#he has always been able to rely on both mingjue's protection and the certainty that mingjue will always view him with disappointment

[thatswhatsushesaid]

happy sunday!! time to remember how small and alone and frightened and scared nie huaisang looks while held captive in qishan!

specifically, that moment when he finds out qinghe has been taken by the qishan wen, and asks that sentient sphincter muscle wen chao, "what happened to my big brother?!"

and wen chao just smiles at him and says, "what do you think?"

anyway it low key broke my heart!! someone give huaisang a hug 🥺

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #nie huaisang #let him have birds!! 🕊️ #he's really going through it at this point in the narrative and I appreciate the work that cql does #to show how deeply vulnerable he is in this moment #mingjue is NOT a good brother to him to be clear but he is the absolute rock and foundation #upon which the stability of huaisang's entire world depends #he has always been able to rely on both mingjue's protection and the certainty that mingjue will always view him with disappointment #mingjue's love language for huaisang is protecting him and holding him to exacting standards he is incapable of meeting #now he is facing the prospect of having lost that protection forever #as well as any chance of having his inherent worth seen by mingjue for being precisely who he is #and not who mingjue wants him to be #and also #you know #ending up killed by the qishan wen himself #my (other) little guy 🥺