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franniebanana · 3 years

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CQL Rewatch - Ep15

I forgot this guy’s name, Yao or something? Honestly, I don’t care enough to research this, like, at all. I hate this guy. My friend and I now refer to him as the Hype Man, so I might just call him that from now on. But I wanted to say that I didn’t realize he was in it so early, so when I saw him, I was like, “That fucking guy!!” And I also totally missed that the point of Jiang Fengmian leaving was to take this worthless piece of trash somewhere. I wish he’d died haha. But then I guess there’d be less reason to hate him, and I enjoy hating him.

I can’t believe this is the first paragraph that people are going to see. If you’re reading this now, you’re like, why do I want to read this crap? And y’know what, I can’t blame you. The next few episodes are gonna be rough. I don’t even know if there will be much to say on my end. My friend, after watching these few episodes commented something like, “Huh, that really dragged.” I could only agree, pulling my hair out from the headache these few episodes were giving me.

Okay, but seriously, Yao is so pathetic here! Talking about how he never thought they’d end up like this, and, “Oh, we were just a small clan, woe is me!” It’s amazing that he turns into the biggest prick, always right there hyping up the scapegoat-blame game rhetoric. Sorry, I hate this fucker.

A rare nice moment from Madam Yu. It was sweet having her show a caring side, packing medicine for her husband, snacks for her daughter. But of course, it was because Jiang Yanli had come to say goodbye to her earlier. Jiang Cheng is really like his mother—they can’t do anything for kindness’s sake, there’s always an obligation to the kindness.

I hate Wang Lingjiao, but I love her, and I love hating her. I’m conflicted. She’s just such a fun, evil character, more fun than Xue Yang in my opinion, probably because she actual interacts with the main characters in the story. It will forever annoy me that Xue Yang gets so much attention for appearing in a long-ass flashback (via empathy) and what should have been a flashback (Chang Clan) but wasn’t because they wanted it to be padding, I guess.

Anyway, Wang Lingjiao. She’s fun, she goes completely nuts—what’s not to love about her? She’s also someone who is so similar to Madam Yu, but because she also is ambitious and wants to take over Lotus Pier, Madam Yu wants her dead. Haha!

While Madam Yu is, objectively, a horrible person, I actually really like how her bodyguards aren’t treated like servants. I like that there’s mutual respect there, as there should be when you’re talking about protecting someone. Unfortunately, I think Madam Yu treats them better than her own family in most cases. It’s cool that the Jiang Clan doesn’t rely on servants to get food and tea and whatnot. These are things that the disciples and leaders must do for themselves. By contrast, the Jins have so many servants—it’s almost obscene by comparison.

Also I want to point out how hot-headed Jiang Cheng gets here, while his mother is just cool as a cucumber. It really shows you how unready he is to actually lead (which she points out). He’s so emotional, quick to anger, yet he has none of the foundations to really lead a group of people. Even when the disciples are explaining to them what happened to the kid and the kite, it’s Wei Wuxian who is keeping everyone calm and asking the questions.

I love that his first reaction here is to insult Wang Lingjiao’s intelligence. We’re basically getting a parallel to how he reacts to Wen Chao, which is fun because you can see how his behavior hasn’t changed at all. He uses his wit in both situations and is easily able to outwit both Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao. What’s kind of interesting is that Jiang Cheng will speak up now when he wouldn’t before. And I wonder is it because he is guilty for being silent earlier with Wen Chao, or is it something else? I think ultimately Jiang Cheng blames Jin Xizuan, Lan Wangji, and Wei Wuxian for what happens to his parents and to Lotus Pier. Even though, logically, it would have been destroyed anyway, he still wants to place the blame on someone who he can reach. All this is to say, I don’t think Jiang Cheng regrets not speaking up at the Wen Indoctrination. So I think he feels superiority over Wang Lingjiao really because he thinks she’s a stupid woman. And duh, she is not that clever. But she is smart enough to be able to use what talents she has to get ahead. She apparently is favored over Wen Chao’s own wife (who knew he was even married—not me lol), and you have to be ambitious and have some smarts to get that far. That’s not to say that Jiang Cheng wouldn’t treat a man this way too—I think he would. I think he picks and chooses who he’ll stand up to. He’s on his own turf, she’s an invader, she’s a woman—she only brought a few henchmen, right? He’s also been charged with watching over Lotus Pier in his father’s absence. Maybe he just wants to look big for once. Just a thought. Take it or leave it.

So, I think Madam Yu is enjoying this. She’s getting two things she wants: the Wens are going to leave and she gets to beat the shit out of Wei Wuxian. She doesn’t even have to be prodded to punish him, right? She barely waits until Wang Lingjiao has finished speaking. This has something she’s wanted to do for a long time. I think she’s hit him before, yes? But she can go all out right now, since Jiang Fengmian, his only real protector, is gone.

Also Jiang Cheng! Man, he’s torn apart! He hates to see this happening to Wei Wuxian—yes, he blames him for all that shit, but he doesn’t want to see this happen to him. It’s actually harder to watch Jiang Cheng in all of this than Wei Wuxian, who mostly remains as stoic as he could possibly be while she’s whipping the shit out of him. And again here, we get Wei Wuxian telling Jiang Cheng not to interfere, because the last thing he wants is for Jiang Cheng to be penalized too. He’s fine receiving this punishment because it’s a “better me than him” kind of a thing. It’s harder to watch someone else suffer than to suffer ourselves, right? I’m like that, idk if you readers are, but I think a lot of people are like that. I mean, I’ve always been that way, but it’s been amplified since I became a parent. And not only is he accepting of being whipped by Zidian, he’s ready to lose his fucking right hand. The hand that he wields a sword with. His dominant hand. He is ready to lose it with absolutely no fuss. That’s how much Wei Wuxian cares about Lotus Pier. His response is, “I’ll have to learn how to use my left hand.” It’s a passing line, a line when you can’t even see his face—but do you get how big that is? Jiang Cheng is up there losing his mind, completely emotional, crying, yelling at his mother to stop—Wei Wuxian is just silently gritting his teeth and taking it. They’re both brave (I would not want to stand up to Madam Yu), but different kinds of brave, y’know?

I do love this part. I’m not gonna lie. Seeing Madam Yu slap Wang Lingjiao around is something that’s deeply, deeply satisfying. I guess it’s just nice to see Madam Yu’s anger turned towards an actual villain, since up until this point, it’s been directly mainly at Wei Wuxian and her own husband. I think this part is forever tainted if you know how the story goes, because Madam Yu is just on fire! But if you’ve seen this series before, which hopefully you have (otherwise spoilers abound), you know it doesn’t end well for her. I like this plot device here, making you think that the good guys are going to come out on top, and then reversing it so quickly as soon as the Core-Melting Hand shows up. One minute, you’re cheering, the next, you’re…not.

I also want to point out how quickly things reverse here as well. Jiang Cheng is trying to protect and comfort Wei Wuxian throughout this whole scene, which is something we’re definitely not used to seeing. This has always (and I mean always) been more of Lan Wangji’s thing. But in kind of a nice twist of fate, we actually see Jiang Cheng caring for Wei Wuxian. But then, boy, do things change! We see a complete reversal of this behavior—first Wei Wuxian has to be there for Jiang Cheng’s emotional state, and then his physical one. And the man does not complain about it at all.

I want to say that I didn’t cry in my first watch of CQL until episode 50. That is 100% the truth, so help me God. However, when I watched this scene in the donghua, I cried like a little bitch. Cried probably isn’t the right word—how about sobbed. I sobbed. I think because I knew it was coming when I watched CQL, it didn’t really affect me (plus my husband was right there, not paying attention, but still on the couch with me, so I tend to not cry as much when he’s around. I like to cry on my own, okay?). Having said that, the second time I saw this scene, I fucking cried, and I really didn’t stop until after they told Jiang Yanli, because that sweetheart crying makes me cry, okay? I have a really hard time watching things about children and parents, because I always think about my own parents and my own kid, so it just makes me really emotional. The idea of never seeing your parents again, especially in such a traumatic situation, at the age of what—17? That’s something I can’t even begin to imagine. In a word, horrific. Traumatic isn’t even a strong enough word to describe the emotional and mental turmoil that a teenager would be going through. But I can probably ramble about that later.

And my heart breaks for Wei Wuxian here too. Even though she hated him, even though she treated him so poorly, I’m sure he still thought of her as something akin to a mother. She was the only mother figure he had in his life who was still living, so there was definitely an attachment there (and this is proven later). Even being acknowledged by her here must mean something to him. She may hate him, but she trusts him to keep her children safe and to protect them. It’s honestly so sad.

Ugh, this is hard to watch. As a mother, the idea of sending your kid adrift when you know you’ll probably never see them again is so heartbreaking. The connection you have with your children is something that no other relationship can match, whether you physically bore your children or not. They are a part of you. Like, let’s be real, raising children is difficult—they can test your patience, make you angry, make you sad and hurt (toddlers don’t care about you, yeah, I said it)—but you love them in spite of it all. And for me, I can never really hate Madam Yu. I can find her attitude and treatment of certain individuals deplorable, but at the end of the day, she loved her children. Was she a good mom? No, probably not. But I don’t think Jiang Fengmian was a good dad either (although I think he tried a bit harder). But I think she loved A-Cheng and A-Li, and I think she trusted Wei Wuxian to protect them. I think she gave him that shred of respect at the end.

In case you’re wondering, I fucking cried through to the end of this episode. I mean, Jesus, Yanli just gets immediately thrown into another boat and tied up with her brothers, after finding out that her mother might be dead already, and then her dad abandons them too. I just can’t.

I’m sorry this was short (maybe I’m not sorry, depending on how much you like the episode). I’m going to try and knock out more than one episode per week because I just don’t have a lot to say. These are mainly getting through the plot episodes, if you know what I mean.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

#wei wuxian #jiang cheng #cql #the untamed #jiang yanli #jiang fengmian #madam yu #wen zhuliu #core-melting hand #wang lingjiao #jiaojiao #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql rewatch #wwx

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silverflame2724 · 3 years

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A/B/ O prompt AU where Omega!WWX's married to Alpha!JC. Following WC's death, WWX enters into his heat unexpectedly and is raped in the dark by an alpha who's in a rut, not knowing it's JC. WWX ends up pregnant but consumes wine in attempt to abort the baby since he thinks that the baby isn't JC's. In Burial Mounds, WWX gives birth to A-Yuan but gives him away to one of the Wen Remnants since he doesn't want him. After JZX's death, WWX is knocked out and taken to Lotus Pier by JC to be treated and finds out from a doctor that the resentful energy's killing his husband. To avoid causing anymore trouble for JC and JYL, WWX decides to drown himself after he leaves a note telling JC about his pregnancy.

This is my 1st A/B/O prompt so if I made some mistakes please tell me.

In this context, I’m not so comfortable explicitly writing the rape happening so it’ll be just a brief mention.

TW for rape/non-con in the beginning. If you want to skip that part, skip to the first dotted line. As well as a warning for infanticide, for which, if you’d like to skip as well, skip to "Until he met Wen Qing.”.

_____________

Wei Wuxian had felt something loosen within him moments after Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu finally took their last breaths. In hindsight, this is where it all went wrong.

One moment he was grinning with relief, the next, he’s keeled over, his heat - which hadn’t appeared since the fall of Lotus Pier - hitting him in waves. He managed to stumble away from the cooling corpses of the Wens he hated and into a room. Gods, out of all the times he had to get a heat, why now?

Blearily, he looked at his surroundings. Jiang Cheng.......where’s Jiang Cheng? He was in the room with me just now. He can help me through this, can’t he?

Footsteps got closer and Wei Wuxian tensed up. Who....Who is it? Is it Jiang Cheng? It had to be. He could smell me from here, couldn’t he?

The sharp scent of an alpha in rut hit his nose and Wei Wuxian found himself roughly pressed into the floor. It was dark and he couldn’t see whether the person above him was Jiang Cheng.

He panicked. He tried to kick the person off, struggling but it was no use. Starved, beaten and struggling to survive in the Burial Mounds for three months had drained him of all energy. He couldn’t fight back.

As soon as the alpha above him knotted him - despite his vehement protests - and collapsed on top of him, Wei Wuxian started to sob.

The knot deflated and Wei Wuxian pushed the alpha away, hurriedly dressing and escaping from the room. As he ran through the cool night air, he was glad no one saw him disheveled, broken like this.

................................

The war ended. The war had ended, but Wei Wuxian was in despair. All of his symptoms matched up. He was pregnant. He was pregnant but it wasn’t Jiang Cheng’s.

He knew what he had to do then, he had to get rid of the child. If Jiang Cheng ever found out. He shivered.

He had to get rid of them.

He did everything he could, drinking wine, eating foods he wasn’t supposed to eat, but it didn’t work. All it did was give him pain.

Wei Wuxian knew he couldn’t just go to a healer and ask for certain herbs. After all, people were looking for weaknesses of his constantly after the war and he couldn’t allow any word of his pregnancy to escape.

............

Six months down the line and the child still hadn’t died. Wei Wuxian didn’t know whether to feel happy or frustrated.

Nowadays, he had to wear scent blockers all the time to prevent people from asking about his scent and avoiding any and all contact with healers.

His days passed by worryingly like this.

Until he met Wen Qing.

........................................

