#it takes little Wei Ying's easy affection - learned from his parents - to get him to loosen up again and start healing

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

You Need Tending

[Masterpost] [AO3]

((4.4k Wangxian meeting as kids! This is Part 3, the final chapter. Thanks this time to @shineefan101amg for bringing this back to my attention and giving me motivation to finish it! I had more of it done than I anticipated, just needed some polishing and an ending, enjoy!))

-//-

Wei Ying only moves from his spot when the trio is long gone and someone finally tires of him blocking the way and bumps him to the side. He trudges his way through the market, head down and no urgency left in his movements with no one to try to catch up to anymore. He stops when he gets tired and plops himself down on the steps of an inn, tucking himself near the wall of the building and hugging his knees to his chest tightly enough that if he closes his eyes he can almost pretend he’s hugging a person. It’s a good night - no one chases him away from his perch and he’s allowed to sleep until he’s well rested enough to wake and clamber back up onto the nearest rooftop in the moonlight.

He spends the next couple of days feeling glum. He keeps to himself and tries to steal what food he can without having to expend too much of his precious energy. Sometimes he begs for his food but he’s learned that no one wants to see a crying child begging and he can’t seem to stop crying so he must steal.

He wanders. He keeps away from the docks and the boys who like to beat him silly. He doesn’t feel much like arguing with them and he doesn’t have the energy to run from them so he just stays away from the area altogether. He finds himself back in the alley where he had taken shelter to eat a few days earlier, the same stack of crates still there against the wall. It’s early in the afternoon but he tucks himself into the stripes of shade the slats of wood offer and he curls up to take a nap.

Dusk is falling when he opens his eyes again, blinking blearily against the setting sun and the salt of his tears dried in his eyelashes clumping them together. He looks around in confusion only to find the boy from the other day kneeling in front of him, reaching into the pile of crates to tug carefully on his sleeve and Wei Ying’s exhaustion slips away as something shivery and full of anticipation takes root instead. He scrambles out of his hiding place to stand in front of the other boy, practically vibrating with excitement to see him again so soon.

“It’s you! Are you lost again? Do you need help finding your family?” he can’t keep the hope out of his voice even though he knows it’s bad to hope that this boy is scared again. But the hope disappears quickly when he shakes his head no and Wei Ying deflates. “Oh. Okay then. Do you want to play? It’s getting dark soon but we can play for a little bit probably.”

“Young master,” a kind voice says behind him and Wei Ying doesn’t even realize the address is for him until a hand slips onto his shoulder and he turns to look, blinking up at the older boy, the one who had called him the same thing once before years ago when he had offered to help him. The one who had looked like he’d been given the whole world when he’d spotted his little brother a few hours ago. “Are you the one who helped A-Zhan find us in the market the other afternoon?”

Wei Ying nods after a moment, eyes wide and his mouth hanging open a little as the older boy grins at him just as warmly as he’d smiled at his brother. 

“Thank you for your help and guidance. We were very worried about A-Zhan, it was a relief to find him again so quickly, and unharmed,” he says with a bow and Wei Ying doesn’t know how to take that, being bowed to, so he hurries to brush it off. 

“It’s okay, it was easy, I know how to get anywhere! Bringing him back to the market was nothing!”

“We still owe you a debt of gratitude. Will you come and eat supper with us so we can thank you properly?”

Wei Ying’s mouth falls even wider and he looks at A-Zhan for guidance only to find the other boy already looking at him with a determined expression on his serious little face. He’s at a loss for words so he nods and does his best to dust himself off and try to straighten out his clothes a little so the owner of wherever they’re going won’t try to throw him out. 

The brothers turn to begin walking down the alley towards the closest main thoroughfare and Wei Ying nearly trips over himself following in their wake.

“Are your parents going to worry when you don’t return home to dine with them?” the older boy asks as he reaches out a hand to steady him with a grip on his elbow and Wei Ying grins up at him with a shake of his head. 

“My parents aren’t here, they won’t mind!” he’s quick to reassure, not wanting this very kind boy to worry. He looks the same age as the boys who like to hurt Wei Ying but he’s so different from them, all gentle smiles and a soothing voice. Wei Ying can understand easily why A-Zhan had been so happy to see him after being lost and afraid. 

“Oh, I see. Well I am glad you are able to eat with us. Are you hungry, young master?”

Wei Ying nods enthusiastically and giggles a little. “Why do you call me young master?” he asks around his giggling. “It sounds so silly! No one else calls me that.”

“What would you like to be called?” the boy asks with another smile. 

“A-Ying!”

“Well A-Ying, I am Lan Xichen, and my didi is named Lan Wangji.”

“Not A-Zhan?” Wei Ying asks in confusion, wondering why Lan Xichen had said both names. 

“A-Zhan is the name our parents gave him for family to use,” Lan Xichen explains patiently as they walk. “Wangji is the name for other people to call him, that is the one you should use for him, A-Ying.”

“Oh okay,” Wei Ying accepts easily, though he pauses when Lan Wangji reaches out to pull on his brother’s sleeve, a frown on his face. He waits until he has his brother’s attention and only then does he reach out with his other hand to grab Wei Ying’s fingers like when they’d been walking together the other day when they were trying not to get separated. 

“Ah...didi,” Lan Xichen says and Wei Ying can’t quite understand the look on his face but Lan Wangji apparently can as he frowns harder and pouts. “Ah...it seems A-Zhan would prefer it if you called him by his family name as well.”

“Really?” Wei Ying asks, startled, and A-Zhan nods firmly, fingers still wrapped around his. Wei Ying’s answering grin is wide and unrestrained. “Okay A-Zhan!”

“Xichen,” a low voice calls from up ahead and Wei Ying’s gaze snaps forward again, a gasp leaving him as he spots Lan Qiren waiting for them a few paces ahead. He hadn’t realized that the man would be included in the “we” Lan Xichen had said. 

“Master Qiren!!” he shouts, waving furiously with his free hand. “Master Qiren, you came back!”

