this is how it started
———
This is how it continues: Keith holds his hand all the way to breakfast.
In itself not incriminating. Lance holds Hunk’s hand all the time. He’s always got an arm around Pidge’s shoulder. Shiro is amused by Lance’s incessant attempts to have them skip about with their arms linked. Sometimes he offers his arm to Allura with the poshest expression he can muster, just to make her laugh. Not all of his attempts are entertained by his friends, of course, but there’s nothing novel about Lance attaching himself to people as they move about.
Keith reaching out, as they walk out of the bedroom they just shared, and linking their hands together easy as pie is, however, novel.
Everything is so bizarre. It’s worsened, really, after a night of decent sleep (in a real genuine mattress!), because it’s just not what Keith and Lance…do. They race each other to doorways, yanking on hoods or sticking out legs to trip and get ahead. They escalate from light shoving to full on wrestling in the middle of conversations. Keith is not exempt from Lance’s constant need to touch, sure, but it’s never — like this. Light, easy, comfortable, familiar.
(It was, briefly, at the end. When on their way to meetings and briefings and missions even Keith’s hand would rest on the small of Lance’s back. Absentmindedly. Unnoticeable. But a he left a week after it started, and as far as he’s concerned anything started in that era has long since been left behind them.)
They’re late — the rest of the team has already gathered. Pidge and Allura are half asleep on either of Shiro’s shoulders, and Coran and Hunk are arguing intensely but playfully about a pile of unrecognisable goo that Lance has learned to recognise as the space version of oatmeal. Hunk pokes it in disgust. Coran feigns outrage.
All five faces turn to them as they approach, and Lance can’t place a single one of their expressions. He is made suddenly aware that he has loosened his grip on Keith’s hand when he feels him squeeze three times, quickly in succession.
“…Huh,” Shiro says after a moment, eyes trained on their clasped fingers. His face is carefully blank. No one else offers any commentary.
“How’d y’all sleep,” Keith asks, pulling out a chair. Lance realizes after a beat that it’s meant for him, and he flushes up to his ears. He tugs his hood over his head and nearly upends the table in his haste to melt into the offered chair. Keith, in contrast, sits down next to him and rests an arm over the back of Lance’s chair so smoothly it has to be practiced.
Pidge makes a choking noise, cheeks puffed up like she barely managed to keep her mouth shut. Hunk has both hands clapped over his mouth.
“Shut the fuck up,” Lance hisses, face redder than his lion.
Keith’s fingers brush his shoulder. He sinks further into his chair and tugs his hood down lower.
“I slept exceptionally,” Allura says loudly. The look she cuts Lance’s way is straight-up evil, and Lance knows what’s coming, and for several agonizing seconds he considers grabbing the spoon from the goo bowl and stabbing it straight through his eye. “The beds were very comfortable, didn’t you find, Keith?”
You are so dead to me, Lance thinks at her. He even thinks i’m in Altean so the fury can reach her properly.
“Yeah.” Keith leans over to press a kiss to his cheek. Lance’s face gets exponentially redder, and the peanut gallery starts screeching quietly, but despite himself he — leans. Into it. And Keith notices, because his mouth curves into a smile, and he presses another kiss to the curve of Lance’s jaw before pulling away. “Slept right for the first time in two years.”
“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” Shiro says, reminding Lance once again that he is, in fact, Lance’s hero, actually, last few months notwithstanding. He shoots Lance a fond, teasing smile, then turns back to Keith. “My question is: what the fuck?”
“Seconded,” Pidge agrees through a mouthful of goo.
Hunk grimaces at her. She shoves three more bites of goo into her mouth then opens her mouth and sticks out her tongue at the yellow paladin, just to be disgusting. With a scandalized “gross, Pidge!” Hunk shoves chair away and marches to the other side of the table, leaving Pidge sniggering.
Keith watches the whole thing with a smile on his face soaked in so much sadness Lance’s chest physically aches with it. He darts out a hand and wraps it around Keith’s, squeezing it in a mirror of the way he did before. Keith smiles gratefully at him, pulling up his hand and kissing the back of it. Somewhere, Lance hears someone mutter: “Christ alive.”