In the Burial Mounds, a newborn’s loud wail rang out in the quiet. Wei Wuxian, weary and dizzy from blood loss gave the child the name A’ Yuan and gave him up to Wen remnants without hesitation.

He didn’t want the child.

He didn’t want the child. But he couldn’t stay away from him. Whether it was his omega instincts or his sentimentality for carrying the child for nine months, he couldn’t just ignore the boy.

He gave A’ Yuan love and attention but managed to stave off the worst of his instincts and kept his distance from the child, only letting him see Wei Wuxian as an uncle, at best. It was a fulfilling life.

He hoped his days would pass by like this, no matter how difficult it was.

....................

Somewhere though, deep in his heart, Wei Wuxian knew things couldn’t go on like this. Staring blankly as Jin Zixuan’s limp body got farther and farther away from him, Wei Wuxian felt silent tears roll down his cheeks. Why can’t I just be left alone?

When Wei Wuxian next woke up, he was in Lotus Pier. For a moment, he thought it was a dream until Jiang Cheng gripped his hands tightly.

“Why didn’t you tell me the resentful energy was killing you?”

Wei Wuxian internally sighed in relief. It seemed like his pregnancy and his golden core were still secrets. “I....didn’t think it mattered.”

“Didn’t think it mattered?!” Jiang Cheng raged. “How could you think-- I....I worry about you, idiot!!”

Wei Wuxian’s breath hitched. Jiang Cheng still cares? I thought.....I thought after I took in the Wens, I didn’t matter to him anymore.

“I’ll find a solution. Don’t worry, you won’t die.” Jiang Cheng said.

“How can you still say that?” Wei Wuxia asked hollowly, suddenly remembering Jin Zixuan. “I.....to Shijie’s husband........”

“We’ll figure it out together. And besides, I know you wouldn’t kill the Peacock without some reason.”

“Heheh, you’re starting to sound like Shijie.”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “That’s because A’ Jie calmed me down and told me to think rationally.”

Wei Wuxian didn’t look up.

“She knows you wouldn’t do that to her.”

“B-But, I........” He unconsciously let out a distressed scent and Jiang Cheng sent some of his own to comfort Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian’s stomach grumbled.

Jiang Cheng snorted. “Wait here. I’ll be back with food.” He mumbled quietly, “You’re too damn thin.”

Wei Wuxian smiled quietly.

...........................

Wei Wuxian was not an idiot. He heard the whispers from the disciples, from the servants. The Jiang sect will be in trouble for sheltering him. No one may have seen him enter Lotus Pier but it was only a matter of time.

He couldn’t let Jiang Cheng or the sect take the fall for his sake. Not again.

With shaky hands and a resigned smile, he wrote a letter - an apology, a thank you - to Jiang Cheng and Shijie. He wrote about the Burial Mounds, about the innocent Wens and how he wanted them to be saved, the night he was raped, and.....about his pregnancy and A’ Yuan. He hoped his last wishes were enough to persuade Jiang Cheng.

Sealing the letter, he left the room and found his favorite lake, the one he used to play in with all his shidis. Those bygone days of innocence had all but disappeared.

Dangling his legs over the edge, he looked at the beautiful sunset dying the lake a sky a mesmerizing color.

Shijie, Jiang Cheng......I’m sorry.....and thank you. I hope with my death, you will all be safe.

He waded into the deepest pit of the lake - the part he was always told to avoid - and allowed the rapid currents to drag him deep underwater.

Within a few minutes he’ll be dead.

Within a few hours, his body will be found.

_____________________

Where’s Lan Wangji in all of this? The answer is......I don’t know! Think whatever you like!

I hope the prompter is satisfied with this! I personally hoped to put a bit more emotion into it, but......I’ve put off answering this prompt long enough! Hope you enjoyed it!!

#wei ying #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #jiang wanyin #jiang yanli #jin zixuan #but he's dead #sad wei wuxian #married JC/WWX #Suicide #drowning #a/b/o dynamics #omega wei wuxian #alpha jiang cheng #mpreg #pregnancy #attempted infanticide

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plotdesigner · 3 years

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6, 14, 16, 29

6. What got you to start writing?

I wrote a fanfic about the Hobbit when I was 6? which was like, three sentences in large print about me helping Bilbo Baggins on his journey, but I think that counts.

14. An idea you’ll probably never write but damn if the idea ain’t cool.

Stories of how the story of CQL is interpreted through historical lenses in the proceeding years - 3zun becomes the subject of an epic tale that casts Nie Mingjue as a tragic heartthrob of ye olde gay literature for centuries, Wei Wuxian’s inventions accidentally foment a war two centuries down the line, Nie Huasiang being the boring dude you learn about in history class and then in tenth grade did you hear about his love poetry??? with an ending gag that JGY is the in universe equivalent of popular anime heroine Nero Fate Grand Order in a popular historical video game, much to the frustration of an immortal NHS who’s been writing literature about his friends while dunking on his enemies for two millenia for fun and spite.

16. What’s a common writing tip that you mostly ignore?

I will use as many adverbs as I want.

29. Share a bit from a wip!

“You’re Qinghe’s Nie-er-gongzi. You can’t have a reason to be kept here,” Wen Ning said. “You have to go home to your brother.”

“I do.” Nie Huaisang’s voice broke. “I had better not see you again after tonight. You have to go to go flee to Dongying, or go join the nomads in the north and live on a horse, or join those traders that go to India - you had better not set foot in Qinghe- “

Don't make me be the one to find your body in this upcoming war.

“I won’t. I’ll go somewhere far away,” Wen Ning said, and Nie Huaisang could feel wetness against his face.

“Somewhere without a war!”

“Somewhere without a war.”

There would be no running away, no fleeing to Dongying. Or if there was, it would be risky and it would go against all filial piety, all loyalty, abandoning his ancestors. Wen Qionglin was as trapped as the hostages here, in some ways.

But this way they could pretend, perhaps, that they’d both get out of this war alive, and that their sects would not be the reason the other died.

They held each other like that for a while. Neither of them mentioned the other’s tears. They let themselves cry themselves empty. Then Wen Qionglin wiped their faces with the sleeve of his robes, and went to the other side of the room to bring back a handful of qiankun pouches.

“What are these?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“We got off track before, but, um. You’re going on a big night hunt tomorrow with Wen Chao,” Wen Ning said. “I don’t think he’s going to bring enough provisions, so I packed food. And some medical supplies, just in case.”

“Fuck,” Nie Huaisang said softly, and he hugged him again, grabbing the pouches before Wen Ning could drop them in. “Thank you so much. This might be a literal lifesaver if your cousin’s as shit at planning night hunts as he is at planning hostage situations.”

“You’re welcome,” Wen Ning said. “And I should be thanking you.”

“For what?” Nie Huaisang said.

“For being my friend. I don’t really have many,” Wen Ning said. “And I’m sorry my sect was the one to do this to you. All of this.”

Nie Huaisang wet his lips, feeling something build in his throat as he stepped back to look at him properly. “Why are you saying that?”

Wen Ning smiled like cracking porcelain. “My sister says that if you think you have to say goodbye, it’s important to tell someone thank you for the good times and apologize for the bad.”

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trensu · 4 years

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Episode 12: The One where Everyone Goes to Evil Summer School and Has a Bad Time

And we’re off to a bad start bc we’re at Evil Summer School and WC is monologuing like the world’s shittiest villain

His flunkies take everyone’s swords and wwx whispers “lan zhan” after watching lwj hand over his sword (LIKE, THE ONE THING HE HAS LEFT OF HIS HOME *SOBS*)

Lwj ignores him tho

And then keeps ignoring him

Be easy on him, folks, he’s overcoming some trauma

We get more useless wc monologuing

But we’ll ignore him and focus instead on how wwx keeps throwing worried little glances at lwj

(hey remember how last episode i told you all about lwj’s capture and subsequent injury even tho it wasn’t wangxian moment?? IT PAYS OFF IN THIS EPISODE WITH MULTIPLE WANGXIAN MOMENTS)

(also, just fyi at this point wwx still doesn’t know what all went down at the cloud recesses or that lwj is injured; i mean yeah, wc bragged to him about it but what, we’re gonna take him at his word? Heck no)

Wc assigns the class homework - Memorizing Wen Clan Rules

So we see wwx being all studious

He and jc are dragging the wen clan for their hypocrisy and then wwx has an Epiphany

Wwx: hey, the Wen clan is so petty, they wouldn’t have just settled for LWJ attending Evil Summer School; they would’ve taken way more hostages I mean disciples!! SOMETHING BAD MUST’VE HAPPENED

And he leaps up with every intention of tracking down LWJ but some wen flunkies are guarding the door so that ends up being a no-go

But wwx is not deterred! No sir, he is coming up with a plan to finally get LWJ’s attention

We’re back in class at Evil Summer School and wc is all i’m gonna pick ppl to recite the rules bc i’m a douchebag

And ofc he picks lwj, wwx, and jzx

Lwj: Can’t do it. Not today.

Jzx: Yeah, no, that’s Beneath me

Wwx: oh oh pick me!! I can do it!! *raises hand excitedly*

Omg wwx he already picked you, you don’t have to do that

Wc: okay, but if you get it wrong I will Punish you bc i’m an asshole that way

Cue wwx’s Classic Look of Disgust (guys, guys, i just love this expression on his face SO MUCH, i couldn’t even tell you why)

But that look quickly morphs into his Signature Mischievous Grin

Which he aims at lwj, so ofc it looks SUPER FLIRTY ahhhhh

Lwj continues to ignore him

AGAIN I ASK, how the HELL does he keep doing that??! If i had wwx smile like that at me, he’d have my FULL UNDIVIDED ATTENTION FOREVER

Okay, here’s where a good moment becomes a GREAT moment

Wwx goes up all cocky and starts THEATRICALLY doing STRETCHES even tho all he’s doing is RECITING LINES, OMG, WWX

Wc: GET ON WITH IT

Wwx: right, right, i got this. Okay, listen carefully~!

Wwx: *STARTS RECITING LAN CLAN RULES*

THAT’S MY BOY!!! LOOK AT MY BOY GO! HOLY SHIT, THE AUDACITY. WHAT A BI-CON, I LOVE IT!!

Now lwj FINALLY looks at him!!

And it only took 14min and wwx reciting his clan’s rules to FINALLY GET A REACTION

Wc: HOW DARE YOU RECITE LAN CLAN RULES IN QISHAN

Wwx: oh dear, oh gosh, how foolish of me! I am SO sorry i got them all mixed up!!

And then he literally pats himself on the back with a pleased little smirk

And that’s how jzx, lwj, and wwx end up in Evil Detention carrying manure to the vegetable fields

Lwj is just pouring the manure out of the buckets

Wwx: lan zhan, you want me to find you a scooper?

Lwj: *ignores him*

Jzx: *unwillingly bears witness to this and rolls his eyes*

(don’t even, jzx, you het disaster)

Wwx: hey lan zhan, how come your clan has a silencing spell but not a spell that blocks out gross smells?

Lwj: *picks up empty buckets and leaves, CONTINUING TO IGNORE WWX FOR SOME INEXPLICABLE REASON*

Here wwx just sloppily dumps out his buckets and chases after him

As they walk over to wherever they need to go to refill their buckets, wwx starts asking lwj Plot Questions and generally worrying about him

Which could’ve become a sweet moment

Except that wc shows up to ruin the moment with his, you know, general existence

So obviously wwx has to go and insult wc to his face, right? HE WAS TRYING TO HAVE QUALITY TIME WITH HIS SOULMATE, GODDAMNIT

Wc tries to whip wwx but wwx catches it like a BADASS and is all “don’t try me”

But then wc gets his flunkies to tie up wwx!! (i’m telling you guys, this clan really seems to have a thing for tying/chaining people up)

Lwj sees that his soulmate is defenseless and is like, can’t have that happening and goes to defend him!!

Ugghhh but that ASSHOLE WEN CHAO GOES AND HITS LWJ ON HIS INJURED LEG WHICH SENDS LWJ TUMBLING INTO THE GROUND

Wwx: HEY, leave him alone! I was the one insulting you!!

DO YOU SEE THAT GUYS?? THEY ALWAYS DEFEND EACH OTHER!!

And actually this starts up a general pattern for them: lwj always defends wwx physically and wwx always defends lwj verbally

IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL. THEY COVER EACH OTHER’S WEAK SPOTS WITHOUT EVEN REALIZING IT!!

(lwj isn’t all that good with words as you know, and wwx has this talent of making everyone around him want to punch him in the face, his beautiful beautiful face)

Wc goes to whip wwx again, but LWJ gets up on his feet in an instant (even with the leg wound!!) and catches the whip ONE-HANDED AND YANKS IT OUT OF WC’S GRASP

LIKE, DON’T FUCKING TOUCH MY SOULMATE YOU SLIMY BASTARD

Obvs he didn’t say that, but you can see it in his eyes that that’s exactly what he was thinking, word-for-word. Trust me on this.

The wen flunkies release wwx who drops to the ground and lwj immediately grabs him by the arm

He doesn’t try to lift him up and he’s not actually holding him up

So why the arm-grabbing?

I’LL TELL YOU WHY

BC HE WANTS TO BE NEAR WWX, THAT’S WHY

And let me remind you that this is the same lwj who’s all “i don’t touch people” back in episode 5: the One with Angry bb!LWJ

Yeah, that rule doesn’t apply to wwx anymore BC SOULMATES

Although in all fairness, who wouldn’t grab onto wwx given half a chance?