Both of the Lan brothers are staring at him with wide eyes but Wei Ying can only watch Lan Qiren as the man does a double take and stares at him, his eyes going wide as well after a long moment in which they finish approaching him.

“A-Ying?” he asks as if he can’t believe it and Wei Ying grins up at him. 

“It’s me, you remember me!! You came back! I tried running after you the other day but there were too many people in the market and they wouldn’t let me through so I got stuck but you’re back! I lost the bandages you let me borrow last time I’m sorry Master Qiren I was going to give them back the next time I saw you when I was done with them but they’re gone now because it’s been such a long time since you gave them to me.”

“Breathe, child,” Lan Qiren admonishes and Wei Ying sucks in a sharp breath to fill his lungs again, still grinning from ear to ear and practically vibrating with excitement all over again.

“He’s the one who helped A-Zhan the other afternoon when he was lost,” Lan Xichen supplies, having apparently pushed past his surprise and Lan Qiren looks down at Wei Ying again as if studying him.

“You were out wandering unsupervised again?” Lan Qiren asks and Wei Ying frowns at that, confused as he tips his head to the side.

“What does ’unsupervised’ mean?” he asks, sounding the word out carefully. 

“You were not being watched over by an adult or older child responsible for keeping you safe.”

“Oh - no Master Qiren! A-Ying is very grown up, I don’t need to be watched over anymore!”

“Where are your parents, A-Ying?” Lan Qiren asks next and Wei Ying’s smile fades a little as he scuffs the toe of his shoe against the ground, a pebble sneaking into the hole over his toes.

“They’ll be back soon,” he replies. It’s still the only answer he has, though he still doesn’t know how soon is ‘soon’. 

“Have you seen them since you last saw me?”

“No, Master Qiren.”

Lan Qiren takes a deep breath in, lets it back out slowly, and Wei Ying wonders if he’s in trouble. 

“Xichen, please take Wangji inside. We have a table in the back where it’s quiet, you may begin eating your supper.”

“Yes Uncle. Come on, didi,” Lan Xichen says quietly and A-Zhan holds his hand for another long moment before he allows his brother to pull him away and into the teahouse. Wei Ying ducks his head as Lan Qiren squats down in front of him so that their eyes are on the same level. 

“A-Ying, do you know your family name?”

“It’s Wei, Master Qiren. My name is Wei Ying.” 

“Do you have any other family besides your parents?”

“No, it’s just us. Do you know where they are? They’re cultivators too, just like you and the important family that wears purple! But we didn’t live with any big important family, we just rode our donkey and went anywhere we wanted.”

“Wei Changze? Cangse Sanren?” Lan Qiren suddenly asks and Wei Ying’s head snaps up again, his eyes wide.

“You know my parents! Do you know where they are? I miss them, Master Qiren!”

Lan Qiren looks at him for a long time without saying anything, his expression sad. He looks for long enough that Wei Ying’s eyes start to grow wet and his lower lip wobbles ever so slightly, scared of what that look and the accompanying silence mean. 

“Master Qiren where are my parents?” he tries again, and Lan Qiren sighs heavily.

“I don’t know, A-Ying. I haven’t spoken to them in a very long time. I can take you with me, though. Would you like to come with myself and my nephews to our home?”

Wei Ying sniffles a little as he thinks about it. He’s already wandered far away from where his parents left him, and they haven’t found him yet. If he goes with Lan Qiren it sounds like maybe he won’t have to steal food anymore, and that sounds nice. He nods and he can feel hot tears starting to slip down his cheeks so he stumbles forward without thinking to throw himself into Lan Qiren’s arms. It takes a long moment but the man’s arms wrap around his small frame in return and Wei Ying feels like he can finally relax. 

----

Lan Zhan eats slowly and steadily, feeling calmer than he has for days now that they know where his cheerful little savior is. He doesn’t understand how the boy knows Uncle but it doesn’t matter. A-Ying is safe now that they’ve found him, which means that all the people Lan Zhan cares about are where he can find them and protect them, where they can’t disappear right out from under his nose again.

Brother is next to him eating silently as they wait, and they’ve finished half of their meal by the time Uncle returns, A-Ying trailing along after him looking like he’s been crying but that he’s happy. Uncle brings him to the table and sits him down across from Lan Zhan before serving him a bowl of rice that he promptly digs into. He eats as atrociously as he had before and Lan Zhan wrinkles his nose a little as he watches, but a glance up at Uncle in expectation of a reprimand proves he just looks...sad as he watches, and Lan Zhan freezes. He’s seen Uncle look like that every time he had come and found him kneeling outside of Mother’s door, the same reminder that she's gone on his lips. He looks at A-Ying again and sees his skinny limbs, his filthy clothes that are falling apart, the hungry look in his eye as he glances at all the dishes of food spread out on their table even as he eats his plain rice without complaining, and he thinks he understands. 

The meal is silent, the three Lans following the rules of Cloud Recesses and A-Ying too busy eating his fill of everything Uncle puts into his bowl to top his second helping of rice for him to speak. When they have all finished, Uncle fixes him and Brother with a look that makes them both sit up straighter.

“We will be returning to Cloud Recesses in the morning. A-Ying will be joining us. Do you have questions?”

“Is it because he helped A-Zhan?” Brother asks and A-Ying raises his head from where it had been drooping tiredly onto his chest to look at Uncle for the answer as well. 

“It is because he does not have a safe place to go, and it is the right thing to do to help him when we have the ability to do so.”

Lan Zhan looks across the table to A-Ying again only to see him looking at Uncle with wide, shining eyes, his wonder bordering on disbelief written so clearly on his face that Lan Zhan feels like he needs to look away to give him privacy. He’s never seen someone wear their feelings so obviously on their face and he’s not sure if it’s polite to look or not when everyone around him - even Brother - has always hidden their true feelings behind something else.

