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monsieurboyardee · 1 year

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Tw // biphobia

One of these days I will write a fic where wwx is falling in love with lwj but he hadn't known he was bi beforehand but instead of just the intense denial there will be slightly less denial so that I can reflect on my own experience with being bi yet never having dated through wwx

Wwx doesn't really like women's voices in porn. Like it's fine he can listen to it, he just really prefers men's voices. This doesn't make him gay though, he tells himself (later, he will reflect, and he will laugh himself silly).

He finds himself staring at men a lot, more so than a straight man probably should. It's all for the aesthetics though, right? Nothing wrong with that.

He's been into girls since the first grade, when he first fell for a sweet girl in his class whom he liked to talk about wii games with. He's only ever been into girls, though that's not saying much seeing as he's only really been interested in a few.

But then lwj comes along. And he's super standoffish and a stickler for the rules but he's the most beautiful boy wwx has ever seen. And so wwx begins bothering lwj every chance he gets bc he Needs lwj to look at him, needs his attention to be only on him. At first he doesn't think much of it. He's an attention whore, this isn't news.

But then the years go by and wwx starts learning about sexuality, and what it means to be gay. He learns a lot through underground forums and maybe like jj stories and comments or smthn but he's still very into girls. So he's not gay, which is such a relief to him, bc madame yu would not be happy if it turned out he was gay.

But then he learns about bisexuality, and pansexuality, about all the different letters that make up the LGBTQ+ community and all of a sudden things start to click for wwx.

But he's never dated any girls, let alone any guys. So he doesn't know for certain. Maybe he just really wanted to be a part of this community, and now he's deluding himself. Maybe it's just a phase. Maybe he's making mountains out of molehills.

But as he starts trying to figure out what he is exactly, he starts to realize that he has been attracted to males in the past. He thinks back on all the crushes he's had, and he starts to pick things apart.

And then there's a school trip, and lwj and wwx have to share a bed. And somehow, while lwj is asleep, his leg ends up in between wwx's and his nose ends up pressed to his neck, and wwx gets so hard he has to disentangle himself and run to the bathroom to take care of things.

And then wwx sits on the counter and realizes that during this strange experience, lwj's gender never came to mind. Wwx was just into it regardless. And so then wwx let's out a sigh of relief c finally!!! He knows what he is now, he finally understands.

But then the rest of the fic would be about wwx's fear surrounding his realization at being bi and his Constant worry that he was mistaken, and that he's actually straight or he's actually gay or whatever. And then madame yu finds out, and she's demanding that he make a choice, and he keeps telling her that he can't, bc he's into girls and guys, and she keeps asking him "so what are you?! Are you gay or are you straight?!" And bc he spends so many years trying to convince her that he's neither that he never is given the chance to really allow himself to be in between labels, to reflect on what he truly is, bc he's constantly trying to convince madame yu of what he is and if he doesn't know himself how can he Possibly convince her?

But wwx's also a baby virgin kid whose never had his first kiss, so he still doesn't know whether he's actually bi or whether he's not, so he's constantly worried about whether or not he's been faking or whether he really knows what he is bc he just doesn't know.

And I think it'd be interesting to juxtapose wwx with lwj, whom in this fic would have known he was gay since he was like 8, who is so steadfast and sure of his sexuality that he doesn't understand why wwx can't seem to take pride in his label, or why wwx is constantly second guessing his sexuality and himself. And lwj asks wwx at some point like "are you into me or not" and wwx tells him he doesn't know, bc he thinks he is?? He really, really thinks he is, but what if he's not? What if his supposed feelings for lwj are Actually just a phase? he couldn't string lwj along like that, it would be so awful and so cruel to do that to him. And it frustrates lwj when they're younger, that wwx just never seems To know, but when they get older and lwj is more balanced and a modern interpretation to wwx's running away with the wen's occurs, he is okay with wwx not knowing, bc even though it's caused him so much heartbreak he understands that wwx just needs time, he won't be like this forever he just needs to become a bit more sure of himself.

And eventually when wwx is open and available to the idea of opening himself up to somebody and being able to rely on them completely, he and lwj kiss and it sucks bc they're not good at it but it's still amazing Bc it's lan Wangji, whom he really has been in love with this entire time, he wasn't just deluding himself. And they have sex and that sucks too but it's still amazing and wwx is finally at peace with the idea of himself being into men (there will still be instances where he Will second guess and will question, but he feels infinitely stronger in his perceptions of his preferences).

And maybe wwx is okay with the idea that he's never been with a woman, bc he recognizes that he doesn't need to date or have sex with woman to still be attracted to them, and that he's still bi regardless. Or maybe after he and lwj do their thing, he tells lwj that he needs to find himself just a little bit more first, just needs a bit more time, and it breaks lwj's heart to do it but he tells wwx that it's okay. And then wwx goes on a couple of dates, has a couple one night stands, and at the end of it is certain that while he has mostly been into women, he is still very much into men, and he finds comfort in his sexuality. But ultimately, he realizes that he really really loves lan zhan, so he goes to lwj and Confesses, and lwj confesses too, and they kiss and wwx feels happy and confident and comfortable with who he is, and the man that he now has by his side.

Btw lwj wasn't just like "oh do ur thing I'll wait for you" he was more like "I recognize that you need To figure out who you are before you are able to enter into a relationship, so therefore I encourage you to do that, and if I'm not what you want at the end of that then I will try my best to move on"

#the writer’s barely disguised self insert #except later it devolved into pure fiction lolol #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wei ying #modern au #wangxian #wwx learns about bisexuality #tw biphobia #copy pasted this from my twit #ace’s archives

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plan-d-to-i · 2 years

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Whats with all the Lan hate lately? Seeing people act like everyone was equally guilty or something. Like the Lans didn't sent cultivators to calm the situation down at Koi Tower or Xichen didn't speak up? I get Jiang Cheng fan trying to dump guilt but It's a lot of Wangxian fans going at it too. Leave my man Lan Xichen alone.

lol Idk but it's pretty ridiculous... There are so many instances where it's made clear that it made sense for LXC to not have seen JGY is evil mastermind #1, but ppl are like: no he's bad. It's his fault >:-/. Not to mention the tantrums over LXC being upset w WWX at the Guanyin temple when he understandably thinks WWX had been messing w LWJ’s feelings 🌝. They're ignoring WWX's reaction - which was concern for LWJ- and coming to a totally different conclusion than what's happening in the story. But Back to LXC there are so many instances where it's clarified that his reactions are natural, not foolish or malicious:

Like there's this:

“Clan Chief Lan, you know in your heart who the most suspicious person is,” Wei Wuxian said. “You just refuse to acknowledge it.”

The firelight flickered; light and shadow danced unpredictably across the three men’s faces. Silence filled the abandoned garden. After a while, Lan Xichen spoke again. “I understand that, for various reasons, cultivators have many misconceptions about him. But…I trust what I have personally seen of him all these years. I trust that he is not that sort of person.”

Why Lan Xichen would defend this person was not difficult to comprehend. In all honesty, even Wei Wuxian himself didn’t have a bad impression of the man who had fallen under their suspicion. Perhaps owing to his background, the man was modest and amiable, the kind of person who never offended anyone, who everyone felt comfortable around—and that was to say nothing of Zewu Jun’s good relationship with him all these years. (Chapter 46)

and

Lan XiChen sighed as well, his attacks persisting, “MingJue-xiong, he was undercover in Qishan, and sometimes there would be some things that… could not have been helped. When he was doing these things, in his heart he was also…”

In his heart, Wei WuXian shook his head, ZeWu-Jun, he’s still… too kind, too pure. After a second thought, however, he concluded that he was only so guarded toward Jin GuangYao because he had already known about the various suspicions, whereas the Meng Yao in front of Lan XiChen was someone who had gone undercover without a choice, enduring humiliation alone. The two held different viewpoints, so how could their feelings be compared? (Chapter 49)

The truth is LXC is both. He's very kind, and he has no reason to suspect JGY of being as malevolent as he is. Nie Mingjue saw with his own eyes what JGY did, and yet was taken in by JGY AGAIN! They're not dealing w an average Joe here. JGY is a master at manipulation.

“Wei WuXian had once found it strange as well. Ever since Meng Yao betrayed the QingheNie Sect, the relationship between Nie MingJue and him hadn’t been the same as before. Then why did they later become sworn brothers? From his observations, aside from how Lan XiChen brought it up, having always hoped that the two would reconcile, the most important factor was probably the gratitude of saving his life and writing the letters. To be precise, in his past battles, he had more-or-less depended on the information that Meng Yao sent over through Lan XiChen. He still thought that Jin GuangYao was a talented person whom one would rarely come upon, and intended on leading him back onto the right path. However, Jin GuangYao wasn’t his subordinate anymore. Only after they became sworn brothers would he have the status and the position to urge Jin GuangYao, like how he disciplined his younger brother, Nie HuaiSang” (Chapter 49)

I think people get mad at LXC for not blindly trusting LWJ, but it's not LWJ's direct testimony that LXC doesn't trust:

He looked at Wei WuXian, “You trust Young Master Wei, while I trust Jin GuangYao. The fact that Brother’s head is in his hands, neither of us have seen it with our own eyes. We only believe in what another person says based on how much we know about them.” (Chapter 63)

The thing that's weird to me about people constantly blaming LXC is that WWX doesn't. WWX makes it clear that his reactions are understandable and he does not want it to provoke a fight between LXC and LWJ.

Wei WuXian feared that the brothers would begin an argument over this, “Sect Leader Lan!”

It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand Lan XiChen. Watching Jin GuangYao from the perspective of Nie MingJue, he had seen all of his craft and his ambition. However, if Jin GuangYao had always shown Lan XiChen his disguise, there was no reason for Lan XiChen not to believe in his sworn brother and instead one of the most infamous people.”

“Lan XiChen nodded, “Young Master Wei, no need to worry. Before the truth is entirely revealed, I will not be partial to either side or reveal your whereabouts. Or else, I would not have allowed WangJi to take you to my Hanshi or helped with your injuries.” (Chapter 63)

Side note I think it's sweet actually that for all that LXC wants to remain impartial he never showed JGY the Lan Clan Library's forbidden chamber in their years of friendship but he takes his little brother and his little bro’s boyfriend there to investigate JGY:

“After a while of silence, Lan XiChen whispered, “… Although he had often visited the Cloud Recesses, I have never told him about the forbidden chamber within the Lan Sect’s Library Pavilion.” (Chapter 64)

“After the three walked inside [the library pavilion] Wei WuXian suspected, “Sect Leader Lan, would we be able to find the source of the melody here?”

Lan XiChen, “Not here.”

He walked before a row of books, lowered himself, and flipped over one of the mats on the ground before he took off a piece of wooden board, “We would be able to here.”

Below the wooden board was a secret door.

Lan WangJi, “The room of forbidden books.” (Chapter 63)

The GusuLan Clan principles take precedence once LXC is alerted to the scope of JGY's wrongdoings.

Wei WuXian played with the bookmark in his hands before giving it back to him, “Your brother received quite a big shock.”

With care, Lan WangJi put the dried herb peony back into the book. He shut the pages, “Now that he has found the evidence, he will not tolerate this.”

Wei WuXian, “Of course. He’s your brother after all.”

No matter how close of a relationship Lan XiChen and Jin GuangYao had, he was still from the GusuLan Sect and had his own principles. (Chapter 64)

Although LXC wants to reserve judgment pending his investigation he also revokes JGY's permission to come and go freely in the Cloud Recesses.

Jin GuangYao, “The token of passage has never failed before. Now that it has failed, it’s time for it to be returned to its rightful owner.”

Wei WuXian understood now. Since ZeWu-Jun and LianFang-Zun had quite a good relationship, Lan XiChen had given Jin GuangYao a token of passage as well so that he could visit freely. However, it was likely that within the past few days he had either edited the prohibitions of the Cloud Recesses’ barrier or retracted the permission of Jin GuangYao’s token of passage. When Jin GuangYao came to visit, he was refused permission to enter, and thus he voluntarily returned the token. (Chapter 65)

In that scene Wei Wuxian himself is surprised by how diplomatic JGY is- that doesn't demand a search immediately and acts flawlessly. Still LXC is determined to go forward with their investigation.

“After Jin GuangYao left, Lan XiChen walked behind the screen and looked at Lan WangJi, “I will go to Koi Tower, and you two go to Burial Mound. Let us move separately.”

Lan WangJi nodded slowly, “Yes.”

Lan XiChen, “If he really holds other intentions, I will definitely not tolerate it.”

Lan WangJi, “I know.” (Chapter 65)

“ZeWu-Jun, what’s with this?”

Lan XiChen, “It was quite a shame. I was fooled by lies and lost my spiritual powers. Even though I carry Shuoyue and Liebing, they will not be of much help.”

Wei WuXian, “No need to feel ashamed. After all, lying is one of LianFang-Zun’s greatest skills.” Remembering the Empathy scene where Meng Yao feigned suicide to stab Nie MingJue behind the back as well as the news that ‘LianFang-Zun was heavily injured’, he didn’t find it too hard to deduce how Lan XiChen lost his spiritual powers.” (Chapter 99)

Around the Guanying temple another thing LXC is accused of is gossiping with JGY about Lan Wangji's love life, but again MXTX clarified it's not LXC's loose lips sinking ships, it's JGY's craftiness at work : X

Lan Xichen knew that JGY had to do questionable things but he always assumed they were either what he needed to do to betray the Wen Clan or what he needed to do to survive in a world that judged him and despised him solely on the circumstances of his birth. Other cultivators didn't even want to touch the tea cups that JGY served because he was the son of a prostitute while LXC made sure to immediately drink from his cup. LXC was a good, honest person it's natural that he could not imagine someone like JGY could hide as much as he did under his kindly facade:

Lan XiChen supported his head on his hand. His voice was low, as though he was trying to hold something back, “WangJi, the version of Jin GuangYao that I know is entirely different compared to the version that you know and the version that the world knows! Throughout all these years, in my eyes, he has always been… enduring his suffering, caring for all people, treating everyone with respect. I have always believed, without a doubt, that the criticism he received from others all came from misunderstandings, that what I knew how he truly is. Now, you want me to believe, at once, that everything about this person is fake, that he planned to kill one of his sworn brothers, that I was also a part of his plan and even helped him… Could you please allow me some more discretion before I make my own judgement?” (Chapter 64)

Ultimately I think people forget that in Wei Wuxian's first life no one was suspecting JGY. In his second life WangXian are guided by the hidden hand of Nie Huaisang in finding the clues and the culprit. The truth is of LXC, LWJ, WWX no one is guilty here for thinking well of another person who was exceptionally good at using the kindness and faith of good people against them. It's like blaming Xiao Xingchen for being betrayed by Xue Yang.

