to return them. In her white-and-blue skirt suit in an empty apartment, she felt like a ghost flitting through Meng Yao's life, invisible and incorporeal during the day.

But at night -- oh, at night -- when she and Meng Yao talked and whispered and touched, when they laughed, when they loved -- Lan Huan felt like the luckiest girl in the world, even if the rest of her world was on fire.

She wanted Meng Yao to know that she wanted anything she had to offer. She wanted more than just stolen moments on weekend nights, when neither of them would be missed, if Meng Yao wanted it too. She wanted to see her every day, to do whatever Meng Yao wanted, for Meng Yao to do whatever she wanted. She would pull the moon out of the sky to make her smile. 

Slowly, Lan Huan pushed herself up. She had to go to work. But soon -- tonight -- she would tell Meng Yao everything. 

She hoped she wouldn't scare her away.

--

"Can you keep a secret?" Meng Yao asked bitingly. "I thought the blunt and straightforward Nie Mingjue would think those beneath her."

Mingjue's jaw clenched in response. Good. Meng Yao was in a fighting mood.

"I've kept secrets." The words came out low and careful; she'd learned something over the last year, then, about diplomacy. They also weren't an answer and they weren't a reason. 

"Like what, a-Huan's birthday present? It's that necklace she liked at the summer fair, the blue one. She'll love it. Try again." Meng Yao kept her face perfectly flat. If Mingjue wanted a reaction from her, she'd have to actually try. She hadn't tried in a while.

"I'm trying to help you!" 

Meng Yao felt her lips thin. Of course she thought that's what she was doing. Of course she saw herself as the savior. She always had, and she always would. She never understood that Meng Yao didn't need saving. She wasn't a fairytale princess waiting to be rescued -- she had rescued her own damn self.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Da-jie. You haven't tried to help me since before we broke up. If you're going to lie, at least make it believable."

Mingjue looked like she'd been slapped in the face. Since Meng Yao would bet her entire bank account nobody had ever struck her in the face in her life, and Meng Yao was much too small to get that effect the old-fashioned way, it was probably the closest she'd ever get. She did not allow herself to smile in satisfaction, but she felt it all the same. 

"You wouldn't let me." Mingjue stared at a spot somewhere above her head. "I wanted to. But you wouldn't let me." She spoke in a strange tone of voice, one Meng Yao had never heard from her. She sounded almost... lost. Hurt. 

Like Meng Yao was the one who betrayed her trust, and not the other way around.

"Fine," she said, before she had actually made the decision to speak. "I'll tell you a secret, if you can keep it. Forgive me or don't, I don't care, but you'll know why I did it."

When Huaisang came home an hour later, Mingjue was holding Meng Yao to her chest, whispering apologies into her hair.

--

"Can you keep a secret?" Mingjue asked a-Huan, as they waited for their date. Yaoyao had texted them that something had come up at work, and she was coming as soon as she could, but they all knew that emergencies at Jinlintai Inc. could take anything from a half-hour to an overnighter to resolve. She'd know what kind it was soon enough.

"It depends," a-Huan said mischievously. "Is this is a fun secret, or a business secret?"

Mingjue smiled, and a-Huan gasped a little. She was a sucker for dimples, and Mingjue used hers judiciously. "A very fun secret." 

A-Huan fluttered her eyelashes. "Then I can keep it for as long as Da-jie wants me to, if she asks nicely enough." She raised her chin for a kiss, and got it. Mingjue could never deny a-Huan anything.

"I was thinking about Valentine's Day, and our Yaoyao’s birthday, and how they're very close together," Mingjue said slowly. "And about how much she likes both chocolate and beds that are big enough for the three of us."

"I like this secret already, Da-jie."

"She's well overdue for a vacation."

"We all are, I think."

"And she hates how cold it is here up north."

"She does indeed, our poor little southern flower."

They smiled at each other as a blur of a pale blouse and lacy umbrella powerwalked into the restaurant, and they had their Yaoyao with them at last. 