“Wangji,” Uncle starts and he guiltily tears his gaze away from A-Ying to look up at him. “You and A-Ying are of a similar age, and you are already familiar with each other. It will be your responsibility to keep an eye on him and ensure that he becomes accustomed to life in Cloud Recesses.”

Lan Zhan nods his solemn agreement to accept the responsibility and he’s only just completed the gesture when A-Ying gasps loudly across from him.

“I get a place to stay and I get to stay with A-Zhan?” he exclaims, sleepiness clearly forgotten for the moment in his excitement. Lan Zhan watches with wide eyes as he leaps up from his spot to dart around the table and...hug..Uncle. “Thank you Master Qiren!!” he chirps and Lan Zhan can’t take his eyes off of him clambering into Uncle’s lap to hug him tightly around his neck in a rambunctious show of affection the likes of which Lan Zhan has never seen before. A glance to his left at Brother shows that he’s looking just as nonplussed as Lan Zhan feels and that, at least, is comforting.

----

The walk back to Lotus Pier only offers up more opportunities for confusion as Uncle deigns to physically carry A-Ying in his arms, the little boy completely limp on his shoulder. He’d started stumbling and rubbing at his drooping eyes as they’d left the restaurant behind, and after the fifth time he’d nearly tumbled to the ground Uncle had turned to scoop him up in his arms without a word. It didn’t seem wise to question it so Lan Zhan had kept his mouth shut as had Brother, but the guards at Lotus Pier apparently have no interest in sharing their reticence.

“Grandmaster Lan,” they salute in unison. “Ah...May this one inquire as to who you are bringing into Lotus Pier?” the braver of the two asks and Lan Zhan can practically feel the indignation radiating off of both Uncle and Brother for the impertinence.

“A patient for your healers,” Uncle replies brusquely and Lan Zhan follows along in the swishing wake of his robes as he strides past the guards and through the gate. He and Brother aren’t dismissed to their rooms and so after a shared glance they silently agree to continue following behind Uncle as he strides through the maze of Lotus Pier’s boardwalks and courtyards until they reach the healing pavilion. 

It has been explained to him now that in the heat of Yunmeng it is easier to do some work in the evenings after the sun has set, and while he still privately thinks that it would be just as easy to wake early to accomplish the same tasks, tonight he’s grateful as the lanterns are still lit and the healers are still moving quietly about the space preparing medicines and restocking their supplies despite the hour. Their happy chatter quiets as the Lans approach and Lan Zhan subtly tucks himself closer to Brother’s side as a pair of them come out onto the path to salute them.

“Could I trouble you to examine this child?” Uncle asks, voice pitched low. Lan Zhan watches as the adults quickly take A-Ying inside the pavilion as he sleeps on, unaware. A surge of protectiveness propels him forward and he slips away from Brother’s side to hide behind the skirts of various robes until he finds himself positioned next to the examination table where A-Ying is laid out. One small hand is draped off the edge of it and Lan Zhan reaches for it without thinking, A-Ying’s small, bony fingers fitting easily into his palm as he curls his own fingers tightly around them. Uncle does a double take when he spots him standing there a couple of moments later but he says nothing, which Lan Zhan is willing to take as permission. Uncle asked him to care for A-Ying, after all. He’s just starting early.

“Xichen, stay with Wangji,” Uncle sighs and Brother steps into the room to step unobtrusively to the side as Uncle sweeps back out with no further explanations. Brother answers the healers’ questions dutifully with what little information they do know about A-Ying and Lan Zhan holds his hand throughout it even as the smaller boy is poked and prodded and examined. The healers are just beginning to attempt to rouse him to see if they can get him to drink a restorative tea when raised voices can be heard on the path outside.

“You brought that child into our home?!”

“We will be returning to Cloud Recesses with him in the morning, however he requires medical attention before we travel. You would rather I leave him to sleep in the streets for another night and retrieve him in the morning?”

Lan Wangji’s hand tightens instinctively around A-Ying’s fingers, a scowl on his little face at even the idea of doing what Uncle had just suggested, even though he understands immediately that it was rhetorical. Madame Yu, it seems, does not understand similarly.

“He has been taking care of himself just fine, likely stealing and lying his way into purses and kitchens! Fengmian, what are you going to do about this?!”

There is a response that is too low to hear and then a frustrated, wordless snarl from Madam Yu followed by the quick tap of shoes on wood as she retreats too quickly to be polite. The healers had paused at the first sound of trouble, but now they return to tending to A-Ying with the momentary distraction gone. Lan Zhan looks back down at his charge and blinks in surprise to find him already looking up at him with wide, watery eyes.

“Was that about me?” he asks in a whisper and Lan Zhan hasn’t yet learned to withhold information to soften blows so he nods, because it’s clear to him that it’s the truth. “Oh,” A-Ying says softly and something about it makes Lan Zhan’s heart ache in his chest, or that might be from how much A-Ying winces as the healers help him sit up so he can drink from the cup one of them is holding to his lips.

Uncle strides into the room again with his expression set in the kind of mask that Lan Zhan knows typically precedes a correction in his or Brother’s behavior but he says nothing, he simply steps aside to let the figure behind him step forward. Lan Zhan looks up just long enough to see that it’s Jiang Fengmian before he returns his steady gaze to A-Ying drinking, dutifully ensuring that he doesn’t choke as he guzzles the tea like it’s the sweetest spring water even though Lan Zhan can smell the bitter tang of medicinal herbs from where he’s standing.

“A-Ying?” Jiang Fengmian asks quietly once the cup is drained and A-Ying dutifully turns that wide, quicksilver gaze on the master of Lotus Pier. “Do you remember me?”

A-Ying blinks long and slow and then shakes his head with a little wince. Lan Zhan squeezes his fingers and A-Ying blinks down at their joined hands for a second before he offers him a grin, the same happy one he always has even if it’s tinged with tiredness.

“Do you want to go all the way to Cloud Recesses with Grandmaster Lan and his nephews?”