#long long long long long idk how it got this long #mdzs #answers #Lan Xichen #Lan Wangji #Wei Wuxian #long post #I'm just gonna reference this anytime anyone wants to get salty about LXC

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danvers--carol · 3 years

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ok ur top faves wangxian fic recs pls

wangxian has a looooot of good fics - here are my bookmarks 😅

im only going to post some of them

a stone to break your soul, a song to save it by rikke (M, 180k)

canon divergence, wangxian arranged marriage, 1st fic i’ve read after binge-watching cql in less than 5 days

love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k)

lwj enters an arranged marriage with yiling patriarch bc wwx helped get rid of wrh

Wrong Turn, Right Place by diamondbruise (E, 71k)

modern!wwx ends up in cultivation world in gusu and meets lwj

spider lilies to sunflowers by cicer (E, 33k)

omegaverse mpreg where lwj must give wwx his firstborn for helping with killing wrh

The Golden Cutsleeve by syrus_jones (E, 77k)

wwx experiments with a uhh fleshlight

Teach Me The Ways by likeafox (E, 58k)

lwj asks wwx for help with sex stuff etc but wwx is a virgin

The Simplest Way Forward by harriet_vane (E, 70k)

modern au, wwx suddenly has baby a-yuan

every love story is a ghost story by aisthuu (M, 59k)

ghost wwx that haunts lwj’s new guqin from ebay

asymptotic by chinxe (Teen and Up, 26k)

lwj falls in love with ghost wwx

Two Weddings and a Family Reunion by scifigeek14 (Teen and Up, 36k)

wangxian has shotgun wedding so wwx can attend his shijie's wedding

myself through someone else’s eyes (series) by thunderwear (59k)

lan xichen permanently turns himself into a baby post-canon and wangxian rises him

My Leaves Reach Ever for the Sun by nonplussed (Teen and Up, 26k)

wwx fakes being lwj’s wife to attend shije’s wedding

Wei Wuxian, Who's That? by bumbledees (Teen and Up, 48k)

canon divergence where they make wwx into jiang xiaolian aka lwj’s new wife

Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 103k)

jc timetravels and fixes everything

Like Rabbits by Setari (Teen and Up, 41k)

mpreg, how many children can wangxian have during canon events

your problem as a mountain. by crowry (E, 30k)

nhs and wwx are writing letters, and nhs “accidently” sends wwx’s letters about lwj to lwj

Lan Yuan's War by BurningTea (Gen, 159k)

ongoing; lwj timetravels with lan sizhui to the beginning of the sunshot campaign aka kinda 18 y.o. single dad au

The Third Young Master of the Qishan Wen by KouriArashi (Teen and Up, 138k)

wwx was adopted by dafan wens instead of jiangs

what builds a home by Stratisphyre (Teen and Up, 45k)

meng yao’s mom adopts little wwx

Brilliance in the Moonlight by rosweldrmr (E, 97k)

soulmates but its connected to golden cores… also lwj/oc in one chapter

I Started From the Bottom/And Now I’m Rich by x_los (E, 57k)

black widow wwx, marries sect leaders and kills them while lwj suffers in the bg

Regrets by antebunny (Gen, 37k)

lwj accidentally kills wwx during nightless city and then time travels

nothing you confess by PorcupineGirl (Teen and Up, 31k)

wangxian are soulmates but dont realise, lan zhan can FEEL wei ying getting his golden core taken out of his body and bc of the golden core hes like ????? when he meets jiang cheng

Pebble in the Deep by catchmeifyoucreon (E, 183k)

mo xuanyu and lwj spend the night together before mx sacrificed himself to bring back wwx, he’s brought back after for ex. yi city arc

picking up the pieces by KouriArashi (M, 111k)

jc dies at Nightless City instead of jiang yanli, she and lwj became friends while waiting for wwx to come back

to swim through the fires by littledust (M, 36k)

lwj is bethroted to jiang yanli

Just as the Snow Melts by draechaeli (Teen and Up, 66k)

one day wwx brings a-yuan to yiling to play by the river and some women ask him to watch over their children, he starts to teach them how to write and opens up a school etc

while covered in mud by merthurlin (Teen and Up, 12k)

nhs joins wens and wwx in burial mounds

box your errors by mellowflicker (Teen and Up, 42k)

dad-ji and little a-yuan vs human disaster wwx

Help, My Dad Is Fucking Someone My Age!! by sweetlolixo (Teen and Up, 3k)

lan sizhui pov about lwj suddenly taking a twink (wwx as mo xuanyu) back to gusu

shout it from the rooftops (tell them all I know) by arypls (Teen and Up, 12k)

lwj is trying to cope with his crush on wwx, he wrote his name in his notes without realizing etc,,,

make this chaos count by devotedbones (E, 15k)

when u (wwx) defend ur bros (lwj) dignity and everyone tells you that you should have fucked him more so he wouldn't be so strict lmao

mianmian the disaster lesbian saves the cultivation world by i_kinda_like_writing (Teen and Up, 27k)

mianmians pov about the wlw mlm solidarity she has with lwj,,, just “give lwj friends” a fic

Lead Me On Through by mrsronweasley (E, 54k)

everyone is in arranged marriages but they dont know the spouse until the wedding day

Lovelocked by Vamillepudding (Gen, 18k)

wangxian meets in paris and clown wwx makes lwj kiss him in front of famous sights for insta pics

不忘 | Don't Forget by dragongirlG (E, 50k)

wwx was thrown into burial mounds but he time travelled to modern times

Aftermath by KouriArashi (Teen and Up, 57k)

jiang yanli has had enough and kills jin guangshan

Keep Holding On by abCEE (M, 38k)

ongoing BUT demonic cultivator jiang yanli

in your skin by darkredloveknot (enheduane) (E, 10k)

wwx gets possessed by a skin-stealer

Double Dare by malkinmalkout (Teen and Up, 11k)

cloud recesses study era; jc dares nhs to pretend to have a crush on lwj to piss wwx off

it's just (aah) a little crush (crush!) by sweetlolixo (Teen and Up, 9k)

cloud recesses study era; wwx panics and says he has a crush on lwj

Bet Your Heart by Vamillepudding (Gen, 14k)

cloud recesses study era; wwx gets a bet to kiss lan xichen

Losing My Mind by pupeez4eva (Teen and Up, 6k)

cloud recesses study era; jc hears lwj's horny thoughts bc of a potion he drank

with you, I am home by tellthemstories (M, 47k)

canon, wwx has to return to lotus pier for marriage proposals, so he and lwj fake date to avoid that

Nothing But Trouble by brooklinegirl (E, 60k)

modern wangxian fake dates

Orchids in Lotus Pier by Vamillepudding (Gen, 21k)

jc and lwj are friends and people (including wwx) think they are dating

Blossom by triedunture (E, 26k)

cherry magic au during canon wwx's death

paint smears on sunny days by SnowshadowAO3 (E, 53k)

dadji and a-yuan’s art teacher wwx

in a river you wade by bleuett (M, 20k)

Mpreg where WWX died, leaving pregnant LWJ and A-Yuan; deals with postpartum depression, being a single father spoilers but my fav quotes 🥺

#wangxian #fics rec #fic rec #pls remember to leave kudos and comments for authors 🙏#wangxian fic rec

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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First time submitting prompts, fairly new follower. Love your writing!

NHS and LWJ friendship. Subtle and maybe people other than their big brothers don't see it and it shocks people when they find out. Mostly Canon compliant?

Associates - Part 3 - ao3, pt 1, pt 2

In the end, it was Lan Wangji who went to get Wei Wuxian, rather than wait patiently for him to return of his own free will as he had originally intended.

It had been Nie Huaisang’s idea, after nearly a year of Wei Wuxian travelling – they’d never actually pursued the jealousy idea he’d initially suggested on account of it being a terrible idea, Lan Wangji’s temporary moment of insanity in even considering it aside. It had come up seemingly apropos of nothing, one day when the two of them were working together in Lan Wangji’s study, Lan Wangji filling out the paperwork in his graceful handwriting as Nie Huaisang flittered around solving problems – he preferred pacing as he thought, which perhaps explained his reluctance to work on documents despite his beautiful calligraphy, and all the marching around made him, in some moments, look remarkably like his elder brother, something Lan Wangji deliberately refrained from ever mentioning.

“You need to go pick him up,” Nie Huaisang had suddenly said, in between planning out the next discussion conference and explaining why a seemingly minor dispute regarding shifting the boundary line near the Yuncheng Bao sect by a single li could have catastrophic consequences for the Jin sect’s long-term stability. “I know you’re afraid of giving the impression that you’re trapping him and restraining his freedom, but that’s your problem, not his. He wants to be asked.”

“Does he?” Lan Wangji had asked, finishing the sentence he was on and putting down the brush. Some things took priority above night-fishing rights near a contained Waterborne Abyss, no matter the new head of the Laoling Qin sect might think.

“Mm, yes. He’s been taking a lot of night hunts in the immediate vicinity of Gusu, close but never too close…Lan Zhan, he’s hinting that he wants you to chase him.”

“Pride?”

“A bit, maybe? Mostly I think it was his position in Yunmeng Jiang, where the former Sect Leader Jiang wanted him and Madame Yu didn’t, so his status was always that slightest bit uncertain. Here and now, he wants to know that he’s really welcome…don’t give me that look! He knows he’s welcome, you’ve made that clear, but making you be the one to ask is just another way to ensure that it’s actually true.”

And so Lan Wangji had gone to where he’d heard that Wei Wuxian was night-hunting, flying down on Bichen when he saw him walking with Lil’ Apple along a mountain path – he called his name, and Wei Wuxian had turned and smiled…

Wei Wuxian had come back with him.

More than that – he’d kissed him, he’d said he was staying with him, he’d agreed to marry him, to live their life together from then on.

They were officially engaged now, the auspicious date having been selected, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling having demanded roles on the side of the bride – Wei Wuxian briefly protested being the bride, then realized that he was marrying into the Lan sect and promptly reversed course, announcing that he wanted all the trappings of being a bride, excluding the dress – and life was very, very good.

Unfortunately, a couple of weeks was about as long as the cultivation world could hold off on needing its Chief Cultivator to be more than part time – he’d done a lot of the work in the mornings while Wei Wuxian was still asleep or when he was busy, and of course he had the system of delegation that Nie Huaisang had constructed for him and naturally Nie Huaisang himself helping out through his letters – and regretfully, Lan Wangji had had to return his full focus to his duties.

At first, it didn’t mark that much of a change: Wei Wuxian would bring projects of his own and they would work side by side, Lan Wangji already accustomed to the presence of another through all the work he’d done with Nie Huaisang, and Lan Wangji insisted that Wei Wuxian go out regularly with the juniors for night-hunts even if he himself could not. It all seemed fine, except only that Lan Wangji had the distinct feeling that he was missing something important.

It was only when the first big issue came up – a serious dispute between two small sects – that Lan Wangji realized what that was.

He sent a message to the Unclean Realm and waited.

Nie Huaisang arrived at the Cloud Recesses at the exact time one might expect if Nie Huaisang had received the message and left at once at top speed, accounting for the relatively slow pace he had when flying as a result of his mediocre cultivation.

Letter still crushed in his hand, he swept into the jingshi in his usual manner, all high drama and flash, wailing, “Lan Zhan! You betrayed me! You, of all people! My oldest friend!”

Lan Wangji, who had been expecting this, rolled his eyes.

Wei Wuxian, sitting in the desk he’d claimed as his own, looked up, startled. “Nie Huaisang?”

“Oh, hi, Wei Wuxian, congratulations on your engagement, has Lan Zhan shown you the present I sent? Probably not, he never does – Lan Zhan! Don’t think I’m letting you distract me with Wei Wuxian! You answer for this right away!”

He waved the crumbled letter at Lan Wangji.

“There is nothing to explain,” Lan Wangji said. “I requested your assistance in my capacity as Chief Cultivator.”

“You called me a spineless, gutless coward!”

Wei Wuxian made a choking sound.

“I sought to accurately characterize your recent behavior,” Lan Wangji said, and noted that Wei Wuxian’s choking noises got worse, although he did not actually appear to be in need of air. “Do you object?”

(There was something about Nie Huaisang’s company that reminded Lan Wangji irresistibly of being a child again, he had found, and it was only recently that he had begun to remember that as a child he had once had a tendency to bite. A pleasant rediscovery, even if the sharpness of his teeth were now expressed via paper and ink rather than through physical attacks.)

“You were the one who took a month off,” Nie Huaisang complained, a blatant lie given that Lan Wangji had been on partial duty for no more than two weeks, but dropped into his usual place at Lan Wangji’s side obediently enough. “Lan Zhaaaaaaan, don’t make me do work –”

Lan Wangji was going to say something about how it wasn’t like Nie Huaisang was doing any less work by doing his part in the Unclean Realm rather than being physically present in Gusu for consultations, he was just doing it less efficiently, but that was when Wei Wuxian coughed into his hand.

“Sect Leader Nie,” he said, with too much formality, but Nie Huaisang waved his hands at him querulously, clearly disapproving, and his shoulders relaxed a little. “Ah – Nie Huaisang. Since when do you call Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan? I thought you called him Lan-er-gongzi?”

“Oh, no, it’s been Lan Zhan since I was – what, seven or so?” Nie Huaisang said. “I wasn’t joking about him being my oldest friend, you know. We were just fighting back then, when you came for the lectures.”

Wei Wuxian blinked rapidly and turned to look at Lan Wangji, who nodded in confirmation.

They’d failed each other rather thoroughly back then, neither one being there for the other when they could have been. Nie Huaisang had not been wrong to observed that simply because he had always been free and open with his affections, Lan Wangji had assumed they would always be there to be resumed at a later time, without any need for maintenance – playing hot and cold, offering and receiving comfort and support at certain times, totally distant at others…it wasn’t until much later, when Lan Wangji emerged from seclusion, that he had needed Nie Huaisang again, and realized what he’d lost in the blank and disinterested glance of the boy he’d once thought of as his friend, who now seemed to visit the Cloud Recesses only in search of his elder brother.

They’d spoken in those intervening years, but it had always been light, superficial. Lan Wangji could have reached out a hand at that time, sought to resume their relationship, but he was consumed with his own grief, his own troubles, and out of respect for the face of his sect he had refused to share them; perhaps if he had, Nie Huaisang wouldn’t have done what he had done, would have relied upon him instead.

Perhaps things would have been very different.

It wasn’t until he’d finally swallowed his pride to ask Nie Huaisang for help with the overwhelming work of being Lan sect leader and Chief Cultivator both that they had broken through that distance once more. It had been difficult at first, readjusting their long-lost patterns to their adult behaviors, but they had slowly but surely fallen into a comfortable dynamic that suited them both.

“I had no idea,” Wei Wuxian said blankly. “You spend much time together?”

“Nie-xiong assists me in my duties,” Lan Wangji interjected before Nie Huaisang could spout something stupid about eloping, as he was sometimes wont to do. “He has been critical in ensuring that I am not overwhelmed.”

Wei Wuxian mouthed ‘Nie-xiong’, but what he said was, “You, Lan Zhan? Overwhelmed?”

Lan Wangji nodded. “My brother went into seclusion,” he explained. “As sect heir, I became responsible for the duties of sect leader of the Lan sect, and I had also accepted the post of Chief Cultivator.”

