#i really wonder where he get it from. will it be clothes wen??

[hungharrington]

Ok hear me out casual intimacy with Steve!! Like imagine the first time u shower together and u just wash his hair for him! The first time u change in front of him or wen ur wearing an oversized t shirt and like skimpy panties and go over to the couch where he is and sit in his lap it's the moments where it's such so much trust and love low key him realizing how comfy u are around him and how much u trust him he gets turned on

Brushing ur teeth together at his place? Man is half hard already

ohooooo casual intimacy IS his turn on you’re so goddamn right — this is just like, sweet domesticity <3 and steve then gets turned on by it hehehe + fade to black smut

There had been a period of time after you got together where Steve sometimes wondered if you were ever going to properly relax around him. Like truly relax.

Not that he minded in the least! Watching you avert your gaze nervously, feeling your face glow all hot when he calls you honey, feeling the little tremble in your fingers when you hold his hand— Steve adores it all.

He knows it means you like him. And Steve likes you too.

He likes you a whole bunch— like a lot a lot, okay? In fact, if he probably told you how much he likes you, you’d probably melt and hide under the covers and never return. Which Steve doesn’t ever want.

So you’re a bit reserved and Steve’s still crazy for you and it works. But basically, he never really expected to get this.

“D’ya wanna, like, maybe, shower together?”

Steve blinks, his towel in one hand and his heart pounding in his chest. Did you just say that? He blinks again, just to be sure.

You’re staring at him from your place on his bed, probably being the bravest you’ve ever been considering what you’ve just asked him.

“Yeah- yes. Of course.” He stammers out before you can get too shy on him. “I’ll go get another towel.”

It doesn’t take long for him to snag another from the linen cupboard but by the time he’s back, he can hear the spray of the shower. You’ve left a trail of clothes leading up to it. Something warm stirs in his chest.

He doesn’t make a big deal about it and you seem grateful for it. Beyond the odd complaint about hogging the water, to which Steve sticks his tongue out at you before switching, it’s almost like an ordinary shower. Washing up, wetting his hair.

Except, y’know, til you offer to wash it.

I swear to god do not get a boner right now, Steve thinks desperately to himself, his head ducked down so you could reach it more easily. You’re not making it easy for him. You’re paying him so much attention, your fingertips soothing along his scalp as you lather up the shampoo, massaging the skin. It’s heaven.

Steve doesn’t think he’s ever seen you this relaxed whilst the two of you have no clothes on.

You’ve been trying not to be so iffy about being naked but honestly Steve didn’t care if you were forever. He likes you any way he can get you.

Usually, the lead up to sex is the only time Steve gets to see you naked— when it’s all charged air and an eager energy to start making each other feel good. Hot kisses and a feverish vision of pleasure.

But this… this is different. There’s no charged energy, just a low buzz of love.

You cup your hands over his eyes so shampoo doesn’t get in them when you tilt his head back to rinse it and Steve nearly cries then and there. He’s never been so happy to return a favour, letting you lean up against him as he soaps up your hair. He’s pretty sure your eyes are closed the whole time. It feels good, taking care of you. It makes him happy.

Afterward, as you towel off, Steve keeps expecting that familiar shyness to creep in.

He’s not watching, okay? But as he gets himself dressed, just in his pyjama pants, it doesn’t go unnoticed that you’re not scrambling to cover up. Instead, you’re at ease, slipping on your panties and then one of his own large t-shirts. You must’ve stolen it when he wasn’t in the room.

It makes him pause, a momentary gawk, before he remembers to close his mouth. You catch the end of it and a flustered expression crosses your face, as if realising how much you’re exposing yourself. And that just won’t do— so Steve remedies it with a kiss, dragging you over to him by the waist so he can lean up against the counter and kiss you sweetly.

You both have wet hair. Your skin is all dewey from the shower and your eyelashes look extra long when they’re wet. You’re fucking beautiful.

It’s all Steve can think as you both brush your teeth in the mirror— making eye contact every couple of seconds and grinning like goofballs. It’s not productive. Steve adores it.

You’re both half-dressed, you without pants and Steve without his shirt, and it’s so damn homey, so cozy, so in love, that it makes Steve’s chest a little tight, in a good way. It’s intimate. You trust him.

Oh my god, He thinks. You trust him.

His pants grow tight. The flimsy material of his pyjamas hide nothing. Steve holds one hand in front of his crotch and looks to the ceiling for strength, because there’s no way you won’t be able to notice.

You lean over and spit out your toothpaste and then look at him through the mirror.

“Steve?”

“Yah?” He gargles back, toothbrush still in his mouth, eyes still on ceiling. His cock thickens a little more in his pants, blood getting a little hotter.

“Are you…?”

He gives a big sigh through his nose, “Yah.”

He finally forces himself to met your eyes through the mirror and you’re… smiling? Almost mischievously. Oh god.

“Because… of the teeth brushing?”

Steve rolls his eyes but the embarrassed flush on his cheeks still gives him away. He leans over and spits his toothpaste, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

“No, not cos of the— well, not just cos of the—“ He cuts himself off, the blush on his face beginning to spread down his neck. “Look, you washed my hair and you’re not wearing any pants! We’re brushing our teeth together! I like it, okay?”

In a complete reversal of the usual, suddenly Steve’s the flustered one and you’re the cool, calm one. Your smile only grows at his explanation, some of the mischief exchanging for fondness.

“That’s okay,” You say softly. You press up on your toes to kiss his cheek and wander towards the door. “Do you wanna cuddle tonight?”

Steve’s cock gets harder at your words and he groans, because he knows you know what you’re doing— especially when you laugh a little, a cheeky sound. You’re playing into his in-love fantasy, his domestic dream, that somehow has a direct line to his dick now, which is probably most definitely a problem for later.

“You know I do.”

“Well, c’mon then, loverboy,” You coo.

Steve chases you from the bathroom all the way to his sheets, your laughter louder and more beautiful than anything.

And he does get his cuddles —y’know, after he fucks your brains out.

[robininthelabyrinth]

The Other Mountain - ao3 - Chapter 24

Pairing: Lan Qiren/Wen Ruohan

Warning Tags on Ao3

———————————————————————-

Not even having to explain to Yu Ziyuan why they had ruined the Jiang sect’s event for a second time running could put a dent in Wen Ruohan’s good mood.

“You can’t really blame us for it,” he told her, wondering with amusement if he should mention that the sound of her teeth grinding in irritation was becoming almost audible. “We came here at your invitation to enjoy your sect’s little party and then were unexpectedly set upon by murderous assassins…assassins, let me remind you, that somehow managed to defy your sect’s security precautions, borrow your disciples’ clothing, and then attack your guests, when by all the rules of hospitality we ought to be under your protection. If the party also happened to be ruined as a result, well, that’s really nothing to do with us. In fact, we’re quite upset by it all.”

“Really,” Yu Ziyuan growled. “If that’s the case, then why – are – you – smiling?!”

That was mostly because Wen Ruohan couldn’t help it.

Lan Qiren was in love with him. Lan Qiren loved him. Lan Qiren was willing to trust him. Lan Qiren loved him!

That wasn’t anyone else’s business, though.

“Just trying to put a good face on it for the sake of your sect,” Wen Ruohan said, voice almost syrupy with how condescending he was being. “After messing up not one but two gatherings in front of the whole cultivation world, you practically have no face left at all…really, a smile or two is the least we can do for the sake of our good friends in Yunmeng Jiang.”

Yu Ziyuan’s eye was twitching. So was the finger upon which she wore Zidian, which hadn’t quite started crackling but had started emitting an almost subsonic hum of spiritual energy as if it was considering it.

Hmm. Perhaps he was overdoing it a little.

Not that Wen Ruohan cared.

Still, in the interest of not starting yet another fight that he was presently in no condition to win…

“At any rate, as you can see,” he added smugly, unable to feel any genuine caution when his heart was full of repeated refrains of I am loved, I am loved, “my husband has taken today’s events to heart.”

He nodded over at where Lan Qiren was sitting, still cleaning his sword and glaring balefully at everyone around him as if he suspected them of wrongdoing, having apparently decided to appoint himself as the paranoid one for the day.

If Lan Qiren were anyone else, Wen Ruohan would say that it was a beautiful display of subtle intimidation. The almost pristine glow of Lan Qiren’s almost entirely white outfit, marred only by the almost artful flecks of drying blood that highlighted the subtle red suns at the hems, acted as vivid contrast to the gory imagery of the bloody and at times incomplete bodies the Jiang sect disciples were still carrying out on mats from the room behind him, while the steady and sure motion of his hands drew the eye to focus on his sword, the one that had slain most of those people – an unspoken but extremely clear threat.

Of course, since this was Lan Qiren, he probably hadn’t thought about that at all.

Lan Qiren was a very good politician, when he put his mind to it – but he often forgot to put his mind to it. In fact, if Wen Ruohan had to bet, he’d say that Lan Qiren was probably currently thinking about some obscure Lan sect rule about cleaning your sword as soon as possible to avoid rust, about how it was valuable and taught all sorts of larger lessons and so on and so forth. Also, he’d probably want a bath as soon as possible, quite understandably, and certainly at a minimum by the time they got back to the Nightless City. He could just change clothing to get rid of the bloodstains, of course, but there was that general rule on changing clothing after bathing, and Wen Ruohan knew that Lan Qiren, with his fondness for routine, would prefer to do things in the proper order whenever possible.

(Lan Qiren, who loved him. Who was in love with him. Who would probably make that part of his routine as well, an everyday reminder that he belonged, body and soul, to Wen Ruohan…)

Lan Qiren was insisting on their leaving at once, which was quite reasonable under the circumstances. Wen Ruohan certainly wasn’t objecting. His sect’s disciples, who had rushed over as soon as he’d been able to properly signal them, had managed to keep a few of the assassins alive, including the one Lan Qiren had purposefully preserved. They had all been taken away to be interrogated – with the Fire Palace for once serving in its traditional capacity as a prison rather than Wen Ruohan’s personal playground – and answers would be forthcoming. Wen Ruohan had made that extremely clear to all of the assembled sect leaders.

Wen Ruohan had also made a number of very ominous statements about the vengeance he was imminently going to undertake as soon as he found out who was responsible for sending the assassins. Moreover, he had made clear that, as the victim of a dishonorable attack, he fully expected the cultivation world to back him in seeking reprisals, no matter what penalty he demanded – or else.

His announcement had spread a great deal of consternation throughout the crowd, all of whom were already somewhat keyed up due to the last near-war they’d been drawn into. It had caused any number of people to consider departing early as well, each to go back home to think over what to do next in peace rather than stay any longer in the Lotus Pier. Presumably it was those impending departures that had caused Yu Ziyuan to march up and pull Wen Ruohan aside for a quiet confrontation, with all of the seething, barely-concealed rage that had made her old Purple Spider moniker quite so famous visible on her face.

Again: not that Wen Ruohan cared.

Oddly enough, though, it seemed that something he’d said had soothed Yu Ziyuan’s fiery temper, or at least distracted her from it. Zidian was no longer making that irritating humming noise and her fingers no longer shook as if they were on the verge of being clenched into a fist; she was practically verging on normal.

Well, normal rage.

“Sect Leader Wen is very open-minded,” she said, very begrudgingly.

Wen Ruohan looked at Yu Ziyuan with some suspicion. Was she referring to the fact that he wasn’t blaming the Jiang sect for the assassination attempt? He’d wanted to, even though he was fairly certain they had nothing to do with it. Even if they hadn’t hired the assassins, it had been their negligence that had allowed the attack to occur at all, which meant that they ought to carry some share of the blame, and therefore some of the responsibility of making it up to him…but Lan Qiren had objected.

He’d said something about not sowing discord, or maybe about being easy on others. Wen Ruohan thought it was more likely that he just felt belatedly bad about having accidentally incited Cangse Sanren into stealing away the Jiang sect children at the same time she’d taken his nephews.

(They hadn’t told anyone that Cangse Sanren had brought them to the Nightless City, or indeed that Cangse Sanren and her family were currently residing with them rather than traveling the cultivation world. It seemed unwise to officially confirm it, lest they attract unwanted attention.)

“I will still be expecting Yunmeng Jiang’s support against the perpetrators, of course,” he clarified, but unexpectedly Yu Ziyuan waved her hand dismissively.

“Naturally you will have it,” she said coolly. “Whoever planned the attempt on your life, Sect Leader Wen, deliberately chose to use our Jiang sect as its scapegoat. In order to restore our good name, we must of course take every measure necessary to seek vengeance. That was not what I meant.”

“What, then?”

Very uncharacteristically, Yu Ziyuan hesitated for a while before answering. Just as Wen Ruohan was about to lose patience, she finally spoke, saying, “I meant…in the matter of your marriage.”

Wen Ruohan arched his eyebrows. What about his marriage? He’d made an excellent marriage. He’d known it from the start, and now the rest of the cultivation world was starting to realize it, too. And they hadn’t even figured out the bit about the classes yet!

None of that seemed to him to fit the criteria of rendering him “open-minded,” though. So what was Yu Ziyuan talking about?

Yu Ziyuan seemed to realize that she’d lost him, a frown appearing on her face as she watched the confusion on his.

“Do you really not mind?” she asked. “You are the stronger party, politically and personally, and you’re both men, not restrained by convention – shouldn’t Lan Qiren be the one calling you husband, rather than the other way around?”

Oh, so it was that again.

Ridiculous. Hadn’t they already covered that?

“My husband,” Wen Ruohan said, emphasizing the word mostly for the amusement it gave him to see the way it made her frown deepen, “is an innate conservative. He’s very fixed in his habits, and averse to change. Having been raised with the expectation that he would one day become a husband, it pleases him to be one, and it pleases me to see him pleased. What more does there need to be than that?”

“It cannot be that simple.”

“Why not? As you said, we’re not restrained by convention.” He smirked, deciding to needle her further. “Isn’t that part of your Jiang sect’s motto? Isn’t it ‘Make it work’?”

Her eye twitched again. “Attempt the impossible.”

“Isn’t that what I said? Make it work despite it being impossible.”

Yu Ziyuan scowled at him. “A mountain cannot contain two tigers,” she said testily. “A household cannot have two husbands. If he is the husband, then you are the wife, Sect Leader Wen. You cannot possibly be satisfied with the expectation that you are to submit to him, to abide by etiquette and decorum for him, to restrict your own activities for his sake…!”

“Does the sun care for the expectations of the earth?” Wen Ruohan asked carelessly. Lan Qiren had never demanded his submission in anything, except in bed – and even there, it was only ever something that added to Wen Ruohan’s pleasure, never something that had turned into an expectation or an insult. Lan Qiren had never once thought that what they did in bed meant anything about how they conducted their life outside it, as some men might have. On the contrary, when they were in public, it was Lan Qiren who sought wherever possible to abide strictly by etiquette, and part of that etiquette was supporting Wen Ruohan’s sect as the sect he’d married into, which in turn by default meant supporting Wen Ruohan himself as sect leader. “I have never restricted myself for the sake of others. I hardly plan to start now.”