Lan Zhan frowns at the wording of that, the fact that Jiang Fengmian had made home sound like it was a long journey from Yunmeng not lost on him, but he says nothing. Uncle shifts his weight next to him and Lan Zhan knows that they’re at least thinking the same thing.

“Where else would I go?” A-Ying asks with innocent confusion. He opens his mouth to let the healer hold up a cup of fresh water to it and he drinks greedily even as Jiang Fengmian answers.

“You could stay right here in Lotus Pier. You already know Yunmeng very well, I hear, and I have two children as well. One of them is a boy your age, A-Ying, he could be your friend.”

Lan Zhan’s free hand tightens into a fist, a bit of his sleeve crumpled in his grip, but he stays silent, of course. Uncle puts a hand surreptitiously on the middle of his back between his shoulders and presses his broad palm and fingers flat against him, steadying him and soothing him without a word.

“Can A-Zhan stay too?” A-Ying replies once he’s finished guzzling the water. 

“Second Young Master Lan must return to Cloud Recesses in the morning with his family, he won’t be able to stay.”

A-Ying frowns at that and Lan Zhan finally relaxes when he shakes his head and holds their joined hands up for Jiang Fengmian to see. “I go where A-Zhan goes. He gets scared sometimes and I like to help him, I can’t do that if I don’t live with him. He’s my friend already.”

“A-Ying -”

“Do not separate them, Fengmian,” Uncle interrupts (interrupts!). Lan Zhan is shocked that Uncle would be so rude but he heartily approves. He doesn’t like that Jiang Fengmian is trying to talk A-Ying into staying where he doesn’t want to be - i.e. somewhere that doesn’t involve him. His heart feels warm in his chest for the first time in a long time at that thought. A-Ying wants to go with him wherever he goes. The feeling is certainly mutual.

“You have had years in which to find him running amok in your own city, and you did not. He wants to come with us to Gusu. A-Ying?” Uncle turns his attention to A-Ying and the boy instantly smiles up at him.

“Yes Master Qiren?”

“Sleep well, I will return to fetch you in the morning so we may begin our journey home together.”

“Okay Master Qiren,” he agrees easily, reaching out with his free hand towards the man. Lan Zhan isn’t sure what he’s doing but then Uncle steps in to draw the boy into a tight embrace. Lan Zhan’s chest burns with something he can’t name, but it must show on his face because when Uncle turns to look at him he pauses and then...reaches for him. Pulls him into a hug of his very own. Lan Zhan buries his face in Uncle’s robes and trembles slightly as he clings like he hasn’t been allowed to since he had been very small.

“Xichen,” Uncle calls and Brother steps forward dutifully, cautious hope on his face. Uncle pulls him in as well, tucking him into his chest for a moment before he withdraws and reaches out to take Brother’s hand. “Come with me, it is time for rest. We will leave Wangji and A-Ying with the healers for the night.” Brother nods and follows Uncle from the healing pavilion, Jiang Fengmian following after them a handful of moments later.

And then, thankfully, it’s just him and A-Ying and the healers. The adults bustle around the pair of young boys, tending to every scrape and bruise that they can spot on A-Ying’s scrawny limbs as they ply him with more cups of tea and water and even some rice until he’s falling asleep again while they tend to him. Once he’s asleep they take him away just long enough to bathe him and dress him in some spare Jiang clothes that are too big on him but, mercifully, aren’t full of holes or covered in dirt and stains.

They allow Lan Zhan to stay at his side for the rest of the night, a silent, steady presence as he lays perfectly on his back, A-Ying warm, safe, and sleeping soundly pressed up against his side.

In the morning, they will leave for home.

There will be further hurdles for Wei Ying to face - and for Lan Zhan as well - but they will face each of them together, utterly inseparable as they walk their paths that have become one and the same so early in their lives that to see them veer away from each other again is already unthinkable. Their short pasts are full of pain, but the uncertainty of the long future set before them is at least already full of the promise of each other, and that’s enough.

[PREVIOUS]

#The untamed fanfic #wangxian #Lan Wangji #Wei Wuxian #Lan Xichen #Lan Qiren #Apparently I'm only capable of writing this fic when people specifically ask me for it but here it is haha #headcanon: LQR has been grieving for and with his nephews' pain in the only way he knows - withdrawing #it takes little Wei Ying's easy affection - learned from his parents - to get him to loosen up again and start healing #and everyone is better off for it #Hope y'all enjoy!

[romanceismycallingcard]

I was babysitting tonight, and we watched Barbie Island Princess. I don't know how many of you are familiar with this movie, but I started laughing halfway through bc I started imagining it as an untamed au 😂 but it was so easy to imagine! It basically wrote itself.

Like. Imagine Wei Wuxian getting capsized at a young age and ending up on an island (burial mounds) where he learns to survive by talking to the dead who are abandoned there and surviving on cultivating resentful energy.

A decade later, Lan Zhan and his brother come to the island to see if there's anything they can do to resolve the amount of resentful energy coming from this one island which is starting to affect the nearest lands (which are still very far away). And they discover Wei Ying and his friends (wq & wn & a-yuan, who were abandoned there and left for dead) and want to take them back to civilization.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are pretty much gone for each other from the first day.

(Prince) Lan Zhan wants to marry Wei Ying, but his parents/Uncle/elders disapprove bc Wei Ying is uncivilized. And they're also trying to marry him off to a better prospect. They want him to settle down and stop chasing chaos.

The villain in the movie is a mom trying to marry her very sweet daughter off to the prince so that she can take over. And I'm struggling to come up with a parallel. I'm thinking either Jin Guangshan trying to marry off Prince Jin Zixuan. Or advisor Meng Yao trying to marry off Prince Nie Huaisang. (Edit: def kinda leaning towards Nie Huaisang now bc he's artsy like the girl in the movie and also he helps in the end to stop the villain person. But Jin Zixuan has the bonus of being ultra awkward and also a romantic. So either way, it really works.)

And then of course at the end, Wei Wuxian is reconnected with the Jiang Siblings who were family friends before the shipwreck that ended the lives of Wei Wuxian's parents and caused him to end up on the Burial Mounds Island.