“And he didn’t have anyone else to help, so he came to me,” Nie Huaisang said cheerfully, ignoring how Wei Wuxian’s eye twitched. “I hope you don’t mind. It was very convenient a trade: I know plenty of things about being a sect leader – more than you’d think, I swear! – and Lan Wangji, as Chief Cultivator, can help me whenever someone tries to make something out of that awful business last year.”

There had been a few unfortunate sequelae to those events. Nie Huaisang’s role had never been officially confirmed, but somehow word had gotten out regardless and sects throughout the cultivation world were looking at Nie Huaisang in suspicion – less out of concern for Jin Guangyao, although there were a few that had especially benefited from his rule that were disappointed, than with an eye towards the future. The wise ones were afraid of his patience and planning, but far more were simply greedy, looking for a chance to finally uproot the notorious Headshaker now that his best protection, his brother’s two sworn brothers, were not there to defend him.

As he had promised, Lan Wangji had defied any attempts by others to do anything of that sort.

As he had promised, he would not change his mind or withdraw his support, no matter what Wei Wuxian said.

His shoulders tensed as Wei Wuxian looked over at him, his expression thoughtful. “I’m going to need to talk to Jiang Cheng,” he remarked, seemingly unrelatedly, and then said, “Well, I trust Lan Zhan’s judgment.”

Nie Huaisang had covered his face with his fan and was looking over it at Wei Wuxian. “You do? And here I thought you didn’t associate with evil…”

“Those are from Lan Zhan’s sect rules, not mine,” Wei Wuxian declared. “If he doesn’t judge you to be evil, who am I to say otherwise?”

Nie Huaisang smiled.

“We should talk more, sometime,” Wei Wuxian continued. “And hey, Nie-xiong, I don’t know if you still collect those books –”

“Oh, of course, Wei-xiong!” Nie Huaisang said enthusiastically. “Though you don’t need to ask for them from me. Lan Zhan’s built up quite a collection over the years.”

Lan Wangji sighed, even as Wei Wuxian spun to look at him with a predatory look in his eyes, not unlike a sighthound that had just fixed on its prey. “You do?”

“Nie-xiong has gifted me with many art pieces over the years,” Lan Wangji admitted. His ears felt as though they were on fire; they were undoubtedly red. “You may peruse them at your leisure.”

“At our leisure,” Wei Wuxian murmured, his eyes deeply intent. “I can’t wait to see what spring books you like best, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji averted his eyes, feeling hot.

Nie Huaisang giggled and snapped his fan shut. “You don’t want to see the art I sent, Wei-xiong, trust me,” he cackled. “You want to see the pieces. Just ask!”

Wei Wuxian grinned and shook his head. “I think that’s a private discussion! Anyway, I’m going to go talk to Jiang Cheng – you two work on your Chief Cultivator stuff.”

“Your insight would be welcome,” Lan Wangji said, but Wei Wuxian waved a casual hand.

“Later, later,” he said breezily. “I don’t know either of those sects, I couldn’t possibly say anything intelligent – maybe next time you have a question. I look forward to working with you, Nie-xiong.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

Lan Wangji watched them smile at each other – still a little wary, but both clearly willing to attempt a renewal of their own friendship, even after everything – and his heart felt light.

The only thing, he reflected, that would make this perfect would be if Lan Xichen came out of seclusion.

But with Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, and Nie Huaisang on the job, they’d be sure to figure out a way to do that soon enough.

He was sure of it.

#mdzs #lan wangji #nie huaisang #wei wuxian #my fic #my fics #associates #associates was actually supposed to be a one shot fic but then I saw this prompt after writing the first one and felt the need to continue #and here we are #ivydragon

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stiltonbasket · 3 years

Note

I have been really enjoying your Qin Su!WWX verse! If you're not busy and would be interested in writing it, I would be very curious to see LXC/NMJ reacting to Qin Su!WWX/LWJ.

Wei Wuxian was prepared to face a lot of things upon entering the Cloud Recesses, but having Nie Mingjue try to behead him with Baxia definitely wasn’t one of them.

“Brother-in-law!” Lan Zhan shouts, unsheathing Bichen and throwing himself between them. Jin Zixuan fumbles at his waist for Suihua, remembers that he doesn’t have it, and then yanks on the rug under Nie Mingjue’s feet in an attempt to trip him up; but Nie Mingjue is far too heavy for Mo Xuanyu’s weak muscles to shift, so Jin Zixuan just falls to the ground and lies there until Chifeng-zun rolls him out of the way with his heavy black boots.

“Wangji, step away,” Nie Mingjue growls. “That is not Qin Su. Whoever that is has stolen her body.”

“I didn’t steal it,” Wei Wuxian says, deeply offended by the accusation. “I had two people try to offer their bodies to me, Nie-zongzhu! It’s Wei Wuxian, by the way. Um, the Yiling Patriarch? Just in case you’ve forgotten.”

Nie Mingjue squints at him. “Oh, all right,” he shrugs, sliding his dao back into its scabbard. “What’s going on?”

At the sound of Chifeng-zun’s saber being sheathed--a confirmation of safety, Wei Wuxian realizes--the little girl from the courtyard comes toddling up the steps to the Jingshi, leading her twin brother by the hand and then latching on to Nie Mingjue’s legs the second she makes it over the threshold. “Papa, who’s that?” she asks, tugging at the hem of his robes and pointing at Jin Zixuan. “He’s pretty.”

“It’s rude to point, Nie Yunhua,” Chifeng-zun sighs, lifting both children with one burly arm and holding them on his hip. “But that’s...you’re A-Yao’s younger brother, aren’t you?”

“Technically, yes,” Jin Zixuan says dolefully. “Or at least this body was. I’m Jin Zixuan, not Mo Xuanyu. Wuxian was already back in Qin-guniang’s body when Mo-gongzi used the soul-summoning array, so it caught me instead.”

Wei Wuxian frowns. “Why do you sound so upset about that?”

“You and Hanguang-jun have been sneaking off together every time my back was turned for the last two weeks,” his brother-in-law groans, staring up at the ceiling. “I had to pull you off him when we made camp last night. It was horrible.”

Nie Mingjue’s face brightens. “Oh! You’ve accepted his suit, then?”

“Did everyone know about us before I did?” grumbles Wei Wuxian. “How did you know?”

“I’ve been married to Xichen for over fourteen years,” Chifeng-zun says dryly. “There aren’t many secrets left between us by now.”

“I still want to know how that came about,” Jin Zixuan muses. “All of my martial sisters were crazy about him, so I thought he’d be married to some renowned beauty by now. Did he propose, or did you?”

“Neither of us, actually. A-Huan already had A-Yi, and we weren’t going to hide the fact that he was ours, so we thought we might as well marry.”

“Xiongfu,” Lan Zhan interrupts, tugging Wei Wuxian a little closer to him. “Perhaps you could go and fetch him? The news must be broken as soon as possible, and Xiongzhang--”

Nie Mingjue gives a grim nod and passes his children to Jin Zixuan, who squashes the two wriggling toddlers to his chest before proceeding to look very confused about what to do with them. “It’s not going to be pretty,” he warns. “Ever since little A-Song passed away--A-Huan and Jin-furen, they--”

“Qin-guniang said he was her best friend,” Wei Wuxian recalls, before patting the pocket over his bosom where he keeps Qin Su’s sealed letter to Lan Xichen. “She left a note for him, and I haven’t been able to decode the locking sigil to read it.”

When Lan Xichen arrives ten minutes later, he takes one look at Wei Wuxian--at Qin Su’s changed face and her travel-hardened body, and then at the envelope in Wei Wuxian’s hands--and knows immediately that his sworn sister is gone.

“Why?” he asks, with a stricken cry that makes Wei Wuxian feel guilty about being alive again for the first time since the month he spent believing that Lan Zhan was in love with Qin Su. “How long has it been you, instead of her?”

“Since last spring,” Wei Wuxian says, fighting the impulse to cling to Lan Zhan as a tear rolls down Zewu-jun’s face. “She summoned me for revenge, Lan-zongzhu. Lianfang-zun was the one who murdered Jin Rusong, not the Tingshan He clan, and she wanted me to bring her husband to justice.”

#wangxian #nielan #jin zixuan #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #qin su!wwx #my fic

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antebunny · 3 years

Text

So back in May I said I would finish the April prompts in June, because I naively assumed that I would have time. Now it is June and I DON'T HAVE ANY GODDAMN TIME. So in the end I'm not doing them at all, but I will post the outlines because I have them so I might as well. And if sometime in the distant future I have time and feel like it, I might write some of them.

April 21:

(Set post-canon)

Jiang Cheng is wandering through the forest because he’s totally not stalking his ex-brother. Who is on a night hunt with his husband, who Jiang Cheng hates, because he’s trash. He stumbles upon a sad/injured dog that is very cute. And pets it. Then Wei Ying shows up.

So wwx and lwj got hit by a curse that should’ve turned lwj into wwx’s worst fear. And dogs aren’t his worst fear. His worst fear would be like. Abandonment. Or something. But the curse isn’t all-powerful. The curse is limited, and how do you just *turn* lwj into abandonment. No, this curse turns lwj into a dog.

Cut to Jiang Cheng dumping lwj off in the CR like “lxc get over here send me a letter when he’s better I’m taking wwx to LP” and suddenly wwx wants to try getting over his fear of dogs. Of course jc is offended!™ that’s he’s trying now and not back then when jc had dogs! (Although back then wwx was a smol nine year old and now he’s a grown adult but WHATEVER. Jc is sTILL OFFENDED). So he’s like "FINE. But it’s happening in LP bc wwx feels safer there."

Cue montage of wwx trying to be comfortable with dog!lwj and failing miserably. And lwj looking even sadder and more miserable each time wwx runs away screaming. jc is dealing with the fact that he somehow understands lwj better than wwx does right now because wwx interprets everything a dog does as a sign of aggression while jc is like “no he’s sad. He’s obviously sad. He’s wagging his tail because he’s excited. That’s what dogs do. You’re so stupid.” Like the moment wwx tentatively pets him and lwj who doesn’t have control over himself in dog form, starts wagging his tail, and then wwx yeets away with demonic screeching. If lwj makes any sort of noise (yipping, whining, barking) it’s a growl of aggression. And when wwx goes on a typical tirade about how dogs are evil soulless monsters who all want to bite him, lwj gives him the singular saddest puppy dog eyes in the history of sad puppy dog eyes. And then wwx feels bad because that's his HUSBAND he's insulting, and so he tries to give lwj comfort pets.

Ends with wwx falling asleep cuddling with dog!lwj

#antebunny's april prompts #fic outline #mdzs #the untamed #wangxian #don't ask me what this has to do with bunnies #it just popped into my head #not my fanart #april prompts #spring fest 2021

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

Text

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 04 (second part)

(Masterpost) (Episode 04, first part) (Episode 05, first part)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes

Continued from the first half of this very long post!

Lets Go! Gusu

Wen Qing is lovingly exploring the magical wards of Gusu. She tries a little digital penetration on the ward at the waterfall, but gets the hard nope.

Note: Here at Canary3d we don’t ship Wen Qing with any cultivator ladies because we’re too busy shipping her with modern-day infosec-pro ladies, if you get what I’m saying and/or have read my bio.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian is fishing with Nie Huaisang, using the method of sneaking up and grabbing fish with his bare hands. This actually works, because he is good at literally everything. His “I’ll be the prodigy” speech to Lan Xichen, isn’t actually arrogant.

Aw, Look at Xiao Zhan pretending this fish isn’t already dead.

Nosy Parker Wei Wuxian

Wei Wuxian goes to chat up Wen Qing and none of his crap works on her.

If I want to admire a pretty face I’ll go look in the mirror

His interactions with Wen Qing help to mature Wei Wuxian quite a bit over the months and years. Initially she’s a mystery to him, and he wants her attention and esteem. And can’t get either.

Look how stunned he is to encounter a boundary when she won’t let him touch her needle. “Wards are made to be broken” but she’s not going to let him past any of hers.

Jiang Cheng, Insecurest Boi

Oh you beautiful sad angry boy.

(More after the cut!)

Jiang Cheng is angrily waving the laundry around practicing his angry sword moves without a sparring partner, which is noteworthy partly because it shows how dedicated he is, but also because it shows how much he depends on Wei Wuxian for social interaction and cultivation practice. There must be 40 or 50 kids he could go practice with, but he’s by himself.

Camera Operator: Why you gotta take it out on me?

When he bitches to Yanli about his Dad preferring Wei Wuxian, she gaslights him.

Yanli is so gentle and kind, and she’s been the real mother for both of these boys when she didn’t have to be. But she ain’t perfect.

Yanli found this soup recipe on youtube. The ingredients are: water

Jiang Cheng has such a complex about Wei Wuxian he won't take the fish from him directly. He just looks hungry until Yanli grabs a stick and passes it to him.

Look, Jiang Cheng, we know you have reasons to be upset, but you need to get the fuck over yourself.

Aw, look at Xiao Zhan pretending this fish is cooked/palatable. (note: it is not)

Xiao Zhan deserves multiple awards for this performance. With bonus points for gratuitously eye-fucking Wang Zhoucheng into next week.

Wang Zhuocheng is an amazing actor who plays an incredible range of emotions, but selling the “delicious fish” lie exceeds his abilities. Look how he steels himself before he opens his mouth.

Yanli tells Wei Wuxian to be good starting tomorrow, and WWX gives her his patented lying-motherfucker salute.

This one has 4 fingers, unlike the 3-fingered boy scout salute he gave Lan Wangji on the roof in the previous episode. The extra finger is for extra lying.

Lan Lecture: Goofing off

Wei Wuxian is bored and spends the lecture time goofing off or sleeping like any other smart kid with ADHD.

Eventually he draws a bunny while Nie Huasang tosses him a nut wrapped in paper and he eats it. It’s the same kind of nut he eats at the beginning of his second life, when he remarks that they tasted better 16 years ago.

Don’t mind me, just putting Nie-Xiong’s nuts in my mouth

It’s cute how WWX and NHS are so vaguely gay for each other without bothering to be seriously gay for each other.

Several of the rules that are read out during this part of the lecture are things that Wei Wuxian is doing during this part of the lecture, or will become known for doing in the near future.

sitting improperly

causing noise

teasing others

ignoring others and being undisciplined

borrowing money

being late

Lan Lecture: Showing off

The question & answer part of the lecture arrives, which is when Wei Wuxian gets to show off his gifts.

He is that classic kid who already knows the essence of the material, does not need stuff explained, and is super bored at rote learning.

Lan Qiren makes Lan Wangji show off his skills to the whole class, which would guarantee an after-school ass kicking for the teacher's pet except that LWJ is basically the most aggressive person in the entire Lan clan (thanks Mom for those "I'm going to kill you now" genes!) and is unbeatable.

Lan Lecture: Going off

Next, Wei Wuxian introduces an idea for sustainable energy.