"I am going to murder Jin Zixun," Yaoyao announced for the third time that week, and a-Huan fussed over her hair and Mingjue took her hand. "It's like he wants someone to riddle his body with holes and leave him to die right in the middle of Qiongqi Pass. I'd do it myself if I could figure out how to get away with it." 

"Hello to you too," Mingjue said mildly as Yaoyao pecked her on the cheek and took her seat.

--

Bonus:

"Can you keep a secret?" Huaisang asked them. She'd sat them all down in the living room, wringing her hands like she was afraid they would vanish. "Because I'm pretty sure Yao-jie can but I want to know for certain. You're not going to tell anyone what I tell you right now. Right?"

They looked at each other. Da-jie radiated confusion; Huan-jie and Yao-jie looked perfectly blank.

"A-Sang?" Huan-jie asked quietly.

"Okay, I should probably start at the beginning. When I was like 14, I had a big crush on Wei-jie, you remember that right Yao-jie? I definitely told you. Um. So I kind of wrote this comic about it?”

She walked them through a series of events that seemed both fantastic and completely plausible. And then she told them the title.

"Wait a second. A-Sang. You wrote The Mistress of Demonic Cultivation? And you sold the rights without having me read the contract? Huaisang," Yao-jie said slowly, in her voice that asked the question "are you stupid?" and answered it with "clearly," "I am an intellectual property attorney."

"I didn't! I don't think I did? I'm pretty sure I didn't! I didn't sign anything! I don't know!"

Huaisang watched her sister and her wives roll their eyes in perfect unison and stand with choreographed ease. She was expecting to be yelled at, or possibly told to go practice saber.

She didn't expect to be the center of a group hug, or for her da-jie to say "I'm proud of you," or for Huan-jie to tell her that Lan Zhan had recommended her story to her. She did kind of expect for Yao-jie to demand the contract and mark it up, so that wasn't a surprise at least. That was why she'd told them at all.

Maybe she'd tell them more things, if she was going to get hugs out of it instead of yelling.

Being married was good for Da-jie, she thought. It was good for all of them.

[besanii]

46, Wangxian?

#46. You reach for the same bouquet in a flower shop.

“You know I don’t know the first thing about flowers, right?” Wei Wuxian says. “I don’t know why you insisted on me coming too.”

Nie Huaisang rolls his eyes and taps his closed fan against Wei Wuxian’s shoulder as he passes by.

“You’re my best friend, Wei-xiong, of course you have to be here,” he says. “Who else will do the heavy lifting around here?”

“Your brother?”

“Tsk, tsk, Wei-xiong, you know my brother doesn’t have an eye for these things,” he says, shaking his head. He bends down to inspect an arrangement of peonies. “Not that you’re any better, I suppose, but still better than my brother saying he wants chrysanthemums at his wedding.”

Wei Wuxian barks with laughter, surprised. “He didn’t!”

“I’m still hoping it’s a joke to be honest,” Nie Huaisang says with a shudder. “And he’s just trying to get out of doing it himself. Anyway, I’m going over there to check out the hydrangeas.”

Left to his own devices, Wei Wuxian wanders about the store aimlessly, looking around at shelf after shelf of potted plants and flower arrangements. Nie Huaisang’s only instruction to him before they had come had been “not chrysanthemums”, which actually isn’t very helpful because there doesn’t appear to be any of them here anyway. He wonders if he should look up common wedding flowers on his phone.

Nah, he thinks. He’s not gonna like my choices.

Well, since he’s here, he should pick out something nice for Jiang Yanli. Something in purple, maybe. He catches sight of several arrangements of purple flowers further down the aisle and heads towards them. Up close, they look like little trumpets in various shades of blue and purple: elegant, understated, beautiful.

Gentians, the sign beneath it reads. Passion, charm, loveliness, sweetness.

Perfect. He reaches for one of the bouquets arranged with white roses at the same time another hand closes around it.

“Oh, sorry,” he says, retracting his hand quickly. “I didn’t see you there.”