Okay now wc monologues some more

Wwx: wc, stop babbling

(omg wwx, stop baiting him)

Wc: TAKE HIM TO THE DUNGEON

Lwj: *BOLTS UPRIGHT ON HIS INJURED LEG AND BLOCKS THEIR WAY*

Srsly, injured leg!! And it doesn’t even slow him down when it comes to protecting wwx!! And he stretches out his arm so his pretty white sleeves mostly cover wwx from view

Wc: don’t worry, the dungeon’s big enough for two (wc you slimy bastard, you’re ruining everyone’s sex dungeon fantasies)

Wwx: *pushes away lwj’s arm* nah, just take me. The dungeon’s bound to be cooler than being out on these sunny fields anyway lol

And now we have this terrible moment where we see wwx be well and truly terrified for the first time in the show

He’s thrown into the dungeon WHILE CHAINED UP and there’s this HUGE MUTANT DOG MONSTER

Poor wwx visibly pales and breaks out into a cold sweat while wen chao mocks him (I HATE HIM SO MUCH)

Okay, i’d like to take a moment here to fully acknowledge that this dog monster thing is, like, really horrible effects-wise. We all know this. But we’re gonna pretend for sake of the Emotional Trauma it causes our darling wwx that it’s actually a big scary thing, okay?

Anyway

WEN NING TO THE RESCUE - knocks out the dog with strategically placed needles and provides wwx Medicine Pouch and Medicine Bottle

he’s like, i stole medicine for you bc we’re bffs and i’d die for you (which he does eventually lololol I’M SORRY THAT WAS AWFUL)

I’m sure you’re all hey trensu, this isn’t a wangxian moment you said this was a wangxian guide, what the heck

BUT IT IS A WANGXIAN MOMENT and also it sets us up for ANOTHER wangxian moment later on in the show!

It’s a wangxian moment now bc wen ning provides the info wwx has been trying to get this whole time, aka what the heck is up with lwj and the cloud recesses?

Wwx looks utterly DEVASTATED when wn tells him lwj’s home was burned

And when he tells wwx about the wens breaking lwj’s leg?

FUCKING FURIOUS

HE’S SO ANGRY THAT THEY HURT HIS LAN ZHAN

HE PUNCHES THE STONE FLOOR OF HIS CELL WITH AN ALREADY BLOODIED UP HAND

THAT’S HOW ANGRY HE IS

See? Totally a wangxian moment

Oh, and then we see him take like, only one (1) medicine piece from Medicine Bottle and then slips the it and the Medicine Pouch into his robes

Wwx: i’ll save this for lan zhan

I’LL SAVE THIS FOR LAN ZHAN, HE SAYS

HE’S INJURED AND CHAINED UP AND HE’S SAVING THE MAJORITY OF THE MEDICINE FOR LAN ZHAN

BC HE LOVES HIM

AHHHHHH

Okay now we’re back in class (and wtf, wwx has to attend class even after all that??)

Wwx is still looking all wrung-out and bloodied

We see lwj look at wwx all concerned!

Plot stuff happens

More plot stuff

Now we get set up for our last wangxian moment of the episode!!

Wen Flunkie: hey boss, there’s this monster in this mountain that probably someone should get rid off

Wc: oh cool, good thing i’ve got all these hostages i mean cannon fodder I MEAN visiting disciples with me. Let’s do it!

TIME FOR A FIELD TRIP (OF EVIL)!!!

Wen chao is on a horse with his girlfriend while everyone else is walking bc wc is the WORST PERSON

Then oh no, lwj is visibly limping as they go on!!

And wwx looks over and sees lwj limping

~THEIR SONG~ STARTS GENTLY PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND AHH AHHHHH

IDK IF YOU GUYS NOTICED YET BUT THAT’S OUR CUE THAT SOME GOOD WANGXIANTICS IS COMING UP

Wwx does not hesitate even a minute to go help him!! BC THAT’S WHAT SOULMATES DO

But JC ofc holds him back (what the heck jc), and he’s all leave him alone, you’ve helped him enough already

And wwx is like, HE JUST LOST HIS HOME, JC!! AND HIS LEG IS BROKEN. WHAT IF HE LOSES HIS LEG??

JC: it’s not like he’ll let you close enough to carry him anyway!!

Wwx: well that’s his choice BUT I STILL GOTTA OFFER BC I LOVE HIM, HE NEEDS TO KNOW IT’S AN OPTION!!

JC: we can’t stick our noses in his business!

Wwx: well SOMEBODY has to help him!!

And he flounces off to go to lwj

Wwx: lan zhan, how’s your leg?

Lwj: it’s fine

He says, y’know, like a liar.

Wwx: hey, we’re friends, you can be honest with me!! Are you sure your leg is okay??

Lwj: it’s fine

GOD DAMN IT LWJ, HE’S TRYING TO HELP YOU

Wwx: don’t pretend it’s fine all the time!! I can carry you~!

OMG HE SAYS THIS WITH THE SWEETEST, MOST SINCERE SMILE, GUYS

HE WANTS TO HELP LWJ SO BAD

HE WANTS LWJ TO LET HIM CLOSE!!

BECAUSE HE LOVES HIM, AHHHHH

And with that sweet, sincere smile, the episode ends

On a high note!!

Lovely, lovely, it was lovely, i want to stare at that smile forever

Return to Masterpost

#WangXiantics #wangxian #the untamed

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imaginaryelle · 4 years

Note

If you're still taking asks, maybe a modern wangxian au where LWJ finds out WWX never learned to ride a bike so he decides to teach him? Or in line with those LWJ does something uncharacteristic but only for WWX's eyes (like winking at him) and WWX is so shocked and tries to convince anyone else that it happened but no one believes him. Just some general fluffiness 🤗

Anon, I hope you don’t mind that I threw A-Yuan in here too,because I had a brainwave halfway through writing this and “fluff”plus “Lan Wangji acting in ways other people won’t believe”came up with an answer of “A-Yuan.” (Also I re-watched relevantscenes and realized A-Yuan calls Wei Wuxian “Xian-gege” and Icould not resist.) This fic is ~2.7k and can also be read on AO3.

When Wei Wuxiansteps off the bus with A-Yuan balanced carefully against his hip, hefinds Yiling park is less crowded than expected for a sunny autumn day. That may be due to the exhibition downtown, or to the coolbreeze snaking over the grounds and blowing hair into people’sfaces no matter how carefully they’d tied their ponytail. He swipeshis hair back irritably and checks that A-Yuan’s coat is stillbuttoned up. It hadn’t been this cool back at his apartment, butafter a few months of babysitting Wei Wuxian has learned at least afew things, and one of thosethings is that Wen Qing will absolutely pummel him if he takes thekid out without a jacket.

“This is usually areally nice place,” he tells A-Yuan as they walk hand-in-tiny-handtoward the pedestrian boulevard. “When I was in school, fourdifferent classmates of mine got engaged here, over by the river, andthere’s a playground further in, and sometimes there arefireworks.”

The grounds haven’tchanged much since those days, which were, admittedly, only a yearago so he’s not sure what he was expecting. The walking paths arestill lined with trees and flower bushes for every season, and theelectric lanterns overhead creak as they swing in the breeze. It’sjust not really the sort of place he ever imagined Lan Wangjifrequenting. Full of couples and families with children, or usuallyfull anyway. Lan Wangji likes solitude and quiet. At least, he usedto.

Maybe something’schanged in the last few months. Something that would make himactually respond to one of Wei Wuxian’s messages for once. Andinvite him somewhere. On a not-date, because Wei Wuxian is verycertain that Lan Wangji doesn’t… date. And he definitely doesn’tdate university dropouts, no matter the state of their previousfriendship, or what sorts of daydreams and hopes Wei Wuxian stillguiltily harbors.

Not that theknowledge stops Wei Wuxian’ heart speeding up as he finally catchessight of a figure in a long white overcoat, standing quiet andself-contained next to one of the bubbling fountains spreadthroughout the park. Not that reminding himself of it keeps his palmsfrom sweating as they draw nearer.

“Lan Zhan,” hecalls when he can’t bear to wait any longer, and it’s gratifying,how quickly Lan Wangji turns.

“Wei Ying,” hesays, and there might even be a hint of a smile there before his eyeslock on A-Yuan and a frown etches itself between his brows. “Thisis …?”

“Oh!” Wei Wuxianrealizes, quite suddenly, that he never actually… sent that updatetext about his situation. Oops. “Sorry, sorry,” he apologies.“This is A-Yuan. I don’t usually watch him on Saturdays, but hisfamily had a—a thing today.” He waves his free hand, as if it canencompass the Wen family’s various complications and commitments.

Lan Wangji staresdown at A-Yuan without responding.

“Is—is thatokay?” Wei Wuxian bites his lip. “If it’s not I think I’mfree next week—”

“It’s fine,”Lan Wangji says. And then, with some concern, “Is he cold?”

Wei Wuxian looksdown to find A-Yuan has turned his face into Wei Wuxian’s leg, likehe’s hiding from the wind. But he’s not shivering, or clinging.It’s more like his occasional behavior at the supermarket, whenit’s overcrowded.

“Ah, no, I thinkhe’s just shy.” He pets A-Yuan’s hair. “A-Yuan,” he coaxes,“This is Lan Zhan, Xian-gege’s friend from school. He’s the onewho invited us out to play today.” A-Yuan shakes his head and staysstubbornly turned into him. Wei Wuxian can barely bite back his smileas he says, “Lan Zhan, your face is too severe, he thinks you’reangry.”

Lan Wangji managesto look even more concerned at this, and Wei Wuxian laughs. “It’sfine, it’s fine, he really is shy. It took him two days to warm upto me when I was first watching him.” He slings off his backpackand nudges A-Yuan closer to the fountain. “He’ll do better for abit of a distraction.”

The backpack isoverstuffed with things he or A-Yuan might need, but it’s easyenough to find the butterfly and the dragon he likes best.

“A-Yuan,” hesays, holding them out, “Do you want to show Lan Zhan your toys?”

A-Yuan bites hislip, his little hands clenching tight as he reaches out and thenpulls back.

“A-Yuan ishungry,” he declares, and Wei Wuxian sighs.

“We ate lunch anhour ago. I told you already, we can get noodles in a little while.All I have for you right now is shrimp crackers and dried plums.”

A-Yuan pouts. Shrimpcrackers and dried plums are tied for his least favorite snack, butbetween his anticipation of this outing with Lan Wangji and theunexpected chaos his morning had turned into Wei Wuxian hasn’trefreshed his supplies yet this week. He sets the toys on the wideedge of the fountain and turns with a grimace. “Sorry, Lan Zhan,”he says. “Sometimes he—”

“Will these work?”Lan Wangji produces a brightly colored bag of Lotus chips and holdsthem out to A-Yuan, who nods eagerly.

“Lan Zhan...”Wei Wuxian watches him open the snacks and pick out a careful pile ofchips that he presents on a paper napkin. Watches A-Yuan smile widelyat him and offer up his most polite and heartfelt ‘thank you.’There’s another, immediately recognizable snack bag peeking out ofLan Wangji’s bike pannier—the spicy version of the same brand oflotus snacks, which Wei Wuxian had eaten almost every day while theywere in classes together and which he knows for a fact Lan Wangjipersonally abhors.

For a moment he’sso overcome with nostalgia and inexplicable gratitude that he can’teven see what’s directly in front of him until Lan Wangji call hisname.

“What?” heblinks hard and clears his throat before meeting Lan Wangji’s gaze.“Sorry, Lan Zhan, what-ah. What did you even want to do today,anyway?”

Lan Wangji looks athim for a moment, and then at A-Yuan happily eating and playing, andthen nods to himself. He goes back to his bike panniers and rummagesfor a moment, reappearing with a bike helmet, which he pushes intoWei Wuxian’s unresisting hands.

“What’s thisfor?” he asks, staring at it. It looks suspiciously like LanWangji’s own bike helmetwith the white and the blue detailing tomatch his fancy road bike,but he supposes it’s possible there’sa second one. Lan Wangji had to buy it somewhere, right?

“Riding,”Lan Wangji says, and Wei Wuxian sighs and passes the helmet back.

“LanZhan, wherever you want to go I’m sure we can walk. Or catch a bus!Get a taxi. It’s too—too windy to bike, and there’s no seat forA-Yuan on a rental.” He sticks his hands in his pockets and huncheshis shoulders like he’s warding of chills. Hot noodles are soundingmore and more appealing.

“Youshould learn,” Lan Wangji says, and Wei Wuxian goes still. Noteven remotely adate then. Definitely nota date. No, instead LanWangji has found yet another weakness to poke his long, beautifulfingers into. Damn him.

“Whotold you?”

LanWangji is impassive, as ever. “You were at the skate park. With WenQionglin.”

WeiWuxian frowns. He spends a few evenings a week at the skate park withWen Ning, but none of that time is really related to—oh. Oh.The trick bike, two weeks ago. Which means Lan Wangji saw him crashinto a bench and nearly break his wrist. Whoops.

“LanZhan, that was a one-time thing,” he promises. “Don’t worry,I’m not going to be trying that again.” Even if riding a bikewould be worlds more convenient than walking next time he misses thebus to work.“I’m fine, really. Thereare plenty of ways to get around the city.” Heturns on his heel and scrunches up his face in the direction of ahappy couple on the walkingpaths. This is reallynot—wait. “Wait.” He spinsback around. “Did you mean—youwant to teach me?”