“There was a — shipwreck, of sorts,” Keith explains eventually. His voice is soft. “Krolia and I flew too close to something. Our intel was outdated. When we finally made it out of the wreckage we were stranded on the back of a space whale, and time was…stretchy.”
“That explains so very little,” Shiro says, shaking his head. He stabs his spoon in some goo. “Space has done little but piss me off in the last couple years, if I’m being honest. Keith, I swear to God I’m going to ground you.”
Keith grins. “Fat chance, old man. I outrank you now.”
“That’s what you think.”
Lance watches them both critically as they argue. Well, ‘argue’. They’re both grinning too hard for any real animosity. And exhaustion still lines Shiro’s features, and he still leans onto Allura for support, but there’s a brightness in his eyes that’s been missing for months. And Keith is —
Keith is here, leaping to his feet, spoon of goo bared dramatically, and he is tired too but he is warm and soft, somehow, and the weight that Lance has always watched on his shoulders seems to have lifted. There is an easiness to him now that there wasn’t before. And Lance notices and cannot stop noticing, because he is beautiful, and because for some reason he has decided to plant himself next to Lance, closer than before, and bleed his warmth. And Lance is supposed to be the lighthearted one and the joking one and the easy one. That is his role. That is what he knows how to play.
But he’s been struggling. And the role has not come easy. And last night he had cried until he slept in Keith’s arms and Keith had held him and checked the room and kissed his hair and has yet to let go of him.
Lance looks at Keith and thinks to himself: maybe just this one thing.
Keith reaches half over the table and musses his brother’s hair, pushing him back into Allura’s careful hold and sitting heavily back in his own seat. He frowns, staring at the space that has grown between his chair and Lance’s during his roughhousing. Slowly, he reaches over and grabs the bottom rung of Lance’s chair, dragging him over until the space between them has disappeared, then he nods once to himself, satisfied, and throws an arm around Lance’s shoulders, pulling him even closer.
And Lance thinks to himself: oh, God.
For a moment Lance is tense. He feels the stares of the rest of the team, teasing and interrogating all at once. He can already anticipate their questions, probably on par with his own.
Keith rests his cheek on top of Lance’s head.
“You good?”
Suddenly, none of that seems to matter. He thinks to himself: I need to sit him down and ask what the hell is going on.
Keith’s thumb starts to gently brush back and forth on the cusp of his shoulder.
He says: “I am now.”
This is how he lets it continue.
———
this is how it ends
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In the mood for...
Apr 19th
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1. Hi, I'm looking for fics where WWX is drunk/high and LZ noncons him @thehappyyellow
the sweetest dream would never do by honeyandviscera (E, 2k, WangXian, Modern AU, Dark LWJ, Somnophilia, Non-Consensual Somnophilia, Body Worship, Breaking and Entering, Drugged Sex, Stalking, Come Eating, Unreliable Narrator, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat)
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2. Hey, hope you guys are well. For itmf, any opwwx! recs? Preferably completed please. Thank you for your time!! @tinyfoxpeach
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3. Helloooo Just came here jajsjs I'm desperate, lately I was thinking about some caveman! Or prehistoric ice age wangxian but I could not find something like that :( any rec? (Tysm for this page)
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4. more fics like lwj's big dick agenda? or just fics lwj being possessive. thanksss!
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5. Love your blog!!!!thank you for the hardwork!