Okay but like seriously I love this movie. It's like the little mermaid meets my fair lady meets pretty woman. And I genuinely love the prince character so much. He's such a charming sweetie of a dork. And he loves barbie's character Ro so much from the beginning bc she's so different, all natural, and has similar passions to him. This movie is so wholesome. I just love the characters. And the music. And the plot.

Also the prince is really great bc he so earnestly wants to marry her from day one and he's so willing to stand up to his parents for her. It doesn't bother him that she's so different or 'uncivilized' and he doesn't have the arrogance or prejudice that he very easily could have just bc of being born as a prince. He's such a good, honorable, and earnest guy. And a bit of a dork. Lan Zhan could be him so easily.

One of the best things about this movie is the prince interacting with the girl he's supposed to marry and it's soooo awkward bc they literally have nothing in common. at. all. And the movie does it so well! They try so hard to find something to talk about and it just keeps going nowhere. Now imagine that with Lan Zhan and Nie Huaisang or Jin Zixuan. But they still end up as good friends in the end bc they are SWEETIES!

Also it makes me laugh to think of Wei Wuxian as Barbie. Bc it works really too well. Good character. Can do anything. Literally. Beautiful. Has ditsy or idealistic moments. Suffers hardship but stays good and kind anyway. Fights for the benefit of others. They're both really just so Good (TM).

#lol #this was such a tangent #sorry #long post #au #the untamed #mdzs #cql #island princess au #barbie island princess #wangxian #I've been thinking about this too much #this is both like this is funny so it's a joke idea but like also this is really good and it kinda works really well so it's also serious #crack treated seriously #edit #i kinda want both nhs and jzx in this so bad that now I'm wondering if it's possible to make them both marriage prospects and they're- #kinda sorta competing but not really for lwj's hand #nhs can be the sassy 'yeah no i know there's nothing between us. no offense. you're still great but no thank you' #and jzx is the sweet 'i want someone to look at me the way you look at wwx 🥺❤️' (in walks jyl)

[demonictales]

May I ask for oneshot where reader sacrifices their golden core to Jiang cheng instead of Wei ying?

ioh my god. i love this idea. i hope you like what i’ve written. let me know if you enjoyed it! ♥ it turned out to be a bit long, im sorry. nearly 3k words tho.

Jiang Cheng x Reader

TW: burn wound, strong pain

When the Yunmeng Jiang Clan was attacked and taken over by the Wen Clan, Wei Wuxian, Jiang Yanli, and their brother Jiang Cheng were on the run. Wen Chao had made no secret of it that all three had fleed and had to be found immediately.

The whole cultivation world has been in chaos since the Qishan Wen Clan roamed the streets, destroying any clan that was even remotely against them without blinking an eyelid. The consequences for anyone who tried to defend themselves against the Wen Clan were fatal. Unfortunately, this has also affected the Jiang Clan and the now three siblings on the run. 

Like so many in the Wen Clan, you couldn't help but move along with them. You were born into the medical family in the clan and often helped your cousin Wen Qing and spent time with Wen Ning. He was only two years younger than you. All three of you weren’t particularly fond of how Wen Chao did deal with the whole situation but you had no other chance but to obey the orders, mostly because just like Wen Qing, you helped her protect Wen Ning who to you was just like a brother as well.

It had been a rather quiet week for the three of you when suddenly the doors opened and three people stood in the middle of Wen Qing’s property.  You had just created a few remedies when none other than Wei Wuxian, followed by his sister and Jiang Cheng, who appeared badly injured, appeared loudly and threatening. 

Wen Qing seemed to be in control when you took care of Yanli. It seemed like she was a little weak so you gave her some medicine to strengthen her immune system and told her to take a rest for the day being. If she needed something, she could rely on you and ask for your help. You ended up talking to her and found out that both of you had quite a lot in common, turns out just like her, you weren’t so much into cultivation either, in fact your cultivation was low and you barely followed your interest in it. You were more of  a reserved person, calm as most would describe you, introverted and quiet. You worked behind the scenes and were quietly aknowledged for your wisdom regarding poison and antidotes.

Leaving to prepare more medicine and helping Wen Ning cook, you learned that Wen Zuhliu has taken Jiang Chengs golden core which made you drop your current pot of boiling water burning yourself in the process. Wen Ning gently and quietly took care of your hand as you joined Qing for dinner. Talking about the passed day and what happened.

You were discussing the biggest issue at hand while Ning was quietly listening, slurping his soup. “ Is there a solution to Young Master Jiang’s issue? Is there a way to restore his golden core? ” You asked your cousin wondering if something like this was possible. The hope you had was taken from you when your cousin explained that it wasn’t possible but young master Wei would not stop searching for a cure.

The next morning was your usual daily routine. You woke up, read through some books, prepared some medicine for Yanli and worked on more antidotes and poisons, liquid, powder and pills, even some scented sachets to help you walk through poisoned fog without losing your mind completely until noon hit. You were instructed to bring some soup for Jiang Cheng. Holding the dark tray with some freshly cooked notorious soup in your hands you over heard the conversation of the two brothers inside the room. Not keen on eavsdropping you waited and listened anyway.

“Did you feel it? ---- “ A deep voice filled with sadness spoke quietly, as if he knew all hope was lost. “Feel what?“ Another asked curiously as he waited for an answer. “Well, I used all my spiritual power...“ Silence, followed by holding your breath before he continued as you listened quietly behind the door. “..in that palm. So, did you feel it? ---- “  He repeated his question. Listening, knowing he had lost his golden core made you uncomfortable. You could care less about your own golden core and spiritual power as you did not particularly need it for what you were studying but in his voice alone you could hear the silence of defeat. There was no more will in his tone. 