“Really. Then does that mean, Sect Leader Wen, that you plan to take on the duties of a wife as well?” she asked scathingly.

“Actually, Qiren seems to have gotten it into his head that it is the duty of a husband to do the satisfying,” Wen Ruohan said dryly. “A Gusu Lan peculiarity, I expect. I wasn’t planning on disabusing him of the notion.”

Yu Ziyuan turned red. “That’s not what I meant!”

Wen Ruohan scoffed. “Then what do you mean? Do you expect me to manage my household like some commoner? I manage my sect, that’s close enough.”

“It is exceptionally different.”

“Perhaps for you,” Wen Ruohan said condescendingly. “Allow me to remind you that I am sect leader. I am free to implement my will as I wish – however I wish – and you have not identified one good reason why I cannot deviate from tradition.”

“At least you know you are deviating from tradition,” she snapped.

Wen Ruohan just barely restrained himself from saying something sarcastic like And of course your marriage is such a model of happy compliance with tradition, mostly since he was pretty sure she really would try to kill him if he did.

From the look on her face, he’d managed to convey the message anyway.

“If it matters to you, then it matters to you,” he said indifferently instead. “It certainly doesn’t to me.”

Yu Ziyuan’s expression somehow worsened, which he hadn’t thought was possible.

“We’ll be leaving now,” he said smoothly, deciding that it would be impolitic to drive his hostess into apoplexy. Not to mention that it would be such a shame to rob himself of the moral high ground right after a perfectly good assassination attempt had given it to him. “Qiren wants to fly back to the Nightless City to avoid any threat of ambush, and we must leave early if we are to arrive before the end of xu shi, which of course we must. You know how Gusu Lan is.”

Everyone knew how Gusu Lan was.

(If Wen Ruohan was ever to seek to invade the Cloud Recesses, he would be wise to launch his attack in the evening, right when their internal clocks would be urging them to rest instead of fight. Not that he would, of course – he couldn’t even imagine Lan Qiren’s reaction if he did, not even if it was forced upon him by Qingheng-jun’s actions. It was only something he’d considered before, in the abstract hypothetical…)

“Have a good journey,” Yu Ziyuan said. She was gritting her teeth again.

Wen Ruohan smirked and took his leave.

And then he took Lan Qiren, who was very relieved to hear that they were finally departing, and went home.

Wen Ruohan spent the entire flight back to the Nightless City, painfully long and boring as it was, feeling lighter than air.

Sure, there were still problems to be dealt with, not least of which was figuring out who had tried to have him killed – not just killed, but drowned, and at a party surrounded by the rest of the cultivation world, no less. Whoever it was had figured out that Wen Ruohan had used up all of his spiritual energy, that he was temporarily vulnerable, and they were undoubtedly already thinking through the next step in their plan, knowing that they only had a brief window in which to act before Wen Ruohan regained his invincibility.

Really, his paranoia ought to be going completely haywire, questioning everyone and everything, trying to figure out who was behind it – given that it couldn’t be Qingheng-jun, who was too newly out of seclusion to have the resources necessary to train up assassins unless there was something very significant Lan Qiren had left out of his descriptions of the Lan sect – and his political instincts ought to be focused on how all of these developments would impact the balance of power in the cultivation world and how to turn them in his sect’s favor. Even considering it purely from the standpoint of cultivation, he ought to be worrying about how weak he still was, how tired he was, how much the fight and even this journey home was taking out of him.

Instead, Wen Ruohan couldn’t stop smiling.

(Interestingly enough, it turned out that genuine smiles while issuing threats only made people even more inclined to worry – exceeding even their reaction to an intimidating smirk or ominous scowl. Who knew?)

But in his defense: Lan Qiren was in love with him.

There was always that.

There was always going to be that, because Lan Qiren was a Lan, a good Lan, in the classic model of his sect. When he gave his heart away, he did so irrevocably. Even if things were to shatter between them, the way things had gone somehow wrong between Wen Ruohan and Lao Nie, or the way they had with his first wife, with his brother, with his family – even if Wen Ruohan did something utterly beyond the pale, utterly unforgivable, the fact that Lan Qiren loved him wouldn’t change.

Of course, if he did something like that, Lan Qiren would make his life absolutely miserable, up to and including leaving him in the dirt, and that probably after yelling at him until he went deaf. Lan Qiren had been quite emphatically clear about his intentions in that regard, repeating himself several times, though Wen Ruohan privately thought that it was all a little unnecessary.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t already know.

He’d figured it out after the fiasco with the Fire Palace: the price of Lan Qiren’s continued good regard was nothing more or less than his own good conduct, persistent and maintained.

Once, that would have been infuriating.

Wen Ruohan had always been his own person. He had always gone his own way, done things in his own style, bowed to no one – his Wen sect’s symbol was the sun, and he as their sect leader was the sun in splendor, directly overhead and shining in full midday glory. Even among his brothers he had always been the most stubborn, the most bull-headed, whether in his insistence on learning the sneered-upon “support skill” of arrays to the point of mastery instead of focusing on the sword or his slow but persistent approach to becoming sect leader, which had been successful in the end. He had never yielded to anyone, whether through force or coaxing. He had never adjusted his behavior for someone else’s sake.

But now…

Well.

After a lifetime of betrayals, his own or others’, Wen Ruohan was willing to consider it an equal trade.

Love for love, that was easy. Trust for trust would be more difficult, but he was the best of the best: he was Wen Ruohan. He wasn’t afraid of a challenge.

And it wasn’t as if he was going to find someone else he wanted more. Who could be more fascinating or full of ridiculous contradictions than Lan Qiren – a rigid moralist who had nevertheless demonstrated his sincerity through slaughter? That had always been a surefire way to Wen Ruohan’s heart, though not a route he’d previously believed Lan Qiren likely to take. It had always been more along the lines of what he’d gotten out of his relationship with Lao Nie, both of them vigorous and blood-thirsty and suiting each other perfectly – or at least, they had before the other man had grown distant and disdainful…

Well, never mind about that.

Wen Ruohan had Lan Qiren now, and if he played his cards right, he would have him forever.

That was surely something worth smiling about.

He continued smiling even when they arrived, frightening his servants. Lan Qiren didn’t notice, but then he was practically falling asleep standing up. Whether that was because of the energy expenditure of having to fly such a distance immediately after a vicious fight and emotional upheaval or simply that it had gotten late enough for all good proper Lan disciples to go to bed, it was impossible to tell.

“Do you require my services tonight?” Lan Qiren blearily asked Wen Ruohan, who snorted involuntarily in amusement at his serious expression.

“I think not,” he said dryly. “Look at you, you’re already yawning. I doubt you’d be able to, ah, rise to the occasion.”

Lan Qiren frowned censoriously at him. “Even if I cannot, I can still do my duty, if that’s what you desire.”

Wen Ruohan did desire, as it happened – he had a great deal of appreciation for Lan Qiren’s hands and tongue, both of which had become exceptionally skilled through the application of consistent practice – but he still said, “No need. You can make it up to me with interest tomorrow.”

It was an interesting novelty to deny himself for another’s sake. He’d observed that Lan Qiren, lacking as he did an internal instinct towards desire, at times also lacked a good sense of judgment as to when it was appropriate to offer to have sex, although tragically he’d picked up enough etiquette to be resistant to frolicking in public where people could see. It therefore fell to Wen Ruohan to bear the responsibility of being the final arbiter of such things, to ensure that Lan Qiren would be in a position to enjoy himself as well as providing enjoyment for his partner.

With a final yawn, Lan Qiren nodded and went off to find his bed, not bothering to wait for Wen Ruohan to join him. Presumably he’d figured out that Wen Ruohan was too full of nervous energy to rest, meaning that tonight was going to be one of his occasional bouts of insomnia.

Normally, on nights like these, Wen Ruohan would stalk through the halls of the Nightless City like a wandering ghost before eventually finding himself drawn to the Fire Palace and its screams, its reminder that he was alive, but that was unnecessary tonight. Tonight he already felt wholly alive, completely vibrant. In fact, that was the issue: he felt full of energy, like he wanted to do something. And not just anything, but something productive – to set up an experiment in arrays, perhaps, or practice sparring with the sword against some worthy opponent, or even…

Even…

Wen Ruohan smiled.

Cangse Sanren found him the next day.

“It’s already noon, you know,” she announced, having entered the room without knocking. “Also, my husband was the one who actually found you here, but he decided to nominate me to be the one to interrupt you. I’m less killable than he is.”

“Is that the case?” Wen Ruohan asked, not looking up from what he was doing. “And here I thought all you celestial mountain disciples were doomed.”

“We are. There’s some big scary beast marching towards my future, coming to tear me limb from limb; it’s inevitable, as sure as the dawn, but that also means there’s no point in worrying about it now. But putting that aside, people are more used to me being annoying, so they put up with it more.” She paused. “Are you painting? I didn’t know you knew how to paint.”

Wen Ruohan ignored her. He was almost done, so he wasn’t going to stop now just to talk.

“You’re a good painter,” she commented, peeking around his shoulder. “I had no idea. And I mean…you’re really good. Exceptionally good – ”

“You can stop sounding surprised about it at any point.”

“I’m just saying, I didn’t know you had hobbies other than torturing people.”

“This is not a hobby,” he clarified, finishing the final few strokes and putting down his brush. “This is an aberration. It’s a gift. For Qiren.”

“As if you would pick up a brush for anyone else,” she snorted, and inelegantly tried to shove him to the side so that she could get a better look at what he’d created. It didn’t work, of course, since he was stronger than she was, but he stepped aside anyway. “…huh. That’s…not what I expected. This is the first painting you’re going to give to him?”

Wen Ruohan shrugged. Other than his brief flirtation with portraiture, which had been an exclusively financial decision during a period of time when his backing within the Wen sect had been especially shaky, he’d always treated painting the way he did his cultivation: something to develop and nurture and even perfect, but not to force.

Back when he’d been alive, his favorite brother, Wen Ruoyu, had been Wen Ruohan’s primary target for these sorts of painting gifts. He’d had a fondness for collecting things, so he always accepted the gifts, but he’d found them confusing. You say this is meant for me? As in, you painted it specifically for me? he’d often asked, squinting at whatever the latest one was. What in the world do you mean by giving me this in particular? What’s the symbolism here stand for? What does it mean?

If I could have told you what it meant, I wouldn’t have needed to paint it, now would I? Wen Ruohan had always retorted. Tell me if you like it or not. If you don’t, I’ll take it back and give you another.

I like it, I like it! Don’t you dare take away things that are mine!

“Well, it’s not like I didn’t know you were several kinds of fucked up in the head,” Cangse Sanren remarked, interrupting Wen Ruohan’s wandering thoughts. “If there’s anyone who’d think that painting a war scene is a good gift for their lover, it would certainly be you. But lucky for you, Qiren’s taste in art runs towards the complicated, so I think he might like it anyway.”

Wen Ruohan had indeed painted a war scene, though he was mildly impressed that Cangse Sanren had been able to identify it as such. There were no people in it – it was mostly trees, and rocks, and blood, the occasional glint of broken steel and furrows dug deep. Hidden in the painting were the signs of cultivators at battle: splintered bark with smoldering anchor points, smeared ash and cinnabar left behind by burnt talismans, sharp and unnatural angles revealing cuts by sword or string.

Color had been used only sparingly, as an accent, and his brushwork was as brutal and ruthless as it had ever been, leaving the whole image with a gloomy and morbid air, grey, hopeless, and depressing.

He’d even painted it from the angle he’d once seen it from, with the trees reaching up into the heavens, tangled limbs suffocating the sky.

It was probably not an appropriate gift to give to one’s lover.

Wen Ruohan was going to give it to him anyway. Maybe he really would get lucky, and it would suit Lan Qiren’s tastes. Even if it didn’t, though, that would be fine – the point had always been in the making and the giving.

“Where is Qiren, anyway?” he asked.

“Meditating in your yard. He did sect business for a shichen in the morning, earlier on, once he realized you were busy, but as soon as he finished the urgent business, he told them all to come back tomorrow with the rest.”

“Good.” Wen Ruohan hadn’t been planning to do any business at all. Lazy days were what secretaries were for. “Next question: where are the children?”

Cangse Sanren arched her eyebrows. “Yours, mine, the Lan or the Jiang?”

“I meant Qiren’s nephews, as it happens. But you referred to mine – did you just mean Chao-er, or is Xu-er back?”

“Yes, he arrived yesterday morning, so there’s both of them here. He’s in his room, as are all the others. Do you want to see him?”

Oddly enough, even though he had no specific purpose in mind, Wen Ruohan found that he did.

“Father!” Wen Xu stood up quickly when Wen Ruohan strode into his rooms. So quickly, in fact, that he accidentally knocked all the papers off his desk and all over the floor. “I didn’t – I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I wanted to confirm that you were in one piece after what happened with the army in Jiujiang, Xu-er,” Wen Ruohan said mildly, doing his best not to smirk. Unfortunately for his son, Wen Ruoyu had also been a master of the “knock everything off the table so that they don’t see what I was looking at” dodge, and it hadn’t worked when he’d done it, either. “I am pleased to see that you are.”

“Uh, yeah,” Wen Xu said. He was blinking rapidly. “I…Teacher Lan said the same thing.”

Wen Ruohan arched his eyebrows. Lan Qiren moved quickly when he wanted to, it appeared – Wen Xu was already calling him “Teacher Lan” despite having undoubtedly met him all of maybe once. “Did he?”

Wen Xu looked embarrassed for whatever reason, so Wen Ruohan put his hands behind his back and gave his son an expectant look.

“He said you were proud of me for how I handled myself. Even though all I did was get sent away!” Wen Xu blurted out, then looked horrified at himself. Presumably at the gross sentimentality of what Lan Qiren had said, which was more than a little ridiculous – Wen Xu really hadn’t done anything of note, not unless one counted not complaining about being sent away and listening to the generals’ advice to avoid making the situation worse. And, well, not getting kidnapped and used as blackmail at any point while retreating.

Which Wen Ruohan supposed had been rather helpful.

Well, be your spouse’s partner and all that. If he wanted Lan Qiren to have a genuine shot at improving Wen Xu, it wouldn’t do to undercut his authority as a teacher before he’d even had a chance to get started.

“I am,” he said, and reasoned virtuously to himself that it wasn’t a lie even if he hadn’t given the subject a single thought before this exact moment – after all, he was always proud of his sons, who were his bloodline and therefore superior to all others. Anyway, even if it was, it wasn’t like the Wen sect abided by Do not tell lies. “You did well.”

Wen Xu looked stunned to the point of breathlessness.

Actually, he looked like he’d stopped breathing entirely.

Wen Ruohan decided that that was probably enough torment for a teenager for one day.