He starts off challenging Lan Qiren's hypothetical scenario, and as Lan Qiren draws breath to answer him, Lan Wangji starts speaking. LWJ has been listening very carefully and is speaking out of turn instead of letting the master speak, which is...probably not how he usually conducts himself?

From Wei Wuxian’s perspective, this is just the run-up to his next outrageous suggestion, but for Lan Wangji, this has to be an enormous moment. This boy who is unexpectedly a good sparring partner with swords and words is also an intellectual sparring partner - someone who can give Lan Wangji an actual chance to debate something.

Wei Wuxian’s answer "it's such a waste" is directed to Lan Wangji, not to the class as a whole. Lan Wangji, Gusu’s loneliest boy, is suddenly in a relationship with an equal. The relationship is adversarial, but it's EQUAL.

Wei Wuxian carries on explaining his idea: How about digging up and desecrating corpses? No no no Not for fun, but in order to have massive, unthinkable power?

Seems like a waste to just leave the dead to their rest when you could be using them for something.

Lan Qiren: I can see we are going to have to kill you eventually, aren't we

Jiang Cheng: oh my god Wei Wuxian you can't just ask about decapitating corpses

Jiang Yanli: perhaps my unwavering loyalty to Dad's methods with my baby brother should be reexamined

Nie Huasang: my dude, conceal don’t feel, seriously

Lan Wangji: hmmm he’s not exactly wrong

Lan Wangji was a LOT more horrified at Wei Wuxian sticking a note on Lan Qiren’s ass than he is at this whole demonic cultivation thing. Lan Wangji is really really attracted to Wei Wuxian’s talent and intelligence, even when it's completely heterodox. You can see it much later when Wen Ning gets his personality back; Lan Wangji is impressed and congratulatory, unlike literally everyone else in the cultivation world.

Punishment

When Wei Wuxian gets sent to copy a chapter 1000 times, Jiang Cheng and Yanli are both horrified, whereas Wei Wuxian’s reaction is totally chill.

Basically he knows that he has reached the part of the classroom discussion where he is inevitably sent for punishment, because he is totally used to that being how things go in his education.

Similarly, kneeling doesn't bother him because Madame Yu made him kneel for everything. Wei Wuxian is the mascot for too-smart bored kids everywhere.

On his way out, Wei Wuxian hits Lan Wangji with this troubled look of yearning. In this moment where Wei Wuxian is sparking Lan Wangji’s interest and tentatively seeking a path toward Lan Wangji’s heart, he is also mapping out the unorthodox path he will follow away from him as they grow up.

Lan Qiren in his rage does the dumbest and, frankly, most irresponsible thing the parent of a teenager can do in this situation; he sends Lan Wangji to supervise Wei Wuxian’s punishment.

"This terrible WWX is a one-man bad crowd. Let me send my deeply conflicted, stubborn, intensely private, teetotling, abstinent and abstemious newphew to spend several days in a private location with him, being bored together."

Lan Wangji responds to this order with 100% calmness, not even an eyebrow furrow.

I'm sure no cussing, pornography, romantic portraits, flirty ink grinding, or changes in forms of address will happen.

Lan Lecture: Blowing off

Wei Wuxian meanwhile has fucked off to go make more friends, and is hanging out with Wen Ning. Wen Ning demonstrates his archery by hitting the worlds slowest falling rock in midair and Wei Wuxian earnestly praises him and offers to trade skill pointers.

I love how sweet and kind WWX is to this younger kid who is obviously a little different.

When Wen Qing shows up, Wei Wuxian takes another opportunity to get into her business, but he skips the charm this time. He also 100% correctly deduces what she is up to.

Swords by the Waterfall

Then comes another sexy sword fight as Lan Wangji sneaks up on Wei Wuxian and almost get his face sliced open as a reward.

Now that the swords are out it’s time for...homework, sigh. Summer school is the worst.

Outro

Writing Prompt: Lan Xichen’s letter to Nie Mingjue after meeting Meng Yao

Episode 05 Restless Rewatch is over here!

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #chen qing ling #the untamed stills #restless rewatch the untamed #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wen qing #lan qiren #weilan #the untamed spoilers #restless rewatch #the untamed meta

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imaginaryelle · 4 years

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I just re-watched THAT scene and a thought hit me: Lan Wangji just stands there watching Wei Wuxian fall from the cliff... Why doesn't he jump onto his sword and swoops down to at least try to save him? Or is he all out of spiritual power? Or does it simply take to long to start and rev the sword? Not saying it's a plothole, I was just wondering...

I mean, I think this is a fair question and I know I’ve seen it discussed elsewhere. I just can’t seem to find the post or remember if any conclusions were reached, so I’m excited to dive into this. As always if anyone has insights or headcanons they want to add on to this, please do.

Because I like pictures, here’s ep 33 Lan Wangji holding his sword and staring in horror as Wei Wuxian falls (what is Jiang Cheng thinking? Who knows.)

Why isn’t Lan Wangji doing anything? He just stands there for long enough that Jiang Cheng backs away and leaves him on the outcropping, all alone.

Poor guy.

Okay, moving on. I think there are at least two ways to approach this, and one is from the production perspective (since this cliff encounter is a thing that only happens in the drama) and the other is from the in-universe perspective (aka, Doyalist vs Watsonian), so I’m going to look at both.

For the production pov, there’s really only one scene (I think) where we see anyone actually riding a sword in the drama, and it’s when they’re confronting the water demon/abyss in Caiyi (ep 5). At that point there’s no prep time, everyone just jumps up and then steps onto their swords (which is actually even more ridiculous to me than the image had already been in the novel because I thought they were at least riding on the scabbard but no! Riding the bare blade like a skateboard. I love it.)

How majestic.

Lan Xichen is the only graceful and cool person here. The only other sword-riding shot in this scene that shows more of a person’s body than their head and shoulders is when Lan Wangji drags three people into the air at once and we get a brief glimpse of Su She’s feet kicking wildly.

So, based on this scene’s execution and the general scarcity of other sword-flying scenes (even with the Nightless City confrontation, Lan Wangji just flies in with his quqin, no sword under his feet), my out-of-universe theory would be a combination of budget and aesthetic at play. If the production can get by on wire work with super extra long jumps that don’t seem to require actually riding the sword, they will. It’s logistically simpler, and it frankly looks better on screen. It’s also a staple of the entire film genre, whereas this sword thing is not, so the crew and effects people would have more experience with it as well. (In-universe I have a lot of questions about Wei Wuxian’s retained ability to do those jumps. Do they not use spiritual energy? Does he still have spiritual energy, just not a golden core? Is he using resentful energy instead? How does this work?)

From a more story-side view on the production, they’re working against the fact that they changed the plot to add Lan Wangji’s presence at Wei Wuxian’s death and they want to capitalize on that relationship, so having Wei Wuxian knock himself over the edge as he destroys the seal (or something where he steps back as Jiang Cheng rushes him or any other number of possibilities) no longer fits with the emotional beats they’re trying to hit. Also they really need Wei Wuxian to die here for the plot to function. Having Lan Wangji mount a sword and swoop down to try and save him again just adds extra complications and delays the desired outcome of WWX = dead and LWJ = distraught. In that sense, it really does start to look like a plot hole, because it feels like they’re ignoring the capabilities of a character in order to get the result they need. I do think they try to address this, but since multiple people have this question and I personally had to watch the scene more than once while actively thinking about it to notice all the relevant details… the efficacy of those efforts is maybe questionable. (Also like.. why does Jiang Cheng wait three days to go look for Wei Wuxian’s remains? Why is anyone waiting at all? Why is anyone surprised they can’t find a corpse when the visual we get implies Wei Wuxian is falling into lava? There are many, many questions that can be asked here and for a lot of them the out-of-universe answer is probably going to resemble “because the plot/original source material demands it” without much helpful in-universe support.)

In-universe (and probably more pertinent to your question), yeah, Lan Wangji could be low on spiritual power (and upon rewatch, I think he genuinely is). He could be physically exhausted as well as injured, too. For someone who carried three people in two hands 2-3 years ago and canonically has only gotten stronger since, he sure is having trouble pulling one person up over the side of a cliff. And that exhaustion really isn’t outside the realm of possibility, no matter how strong and powerful he is. He just traveled pretty far! If the theories that he found A-Yuan before coming to Nightless City are true (since he’s not injured in those flashbacks), he likely spent a ton of spiritual power even before getting into this battle where he first confronted Wei Wuxian and then started fighting pretty much everyone on the field by himself. Then, in a moment of fear-induced distraction, he gets injured! He’s actively bleeding! So yeah. He could definitely just be physically exhausted.

All that blood loss is not a good sign, and it actually speeds up (visually) as he expends this effort. We can see his arm trembling all throughout this scene, and then his grip slips (thus the face). Even after that he slips again, not losing his grip, but losing the strength to hold himself up at all. In the end he’s literally just lying on the rock depending on gravity to keep him in place and putting everything else he has into holding on to Wei Wuxian. He can’t do more than glare in Jiang Cheng’s general direction and tell him to stop.

Bichen is right there. If he had spiritual power left, I think he’d probably be sending his sword out to block Jiang Cheng’s angle of attack. That, or he needs two hands to accomplish such an action (It doesn’t require hand motions later/in the future, but maybe he develops that skill precisely because of these events). So yes. He’s physically exhausted. He’s spiritually exhausted. But I think there’s more going on here, too: He’s also at the end of his rope emotionally, and that’s how he ends up standing there, horrified and unmoving.

He’s had a rough time recently: Everyone hates his best and only friend/love of his life, and he has to listen to them call for his death/judgement at fancy dinner party meetings on and off for over a year. No one will listen to him when he tries to present a different view. Even his own brother is (not unreasonably) much more concerned about Lan Wangji’s personal safety than what his silence on this issue is costing him emotionally, and his uncle is distinctly unsupportive of the friendship from the beginning.

I think Lan Wangji spends a lot of time questioning his upbringing in those months (we see him actually verbally do so when he’s punished after Wei Wuxian’s death, but I think it starts well before that). What is right and wrong? Who decides it, and how? When does justice and holding people responsible for their actions turn over into unjust persecution? What is true, and what is a lie, and how much does that matter when weighed against social/political/spiritual harmony? These are concepts that are buried pretty deeply in the Lan Sect’s teachings but the world is twisting all of them before his eyes, and I have to think that takes a toll on him. Additionally, just as things start looking up (they let him write the letter to invite Wei Wuxian to Jin Ling’s celebration! They listen to him, other people support his idea!), he has to deal with the facts that:

1) His best friend who he’s in love with just killed a bunch of people, including Jin ZiXuan and some of Lan Wangji’s own Sect brothers.

2) Wei Wuxian is clearly losing control of his resentment-based cultivation path, and is thus personally in danger on a spiritual level, and

3) Everyone now wants to kill Wei Wuxian again, possibly even more than they did before, and anyone who supports Wei Wuxian is an enemy of the entire cultivation world.

Later in the series, Lan Wangji says he regrets that he wasn’t at Wei Wuxian’s side at Nightless City. That he didn’t support him, despite what we see of him trying to help Wei Wuxian find Jiang Yanli and then, after she dies, stop him from killing himself. To me, this could very easily imply that Lan Wangji is still trying to walk a tightrope in those scenes, or perhaps trying to be a bridge. He’s deliberately not choosing a distinct side, because he refuses to hate and reject Wei Wuxian, but he’s also refusing to declare open support. He’s acting entirely on his own, in a balancing act between friendship and love vs his family, his entire life’s teachings, and all of his society. Certainly I find that sort of situation exhausting, and I’ve never had to do it for something so high-stakes or large-scale.

Then there’s the actual cliff scene itself, where he’s visibly desperate. How intense does an emotion have to be for Lan Wangji to so clearly show it?

Wei Ying, he says, come back. He knows Wei Wuxian is breaking down. He at the very least guesses that he’s going to do something wild like step off that outcropping, which is why he follows him in the first place. But he has no idea what to do, so he tries the same thing he’s been trying for years: Come with me. Let me help you. This is a bridge, and he’s offering to help Wei Wuxian cross it. But just like every other time he’s tried it since the Sunshot Campaign ended, it doesn’t work.

Note that Lan Wangji actually is flying here, without the sword, so if he doesn’t have any spiritual power when Jiang Cheng shows up, this is probably a last, desperate burst to go with this last, desperate act.

I don’t think he really has a plan here. Not a new one, anyway. This is a still a plea of Let me help you. And, notably, Wei Wuxian doesn’t accept his help.

Not once during this whole scene does Wei Wuxian reach up with his free hand or try to help Lan Wangji help him in any way. He smiles, and he says: Lan Zhan, let me go. Because he doesn’t want a bridge. He doesn’t want to go back. Honestly it’s a pretty explicit and heartbreaking message: Lan Wangji’s offer of help is not enough to make Wei Wuxian want to stay alive. Not right now. He needs more than that. He’s lost too much to believe, right now, that anyone is going to choose him and his side, or that he’s worth that effort. And to be clear, Lan Wangji isn’t even offering that in this situation. Wei Wuxian is one slippery handgrip away from death, and Lan Wangji is still not saying “You, I choose you.” From anything Wei Wuxian can be expected to infer, his offer here is no different than it’s ever been: let me show you the way back to the right path. Let me help you fit back into the world the way you used to. And Wei Wuxian can’t do that; he has no golden core, it’s literally impossible even if the rest of the world would let him try. But at this point he doesn’t want to go back either. He doesn’t even want to try. That world hates him, and willfully misunderstands him, and has taken too many people from him now for it to be worth staying in. He wants to die.

And then Jiang Cheng arrives.

Wei Wuxian’s reaction to his brother’s presence is to smile, say his name, and just–accept his hatred. He closes his eyes and waits for the sword to fall even as Lan Wangji calls for Jiang Cheng to stop. The only time he shows distress between stepping back off the cliff and his actual death is when Jiang Cheng twists his sword and compromises the stability of the outcropping so that Lan Wangji is also in danger.

I think it’s possible that if Jiang Cheng had also reached for him and tried to pull him back up, things might have gone differently. Maybe that would have been enough to alter Wei Wuxian’s thinking. But as it is, when Wei Wuxian falls, he falls with his limbs relaxed and a smile on his face. There’s no flailing and screaming like when he was thrown into the Burial Mounds (in ep 33. There’s some arm-waving in ep 1). And I think that moment of him pushing Lan Wangji back and then letting go, more than anything, is what stops Lan Wangji in his tracks, because Wei Wuxian could have saved himself. He had strength and energy left. Enough to push Lan Wangji up and back and nearly to a standing position. He could have accepted Lan Wangji’s help, easily. But he didn’t, because he wanted to die, despite all the effort and inner turmoil Lan Wangji has gone through on his behalf (most of which Wei Wuxian doesn’t know about but, still).

That’s a pretty serious emotional kick in the head. Lan Wangji cannot ignore, at this point, that even if he did have any physical or spiritual energy left, Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to be saved. And that’s when we get this face (actually from ep 1):

He has nothing left. He has at this point spent over a year, maybe two, trying to save someone who, when it came down to the final moment, didn’t want to be saved. There’s nothing more he can do, in this state of exhaustion and despair, and it wouldn’t matter if he tried.