“ Well, do it again. Hit me again. “ Wei Wuxian spoke, trying to reassure his brother, but he only refused. “ No need. It’s the same, no matter how many times I hit you. --- Wei Wuxian, do you know how Core Melting Hand gets his title? “ Cheng continued, voice steady but without any melody. “Because he can use his hands to crush another person’s golden core. ---- Whoever is hit by him can never form his core and will become an ordinary man after losing your spiritual power. “ Their conversation went on but your thoughts kept spinning. You only ever heard highly of this young masters reputation. He was  arrogant and overconfident and exceptionally handsome, however, as to what you heard he seemed broken, not ready to be an ordinary man, as if it was the death sentence. It probably was the worst for any great cultivator to become ordinary, to become just a human being.  

As you listened he got louder, talking about how Wen Zuhliu had taken their parents live and you immediately felt bad for the actions of the Wen Clan. You knew the situation was bad, but hearing things from the ones you helped while being a Wen yourself made you realize how much you truly did dislike being part of the cultivation world. With a quiet sigh you walked in, speaking up calmly, pretending you did not hear a word of what had been spoken you put the soup down on the table. “Hello young Master Wei. Young Master Jiang. --- Wen Qing instructed me to bring some soup for young master. ” You explained simply, bowed and left quickly.

The conversation you had been part of, if so secretly, had bothered you for the rest of the day until late night where eventually you got up and went to the study, looking and reading through the books, trying to figure out how to restore ones golden core after losing it. You could do only so much as to let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing your tired eyes. A sense of deep fault started to brew in your chest, being regretful as to what your clan had done wrong. This would hunt you for generations, if there would be anyone left. 

You soon found out that  Wei Wuxian had the same thoughts as you. By any means you did not know any of the Jiang Clan family members, but after a long talk with Master Wei, you could eventually persuade him to let you help him find a solution to the problem until Qing, you and Wuxian were arguing as to why it was not possible to transfer one golden core to another person. The chances were low, one must have luck on their side for it to work but at some point the desicion had been made, nevertheless, it had taken lots of time for Wen Qing to be coaxed into this plan. You were fast to offer your core for the transplant and an explanation was barely needed, you only spoke a few words that night.

“ I barely cultivate. My core might not be the strongest but it is not the weakest either. I do not care for cultivation, I do not need to to study medicine, to make pills and antidotes for the poison I creat. ---- Besides, my family has created enough damage. Master Wei, I shall give Young Master Jiang my golden core. ---- “ 

The plan was easy. He had to follow a path up the hill where he would meet his brother’s mother Master who could restore his golden core by pretending to be Wei Wuxian, the pupils son. What you had not calculated was the never ending pain you went through for the next few days. The burning fire that went from your core all the way through your veins, on the edge of fainting every possible second, but that would mean, the moment you lost control of that, of your conciousness, was a lost core for another. You hanged in there with all your might to the point where you cried out of pain, a sound you never thought you could make would rip through the room. Your own sweat burning your eyes as you fought yourself, your vision soon had gone blurry from the dizziness in your head, the stinging pain in your head making you nauseous. It felt like as if you were torn apart from the inside, the pain was to another extend, something you could not explain in words, something no one could ever feel no matter how they would be tortured. You only had to withstand one more night and it was over and you could rest. Just one more night and the transfer of the golden core would be succsessful and you could lead a normal ordinary live.

TIME SKIP - THE TRUTH

You have lived an ordinary live in Yunmeng, quietly and in hiding after you clan had been more or less extinguished. It was odd for one Wen family member to live among the Jiang Clan in secret but you did the best you could to hide your identidy until Wei Wuxians return, who to your surprise brought along Wen Ning. You only observed from a distance but you could not be happier to see your cousin still alive and walking next to Young Master Wei.

It was only when you met Wen Qing in secret that Master Wei had found out and brought you into Lotus Pier which did cause you great trouble the moment you encountered Jiang Cheng, who to this day, still had not manage to control his temper. No Wen Clan member as expected to be alive and now to be faced with another one who was responsible for his family’s death had awoken something in him. Anger, rage, the fact that there was still a Wen walking in Lotus Peer alive and breathing. Not something one would expect after 16 years. 

You had no right to be here and you knew that, if it was only for Wei Wuxian that you had stepped into this territory, only for Wen Ning who seemed to be still the same, even after so many years, even if he was at the same time different. He was still family and if you did meet your death today, so it be.

There he stood, the Zidian in his hands gave of an energy that you could feel. The atmosphere was threathening. You had long stopped carrying your sword, no longer in need for it but of course Jiang Cheng insisted on it. “ Do you expect me to fight you without your sword? -- First you dare to step into Lotus Peer and now you even disrespect the general rules of cultivation. ” He spoke arrogantly, though his voice was underlying with rage. One could tell he was furious. “ I’m not here to fight, Clan Leader Jiang. --- I simply wanted to meet Wen Ning, it has been so long. ” You admitted quietly, reserved as always. “ I do not wish to cause more trouble. As for my sword, I have long stopped carrying it as I do not need it.” You explained quietly and with a steady voice as you bowed and turned to leave, just in that moment you felt the heat of a burning sting against your back, sending you flying to the ground in pain. Just before the second it hit you again, you could see someone blocking the hit for you, the rustling of chains being heard.  The hit of the zidian was clearly something you did underestimate, especially now that you were weaker than before. 

The only thing you could make out was that somebody picked you up as you heard a voice fainted in the background. Wei Wuxian has come to your side as Wen Ning explained the situation to him. It was a world known fact that nobody but yourself could draw their sword. It was in connection with your core, and once it died, it would seal itself forever. 

“ Because the sword considers you as Wen Y/N. ---- ” Ning spoke, his features blank as he continued to explain the situation to Cheng. “What does that mean?” The clan leader furiously enquired, panic in his tone. “How can it consider me as her? ---- Why me? ”

“Because the golden core, functioning in your system is hers. “ Finally the truth had come to live. Something that had been hidden for more than 16 years. The endless nights of searching up methods of how to make it less painful, how to make it quick and most importantly if it could work at all where finally revealed.

