#and then nhs brings wwx back despite his well-founded fears that wwx will like see his brother's torso and be like hot damn

[neverdoingmuch]

ur post abt Beefy lwj is so true and in my personal opinion wwx totally thought nmj was hot. he's already an unreliable narrator u cant tell me him saying nmj had a build men envied or however it went wasnt him subconsciously being like 👁👁😳 wwx just wants to be carried in his big strong husbands arms and it's what he deserves!!!

look nhs and wwx can't be best friend if they don't have the whole 'oh shit your older brother is so hot and i kinda have crush on him/ew no dont you dare' thing going on. it's the rules. the law even. nhs may not like it but wwx is very much enjoying it (it being the view lmao).

so 15 y/o nhs really thought he hit the jackpot when he befriended wwx. like the guy was cheerful, clever, talented, (had really good taste in books), and didn't really force nhs to,,, perform. sure he drags nhs around and makes him do stuff, pushes him out of his comfort zone sometimes, and kinda expected nhs not to be a complete dud (nvm that it was only ever in areas where nhs wasn't actually a dud),, but wwx never made nhs do any of the things the rest of the cultivation world tried to make him do,, wwx never tried to force him to fight more or to develop his cultivation or to be more useful. and nhs loved that about him, wwx was The Greatest Friend Ever,,,,, at least until nmj came over.

why do nhs and wwx see nmj? idk,, does it matter? whatever the reason, nhs sees his brother stomping through cloud recesses one day and immediately whirls wwx around to face his brother while ducking behind him. safely hidden, he whispers to wwx to tell him when nmj is gone. wwx just makes a strange noise in response. given that his friend isn't exactly bad with words, nhs leans over to glance up at his friend and sees that wwx has gone bright red. oh no, nhs thinks to himself.

he'd known that wwx ahem "admired the male form in its peak physical state" or whatever the fuck he used to justify the way he blushed at the sight of lwj doing push ups but nhs hadn't realise that would extend to nmj. his brother isn't flexing or fighting or doing anything to show off his muscles but wwx has a weakness and nmj's strength is,, his strength,,, he doesn't need to flex to have the perfect male form. his brother simply embodies wwx's taste in men far too well to be allowed to continue,,, and, given that wwx probably won't stop being attracted to buff dudes and nmj won't stop being buff, the only choice is to keep them far away from each other.

and like the strategy works really well!! wwx is mostly too distracted with lwj, who is also starting to get buffer for some random reason, and nmj just assumes that nhs is avoiding him bc he did something wrong or just doesn't want another lecture on,,, something. there are a few times when wwx comes over to nhs and says stuff like hey nie-xiong do you know what your brother's work out routine is? and nhs is just squinting at him because he's not sure whether wwx is still convinced that his interest in buff dudes is because he wants to be buff and is just admiring 'what any man would nie-xiong really' because he's 'not a coward who can't respect another man's form bc beauty comes in all forms so don't be so close-minded' or whether he finally figured out that it wasn't a friendly admiration/academic interest/????? and just wants to watch his brother train sometime. tentatively, he tells wwx that he'll ask (which he won't because he knows that nmj admires wwx as a cultivator already and will want to spar with him sometime if he mentions wwx and nhs does not want that to happen). he does however end up extending an invitation to come visit him in qinghe before wwx is unceremoniously booted from the lectures, deciding that his friendship with wwx is more important than his fear of wwx's crush on nmj.

but then the ssc happens and wwx doesn't really manage to come visit for fun and by the time nhs sees him again his reputation has been torn apart and reconstructed into something wholly unpleasant. he's no longer wwx the talented head disciple of the yunmeng jiang sect, instead their terrifying weapon and a loose cannon on the best of days. he's using demonic cultivation and even when he isn't stalking around the camps like a caged tiger, glaring at anyone who stares at him for too long and arrogantly disregarding lwj's attentions like he's no one important, the very air around wwx is seeped with that sense of wrongness and danger that he's covered himself with. being nhs, he makes sure to keep a distance from the war efforts so he only sees wwx every once in a while, and every time he does it seems as if the man is getting more terrifying and wrong.

and when the war ends and peace theoretically settles back into the cultivation world, nhs still doesn't see wwx much - wwx is busy with his duties in yunmeng, nmj doesn't seem particularly endeared by wwx anymore and nhs isn't sure whether he'd even be seeing his friend if he asked wwx to hang out. he's simply changed too much. at least that's what nhs thinks until there's a sect meeting and he sees wwx walk into a door because nmj was asked to help lift a table.