“You should write to your master in the army and advise him that I will be keeping you by my side for the near future,” he said, moving to practical matters instead. “If he wishes to continue your training, he should send someone here.”

Wen Xu recovered with admirable speed, straightening his spine and looking as dependable as he could at fifteen. “Yes, Father. I’ll do that at once!”

Wen Ruohan nodded. And then, because he could, he added, nodding at the pile of paper on the floor: “I’ll leave you to your romance novels, then.”

The horrified sound Wen Xu made was appalling.

Wen Ruohan walked off, chuckling to himself.

Continuing his inexplicable impulse from earlier, he decided to check in briefly on Wen Chao as well.

“Go away,” Wen Chao said, not looking up from where he was lying on his stomach reading something with a great deal of pictures and absolutely no substance. He wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“You do not command me, Chao-er.”

“Father!” Wen Chao jumped up at once. He didn’t make any effort to hide his picture-book – a heavily illustrated adventure, rather than a romance – and scurried over, looking delighted to see him, as usual. “Father, you’re here, you’re here!”

“Mm. Tell me what you have been up to.”

“I’ve been spending time with the other sect heirs, just like you told me to,” Wen Chao said proudly. “They’re very annoying, lots of trouble, but I can handle them. They’re no match for me!”

Wen Ruohan had no difficulty in discerning that this was extremely high praise for Wen Chao’s new friend group, potentially even gratitude and joy that they’d willingly included Wen Chao in their antics, and also that Wen Chao desperately wanted the present state to keep going forever.

“Good,” Wen Ruohan said. “Continue as you are. Become close to them and learn more about them, learn from their virtues and vices both. And listen when Teacher Lan tells you things meant to improve you. Make me proud.”

“Yes, Father! I will!”

That done, Wen Ruohan finally made his way down the hall to where his original targets, Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji, were being housed. He needed the two of them to do something for him.

After all, he owed Lan Qiren a debt, and it was time to deliver.

“Qiren,” he said, walking into their rooms later that afternoon. “I have something for you.”

He’d picked a good time: Lan Qiren was neither meditating nor playing his guqin, and neither was he composing – an activity that also involved a guqin, but a great deal more angry plucking, grumbling, and furious scribbling. Instead, he was only writing something down on scrap paper, though whatever the content of the note was, it was making him frown deeply, with a furrow between his brows that suggested that the subject was genuinely concerning to him.

“There you are,” Lan Qiren said, looking up. “I have something to say to you as well – ”

He paused, his expression suddenly clearing, discomfort making way for an expression of surprise, as well as something that seemed torn between pleasure and apprehension. “Did you say that you had something for me?”

“I did,” Wen Ruohan said agreeably. “Several things, in fact. Is what you have to say urgent?”

“Not at all,” Lan Qiren said bemusedly, rising to his feet and coming over. “It can wait, and indeed I would insist that it do so, given the alternative. What have you gotten me?”

Wen Ruohan produced two small booklets from inside his robes and handed them over.

Still looking somewhat wary, Lan Qiren accepted them, then opened the first one.

A moment later, he let out a surprised bark of laughter.

Wen Ruohan smirked triumphantly, watching the tension in Lan Qiren’s shoulders disappear. The man was too used to bad surprises, to everything that was unknown or a change being a bad thing – it was about time that he learned that some changes were good.

“I realize that my behavior was inappropriate, both in the specific situation and in general,” Lan Qiren read out loud. “When I am angry, I should withdraw from the situation and do what it takes to master my emotions, to better maintain my own discipline, before making any bad decisions. Under no circumstance should I take my mood out on other people, and especially not family. Additionally, I particularly recognize that I should always take the time to listen to you before making a final judgment. I have learned a valuable lesson from what I did, and I will not do it again – Wen Ruohan, did you get Xichen to write you an apology essay for me?”

“I got both your nephews to write me apology essays to give to you,” Wen Ruohan corrected him. “The second one is from Wangji.”

“Of course it is.” Lan Qiren’s shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter again. “That’s - this is terrible. Your apologies keep getting worse and worse – and this one is unnecessary! I have already forgiven you.”

“This one isn’t an apology. It’s punishment.”

Lan Qiren’s eyebrows went up. “Oh?”

“You said the purpose of punishment is deterrence and remediation – that I need to take some loss in order to show my sincerity, to pay for the past and to make a deposit as assurance for good conduct in the future. A loss that means something to me, the way pain and time don’t.” Wen Ruohan reached out and cupped Lan Qiren’s cheek with his hand. “Something that can show you that I really have…how did he put it? That I ‘learned a valuable lesson from what I did, and will not do it again’.”

Lan Qiren leaned into his touch, smiling faintly. “And you think you have done that with this? What is your logic?”

Wen Ruohan found himself returning the smile. There it was, there was what he’d been looking for.

Lan Qiren was giving him the benefit of the doubt.

On the surface, it was patently ridiculous to think that convincing two boys to write essays could be a sufficient punishment, something that it could constitute a loss for someone of Wen Ruohan’s stature and power. Lao Nie would have thought he was joking, would have laughed along with a jest he wasn’t making, while his wives would have thought he was being sarcastic, that he was mocking them; they would have stormed out, maybe after throwing something at his head.

Lan Qiren just waited, certain that an explanation (of whatever quality) would be forthcoming.

“In our first visit to the Lotus Pier, I offered to help your nephews find you,” Wen Ruohan said, withdrawing his hand. “But not for free. I asked each of them to promise me a favor: one each.”

Lan Qiren frowned. “Unrestricted?”

“Your Xichen tried his best – he insisted on it being ‘nothing bad.’ But he’s young. He put no other restrictions on it, neither time, nor goal, nor extent…”

Lan Qiren winced. An open-ended favor like that, from a future sect leader, from a sect that did not make promises lightly, that did not break promises lightly, not even when they were extracted under duress…he knew exactly the sort of mischief Wen Ruohan could get up to with something like that. He’d seen it, even. In the ten years that the Lan sect was under his leadership, Lan Qiren would have been well aware that Wen Ruohan had twice utilized far more limited favors he was owed to devastating effect.

No, Lan Qiren well knew to be wary of such favors. He understood the gravity of such a thing – and just as he recalled it, that was when the understanding hit.

Wen Ruohan had the pleasure of seeing Lan Qiren genuinely shocked.

“You used those favors to get them to write these essays?” he exclaimed. “Surely not!”

Wen Ruohan smirked. “Is that sufficient loss for you?”

“More than sufficient! I would not have asked you to give up an advantage like that,” Lan Qiren said, frowning at him. “I might have sought to blunt the effects of the favors they had given, particularly in light of their age and immaturity, but a promise made is a promise made. Surely you know that – you are sect leader, and this is not a personal matter between us. Favors between sects is a matter of your sect, which is your first priority. I would not wish to abuse my position as your husband to interfere.”

“You might not wish to, but you might regardless,” Wen Ruohan said dryly, having figured out a little more of Lan sect cleverness with words by now. “And you might not, though I wish that you would.”

“What do you mean?”

“You are my husband,” Wen Ruohan said, as much for the pleasure of seeing Lan Qiren automatically smile at the reminder as to make the point. “That makes youhalf-master of my Wen sect in your own right…of our Wen sect. Our Wen sect is known for its arrogance, our superiority, our certainty that we deserve everything good in the world, and I would be very happy to see the same in you, Qiren.”

He shook his head.

“It is not abusing your position to want things, even things that are not necessarily to our Wen sect’s immediate benefit,” he said. “I want you to want things. I want you to ask for…no, I want you to demand everything that you want. I want you to learn to expect to receive what you ask for, rather than expecting to have to struggle to obtain it.”

Lan Qiren didn’t understand, Wen Ruohan could see that.

He found his voice softening. “You deserve the best, Qiren. You deserve to have the best given to you: without pain, without struggle, without effort, just for the asking. The world is your rightful due, and if you only ask for it, I would give it to you.”

“You are not using me as an excuse to take over the world,” Lan Qiren informed him primly, but there was something in his eyes that suggested that he had understood a little of what Wen Ruohan meant, even if he didn’t comprehend the fullness of it. At minimum, he’d understood that Wen Ruohan meant that he was family now – Wen Ruohan, who had always put his family over everyone, for good or for evil, with reason or without, following faithfully in the path laid out by Wen Mao in prizing their Wen clan over the whole world. Perhaps he even understood what Wen Ruohan was really saying: that he would now put him first, first before anything.

It might take some time before Lan Qiren could really bring himself to believe what Wen Ruohan told him, and even longer before he was willing to act with that glorious arrogance that Wen Ruohan so longed to see in him, that carelessness and freedom that accompanied true power. But at least he understood that that was something Wen Ruohan wanted to give to him.

A good change, rather than bad.

“This is my promise to you,” Wen Ruohan told him, nodding at the essays. “My loss, yes, my sect’s loss, also yes, but it is the loss I should take. It is my payment for not trusting you, as I should have, because not trusting you is a loss.”

Wen Ruohan was known for many things. He was blood-thirsty, a tyrant, a madman who delighted in torture; he was brilliant, a master of cultivation, ancient and terrifying. He was paranoid and cruel and selfish, and he put his ambitions above everything else.

He might be all those things, but Lan Qiren had chosen him anyway. The least he could do was choose him in return – to let Lan Qiren change him the way he wanted to change Lan Qiren. To trust him, yes, but also…to be worthy of his trust in return.

To be anything less –

Now that would be the real loss.

And, of course, Wen Ruohan did not lose.

Lan Qiren was staring at him open-mouthed.

“Do you understand?”

“…yes. I understand.”

Wen Ruohan kissed him. After a moment, he released him.

Lan Qiren still looked dazed. It was a good look on him.

“Now tell me,” Wen Ruohan teased. “Was that a good enough punishment?”

“If I were grading you, I would pass you with honors,” Lan Qiren said fervently.

Wen Ruohan laughed.

“Now, it is your turn to tell me,” Lan Qiren added, recovering a little. “Do I dare read what Wangji wrote…?”

“I genuinely have no idea,” Wen Ruohan said cheerfully. “He did it all in musical notation.”

“Oh no.”

“I like your second nephew. He’s clever.”

“Please refrain from getting any bright ideas. I am already working diligently on helping him recover his equilibrium; he does not need any further assistance in growing any more feral, and still less does he need to grow any more tyrannical than he already is.” Lan Qiren shook his head. “I will review the essays in full later, and I expect to be greatly amused by them, both immediately and for a great deal of time into the future. Thank you.”

“Of course. Would you like to see what else I have for you?”

Lan Qiren glanced at him sharply. “There’s more?”

“No need to sound so plaintive,” Wen Ruohan chuckled. “Do not do things in excess, or however the rule goes.That was all for the punishment. This one is an out-and-out gift – I painted something for you.”

“You painted…? Is that where you were all morning?”

“All night and all morning,” Wen Ruohan corrected. “It’s in my secondary study, if you’d like to come see it now. Or would you prefer to first discuss the subject that you mentioned earlier?”

Oddly enough, that caused the worried furrow to return to Lan Qiren’s brow, and he hesitated for a long moment before eventually saying, “Do not harbor doubts or jealousy, do not fail to carry out your promise. I think we had better discuss it now.”

That didn’t sound promising. Wen Ruohan tilted his head to the side. “Very well. What is it that you wanted to discuss, then?”

“It is about Lao Nie,” Lan Qiren said slowly. “I promised to myself that I would speak with you on the subject at the first instant I could. And yet, as time goes on, I find myself searching for further reasons to refrain for a little longer – which is misconduct on my part, although understandable. I have only just had you confirm that you returned my feelings, which has brought me tremendous joy. When one feels great joy, one seeks to preserve it…I suppose I wished to have you to myself for a little longer.”

“You do have me to yourself,” Wen Ruohan said, a little confused. “Lao Nie and I are not on the best of terms, as you yourself have seen. While it is true that we have never officially broken off our relationship, his recent actions and behavior make it clear enough that that will be the inevitable result, and sooner rather than later. He suspects me at every turn, disdains me, becomes angry at anything and everything I do – ”

“He had a qi deviation.”

Wen Ruohan stopped.

For a moment his mind rebelled, refusing to accept what his ears told him they had heard. “What?”

“He had a qi deviation, not long ago,” Lan Qiren said. His voice was solemn, serious, and Do not tell lies. He was telling the truth. “His son, Nie Mingjue, told me about it. You know what fate awaits the sect leaders of Qinghe Nie. You know how it looks, when it starts. You know what it does to them. How it makes them feel – ”

“Rage,” Wen Ruohan said, finding that his lips had started tingling, even if the rest of his face felt strangely numb. He did know. He’d seen Lao Nie’s father and grandfather suffer from the very same thing. “Disdain. Irrationality. Suspicion, paranoia…are you saying that you think his qi deviation is the genesis of his recent behavior?”

“I believe it is likely. You know how subtle qi deviations can be, particularly the small ones that the Nie sect initially suffer from – even if it was only discovered recently, it is likely that the deviation has been affecting him for months, perhaps even a year or two. From what I have observed of your disintegrating relationship, and based on your description of past events, his seeming distrust and your reaction to it…yes, it seems likely.”

Wen Ruohan…

Wen Ruohan didn’t know what to do with that information.

He didn’t want to believe Lan Qiren. He wanted to accuse him of lying, even though he knew he didn’t. He wanted to throw something, hit something, hurt something – he wanted to claim that this was all some sort of sick scheme, designed to strike him right when he was most vulnerable. But he’d promised to trust Lan Qiren, and he did trust him, and if there was one thing he knew, it was that Lan Qiren did not lie.

Lao Nie had had a qi deviation.

Lao Nie was dying.

Lao Nie – Lao Nie had come to Wen Ruohan when he’d been at his lowest point, when he’d been sick and tired of living, entertained by pain and nothing more. At that time, Wen Ruohan had been on the verge of considering entering the way of clarity, a path that cut off his feelings entirely as a means of avoiding the endless misery of having them mostly cut off already. He’d been searching for some method, any method, to stop the way he felt dead inside most of the time, dead and bored. Dead, and bored, and…and alone.

Lao Nie hadn’t let him be alone.

Lao Nie had brought to bear all the good cheer his considerable force of personality gave him, and he had aimed it at him. Lao Nie had laughed at him, had teased him, had all but demanded a place in his bed, and Wen Ruohan had found him amusing. It hadn’t been anything more than that at the start of it. He’d been glad that it’d been nothing more than that – he’d thought at the time that he didn’t want any more connections to the world to tie him down, to hold him back. What Lao Nie had offered him had seemed perfect.

A friend, an occasional lover, someone willing to slaughter his way into Wen Ruohan’s good graces, but without any serious commitment…it’d been easy. Casual. Light-hearted, the way Lao Nie always was, no matter the circumstances.