Wen Ning kept on explaining everything to Jiang Cheng, whereas Wei Wuxian still held you in his arms checking to see if you were still breathing from the inpact of the Zidian you had suffered. Wen Ning could explain everything in detail to him, from the day he went up the hill, met that woman who was Wen Qing pretending, to how exactly they had transfered your golden core to him.

Jiang Cheng was in disbelief. He did not want to believe a single word from that came from Ning’s mouth. How could a Wen possibly this selfless and give up their own golden core. He tried to understand but now matter how he tried to process this, it did not make any sense to him. He was in utter disbelief, at a loss for words. 

Again, he spoke. “You are talking nonsense. ---- ”

“I’m not. --  “ Ning countered. 

“Shut up!“ He did not want to hear it. None of it. “ My golden core...My golden core...”

“It was repaired by Baoshan Sanren. ---“ The ghost general continued.

“ How do you know that? Wei Wuxian, --- What did you tell them? “

“ No! - Master Wei never told anyone about it. --  I saw it with my own eyes. “ 

“Liar! -- You were there? How could that be possible? “ Wanyin yelled at Ning. “ I was the only one that went up that mountain. There was no way that you followed me. “

Wen Ning kept on telling the whole story yet Jian Cheng still did not dare to believe a single word. It wasn*t possible. They must be lying, it was the only reasonable explanation to what was going on. Was he going insane? Why were they lying?

“ How did you know about it? -- “

“ I told you. -- I was there. Not just me. But also Master Wei, my sister and my cousin was there as well. “

This went on for minutes, minutes that did feel like hours explaining why a stone could not float in the water.

“That is not true. You are lying. --- Then why was my golden core repaired?“

“It was never repaired! “ Wen Ning yelled loudly.

“ No, no, no. NO!“ 

“Clan Leader Jiang. You should have seen it coming. The reason why you thought your core was repaired was my sister Wen Qing, the best doctor of the Wen Clan of Qishan and the sacrifice of my cousins golden core, Wen Y/N. “

At this point, he had no words left, his vision had become blury. He did feel regret towards you. You gave him shelter, you gave him medicine and did treat him with respect, yet your name was tainted with blood shed of his family for all eternity which he simply could not forget. Will never forget, refused to forget.

“She removed Lady Y/N golden core and transplanted it into you. -- Even if she was supposed to fight you today, her spiritual power is weak. If she did draw the sword, she could not last very long. --- She is a Wen, of the Wen Clan. My cousin. ---- We are hated by the whole world. Where could she possibly go. If people had found out earlier that she was still alive, she would have been gone long enough. She had suffered for three nights and two days straight. She did have to be awake throughout the whole procedure. ---- It was painful. “

Jiang Cheng was shedding tears for someone he barely knew or maybe because he could not believe the act of kindness this was.

“She gave up her core because she did not need it. She did not mind being ordinary but the most important thing was, she felt guilty for all the things Wen Chao had done to your family, to all the families that were slaughtered because of our clan. --- She sacrificed herself as a reimbursement to the loss that had been inflicted to you.  Y/N had heard your conversation of how you could not stand being an ordinary man. -----  “

The scene fell quiet, as you were carried away bei Wuxian, closely followed by Wen Ning. Devastation was written all over his face, he became numb, the words echoing in his head, the memories of back then flashing before his eyes. He wondered how much she must’ve suffered? The pain she had to endure during those days. 

However,  how was he able to accept the fact that a Wen had given their golden core to him? The family, the clan he did despise the most.

#mdzs x reader #jiang cheng x reader #cdrama x reader #mdzs reader insert #the untamed x reader #jiang cheng #the untamed #cql x reader #cql #Anonymous

[kurowrites]

for the courtesan!wwx fic, i would love to know how the jiangs react to finding out where wwx has been!

Earlier posts

LXC finds LWJ and the boy that is now named Wei Wuxian in the library, where LWJ is trying to teach him how to read. It’s both easy and difficult at the same time, because WWX is endlessly curious and wants to learn very much, but he’s also easily distracted by everything (there are so many things he has never experienced, living on the streets and in a brothel for most of his life), and sometimes, when he gets bored, he will revert back to his favourite hobby: flirting with LWJ.

So LXC finds WWX leaning against LWJ’s shoulder, complaining about having to copy another text with his still shaky writing while simulatenously trying to tickle some affection out of LWJ. LXC watches them for one moment, amused, because WWX seems to get more desperate to get LWJ’s attention the longer he lives at Cloud Recesses, while LWJ seems to get more and more confused about why WWX is constantly seeking his attention and touch, when most people are discouraged by his tendency to keep people at arm’s length. (Not WWX, though.) They’re clumsily dancing around each other, and LXC is glad to see that his brother, for once in his life, acts like the teenager that he is rather than a too-small adult.

He eventually interrupts them and tells WWX that there are guests that are waiting to meet him. WWX looks at him with big eyes and clutches at LWJ’s sleeve. Immediately, LWJ announces “I will go with him.” His brother won’t tell him that something has happened in words, but LXC knows LWJ well enough to understand the rest. Recently, LWJ is never far from WWX unless absolutely necessary, and WWX has become a little jumpy with physical closeness from people that he doesn’t know and trust. But he seems to feel extremely safe around LWJ, seems to trust him implicitly, and that, LXC can appreciate.

WWX brings his doe eyes out to blink at LXC and asks him what guests they have as they head towards the reception hall. It’s an agressively cutesy way of wheedling information out of other people, and LQR hates it when WWX does it, but LXC has come to learn that he employs this strategy whenever he’s nervous and tries to hide it. It’s his way of ingratiating himself, trying to keep people from getting angry at him and his many questions. (And some people misunderstand.) So he pats WWX’s head (WWX seems to like that, and LXC is still mourning the fact that his brother won’t let him do it any longer) and tells him that it’s the sect leader of Yunmeng Jiang, an old friend of his parents.