LanWangji is looking down at the helmet in his hands, not meeting WeiWuxian’s eyes.

“Mn,”he says, low enough that Wei Wuxian can hardly hear it over the rushof the fountain. He leans closer.

“Isthere a special reason?” he asks with renewed hope.

“WeiYing should learn,” Lan Wangji repeats.

Somuch for that then. Wei Wuxian pouts. But maybe he can turn this tohis advantage. Bike riding lessons could take hours. Maybe days. Itcould take multiple meetings, with and without A-Yuan in tow. Atminimum, it means more time spent with Lan Wangji, more opportunitiesto figure out if this is friendship rekindled or—or something else.

“Okay.”He plucks the helmet from Lan Wangji’s hands and smiles at the hintof surprise on his face. “Let’s do it.”

Ofcourse, as with anything involving Lan Wangji, there arecomplications. It’s not enough to just get on a bike and point itdown a clear patch of pavement, no, there are steps.The first of which is wearing a helmet, which takes a few minutesto get settled properly; WeiWuxian has no idea how Lan Wangji manages to wear it and still havesuch perfectly neat hair all the time.Wei Wuxian does not have thatgift. His ponytail gets inthe way, and Lan Wangjimeets the suggestion that they could just move on without the helmetwith an icy stare. So Wei Wuxian takes down his hair and puts it upagain three separate times, and stops to tease A-Yuan and let himselfbe laughed at, and then the straps have to be adjusted again, andagain.

Thatpart at least is mostly pleasant. Lan Wangji stands close enough thatWei Wuxian can count his eyelashes as he frowns and messes withplastic clips and slips his fingers carefully between Wei Wuxian’sskin and the buckle. It takes two tries before he’s satisfied thatthe helmet isn’t going to slip off and leave Wei Wuxian to rattlehis brain against the concrete, and by the time he steps back WeiWuxian has very nearly convinced himself that a kiss would be aharmless, innocuous thing and not at all a risk that makes hisinsides tie themselves into knots. Very, very nearly, but notquite well enough to close that last bit of distance between them.

Adjustingthe bike’s seat is significantly more frustrating.

“It’sfine,” Wei Wuxian insists, impatient after getting on and off thebike four times for what seem to be extremely minor adjustments.

“It’ssafer if your feet can touch the ground while you’re learning,”Lan Wangji says, unhooking the latch again.

“Theytouch!” Wei Wuxian fumes. “I’m not that much shorterthan you, I’ll knock myself out with my own knees if that seat goesany lower.” Not that any of his protests seem to matter in the faceof Lan Wangji’s conviction.

Finally,finally, after the seat is adjusted and Lan Wangji hasstubbornly held the whole bike still so that Wei Wuxian can tryputting his feet on the pedals without falling over, they can reallyget underway. Wei Wuxian moves A-Yuan to a slightly safer distancefrom both bicycle and fountain, tells him to stay put so he doesn’tget hurt, and straddles the bike one last time. Lan Wangji holds ontothe rack in an effort to keep the bike steady without being directlyin the way, but it’s still a wobbly effort. Wei Wuxian looks downthe stretched out downhill slope of pavement before him and seesnothing but a hard surface to fall on. For a moment he considers themerits of calling the whole thing of and insisting on an early dinnerafter all. His wrist twinges with remembered pain.

ButLan Wangji has gone to so much effort, and this is the first timehe’s reached out for anything in months. If Wei Wuxian backsout now he might not get another chance to see him for even longer.

“Okay.”The handlebars wobble and he tightens his grip with a grimace; LanWangji’s biek is the lightest, most responsive bicycle he’s everso much as touched. “Okay,” he repeats. “What next, Lan Zhan?”

“Pedalslowly, and remember the breaks,” Lan Wangji says at his shoulder,and then they’re moving, Lan Wangji’s footsteps at his side asthe tires roll and the pavement speeds by, faster and faster, andthen he realizes he can’t hear Lan Wangji’s footsteps anymore andhe’s gliding along on his own. Coasting down the hill. Speedingup.

Thespeed is exhilarating. Like jumping off a diving board or taking thehalf-pipe a little too fast. He lets out a whoop and leans into itand tries to pedal faster, and then the bike leaps suddenly sideways,and there’s a moment of trying to pedal backwards and trying toreach the brake levers at the same time, and then the whole bikeshudders underneath him and the horizon slips sideways and he hitsthe ground and slides.

Fora few seconds he just lies on his side doing a mental inventory ofhis parts. Ow. His left ankle and upper arm hurt. There’s gravelunder his face. He has no idea where the bike is. He thinks A-Yuanmight be crying in the distance.

“WeiYing!” Lan Wangji’s voice draws nearer. “Wei Ying,” rightoverhead. A hand grabs at his shoulder, another pressing to his face.

“Xian-gege!”A-Yuan yells, almost directly into his ear, still crying, and WeiWuxian reaches a hand up for him.

“I’mokay,” he says as soothingly as he can, patting blindly at A-Yuan’shead.“Shhhh, Xian-gege is okay, A-Yuan.”

“WeiYing,” Lan Wangji repeats, like he thinks Wei Wuxian can’t hearhim.

“LanZhan.” Wei Wuxian struggles to sit up, a process made moredifficult by both A-Yuan andLan Wangji’s hoveringpresence so close to his face. “Did I scratch up your bike?” Helooks around for clues to its whereabouts, but Lan Wangji makes adismissive noise and grabs at his hand.

“Areyou hurt?” he asks.

“No,”Wei Wuxian lies. Bruises don’t count, especially not with LanWangji holding his hand. “Lan Zhan, I’m fine, I promise,” heinsists when Lan Wangji looks unconvinced. More than unconvinced, LanWangji looks almost regretful. “Hey, hey, no,” Wei Wuxiansqueezes his hand. Dares to tug him a little closer. “I’m fine.Nothing an ice pack won’t cure.”

“Xian-gege.”A-Yuan chooses that moment to crawl from Lan Wangji’s lap to hisand press tiny toddler hands into his face. “Xian-gege is hurt,”he says, pushing at Wei Wuxian’s cheeks in a way that does,admittedly, make him wince.

“Everything’sokay, A-Yuan.” Wei Wuxian sighs and lets of of Lan Wangji’s handto wipe at the tears on A-Yuan’s cheeks. “I’m not hurt. I justmessed up. Do you remember what we do when we mess up?”

A-Yuannods seriously. “Try again,” he says dutifully, and Wei Wuxiangrins and bops his nose gently.

“That’sright! We try again. So that’s what we’re going to do, and thenwe’re going to go get noodles. Deal?”

“Mn!”A-Yuan nods eagerly.

“Deal,Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian asks, still grinning even though his cheekhurts with it, and even though his whole body is probably going toache tomorrow morning, especially if he falls again. “Let merepay you for the lesson with dinner?”

LanWangji gives him a long, slow look, but there’s a hint of a smilethere. Just enough to send Wei Wuxian’s heart soaring all overagain.

“Mn,”he agrees.

#wangxian #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #wei wuxian #lan wangji #chen qing ling #a yuan #alex writes #Anonymous

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bettydice · 4 years

Text

(Planning the Day) To Meet You

Wangxian, Modern AU, Slow Burn, E-Rated

[Read on AO3]

Chapter 8

Tuesday, Sixteenth Day with Wei Ying

Lan Wangji almost prepares lunch for three people again. But no. Today it will only be Wei Ying and him in the library. He’d gotten used to A-Yuan and their playground meetings so quickly, the time before almost seems like a distant memory. The last time they were alone in the library, Lan Wangji still thought Wei Ying was married.

So much has happened since then, in barely more than a week. Excitement curses through him, as he wonders what might happen during the following days. Yesterday, Wei Ying kissed him. He’d given him four kisses. Maybe a week from now, he’ll have collected even more. Lan Wangji smiles and pours coffee into the thermos for Wei Ying. He really hopes so.

Today, Wei Wuxian is wearing a normal T-Shirt again, no buttons in sight. Probably better that way.

“Lan Zhan, do you like my shirt?” Wei Ying straightens it, so Lan Wangji can take a better look, the style reminiscent of the kind of shirts Wen Ning seems to like. With some effort, he manages to decipher the spiky letters. Oh.

“Yiling… Laozu.”

“Yes! Your new favourite band, right?” Wei Ying grins as he sits down on his chair across from Lan Wangji.

“Mn. Everyone should listen to them at least once in their lives.” Lan Wangji barely suppresses a shudder.

“Ha!” Wei Ying cackles, as delighted as the first time Lan Wangji has made a humorous remark in his presence. ”Yes, let’s spread the suffering, good idea!”

They have no problem going back to the library rhythm they had before but… Lan Wangji can’t forget that Wei Ying kissed him yesterday. He knows he won’t get any more work done now. What if he focuses on a book and ends up missing the smiles Wei Ying has apparently been sending his way, according to the drawing?

He wonders whether Wei Ying also knows a Good Morning spell. But he doesn’t ask.

The morning passes quickly and quietly. Lan Wangji had sort of anticipated things would be different after last week, but except for how he can’t stop thinking about possible excuses for them to kiss again, nothing has changed.

At 11:30 a.m., they go outside for lunch and Wei Ying happily eats and drinks the things Lan Wangji has brought for him.

Wei Ying is blissfully taking apart a clementine, when he cocks his head and throws a thoughtful look Lan Wangji’s way.

“Lan Zhan, do you have a car?”

“No. Why?”

“Ah, nevermind! It was a silly idea anyway.”

“Do you need to go somewhere? I can borrow my brother’s car.”

“No need! Don’t trouble yourself! It’s really not important, haha.”

“Wei Ying.” By now he knows that Wei Ying wouldn’t have even mentioned it if it was really ‘nothing’ or something he didn’t care about. Lan Wangji tries to not overwhelm Wei Ying with how much he’s willing to do for him, but nudging him a little to tell him what it is he wants should be fine.

“Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji, about to bite into a carrot, puts it back into his lunch box and stares at Wei Ying, frowning. Since Wei Ying can decipher his frowns, he should know this one means Lan Wangji will keep staring until he tells him.

“You’re so stubborn. Fine.” Wei Ying huffs and pouts and finally relents. ”I was only asking, because there’s this forest playground A-Yuan really likes, but it’s hard to reach with public transportation. We sometimes go with Jiejie and Jin Ling and-”

“Wei Ying.” Lan Wangji already decided to help before Wei Ying even asked anyway.

“-and A-Yuan seems a bit bored right now because daycare is still closed and it’s nice and cool on that playground because there’s lots of shadow from the trees, but Jiejie is on some kind of fancy beach vacation, so I was only thinking that it would be nice, but of course you don’t have to-”

“Yes. Wei Ying. When do you want to go? Tomorrow?”

“Ah, you would really do that, Lan Zhan? A-Yuan would be so happy, he always likes spending time with tall-gege.”

It puzzles him that Wei Ying seems so… nervous. Isn’t it abundantly clear Lan Wangji likes to spend time with them and that he’s very willing to do so? Why is he still surprised by that or unsure whether Lan Wangji really means it?

“I also like spending time with A-Yuan. And Wei Ying.” That should clear up any confusion on that matter.

“Ah, Lan Zhan, your flirting is getting out of control!” Wei Ying winks and laughs, and then holds a little monologue about why this particular playground is so great and what would be the best time to go there to escape the afternoon heat and does Lan Wangji like birds, because there are so many birds to see.

Lan Wangji feels a little frustrated. Wei Ying keeps calling it flirting whenever Lan Wangji states his honest feelings and he didn’t mind before, but... when Wei Ying frames it as flirting, the sincerity doesn’t seem to reach him. And Lan Wangji doesn’t know how to change that. He can’t tell whether Wei Ying does it on purpose or whether Lan Wangji is just not using the right words or the right tone or the right facial expression. Does Wei Ying not want his sincerity? Last night, his cheeks still burning from the kisses and the drawing held carefully in his hands, he’d been so sure they were both going in the same direction. And he doesn’t think he’s wrong about that.

He’ll just have to work harder to show Wei Ying that they’re walking the same path.

Lan Wangji I borrowed my brother’s car. Should I come pick you up at 3 p.m.?

Wei Ying Maybe 2:30. Since it’ll take us about 40 min to get there. Does that work for you?

Lan Wangji Yes. I’m looking forward to spending the day with you. What about a car seat for A-Yuan?

Wei Ying We have a seat, just no car! ;P It’ll be fun :)

Lan Wangji Last night I slept really well

Wei Ying Uhm… that’s nice!

Lan Wangji The Dream Spell worked

Wei Ying Aaah Lan Zhan Well, I’m glad! I must be a very good spellcaster ;)

Lan Wangji You are.

Wei Ying Here’s another one ❤❤❤ ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Sweet dreams Lan Zhan

Lan Wangji Sweet dreams, Wei Ying.

Wednesday, Seventeenth Day with Wei Ying

Lan Wangji only arrives ten minutes early this time. However, he doesn’t bother waiting, before leaving his car and ringing the doorbell. It takes a little while before he hears a breathless “Lan Zhan?”

“Mn.”