Even when their sects had been at odds, it hadn’t ever gotten any more difficult. Lao Nie was a Nie after all; he was straightforward and blunt, even when he was being clever or tricky. He held no fear of lying, did not refrain from it like Lan Qiren, but his actions, at least towards Wen Ruohan, were so lacking in malice that it was impossible to take offense from them. He’d always saved his malice for other people, and let Wen Ruohan share in the fun with him…

Yes, that was it. Lao Nie had always been fun.

And then he’d disappeared for a while, and returned with Nie Mingjue.

That had been the first break between them. A small one, but still a break – it wasn’t that Wen Ruohan hadn’t expected the man to marry eventually, since as sect leader he had a duty to continue his family line, but for whatever reason he’d expected to be involved in the process. Helping pick out some likely girl, debating her merits, that sort of thing, the same way they amiably argued over the pick of prostitutes during parties they attended. He hadn’t expected to be taken by surprise.

He hadn’t expected to care.

It had been only a little consolation that everyone else had been taken by surprise, too.

And of course it had helped that the First Madam Nie, Lao Nie’s much talked-of goddess, never actually made an appearance herself, even if she did get full honors in the Nie sect’s family record. It had been awkward, yes, and had made Wen Ruohan realize that he felt more things for Lao Nie than he really ought to – he’d reacted by ignoring said feelings for nearly a decade – but it hadn’t really felt like a betrayal.

The second wife felt like a betrayal.

They’d argued over that one. Lao Nie hadn’t understood why Wen Ruohan would care, and Wen Ruohan was too arrogant, and too embarrassed, to admit the truth that he did. After all, hadn’t he been the one to insist on them being nothing more than casual friends who occasionally indulged in more than that? And that was all he wanted, too, or thought he’d wanted, only he’d also wanted to be the most important part of Lao Nie’s life, and it came as a nasty shock to discover that he wasn’t. To discover that Lao Nie was actively pursuing others, and that he would pick them over Wen Ruohan if it came to it.

Things had never quite gotten better after that.

Oh, once Lao Nie’s second wife had died – or disappeared, whichever – they had fallen back into each other’s orbit, being almost too familiar with each other not to. They were the leaders of Great Sects, who knew virtually no peer; of that smaller group, they were the only two who were genuinely powerful in their personal capacities, or at least so Wen Ruohan had thought at the time. He’d known that Lao Nie was exceptionally fond of Lan Qiren, fond enough to almost drive Wen Ruohan into jealousy, but luckily he’d heard enough of Lan Qiren’s lectures to know that the two of them would never be compatible in any real sense. Even if Lao Nie had managed to get Lan Qiren into bed, the way Wen Ruohan had semi-seriously suggested to the man a few times that he try to do and which Lao Nie had laughed off as impossible, he’d been confident that Lan Qiren would never eclipse his own position in Lao Nie’s regard.

It certainly hadn’t occurred to him that he might be the one to fall for Lan Qiren in the end.

Wen Ruohan felt confident that he would have acted in the same way, fallen in the same way, even if his relationship with Lao Nie had not deteriorated to such an extent before he’d married Lan Qiren, but that didn’t change the fact that it had. It didn’t change the fact that Wen Ruohan had been growing steadily more offended by the way Lao Nie never seemed to trust him anymore, the way he always ascribed the worst possible motives to him, the way he seemed to think so little of him. Lao Nie had always had a suspicious side to him, which Wen Ruohan had once liked, a point of similarity between them, but he hadn’t liked it when it was aimed at him. Especially when he actually hadn’t done anything to deserve it!

Suspicion – anger – disdain –

It had never occurred to Wen Ruohan that it could have been caused by a qi deviation.

Perhaps it should have, given Lao Nie’s poisonous heritage, but it never had. Lao Nie was Lao Nie: he laughed where his ancestors would have shouted, let his anger carry him forward without letting it master him. He’d looked for solutions to his familial issue, of course, the way all of his ancestors had, but he’d done so idly, not serious, never serious. He always took things so easily. How could he die of rage?

How could he die?

“How long?” Wen Ruohan asked. The Nie sect doctors knew their business by now, after as many generations as it had been. “What do they say?”

“Ten years,” Lan Qiren said, and Wen Ruohan actually took a step back, staggering, horrified: that was so short. “Nie Mingjue said they’d expressed hope for fifteen, maybe even twenty, but that may have been meant only as comfort. As you know, Nie sect leaders die faster the more powerful they are, and Lao Nie’s cultivation is very strong.”

Wen Ruohan shook his head in denial, but he knew even as he did that it wasn’t something that he could deny.

Lao Nie was strong. And now that very strength was going to take him to the end of his life – too young, too soon, even for a Nie. It was all well and good to speak of trading your future for your present, but one day the future would come calling to collect the debt that had been incurred…

“I told Nie Mingjue that we would help however we could, do whatever we could about it,” Lan Qiren said. “Both of us. I assume you do not object?”

“There isn’t anything to be done about it.” Wen Ruohan pressed his fingers to his temples, which throbbed with a sudden headache, his body already starting to express the grief his mind could not yet accept. “Do you think the Qinghe Nie hate their children? They know what inheritance they are passing to them, they know what it costs, what it will take. They all look for a way out, every one of them…if it was easy, if there was a solution, don’t you think they would have found it by now? Every generation has its geniuses. Medicine, cultivation, esoteric arts; they’ve tried them all.”

“I know. There is no guarantee of success. We can only continue to try.” Lan Qiren hesitated, his face twisting into some strange expression that Wen Ruohan couldn’t quite parse. “If you wish…I had already told you that – that I would not object, if you wished to – with Lao Nie – ”

It was unusually garbled for the typically eloquent Lan Qiren, but Wen Ruohan still got the gist.

He shook his head.

“His mood at the party was foul,” he said. “He’s not taking it well, I assume? He’s still processing the revelation himself. Right now he wouldn’t accept a kind word, much less anything else.”

Lan Qiren nodded.

“And…” Wen Ruohan grimaced. “And I don’t know if I want to, anyway.”

That took Lan Qiren by surprise, Wen Ruohan could tell. He hadn’t been expecting that.

In fairness, before he’d said it, Wen Ruohan hadn’t been expecting to say it. If a few months ago someone had come to him and told him that they could prove that Lao Nie hadn’t really meant all the ways he’d been cruel or distrusting – and even if they’d warned him that there was no way to fix it, no way to have the old Lao Nie back, back as he’d been when things had been good – then Wen Ruohan wouldn’t have hesitated to jump right back into his bed.

But that was then. That was before he’d had Lan Qiren – Lan Qiren, who wasn’t light-hearted, who didn’t take everything easily, who was serious and sober and sincere. Who’d given Wen Ruohan his heart, whole and entire; who trusted him, and had faith in him, and forgave him, even against his better instincts. Who loved him, and wasn’t afraid to tell him. Who had let Wen Ruohan change him, who hadn’t been afraid to seek to change Wen Ruohan in turn.

Lan Qiren, who’d told him with all seriousness that he had lost his mind over him.

Wen Ruohan wasn’t alone anymore. He didn’t need to be content with the scraps of Lao Nie’s inconstant heart, which in truth belonged to no one and likely would never, could never. He didn’t need to be constantly hurting himself by wanting more than he could get, and never getting even what he deserved as the man’s friend.

“The qi deviation might have been the cause of his changed behavior,” Wen Ruohan said slowly, feeling it out for himself even as he spoke. “But it still happened. He still did it. Isn’t it the same for you, what happened with the Fire Palace? Just because there was a valid explanation doesn’t change the reality of it – what happened, still happened.”

He’d been hurt by Lao Nie’s seeming disregard of him. He’d been angry, yes, his vanity offended, but…it had been another betrayal, in a lifetime full of them.

Wen Ruohan was so very tired of betrayals.

He could admit, if only to himself, that some of the incompatibility between him and Lao Nie had preceded the qi deviation. Wen Ruohan was ambitious and greedy, he couldn’t be content with only a part of a person’s heart rather than the totality of it, and Lao Nie wasn’t capable of giving him what he wanted. And Wen Ruohan wasn’t able to give Lao Nie what he wanted, which was a connection that didn’t come with jealousy or unhappiness, something to enjoy without concern, without any strings attached.

“I forgave you for the Fire Palace,” Lan Qiren protested.

“Not everyone is you,” Wen Ruohan said, and omitted to mention you’re also in love with me, so your judgment is skewed in my favor – I’ll never complain about having an unfair advantage, but I prefer to recognize when they exist. “Anyway, like I said, it’s not the time. Lao Nie has ten years, and we will help him, just as you promised Nie Mingjue. Maybe we’ll figure out some way to give him a little longer – ”

Alternatively, they could try to find a way to make him immortal.

Wen Ruohan knew that most people thought he was joking when he said that becoming a god would solve a lot of his problems, but it really would. He was already so powerful, surely he just needed a little bit more…

Anyway, that was a later problem. As was the fact that Lan Qiren was also not yet immortal, though Wen Ruohan felt very confident that he’d be able to solve that problem before it became a pressing issue.

(And once they solved the problem of Lao Nie dying, they could perhaps once again discuss the other question. Lao Nie had always been very good in bed, and Wen Ruohan would be delighted to have the chance to introduce Lan Qiren to that fact, if he were willing. But he would only invite him in as a guest, the way Lao Nie preferred, and this time he would leave his heart out of it.)

“For the moment, we need to figure out who is trying to kill us. That’s the immediate issue,” he concluded, deciding not to think further on the subject of those he loved dying when there was a more pressing practical concern, denial and postponement having always served him very well in the past. Anyway, it was relevant. After all, immortality, in the sense of not dying of old age, was all well and good, but it wouldn’t help you if someone assassinated you.

In fact, even knowing that it had happened, even having lived through it, the whole thing still seemed somehow fake to Wen Ruohan. Who would dare try to assassinate him? With actual assassins, no less. Even if he was personally weakened, he still had all his influence, all his army, all his sect behind him. Surely whoever had ordered it would know that he would take vicious reprisals against them? Why would anyone risk such a thing…?

“There should be an answer to that by now,” he added. “Should we go see what it is?”

Lan Qiren blinked owlishly at him, as if surprised. “Have you not already figured it out? It took me a little time, thinking about it, but in retrospect it seems obvious.”

Now it was Wen Ruohan’s turn to be startled. He most certainly had not figured it out.

“What,” he said, a little disbelievingly, “surely not your brother again?”

“No,” Lan Qiren said. “It was Jin Guangshan. We are going to have to go to war.”

[thoughtyouwerentafraidofanything]

kai x fem reader where he rips her clothes(maybe skirt and tee) and then they have rough sex? and then maybe after they have a cult meeting so kai gives the reader some clothes of his

Rough

Pairings: kai anderson x female reader.

Summary:

Warnings: rough sex, swearing, choking, biting.

Authors note: why are you all full of such great ideas, really making me work hard writing these.

Your hands were clawing at eachother, groping, pinching, twisting, rubbing, anything that could be touched was played with through your clothes.

You had just came back from a day out with your friends. The group of you had went to a mall hoping to max out your cards and rock out of the centre with bags full of the best stuff. The smiles you had go in with had disappeared by the time you were leaving, upset you had found nothing time worthy.

You had huffed your way home, hesitating once you got to the front door of the house, you hadn't told kai where you went.

You were rather new to this cult business and forgotten to tell your 'leader' where you planned on going, when your friends had heard you joined a cult they laughed at you in your face claiming you had screws loose.

You took one last look at the calm night around you, the sky clear of clouds and streets clean of people, tucking your hair behind your ear you opened the door and entered the house.

Kai was livid.

He heard the door shut and came full force at you, his nostrils flared and face scrunched up in anger

"Where the fuck have have you been"

You were taken aback by his harsh approach, the thought of him getting so upset that you wen tout without telling him never crossed your mind.

"Shopping, I wanted to look nice for you-"

"You think I give a shit about what you wear, you tell me when you want to do something and I'll tell you whether or not I want you to go do it, got that"

Kai was up in your face at this point, why was he so mad?

When you didn't answer him straight away kai grew angrier, he pushed you by the shoulders making you stumble against the door .

"What the fuck, don't push me"

"I'll do whatever I want to you you belong to me now"

You decided to push kai back, you though he grew to big for his boots and wanted to push him down a notch.

"You are literally so fucking embarrassing kai no wonder my friends make fun of you"

You start to walk to the kitchen hoping to grab yourself a bottle of water but kais hand grabbing your hair stopped you from moving.

"The fuck did you say you bitch"

"I said your embarrassing and pathetic"

"You know what your lucky I don't fucking kill you right now"

Kai pushed you down onto the sofa and looked down at you, he began to lean down looking at you like you were some lonely puppy.

"But I need someone to fuck and look who's here"

You held eye contact with kai daring his to do anything.

"The whore"

You stood up and went to smack kai but his large hand encased your bracelet decorated wrist, his tongue licked your finger tips then your wrist all the while he made eye contact with you.

You didn't know how you felt, you hated when people thought they could talk bad about you and call you names but you joined this weird cult for kai because you were attracted to him and you still were.

"You think I'd suck you off after calling me a whore?"

You begin to laugh

"You expect me to let you go after joining the cult?"

Kai lowered down to the sofa and pulled you with him, his hands still holding your wrists.

He landed on the sofa with his legs spread wide, a tent growing in his pants, kais hands were still holding yours leading them to where he wanted them to go so when you fell down on top of him your hands were placed on his neck your finger tips brushing against the ends of his hair.

As you stabilised yourself kais hands wrapped around your back, his left hand loosely wrapped around your neck his fingers rubbing your jawline and his right hand on your lower back pushing your hips down and pressing it onto his.

His hands drew you closer his mouth attacking yours, Seconds later he forced his tongue into your mouth making sure to have felt every crevice in your mouth.

You felt kais right hand reach down to the skirt you were wearing his fingers fussing the fabric looking for a zip to undo. Much to his dismay he couldn't find one and decoded to push you off of him detach your mouth from his.

You stood up confused on why you had just let him French you after he had spoken to you like trash, you looked down at kai thinking to yourself, your eyes scanned his face you couldn't figure out why you were so attracted to him all of your friends had made it clear that they would rather kiss ass than his face.

Your eyes lowered down his body you watched in silence as kai undone his zip and reached to himself under his pants, you watched as his fist pumped up and down through his jeans and listened to the grunts he made to himself.

His left hand raised to you, his wrist flicking towards himself signalling for you to get closer to him, you obliged.

As soon as he felt the skin of your arm caress his hand he grasped down hard and pulled you down onto him, as you fell kai spun you arpund so your ass would be sat on his lap facing him.

You held onto kais knees for support as you felt him fiddle arpund woth the fabric of your clothes behind you.

Hearing some curse words you gasped as the sound of your skirt ripping flooded your ears, you looked down at your lap and saw the skirt begin to grow slack and fall off of your waist leaving you in your shirt and underwear, not to mention it was a thong.

You felt kais large hands knead the skin of your ass as he stared down at your figure, the feeling of something hot being rubbed against your back shocked you slightly, you reached your hand behind your body inspecting what kai had put against you.