Personally, I think he looks like he’s about to be sick, and I don’t think it’s just the image of Wei Wuxian falling and dying that’s working on him here. It’s also the knowledge that he fucked up. He didn’t do enough, or more accurately, didn’t do the right things, in order to encourage Wei Wuxian to keep fighting for himself or anyone else (I’m not saying this is a healthy or reasonable thought, I just think it’s a thought he’s having). And I think this realization plays directly into how he treats Wei Wuxian when he comes back sixteen years later. He knows that questioning Wei Wuxian on his path of cultivation doesn’t go where he wants it to, so he doesn’t do it. This time is going to be different. He’ll break rules. He’ll drink alcohol. He doesn’t scold Wei Wuxian for making dumb, selfless decisions like transferring the curse mark from Jin Ling’s leg to his own, he just accepts it and expresses concern over Wei Wuxian’s well being. He stops asking if he can help and starts just doing it: Wei Wuxian can’t walk so he’ll carry him. Wei Wuxian needs someone to speak for him, so Lan Wangji will do that, with his brother and with the whole cultivation world. And then we come to this:

This is exactly the same move. Wei Wuxian will protect Lan Wangji, but not himself.

But.

Lan Wangji is no longer trying to be a bridge. He’s not going to hold out his hand for Wei Wuxian to accept or disregard. He’s crossed over to be on Wei Wuxian’s side. And that’s what makes the difference.

#lakritzwolf #cql meta #the untamed #chen qing ling #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #possibly i got a bit carried away #but this was fun #tw: blood #tw: suicide #in the novel lwj makes that change before wwx dies #and is thwarted by a combination #of wwx's breakdown and his own clan #but the drama cut that scene #so it had to happen after #long post #so long #seriously

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untamedficrecs · 3 years

Note

any fics where wwx gets injured and lwj gets really worried and protective or smth? sorry for being boring haha

You’re not boring anon!! Sorry for taking a while to get to this!! I’ve been taking a break from tumblr for the past couple of days, but here you go! (this is gonna be long!)

company by withbroombefore

Rating: Teen & up | Canon Divergence | Status: Complete | Chapters: 10 | Word Count: 29827 Pairing: Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian

Author’s Summary: Lan Wangji is fourteen when the dying boy comes to stay at Cloud Recesses.

☆ personal comments: so like...wwx comes to the cloud recesses early because he is injured (i wont spoil how) but there are some soft moments in here, lwj wondering if wwx is going to survive and im a sucker for the lxc and lqr liking/caring for wwx also...so i figured i would throw this one in here! it’s really good!! def should read!

lover please stay (i know you’re weary) by laylabinx

Rating: Teen & up | Slight Canon Divergence | Status: Complete | Chapters: 4 | Word Count: 15368 Pairing: Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian

Author’s Summary: Lan Zhan lost Wei Ying once and is determined to never let it happen again.

Which might be a problem considering the other man is actively bleeding to death on his back.

(Post Carp Tower)

☆ personal comments: i pretty good fic!! not super long, but its basically like the missing scenes between the carp tower stabbing and wwx waking up back at cloud recesses!

build me no shrines by occultings (microcomets)

Rating: Mature | Post-Canon | Status: Complete | Chapters: 9 | Word Count: 54585 Pairing: Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian

Author’s Summary: Wei Wuxian opens the letter and skims through, feeling his frown deepen with every line. “Oh. A request from Yiling. This man Tong Shen writes, 'I can’t explain what’s happening — you wouldn’t believe me if I tried. The hills are moving and they are hungry. Please send aid, Hanguang-jun, this humble one begs you.' Well, my curiosity is certainly piqued."

A few months after the events of Guanyin Temple, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji take on a night hunt of an unusual sort: The Burial Mounds are spreading, quickly and with no apparent explanation.

In Wei Wuxian, it brings old, long-buried things bubbling to the surface.

☆ personal comments: this is one of my favorite fics. I love it so much. It’s a case fic and it’s just so well written. lwj in this fic is very much worried about how the burial mounds are affecting wwx in this fic. this is just them trying to figure out what the hell is going on and trying to solve it with a mix of them coming to terms with their feelings w each other and getting together anyway...this fic...so good...just read...

hunters seeking solid ground by attila

Rating: Explicit | Post Canon | One-Shot |Status: Complete | Word Count: 23633 Pairing: Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian

Author’s Summary: “Hanguang-jun,” Wei Wuxian repeats. His heart clenches. He wants—but he’d really meant to have this nightmare stuff down before they met again, so he wouldn’t find himself relying on Lan Wangji’s nearness. He’s not supposed to go back yet. But he’s so tired, and his will crumbles. “Yeah,” he says. “All right. Take me back to Gusu with you.”

☆ personal comments: another fic that is my fave...just sleeping issues...wwx showing up to the cloud recesses sleep deprived and lwj being worried about him and yeah :( i really love this fic.

do not take that which does not belong to you by selene210

Rating: Explicit | Canon Divergence | One-Shot | Status: Complete | Word Count: 7712 Pairing: Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian

Author’s Summary: “You are not in a position to ask for my secrets”

“Is that a threat, Yiling Laozu” Bad Breath said, pushing him towards the entryway of the crumbing shack.

When Wei Wuxian laughed, it was a wild sound, free and unrestrained and at odds with the current situation. He was not afraid, for he knew what was coming. Who was coming.

The men’s second mistake was daring to take that which belonged to the Second Jade of Lan.

☆ personal comments: ahhhh this fic...very spicy....just beware of that...

before we get started, does anyone wanna get out? by iggysassou

Rating: Explict | Post-Canon | One-Shot | Status: Complete | Word Count: 13583 Pairing: Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian

Author’s Summary: “You’re hurting him.”

“And we’ll do much more if you don’t do as we say,” the man promised, pressing the dagger in just a little deeper to spur Wei Ying into obeying.

Lan Wangji hissed, closing his eyes for a moment before forcing himself to look back at his husband. The sting from the blade was bearable but combined with his injured arm twisted back, it was difficile to hide the pain in his eyes. Not that it would have worked anyway, Wei Ying knew every line of his face, knew all of his expressions, no matter how small.

Wei Ying’s eyes darkened as his hand settled on Chenqing. “Lower your dagger or you won’t leave this forest alive."

Or, 5 times Wei Wuxian protected his loved ones and one time Lan Wangji protected him.

☆ personal comments: gonna switch it up some and add some protective wwx but there is also protective lwj in this...also its just a good fic all around.

the universe would turn to a mighty stranger by ravenclawloki

Rating: Teen & up | Canon Divergence | One-Shot | Status: Complete | Word Count: 11274 Pairing: Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian

Author’s Summary: “I understand many of you may not be taking this indoctrination to heart.” Wen Chao pompous voice rang through, finally breaking the silence. If Wei Ying was next to him, he would roll his eyes so dramatically that Lan Wangji would be able to hear it - the thought comforts him. “Which pains me; submitting to the rules will makes this a much more pleasant experience. This is supposed to be educational for all of us. So, in case any of you aren’t taking this seriously still…” He eyes traveled to his side where two guards holding something lifeless by either arm, walking towards Wen Chao and the teens following his gaze.

Nie Huaisang stiffened next to him.

Jiang Wanyin screamed his brother’s name.

Jin Zixuan’s inhaled sharply.

But all Lan Wangji saw was Wei Ying.

☆ personal comments: all the bros thinkin wwx is dead?? the pain oh no!!! no but this is a pretty good fic :-)

#answered #fic recs #mdzs #mdzs fic rec #wangxian fic rec #ahhh im blanking on fics ;; im really sorry i wanted this to be longer ;; if i can think of anymore ill add them later ;;

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neverdoingmuch · 3 years

Text

a superhero au from this ask.

okay so in this au superheroes join different sects as disciples and go through a superhero training program and then if they pass they become official superheroes for the sect

for the most part things stay the same, your good guys go out and defeat evil and save the day but there’s also a bunch of extra stuff bc they’re in a sect

the extra stuff is mostly legal stuff like if you destroy a building in a fight, who pays for it and what happens if a superhero goes rogue, who stops them?

so the sects are good bc they give that security and also make sure things run smoothly, so you don’t end up with three superheroes in the one area

obviously you still have independent superheroes but they usually get picked up by a sect pretty quickly (or join the wens who are just the bad guys i guess but shh they’re hiding it,, badly)

for the most part though, new heroes realise they can’t cut it and quit

notice the most, because there are a few people who don’t, including people like the yiling patriarch

so, worldbuilding aside, let’s start with lwj

bc we still have sects, lwj and lxc both went through the training program together and even graduated a few years early, meaning they debuted pretty young

they were both way too powerful to actually be needed in the field most of the time so lxc ended up helping his uncle and lwj started teaching at the training program (and even when he is needed, it’s usually enough just to send lxc, so he hasn’t been active in like five years)

life is going pretty okay for lwj but then there’s a fight between some wens and yllz and a building ends up being destroyed - lwj’s apartment building

at first he’s like whatever i’ll just stay at a hotel till it gets fixed but then he gets told that there’s some issue with the building regulations so it’ll be more than a year

lwj goes apartment hunting and ends up finding the perfect apartment. it’s spacious and convenient and looks really nice and the only drawback is his neighbour (spoiler: it’s wwx)

now we have wwx

he used to be a disciple with the jiang sect and was on track to graduate their training program probably even younger than the twin jades but then he dropped out suddenly. no one knows why

what happened was that wwx had befriended wen ning at an intersect meeting thing where the training heroes could compete against each other

when wen ning found out the truth about the wens being evil, he begged wen qing to take their family and leave the wens to get to safety. wen qing refused bc who would they go to? who would risk everything they had to keep them safe?

wei wuxian would.

and he did!! when he found out what the wens had gone through, he immediately quit the jiang sect and spent the next four years helping them go in hiding, making fake identities etc.

the only people who refused to leave were wen qing and wen ning and a-yuan so wwx was like i’ve done my best now we gotta live and ends up buying an apartment for the four of them and gets a job

at night he goes out as yllz and tries to bring the wens down. it’s slow-going at first and he’s just busting minor crimes and not really gathering any useful information but he keeps going bc a-yuan and the others will never be safe for as long as the wens are able to keep hurting people

he works a full-time job during the day and spends his nights fighting crime and he’s always tired and sore but it’s fine because he needs to do this but then one day his new neighbour moves in next door

the first time he meets him, he’s come back from work and by the time he bakes a welcome cake it’s like 10:40 and he goes over and knocks on his neighbour’s door and the guy eventually answers and holy fuck he’s hot (also grumpy bc lwj does not appreciate being woken up)

lwj slams the door in his face without even taking it from him, so wwx just leaves it on his doorstep and goes back home to nap for a few hours before going on patrol

the next day when he gets home from work there’s a letter in front of his door and when he opens it it just says thanks for the cake it was very delicious if unnecessary

wwx writes on the back: it’s all fine! i’m glad you liked it. if you need any help settling in, i’d be more than happy to help. he adds his phone number and then he leaves the note on lwj’s door and that’s where it all starts

the next morning he wakes up to a text from lwj saying that he appreciates the offer & his name. it’s short and kind of rude but wwx is lying there going lan zhan, lan zhaaaan, his name is lan zhan

they run into each other in the morning a few times and take the elevator down together and wwx always chatters at him. lwj doesnt really respond but he doesn’t tell him to shut up either so that’s practically permission

and wwx is no idiot. he knows that hot neighbour + texting ability = potential romance so he makes sure to text lwj a lot

and by a lot, i mean a lot. lwj is sitting in a meeting with his brother and by the time he finishes he has fifty new messages

but that’s okay bc lwj kinda likes the attention he thinks? lwj’s neighbour is funny and cute

and after a while, lwj starts responding properly. it’s not like he’s sending 50 messages back but he’s engaging wwx in conversation and sometimes they call and once, when wwx was coming back from work, lwj had invited him in for tea

when lwj realises that wwx goes to work early and gets home late he starts inviting wwx over for dinner. wwx doesn’t mention that wen ning is more than able to cook dinner (if he ever mentioned that he was living with him at all) and they start having dinner not-dates and sometimes wwx falls asleep on lwj’s couch

the first few times wwx always felt really guilty bc lwj doesn’t want to put up with that and he’s letting down the wens but wen qing is like no, it’s good, you need to take some time for yourself and lwj is like it’s fine so whatever, wwx can sleep on lwj’s couch now

except it’s not just lwj’s couch bc wwx keeps waking up leaning on lwj and it’s very embarrassing bc he’s starting to find that he has difficulties sleeping without being able to hear lwj’s heartbeat

so wwx is falling in love. wen ning is supportive and wen qing is probably laughing at him but wwx is so conflicted

on one hand, wwx’s entire life revolves around the wens and trying to stop them or protect them, and here lwj is, a completely normal man, who has no expectations about wwx. he doesn’t need to be a guardian for lwj, he doesn’t need to be the terrifying yiling patriarch, he can just be wwx

on the other hand, lwj is a civilian and wwx doesn’t want to drag lwj down with him and risk him getting hurt or killed

so he decides to stay as friends. he won’t give lwj up but he won’t tell him he loves him (unless something happens to make wwx need to give lwj up, in which case he will)

around this time lwj gets a call from his uncle asking for help with the yllz

he’s never met him before but lwj does not like the yllz

like yes he’s taking down the wens which probably makes him good but he’s also taking what the wens had stolen for himself

so no one knows whether he’s a villain stealing from the wens or a hero who doesn’t trust the official means

Either way it’s a bad look for lwj & co bc they either look incompetent for not knowing about this guy & not being able to stop him or untrustworthy and maybe even corrupt

but lqr wants lwj to either bring him in as a disciple or as a criminal. whichever is easier

the first time hanguang-jun shows up to a fight wwx is completely shocked bc he vaguely remembers seeing hanguang-jun fight at the practise matches and he was good, definitely on par with wwx so if hanguang-jun were to fight him he isn’t sure that he’d win.

wwx quickly finishes off the wens and then turns to lwj, refusing to let his guard down but hanguang-jun just asks what he’s doing

wwx is cagey at first but eventually reveals the truth (or as much as he can tell) and hanguang-jun is like i don’t like your methods but what you’re doing is just, so i’ll help you and so commences the most awkward team up ever

wwx had expected to have to carry most of the weight but hanguang-jun is there defending him and helping him fight the wens and he can’t help but start to trust hanguang-jun.