“No, it was my fault.”

The speaker is another man with eyes the colour of honey, warm and dark, and long, dark hair that falls over his shoulder in a long braid. He looks away quickly when Wei Wuxian catches his eye, the tips of his ears turning red, his hands twitching at his sides. Wei Wuxian gestures to the bouquet and smiles.

“I was just having a look,” he says, “you should take it.”

The man shakes his head. “No, you have it. I will choose another.”

“No, wait!” Wei Wuxian grabs his arm as he turns to leave and he turns back to him with surprise. “Really, I insist. Here.”

He picks up the bouquet and holds it out to him expectantly. The other man takes it from him with a hesitant smile that softens his finely chiseled features and warms Wei Wuxian’s heart.

“I’m Wei Ying, Wei Wuxian,” he says. “And you?”

“Lan Zhan, Lan Wangji.” He shakes Wei Wuxian’s offered hand. “Thank you.”

“You can thank me with coffee,” Wei Wuxian suggests. “I know a good place down the street, if you’re free.”

Lan Wangji looks down at their joined hands and smiles. 

“Coffee sounds wonderful,” he says.

// buy me a ko-fi //

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 08 second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Malarkey )

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Flower Town, Continued

The boys continue their ramble down main street. When they see an interesting crowd of people, Lan Wangji wants to hang back, actually verbalizing that it’s too crowded for him. He’s made a lot of communication progress since first meeting Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian reassures him, and hits him with a series of irresistibly fuckable coaxing expressions...

...and then grabs and drags him.

However, WWX only drags LWJ nearer to the crowd, not into it, letting go before he and Nie Huaisang step over to the group. Being taken out of his comfort zone is part of why Lan Wangji signed onto this Wei Wuxian ride, and as they grow closer WWX is learning LWJ’s particular parameters so he doesn’t cause a kernel panic total system crash.

Nie Huaisang recites some relevant poetry and Wei Wuxian praises him for being so cultured. I continue to love how sweet these two are with each other.

(more after the cut!)

Flower Boys

Lan Wangji gets rewarded for his bravery with a flower shower, and he blisses out, gazing at the pretty.

Nie Huaisang blisses out, gazing at Lan Wangji

Wei Wuxian valiantly tries to pretend he’s not totally heart eyes for Lan Wangji.

He fails.

Collecting the Yin Iron

Wen Chao is taking his own road trip, collecting Yin Iron and making trouble for our gang. This Yin Iron chunk is at the Flower Lady’s house.

Is...this a good way to store Yin Iron? It seems kinda precarious and, uh, stupid.

Next he goes to hassle the dancing rock lady, who, like OP, is a hystersister, but unlike OP, isn’t delighted about it.  Having her female essence Yin removed some years ago made her hot all the time and now she eats souls if she gets a chance. Mood. Rock Lady needs better vitamins. 

Anyway, Wen Chao is actually pretty effective at this Yin Iron getting thing, until he tries to catch Lan Wangji in a roadrunner trap anyway, and I don’t mind saying his dad should have more faith in him. 

In between Yin Iron stops, Wen Chao takes a moment to menace Wen Ching, blah blah Wen blah blah Yin, oh my god this storyline is the dullest. But we do get to see her beautiful scabbard up close.

Before Wen Chao frees the rock lady from her bonds, she has a magic circle on the ground, like the one Wei Wuxian broke in Episode 1 by stepping on it. Seems secure.  She is also bound in these chains. What are these chains (highlighted with white in the picture) supposed to accomplish, exactly?

Since they leave her front hand totally free, they are definitely not going to stop her from grabbing any of the dumbasses who consistently come and put offerings on the altar directly in front of her, is what I’m saying.

Wen Chao blasts the protection charm on the floor with some fire, and all of the chains fall off, so now Rock Lady is free to get her grouchy on. 

Let’s review the master plan for hiding the Yin Iron, shall we? Of 4 pieces of Yin Iron, Xue Yang hid one up his ass somewhere that’s never revealed. The other three were hidden in 1. a well-warded secret ice cave, 2. A public-access temple 3. A flower.  This is what happens when you don’t have a project manager.