Would love some disabled/chronic health issues wei wuxian pretty please 💖💖
🔒 the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break by RoseThorne (E, 91k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Soulmates, Self-Esteem Issues, Fix-It, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, PTSD, Handfasting, Panic Attacks, Getting Together, First Time, Aftercare, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, /Referenced Torture, Scars, Chronic Pain, Golden Core Reveal, First Time, Switching, sex-related injury, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, LSZ is a Wèi, Good Sibling JC, Dissociation, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Disability, Scheming NHS, Disabled Character)
🔒 a star called sun by thelastdboy (E, 120k, wangxian, SL/XXC, JC & JYL & WWX, JYL & LWJ, WWX & WN & WQ, JYL/JZX, Canon Divergence after Xuanwu Cave, Fall of Lotus Pier, But worse!, Power Imbalance, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Not Everyone Dies AU, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, Sunshot Campaign, Miscommunication, Heavy Angst with a Happy Ending, Slow Burn, Major Character Injury, Loss of Limbs, Chronic Illness, Seizures, WWX’s Three Months in the Burial Mounds, Wēn Remnants Live, Wēn Remnants Deserve Better, WWX Creates a Sect | Yílíng Wèi Sect, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note, Hurt/Comfort, Selectively Mute LWJ, Service Animals, Crows)
The Darkness Before Dawn by PsycheStellata707 (M, 113k, wangxian, Angst with a Happy Ending, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, BAMF WWX, Attempt at Humor, PTSD, Oblivious WWX, WWX-centric, Blind WWX, Sentient Burial Mounds, Everyone Lives AU, Except Those Who Deserves to Die, Oblivious Pining, Not Canon Compliant, WIP)
🧡 the river brought you here by chilianxianzi (Not Rated, 11k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, POV Outsider, Amnesia, Past abuse, Strangulation, Found Family)
please don’t let me be misunderstood by sysrae (T, 3k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, getting hit by cars, Past Child Abuse)
some foolish thing I've done by sysrae (M, 4k, wangxian, Modern, College/University, partial hearing loss, Past Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, the real OTP is everyone x therapy)
🔒 how to make your dad fall in love with your high school teacher in five steps; the complete and bulletproof guide by ravenditefairylights (T, 90k, wangxian, modern, coffee shop au, nonbinary LSZ, hurt/comfort, trauma, past abuse, past domestic violence, healing, hurt WWX, found family, hospitalization, therapy, single parent WWX, pining, teacher LWJ, unreliable narrator, chronic pain, queer platonic relationship, genderfluid WWX, autistic LWJ, fluff & angst)
🔒 some things go forward by everythingispoetry (T, 73k, WangXian, Modern AU, Hospitals, Teenage Drama, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Happy Ending)
Cure by Yukirin_Snow (M, 100k, WangXian, XiCheng, XuanLi, Modern AU, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Character, Cancer, Medical Procedures, Medical Jargon, Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Love at First Sight, possible trigger warnings) Wwx has cancer, happy ending. It's a really good fic. I love it.
Rest is Resolution series by MarbleGlove (T, 32k, JC & WWX, JYL/JZX, JZX & JGS, LQR & LWJ, wangxian, Fix-It, Post-Sunshot Campaign, this might be crack, Niè Cultivation, BAMF NHS, BAMF JYL, Canon Divergence, Madam Lan Backstory, Getting Together), but especially the first one, Elder, an Aesthetic It's WWX without his golden core leaning into needing assistance
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6. Hiii! For the next itmf, I’m wondering if anyone has read fics inspired on creative reality shows? I’d love to read about wangxian having to team up for something like baking impossible or blown away. I hope y’all are having a great day, thanks!
❤️ Knight Hunt! Phoenix Mountain by travelingneuritis (E, 51k, wangxian, modern, dating show, Modern Cultivation, but in the silliest way possible, Reality TV, the juniors are interns, Smut, Illustrations, low-stakes pining)
Wangxian Strictly AU Series by Selenay (E, 135k, WangXian, Modern: No Powers, Dance, Strictly Come Dancing Fusion, Ballroom Dancing, Dancer!WWX, Violinist LWJ, Pining While Dancing, Oblivious WWX, Gratuitous Costume Descriptions, Gratuitous dancing descriptions, Slow Burn, Ballroom dancing, Established Relationship, Romantic Fluff, [Podfic] Falling to the Rhythm by semperfiona_podfic (semperfiona))
Previously, on LEGO Masters by trippednfell (M, 55k, wangxian, Reality TV Show Contestants/Judges, Modern, Mutual Pining, Forced to compete together, strangers to reality show contestants to lovers, there's only one bed, Platonic Cuddling, Autistic LWJ, WWX Has ADHD, Grief/Mourning, Wangxian miss their moms, so much pining, More Pining than LEGO in this LEGO fic, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, POV Alternating, Lego Masters AU, Not YZY friendly, Dysfunctional Jiang family dynamics)
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7. Do you by any chance know if there's any fic about the kid playing hanguang-jun role and the kid playing to be the yiling patriarch of that bunch of kids playing to be cultivators? As they have no names idk where to start looking. I'm in the mood for something wholesome 😌 Thanks in advance!