hanguang-jun blocks a hit meant for wwx and wwx spends like half an hour carefully cleaning the wound on his arm and bandaging it up and at the end he presses a kiss to it and he immediately goes bright red but it’s okay bc hgj’s ear are red too

wwx slips on a roof and hgj ends up catching him and damn he’s strong and the look of concern on his face is almost making wwx think hgj doesn’t hate him

hgj brings in some intel once and wwx automatically goes damn i could kiss you right now and then decides to just become one with the floor

not only that but wwx talks a lot. when he’s patrolling, when he’s fighting, when he’s waiting,, he never shuts up and hanguang-jun listens to him every time and, just as wwx fell for lwj, he starts falling for hanguang-jun

it’s even worse in this case bc hanguang-jun is all righteous and good and here wwx is using the superhero equivalent of demonic cultivation (has he perverted his own powers or did he always have necromancy powers? up to you)

so here wwx is falling in love with hanguang-jun and lwj and he feels terrible about it

there is definitely a case going on in the background but it’s basically just the sunshot campaign if only lwj and wwx were fighting it for the most part

eventually he complains to wq about his feelings and she’s like just try confessing! so the next time he and hanguang-jun team up he tells him that he loves him

lwj is 100% in love wwx and semi in love with yllz. for the most part, the things he loves about yllz all remind him of wwx so he doesn’t really see it as a crush as much as more yearning for wwx

but lwj is very awkward so he gives this kinda terrible rejection? he’s like im sorry, i don’t return your feelings maybe we should work apart for a while?

from his pov he’s giving yllz room to deal w/ his emotions alone and they’ll team up later but from wwx’s pov hanguang-jun is so disgusted he never wants to work with him again

so they go their separate ways and when wwx gets a tip-off about some weird shit about to go down at nightless city so he sneaks in by himself bc hanguang-jun definitely wouldn’t want to help him and ends up getting captured by wen ruohan

lwj, for his part, is freaking out bc wwx hasn’t responded to his texts in over a week and maybe he’s come on too strong and wwx has figured out his feelings and is letting him down gently? (by disappearing??)

but then wq comes banging on his door and asks to come in. he lets her in and she immediately tells him i know you’re hanguang-jun

lwj is defensive and ready to be blackmailed or something but she just explains that wwx has gone missing and he’d received a tip the day before he disappeared and when lwj sees the message wwx had got he’s just like why is wwx involved with the wens?

because he’s yllz, wen qing tells him and lwj is Buffering

reason 1: yllz wasn’t meant to be someone he liked and lwj had definitely been feeling guilty about the fact that he would need to be brought in bc he is morally dubious on main & he can’t reconcile that with the sweet and kind wwx

reason 2: holy shit does wwx like me?

bc lwj is a disaster he only ends up asking about the latter and wq stares at him, dead-eyed and exhausted, and tells him wwx is in love with lwj and hanguang-jun

commence lwj’s plan to get wwx back and confess to him and hopefully get married but he’ll be happy if they just kiss and/or hold hands

he starts off by explaining most of the stuff to his brother who ends up calling jyl (bc they have to be friends, i’ll cry if they’re not) who is like my brother?!! and decides to help. also probably nhs bc friends who share porn definitely save each other from wen ruohan

so they attack the wens. for most of the heroes it’s bc they finally have proof of wen ruohan being evil (helpfully collated in a colour-coordinated binder by wwx) but lwj is just there for wwx

he finds him in the dungeons or something and wwx is hurt kind of badly and lwj collapses beside him and presses down on the main wound, trying to stop the bleeding

and wwx goes hanguang-jun? what are you doing here? and lwj says nothing just pushing down harder bc he’s losing too much blood and wwx is like oh, do you hate me that much that you won’t even speak to me anymore?

lwj can’t bear it for another second and rips his mask off and wwx just gawks at him. lan zhan? you’re hanguang-jun? wwx stammers and lwj just nods and rips some fabric from his cape (would he have a cape?) and tries to bandage the wound

wwx asks him why he’s here, why he bothered to come for wwx when he doesn’t care for him but he passes out before lwj can actually say anything

he wakes up in hospital and lwj is sleeping in the chair beside him and the second wwx twitches he jolts up and stares at wwx with such relief that wwx wants to blush

i love you, lwj says, not waiting for another second. the reason i didnt accept your confession was because i loved you. i didnt know you were yllz

and wwx is like and i didnt know you were hanguang-jun!! and lwj is like yeah but wen qing did /:

and wwx is like yeah but she’s smart & they kinda fall quiet for a few moments before wwx is like did you know i think hanguang-jun is very handsome and lwj is like yes? and wwx is like good! lwj is also handsome!

and lwj is like yllz and wwx are attractive to me and they finally kiss and it’s not a complete disaster thankfully

after that lwj goes back to his semi-retirement bc he doesn’t need to catch yllz anymore and sometimes wwx comes in to help teach a class with him and they’ll go home to lwj’s apartment after and watch movies together and not once do they comment on the miscommunication between love interests

#i forgot to find a place to include this in the au but lwj's mum was definitely an unaffiliated superhero #and part of the reason lwj is suspicious of wwx #this ended up being very long sorry!#mdzs #modao zushi #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #cql #the untamed

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xiyao-feels · 3 years

Text

Nie//yao (MDZS)

So NMJ/JGY is actually getting two versions, because my read on them is wildly different for MDZS vs CQL.

In MDZS I...don't ship it? I mean, there just doesn't seem to be to be anything there at all of a romantic or sexual nature. It's not that they don't care about each other, they clearly do, but it's in a way that is...NMJ as substitute father, JGY as substitute brother, and heavily, heavily inflected by their (current and then former) relationship as superior and subordinate.

Putting this behind a cut because a) it's me explaining at breath length with quotes why I don't think they have a romantic or sexual relationship and I don't want people to have to see that unless they want and b) accordingly it is REALLY LONG and I also don't want to clutter people's dashes, so.

Actually backing up a step, I don't see MDZS NMJ as being attracted to anyone, that's not really specific to JGY. I tend to read him as aspec, tbh. So theoretically he could have romantic feelings about JGY without being attracted to him—I think he may have some quasi-romantic feelings for LXC, though I don't think he conceptualizes it that way—but... honestly, it's not really clear to me that he even likes JGY as a person.

I'm not saying he doesn't like JGY! He clearly does, at least before MY tricks him and flees. But it doesn't seem to have anything to do with MY's personality, as opposed to like—MY being really competent and conducting himself well.

Some quotes about what exactly NMJ values about JGY:

'Nie MingJue interrupted him, “I promoted you not because I wanted you to give back anything out of gratitude. I simply thought that you should stay in this position, since you are capable enough and your conduct is to my liking. If you really want to pay me back, just kill a few more of those Wen-dogs on the battlefield!”'

'After [Meng Yao] left [for Langya], Nie MingJue switched to another deputy. Wei WuXian, however, felt that the new one was always a few beats slower. Meng Yao was an unusually clever talent. He could understand what wasn’t said, and perform to the best with the simplest orders. He was efficient and never slacked. Anyone used to him wouldn’t be able to refrain from comparing him with others.'

'Nie MingJue was never close to people. He rarely opened up to anyone. Though he finally managed to obtain a competent, trustworthy subordinate, whose character and capabilities he approved, he found that the subordinate’s true colors were nothing like what he had thought they were. It was only natural that his reaction was so extreme.'

'Wei WuXian had once found it strange as well. Ever since Meng Yao betrayed the QingheNie Sect, the relationship between Nie MingJue and him hadn’t been the same as before. Then why did they later become sworn brothers? From his observations, aside from how Lan XiChen brought it up, having always hoped that the two would reconcile, the most important factor was probably the gratitude of saving his life and writing the letters. To be precise, in his past battles, he had more-or-less depended on the information that Meng Yao sent over through Lan XiChen. He still thought that Jin GuangYao was a talented person whom one would rarely come upon, and intended on leading him back onto the right path. However, Jin GuangYao wasn’t his subordinate anymore. Only after they became sworn brothers would he have the status and the position to urge Jin GuangYao, like how he disciplined his younger brother, Nie HuaiSang.'

Jin GuangYao spoke with dejection, “But, Brother, didn’t you hear what he said in the oath? Every sentence meant something more. ‘Face a thousand accusing fingers, be torn from limb to limb’—this was clearly a warning for me. I… I’ve never heard of such an oath before.”

Lan XiChen replied in a gentle voice, “He said ‘if one were to think otherwise’. Do you think otherwise? If not, then why should you worry over it so much?"

Jin GuangYao, “I don’t, but Brother has already decided that I do, so what can I do?”

Lan XiChen, “He has always cherished your talent, hoping that you would choose the right path.”

You might notice a recurring theme here: there's a lot of focus JGY's competence and conduct. But anything about who JGY is as a person? Not so much.

They clearly had a good superior/subordinate relationship going on, albeit one in which NMJ was missing a lot of context (see just behave well and show people up, plus the you're missing a solid foundation thing). But it does seem to be basically professional. WWX describes them as conversing "peaceably, even impressively" in contrast to "his future self, always being scolded by Nie MingJue" and "those jokes of how 'LianFang-Zun fled whenever he heard that ChiFeng-Zun arrived,'" and.... that's kind of it. The closest we get to them as friends is them talking together with LXC after NMJ tells MY he will give him a letter of recommendation and send him to his father; as WWX describes it, "The three chatted back and forth, at times serious, yet at times light. The conversation was much more relaxed than when they had been in the living room. Listening to their chatter, Wei WuXian often wanted to get a word in as well, yet he was unable to do so."

That's definitely not nothing! But it's also the most we ever get, only shows up the once, and is explicitly contrasted with their conversation from earlier. Moreover, I'm pretty sure LXC's presence is a necessary part of things; NMJ tends to respond differently to LXC than to other people (even just earlier in this chapter, we're told that while "Nie MingJue had never been one for humour," "in front of Lan XiChen his expression eased"), and WWX explicitly notes LXC's conversation skills in the context of this conversation: "At this point in time, their relationship really isn't bad. Zewu-Jun is actually quite good at holding conversations, so why is Lan Zhan so bad at it?"

In addition, I'd say that looking at the early part of that conversation is quite telling; while LXC and MY are sitting together as equals, MY stand up at once the moment NMJ interrupts, and doesn't sit even after NMJ tells him to do so (I think he probably does take a seat at some point, but the narrative doesn't actually tell us when). Moreover, MY seems to be worried that NMJ will be offended by a possible lack of gratitude on MY's part ("Sect Leader Nie, if you heard everything, then you should've also heard me say that..."), and the only objection he expresses to leaving is precisely that he owes NMJ a debt of gratitude, not anything to do with, like, missing him. To me all the evidence suggests that while they had a close relationship, it was not a /personal/ relationship, but fundamentally one of superior and subordinate.

(For a close read of the scene where NMJ, LXC and MY are talking together, I highly recommend @confusion-and-more's post here)

Moving on, let's look at after JGY becomes JGY. They don't seem to particularly spend time together with each other, certainly not for the sake of it. There's a brief moment at the Flower Banquet where NMJ asks JGY why he's wasting his time with XY (who has not at this point in time committed his crime, he just has a reputation), but after JGY makes his excuse and scurries away, NMJ turns away and doesn't seem to seek him out or even pay him any particular attention for the rest of the scene; he only shows up once more, and that's following WWX. (And although JGY-as-replacement-NHS would be a post all on its own, I do think it's interesting to note that the exchange about XY is immediately followed by LXC and LWJ coming over, described in a way that highlights both their impressiveness and their status at brothers—their Twin Jade-ness, one might say.) During the guqin scene, NMJ only speaks once, and it's to address LXC—to protest the inappropriateness of LXC leaking exclusive Lan techniques. When JGY shows up to play the guqin for him the first time, NMJ asks JGY "what did you come here for," which suggests that NMJ is not generally expecting JGY to come by without a specific, concrete reason. The closest they ever seem to get after JGY becomes JGY is during these guqin-playing sessions, and as WWX describes it, "when playing the guqin, the way that the two conversed and got along even had a hint of the peace they had before they fell out"—which is certainly better than there being no peace at all, but which I think suggests there's still at least some tension, given that it's only a "hint."

Now, NMJ certainly cares about JGY, both in the sense of desiring his well-being, at first, and absolutely in the sense of being emotionally invested in him—even after his death, as a fierce corpse his only desire is to kill Jin Guangyao. But while they had a close superior-subordinate relationship—certainly NMJ seems to have felt close to MY—at no point was it a close personal relationship, and I don't think that NMJ even liked JGY (or MY, I'm using the name expansively) as a person, let alone was in love with him.

But mostly so far I've been focusing in NMJ's feelings. What about JGY? Is /he/ in love with NMJ?

Once again, I just don't read him that way. This isn't to say he didn't care for NMJ—he absolutely did! He goes to quite significant lengths to save his life from WRH in the Sun Palace, including quite a lot of risk to MY himself—I analyze that in a lot more depth in the first part of my post here, if you're interested, though I will also note now that he specifically sent for LXC to help NMJ. (You'll have to scroll down some; I'm responding to someone else's post.) Afterwards, he kneels to NMJ and apologizes, I think sincerely, for hurting him and for invoking his pain about his father's death. He certainly conceives of himself as owing a debt of gratitude to NMJ for recognizing him, and he's so overcome when NMJ offers to send him to his father with a letter of recommendation, saying that he didn't promote MY so that MY would owe him, that he quite remarkably can't even find words. NMJ meant a lot to him, and so did NMJ's not defining him in terms of his birth—until he did, of course, at the stairs kick incident. But as far as I can tell, there's nothing to suggest he has /romantic feelings/ for NMJ, and frankly—how can I put this—it does not at all surprise me that JGY isn't in love with someone with a violent temper who is noted at least twice to react to people explaining themselves when he is angry with even more anger, and that's even without the thing where he nearly killed JGY on multiple occasions and called him the son of a prostitute.

No, I think JGY's emotional journey with NMJ goes through three stages: first, he's deeply grateful to him and respects him a great deal, although he's also aware of NMJ's lack of awareness of certain social realities (see: the teacup scene, NMJ yelling at the other Nie cultivators about their treatment of MY and telling MY not to worry as long as his conduct is upright); second, after Sun Palace, still gratitude and respect but also a mounting frustration with his lack of awareness of the implications of JGY's social position and his hypocrisy re: acceptable violence; finally, after the stairs kick when NMJ kicks him down the stairs, almost kills him, and tells him what else can be expected from the son of a prostitute, he is completely done with NMJ, but is still very much scared of him. The gratitude, I've discussed; the frustration, I think is fairly obvious in the speech he gives back to NMJ at the stairs. But I think the fear is often undervalued, so I'm going to pull a bunch of quotes again:

Meng Yao shrunk immediately after his previous outburst. Watching Baxia slash toward him, he sprinted off at once, scared lifeless. Of the two, one striked with madness and the other fled with madness. Both staggered, still soaked in blood. In such amusing circumstances, as Wei WuXian chopped at the future Chief Cultivator, in his heart he split his sides laughing. He thought that if not for how Nie MingJue was under heavy injuries and lacked spiritual power, Meng Yao would probably have been dead already.

Baxia’s strikes were so menacing that Shuoyue had to unsheath. Lan XiChen stopped him, half to support his figure and half to block his attacks, “MingJue-xiong, calm down! Why bother?”

Nie MingJue, “Why don’t you ask what he did?!”