“Is it already… Hey! A-Yuan, don’t go into Wen Ning’s room, what did I just-”

Wei Ying’s voice disappears, but Lan Wangji doesn’t hear the buzzing sound that tells him he can open the door. He waits about a minute, pressing against the door handle, just in case, before he rings the bell again.

“Shit, sorry! Come up!”

Lan Wangji climbs the stairs eagerly this time and Wei Wuxian awaits him in the door, looking dishevelled and out of breath again, but in a decidedly more exhausted way.

“Sorry, we still need a moment. Things have been a bit chaotic, well, I guess it’s been a normal day, but Wen Ning is not here today and A-Yuan is just very excited and I didn’t get much sleep and-”

“Can I come in?”

“Ah, yes, of course. Sorry, sorry.” Wei Ying steps back to let Lan Wangji in and then casually takes off his slippers, so Lan Wangji can put them on instead.

“Can I help?” Lan Wangji would really like to do something to take away some of Wei Ying’s stress. He’s never seen him this agitated before. Did something happen or is this really just normal daily chaos?

“Oh, thank you. Maybe your presence will already be enough.” Wei Ying turns around and then yells so suddenly, Lan Wangji winces. “A-Yuan! Lan Zhan is here! If you want to go to the forest playground with him, we need to put on sunscreen!”

Wei Ying disappears into the living room and Lan Wangji follows him, after taking off his shoes.

He finds Wei Ying sitting on the floor, a bottle of sunscreen in hand, looking exasperated, while A-Yuan runs around the coffee table. When he spots Lan Wangji, he runs up to him, targeting his legs again but Lan Wangji, determined to help out, takes him in his arms instead and then sits down next to Wei Ying, A-Yuan on his lap.

“Hello, A-Yuan.”

“Tall-gege! Forest now!”

“Yes. But I heard you still need to put on sunscreen.”

“Yes!” A-Yuan giggles and then holds his arms out to Wei Ying, suddenly the perfect picture of a well-behaved child.

“Unbelievable.” Wei Ying shakes his hand and then begins slathering lotion on A-Yuan’s arms, legs and his face. ”Lan Zhan, you’ll have to come by and help every day.”

“Alright.” He’d love that. Wei Ying only laughs about this. So far his plan to make Wei Ying understand how serious Lan Wangji is about all of this isn’t working out too well. But there’s still plenty of time to try.

“Tall-gege too!” A-Yuan proclaims, after he’s fully protected from the sun. He hops off Lan Wangji’s lap, goes over to Wei Ying, and tries to grab the sunscreen bottle.

“Haha, I’m sure Lan Zhan already put on sunscreen at home.”

“Could use more.” He holds his arms out towards Wei Ying, who stares at his arms as though he’s never seen them before. Lan Wangji clears his throat and pointedly looks at the sunscreen.

Wei Ying huffs a laugh and then bites his lip while focusing on Lan Wangji with glinting eyes. His smile isn’t quite dangerous levels of wicked yet, but it must only be a matter of time. Oh well. Lan Wangji can handle it.

Wei Wuxian gently applies sunscreen, making sure to keep up eye contact with Lan Wangji the entire time. Carefully, so as to not miss a spot. Spending a lot of time on his biceps, even though most of them are covered by the sleeves of his shirt.

“A-Yuan, does tall-gege need sunscreen on his face too?” The smile is at maximum wickedness now.

“Yes!”

Wei Ying puts a dollop of sunscreen on both of his cheeks, his forehead and the tip of his nose. Lan Wangji hopes he’s not flushing.

“Lan Zhan, close your eyes.” Wei Ying’s voice is low and smooth and he must indeed be a good spellcaster, because Lan Wangji obediently closes his eyes.

Wei Ying smoothes his fingers over Lan Wangji’s face until he’s spread all of the sunscreen and Lan Wangji keeps his eyes closed until the very end, enjoying the gentle touches, when Wei Ying pinches his nose and proclaims Lan Wangji is “all lotioned up”.

While Wei Ying runs around, collecting the things he wants to pack for their outing, Lan Wangji plays with A-Yuan. Or rather, he sits on the carpet next to A-Yuan, who is doing a 20-piece puzzle and refusing any help.

“Ah, dammit, I still need to pack some snacks, cut some apples… sorry, Lan Zhan, I need a few more minutes, but -”

“I brought food, Wei Ying. It should be enough.” In fact, it is probably too much, but Lan Wangji is glad about that now.

“You did? Of course you did. Ah, Lan Zhan, you really need to stop being so…” But Wei Wuxian shakes his head and disappears into the bathroom, before telling Lan Wangji what it is he needs to stop being. Is he preparing too much? Is it overbearing? Or is it an instance of Wei Ying going “Lan Zhan, you’re too cute, I can’t take it”? He hopes it was the latter.

During the drive, Wei Ying is much calmer and seems to have re-found his bearings a bit. Maybe making Lan Wangji all flustered during the sunscreen application helped him. If that’s the case, Lan Wangji would happily offer himself up for such purposes again.

Wei Ying is so calm, he teases Lan Wangji for not going even a single mile above the speed limit.

“Wei Ying. The speed limit exists for a reason. And I would never drive recklessly with A-Yuan in the car.”

“Ah, you’re right, of course, he’s precious cargo.”

“Yes. Very precious.” And then he adds, because Lan Wangji is a man on a mission today after all, “Wei Ying, too.”

He can’t quite see Wei Ying’s reaction, because he’s focused on the road, but at least he doesn’t try to play it off with a joke this time. Instead he’s silent for a few minutes, before turning around and making faces at A-Yuan. Progress, maybe.

The playground, situated at the beginning of the hilly forest not far from the city, is indeed as lovely as Wei Ying had described. The trees provide welcome shade and the air is much fresher. There’s even a little stream flowing next to it; Wei Ying barely manages to hold A-Yuan long enough to put on his waterproof trousers and little rainboots, before he runs towards it.

While A-Yuan jumps up and down in the stream, splashing water everywhere, Wei Ying stretches and takes a deep breath.

“Mhm, I love coming here! So nice.”

“Mn.”

“Thank you for driving us, Lan Zhan.”

“My pleasure.”

They spend the next while helping A-Yuan construct a little dam in the stream. Both A-Yuan and Wei Ying seem to mostly enjoy piling stones up without putting any kind of real planning or thought into it. Lan Wangji crouches down next to them and carefully looks at the dam.

“We need pebbles and maybe some mud or foliage to really close up all the holes.”

A-Yuan is too busy dragging a large stone towards the water to listen to him, but Wei Ying looks up at him with the same delighted expression he gets whenever he realises Lan Wangji has made a joke.

“Lan Zhan… have you built lots of dams when you were a little boy? Are you an expert?”

“No.” Not that he can remember, anyway. “But it’s common sense.”

Lan Wangji takes fistfuls of sand and pebbles from the bottom of the stream and begins filling up the spaces between the larger stones. He does this for quite a while, trying hard to get the best possible result, before he notices that Wei Ying isn’t helping at all. Instead, Wei Ying is simply sitting on a stone, bare feet dangling in the water, staring at Lan Wangji.

“Wei Ying?”

“Continue, Lan Zhan. Just enjoying the view!”

If he were Wei Ying, he’d smirk and make sure to flex his arms now. Maybe undo a button or two. But he’s Lan Wangji.

“Wei Ying can look at me as long as he wants,” he simply says and goes back to proofing the dam. Hardly any water gets through anymore. A bit more foliage and it should hold up nicely.

“A-Yuan, come here.” Once he’s content with the outcome, Lan Wangji waves A-Yuan over, who has been watching leaves swim down the stream like little boats for the past few minutes. “The dam is finished.”

He hopes A-Yuan approves of Lan Wangji’s work.

“A-Yuan, look at what tall-gege did! So impressive! Woooow!” Wei Ying splashes water in their direction with his feet and claps his hands. A few drops land on Lan Wangji’s right arm, but he ignores it.

“Woooow!” A-Yuan repeats and also claps. Lan Wangji nods once, almost to himself. A job well done. And then… A-Yuan jumps into the water and… and… destroys the dam. Simply tears it apart with his feet like a tiny, adorable Godzilla with chubby cheeks. Laughing wildly while watching the water flow, now unrestrained, over his dinosaur-patterned rain boots.

Lan Wangji lifts his devastated gaze from the sad ruins of his dam to look at Wei Ying. Wei Ying, of course, is also laughing, but when he notices Lan Wangji’s look, he presses his lips together in an effort to suppress his laughter. Then he stands up and carefully wades through the shallow water until he’s standing next to Lan Wangji. He puts his hands on his hips and looks down at the carnage.

“Congratulations, Lan Zhan. A-Yuan has now fully accepted you into his life.”

“... Huh?”

“My little radish loves destroying things the adults in his life have lovingly built for him. Sort of a rite of passage, really. You should be proud.”

“Mm…”

Lan Wangji feels slightly mollified, but is not wholly convinced this is something to be happy about. Wei Ying crouches down and puts his hand on Lan Wangji’s knee, either to help balance himself or to console Lan Wangji.

“Lan Zhan, are you upset?”

“No.” That’d be ridiculous.

“It really doesn’t mean he didn’t like it, don’t worry. Look here…” Wei Ying pulls out his phone and shows Lan Wangji a picture he’s just taken of Lan Wangji and A-Yuan. A-Yuan is handing him a very good stone he’s just found and they’re both smiling. A-Yuan does look pretty happy. “Look how cute you two are.”

Even though his dam still lies in ruins before him, Lan Wangji feels a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Ah, Lan Zhan, you’ve worked so hard, your hands are all dirty,” Wei Ying exclaims. Then he gently wraps his fingers around Lan Wangji’s wrist and drags his arm down, so he can wash Lan Wangji’s hand in the stream. He repeats the same thing with his other arm, until both his hands are free from mud and sand.

Lan Wangji happily lets him. Between this and the sunscreen, he now knows that he really likes when Wei Ying takes care of him. He also likes it when Wei Ying flirts with him at the same time, even if it flusters him, but this… Wei Ying reaching for him without a second thought… It means a lot to him and he can’t even fully put into words why. He only knows he always has the urge to take care of Wei Ying, to help him out and brighten his day in little ways. Now he knows he also likes to be on the receiving end.

Afterwards, they spend some time on the actual playground. A-Yuan explores the long slide and the swings and even the little climbing wall. The last part is very terrifying to witness - at least for Lan Wangji, Wei Ying seems unperturbed. To his relief, A-Yuan eventually settles on digging a deep hole into the sand.

“Lan Zhan, catch!” Wei Ying suddenly throws a pine cone at him. Lan Wangji catches it easily and then frowns, waiting for an explanation.

“And now you throw it back to me, and I throw it back to you, and so on, and so on…”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t bring a ball!”

As if that explained anything. Lan Wangji decides not to question it further and throws the pine cone back at Wei Ying.

They continue this for several minutes, while Wei Ying tells him all about the convoluted plot of a TV show he watched last night, staying up way too late. It’s enjoyable, despite the questionable science behind the zombies, though Lan Wangji still doesn’t see the need for the pine cone. At some point, Wei Wuxian’s troublesome smile appears; Lan Wangji thinks it’s really nice he always gets this warning, so he can prepare himself. This time, it’s sadly not followed by flirting. Instead, Wei Ying simply throws the pine cone a little harder. Lan Wangji, not to be outdone, replies in kind and even increases the throwing speed. It’s… silly, but as expected, Wei Ying is delighted that Lan Wangji indulges his silliness. Their game gradually grows in intensity, until the pine cone flies at alarming speed from one to the other.

Until…

“Hey, look! A squirrel!”

and

“Wei Ying!”

and

THUD!

and

“Ow.”

The pine cone hit Wei Ying’s face, hard. Lan Wangji has thrown a pine cone with concerning speed at Wei Ying’s face. For a moment, the world stops, while the blood drains from Lan Wangji’s face. What has he done?

Wei Ying groans and puts one hand over his left eye, obviously in pain.

“Wei Ying!”

Lan Wangji rushes over and tries to assess the damage through Wei Ying’s slightly spread fingers.

“Wei Ying! Are you alright?”

Lan Wangji lifts a shaking hand, but then realises he doesn’t know what to do with it. He doesn’t want to accidentally hurt Wei Ying even more.

Wei Ying lowers his hand again, looks up at Lan Wangji and smiles. His left eye is definitely more watery than the right and Lan Wangji is pretty sure there’s a reddened mark over his cheekbone where the pine cone must have hit him, but Wei Ying is still grinning at him.

“All good, Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying tilts his head slightly to the right and is he really going to flirt with him now? Is he really using that smile? “Mhm, your throw packs quite the punch. Must be because of all those strong muscles.” And then he winks - though it must’ve hurt, because he flinches slightly after. Unbelievable.

Lan Wangji takes Wei Ying’s face in his hands after all, gently tilting his head from left to right and back, to check for scrapes or bruises. It’s hard to tell whether the red mark is there for real or just a manifestation of Lan Wangji’s panic.

“I’m so sorry. I… I hurt you.”

“Lan Zhaaaan, I’m fine! There isn’t even any blood!”

“It still hurt.”

Lan Wangji’s hands are still on Wei Ying’s face and Wei Ying’s is slightly tilted back, so he looks up at him. If Lan Wangji were to bend down a little, he could… Not the moment for these thoughts! But he can’t help it. He keeps staring at Wei Ying and strokes a thumb over Wei Ying’s uninjured cheekbone. Wei Ying smiles up at him and Lan Wangji can’t tell for sure whether this one means trouble for him.