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8. Itm A) miscarriage fics where it causes problems in wx marriage.
B) girl dad wwx
C) cat dad wwx
Please find all of them in >20k or atleast 10 k. Please. Thankyou.
Rise of the Divine Oracle by BlakSalt (T, 291k, WangXian, Boy Love, Hurt/Comfort, Romance)
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9. hi! :3 itmf junior-central fics :) can be any combination of the quartet. ship fics are fine but no sizhui/jin ling pls bc they are cousins in my heart. thanks!! @monstergreentea
🔒 blue flies buzzing by RoseThorne (T, 2k, JL & LJY & OYZZ & LSZ, JC & WWX, wangxian, LSZ & WWX, LSZ & LWJ, LSZ & LXC, Gossip, Rumors, Mentioned Wen Remnants, Sect Leader Yao Bashing, JC & WWX Reconciliation, NHS is a Little Shit, POV LJY, POV Third Person, Threats, Justice, Cultivation Discussion Conferences, LWJ is LSZ’s Parent, LJY Being LJY, Podfic Welcome)
🔒 hills and rivers are waiting by LtLJ (T, 15k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Canon-Typical Violence, the family that hunts demons together stays together, and doesn't murder each other, Case Fic, BAMF WWX, Mojo's post)
💖A Dramatic Reading by pupeez4eva (Not rated, 5k, wangxian, post-canon, humor, public confessions, curses, getting together)
❤️ Tragedy is Not the End by Hobbsy3 (T, 358k, wangxian, Time Travel, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Golden Core Reveal, Canon Divergence from Qiongqi Pass, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Yunmeng sibling bonding, good dad wwx, good dad lwj, JZX Lives, JYL Lives, Junior Quartet Dynamics)
Would You Come Home? by s6115 (Not rated, 46k, WangXian, Junior Quartet Centric, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Junior Quartet Dynamics) Might work, though it's a little more Sizhui centric, but it's a very lovely showing of their dynamic in a low stakes setting
❤️ grow by cafecliche (T, 14k, WangXian, Age Regression/De-Aging, Character Study, Post-Canon) link in #12
You Bring the Colour by fuddy_duddy (rainier_day) (G, 12k, wangxian, art school, art restoration)
🔒 Yearning by Sanguis (T, 9k, WangXian, LingYi, Modern AU, Professors, Established Relationship, Married Couple, Bunnies, Pre-Relationship Secrets)
climbing up that coastal shelf by Sour_Idealist (T, 15k, JC & JL & WWX, JC & JL, JC & WWX, JL & LSZ, JL & WWX, Post-Canon, Mutually Unrequited Forgiveness, JC & WWX Reconciliation, Family History, Generational Trauma, Discussion of Canonical Abuse, Awkward Attempts at Communication, mentions of past JC/WQ, Fairy is a good dog)
history by tongzhi (T, 16k, LSZ & WN, JC & LSZ, LSZ & WWX, LSZ & LWJ, LSZ & Wen Remnants, LSZ & Juniors, LSZ & MM, Post-Canon, Angst, Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, LSZ gets angry, LSZ and JL refuse to take their family's trauma forward, jiujiu is the best, Character Study, MM abolitionist queen)
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10. itmf any pregxian fics! thank you for your hard work admins :)
Reluctant partner by sacrificial_fawn (G, 31k, wangxian, LXC/JGY, Modern, Mpreg, Family Reunions, bonding over your shared trauma, Reluctant Bonding, Married Life, Supportive LQR, Past Miscarriage, LXC's excessive use of kaomojis, Male Lactation, non-graphic birth, LQR tries to be a good uncle but he doesn’t know how to, Intersex WWX, JGY can hold the baby as a treat, LWJ can have words and verbs as a treat, Slight OOC) very sweet imo, it has a bit of Meng Yao and Wei Wuxian friendship, it's also a teene tiny bit sad
All I Want by Selenay (E, 47k, wangxian, Modern, Mpreg, Post Holiday Romance, Consequences, Reunions, Idiots in Love, wangxian attempt to be sensible adults about it, they are very bad at it, Teacher WWX, Rating earned in later chapters, Handwavey Biology)
Until The End by abCEE (M, 365k, wangxian, canon divergence, communication, established relationship, sunshot campaign, mpreg, canon typical violence, WWX has new golden core, canonical character death, happy ending, fix-it of sorts) He's not pregnant for a large portion of the fic, but it's not an insignificant amount of time.