Kai let you feel around, he waited until you found it and smirked as your hand clasped around it and twisted, a lewd moan left his lips as you kept hold of his cock.

Hearing this made you stop but without the relief of his boner kai was annoyed, and as punishment kai smacked your ass hard and unexpectedly.

The sting of your flesh made you clasp harder onto kais cock the feeling making him thrust up into your hand.

Now feeling impatient kai snatched your hand away from his dick and shuffled closer to you, sitting himself up his hand reached under your thong and pulled the fabric to the side.

You knew what was going to happen, would it be weird for you if you said you were ready for this?

The feeling of kai pressing himself through your thighs made your back arch slightly. You could feel how hot he was as he pulled his cock back and pushed himself against your wet slit.

You could feel the head of his dick pressing against your entrance, the pressure built as kai pushed himself inside of you, your pussy welcomed his cock swallowing the inches with your warmness.

Kai thrust into you until his hips were flush against your ass, he held your body to his, his left hand gripping your neck keeping your collar bone open to his access. His right hand reached to your chest cupping your tits.

"Tell me you won't leave the cult"

Kais breaths fanned against the back of your neck as he pulled himself out of you before slipping his cock back into your pussy, his left hand tightened arpund your neck his thumb caressing your jawline, his right hand kneaded your chest, groping hard and rolling your nipple between his thumb.

You couldn't help but release a breathy moan as much as you didn't want kai to know how much you were actually enjoying his actions you couldn't help but close your eyes and roll your hips onto kais as he thrust into you.

"Do as I fucking say"

Kais right hand moved from your chest to you shoulders holding you down onto his body, his thrusts became harsh the sounds of your skin slapping against his thumped through the room.

"Say. It. Bitch"

Every word came with a thrust of his cock.

"I-I won't...t.. leave" you struggled not to moan as you spoke.

"You won't leave me"

Kais head was laying on your shoulder blades as his hips forced themselves into yours.

"I-won't leave....y-you..k."

Something over took kai in that moment, pushing you off of his lap he spun you both around, you were now both standing up, you were bent over having to lean against the cushions on the couch to stay standing and kai was behind you pistoning his hips and thrusting his cock into your cunt.

You weren't expecting the slap of his hand coming down on your ass and were prepared for the sting it caused.

Kai watch your body move with his, with every thrust your tits bounced making him want to reach infront of you and squeeze them until you cried.

And what kai wanted to do, he done.

Before you knew it kai had you pressed against him with your back to his chest as his hands rubbed at you tits, his right hand making making you cry by pinching your hardened nipple.

You felt asthough you were bleeding when kai sunk his teeth into you shoulder, he always took marking you to the next level.

"This is all your fucking fault bitch"

Kais left hand reached to your neck forcing you to straighten your body.

"Tell me your sorry"

He ordered you

"Say you'll follow my orders"

Kais right hand moved from your breast and slicked down your body to your swollen pussy, he delivered a slap to your clit making you grab onto his body from behind you to keep yourself standing up.

"I'm sorry, please kai-a"

"Shut the fuck up slut"

Kai delivered a few more slaps to both you pussy and ass before he hooked his arms under your arms and held tightly onto your shoulders before beginning to pound into you.

You couldn't do anything, you couldn't move or speak you could just barely breath.

You stood and took kais rough thrusting, you yourself were becoming undone with kais cock pulsing inside of you but you couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing you enjoyed every minute of him treating you like nothing.

When kai came you felt your cunt fill with his cum, the feeling of stairs emptying inside of you made your band snap and pushed you into your own orgasm, you felt full of him with his cock still inside of you gently thrusting as he rode out his orgasm.

As soon as kai had calmed himself down he pulled out of you and pushed you to the side, you just so luckily landed on the sofa but the feeling of kais cum leaking out of you made you squirm and press your worn out thighs together.

"We've got a meeting in a minute"

Kai threw his shirt at you without bothering to look at you.

"You better fucking be there"

[allthelittlecreepycrawlies]

For spy. CQL setting. Meng Yao is already working for the wens. Let's pretend Wen Ruohan sent him to supervise his son to the adoctrination camp and reunites with NHS there, who is living his best life because Wen Chao confiscated his saber, considers him a coward and has given him servant tasks to humiliate him. But he's happy washing clothes in nice rivers than going to fruitless night hunts where Wen Chao takes all the credit. So, he pretends to be miserable just so Wen Chao won't target him longer and... Sangyao reunion with lots of feels! Any POV.

This ended up a bit angstier than you probably had in mind.

------------

Meng Yao checked his sleeves one more time as he made his way through the halls of the Fire Palace.

By now, he'd made a good enough impression on Wen Ruohan that ostensibly, he could go anywhere he pleased without being stopped by guards, but he knew better than put it past Wen Chao to order the guards to search him just to be a petty asshole.

Best to be careful.

Unlike their fellow "students," the heirs and anyone else high enough in sect hierarchy to make for valuable hostages had been given cells to themselves rather than be crammed into the barracks that had previously been used for non-cultivating soldiers.

As if the single cells were any more accommodating, really. They were barely big enough to fit two thin straw mattresses lying one on top of the other -"They should be glad they get two," he remembered Wen Chao sneering as he read the supply lists. "It's not like we have to give them that luxury."- on the bed-shelf hewn into the rock, and a small square table, with the only light coming from the torches in the hallway.

The guards barely paid attention to him -good, that meant Wen Chao had taken the route of pretending he didn't exist, rather than risk displeasing Wen Ruohan by actively antagonizing him- and he approached one of the cell doors, taking a small iron key out of his belt to unlock it.

As the shaft of light from opening the door fell across the bed-shelf in the back, Nie Huaisang roused and partially sat up, blinking sleepily.

"Hush," Meng Yao ordered, tone sharper than he had ever used with Huaisang before.

Whatever question Nie Huaisang had been about to ask went back down his throat with a hard swallow as his eyes went wide in recognition.

"Keep quiet and lie back down."

Betrayed, confused, and anxiety clearly growing, Huaisang did as he was told.

Only then did Meng Yao approach the bed and remove the small package of mantou from his sleeve and place it next to Huaisang's hand. "Don't eat them all at once," he said, finally allowing his voice to gentle now that the stone walls would mostly muffle anything they said. "I don't know how often I'll be able to visit you."

He had plans, though, now that he was absolutely sure that Huaisang had been included in the hostage situation.

He just had to hope that his sect leader's ever-changing moods remained in his favor.

"Yao-ge-"

He ran his fingers through hair that had been forcibly stripped of its braids, feeling Huaisang shudder. "Don't let them get to you. Wen Chao knows he's not allowed to hurt you, so he's already planning to humiliate you as much as possible without leaving any marks."

Wen Chao might not have been the brightest at the things he was actually supposed to learn, but he was surprisingly clever and vicious when it came to thinking up punishments, especially when he felt sleighted, as he probably did for being ordered to keep Nie Huaisang in one piece.

"Good thing I have no shame, huh?" Huaisang mumbled in a weak attempt at a joke, but he could feel the nervous tension thrumming through his former young master's body.

"Good thing." On impulse, Meng Yao bent down further and pressed a kiss to the back of Nie Huaisang's neck, then straightened and swept out of the cell, closing the door behind him and letting it lock.

Leaning back against the thick wooden door, he sighed and rubbed his head, wondering what had possessed him in that moment. He had just- It had bothered him that- He didn't want Huaisang to-

No matter, he thought, shaking it off and heading back the way he had come.

He had a request for an assistant to draft.

[salternateunreality2]

MDZS aka SephZack adventures update: episodes 14-23 SHUT UP I'M AN ADULT I CAN WATCH 9 EPISODES IN A ROW IF MY BABIES ARE IN DANGER

Cough

Anyway

Spoilers...

------

Zack: let's fight the tortoise of slaughter!!!!

Sephiroth: *stares in besotted wtf*

Zack: no, it'll be super cool, we can kill it and get the glory and solve the mystery and most importantly, I won't be bored waiting for Genesis to get back!

Sephiroth: *stares in besotted 'bruh, my leg is broke, you ribs is broke, we both got open wounds, we're starving to death, and you want to fight a giant tortoise'*

Zack: no really, I checked and we can't get out, so I'mma be super bored. Come onnnnnn, it'll be fun! 🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶♥️🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

Sephiroth: ...this is going to be our entire relationship, isn't it? Ok.

Zack: YESSSSSS, after we make some weapons, I'll jump into its shell because apparently that's a thing I can do!

Sephiroth: ...ok

---------------

The fight with the dick head (literally) Tortoise of Slaughter (solid naming decision) goes great, but Zack succumbs to the infection he undoubtedly got from SWIMMING WITH AN OPEN WOUND AND PROBABLY BROKEN RIBS, THEN RUNNING AROUND THE FESTERING INNARDS OF A TORTOISE OF SLAUGHTER.

Sure, the evil sword energy probably didn't help, and I'm sure canon is saying "um, actually" as we speak, but come on, Zack. The magic grass you packed into your boo's leg wound next to the weirdly short, unsanitary sticks was limited.

---------

The whole fight, Zack is battling with the evil sword miasma, and Sephiroth is making this face:

It's very cute, I am HERE for it.

--------

Zack: 😵

Sephiroth: 😦😦😦😦 you have a fever!!!

Salty: gee I wonder why

Zack: mmm sing me a song

Salty: how about medical treatment, such as getting you out of the wet clothes, sharing spiritual energy, prying your hands off the evil sword that made you sick...

Sephiroth: ok *sings in simp*

Zack: 🥴😵‍💫 what's that song called?

Sephiroth: Wangxian, our ship name, but I don't say it out loud so the Chinese censors are happy ❤️

Zack: ❤️😵‍💫🥴🐶❤️😵

Salty: ffs, if cuteness could cure stupidity, we wouldn't be in this situation, but as it is, keep trying to fix his stupidity/fever with adorableness, it's working for my shipping heart.

---------

The next [way too many] episodes:

------

Then Wen Ning aka Cloud comes in clutch! Wen Ning is baby, and he is BEST BABY EVER ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🐥

-------

Some quick plot points:

Genesis gets degradation, Zack gets him out of it.

Gen's girlfriend helps because she's nice (?) like that.

Gen's parents die.

A war happens with zombie degradation clones.

Zack gets yeeted by the villains into a den of unmitigated horror (not Hojo's labs, but just as nasty).

Everything sucks.

I sat on the toilet to cry into my shirt, not knowing why. It was because I watched the sad thing in my room and the toilet was the only place where the sad wasn't happening. Also it took me a full several hours to realize watching a sad thing made me sad #neurodivergence #isfun #andquirky!

THEN THE BOYS GOT BACK TOGETHER FUCK YEAH!!!!!

---------

Sephiroth: you should probably not fuck around with this newfound angry spirit power...

Zack: remember my cute puppy face?

Sephiroth: fuck

Zack: 🐶

Sephiroth: 🥴

Genesis: STOP MAKING EYES AT EACH OTHER. FUCK OR GET TO WORK!

Angeal (btw he's alive): they are so fucking cute

Zack's sister: dude they so are ❤️

Genesis: we are at WAR

Angeal: I'm gonna be a bridesmaid

Zack's sister: GASP we should get matching outfits!

Genesis: 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

--------

Zack: *waits until the LAST minute to whip out his fancy angry spirit powers* Hey Idiot Poop Face, how bout that?!

Idiot Poop Face: 🤬 *chokes Zack* *it's not kinky*

Sephiroth; *is jealous anyway* *catches bb Zack as he passes out from using angry spirit powers and being choked* *my dude was like half a football field away* *then he appeared out of nowhere to catch his boo*

Salty: *clicks rewind several times because it's fucking adorable*

[fourseasonsfigs]

Time and Space Folding

The title of this fig comes from Zhehan's beautiful unreleased song, "When Glaciers Disappear" that he sang the first part of on the Elizabeth Arden livestream. Very suitable for this fig set, where we have Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun in their Word of Honor styling with modern clothes.

The lyrics to this song are hauntingly beautiful. The first line of the song is, 如果时空折叠街景后退, which roughly translates to, If time and space folds and the streets go backwards

For Junjun's look here, we have these shooting photos:

Pre-wig, but with the apple!

And for Zhehan, I can't find this specific photo and this specific outfit! I searched through all my pics (which are badly organized and not at all thorough, clearly), and have disappointed not only you but myself. In recompense I can only offer these ones of him in his wig and hairclips in modern clothes.

Thanks to the clever and talented Ennis, the inspiration for Zhehan's fig styling has been found! I will leave my other Zhehan pics here because they are too beautiful to delete, but continue on...

The last one is a screenshot from his behind the scenes walkthrough of the costuming room from Youku, similar to the one Gong Jun did.

Finally, here's the pictures! This was a fan visit during filming. Zhehan's look here is really such a fun blend of the ancient and the modern - no wonder the fig maker found this so inspirational.

So cute. We see them here with their socks and slides, which never fails to make me giggle.

The white rose is the white rose we see in Gong Jun's assistant's bag:

It found it's intended target here in this fig!

I'm so happy I have the inspiration pic for these figs now - I can really see all the details the maker put into it.

Everyone loves white hair Junjun. Every time I see him with the white hair I flash back to the BTS of Zhehan fascinated by his wig. It really IS a crime we didn't get more airtime with white haired Wen Kexing.

Better view of all that luxurious mass of hair being held back by the hair clips. I actually love all the BTS shots with their hair neatly clipped and also when they tie the hair back in ponytails. It just seems like such a wonderful sneak peek into all the behind the scenes TV magic.

Not a whole lot to see from this angle other than the full shot of the apple and Zhehan's socks.

I bought these off Xianyu since I missed them the first time around. The boxes came in good shape, but no cards were included. These boxes are quite unique - no other figs have come in kraft-paper boxes with these string ties. I like them!

Very cute.

Material: PVC

Fig Count: 176

Scene Count: 13

Rating: What is the best kind of love? Unchanged and firm.

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

[llycaons]

ep25 (pt 1): the superior PM blindfolding and wx scene

picking up directly where we left off last episode, wwx and jyl coming back in from harvesting lotus, wwx teasing the kids all the way. it's cute! and jyl is sooo pretty

jzx shows up so she changed, I guess. her clothes were wet anyway

jzx is such a dork in this episode. yeah. he's obnoxious and arrogant to her later, but when his awkward immaturity slips out from his veneer of smug superiority, it's quite endearing.