“Mhm, maybe it does hurt a little.” And then Wei Ying quickly adds, “Will you kiss it better?”

Definitely trouble.

“... Would that help?”

It seems maybe Wei Ying had expected him to become all flustered again and to move away. He seems stunned by the fact that instead, Lan Wangji tightens his hold on Wei Ying’s face and that his gaze falls on Wei Ying’s lips. Wei Ying must not know how much time Lan Wangji spends thinking about kissing him.

“Uhm… I… yes? If you… I mean…” Wei Ying stutters eloquently.

“Would it help you feel better?” Lan Wangji’s face has moved closer to Wei Ying’s face without him noticing.

“Oh… yes.” Wei Ying sounds breathless, which is good to hear, because Lan Wangji’s lungs seem to have trouble finding air as well.

“A Get Well spell?”

From this close, Lan Wangji has the privilege of seeing the beautiful flush on Wei Ying’s face, and his dark, long lashes, and his slightly parted lips.

“Lan Zhan…” Wei Ying closes his eyes and tilts his head back a little further. Waiting…

Lan Wangji’s heart is surely this close to bursting, but so be it.

He presses a kiss to Wei Ying’s right cheekbone, next to his own thumb. Then another kiss to his left cheekbone, where the pine cone hit him. Wei Ying’s skin is soft and warm under his lips, and Lan Wangji thinks he could spend all of his day doing this.

“Feel better, Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji whispers, not daring to speak louder, lest it break the beauty of this moment.

Wei Ying’s eyelids flutter a few times, before he slowly opens his eyes. Then he hums under his breath, a sound of utter contentment, and puts his right hand over Lan Wangji’s.

Lan Wangji freezes. His brain has caught up with his actions and he can’t… he can’t do these things, when he’s thinking about them. He wants to collect and give more kisses, but is this the right moment? Does Wei Ying want that? A hug to bring the moment to a close? A-Yuan is also still around and -

“Mhm, thank you.” Wei Ying’s smile is warm and understanding. He squeezes Lan Wangji’s hand and then takes a step back. Lan Wangji lets go of Wei Ying’s face and straightens his back. “I feel much better now, Lan Zhan.”

Wei Ying’s smile deepens for a second as he looks at him and then he turns around and yells: “Who wants snacks?”

A-Yuan replies with lots of enthusiasm. Lan Wangji is grateful that for the next few minutes he can solely focus on unpacking the food he brought and eating it, without having to scrutinise his actions.

Despite all his flirting, Wei Ying never pushes Lan Wangji further than he wants to go, somehow always knows when to pull back and give him space. He can’t believe he got this lucky to find someone who understands the things Lan Wangji can’t express in words.

Now, if Wei Ying would only fully take to heart the things Lan Wangji does say… But he’ll return Wei Ying’s patience, it’s the least he can do.

Thankfully, the afternoon passes without any further pine cone related accidents and is only filled with lots of laughter from Wei Ying and A-Yuan.

Somehow, Lan Wangji gets invited to eat dinner with them. Somehow, Lan Wangji ends up cooking for them. Somehow, when A-Yuan is ready for sleep and his bedtime story, he takes Lan Wangji’s hand and makes him follow him. And somehow, the three of them (and Yuyu the radish) all end up in Wei Ying’s bed, A-Yuan in the middle. A-Yuan is still holding Lan Wangji’s hand and together they listen to Wei Ying recount the adventures Apple the donkey and Grrraw got up to in A-Yuan’s absence. Apparently, they broke out of some kind of space jail. Impressive.

It’s quiet except for the low murmur of Wei Ying’s voice. Lan Wangji feels warm and happy and he doesn’t want to miss any of these slow-moving moments, but if he were to fall asleep now, he’d have the happiest dreams. He can’t help but close his eyes, just for a second…

He wakes up to the feeling of Wei Ying’s knuckles softly stroking his cheek.

Lan Wangji blinks once, twice, and wonders whether this might be a dream. A-Yuan is gone and Wei Ying is sitting on the edge of the bed instead of lying down. And he’s wearing an expression Lan Wangji has never seen before. Almost… as if he wants to cry?

“Lan Zhan, wake up.”

Lan Wangji blinks again and the expression is gone. Wei Ying is still stroking his cheek.

“What time is it?”

“Don’t worry, you didn’t sleep long. It’s a few minutes past eight.”

Lan Wangji awkwardly sits up and pulls the blanket off of his legs. Wei Ying stops stroking his cheek but instead begins smoothing Lan Wangji’s hair that must look a mess. Lan Wangji really likes this, but is also slightly embarrassed he fell asleep so quickly.

“Lan Zhan, are you very tired? Do you want to sleep here? I can take the couch, Wen Qing is not coming home today.”

Sleeping in Wei Ying’s bed and seeing him first thing in the morning sounds wonderful, but… Lan Wangji has none of the things he needs for the night or the next day… He needs to go to the library early and really work on his paper, because…

“Wei Ying! What day is it?”

“Huh? Wednesday… I think?”

“Oh no! I… I forgot… My paper, I have to hand it in on Tuesday and… “

Lan Wangji quickly gets up and straightens his clothes, which might be a bit of a lost cause.

“I’m sorry. I should go home and make a schedule for the next few days, I have so much to do.”

“That’s okay, Lan Zhan, totally relatable! But it’ll be okay!” Wei Ying stands up too and gives Lan Wangji an encouraging pat on his arm. “A few marathon sessions at the library and one or two night shifts and it’ll be done, I’m sure. I can help, too! I could proofread for you or maybe bring lunch this time... “

“No. Thank you. I think it would be better if I did this at home, alone. Wei Ying is…” Lan Wangji has trouble remembering that other things in his life are important too, when Wei Ying is around.

“... distracting. Heh. Yeah, I know.” Wei Ying laughs and turns around before Lan Wangji can search his face for the disappointment he thought he heard. “Lan Zhan, come on! You should go home, sleep well and then get to work first thing in the morning.”

Lan Wangji follows Wei Ying through the flat, collects his things, puts on his shoes and then hesitates when it’s time to say goodbye. He doesn’t want to end this day like… this.

“Wei Ying. I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Wei Ying still seems a little off somehow. He’s looking at Lan Wangji’s face but not meeting his eyes.

“Not being able to see you.”

“Lan Zhan…” Wei Ying huffs a laugh and then cocks his head. “Only a few days. Hurry and finish your paper, and we’ll do something nice to celebrate once you’re done.”

“Yes, I would like that.”

Wei Ying gently turns him around and pushes him towards the door. Lan Wangji already has one foot in the hallway, when he turns around again.

“Did you forget something?”

“Mn.”

“What is it?”

“May I have…” Lan Wangji clears his throat and awkwardly points towards his face, hoping Wei Ying will understand.

“Huh? … Oh! Dream Spell?”

“... Mm.”

“Stop being so fucking cute.” Wei Ying laughs - finally, nothing about his mood feels weird or off anymore - grabs Lan Wangji’s face and delivers four sweet kisses. And then does it again, much quicker, cheeks, forehead, tip of his nose. “Since we won’t see each other for a while. Sweet dreams, Lan Zhan.”

“Sweet dreams, Wei Ying.”

“Now go, before I keep you here.”

And then Wei Ying waves, grins and closes the door.

Lan Wangji wouldn’t mind being kept here by Wei Ying, but he does need to write his paper. At least he has very strong motivation to finish it quickly.

Lan Wangji Thank you for the lovely afternoon.

Wei Ying That’s sweet but go to bed! Lan Zhan must rest, so he can work tomorrow!

Lan Wangji Yes. Can you send me the picture of A-Yuan and me? And my dam.

Wei Ying Ahahaha RIP dam! A short but beautiful existence!!! Gone but never forgotten! There you go

Lan Wangji Thank you. It’s a very nice picture.

Wei Ying Because you’re both cuties. Now go sleep.

Lan Wangji Good night.

Wei Ying ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

#the untamed #cql #mdzs #wangxian #lan wangji/wei wuxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #modern au #FLUFF #SWEETNESS #betty drabbles #To Meet You verse

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robininthelabyrinth · 2 years

Text

Rugrats

- Chapter 3 - ao3 -

After they’d eaten and napped, they headed out, properly equipped and filled up with courage.

“No doubles are gonna get us,” Wen Chao said proudly, waving around his little wooden sword. Lan Zhan had painted talismans for all of them (cleansing talismans, but still!) and they’d all stuck them into the collars of their padded jackets, so everyone was feeling extra safe.

“Definitely not,” Jiang Cheng said, trying out a thrust with his own little sword and over-doing it a bit, but he quickly caught himself before anyone noticed him stumbling around. “We’re gonna be the ones to get them!”

“If we can find them,” A-Xuan pointed out, and that was a good point. “Do we even know where to look?”

“Sure we do!” Wei Ying exclaimed. “Wen Chao’s big brother got taken, right? That means they’ve got to have a nest somewhere nearby.”

“Just like with birds,” Nie Huaisang put in wisely. “If you want to find birds that eat fish, you go look for nests by the river.”

“Do the doubles eat people?” Lan Zhan asked Jiang Cheng in an undertone, looking a little perturbed. “I am uncertain whether my talismans are strong enough to keep people from being…eaten.”

“I dunno,” Jiang Cheng admitted. “But that can’t be right – they want to take your place, don’t they? To switch with you. And if it’s switching, it means both the original and the double have to still exist, or else it’d be stealing not switching – that’s why we have a chance at finding Wen Chao’s original brother again.”

“He was acting pretty nice earlier,” Nie Huaisang said, having clearly eavesdropped on their (not especially quiet) conversation again. Sometimes it was annoying not being able to hold anything against him just because he was the littlest little brother – he’d claimed it was a rule, and Lan Zhan had regretfully not memorized all the rules in his sect so he couldn’t say it wasn’t, even though he’d been suspicious about it, too. “When they were helping us find the jackets and swords. Maybe they haven’t got him all the way yet?”

“They’d better not’ve,” Wen Chao mumbled. “Why does there have to be a nest here, in my house? It’s so unfair.”

“That’s not quite right, though, is it? There’s one in Jinlin Tower, too…”

“I bet they’re probably everywhere. Like pests.”

“What’s a pest?”

“…dunno. Maybe like an insect or something? Oooh, or a beetle!”

“Beetles are the best!” That was Lan Zhan, surprisingly enough, so enthusiastic that he forget even his normal reserve. “I have to dig around all afternoon to find them – my brother keeps releasing my collection by accident…”

“You have a collection?” Jiang Cheng marveled. “Of beetles? My dad doesn’t even let me collect rocks!”

“That’s so cool,” Wei Ying agreed. “Beetles are really cool. You’re so cool, Lan Zhan!”

Lan Zhan ducked his head. “I had a pet spider once,” he admitted, and it automatically made him the coolest person Jiang Cheng had ever met. “It made webs in my window.”

“I don’t have pets,” Wen Chao complained. “I asked once, but my dad had visitors over and they made it weird.”

“How so?”

“Well, you know…”

What they knew was not explained, largely on account of Nie Huaisang interrupting to ask: “Hey, Wen-xiong, didn’t you say you and your brother were the only kids here?��

“In the main house, yeah, we are,” Wen Chao replied, looking puzzled. “Why?”

“Because I just saw some.”

“Doubles!” A-Xuan gasped.

Jiang Cheng raised his wooden sword with confidence – with this many of them, they were bound to defeat the bad guys. “Let’s get ‘em!”

“You idiots!” Wen Chao hissed. “These are my cousins!”

“Sorry about that,” Nie Huaisang said apologetically. He had an extremely thick face and didn’t mind apologizing – or crying, or whining, or anything, really, as long as it meant he got his way in the end. “we thought you were evil monsters.”

“I’ve n-never been m-mistaken for a m-monster before,” the little boy who Wen Chao had introduced as Wen Ning said. He seemed to think it was pretty neat, which Jiang Cheng could understand.

He’d never gotten mistaken for a monster.

…well, he was still young. One day, when he was all grown up, he’d be the scariest.

“I don’t want to know,” his older sister said. She looked cross, and also like she was about the same age as Jiang Yanli, though much less friendly – her name was Wen Qing, apparently. “Don’t tell me, because I don’t want to know. This whole thing sounds like the introduction to a bad joke: a Wen, a Nie, a Jiang, a Lan, a Jin, and – some kid – ”

“I’m Wei Ying!”

“ – and some kid are running through the halls of the Nightless City completely unsupervised? Ridiculous.” She snorted. “I don’t want to even consider what sort of trouble leaving you alone would cause! You should be sitting quietly somewhere, keeping out of the way –”

Wen Qing was definitely not going to be helping with the doubles hunt, Jiang Cheng decided, and glanced at all the others, who seemed to be in agreement.

Then they all unanimously turned to look at Nie Huaisang, because while Wen Qing might be Wen Chao’s cousin, it was pretty clear that Nie Huaisang was the one who was best at managing older kids.

“Our older siblings are over at the room in the end of the hall,” Nie Huaisang told her, his eyes somehow seeming even bigger and more adorable than normal. “I think Wen-da-ge was saying something about teaching them a lesson, I don’t know what he was talking about…”

“A lesson?” Wen Qing looked alarmed. “Those are the sect heirs! He’d better not – oh, A-Ning, you stay here with the other children. I’ll be right back…”

She strode off with a determined expression on her face.