Impermanence, Transience, Permanence by Best Bepsy (BepsyGray) (E, 39k, wangxian, canon divergence, unplanned pregnancy, mpreg, gore, sunshot campaign, assumed miscarriage, medical procedures, childbirth, golden core reveal) I'd be surprised if you haven't already read this one, but it's one of the few ones of the genre that I like.
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11. Hi!! For itmf, is there any fic where Lan zhan and wei ying personality swapped? It only temporary but the chaos cannot be contained @chibiizzy
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12. hey admins, any fic recs on wei ying getting injured or sick and lan zhan takes care of him or just anyone who gets very worried about him?? thanks <3
🔒🧡 rain falls and soaks into the earth series by RoseThorne (T, 57k, WangXian, WIP, Near Death Experience, Attempt Drowning, Madam Yu Bashing, Recovery, No war AU)
Rotten Work by ShanaStoryteller (Not rated, 63k, wangxian, JL & WWX, post-canon, Protective WWX, Protective JL, POV JL, JC & WWX Reconciliation, eventually, Reluctant Matchmaker JL, this kid is doing his best, Pre-JL/LJY if you squint)
How to Treat Your Injured Yiling Laozu by merakily (T, 3k, wangxian, Chronic Pain, Whump, Love Confessions, Literal Sleeping Together, Burial Mounds, Golden Core Reveal, LWJ has a lot of feelings about WWX being in pain, Hurt WWX)
hunters seeking solid ground by Attila (E, 23k, wangxian, Canon Compliant, discussion of canon character death, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, bed sharing, Getting Together, Yearning, Literal Sleeping Together, Really Excessive Amounts of Hurt/Comfort)
something left to save by androids_fighting93 (E, 57k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, No Bloodbath of Nightless City, JYL Lives, Not Everyone Dies AU, Hurt/Comfort, single dad wwx, Sick Character, Golden Core Reveal, the lightest d/s dynamic if you squint, handjobs, Anal Sex, Canon-Typical Dynamics)
Heart of hearts series by apathyinreverie (M, 40k, wangxian, WIP, Dark LWJ-ish, Not Cultivation World Friendly, Amnesia, WWX gets to be Not Okay after the BM, Recovery, Possessive LWJ, Possessive WWX, Protective LWJ, not nearly as dark as the tags make it sound, Golden Core Reveal, Hurt WWX, Caring, WWX Goes to Gusu, ridiculously self-indulgent, Canon Divergence, Amnesia, some definite manipulation, but not everything is as it seems, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It, Domestic WangXian, Fluff, WWX happily atticwifing away, Sunshot Campaign, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ)
❤️ grow by cafecliche (T, 14k, WangXian, Age Regression/De-Aging, Character Study, Post-Canon)
What's Wrong With Him? by GrapefruitSketches (G, 2k, JYL & WWX, JYL & LWJ, JC & WWX & JYL, wangxian, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt WWX, Pining LWJ, POV JYL, Canon Compliant, Oblivious WWX, Unconscious WWX, Concerned JYL, JYL Knows Everything)
let the yoke fall from our shoulders by occultings (microcomets) (G, LSZ & LWJ, LSZ & WWX, wangxian, LWJ & LSZ & WWX, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Character Study, Mentions of Canonical Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Gusu Lan Juniors Dynamics, let capricorns cathart agenda, Happy Ending, Family Feels, Established Relationship)
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13. Itmf serious fics. Where wwx has personality like he has in 12 moons n a fortnight, he's so mature there uk. Ik that fic has funny and crack moments too, but it's mostly feels and serenity there, more fics where wwx is like that please?