I do NOT know what jyl sees in him before this but maybe she was just excited to get married and be loved by someone? but in this episode she was going to dump him if he didn't change how he treated her which is the only way I got invested in their relationship. he had to work for it and prove himself and be genuine and selfless and kind!! and he did!! rip

this is so funny I love him

wwx is so good at deflecting, I feel like most fics don't do it as naturally or skilfully as canon did. teasing, confident, bordering on condescending. he has such a strong personality and it sucks to see him reduced to 'traumatized and clingy crier'. he is all three of those things too, and postcanon he is a bit chiller but he's still HIMSELF. bold and clever and sarcastic and unwilling to grovel before authority

this is SUCH a jyl and wwx episode. they're so silly together, he's making her laugh and she's hiding her smile behind her fan. this reminds me of the goofy things my little brother would do 🥺 he's not dead or anything I just haven't seen him in months

the wens getting paraded out really changed the tone of the scene. EVERYONE was taken aback, everyone looked shocked or nervous. wwx is the most visibly angry, and it's only bc of jc's frantic motions to 'DON'T DO ANYTHING' that he steps back. honestly I get jc's fears here, but...sign. tho none of the other sect leaders did anything either, looking at you lan 'fair judgement' xichen and nie 'justice' mingjue. lwj is also curiously subdued this episode - lxc says later he's distracted but he's even less expressive than usual

everyone handing him stuff cracks me up. he doesn't even need to LOOK. and his bow and arrows matchy with his robes and the tents and the tower itself WOW this world is so color-coordinated

ohhh super impressive! I wonder how anyone can beat a perfect bullseye?

this request kind of baffled me, bc his forehead ribbon is far too narrow to use as a blindfold. maybe he wanted it as a good-luck charm? the cut to jc looking angry was kind of funny though. how dare wwx be so shamelessly gay in public etc.

we never see these unwrapped iirc 👀

and of course they have matching bows for the yunmeng aesthetic

HELL YEAH. SEXIEST MOMENT OF THE EPISODE

aww even jc clapping for him. this expression is like one of the nicest he ever gets

and he's smiling to his sister!!! his face is honestly a little sexy for that but that's what he's doing

DUDE DUDE THIS SCENE!!!! wwx all alone, then seeing lwj, then remembering lxc's warning and looking away, then lwj seeing him and LEAVING THE PATH TO COME JOIN HIM ANYWAY??!! yet another of the tiny re-enactments of their relationship over the course of the show. and wwx's eyes get so big when lwj comes to him, he's clearly so touched that lwj isn't abandoning him even if he can't tell him the truth.

fuck I love the post-ss arc SO much this is like catnip to me the relationships and the drama and the tragedies are all so delicious

eh, I'll always favor 'soulmate' even if it it's technically correct. honestly 'confidante' would work better here too. anywa THIS IS IT!!!! I STILL AM!!! so earnest, so full of love, so ready to help, so scared for him. ough, the romance. the tragedy!

wwx looks at chenqing for such a long time after lwj says that...lwj wants to know what's going on and how he can help but wwx is so paranoid and traumatized and afraid that he just can't say it 😭

and this scene, where they're just looking at each other for a long time...the tension in this scene was INTENSE. if it had gone on a little longer, who knows what would have happened.

[djinmer4]

Finally got around to watching MDZS Season 3

How did Xue Yang know Wei Wuxian was back?  Jin Guangyao didn’t know, Nie Huaisang wouldn’t have told him, no one in Yi City would know either.

A-Qing is weirdly busty for a teenage beggar.

The timeline for the donghua is so f-ed up, if I didn’t know the plot already I’d have a hard time understanding what’s going on.

Lan Zhan has absolutely no thoughts in his head while drunk.

“Just don’t antagonize anyone.” Lan Zhan knew WWX could not follow that for even 5 minutes and probably not even 1 minute.

Probably not the first time someone tried to convince Qin Su that her husband was responsible for Rusong’s death.  I wonder what Bicao either mentioned or wrote that convinced her.  Or why she already had doubts about Jin Guangyao that made her believe the letter.

Still can’t figure out how we’re supposed to believe Meng Yao killed Wen Ruohan without help. 

(Random thought: Wen Qing was helping Meng Yao poison Wen Ruohan and the reason the Dafan Wen ended up in the worst of the Jin concentration camps was because he was trying to deliberately silence her.)

Can’t see why Nie Mingjue went ahead with the sworn brothers thing either.  Meng Yao definitely bought his life with his actions but I don’t see why they would want to associate with each other ever again.  (Well, Meng Yao’s motivation is clear, ambition and access to power, but Nie Mingjue’s is not.)

Is WWX and LWJ dyeing their clothes red supposed to be romantic?

Xichen being the one who sent Sisi and Bicao to be witnesses puts an interesting spin on things.

Getting Sisi’s memories through Inquiry does seem more credible than just having two witnesses just show up to give testimony.

NHS, you really went out of your way to get caught, didn’t you?

No one expects Jin Ling, do they?

Xichen, NHS didn’t even get hit in this adaptation, why are you giving him medicine?

This one’s not very nice to Xichen’s character, he really does look like a fool.

From a Doyalist perspective, NHS is the only candidate for mastermind, given that he’s the only surviving Nie with screentime and NMJ being the severed corpse.  But from a Watsonian perspective it could be anyone who admired NMJ or hated JGY.  I would not want to prove a case against NHS.

WWX’s discretion is all over the place.  He can’t last 5 minutes in the conference without antagonizing everyone else, but knows better than to let NHS know that he knows about the plot, then breaks into the Lotus Pier Ancestral Hall when he hasn’t been part of the Jiang sect since his first life.

It really is supposed to be a marriage isn’t it?

Why did WWX think that giving LWJ alcohol would go any better this time?

I guess the change in the timeline explains why JWY went into seclusion, he no longer has JGY’s death to distract him from the revelations.

NHS had an easy time becoming Chief Cultivator in this verse.

Where’s Mianmian at the end?

[starsxinxthexbluexsky]

Wei Wuxian's Outfit With Shoulder Pads Styled As Trunk Rings And Crossed At The Bottom | Episode 20 - 21 - 22 - 23

The Untamed | WangXian’s Outfits [25/∞]

[kwontinue]

good morning, good afternoon or whatever time it is that you’re reading this! i really love your works, they always manage to put a smile on my face!! i was just wondering what you think about seventeen choosing their s/o outfits? i hope you enjoy the rest of your day ☺️

ootd

seventeen reacts to them choosing their s/o outfits

a/n: hi anon! i am actually reading this during the afternoon ruhdjeb also thank you for sending this ask in, i really love it!

choi seungcheol

this is a but blunt but i am pushing the scoups suggar daddy agenda

when you ask him to choose out an outfit for you, he would hand you a tshirt and pants which feels underwhelming ( which it it )

until he pulls you to his car, drives to the mall, and spoils you. buying anything that catches his eyes and he would love for you to wear

yoon jeonghan

would match your outfits with his. that's it.

i mean we've all seen the jihan / jeongcheol pics right? he would def want to match with you

would choose either the same clothes as his or matching colors or themes

hong jisoo

he does this for you at least once a month to make you feel taken care of

he would run you a bath, layout all your beauty products on your vanity, and your clothes on the bed

he's just so hubby material i wanna cry

wen junhui

would call hao for advice on what he chose

don't judge him, he just wants to make sure that's it your style and you'll look completely amazing in it ( not that he has to try that hard since everything looks good on you )

very flustered when you walk out all dressed and ready since you look gorgeous

kwon soonyoung

hw would make you wear tiger print gebehebrg

HE JUST WANTS TO FEEL YOUR SUPPORT FOR HIS HORANGHAE AGENDA OKAY?!

puts you in a cute outfit but really really does incorporate tiger print in it

jeon wonwoo

unbothered.

i mean again, he would love to choose the outfit that you would wear but you ask him for advice on what to wear everyday so how is this different?

showers you in compliments

lee jihoon

again, my heart says that he would adore this but my mind says he wouldn't

i think he would feel uncomfortable choosing clothes for you since that's you and he loves you and who you are and he doesn't feel the need to change that or make you "more to his liking"

but if he WANTS you to wear something he'll leave it out or subtly give you hints

lee seokmin

will ABSOLUTELY blush and giggle

he thinks it sweet that you'd let him pic out your outfits and he would really try his best to "capture you"

will rain praises on you when you dress up in the outfit that he chose

kim mingyu

mingyu is not even in my bias line and i obsess over him so much

there is a specific scenario that i imagine where this would play out

he would have gone to the mall and bought you a cute top or any article of clothing

would come home excited shows you, lays out an outfit thenntakes you out on a date

yes. i immediately thought of that, i need help

xu minghao

he would be indifferent when you ask him to do this because it's a routine by now

everyone knows that hao is the main fashionista of the group so it's no surprise that you always ask him for outfit advice everyday

has a cute little smirk when you come out in the outfit that he chose and looking gorgeous

boo seungkwan

this would happen when you two get into an argument ( not a serious one ) about your clothes and how they are not covering you enough from the cold winds of winter

you would rebutt that he could choose what you wear, and he does

would have you wrapped up from head to toe ensuring that you went get cold in the slightest

chwe hansol

i feel like he would either give you one of three options: a basic outfit ( like a white tshirt and pants ), a very experimental outfit , and a fashionable one

he's just so adorable making your outfits that you'd wear it even if it's not your style

lee chan

happy baby!

he would literally feel so honored and pressured ( but you don't need to know that ) in choosing your outfits

overthinks and thinks that you might not like what he has chosen for you so he has multiple back up options

[silverflame2724]

Genshin Impact x MDZS

Well I have a test in three or so hours and I really should get some sleep but…..I needed to write this down before I forget.

_____________________

Wei Wuxian had been messing around with some teleportation talismans, ones that wouldn’t need the use of spiritual energy, if at all. He needed to be prepared, after all, in the worst case scenario where the sects would storm the Burial Mounds and slaughter them all. However, these talismans not only needed to activate with little energy but also needed to transport a person to a very far distance.

So it came as to no surprise that when he tested the talisman out, he found himself in a completely foreign place. And panicked.

The area around him was lush and vibrant, filled to the brim with natural energy, but Wei Wuxian couldn’t focus on that. He needed to get back the Burial Mounds now!

Before he could even find a way to write out a talisman, the ground shook violently as something approached. Rapid footsteps soon came near him and Wei Wuxian tensed.

The bush in front of him rustled and Wei Wuxian had Chenqing at the ready, in preparation to defend himself but the person - no, people - that emerged from the shrubbery didn’t look hostile. In fact, they seemed exhausted and beat up.

They looked….odd, too. There was a…..young man(?) who was carrying a jade-colored spear and wore matching clothing. His eyes were golden and had slits in them while his hair was…..a dark green? He didn’t feel human. Wei Wuxian noticed then that he was carrying a little girl who was — Wei Wuxian nearly choked from the shock - dead! She was dead yet had the same sort of liveliness that Wen Ning did. But her hair was as purple as her clothes.

The young man was the first to speak his voice somewhat hoarse and harsh as he shoved the unconscious girl towards him, “Take her and get out of here. It is dangerous.”

“What about you?”

“I will be fine. But she will not.”

“You’re injured, let me help.”

“I’ve dealt with worse. Now, go!”

Wei Wuxian couldn’t even ask why when he saw it. Some….big creature(?) that was made of metal stomped towards them. It stopped all of a sudden and the eye(?) on its face(?) seemed to glow.

Wei Wuxian had a bad feeling that whatever would happen next would not be good. So, he made a decision. He grabbed the stranger and activated his talisman, praying it would get them back to the Burial Mounds and away from…..whatever that was.

………………..

“What even was that?” Wei Wuxian asked as he settled the two strangers in his cave.

“A Ruin Grader.” The young man replied. “………Thanks for the help.” He mumbled quietly.

“Hmm? What was that? I couldn’t hear you!” Wei Wuxian teased.

The man kept his mouth shut in a way that reminded him awfully of Lan Zhan.

“Anyway, I’ll go call Wen Qing. Maybe she could help with your injuries.”

“No need.” Then he frowned. “Where are we?”

“My….uhh, temporary home, the Burial Mounds!”

“Burial…..Mounds? Hmm, then it is no wonder why I can hear them.”

“Hear…..them? Wait, you can hear them too?”

The young man looked at him strangely. “You can hear the voices of the dead? But you are human. That should not be possible.”

Huh. The way he said that makes me believe he isn’t human.

“Uhh,” Wei Wuxian tittered. “Well, let’s just say that things happened and I can hear them. But how can you hear them?”

The young man said nothing, but there was a flash of muted pain that passed through his eyes.

“Anyway!” He clapped. “I’m Wei Wuxian.” He exclaimed cheerfully, though he was secretly on guard that this person might be an enemy. Damn, perhaps he should have brought them to Yiling in case they would show harm to him or the Wens.

“Adeptus, Xiao.” He introduced himself.

“Adeptus….? What is that?”

Xiao gave him an impassive look. “You do not know?”

Wei Wuxian had the impression that he was being dubbed an idiot. “No, I do not.”

There was a bit of surprise before the neutral expression returned to his face. “Adeptus are…..hmm, guardians, mainly comprised of magical beings or gods. I am of the former.”

“I…..see. Thank you for the information.” Wei Wuxian said, though he fidgeted as the conversation fell flat. “Oh right! That Ruin thingy that was chasing you, where is it from and why did it attack you?”

Xiao looked like he wanted to do the furthest thing than talk at that moment, but nevertheless acquiesced. “It was bothering the people of Liyue so I went to destroy it.”

“Liyue? Where is that?”

“……In Teyvat.”

“Teyvat?”

Xiao, “……..”

Wei Wuxian, “……..”

.

.

.

So. So, so, so. It seems like that teleportation talisman worked a little too well and ended up transporting Wei Wuxian to a completely different world. Which is, well, good to know, considering the situation at hand.

The little girl, Qiqi, had woken up and immediately started doing so stretching exercises - apparently, it helped stop the stiffening of her limbs. Which is helpful to know, considering he has Wen Ning to think about.

Now then, the problem at hand - that seems to make Xiao a little distressed - is that the talisman that he used to step into their world doesn’t really work. And by that, he means it doesn’t get them back into the world they originally came from. It gets them to different worlds, some of which are too dangerous to ever really traverse.

So Xiao and Qiqi are stuck here for the time being and it stresses them both out. But Qiqi seems to be quite fascinated with Wen Ning and Xiao, for all that he’s been grumpy, has helped him understand resentful energy. Wei Wuxian even managed to extract the resentful energy that seems to be torturing Xiao and it makes the man a lot nicer.

Weeks pass by and soon comes the day when Wei Wuxian had to attend Jin Ling’s one month celebration. He had wanted to leave Qiqi and Xiao behind, but both had insisted on coming with him. Qiqi, of course, didn’t want to be left behind with strangers she had barely known and wanted to stick close to Wen Ning who Wei Wuxian had brought along. With Xiao……Wei Wuxian likes to think he and Xiao are somewhat tentative friends and with Xiao coming to know Wei Wuxian’s situation - what with the common people gossiping - Wei Wuxian thinks that Xiao worries for his safety no matter how much he denies it.

And well, he was right.