“Wow,” Wei Ying said. “That worked really well.”

Nie Huaisang preened.

“I don’t remember my big brother saying anything about lessons,” Wen Chao said, sounding puzzled.

“He didn’t,” Nie Huaisang told him. “But it got her to leave us alone, didn’t it?”

“Do not tell lies is a rule,” Lan Zhan told him sternly.

“It wasn’t a lie. I said I thought Wen-da-ge was saying something like that, I didn’t say he actually said it – I’m entitled to think whatever thoughts I want!”

Lan Zhan didn’t look convinced.

“Look at it this way, Lan Zhan,” Jiang Cheng said practically. “Would you really be willing to sit in a room out of the way instead of night-hunting?”

Lan Zhan still looked mulish, but he shook his head, conceding the point.

“You’re n-night-hunting?” Wen Ning said, sounding fascinated. “I’ve never been night-hunting!”

Interestingly, his stutter seemed to decrease as he got excited. Jiang Cheng wondered why that was – maybe he was just nervous around new people.

“That’s right,” Jiang Cheng told him proudly. “Tell me, have you ever seen – doubles?”

“Seeing double?” Wen Ning asked, scratching his nose. “Uh, yeah, I guess so? Sometimes when I get really dizzy, I see double…”

“I don’t think running around in circles is going to help us find the doubles,” A-Xuan said dubiously. “I just got really dizzy, and I still didn’t see anything.”

“Yeah, me either,” Nie Huaisang said. He was lying on his back on the ground and moaning a little. “Maybe we need a new plan.”

“I think our original plan was better,” Jiang Cheng agreed. He was still a bit dizzy, too. “Their nest has gotta be somewhere near Wen-da-ge’s room, right? If they’re planning on swapping him out?”

“Maybe he’s tied up in there,” Wei Ying said. He was a little bit of a ghoul, Jiang Cheng had discovered. “Locked away for the skinning.”

“He’s not!” Wen Chao exclaimed, sitting up in his fury and turning a little green from having moved too quickly so soon after all that running. “You take that back!”

“If he is locked up somewhere, we’ll find him before anything bad happens to him,” Nie Huaisang intervened. “Wei-xiong, don’t be mean, okay? That’s his big brother you’re talking about.”

“…oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Wen Chao sniffled a little, pressing his lips together to keep from crying. “You’d better be sorry.”

Jiang Cheng rolled over to look at him. “Wen Chao, I’ve got a question for you,” he said. “It’s kind of a dumb question, and you might get angry if I ask it, but I don’t actually mean it as being mean or nothing. I just really wanna know.”

As anyone might’ve expected, that got everyone’s attention onto him and off the previous subject, as well as off their still slightly uneasy stomachs. Even Lan Zhan tilted his head in such a way that suggested he was interested in hearing it without actually giving anything away.

Wen Chao looked suspicious, probably rightfully. “Uh-huh,” he said, eyes narrow. “What’s the question?”

“Uh,” Jiang Cheng said, feeling a touch awkward. “Okay, so, my mom taught me that when someone says ‘sorry’, you’re supposed to say ‘that’s all right’ or ‘you’re forgiven’ or ‘think nothing of it’ or something like that.”

“…yeah?”

“Well, every time anyone says ‘sorry’ to you, you say ‘you better be’, so I was wondering if that was a Wen sect thing or a –”

Wen Ning started giggling. “It’s not a Wen sect thing,” he said, his eyes curved until they were nearly slits. “Not Dafan Wen, anyway. Maybe it’s a main clan thing? Are there special main clan things?”

“My ribbon’s a special main clan thing,” Lan Zhan said.

“It is not,” A-Xuan said. “All Lan sect people have ribbons!”

“Not with clouds.” Lan Zhan was pouting. “Only main clan can have clouds on their ribbons.”

“That’s just a design, though, isn’t it? Like – fashion.”

“It is not!”

“We have special clarity bells,” Jiang Cheng interrupted, waving his own. “Everyone else’s normal, but ours are special!”

“Wait, does everyone get cool main clan only stuff?” Wen Chao wondered. “Why don’t I get cool main clan stuff?”

“I don’t!” Wei Ying volunteered.

“You’re not even from a clan! Or a sect!”

“Oh. Right. Oops. Got over-excited for a second there.”

“Uh, hey…” Wen Ning said, coughing a little.

“I don’t think we get anything special for being main clan people,” Nie Huaisang mused. He’d turned over to lie on his stomach, so he put his chin on his hands and was kicking his feet in the air. “Do we get something special? Except maybe more spending money? We should get something special. Like…I don’t know. A special pin.”

“A pin?” Wen Chao scoffed. “That’s not special!”

“Why not? It could be!”

“Uh-uh.”

“Uh-huh!”

“…excuse me, please…”

“Hey, Wen Chao never even answered my question,” Jiang Cheng complained. “Can we get back to that?”

“Maybe I don’t want to answer your stupid question!”

“Hey! My question’s not stupid!”

“Excuse me…!”

“Yeah? Well maybe you’re stupid!”

“Why you – Lan Zhan! Bite him for me!”

“Don’t you dare, you stuck up bedsheet –”

“Will you all SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME?” Wen Ning yelled.

“…and that’s why you have to bring along snacks when you go on adventures,” Wen Ning finished his explanation. “Because if you don’t, you get hungry, and when you get hungry, you get angry.”

He’d brought enough peanuts to share.

They really did feel better after eating them, too.

“I thought it’d be okay because we had jiejie’s soup,” Jiang Cheng muttered, shamefaced. His mother had reminded him to eat plenty of snacks as well, right before he got sent here, and his mother never said anything extraneous. “I didn’t realize we’d get hungry again so quick.”

“You had a whole nap in between,” Wen Ning told him. “Napping uses a lot of energy, and running uses even more. Once you burn the energy, you need to replace it with food.”

“You know lots of neat stuff,” Wei Ying told him, and Wen Ning turned red. “Also, you’ve got great lungs.”

Wen Ning turned even more red, somehow. “….I didn’t mean to shout…”

“You did,” Lan Zhan said. He was pouting. Maybe because Wei Ying was paying attention to someone else for once. “A lot.”

“…I’m not supposed to shout…”

“Is there anything you are supposed to do?” Jiang Cheng asked. Thus far it’d mostly sounded like Wen Ning wasn’t allowed to do very much at all.

“Uh. Study medicine, I guess?”

“Ooooooh,” Nie Huaisang said. “You’re our healer! That makes you important!”

Wen Ning stared. “…no one’s ever said I was important before.”

“That’s why you’ve gotta listen to me,” Nie Huaisang said happily. “My da-ge says that everyone’s important for some reason, and also that everyone’s good at something, even if it’s hard to figure out what it is exactly. And whenever people try to make fun of me for not being good at something, he hits them right in the face even though he gets punished for it, so you know he’s right!”

Jiang Cheng wasn’t sure that was how that worked, but it sounded pretty impressive.

“Well, as our healer, do you think we’re okay to keep going?” A-Xuan asked, and stuck out his hand. “You can feel my pulse if you want to check.”

“Uh, no. I’m sure it’s fine…you all look less angry now, anyway. You shouldn’t be too angry, it’s not good for you.”

“I don’t think that’s right,” Nie Huaisang said.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not right,” Jiang Cheng agreed, thinking of his mom.

“Anyway, let’s go find Wen Chao’s brother’s room,” he added, getting up himself. “Before we can meet any more obstacles!”

“Uh,” Wen Chao said, following along as they made their way down the hallway that he’d indicated to them earlier as being the right one. “About that…there might be one more obstacle in our path…”

“Really?” Wei Ying asked. He was right behind Jiang Cheng, who was out in front. “What obstacle?”

“Well…you see…”

Jiang Cheng tugged open the door.

Unexpectedly, something huge and dark leaped out, heading right for them.

He screamed.

They all screamed.

“I’ve decided I like your big brother,” Jiang Cheng said to Wen Chao, who was scowling. “When he’s not double-i-fied, he’s got good taste. No, great taste. Amazing taste.”

“It’s just a dog,” Wen Chao grumbled.

“It’s the fuzziest, most wonderful dog,” Jiang Cheng said, trying to cuddle it. “I want to ride it like a horse.”

The dog that guarded Wen Xu’s room might even be large enough for that, being all big boned and tall, with a thick jaw and heavy teeth that looked good for crushing things – but also the most adorably dumb-looking little doggy smile that made Jiang Cheng’s heart melt the second he saw it.

“I’m impressed you managed to tame it,” Nie Huaisang said. He was hiding back next to Wen Chao. Next to most of the others, actually – apparently Jiang Cheng was the only dog-crazy one, although A-Xuan had also eventually come over to pet the dog as well. “It’s so…large.”

“I’ve got three dogs of my own,” Jiang Cheng boasted. “Back at home. They know all the commands! Like sit, and stay, and find master –”

The dog gave a bark and got up from where it was sitting and happily receiving pets, then started trotting down the hallway.

Jiang Cheng stared.

They all stared.

“Wait,” Wei Ying said. “Is the dog going to find Wen Chao’s big brother? I mean – maybe – the real one?”

“It must be! Chase it!”

They chased it.

Unfortunately, the dog only led them back to the same main hall that they’d been next to before, the one where Wen Ruohan kept his throne and accepted audiences. They’d already looked there, and there hadn’t been any sign of doubles there at all – and this time the door was shut and locked with a great big bar on it, blocking everything.

The sound of faint voices echoed out from inside.

“Is that my mom?” Wei Ying asked, pressing his ear to the door. “It kinda sounds like my mom, yelling. But not quite…”

“I think that might be my mom, yelling,” Jiang Cheng said, his ear equally positioned. “But she’s back at the Lotus Pier, isn’t she?”

“Maybe she came to pick you up…?”

“If she could’ve come to pick me up, she wouldn’t have sent me in the first place,” Jiang Cheng pointed out. “Either me or jiejie.”

There was a deeper sound, almost like a thrumming, or maybe like a mudslide.

“That might be my dad,” Nie Huaisang said frowning. “It kind of sounds like my dad, though; no one can yell the way he can when he gets angry, not even da-ge. I can’t tell through this stupid door, though. Wen-xiong, where’s the back entrance?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The back entrance,” Nie Huaisang said, and rolled his eyes. “There’s always a back entrance! That’s how people can escape if they’re stuck!”

Wen Chao blinked at him.

“He’s right,” Lan Zhan said, unexpectedly. “We have a back entrance, too, back home – a secret one. My shufu showed it to me so that I’d know about it in case of a crisis.”

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said. “You are so cool.”

Lan Zhan made a small meeping sound and covered his face with his hands. His ears were red again.

“…I think we do, too,” A-Xuan said. “We’ve got so many entrances I don’t know which one would be the ‘back’ entrance, but we’ve definitely got more than one way in or out to the main rooms. It’d be dangerous not to, wouldn’t it? If there was only one way in, you might get stuck.”

“See?” Nie Huaisang exclaimed. “There’s always a back entrance! Always! Isn’t that right, Jiang-xiong?”

Jiang Cheng scratched his nose, feeling slightly embarrassed since he didn’t think he knew what the back entrance at home was, though it sounded pretty plausible and he didn’t want to feel left out. “I think our back entrance back home is jumping out of a window and swimming away,” he temporized. “But there’s still another way in and out, yeah. I mean, what if there’s a fire or a flood?”

Wen Chao was turning red, and not in a happy way. “Well, there’s no back entrance here, okay?” he said, glaring. “None at all!”

“There’s got to be! Maybe you just don’t know about it –”

“Wen Chao couldn’t tell you about it even if he did know about it,” Wen Ning interjected. “He’s gotta keep the sect secrets. Isn’t that right?”

“…yeah. That’s right. That’s right!”

Jiang Cheng was pretty sure Wen Chao was just trying to save face.

“Well, it wouldn’t be giving away the secret if we guessed it, right?” Wei Ying said, lacing his hands behind his head as if he were trying to look cool, which he wasn’t. Well, maybe a bit. Wei Ying was intrinsically cool in a way Jiang Cheng was a little jealous of, and was going to get Wei Ying to teach him right away when they were done. “That wouldn’t be you telling us, just something we worked out. We can all try to figure out where the back entrance is, like a mystery, and if we find that, maybe we can find our way inside!”

“I mean…I guess that makes sense…but wait. Why do we even want to go inside?” Wen Chao asked, though he looked halfway to being convinced. “There’s nothing in there related to the doubles. It’s just my dad, and maybe your parents.”

Wen Ning raised a hand. “Do doubles just affect kids?” he asked, and they all turned to look at him. “I mean, we know there’s a doubles nest around here, right? And we’re worried about it getting your siblings…can it get your parents?”

“No way,” Jiang Cheng said at once. “My mom’s a great cultivator, no one would ever be able to beat her!”

“No one in the world can beat my dad,” Wen Chao scoffed. “He’s my dad.”

“I would know if my shufu was replaced,” Lan Zhan said firmly.

They looked at the others.

A-Xuan looked uncertain, which was fair, but Nie Huaisang was frowning. “Well,” he said. “I’d normally say the same because my dad’s super strong, but…well…I mean, if it were me…”

“What is it?” Lan Zhan asked, and he looked a little anxious. And if even Lan Zhan looked anxious…

“Well, I’m just saying, if the doubles were smart, and wanted to gather all the important grown-ups in one place all at once…”

Jiang Cheng’s stomach dropped.