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14. Hello. Thank you for all the hardwork.
For the next itmf I'm looking for fics whe WWX is not the only one to be resurrected.
Or where he is resurrected in other people bodies (I have seen the fic comp here ).
Thank you once again @anime-trash-parody
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15. itmf,,, a fic where wwx atracts the supernatural, the divine, the eerie,, like he has a connection with the burial mounds or the dead in general, they like him, they are atracted to him; spirits and deities like huli jins or like the fliwer maiden are also atracted to him or interact with him,,, does what im saying even make sense?
Ad Oblivione by Baph, HikariNoHimeWriter (M, 70k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Temporary Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, POV Multiple, Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Identity Reveal, Golden Core Reveal, Cultivation World Critical, Not JC Friendly, Abusive YZY, Angst with a Happy Ending)
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16. itmf any fics where they actually end up meeting baoshan sanren when going to or while doing the core transfer
Can't Tell Me Nothin by natacup82 (T, 35k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, Family Feels, Communication, BAMF Women) They don’t meet during the transfer so it might not quite be what u have in mind but she does do something about it.
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17. Would love some genius modern wei wuxian extra if the juniors are involved thank you 💖💖💖💖💖
💖 One Can Keep A Secret (If He Does Not Know It’s There)by H_Belle (T, 5k, wangxian, NHS & WWX, modern w/ cultivation, inventor WWX, secret identity, identity reveal, YLLZ WWX, rogue cultivator WWX, pining LWJ, WWX pov)
living in my memory/living in my mouth by tardigradeschool (T, 32k, wangxian, modern w/ magic, reincarnation, college/university au, hurt/comfort, sharing a bed, light angst, nightmares, epistolary, pining, friends to lovers)
🔒 care by everbrighter (T, 35k, LSZ & WWX, wangxian, modern w/ magic, resurrection, family bonding, getting to know each other, past character death, pining)
🔒 The Second Jade of Lan's late but incendiary sexual awakening by KizuKatana (E, 41k, wangxian, First Time, LWJ's Horny Grip,LWJ does not know what hit him, and yet somehow he still realizes it before WWX, canon wangxian dynamics, college AU, LWJ starts off annoyed at WWXBut quickly discovers both his competency kink and a caretaking kink, Genius WWX)
i really want to know (who are you) by Stratisphyre (M, 19k, wangxian, LQR & WWX, Modern with Magic, Golden Core Reveal, Single Dad WWX, Reasonable Authority Figure LQR, Allusions to violence and murder, Hospitalization)
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If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***
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Keith blinks.
It was — it had been right there.
Right?
He squeezes his eyes shut, thinking back. No, it had been. He’s sure of it. It had been on the hangar right next to his fancy schmancy Altean suit, which was the worst thing in the world and something he avoided at any and all costs. (One frequent cost, for example, being his dignity. Take last week. The team was tasked to attend some stuffy gala, and the formalwear was non negotiable. No chance of wearing his armour instead. Well, there was no chance of Keith wearing that stupid fucking suit, so he’d had the wonderful idea to fake a case of intense diarrhea so he could skip the gala entirely. He was real proud of that excuse, too, until the self-appointed Garrison Trio started giggling to themselves, and he’d realized — too late — that he’d taken a pretty large L.)