Compatibility Score=Hard Nope

Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng sit down in a tavern for the world’s most antagonistic first date. 

As it turns out, Wen Qing is being helpful. Aggressively helpful. Also, we discover that even when he’s got googly eyes for a girl, future Clan Leader Jiang takes no shit when it comes to confrontations. This is a heartening development, considering his parents’ terrible dynamic. 

After Wen Qing delivers her message she tells her team to chill, and gets ready to sneak up the mountain to cause more trouble for her boss. 

Flower Lady House

The boys continue to be a few steps behind Wen Chao, getting to the flower lady’s house and finding nothing but a feather. 

Whenever we have an overhead shot of roofs I wonder where all the guards went. Possibly I have spent too much of my life playing Assassin’s Creed.

1. Nie Huaisang is very smart and observant 2. Nie Huaisang has super cool braids. There are even tiny side braids snaking up from his ears to his topknot.

Hey babe, how about some eye contact? Okay babe, but make it quick.

Dafan Mountain Town

Meet Granny, who is actually very nice and a good babysitter later in the story, but right now is baked out of her gourd.

Wei Wuxian tucks his sword in between his legs so he can make hand gestures while Nie Huaisang admires his hilt. 

We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind Because your friends don’t dance and if they don’t dance they’re no friends of mine

The gang wanders through the deserted town, which seemed pretty creepy back when I was young and idealistic and hadn’t seen goddamn Yi City yet.

Now it seems quaint and well-maintained. Also the town isn’t really deserted; the inhabitants are in the makeup tent getting their zombie cracks painted on.

Rock Lady Temple

Baked Granny and Vaguely Hostile Temple Tender Guy are like “sure, you kids can sleep in the haunted house, have a nice time with that” and our gang just fucking goes to sleep all at the same time like they’ve never seen a monster movie before. 

Which is hotter: this fire, or this man asleep in this outfit with red laces on his vambraces and his red robe splayed all over the place and his knee up in the air and...ok, really there’s no need to even ask this question.

[too soon, OP, too soon. #FatalJourney]

Nie Huaisang wakes up all scared and startled, and Wei Wuxian subtly indicates his lack of concern.

Rock Lady Fight

Actually, of course, Nie Huaisang’s perceptions are right on the money, and the statue very sloooowly comes to life and attaaaaaaacks them.  Spinning ensues.

Wei Wuxian deploys his bondage talisman, this time in yellowish-white. He probably picked blue before to remind him of Lan Wangji’s headband.

[note: for more spin-fighting be sure to check out my fanvid!]

The actors are really good at all this mime work. The CGI doesn’t always live up to their efforts, but they manage to sell it, most of the time.

Lan Wangji is a great fighter, let’s see what cool moves he will use to get out of this “hand lightly resting on my sword hilt” situation.

Lan Wangji, are you fucking kidding me?

Eventually the fight choreographer comes back from his lunch break and lets Lan Wangji put his arms down. They finish their scuffle with the rock lady, sticking her back on her pedestal. Lan Wangji uses a magic flint-and-steel maneuver...

...and Wei Wuxian deploys some extra-fabulous talismans.

This effectively keeps the rock lady confined for the next several years, so--go go battle buds!

Zombie Attack

Once Rock Lady is taken care of, the undead zombies living puppets attack. 

Battle couple are on the same page throughout all of this, and decide to let go of the windows and doors they are holding closed in favor of putting a talisman on the center door only. Which, in the way of all zombie deterrents, works awesomely for about 2 minutes of screen time and then totally fails. 

Duhn-duhn-duhn! We end on a cliffhanger. What will happen? Will our intrepid gang survive? Is Jiang Cheng going to help, since he’s lurking just off camera? Nope 

Next rewatch is coming soon!

Soundtrack: 1. Safety Dance, Men Without Hats 2. Stand, REM