“We’ve got to find the back entrance,” Wei Ying said, now looking worried himself. “We’ve gotta. My parents are there, too, and my mom is already doomed – she’s gotta be really careful!”

“We’ll figure it out,” Jiang Cheng announced, trying very hard to be brave. “Don’t worry. We’ll save them!”

#mdzs #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #lan wangji #wei wuxian #jin zixuan #wen chao #wen qing #wen ning #my fic #my fics #rugrats

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Text

Fire and Light (ao3) - on tumblr: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9

- Chapter 10 -

Nie Mingjue was starting to become accustomed to the routine of the cell.

Wen Ruohan would generally visit the Fire Palace twice weekly, sometimes more if he had had a very bad day and wanted to let off some steam. Nie Mingjue would get visited on at least one of those instances, whether for a short time and a bit of emotional devastation or for a longer and much more physically uncomfortable visit, and sometimes more often if Wen Ruohan was not doing well in war.

Wen Ruohan still enjoyed asking him questions, but Nie Mingjue didn’t think he had to answer them anymore. This was a subject that came up sometimes during some of those longer visits.

The rest of the time, he was left to recover and be bored. He was not given access to his saber – Baxia had been hidden away somewhere, he thought, he could feel that she was safe if unhappy – but his spiritual energy was not restrained, the way some other prisoners were.

He spent a great deal of time meditating. Sometimes, if his physical condition allowed for it, he would practice old techniques, trying to focus on a different muscle each time to try to avoid letting them atrophy. His empty hands bothered him, but he deemed it unlikely that anyone would give him equivalent to a saber something to wield, not even if he asked.

Food was twice a day, usually just a bowl of rice and vegetables that the kitchen would otherwise have thrown away, and it was brought by the same prison guard each time.

Nie Mingjue liked the prison guard.

Possibly it was because he was the only person Nie Mingjue saw on a regular basis, other than Wen Ruohan – Nie Mingjue’s cell was a little ways away from the other prisoners, lest they infect him with something and he die too quickly, although he was still within earshot of all the screams – or possibly it was the prison guard’s pleasant demeanor, friendly and calm like a lake of still water.

They were playing a long-running game of sorts.

Nie Mingjue had guessed that Meng Yao – that was the prison guard’s name – was an outsider, recently joined, and that he had previously spent time in both the Lan and Jin sects. This perspicacity had surprised Meng Yao, drawing his interest, and he had asked, very politely, for Nie Mingjue’s name.

Nie Mingjue had, just as politely, refused to give it.

Meng Yao, surprised yet again, had asked for his reasons.

Nie Mingjue had explained that he wasn’t sure if Wen Ruohan would react badly to other people knowing about him, and it would be a shame for Meng Yao to be murdered while he had yet to achieve whatever it was that he was seeking so strenuously to accomplish.

For some reason, Meng Yao saw this as a challenge.

“Gongzi, I have your dinner,” Meng Yao said. “Would you like me to ask the cook to give you some meat, next time? Just let me know. I would be more than happy to tell her to send more food to…?”

“Certainly,” Nie Mingjue said. “You can tell her that it’s on behalf of the last cell on the right.”

Meng Yao wrinkled his nose at him, and Nie Mingjue rolled his eyes back.

Their normal initial exchange of wits over, Meng Yao gave him the food and supervised him as he ate – a babysitter upon whose head the consequences would fall if Nie Mingjue misbehaved was the condition of giving him chopsticks. Wen Ruohan had a great deal of experience in keeping prisoners alive, and he knew Nie Mingjue’s character quite well.

“I heard that you were giving Sect Leader Wen advice on the war,” Meng Yao said casually as Nie Mingjue tried to guess what pickled vegetable he was eating, since neither taste nor appearance was definitive. “Gongzi must be very well-respected.”

“Did you hear about the part where I told him the best counterstrike would be to shove his troops up his own ass?”

“…and very brave.”

Nie Mingjue chuckled. “And you must be very competent to have made your way up to prominence in two separate sects, especially at such a young age.”

Meng Yao did not want to like him, Nie Mingjue could tell. He did anyway.

It wouldn’t help him if something more important to Meng Yao was at stake, of course – Nie Mingjue had lived too long with Qishan Wen cruelty, selfishness, and ruthlessness to miss seeing it reflected in others – but it was still nice to be liked.

“…how do you know?”

“Was that a direct question?” Nie Mingjue asked. “Be still my heart.”

“This humble servant has observed that gongzi does not answer anything else.”

“Humble,” Nie Mingjue drawled. “Yes, that’s the first thing I think of when I think of you.”

Meng Yao’s eyes were narrowing, though, so he stopped teasing.

“It’s your hair.”

“My – hair?”

Nie Mingjue nodded. “The way you set it. It’s clear that Xichen must have taught you how to arrange the braids personally, which means that you must have gotten fairly high up in the Lan sect – but Sect Leader Wen referred to you as being poached from the Jin sect.”

Meng Yao reached up touch his hair. “…I never made it that high in the Jin sect,” he finally said. “Not even lieutenant.”

“In the middle of a war, with how competent you are? Does Sect Leader Jin have something against you?” A small furrowing of Meng Yao’s brow. “Did you complain that he raped your sister or something?”

A long, slow blink. “Is that a problem he has?”

“Not liking people who try to make him responsible for his actions?” Nie Mingjue snorted. “Yes.”

Meng Yao looked contemplative.

“What are you thinking?” Nie Mingjue asked, finally giving up on the pickled vegetable and handing back the bowl.

“Only that you know a great deal of gossip –”

“Involuntarily, I assure you.”

“– and that you feel comfortable calling Lan-da-gongzi by name, and are familiar enough to know how he personally styles his hair.” Meng Yao smiled. “I’ll figure out who you are yet, gongzi.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Nie Mingjue said. “They’ve probably already forgotten me.”

“This is your fault,” Wen Ruohan murmured in his ear, and Nie Mingjue was too weak to refuse to listen. “You did this – to yourself, to them. Why couldn’t you have just been obedient?”

He didn’t know anymore.

“I’m Sect Leader Jin’s son,” Meng Yao said.

“Your mother must be a genius,” Nie Mingjue replied.

There was a moment of silence – probably Meng Yao staring at him.

It was probably not the response he had been expecting.

“I’ve met Sect Leader Jin,” Nie Mingjue said in explanation. He was lying face-down on the floor of the cell while Meng Yao tended to his wounds; the conversation, he knew, was only to distract him from the sting of the stitches. “He’s cunning, not smart, horribly self-absorbed, and ‘competent’ isn’t the word I’d use for him; he makes do mostly by paying enough to hire good help. Given the contrast with you, it follows that you must have gotten all the good traits from the other side…I hope he didn’t rape her. Sorry about making that joke, earlier. I didn’t realize.”

“You said sister, not mother.”

“Right,” Nie Mingjue said. “I forgot.”

“Anyway, he didn’t have to rape her. He bought her,” Meng Yao said. He was tightening the bandages now and his hands were perfectly steady. Too steady, the way Wen Qing’s were when she was having to control himself. “She was a whore.”

Nie Mingjue got the feeling that Meng Yao was expecting some sort of reaction. He wasn’t sure what, though.

“Okay,” he said. Out of lack of anything better to say, he added, “Was she nice?”

“What type of question is that?” Meng Yao demanded.

He’d picked the wrong reaction again, Nie Mingjue presumed.

“I don’t know,” he said. His eyes were closed and his forehead was pressed against the cool stone. “I don’t really remember my mother. All I know is that she was a rogue cultivator, and tall –”

“I would never have guessed the latter, gongzi.”

“Yeah, yeah. Like I’ve never heard that one before. My father raised me on his own – we don’t believe in using nursemaids to do it.” He exhaled. “I’m forgetting him, too.”

“He died?”

“Sect Leader Wen killed him.” He heard Meng Yao exhale. “I know. I’m not very filial, am I?”

“I don’t think that’s a consideration,” Meng Yao murmured. “Under the circumstances.”

Nie Mingjue didn’t want to talk about it. “So, your mother,” he said. “Was she nice?”

“…does it matter?”

“Why wouldn’t it matter? She’s your mother, isn’t she?”

Meng Yao chuckled. It was not a nice sound. “Most people don’t really care to listen past the part where they find out she’s a whore.”

“I’ve never actually met a whore,” Nie Mingjue confessed. He was starting to drift off again – it was hard to stay awake. “The closest I ever got to even talking about one was when we had to put the fear of brothels into A-Chao. Sect Leader Wen was trying to ruin him.”

“A-Chao?”

“Mm. Like – a little brother, almost. I’ve got a bunch.”

Meng Yao snickered. “Yes, gongzi does seem the type.”

Nie Mingjue smiled into the floor. He knew that tone – it was just the same as A-Chao’s, in fact. “You’re welcome to join in, if you like.”

Meng Yao’s hands stopped moving abruptly.

“Assuming I’m not dead, of course.”

After a moment, Meng Yao’s hands started moving again. They were gentler.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “After a promise like that, I’ll be sure not to let him kill you.”

“Need to get your money’s worth out of me?”

“Of course.” A pause. “Naturally, it would be easier if gongzi would tell me his name…”

Nie Mingjue huffed – like Meng Yao was going to get him that easily.

“No need for such formality, A-Yao,” he said. “Just call me da-ge.”

“You must have some hobbies.”

“Must I?”

“Everyone has hobbies.”

“I collect younger siblings. Does that count?”

“It does not.”

“It’s your fault,” Wen Ruohan crooned as Nie Mingjue’s shrieks split the air. “Your fault. You turned them against me. It’s because of you that I’m going to need to kill them…”

“I don’t think I would have liked you, in the normal course of things,” Meng Yao said conversationally. “I usually find righteous people boring. Most of the time, they’re arrogant hypocrites, as rigid like the stiff pole that must have gotten shoved up their asses at some point. No one looks down on you like the righteous, and usually for stupid reasons, too. For something as petty and as simple as just not being them. Not having their advantages from the moment you were born.”

He paused. Cleared his throat.

“Lan Xichen was the first one I met who wasn’t like that. He really – he’s nice, I think you would put it. Kind. Everything they say about what gentlemen ought to be, he is.”

A brief silence.

“Naïve, though. Almost painfully so. I twisted him around my little finger without even trying…even when I was trying not to.”

Nie Mingjue believed him. Manipulation seemed to come as second nature to Meng Yao, even when he was being sincere. Sometimes, even especially when he was being sincere.

It was a bit like Wen Xu, actually. It was hard to throw off the way you’d been raised.

“At first I thought the problem was with me, that I didn’t appreciate him enough, that I didn’t understand how to have a friendship with a person like that. A good one. Sometimes I thought, well, no, maybe the problem’s with him – he pities me too much to see what I’m really like, and that means he’s deceiving himself, it’s got nothing to do with me. In the end…I don’t know. I don’t think I ever resolved it.”

He sighed. It was a long, low sound, almost whistling in the dead air of the Fire Palace.

“You’re not like Lan Xichen at all. You really are unbending, rigid, inexorable…I ought to despise you. You ought to despise me. I torture people most of the day, you know. I even enjoy it.”

For all his poise, Meng Yao was younger even than Lan Xichen. He shouldn’t be anyone’s prison guard. Shouldn’t be torturing anyone. How could you blame children for doing something that would win them praise?

“It’s this place that makes me like you, I think. It’s just – it’s filthy, here. Disgusting. The more I’m in this prison the worse it gets. The more bad things I do, the more bad things I think. I barely dare recall my better memories, my mother, Lan Xichen. I’m too afraid that the filth and grime of this place will stain their purity even in my thoughts.”

Nie Mingjue didn’t understand, not really - maybe he’d been here so long that the stain had sunk in already, blackening everything it touched. But he tried as much as he could to sympathize.

“And then there’s you. You, all shining steel and stiff unbending morality, the sort of person I hate the most. But when I’m here knee-deep in the muck, trapped in the dark without any hope of surfacing, I look at you and I feel – it’s almost like I can see light again, reflected in you. As if I’m breathing clean air. For the first time in my life, I think I understand why people have ethics. That they’re not some stupid thing made up by someone to fool someone else into voluntarily crippling the hand they’ve been dealt to play.”

That was definitely not what ethics were.

“I don’t know if we’d get along outside this place. Where I’m still me, with all my flaws that make me all the worse, and you’re still you, with all your imperfections that only make you better, but without this place to make us get along. I really don’t know. For once in my life, I don’t have a goal, a target, a scheme. As far as I know, you’re nobody I can use, and keeping you close to me will only tie an anchor to my legs, weigh me down. But even with all that, even if nothing I do works out and it all blows up in my face…I’d still like to find out. Find out if we would get along, if you really would treat me like your little brother even though you know what I’m really like under the smile. Find out if someone like me really can get along with someone like you.”

Nie Mingjue felt Meng Yao squeeze his hand, and wished he could respond in kind.

“So you have to wake up, da-ge. You hear me? You have to wake up.”

“It’s done. They’re gone. And it’s all your fault.”

He lies, Nie Mingjue told himself. He lies, he lies, he lies –

#mdzs #nie mingjue #wen ruohan #jin guangyao #meng yao #my fic #my fics #fire and light

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