Forcing his brain back to the problem at hand — truly a herculean effort — he glares at the closet and all its contents harder. Maybe he’d somehow misremembered? He flicks through each of the garments in his closet, one by one, but he still doesn’t see it. Confused and a little frustrated, he starts throwing shit out of his closet on into his bed, wondering if it’s somehow hidden by the other clothes.
Nothing.
Fully annoyed, now, he starts digging through his dresser drawers, wondering if he had somehow completely misplaced it, but nothing turns up. He throws his hands up in indignation, finally giving up on the apparently fruitless search.
His favourite flannel! Missing!
Scowling, Keith shrugs on a random black shirt. He glances around the piles of clothing strewn about his room, and decides it’s not a problem for Current Keith, and Future Keith can handle it.
He makes his surly way down to the common room, as was his original intention, just…colder. (Does he have other flannel shirts he could wear? Yeah. But he wants his blue flannel today. His fancy flannel. His favourite flannel. So he will suffer until damn well finds it, because no other flannel is going to cut it now that he has his mind set on the one he wants.)
Hmph.
As he walks, he toys with the idea that perhaps someone else knows where his flannel is. Maybe he left it around, somewhere, and someone picked it up? He tends to be forgetful, so it’s very possible. Maybe he left it in the kitchen when he was helping Hunk bake last week? (‘Helping’ being the operative word. He was sitting on the counter and bitching about various things that had pissed him off that week, because Hunk has forbidden him from touching anything kitchen related — you blow up one damn spaghetti pot and you get a lifetime ban, so unfair — but Hunk is also insatiable for any form of drama.) Or maybe he left it in Pidge’s workroom, when he was handing her tools a couple days ago. Or maybe he left it in the training room when he was sparring with Allura and Shiro yesterday?
Man, but he was so fucking sure he saw it in his closet!
He walks into the common room with a scowl that could turn air to stone, admittedly stomping a little.
“Hey, Keith,” Hunk greets absentmindedly, fully engrossed in what looks to be an intense staring contest with Pidge.
Keith decides he doesn’t want to know.
“Has anyone seen my flannel?”
“Isn’t your closet, like, 80% flannel, you useless gay person?” Pidge asks, which earns her a flick on the ear (and subsequently makes her lose her staring contest with Hunk, which has two direct consequences: Keith is now in Hunk’s good book — which means more treats and preferential kitchen chore treatment, hell yeah — and in Pidge’s bad book — which means Keith has to Watch His Back for the foreseeable future, yikes).
“I have a normal amount of flannel,” Keith says, lying and unashamed about it. “Anyway. I was talking about my good flannel. The blue one. The formal one.”
“There’s no such thing as formal flannel,” Allura says, looking at him with disdain. “You fashion disaster.”
Keith sniffs. “It is so fancy. It’s got a nice collar and buttons on the cuffs. That’s formal, right there.”
“What’s that term Lance used? What was — oh, yeah.” Allura gives him a deadpan look. “Okay, you country fucking bumpkin.”
Keith lets that sit there for a moment.
“You should go back to being annoyed every time Lance walks into the room,” Shiro says sagely. “I miss when you didn’t know what fuck meant.”
Allura shrugs. “I’ve made my peace with it. Unfortunately for me, he’s funny, so.”
“Guys,” Keith says again, with more urgency, but he is still largely ignored because his family is full of mean people. “Important problem at hand. My flannel. It’s missing.”
Pidge and Hunk have now moved from intense staring contest to a furious round of rock-paper-scissors, so they offer no input.
“You know, I bet Lance has it.”
It’s the first helpful piece of information Keith’s heard all day. Shiro is officially re-instated as his favourite brother. (He was knocked down yesterday because he stole all Keith’s fucking almost-peanut butter ice cream, and Keith barely held back from killing him for real, because how fucking dare he. He’s lucky he’s stronger than Keith and that Keith loves him, or else he would be dead.)
“Lance? Why would he have my flannel?”