(and then lwj sees that wwx is in the room and makes sure to step in to lift the rest of the tables and wwx is off like a shot to his side to,,,, nhs honestly doesn't even know what he's doing but he's doing it)

#modao zushi #mdzs #wei wuxian #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #lan wangji #wangxian #look i couldnt fit more wangxian in here bc this was a nhs&wwx post but it's there #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #and then nhs brings wwx back despite his well-founded fears that wwx will like see his brother's torso and be like hot damn #(which he does bc it's wwx /: ) #also! i feel like we don't give enough attention to the fact that the first time nhs sees wwx when he comes back he's being carried into #the room in lwj's arms like that right there is enough of an indication that it's wwx #and honestly after that time lwj barely ever sets wwx back onto the ground and yeah its kinda gross bc wwx is constantly staring at lwj #like he hung the moon but also wwx is finally happy and nhs is happy bc wwx has finally noticed that straight dudes dont look at other #guys' muscles like that and also lwj's body building has finally paid off and he can in fact make wwx swoon by flexing #so sometimes nhs decides to be a Real Bro and invite wangxian over to qinghe to do some uh friendly competitions which are just an excuse #for lwj to show off how strong he is while wwx and nhs gossip (at least when wwx isn't staring at lwj) #asks

[tanoraqui]

[now all on AO3!]

it starts, like all great slightly cracky fix-it AUs, with Nie Huaisang impetuously deciding to do something slightly good and slightly selfish

basically, at Phoenix Mountain, while everybody else is busy having romantic drama and/or exchanging lukewarm shots in the building cold war over the Stygian Tiger Seal, NHS is busy getting reamed out by his brother again for not being remotely good at, uh…anything. Archery, ghost-hunting, monster-hunting…etc.

then he happens to look over at Jiang Yanli, the daughter of the goddamn Violet Spider yet who isn’t expected to do anything but be pretty and deal with romantic drama, and thinks, hmm.

Clearly the solution is to Acquire or Fake a Serious Medial Condition

Fake better than Acquire. NHS enjoys being a little dramatically frail, but he’d rather not actually have to deal with it. But in order to fake something well enough to fool his brother, as an ongoing thing, he needs

a competent medical professional

who would be reliably loyal to him (begging, bribery, and blackmail all valid options to ensure this if required)

and won’t be too intimidated to lie to Chifeng-zun himself

it is important at this juncture to remember 2 things about Nie Huaisang, as of approximately the Phoenix Mountain hunt:

he is the privileged second son of a mighty sect, not coddled but definitely humored quite a lot, and despite having gotten through a short war not long before, he has never personally faced a real consequence in his life. He’s seen some shit happen, to his friends and his family, but he himself has never experienced a real consequence in his life

he is, however, aware at every moment that real consequences exist, even when he’s doing truly outrageous things to deserve them. Unlike certain a demonic cultivator who shall go unnamed. in fact, he puts effort into avoiding them, also unlike a certain demonic cultivator

so Nie Huaisang asks around a bit, indirectly and sometimes over drinks, and a week later he’s at one of the small towns in Qishan where the remnants of the Wen sect have been stashed, requisitioning Wen Qing

“...why?” says the Jin disciple in charge of security, who maybe NHS has met at a cultivation conference or hunt before

NHS rolls his eyes and complains from behind his fan, “I don’t know! I think Da-ge just wanted to make me fly here, to build my endurance or something. But she’s on of the greatest healers in the land, isn’t she? Our training yards do produce a lot of wounds.”

The Jin disciple has to admit that all of the above is true and/or plausible. Maybe she makes eye contact with one of the Nie disciples NHS has brought with him as protocol and the dangers of the countryside demand, and he nods slightly. She knew him in the Sunshot Campaign, and trusts his judgement more than that of the flighty heir to Qinghe Nie, so she calls for Wen Qing to be found and brought to the oversight center 

(NHS has implied to his retainers/guards that he wants to ask Wen Qing about a personal medical matter that he doesn’t want getting back to his brother, and they accepted it and are prepared to obfuscate that “truth” to an outsider)

(NHS is still new to this; he’s letting his lies get too complex, different for different people and thus harder to keep track of)

Wen Qing is brought, chin still lifted with dignity despite her drab and dirty robes. The Jin scoff; NHS greets her as effusively and not-quite-politely as though they were still students at Cloud Recesses together, and begs a private audience that she can’t deny. The Jin captain offers her office, and the rest clear out.

