#don't worry that last bit isn't really a chekov's gun

[attilarrific]

Okay but the tags on the last musical chairs update "I have both watsonian and doylist explanations for why their relationship is like this" if you want to share I'd be super interested

This is an extremely late answer, because, uh..............it is. But yes! With reference to this post here, the Watsonian and Doylist explanations for why Lan Xichen's relationship with Jin Guangyao is Like This in Musical Chairs. Because obviously it's a bit different than it is in canon! Lan Xichen is getting less manipulated, and while he's not absolutely clear on what's going on in Jin Guangyao's head (because no one is), he's more right than anyone else is.

Doylist Explanation

I, uh, struggle to handle ensemble casts. That is to say, I can write group scenes, but I can't do real character work for more than a couple characters in one story. I get confused, I get bogged down, the pacing drags. I generally cap myself at about two, max three; I did once try four (in a fic that has never seen the light of day and is unfinished), but it was very, very hard. In its initial conception---which does not necessarily reflect exactly what it's looking like now, but I never actually planned to write this much of it---Musical Chairs was a story about Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian. Not as in they were going to fall in love, but as in they were the primary focus of the narrative. Which means they were the only ones who got character arcs; their love interests were there to be love interests.

The narrative effect of this on Lan Xichen is quite simply that I couldn't afford to have him not understand Jin Guangyao better. This is a fic with a happy ending (in the universe where the ending gets written), and in a real happy ending, Lan Xichen can't be in love with the mask, he has to be in love with Jin Guangyao as he really is. But I didn't want to handle character arcs for four characters (for narrative balance, if I'd added Lan Xichen, I would've also had to add Lan Wangji), so I couldn't do a narrative where Lan Xichen has to grapple with the idea that Jin Guangyao isn't who he thought. Which is why, in this fic, Lan Xichen has essentially already grappled with that and come to the conclusions he has.

Watsonian Explanation

Jin Guangyao is still super messed up in this, because.......well, because otherwise he wouldn't be him. But he's less deeply, incredibly, wildly fucked up, in large part because he hasn't crossed as many lines.

To start with the obvious, this version of Jin Guangyao has never killed anyone. There's no demonic cultivation; he's never been in a war; killing people would be terrible for his image.

But the difference that's really central to this fic is, of course, his relationship with Qin Su. In my personal opinion, his marriage to Qin Su in canon is the real point of no return. Obviously there's the moral event horizon of his murder of Jin Rusong, but there's also the fact that once he's decided to go through with the wedding, he will never be able to be fully honest with anyone ever again---there isn't a single person he can tell about the incest (which, once he's married her knowing, is now an active choice he's made, because he values himself, his status, his relationship with his father, and his potential future power more highly than he values any morals or affection that would've pushed him to stop the wedding). I could get more into this, but that's not the point.

In this fic, Jin Guangyao responded to the revelation about them being siblings by telling Qin Su. This is because here, in a modern au, things with Qin Su are really, really different. Just to start with:

by the time they're talking marriage and he finds out, they've been together way longer, he literally just cares about her more

dramatic breakups are something celebrities do all the time, and while this may not be Jin Guangyao's preferred direction for his image, it's very workable

birth control and abortion both exist and are relatively available, especially given their means

the benefits to his career Qin Su has provided are already significant, will last even if they break up, and are not exclusively tied to their romantic relationship and potential marriage, especially if she continues to support him (which his understanding of her leads him to believe she'll do, and he's right)

......look, to be perfectly honest, because of societal etc., they had a lot more sex in this universe, and it would be really hard to explain to her why they should get married but stop fucking

it's just not worth it---consequences of breaking it off are less, benefits of going through with it are also less

So he tells her instead of marrying her! And they don't get married, and they're both very messed up about it, but they're able to eke out a relationship besides that, because they were in love and because Qin Su still cares and because Jin Guangyao still cares and because a relationship with her is still really good for his career.

Instead of this relationship turning into something he can never tell anyone ever, this relationship is a secret he shares with someone. Lan Xichen understands Jin Guangyao better because Jin Guangyao is hiding less because Jin Guangyao has less to hide. He didn't tell anyone but Qin Su about the incest---and he didn't really feel like he could, and he definitely wouldn't have without his hand getting forced---but he knew that if, for instance, Lan Xichen found out, he could always truthfully say that he didn't know and they ended it once he did.

Which isn't to say that Jin Guangyao isn't still hiding things, or even that he hasn't done things that Lan Xichen would disapprove of. Of course he is, and of course he has. But the things he's hiding aren't as dramatic, he's hiding fewer of them, and thus Lan Xichen is allowed to know him better. And so Lan Xichen has already had the opportunity to get to a place where---regardless of the completeness of his knowledge of Jin Guangyao's actual actions and history---he's aware of who Jin Guangyao fundamentally is.