“Because he never wears his own fucking clothes,” Hunk says, scowling as Pidge beats him — scissors to his paper. “I swear to god. He didn’t even come to space in his own clothes. He was wearing Marco’s jacket and Veronica’s jeans. He steals my hoodies on a regular basis.”
“He steals my socks on a regular basis because he is the worst,” Pidge complains. “He fucking stretches them every time. Why are older brothers so obsessed with doing that?”
Shiro, looking pointedly away because he’s an asshole who is also guilty of doing that (Pidge is right — seriously, why??) and pipes up next. “He keeps stealing my pants. I don’t even know why. They’re too big for him.”
“None of you get to complain,” Allura says venomously. “He has raided my closet at least three times a week since he fucking got here, I swear on the sky. I keep having to steal all my favourite skirts back! It’s not fair!”
Keith feels something like jealousy writhe around in his stomach, which is stupid. He’s not jealous that Lance doesn’t steal his clothes.
He’s happy. Lance’s stupid stinky butt shouldn’t be in his clothes, anyway. This is a good thing.
“Lance never steals my clothes,” Keith says, unable to tamp down a scowl. “So that can’t be it.”
No sooner are the words out of his mouth that Lance comes waltzing into the room, pleases as punch, visibly smirking.
He fucking is wearing Keith’s good blue flannel.
The bitch.
“You stole my fucking shirt!”
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Lance says breezily, draping himself on top of Pidge, who immediately sends him tumbling to the floor via hard shove. Lance is not phased in the slightest, and simply gets up and drapes himself over Hunk, who has had over ten years to get used to Lance as a person and so he does not react. “I bought this shirt for myself at the space mall.”
Keith is incensed. Fuming. Rage-filled.
(And a little pleased to see that Lance is wearing his clothes.)
(A little.)
(Like, the most minuscule, tiny amount. It doesn’t even count, really.)
“Take it off, you asshole! It’s mine!”
Lance hums, insufferably smug. He doesn’t even have the decency to look at Keith, pretending instead to investigate his nails. “No.”
That’s — it’s the self-satisfied smirk, Keith thinks. That’s what makes him snap. He wants to wipe it off so fucking badly. That fucking smirk haunts his dreams.
(Nightmares! Nightmares! He fucking meant nightmares!)
He lunges at Lance, snarling, who shrieks at the top of his lungs and begs Hunk for protection.
Hunk does not provide it. (Hell yeah. Keith knew being on his good side would be awesome.)
Lance, who is woefully unprepared, has nowhere to go when Keith tackles him to the ground, sitting on top of him. He immediately tries to unbutton the flannel and rip it off, and Lance, who is screeching so loud that they can likely hear him from Earth, is desperately trying to button it back on. Keith pins Lance’s wrists above his head to stop him.
“Stay still, you brat,” Keith growls.
Lance keens. His face lights up bright red, pupils dilating so wide they almost swallow up the brown of his irises. He stops struggling.
Keith freezes, captivated by the heat pouring off Lance’s face in waves.
Holy shit.
“You’re blushing.”
“Fuck off! Fuck right off! No I’m not!”
“You are.” Keith’s voice is almost awed. Unbidden, his free hand comes up Lance’s face, backs of his fingers pressing to his cheek.
“Oh my God,” comes a gleeful mutter behind him, along with a camera shutter. It shocks Keith right out of his stupor, and he throws himself off Lance’s lap — holy fuck, he was on Lance’s lap — with a strangled shout.
“G-give me my flannel!” Keith yells, ignoring how red his own face is getting.
“Fine,” Lance says, voice stretched and reedy. His fingers shake as he unbuttons the shirt.
Keith’s mouth goes dry, watching those long brown fingers fiddle with the buttons.
Oh, no.
Oh no.
“I love my life,” Shiro says, rubbing his hands together like a goddamn cartoon villain.
Lance shoves the flannel in Keith’s face, and then scrambles to sit next to Allura (who, he says, is the only person who hasn’t betrayed him).
The flannel is warm. Keith is already sweating.
Lance is still redder than Keith’s lion. Keith wants to bite him.
Oh, God.
What is he doing to do?
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