Lan XiChen turned around to look at Meng Yao, his face was full of terror. He stammered as if he didn’t dare speak.

Nie MingJue remained silent, while Baxia and Shuoyue continued. Meng Yao took a glimpse at the glares from the clashes of the saber and the sword, his gaze full of fear. After a while, however, he still took a step forward. He kneeled to Nie MingJue.

A moment later, Nie MingJue still raised his saber. Lan XiChen, “MingJue-xiong!”

Meng Yao shut his eyes. Lan XiChen also tightened his grip on Shuoyue, “Please excuse…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the silver light of the blade slashed down violently, onto a boulder on the side.

Meng Yao flinched from the thunder of the boulder splitting apart. Looking over, he saw that it had been sliced into two halves, from the top to the bottom.

Jin GuangYao nodded. Xue Yang had been infamous ever since he was young. Wei WuXian clearly felt Nie MingJue’s brows knit even tighter. He spoke, “Why are you wasting your time with such a person?”

Jin GuangYao, “The LanlingJin Sect recruited him.”

He didn’t dare to protest any further. Excuse being that he needed to care for the guests, he scurried to the other side.

[part of his speech to NMJ at the stairs] You think that I should be afraid of nothing? Well I'm afraid of everything, even other people!

Within the temple, three people called Nie MingJue’s corpse ‘Brother’ but the three tones were drastically different. Jin GuangYao’s face was full of a drowning fear. His entire body began to shiver. No matter dead or alive, the person Jin GuangYao was most scared of was none but this sworn brother of his whose temper tolerated no evil. As his body shivered, his hands shivered as well, and the bloody guqin string he clutched tightly in his hand also began to shiver.

Clenching his teeth, Jin GuangYao struck a few acupoints of his arm. Amidst the dizziness that came from a loss of blood, he suddenly saw Nie MingJue walk a step towards him, his eyes locked on him. He was immediately half-dead with fear.

Collapsed beside Lan XiChen, Jin GuangYao saw this scene as well. Whether because the bleeding and the pain intensified at his arm and stomach or from some other reason, the glisten of tears could be seen in his eyes. But before he had a chance to catch his breath or lick his wounds, Nie MingJue turned around after he pulled his fist back and stared hungrily in his direction.

The harsh, stern expression on his rigid face held a sense of judgement that was no different from before he died. Even his tears had been scared away as Jin GuangYao turned to Lan XiChen for help, his voice trembling, “Brother…”

I think the stuff with, you know, handling NMJ's fierce corpse and hanging onto his head is often viewed as evidence of JGY's continued emotional investment in NMJ, but... I don't really think so? First of all, NMJ's fierce corpse is completely obsessed with killing JGY. I'll spare you another round of quotes on that because this is already ridiculously long and because it's not at all subtle—it's all over the temple chapters, take a look! And second of all—well, there's ways of getting information from a corpse. In this case, NMJ's resentful energy is so strong that without the protection of his body, papernan WWX is actually sucked into NMJ's memories against his will! Sure, maybe no one would risk it, and maybe no one who risked it would survive, but especially given that NMJ's fierce corpse is completely obsessed with killing JGY, that's a heck of a risk to take. And look at the description of the protections around NMJ's head:

Suddenly, Wei WuXian noticed that one of the shelves were blocked by a curtain. The curtain was covered in sinister, blood-red runes. It was a talisman of forbiddance, one of extreme power.

Jin GuangYao walked over and lifted the curtain.

For a split second, Wei WuXian thought that he had been exposed. After the faint firelight made its way through the curtain, he found that he was enveloped in a shadow. A circular object just happened to be in front of him.

Jin GuangYao stood still, as though he was staring into the eyes of whatever was inside this shelf.

After a moment, he spoke, “Were you the one looking at me?"

Of course, there couldn’t be any response. He was silent for a while, then let down the curtain.

Wei WuXian quietly attached himself to the object. Cold and hard, it seemed to be a helmet. He then turned to the front. As he had expected, he saw a pallid face. The one who sealed the head wanted it to see nothing, hear nothing, speak nothing, and so incantations had been crowded onto the waxen skin. The eyes, the ears, and the mouth were all sealed tightly shut.

There's containment, it's suppressed to all hell and back, and JGY quite justifiably expects it to be murderously obsessed with him, but to me it doesn't suggest a reciprocal obsession—just more fear.

I'll also note that as a strategy for containing the information about his own involvement it's a very successful operation! It failed in the end /eventually/, but the failure needed:

someone who could successfully break into his private treasure room and escape without being caught

who could also perform Empathy or a similar tecnnique on NMJ's head and survive it

who could successfully recreate from memory the altered Empathy song

whom LXC would be willing to listen to

That's a heck of a tall order!

As to being done with NMJ after the stairs, well, listen to what he says to LXC:

[...]

Jin GuangYao, “It’s not that I don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong, but that sometimes I really can’t help. Nowadays, I have it bad no matter which side I’m on. I have to ensure that I’m on everyone’s good sides. I wouldn’t care if it were someone else, but have I mistreated our eldest brother in any way? Brother, you heard as well. What did he call me?”

[...]

Jin GuangYao was almost sobbing, “If he could say such a thing when he was angry, then just how does he think of me on a daily basis? Is it that because I couldn’t choose my background, because my mother couldn’t choose her fate, I’ll have to be humiliated by others throughout my whole life? If so, then how is Brother different from the people who look down on me? No matter what I do, in the end, just a sentence and I’m ‘the son of a prostitute’.”

And then of course there's what he says to LXC, in his speech to him at the end: "You, on the other hand, ZeWu-Jun, Sect Leader Lan, are as intolerant of me as Nie MingJue—you refuse to spare me even a single breath of life!"

So—wow, this got very long—I don't ship them, and although I think they have very much mattered emotionally to each other, I don't really see them as ever having been in love with or attracted to each other.

A couple of end notes:

In MDZS, NMJ isn't the first (non-MS) person who recognizes MY's worth, although he is the first person to promote him; by the time NMJ promotes MY MY has already met, rescued, and exchanged intimate confidences with LXC, who respects him greatly and thinks he is highly talented (see again the conversation in Hejian which NMJ overhears/eavedrops on).

I've seen people talk about them not understanding each other, but while NMJ certainly doesn't understand JGY, it's not at all obvious that the reverse is true; he generally seems to understand him pretty well. I think he has two surprises overall: first, that he wasn't expecting NMJ to say he didn't promote MY so MY would owe him, and volunteer to send him to his father with a letter of recommendation—and second, he wasn't expecting NMJ, who for all his flaws did seem to ignore JGY's background in good ways as well as bad, to call him the son of a prostitute.

I definitely don't read the coffin at the end as romantic. Or I mean, uh, there's the romance of an obsessive stalker-murderer finally getting his victim, and that's not nothing (unironically; look, I'm a Hannibal fan), but I don't think it's usually what people mean. This is a shitty end for JGY, part of how thoroughly he loses and is destroyed. I think to some extent it might be that he doesn't want LXC to be the one who killed him, and to some extent it's an act of defiance—now that he has nothing to lose, not even his life, he's going to go out fighting. I would expand on this but this post is ridiculously long and I have way too many quotes, maybe I'll do it in a separate post later on—but if you look at the description of it in the text, plus the subsequent description of it in the coffin...yeah. JGY didn't want to die, he didn't want to be engaged in a mutually destructive thing with NMJ; he wanted to leave NMJ behind in the past, and move on. It's not, for him any kind of fulfillment, is my read.

All quotes are taken from the Exiled Rebels translation: ch 48-50 for everything about NMJ and JGY's past relationship, ch. 47 for the description of JGY's containment measures for NMJ's head, and ch. 106-108 for the quotes about JGY's fear of NMJ's fierce corpse. The description of JGY going into the coffin is at the end of 108 if you want to have a look, and there's more in 109 and 110 about the difficulty of sealing NMJ's fierce corpse/its power and violence.

#ship meme #ship negativity #this is so goddamn long #how many quotes can I fit in one post? dear god #also there's no way the coffin is actually staying shut for 100 years see ch. 113 #also I didn't want to rely on material that isn't in the final text but if you do look at the scene of JGY cutting NMJ's head off #the same theme of NMJ's fierce corpse's murderous obsession + JGY's fear are very much there #also I'm not sure I'd call it a notp exactly? like obviously I don't see it but there are versions of it I can kind of enjoy #but I figured I was being well by all accounts it doesn't make sense enough that I wanted to circle it as like. a warning XP #we can't change places #anger burned in his heart #more than one tag could contain #long meta

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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years

Text

Pastime (with good company) (ao3) (aka NMJ/WWX/LWJ) - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, past 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

warning for adult content

The room Nie Mingjue led them to next had several rooms attached, each full of crafting materials.

“We’ll need some of your yang energy to bind you to the channel,” Nie Mingjue said briskly, guiding Wei Wuxian in the direction of one of the side rooms. “Not blood; that’s too common, and you want your saber – or whatever you eventually use – to be able to shed other people’s blood without being inclined to try to change masters. There’s a crafting vessel in the room by the corner that you can go fill up.”

“Well, that’s an unfortunate requirement,” Wei Wuxian said. He was feeling jittery; he thought it might be the uncomfortable sensation of having hope. “Since I can’t do that.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m serious! That’s the whole point of what I was explaining before,” Wei Wuxian argued, a little exasperated. “I can’t summon up yang energy, not without a golden core; even if I try to manipulate what little spiritual energy I have left in my meridians, it won’t respond – I’m telling you, I simply can’t do it.”

Nie Mingjue’s responding look was scathing.

“Are you or are you not a man?” he demanded. “Even if you can’t cultivate yang energy, you still have it, and you’re not without the more traditional methods to obtain it.”

Wei Wuxian was still thinking about his lack of a golden core, so it took him a moment – and Lan Wangji’s ears abruptly turning red – to realize what Nie Mingjue meant.

“Oh,” he said, and coughed. “Uh, yeah, I mean. There’s always – that type of yang energy.”

Yang energy at its core was associated with male energy – everyone had it, but obviously men had it more than women, centered in various places throughout the body and most specifically in the genitals. There was a reason they said that the Cold Spring in Gusu was good at quenching yang fire.

(He thought that Lan Wangji might be smirking at him somewhere behind his stern expression, but that would be childish and beneath him…and yet Wei Wuxian really hoped he was. He’d like to see Lan Wangji proud and smug and smirking; it would be incredibly hot.)

“Well, then? What are you waiting for?”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes went round. “Wait, you mean – now? Here? On demand?”

“At your age, I’m surprised a stiff breeze isn’t enough to get you hard,” Nie Mingjue said, rolling his eyes. “It certainly did for me; I could have hammered nails three times a day if I was so inclined. You seriously don’t think you can?”

“Not with all this pressure.” That was a little bit of a lie, actually, since Wei Wuxian had some tried-and-true fantasies currently starring the two men standing right in front of him that were guaranteed to work (especially with that intriguing comment about going three times a day…), but on the other hand the idea of going into the next room over and touching himself – while they were waiting –

Wei Wuxian couldn’t quite figure out if he was feeling mortified or turned on.

“It is necessary, Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said, and he was frowning in legitimate concern. “Without your yang energy, the channel will not be attuned to you – that would be even more dangerous than having no channel at all.”

“Just what I need,” Wei Wuxian grumbled. “More pressure.”

“It’s fine,” Nie Mingjue said. “I’ll help you with it.”

Wei Wuxian was abruptly hard as rock at the mere thought of it, but Lan Wangji was already shaking his head. “Mingjue-xiong! As the future husband, it would be inappropriate –”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten the customs; I’m not going to touch him –”

A pity.

“– but there’s never been any restriction against future spouses engaging in correspondence. On the contrary, there’s a rich tradition of it.”

“Correspondence?” Lan Wangji asked, blinking, and Wei Wuxian couldn’t blame him – he had no idea what Nie Mingjue meant, either; weren’t they all in the same place right now? Who would he’d be writing to? “How…?”

“Wei Wuxian will go into the other room, as is appropriate, and I’m going to sit out here and compose a letter. I may need to read certain parts of it out loud, and in the meantime he’ll do what he has to do.” Nie Mingjue turned his fierce gaze on Wei Wuxian. “Any objections?”

“None whatsoever,” Wei Wuxian said at once. Like he was going to turn down a chance for – well, whatever this was.

Correspondence, apparently.

Erotic correspondence.

This was either going to be a disaster or fantastic.

“Then go.”

He went into the other room, then sighed when he saw the crafting bowl there, sitting there innocently as if it wasn’t the vessel that was supposed to contain his yang essence if you know what that means. A bare room, fit for crafting, after a wild and emotional night - it really wasn’t conductive to getting off on command.

It would have been so much easier if he just had his golden core – he could’ve filled the bowl with energy in a heartbeat, just using his willpower, and there’d be none of this embarrassing nonsense.

“Wei Wuxian,” he heard Nie Mingjue say from outside the door. “Greetings, best wishes, your health – the usual.”

Wei Wuxian hid a chuckle in his sleeve. That was a very political way of starting a letter; one could tell that Nie Mingjue was accustomed to writing letter as sect leader, rather than as himself, and the usual letter would have been filled with stock phrases dealing with each of those subjects. He must have some very long-suffering secretaries doing much of the official sect correspondence.

“I look forward to our wedding with great anticipation. It will be a pleasure to share that day with you, to bow to the heavens and the earth alongside you, to drink wine with you – but not as great a pleasure as it will be to take you back with me to my bed that night.”

Wei Wuxian swallowed, his chuckle dying in the back of his throat.

“You’ll be dressed in the finest clothing the Jiang sect has to offer, no doubt, and I will regret only that I cannot tear it off of you, tangle your arms and legs in it – I will have no choice instead but to draw you in towards me, to take your face between my palms, to kiss you until you’re breathless.”

He was breathless already.

“I will run my hands down your body as you laugh and try to pull off the clothing; you’ll make a mess of it, I’m sure, and in the end I’ll lose patience with your teasing. I’ll lift you up and throw you down on the bed, and when you try to get up I will press you down with a single hand. You’ll like that – I’ve see the way your eyes trail after me when I fight, the way your pupils contract when you see my strength. I’ll climb up on top of you, pin you between my thighs, and then I’ll kiss you again. Your mouth, your cheeks, your neck – all the parts of you that I can reach.”

Wei Wuxian’s hand dropped down to his waist. He didn’t reach inside his clothing, not yet, just rubbed a little, enjoying the anticipation.

“I’ll use my teeth and my tongue on you, and when your laughs have at last turned to moans and choked-off whimpers, I’ll turn you over and put you on your knees. That’s when you’ll see Wanji there, watching.”

Wei Wuxian shuddered, closing his eyes and imagining it. Lan Wangji there, a figure in white – no, not white, red. A bride’s clothes, red and gold like that fateful archery contest but so much more sumptuous. More decadent.

“He’s been waiting at the corner for his turn, like the good boy he is, but you can see from the way he stands that he wants you. I’ll whisper in your ear a question, asking if you want him, and you won’t be able to tear your eyes off of him as you say yes. I’ll ask you if you want to touch him, and you’ll say yes to that, too.”