The Jins had ambushed him under the false interpretation that he cursed one of them. Xiao and Wen Ning immediately sprung into action. Though Xiao could not kill mortals unless under due stress - cause he had a contract or whatnot - there was nothing stopping him from disabling the enemy.

Then, Jin Zixuan appeared. But somehow, Wei Wuxian consciousness became hazy as the resentful energy from the Seal acted up. Between one moment and the next, Wei Wuxian heard a sickening crunch and watched in horror as Wen Ning’s fist punched a gaping hole through Jin Zixuan.

“A’ Li……is still…..waiting for you……”

“No. No, no, no!!”

Jin Zixuan collapsed to the floor dead, the Jin around him calling for his death.

And perhaps, in another time, another life, this would have snowballed into his own death. But this was not that life.

Qiqi, who had been assisting Xiao in fending off the Jin, tugged on his sleeves and asked if Jin Zixuan was an enemy. Wei Wuxian, still somewhat coherent, said he was not.

Qiqi nodded her head and the light blue ornament on her hat glowed. A talisman appeared in her palm and an icy blast of energy flung the Jin away from them, settling around Jin Zixuan’s still body.

Then, the unimaginable happened. The fatal wound on Jin Zixuan’s body healed quicker than a blink of the eye and….he moved.

He got up rather slowly, shaking the ice crystals clinging to his clothes. “What on earth?”

Wei Wuxian could ask the same thing.

Qiqi tugged on his robes again, “Did I do good?”

Wei Wuxian was speechless and patted her head. “Yes, you did very good.”

[vrishchikawrites]

Hey I was wondering if u knew of a specific wangxian fic?

It's an au where the wen sect only attacks cloud recess, and the other sects don't interfere. But lwj forms a rebellion and fights back against the wen sect and earns his title and takes over as sect leader bc his uncle and brother were killed. Anyway, the other sects want to form better ties with the lan sect but lwj just asks for 1 person to be sent. The other sects take this to mean a hostage or something, and ofc send wwx in like concubine silks. Wwx, during the war, tried to rally the sects to help the lan but was shut down, so he helped raid against the wens in secret by "going on long night hunts". He gets sent to gusu under the assumption that he has to be perfect and not antagonize the great hanguanjun into attacking the other sects. Then he finds out how sweet lwj is and is actually really enjoying himself in gusu bc he's treated as a respected cultivator and gets better clothes and gets to teach classes. He and lwj even spar and the love between them grows. The lwj gets a letter from wen Qing and it turns out that he(lwj) and wq both know wwx(wq bc wwx saved her fam and her from being found and killed and helped relocate them to yiling, and lwj from wq bc she hyped him up (like a great wingwoman)and lwj heard about the intellegent disciple, a fantastic swordsman and cultivator that helps the common people and invents talismans and is treated horribly but has a heart of gold, who tried to rally the sects and was shut down like a child even tho he was right and helps during the war despite being told not to) anyway so lwj shows wwx the letter and in it it says that wq can vouch for lwj and that the whole "hostage thing" was really a plot by the 2 of them to get wwx out bc the jins were going to attack wq and her fam and frame wwx as a wen sympathizer and execute him in order to get in good with the lans( the powerful sect that repelled and defeated the wens). So wwx asks why did lwj not tell him before and lwj says he was waiting for wq letter to get there for wwx to believe him. Then wwx asks how did lwj know for sure that they'd send him and lwj looks at him and says "bc they do not treasure wei ying like he deserves" and wwx gets all flustered then asks how lwj even met wq in the first place and apparently lxc isn't dead like everyone thought, wq is just healing him bc he's in a coma since the attack at cloud recess.

(Thats the last thing I remember bc I was caught up at the time and don't know if there have been updates)

I read it a while ago but haven't been able to find it (foolish me thought I bookmarked it and I didn't 😭)

Well fortunately, I absolutely do. It is one of my favorite fics.

[robininthelabyrinth]

AU where NMJs mom is a rogue cultivator and alive but doesn't want to see her child for reasons of her own. OR if you wanna go a bit dark AU where Lao Nie killed both his human partners in the midst of qi deviation induced insanity

“I’ve always hated children,” the woman said abruptly, and Jin Guangyao glanced at her in surprise.

He had no idea who she was – some rogue cultivator, based on her clothing, and an older one, too, based on the lines by her eyes, though the retained youth in the rest of her features suggested that her cultivation was quite high – but he smiled politely nonetheless. She must have been someone, he supposed, to have gotten an invitation to one of Jinlin Tower’s parties.

Why she’d decided to start talking to him, he had no idea. Maybe he just had a trustworthy face. Or perhaps she was drunk…?

“I bore one, once,” she said. “Everyone said that even if you don’t like children in general, you like your own.” She paused. “…didn’t work for me, though.”

Jin Guangyao made a polite noise of sympathy.

“I was still young back then. Impulsive – reckless. Careless, you could say. I saw everything in black and white. So when it didn’t work out, I just…left.”

That, at least, was shocking enough to get Jin Guangyao to arch his eyebrows a little, wondering if she’d just left the babe to die of exposure or if she’d left it with the father, to be raised a motherless wretch.

“I tried to go back some years later, when he was old enough to actually talk to, but of course it was too late by then,” she said wistfully. “You don’t get a second chance with things like that. I never thought I’d regret anything, and I did, not until I saw him – it turned out that he’s just like me. For good or for evil, I suppose; it’s all black and white for him, good and evil, righteousness above all…never thought I’d be on the wrong side of that. It’s harder than I thought it’d be.”

“Of course,” Jin Guangyao murmured, his interest now completely extinguished. “Now, if you’ll forgive me, I think someone’s calling –”

“You will stay right where you are,” the woman said, voice suddenly hard, and Jin Guangyao found to his horror that his feet were rooted to the ground. He’d underestimated her: her cultivation was not merely high, but monstrous – if she was not on par with the likes of Wen Ruohan, she certainly was well on her way to it.

“Madame – please – help, someone..!”

“Do you know what the strangest part of it is?” she asked, cutting him off, her tone back to how it had been before. “Even though I never really got to know him, and never will, I still feel…something about him. For him. Not love, of course, there’s no such thing at such a distance, but still something. Perhaps I’m just vain, seeing in him a reflection of myself. Who knows? Not me.”

She shrugged and put her hand on Jin Guangyao’s shoulder, forcing him to look at her instead of flailing around to try to get someone’s attention despite how no one seemed to notice them, not even the people standing only a few steps away.

Her hand felt as heavy as a mountain.

“I don’t know why I feel the way I do,” she said conversationally. “But I do. And if you do anything to harm my boy, I will make you regret it so hard that you’ll still be weeping three lifetimes from now. Understand?”

“I understand,” Jin Guangyao forced out.

“Good,” she said, and left.

Jin Guangyao was still catching his breath in sheer relief when, only a few moments later, Nie Mingjue, of all unfortunate people, showed up.

“Did you happen to – are you all right?” he asked, frowning, and Jin Guangyao nodded instinctively. “Well, then. Did you see which way the woman who was standing here went?”

“I think she left…wait, you know her?” Jin Guangyao asked, horrified all over again. That was the last thing the Jin sect needed; the Nie sect was powerful enough without adding someone like that to their ranks.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Nie Mingjue said, and he sounded strangely bitter. “And I suppose that doesn’t surprise me to hear – after all, my mother’s primary talent seems to be leaving.”

[wwjgyd]

various scribbles for a Berserk AU which is mostly just for aesthetics. Something Something about the general vibe of his clothes are actually part of his body? In his everyday form he always has his eyes closed preventing the blood to seep out but also so people can’t tell his eyesockets are actually empty. White flowers, probably peonies growing out from them circling his head a bit like a halo. (I think I had the image of the Jin Sects trait from @ehyde​ ‘s Forms and Transformations AU in mind where the “monstrous” Jin form is like a walking flower garden. Check it out here! The different forms are very interesting and the intro is a chilling tale.)

Su She for scale.

Jin Guangyao gets to be tall because I wanted him to look to other people like a statue of a benevolent god having come to life, maybe he gets some skin discoloration so he looks like a white Jade statue adorned in gold? But it’s also so Su She can conveniently hide under his robes... which is also why Su She gets not to be an apostle as fun as the design might be. Idk what what his form would be but something that would emphasize his devotion to Jin Guangyao, like overgrown with flowers to the point of no longer recognisable. Beautiful and terrifying? Well you know the video game thing when the boss absorbs or uh eats a minion to heal himself/power up? Well yes. That.

The plot wouldn’t be much different but eh Guanyin temple confrontation might take place more outside because that’s Jin Guangyao’s like regular slightly monstrous shape and not his dark apostle form. (That’s the big-ass mermaid I posted idk probably in 2019?) let me just attach it here.(wow it’s actually even still from 2018)

I like the sketch better though.

Who’s the sacrifice? Since it’d follow canon plot Qin Su or Rusong would strike as most obvious choice but I think Jin Guangshan would be interesting because of how it reflects him giving up on the hope he’d ever be truly accepted as a son and it would conveniently line up with him becoming Sect leader.

It’d also fit well with Wen Ruohan being an Apostle(that’s what the other scribbles are) too and the one who told Meng Yao about how to become one including the necessary sacrifice in a “As your mentor I’m just giving you the information, what you make of it, whether you will take this step or not is up to you” I wonder if there’d be more Sect leaders who are apostles since it’d be usually very noticeable and there should be more than just Wen Ruohan and Jin Guangyao so people seeing extra tall Jin Guangyao wouldn’t think it’s a bad thing. Maybe see it more like a sign of being given some kind of divine power since the actual way it works would be secret.

It could also be interesting for Nie Sect if it’s a different type of deal where it’s delayed? Like maybe you are yourself the sacrifice in that case? Apostle Nie Mingjue would of course be horse mons centaur or Qilin themed. No no you know what horsetaur would be extra cool and weird, a hunk of a man but a terrifying horsehead with a luscious mane on those shoulders. Anyway I lost track of what I was saying. Wen Ruohan’s design in my mind needs to be uhhh big and long, like when you enter teh room you just see a tangle of the long snakelike body but can’t even tell where the body starts or ends, but I didn’t wanna go with snake, so he’s basically a very big animated cerebral spine? Something about vibes that are Giratina-like? Idk I still really like centipede or snake form for the aesthetic. Maybe he sheds his flesh for a powered up form? It’s an AU and a crossover so I can make up some rules?

[flautistsandpeonies]

You ever think about how dirty Jiang Fengmian got done?

You’re a sect heir to what is supposed to be the most “free” sect of all the great sects. Expression, play, and ingenuity are literally built into your teachings, and all of a sudden your father wants to set you up into an arranged marriage.

You meet your perspective betrothed, and you don’t like the way she conducts herself. You tell her and your family multiple times that you don’t think that you two would be an appropriate match for one another. Your betrothed, however, wants to marry you- it doesn’t matter what you think apparently- and her family starts pressuring you into marrying their third daughter. You try to hold out and keep denying, but then your best friends want to get married and travel the world together so you are left all alone to fight an entire sect and your father’s wishes by yourself.

Needless to say, you find yourself getting married to the Violet Spider.

So, Yu Ziyuan moves to Lotus Pier and one of the first things she decides is that she doesn’t like her new home and has an entire pavilion built to cater to her needs and brings a bunch of people from her natal sect sect and barring Jiang from the premises.

There are Jiang disciples that have lived in Lotus Pier long than Yu Ziyuan that can no longer access a part of their home because their new madam forbade them from coming there.

She also decides that she isn’t going to take on your family name. She refuses to take the mantle of Madam Jiang and wants to be called Madam Yu despite the fact that she is the one that wanted the marriage in the first place.

Thirdly, she refuses to take care of the household of the Jiang sect. Instead of doing her duties as the Madam of Lotus Pier she would rather go on night hunts and she’s barely home.

So, now you probably have to not only take care of duties as sect leader, you also have to take care of the household cause your wife is almost never home.

Despite all this, you manage to perform your marital duties and you have your first child together! A baby girl who was born frail and with a weak constitution. You decide to name her Jiang Yanli.

Your wife informs you that since she and Jin GuangShan’s wife Madam Jin were the bestest of friends since childhood and made a promise that their first born children would marry one day, your daughter is now in an arranged marriage with the heir to the Jin sect.

With that, you no longer have a sect heir as men do not marry into the woman’s family. You’ve simply had a child to further the Jin sect rather than your own.

Since that’s done, you end up performing your marital duties again, and three years later you end up with a boy this time! You decide to name him Jiang Cheng.

Life is pretty normal, your wife is still never home, Yanli, while not good in cultivation seems to enjoy cooking, and you get your son three puppies to play with.

Four years later, you get the news that your best friends are now dead from a night-hunt and their little boy, just a few days older than your son is missing.

You spend five years looking for Wei Ying and miraculously find him eating the trashed rinds from people who bought watermelon. You buy him food and clothes and bring him back to Lotus Pier where you find your son playing with his puppies, Princess, Jasmine, and Love.

At the sight of them, Wei Ying starts screaming and crying, he’s shaking and sweating and doesn’t seem to be able to perceive the world around him. You see it’s a panic attack induced by the dogs, so you pick him to get him from the same level as the animals and try to calm him down.

Since you doubt the panic attack will be a one time thing, you decide that the best course of action is to send the dogs away. This devastates your son as he really loved his furry friends, so you decide to replace his animal friends with Wei Ying and set them up in the same room.

All this infuriates your wife, and she starts to accuse you of having an affair with your best friend. She accuses you of not loving your son, of being unfaithful, and having a bastard son from a woman who has been dead for five years.

There is a new normal in life with Wei Ying at Lotus Pier. While Yu Ziyuan still night-hunts alot, when she’s home she’s constantly accuses you of favoring Wei Ying over your own son, and claims that Wei Ying is your bastard. Yu Ziyuan has also taken zidian and whips Wei Ying with the spiritual weapon whenever she wants. Some days you come home late at night and find Wei Ying trapped in your family’s ancestral hall kneeling for hours.

Your wife has taken a spiritual tool that has been passed down the Jiang family for generations and she uses it to whip the child of your two best friends. She traps him in the ancestral hall, without medical attention, for hours, until you let him out late at night.

Your wife constantly tells your son that you don’t love him, that you wish Wei Ying was your legitimate heir, that he will never meet your expectations.She berates your daughter for her hobbies and looks down on her. Wei Ying gets whipped for simple things such as not wearing a shirt on a hot summer’s day.

Life passes on like this. Before you know it, you are sending your son and Wei Ying off to the Cloud recesses for study. Three months later, you are called to the mountain headquarters because your head disciples beat up the Jin heir.

Lan Qiren tells you that Jin ZiXuan disparaged your daughter in front of every eligible male in the cultivation world. You understand being betrothed to someone you don’t love, but Yanli didn’t cause the arrangement and even if Jin ZIXuan didn’t want to marry her didn’t mean he didn’t have to talk down about her to any other boy who you could possibly try to set her with. So, with that, you get Jin GuangShan to recede the arrangement and you take Wei Ying home.