“Okay so I need you to help me fake a serious but not too serious medical condition,” says Nie Huaisang, and explains the gist of his plan and desires. “In return, you’ll get out of here - come back to the Unclean Realm and live in, you know, whatever comfort a war-focused sect castle* which my brother won’t let me redecorate can provide.”

*apologies to the setting f fantasy Ancient China, but I cannot imagine the Nie sect inhabiting anything but, like, this

“What,” demands Wen Qing, because she isn’t given to absolutely ridiculous ideas, and moreover, she’s a responsible physician and this is so sketch

...but

she’s also a Wen, a curse which thus far has outweighed her gifts as a physician in the eyes of the world, and hand in hand with being a Wen and long before her hand first touched a needle, she is a sister

so she crosses her arms - no. She ducks her head deferentially and says, “I’ll need my assistant to help. My brother.” And she looks up with iron in her eyes, and they both know that this is the final price

NHS offers his hand to shake. “Done.”

here’s the thing though: Wen Qing does have those medical ethics though they don’t always extend to requiring consent for major surgery, and moreover she has a lot of practice surviving, and keeping her brother safe, in a court where they aren’t much wanted. And she’s honest by nature, which mostly means that when she tells lies, they’re carefully chosen

so a few days later, she stands bowing before Nie Mingjue in the grand front hall of Qinghe’s stony fortress, where the last time Wens were there, their blood spilled across the floor. Wen Ning bows from half a step behind her, where he always does; Nie Huaisang stands half a step in front of her, artfully stuttering in the face of his brother’s bellowing. He hasn’t even gotten to his false story yet

(Wen Qing knows real fear when she sees it, she’s both seen it and felt it enough in Wen Ruohan’s court and since, and the second son of Nie has clear never felt it in his life. Not, at least, because of his elder brother.)

“Sect Leader Nie,” she says, stepping past her would-be-cunning, would-be-savior. She bows even more deeply as Chifeng-zun’s attention shifts to her, but still speaks clearly. “Please forgive your brother his trespass, in bringing this one and this one’s assistant to your hall. His concern is only for you, and your health. I am Wen Qing, of the Dafan Wen, who have studied medicine for generations upon generations. I myself, and my brother to assist me, have particular experience managing spiritual power and preventing qi deviations.” It’s mostly truth. “We have been brought only to serve you.”

NHS: [*shocked pikachu face*; the words TOP TEN ANIME BETRAYALS! flash across the screen]

he recovers quickly, though. He’s good at that

“Yes - ” His fan flutters anxiously and tears well in the corners of his eyes. “Ever since the Sunshot campaign ended, da-ge, you’ve been even angrier...”

It takes a while. It’s very loud, and entirely in public. But this is Qinghe, where anything worth doing is worth doing aggressively and in-your face. 

Eventually Nie Mingjue turns back to Wen Qing and growls, “Even if they have some medical knowledge, why should we trust Wen-dogs?”

(Wen Qing hates this. She is Wen and she hates this; she is Wen Qing, reknowned physician, and she hates this. She hates the indignity, the disrespect, and that she’s about to call on a debt she promised herself that she wouldn’t because it shouldn’t have been a debt in the first place, it should have just been treating the patient in front of her)

“Wei Wuxian of YunmengJiang will vouch for us, Nie-zhongzhi,” she says, bowing deeply again.

NMJ’s lip curls, and he says flatly, “The demonic cultivator.”

(Mistake. She gambles harder.) “Jiang Ch- Sect Leader Jiang will also vouch for us. We sheltered him and his brother when Wen Chao hunted them, after the destruction of Lotus Pier.” She lifts her head then, to meet his eyes. “We are physicians first, and will treat the patient in front of us. And you, Sect Leader, need treatment.”

It’s become clear over the course of this confrontation - his eyes are bloodshot, his hand has the faintest tremor every time it’s not clenching his saber hilt so tightly that the palm must be bruised. If she could touch him and explore the state of his meridians, she’s sure they’d be as settled as a flock of crows awaiting the end of a battle

She knew it before, though, or she wouldn’t have started this gambit in the first place. The Nie saber method’s dangers of qi cultivation are well-known among physicians, albeit not understood outside of the Unclean Realm. More importantly, the fear of it was between the lines of every one of Nie Huaisang’s complaints about his brother’s overbearence and the horrors of saber practice, which she’s been listening to for the past day and a half. And Nie Huaisang is known for being a coward, but not on behalf of his brother.