He would.

“I’ll tell him to come forward, but just as he’s reaching for you, I’ll tell him to stop – to put his hands behind his back and stand at attention. I want you to touch him, instead. You’ll be on your knees on the bed in front of him, and you’ll reach out and undo his clothing. Not all the way, just enough to free his cock, and your mouth will go wet just looking at him.”

Wei Wuxian’s fingers fumbled to get his cock out, to start stroking himself, and Nie Mingjue was right. He was drooling just thinking about getting his mouth on Lan Wangji.

“I’ll let you touch him, as a start, and you’ll be so distracted by it that you don’t even realize that I’ve gotten you out of your clothing until you feel me pressed up against you and realize that you’re trapped between us – that you’re naked and we’re still dressed, like you’re some toy for our amusement. You’ll like that, moaning, rubbing up against us like the shameless thing you are, and lean forward to put your mouth on Wangji; I wouldn’t have said you could yet, but you’ve always been disobedient, haven’t you? But when you’re disobedient to me, that only means I have to punish you...but I think you’ll like that, too.”

Wei Wuxian’s hand was moving faster on his cock now, his other hand stuffed into his mouth to keep himself quiet. He wouldn’t interrupt this for all the gold in Lanling.

“Have you ever read a spring book, Wuxian? Not the usual ones that get passed around between boys, but the cutsleeve ones. I’ve often wondered: do you know what there is to be done between men? Do you think it’s all hands and mouths – or do you dream of getting fucked?”

Wei Wuxian nearly bit himself.

“Because that’s what I’m going to do to you. I’m going to have Wangji use that pretty little mouth of yours while I put my hand on you, working you as hard and good as you like it, and just when you think you’re about to get off, I’m going to stop, because you’re not going to be allowed to come, not until I have you splayed open on my cock. I’ll have my hands on your hips, tight enough to leave bruises, and by that time Wangji will be kneeling down to kiss you, his fingers tugging at your hair.”

Wei Wuxian knelt down, trying to mimic the position. Trying to think how it would feel, having something inside of him like he’d started imagining after reading that one spring book Jiang Cheng managed to find him only a few weeks before – having Nie Mingjue inside of him.

He’d be big, wouldn’t he? He’d feel full, even a little pained, but it’d be worth it to feel the heat of him.

“You won’t know what to do with your hands, probably try to touch yourself, disobedient as you are, and in the end Wangji will lose his patience with you, too; he’ll tear off that forehead ribbon of his and hand it to me, and I’ll tie your hands behind your back with it. You’ll be helpless, trapped between us: your back pressed up against me as I fuck you, and Wangji pressed up against your front, his cock against yours, rutting up against each other. He’ll have already come once, in your mouth – or maybe on your face, I think he’d like that – and so he’ll be steadier than you, have more endurance. You, though, you’ll be desperate, begging for more, for someone to touch you. You’ll want me to touch you – to touch you and him both.”

Yes. Yes, he would.

“I’ll wrap my hand around you, both of you, and you’ll be dripping all over my hand until it’s slick and the movement comes easy. And in the end you’ll do just as I said you would, you’ll come on my cock, come so hard that your entire body thrashes and you see stars. And you’ll feel me inside of you, too, as you squeeze me until I come as well, until Wangji does, until you’re dirty with our seed, covered with it – and then I tell you that we’re just getting started.”

Wei Wuxian whimpered when he came, all the beautiful mental images burning their way into his brain.

“Fuck,” he hissed. “Fuck – I – fuck.”

Nie Mingjue had enough mercy to pause for a few moments as Wei Wuxian gasped for air, trying to refill his suddenly empty lungs.

“Since we are not yet married, I cannot yet make into a reality what I have written to you, so my words will have to be a means, however insufficient, to express the full measure of my anticipation. Best regards, Nie Mingjue.” He paused, then added, with far too much composure for someone who’d just blown Wei Wuxian’s mind without laying a single finger on him, “Tell me you got some of that into the crafting vessel, Wei Wuxian.”

“I did,” Wei Wuxian croaked, and straightened his clothing a bit before heading back to the main room. As he did, he saw Lan Wangji walking out of another room – possibly a closet – and he looked as wrecked as Wei Wuxian felt. “I got it. Crafting vessel full. That was…wait, are you actually writing?”

“I did say it was correspondence,” Nie Mingjue said, his brush continued to slash its way across the page. His expression was only very barely not a smirk. “And I don’t lie. As soon as I finish this, we can get to forging…would the two of you like to wash up?”

Lan Wangji nodded his head in abrupt jerk, and suddenly Wei Wuxian’s cock, which he had been sure was spent, gave a twitch as if it was considering another round just at the thought of why Lan Wangji might also need to wash up after listening to that.

“Well,” he finally said as they splashed water on their faces and hands. “At least we know Nie Huaisang came by his porn addiction honestly?”

Lan Wangji looked disdainfully at him, but in the way that Wei Wuxian was starting to figure out meant that he was amused. “Mm,” he said. “But he lacks the voice.”

Wei Wuxian had to concede the point. Nie Mingjue’s voice was deep and steady, his words smooth and unhindered, the tone fierce and unyielding…if he could do nothing but listen to him, he’d die a happy man.

Except he wasn’t going to need to, because Lan Wangji and Nie Mingjue were going to help him, and he and Lan Wangji were going to help Nie Mingjue, and they were all going to get married so he’d be able to touch as well as hear.

“I,” he announced, “cannot wait to be married.”

Lan Wangji nodded in fervent agreement, and they went back out together to the main room where Nie Mingjue, damn him, didn’t even have the shame to look remotely ruffled by any of the preceding events.

“Good,” he said when he saw them. “Now we can get started in earnest.”

Wei Wuxian was never going to be able to hear that phrase again in his life.

#mdzs #wei wuxian #nie mingjue #lan wangji #my fic #my fics #pastime with good company #and now we get to the OTHER half of that scene

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stiltonbasket · 3 years

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Renouncement verse prompt: In another prompt it was mentioned that all the Lan's (including LQR), JC, and NHS all encourage LWJ in his adoration of WWX. Could we see more of this? Is it part of thier way of making it up to WWX when they realize he's innocent? If you like, pretty please?

(brief author’s note: please reblog if you can, since that’s how we get prompts for future chapters!)

Lan Wangji is ready for battle.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how one looks at it) his battle is the task of wooing his husband, his battlefield is their shared household, and his allies are all of his and Wei Ying’s collective friends and extended family, who seem almost as determined to see him united with Wei Ying as Lan Wangji is himself.

Wei-xiong likes gifts, Nie Huaisang wrote in his most recent letter from Qinghe. He also likes good food, and wine, and cute things like rabbits. And he might act as if your affection frightens him, but it’s only because he wants it so much. Keep showering it on him until he melts--that’s what Jiang-guniang used to do, and it always worked.

Inwardly, Lan Wangji sends his thanks to Nie Huaisang, and keeps preparing Wei Ying’s breakfast in the jingshi’s new kitchen; very quietly, so that Wei Ying can sleep a little longer, and also to make sure that Xiao-Yu won’t get up to find him and try to stick his hands into the oven again. Today’s breakfast is yuntaishan cloud tea (worth its weight in gold, according to Lan Xichen) paired with plenty of sweet lotus cakes and mantou with spring onions in it, and three pots of savory, silky steamed eggs seasoned with as many spices as Lan Wangji’s tongue can bear.

While he ladles out the servings of steamed egg, Lan Wangji’s mind wanders to his plans for the rest of the day; he and Wei Ying are going to draw up a few blueprints for the new extension to Wei Ying’s workshop, and after that, Lan Wangji will begin Xiao-Yu’s first writing lessons while Wei Ying watches. Lan Qiren had advised him that nothing would soften Wei Ying’s heart more than seeing Lan Wangji care for their children, so he intends to do everything that must be done for A-Yuan and A-Yu in the front room of the jingshi, where Wei Ying can bear witness to his duties and blush that sweet, dimpled blush that drives Lan Wangji mad.

“A-Die is cooking?” Xiao-Yu yawns, toddling into the kitchen right after Lan Wangji shuts the oven door and wrapping his chubby little arms around his father’s legs. “Feed Xiao-Yu!”

“I will feed both you and your A-Niang in just a moment,” Lan Wangji tells him. “Will A-Yu be a good child and go back to the bedroom?”

The baby gives a sleepy little nod and waddles back to Wei Ying, leaving Lan Wangji to lay out the dishes before carrying the prepared tray to the mahogany wedding bed, still draped in red silk and glass beads six months after his marriage--and then he leans down and kisses his sleeping husband’s lips, holding the kiss until Wei Ying makes a small sound of confusion and opens his eyes.

“Hm?” he mumbles, his eyelashes fluttering like butterflies’ wings against Lan Wangji’s cheeks. “Lan Zhan, is that you--oh!”

His eyes fly wide open with shock, but he melts under Lan Wangji’s touch all the same, urging him on with little yearning pats on Lan Wangji’s waist and arms until they finally separate and stare at one another. Wei Ying is flushing, still shy at the touch of Lan Wangji’s mouth on his; and then he sighs in satisfaction at the sight of the breakfast tray steaming on the table, complete with all the foods he had been craving yesterday.

(In fact, Wei Ying’s appetite has been nearly insatiable ever since they returned from their trip to Zhoushan Zhang, and it puzzles Lan Wangji as much as it pleases him.)

“Come and have your breakfast, my heart,” Lan Wangji entreats, as Wei Ying blushes even harder and clambers out of bed. “We have much to do today.”

#renouncement verse #the untamed #wangxian #mo dao zu shi #wangxian arranged marriage au #my fic

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fincalinde · 2 years

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(in the name of giving JGY more cards) I wish you would write a fic where JGY successfully manage to injure or capture paperman WWX 👀

So this is an interesting one because does that really give JGY more cards? His position remains essentially the same; as far as I see it, LWJ would go full Terminator attempting to get Wei Ying back and the only politic thing to do would be to kick up a similar sort of fuss as in canon while continuing to protect LWJ's reputation and the Lan sect for the sake of LXC. Not to mention his overriding goal of preserving LXC's regard for him until the last possible moment.

I could definitely write this fic if I had infinite time and it would certainly result in some interesting scenarios, particularly in terms of Xiyao conversations about what the hell is going on, but it doesn't particularly affect the letter JGY receives or the resultant plan to protect himself from reprisal. However it could trigger a couple of interesting things if [x] happened and I'm going to dig into that in another ask response.

#anonymous #ask #slowly working through these #but trying to focus on those last giftfics #i have Stuff going on but i am also Determined #roquen meta

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besanii · 4 years

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Can we get a follow up to number 20 where wwx was punished? I am angery and I am sure lan zhan is too and I would love to see the hell he is gonna raise. But it's okay if you don't want to. No pressure! Love everything you put out and Shattered Mirrors is just *chef's kiss* If you don't want to write a whole thing, can you atleast tell us how he would react? Will lqr finally know that it's better to back off and let lwj do his thing

whiteautumnfawn replied to your post: okay so you already indulge us so much and i love…

Ooooh, now I’d love to see the confrontation of LWJ with LQR…

[follows 20 and 21]

Three days later, the mottled bruising on Wei Wuxian’s knees start to fade, although he is still unable to stand for long periods of time. He keeps mostly to his rooms, where an extra brazier had been brought in to ward off the winter chill, and allows Mo Xuanyu to rub ointments into his joints to ease the stiffness and the aching. He remains tight-lipped about his encounter with Lan Qiren.

Lan Wangji, however, does not letter the matter slide. When he is certain Wei Wuxian is on the mend, he pays his uncle a visit at his manor.

Lan Qiren is reading in the garden under the shade of a small pavilion; his eyes dart up from his book when Lan Wangji approaches, but otherwise gives no other acknowledgment. Lan Wangji dismisses the servants hovering nearby and stands just beneath the roof of the pavilion, watching his uncle impassively. Lan Qiren turns a page.

“I was not expecting you today, Wangji,” he says.

“Huangshu.”Lan Wangji bows in greeting. “I have an important matter to discuss with you.”

“Mm.” Lan Qiren reaches for the cup of tea on the table, his eyes still trained on the book. “What matter could be so important that it can’t wait until court resumes tomorrow?”

“It is a personal matter,” Lan Wangji replies, straightening.

Lan Qiren harrumphs.

“If you are here to discuss the matter of the…courtesan—” he spits the word like a foul taste from his mouth “—then I believe I have made my opinions clear on the subject.”

Lan Wangji stiffens, his jaw clenching with barely concealed anger.

“Wei Ying,” he starts, taking care to emphasise his name, “is a member of my household, Huangshu, and should be treated with as much respect as as one would treat myself.”

Lan Qiren throws the book down on the table with a huff. He glares at Lan Wangji out of the corner of his eye, one hand coming up to stroke his beard.

“You would have me pay respects to a courtesan?” he asks incredulously. “To someone who would sell himself to the highest bidder for a copper coin? Have you taken leave of your senses, Wangji? Open your eyes! No matter who he was in the past, he is little more than a cheap whore. Bringing him into your household will bring you nothing but ridicule!”

Lan Wangji remains unmoved, but he draws himself to his full height, eyes hardening like chip of ice as he meets his uncle’s gaze.

“Have care how you speak, Huangshu,” he says quietly, his tone as frosty as the winter air. “I will not have Wei Ying insulted before me.”

Lan Qiren surges to his feet, shock and anger robbing him of words; instead he gestures with one hand and paces a few steps before turning back to point at Lan Wangji.

“You—!” He exhales, dropping his hand and shaking out his long sleeves as he turns away again. “If you insist on shaming yourself—shaming the entire Gusu Lan empire, shaming Huangshang—with such foolishness, Wangji, then do not blame me for my actions against it!”

Lan Wangji bows low, clasping his hands in front of him in a formal greeting.

“Then Huangshu will excuse me for being unfilial,” he says. “It is my intention to fulfill my promise and take Wei Ying, Wei Wuxian, ward of Xianwang Jiang Fengmian of Yunmeng, as my legal spouse.”

His uncle’s face turns an ugly, mottled red, spittle gathering in the corners of his mouth as he splutters with rage. Lan Wangji straightens once more.

“I would hope Huangshu will give us your blessing,” he tells him. “But I intend to proceed whether or not we have it. I only ask Huangshu to respect this decision and not make things difficult for Wei Ying.”

He bows once more and takes his leave. The sound of a teacup shattering on the ground echoes in his wake.

// buy me a ko-fi //

Master Post is here

#mdzs #wangxian #shattered mirrors au #王爷机 X 花魁羡 #whiteautumnfawn #my writing #this is number 22 #which follows directly after 21 and 20 #THREE CONSECUTIVE CHRONOLOGICALLY ORDERED FICLETS #that's not very shattered of me lol #LWJ declares his intentions aloud!#he has not asked WWX #but this is just to get LQR to Back Off #does this quench the fires of our collective anger?

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