I wonder if you will be able to find your daughter a husband after every heir that studied at the cloud recesses heard about how weak in beauty, smarts, and cultivation she was.

For the next two years, you deal with the new normal and your wife cursing you for ending your daughter engagement.

The Wens host an archery competition and then weeks later demand your heirs and disciples as hostages. They demand an heir so you are forced to send your son. Wei Ying volunteers and your wife accuses you of favoring Wei Ying despite the fact that Jiang Cheng really has no choice in the matter.

One month later, your son and disciples come home from a near death experience with a deformed beast and second Wen heir. You are informed that your head disciple stayed behind so you go to retrieve him and find that he and the second jade of Lan killed a hundreds year old beast.

Wei Ying is suffering from an infection from a brand, arrow wound, and a lack of spiritual power and stays in a coma for an entire week. As soon as he wakes, you congratulate him on this rare feet.

Your son is now saying that Wei Ying should have let the sect heirs to two other major sects die and and you try to make him see why that sort of mind set is wrong.

It probably reminds you of being a teenager and almost dying on a night hunt due to Lan Qiren unchangingly following his sect rules, and the only reason you are currently alive is because your friend CangSe SanRen saved your life.

Your wife bursts in and again accuses you of favoring Wei Ying. She claims that you don’t love your son again because she is his mother. It’s the same old argument and she storms out as angry as she came in.

Days go by and you and your wife are still arguing. It gets so bad that you leave your home to go appeal to the man who ordered your son to be a hostage to give you their swords back. You fail.

You’re going home when you find your son and Wei Ying tied together with zidian on a boat. Your son tells you the Wen sect is attacking and that your wife is fighting the core melting hand. You send the boys away; you tell your son to be well, and tell Wei Ying to look after him.

You go home to fight for you sect.

Your core is melted.

You are killed.

Your home is burned to the group.

All your disciples are killed.

All your treasures all stolen.

YunmengJiang is now the Wen Sect Supervisory Office of Yunmeng.

JC Stans Don’t Clown on my Post - Madam Yu Stans Don’t Clown on my Post

[drwcn]

maybe after today’s acls training i can finally write that chengqing ER oneshot. 

— “Patient male, mid-twenties, motor vehicle collision, eta 3 mins” 

— “What no vitals? No GCS? ETA 3 mins? Who’s on the paramedic team?!” 

— “No one….Dr. Lu hit someone with her car on her way out of the hospital.” 

【A Midnight Conversation in Your Local ER】- Complete

[1] 

The night hunt had gone to shits.

That much was undeniable.

Jiang Cheng heard the panicked shout of his disciples just as he saw the array that he had stepped on.

Fuck.

The ghost of an once mediocre demonic cultivator wanna-be was going to bring Jiang Cheng, Jiang Wanyin - the Sandu Shengshou - to meet his maker. The irony of the situation would be laughable, if he wasn’t so irrevocably screwed.

That was his last thought before his entire body was engulfed by a blinding light and the world he knew disappeared.

The ground beneath his feet gave away, weightlessness paralyzing his body though he did not fall. He felt…launched, his body warping and squeezing and stretching, the air sucked from his lungs into the endless black vacuum.

But just like that it was over. Jiang Cheng barely had time to make peace with his death before his feet touch solid earth again.

Or at least….he thought it was earth, this black, tarry hard thing striped with yellow and white. He stared at it dumbly, breathless and disoriented, barely able to react when a loud blare assaulted his senses and his world went blindly bright yet again.

This time there was pain.

Jiang Cheng clutched Sandu, ready to fight, but then his head hit the ground and everything went dark. When he woke up again, an indeterminate amount of time later, he was in a small tube and had a distinct feeling he was not wearing pants, socks or shoes.

How the fuck do you ‘scan’ a cat???  

[2]

Method actor. The nurse, from the other side of the curtain, mouthed silently.

“Sir, can you tell me your name.”

“Jiang Cheng, Jiang Wangyin.”

The resident paused, awkwardly contemplating how to continue. “Uh…..which is it? Jiang Cheng or Jiang Wanyin?”

“Jiang Cheng, zi Wanyin.”

“Traditional parents?” The resident tried to crack a joke, but it fell flat. The strange man stared up at him with a blank look in his eyes and a frown that was rapidly deteriorating into a scowl. The resident cleared his throat and cast his eyes back onto his clipboard. “Uh, ahem, just the name on your ID please.”

“My what?" 

"Your personal ID….like a driver’s license?”

“Cultivators of the gentry fly on swords or ride horses. We do not rely on carriage valets.”

“Eh… right. Uhm, can you tell me how old you are and what year it is.”

“I’m 39, and the year is jiachen.”

Lu Qi frowned from where she stood by the door, arms crossed, watching her resident and medical student work. 39? He looks like a college student. But he also thinks he can fly, so I guess age is the least of our worries. 

“Jiachen.…?”

The M3 fished his phone out from his scrub pocket pocket and typed it in. “Sounds like the ganji system, like an old timey way to record year used in the past.” He whispers clandestinely to the resident.

“….Right. And uh, do you where you are?”

The man scowled at him. “Am I supposed to?” 

The resident scribbled something on the chart, and then looked up with a plastered awkward smile. “Well, thank you Mr. Jiang for your patience. Wang Fei here is the medical student on our team. He’s going to stay and ask you a couple more questions if you don’t mind. Afterwards we’ll confer with our attending and the team will be back to see you shortly.”

As he turned away, the R3 grimaced and shared a look with Lu Qi, who was the youngest attending physician in their ER, but was not technically working at the moment and so was not on the case. And technically, as the perpetrator who hit Jiang Cheng with her car, she had a severe conflict of interest.

At least this Jiang Cheng dude didn’t seem keen on pressing personal charges against her for MVA or suing the hospital in general… but that being said…

Yeah, they’re going to need a psych consult. 

Unless he’s on acid. 

Well… okay, psych consult either way. 

[3]

"It’s okay, you can relax.” Jiang Cheng said, waving dismissively at the woman standing by his bedside. “I’m not going to take you to the magistrate for hitting me with your carriage - car. You didn’t mean to, and I just came out of nowhere.” 

“....Thank you.” 

“You’re not Wen Qing. I know that now. Your name is Lu Qi. You can call off those psychia - psych - psychics - head healers - or whatever, I’m not crazy. It’s not my fault, you just… look so much like someone I used to know."

"Wen Qing.” Lu Qi echoed. 

“Yeah. Wen Qing. She was a healer - a doctor - like you, but different.” 

“I see. What happened to her?"

"She died. Almost twenty years ago."

"I'm sorry... that's awful.” Lu Qi’s response rolled off her tongue so well, because she had said those word a thousand times during her residency. So much so that it no longer had much meaning to her. Tonight however, she meant what she said. “Were you two close?"

"No, well…yes, maybe. No we weren’t exactly friends if that’s what you’re asking. She...operated on me. Without my consent or knowledge. Took my brother’s golden core and put it in me and then lied with my brother to my face about it. So no we weren’t “close”, but Wen Qing saved my life - well the purpose of it anyway. Saved me from a life of ordinariness.” 

Lu Qi did allow herself to dwell too much on what the fuck a “golden core” was, because her gut response was almost instantaneous. “That’s shitty of her.”

She clamped down on her tongue. 

God, why did I have to say that? To his face?! He was obviously in love with this Wen Qing person and they were encroaching on some dangerous emotional territories, but Lu Qi swallowed down her caution and plowed on nevertheless. There were things she felt she had to say, and since she’d already hit him with her car, how much worse could this shit get? “What I mean is she shouldn’t have. Not without telling you. Besides...there’s nothing wrong with ordinary.” 

Jiang Cheng chuckled bitterly. “Maybe you’re right. Still...she didn’t deserve to die. What her clan did was not her fault.” 

Now that threw Lu Qi off. Did this guy...kill her? 

Lu Qi half wondered if she stumbled upon a Yakuza-esque member whose psyche finally snapped after years of murder and violence. And yet, he seemed perfectly coherent, no flight of ideas, no tangential thought, no hallucations. Even his delusions seemed...logical. 

I must be the one losing, damnit.  

Jiang Cheng scratched a little at his chest, as if palpating for the “golden core” that he spoke of. "She saved my life, but when she needed help, I couldn't save her. But, if I were to go back… I can't say I'll choose differently. My clan needed me, my clan who was almost cleansed by hers. No, no I wouldn’t choose differently. I don’t regret my choices, but I am sorry. Sorry to her, sorry to my brother. I'll always be sorry that she died, and that I failed her when she needed me." 

Jiang Cheng had no idea why he was telling this stranger any of this, but maybe after twenty years, he was finally ready to address this guilt that he lived with. I mean who else was he supposed to tell? Jin Ling? It was nice, to have that face as an audience, receiving his words of confession. 

"She would forgive you." 

Lu Qi had no idea why she was offering absolution as if she had authority in this matter, but when she said it, the conviction she felt was so real, it was almost as though some external force was acting through her.

Which was ridiculous of course, but... 

"How do you know? You're not her." Jiang Cheng shook his head. “I wouldn’t forgive me.” 

"No, but you said she was a physician. So she should know, more than most, that sometimes there is no choosing who gets to live or die."

Jiang Cheng fell quiet at that, and his gaze grew distant. Lu Qi thought perhaps he was no longer seeing her as she was in front of him - white coat, scrubs, stethoscope -  but someone entirely different. The tension he held in his shoulders slowly eased, and he sighed. In the silence that stretched between them, Lu Qi hoped that this strange man with his strange past could find a sliver of peace. 

[4]

— Did you love her? 

— I thought so, foolishly, but maybe I didn’t. Even if I did, it was not well enough. 

— Do you love her still? 

— No... I don’t know. It’s been too long...but sometimes, late at night when Lotus Pier is quiet, I think I do. 

...

— Are you ashamed of it? 

...

— No. No I’m not. 

[5]

The patient known as Jiang Cheng left AMA, that is, against medical advice. It was the term they used sometimes for people who just up and leave without informing the team. 

Lu Qi had gone out to check on his labs, which came back with bonker numbers (I mean really, a hemoglobin of 455, sodium of 200, and a HCO3 of like...3?), but Jiang Cheng was gone from Bay 6 when she returned. The nurse made the overhead page, a code yellow was called, but four hours later, Lu Qi was ready to admit that she was never going to see this Jiang Cheng ever again. 

Somehow, she was okay with that. She had said what needed to be said.  

Her chief had given her a call on her cell and told her to go home and sleep. The guy didn’t look like he was gonna press charges, let’s count our blessings and move on. But the night had just been too damn strange that Lu Qi was all wired up from it and couldn’t possibly fall asleep. She had handover at 10 anyway. There was a change of clothes and toiletries in her bag. She could always take a shower in the anesthesia staff’s on call room and sleep until then. 

Dr. Sun was the anesthesia staff on-call tonight and was currently stuck in trauma OR. They were buddies since medschool; she’d understand.

Sighing, Lu Qi took a seat on the bench across from the bougie cafe in the lobby of the hospital. At this hour, it was the only one still open in the entire facility. The drinks they sold cost an arm and a leg, but Lu Qi needed the pick-me-up after the night she had. 

As she nursed the last bit of her matcha latte, two bickering voices pulled her attention to the front entrance. 

“Aiyo, A-Liang I already said I’m fine! I don’t need to be here!” 

“Fuck out of here with that bullshit, Chen Zhaoxi. You fell off the fucking roof! If Wu Kun hadn’t called me, you’d have gone on -”

It was him! Lu Qi shot up. It was Jiang Cheng! 

But no...no it wasn’t him. The well-dressed man dragging the second man (dressed in red pajamas) into the hospital was not Jiang Cheng. He had the same face - chiselled, handsome, scowling - but it wasn’t him. For one, his hair was trimmed short and neat, unlike Jiang Cheng who looked like he walked straight out of a BL xianxia tv drama. Secondly, his face was softer, eyes younger, and he couldn’t have been older than Lu Qi herself in her early thirties. 

“I was just trying to get to the litter of kittens trapped -”

“Yes, yes, and it was very heroic and I’m sure it would’ve made Wu Kun very horny, and you morons probably would’ve fucked once he got home had you not made a valiant attempt at breaking your neck -” 

“Excuse me,” the security guard manning the information desk chastised sharply. “It’s 4am. This is a hospital! Lower your voices, sirs.” 

“Sorry.” The men apologized sheepishly. 

Then, A-Liang, Jiang Cheng’s doubleganger asked, “Could you please direct us to the ER? This is my brother, he fell off a roof.” 

Lu Bin had no idea what possessed her to interject. “I can take you there.” 

All eyes fell on her. She walked towards them, heart pounding. 

This can’t be happening, this kind of thing just can’t happen... 

A-Liang’s face broke into a grateful smile. “Thank you, Miss -” Then his gaze trailed to her badge, and he corrected himself, “Dr. Lu. I’m Shen Liang. This is my brother Chen Zhaoxi. I think he fractured...well multiple things, please help him.” 

“Of course, come with me. Let’s get him a wheelchair. If he fractured is leg, he probably shouldn’t be walking.” 

“I didn’t fracture -” 

“You, you shut up.” Shen Liang rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to him. He can lose three out of four limbs and say ‘ t’s but a flesh wound’.” 

Lu Qi couldn’t help but chuckle as she put an arm under the complaining Chen Zhaoxi and helped him towards the wheelchair. 

Shen Liang’s smile widened. 

[Extra]

“Holy shit, took you long enough!” 

When Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui finally dragged Jiang Cheng to their portal site, Jiang Cheng realized that the transportation talisman had created a channel through realities between what looked like two metal garbage dumpsters in a back alley behind a food establishment marked by giant yellow bunny ears.

Standing guard there, Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen were each munching on a strange layered bread and holding tall drinks contained in...what was it called again? Right. Styrofoam. 

“What is that?” Jin Ling wrinkled is nose at it. Brat. 

“It’s a Big Mac.” Replied Lan Jingyi as if Jin Ling was stupid. “And this is a milk shake.” 

Jin Ling scowled. “I said the bag of gold I gave you was for emergencies.” 

“Yeah but we were hungry.” Ouyang Zizhen defended. He neglected to tell them that the cashier had refused to accept the gold and instead asked for “cash” or “card”, neither of which they had, so Zizhen used a liiiiil confounding talisman he learned from Wei Wuxian. They did leave more than enough gold though...and that ought to cover the restaurant’s cost for their “burger”lary . Reaching into the brown paper bag he held under one arm, Zizhen pulled out a little box that opened to show pieces of... something. “These are chicken nuggets. They’re delicious! Try one! They’re really good with this sauce....hold on...” 

Lan Sizhui sighed. “We don’t have time for this. The portal will close soon. Let’s get Jiang-zongzhu home and we can sample these exotic food later.” 

The boys agreed. 

Jiang Cheng shook his head and huffed.