Nie Mingjue raises eyebrows at her, but he gives a short nod. (She should’ve known, she thinks, that Chifeng-zun would respond better to fierceness than to obsequiousness. She’s still to used to Qishan, and recently to the attitude of Langling.) “You may join our physicians - once I receives word from Yunmeng.”

Wei Wuxian brings the affirmation himself, in the form of a letter from Jiang Cheng. Wen Qing doesn’t get to see it, but WWX assures her that it was very polite and approbational. She thanks him once and not effusively, and they both nod and know that their debt is settled - probably a brother’s life for probably a brother’s life 

(she can keep Wen Ning safe in this place, she’s already sure of it. It is Wen Ruohan and Qishan all over again, but far better - in Qishan what mattered was power, and she scraped and bowed for just enough to get by. What matters in Qinghe is strength, for which Wen Qing has never lacked a day in her life)

(What mattered in the few miles of land the had Jin hemmed them into was subordination and indignity, neither of which she has ever mastered)

{there’s another letter to Nie Mingjue that Wen Qing never knows about, from Jin Guangyao on behalf of his father in Lanlang, politely asking what the absolute hell Nie Sect is doing with the two highest-ranking remaining Wen cultivators. After being reassured that these Wen-dogs are tamed ones, Nie Mingjue writes back...well, pretty much that, with kind of a “fuck you and the sword you rode in on” flavor}

{Jin Guangshan swears, complains, and scoffs a great deal when he receives it, and eventually settles down with a grumbled, “Well, maybe the Wen bitch will simply poison him, or he’ll find a reason to execute her, or both. Then I’ll be rid of them both.” Jin Guangyao murmurs an agreement that’s almost entirely genuine, because he hasn’t forgiven Nie Mingjue for that comment about his mother)

Wei Wuxian stays a week, messing around with Nie Huaisang like they’re still children at Cloud Recesses (they were all children, then) or infuriating Nie Mingjue apparently for fun, or most often both at once. At least it makes NMJ’s temper suitably riled for Wen Qing to get in a good first examination. To the surprise of no one, he’s in bad shape. 

The author would put in fun fantasy medical language here, but this book explains jackshit about its magic system, but let’s say it’s like...when there’s been a fast, hard rain and the hillside has turned to mud and it’s not collapsing yet, no, there wasn’t quite enough rain for that - but one more strong shower could do it, bring the whole hillside down on the busy road below, and if one person goes wandering and steps in the wrong place, they might slip into a sinkhole and never come out again? Nie Mingjue’s spiritual energy is like that.

so Wen Qing bullies him into cutting back on saber use by an hour a day - bullying is her natural bedside manner, and she’s backed by several true Nie physicians, genuinely in agreement but grateful to have someone else take the brunt of their Sect Leader’s angry resistance. Nie Huaisang also helps, with an abundance of pleading and near-tears

he also has to accept the bargain of practicing with his own saber for an extra half hour every day that Nie Mingjue appropriately refrains, which is frankly hilarious

after a few more days of peace, she lets Wen Ning out of her sight, pairs him up with a junior Nie physician who knows the area well and sends them to find the herbs she needs. Nie Mingjue does not, at least, protest the sourness of the medicine she brews

and she recommends Lan calming music, because, honestly, why the hell wasn’t he being treated with that already. His sworn brother is Zewu-jun; why are men in power always so stubborn - 

well, of course she knows the answer, it’s “men” and “power.” And maybe she should be a little more deferential - but as discussed, that’s never been in her nature nor her bedside manner, and Sect Leader Nie seems to respond well to, if not simply being bullied, than at least the snappish [fantasy Ancient China equivalent of cop]/puppy eyes [ditto] routine she and Nie Huaisang fall into naturally

and...he starts to get better. It’s just a start, but the hillside starts to settle back into place.

it’s peaceful enough, it seems a steady and safe enough place, that 2 weeks after Wei Wuxian’s gone, she makes another gamble. Not with Nie Mingjue, though - she finds Nie Huaisang in one of his favorite painting spots, stands between him and the lovely mountain view, and demands a favor

To be continued... (this is 1 of 3 probably?)

#mdzs #the untamed #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #wen qing #i was kinda planning to write it all at once but then i hit 3k and i'm like half done at best and i was like 'nah' #'i'll just accept my fate and cut out the last like third of what i have and post the first chunk now #at 4am as is the tradition of my people' #my fic #ficlet #er #fanfiction