WWX’s eyes shine with curiosity then, because he wants to know more about his parents, those people he only remembers in little flashes of memories. Once they arrive at the reception hall, LXC introduces him to Jiang Fengmian and his two children. (His wife opted to remain in Yunmeng and take care of the sect business.) Jiang Fengmian smiles at WWX with a genuinely happy smile and announces how glad he is that he finally found the son of Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze, and to find him in Gusu of all places! WWX greets him back with the same stiff formality he has apparently copied from LWJ, and it’s a little funny, at least to LXC.

They get on well quickly, Jiang Fengmian eager to talk about WWX’s parents, and WWX equally eager to listen. At one point, however, JFM’s son, Jiang Cheng, who is about the same age as WWX, suddenly bursts out: “He’s not much though, is he, despite having such a famous mother?” JFM and JC’s sister, Jiang Yanli, quickly admonish him. WWX, on the other hand, pouts a little bit, and then delicately lifts his sleeve to cover his mouth, and tilts his head just so, the very picture of elegant, seductive indignation.

“This lowly disciple knows he is not much to look at,” he says delicately. “But Wei Ying is trying his best, and will aim to live up to his mother’s name.”

It’s a tableau that’s simultaneously ridiculous and yet highly effective. JC sputters and turns bright red, and even JFM seems to be caught off-balance for a moment.

Then he laughs and shakes his head.

“I am sure you are. You should come with us to Yunmeng, after you have finished learning the basics here. I’m sure our sect can teach you much.”

JYL smiles at WWX encouragingly, as if she cannot imagine anything better. And, knowing her character quite well, LXC is sure she would love another Shidi to take care of.

JC, on the other hand, is still fighting the blush in his cheeks, and he glares at WWX a little (which, for some reason, seems to amuse WWX, and he flutters his eyes at him in a way LXC is sure is meant to be teasing, not seductive, and JC lets out an angry huff).

WWX bows deeply to JFM and tells him that he would be honoured to be taught by Yunmeng Jiang.

His first question, however...

“Can Lan Zhan come with me?”

#kuro answers #mdzs headcanons #courtesan!wwx #anonymous

[suzunofuu]

Let’s consider Lan Wangji learning to love touch thanks to Ah Yuan... We know he has never been comfortable with physical contact, but with time Ah Yuan starts to bring it out on him until it becomes another part of himself.

Like, the moment he took the child to gusu he kept him between his arms, with the excuse that the boy was scared, and lonely, and hurt, and so feverish he could die so he needed comfort... and yes, he had to go through his own punishment and heal his own wounds, but after much begging and pleading (and ater Lan Xichen insisted on his behalf), they allowed Ah Yuan to be, at least, in the same room as rich-gege, sometimes even within Lan Zhan’s arm reach, so he’d hold little Ah Yuan’s hand as he slept the pain on his back away.

And then, when he was secluded and hidden away to reflect on what he had done, Ah Yuan was kept secret with him. As he gained his mobility again and stopped feeling sick and disoriented 100% of the time, Lan Zhan recuperated some of his discipline, and forgot how to bring/ask for comfort. Therefore, he made a promise to start to learn how to do it.

In the beginning, when Ah Yuan cried and cried because he had hurt himself or because he missed his family, Lan Zhan would watch him silently, or sit next to him, rubbing his back as soothingly as he could. Ah Yuan would drop himself across his lap, or curl onto it, crying earnestly onto his chest. From then on, Lan Zhan would scoop him into his arms if the boy every cried. His hand learnt by itself to cup the back of the boy’s head, and that it’d bring a sense of protection to the little kid.

He made a promise to never let Ah Yuan feel unprotected again. No matter at what cost.

One time, Ah Yuan got a tiny cut on one of his fingers and came running to him, teary eyed and suffocated, holding the finger up as if it was burning.

“You have to heal it!” Ah Yuan pleaded, but Lan Wangji could only blink at him, without understanding. “You have to kiss it better!”

And Lan Wangji has never been able to deny this little boy anything, not since he rescued him from a premature death. He brought his little hand close to him and left a feather touch of his lips on the wound, even if the touch didn’t feel all that natural to him. Ah Yuan smiled, satisfied, and left to keep playing whichever game he had made up.

That time, Lan Wangji learnt that kisses had some sort of magic in them, and that they could heal.

Of course, Lan Zhan has to take care of the boy’s hygiene. They bathe in the river together, and Lan Wangji rediscovers, from a completely different point of view, what parents have to do for their kids, and at which times they have to function in their kid’s behalf. He comes to accept that intimacy and to sustract the uneasiness it’d bring into his chest if it were anyone else. Bodies are natural, in the end. There’s nothing gross or shameful in them. Maybe that’s the hardest part for him to learn.

Ah Yuan grows a bit, and his hair with him. That’s how Lan Zhan finds himself combing Ah Yuan’s knots off his mane, shushing the boy after an unintentionaly sharp tug, and smiling softly when the boy hums pleasedly.

It becomes a part of their routine, after that, to sit with the sunset’s light before them, combing Ah Yuan’s hair straight and listening to the sound of chirping birds and the trickling of the river nearby. At some point, Ah Yuan requests to do the same to rich-gege’s hair, so Lan Zhan lets his hair loose and closes his eyes, allowing the little boy to stand at his back and brush his already brushed hair until it’s as even as the surface of their dining table.

Some mornings, Ah Yuan would find seating space on Lan Zhan’s lap while he plays inquiry, and Lan Wangji would move Ah Yuan’s little fingers on the strings to ask Wei Ying’s spirit the same questions he’s been asking for months, to which they receive no answer. Every time, Ah Yuan would giggle and try to play by himself, or watch mesmerized as Lan Zhan did it himself. The wounds in Lan Zhan’s chest wouldn’t bleed so deliberately with Ah Yuan near him, listening without understanding to all he has to say.

When they were finally allowed to reunite with the rest of the sect, Lan Zhan had grown an habit of holding Ah Yuan’s hand as they walked up and down the mountains, or to help him up the stairs. He walked up to the main gates of cloud recess with Wen Yuan holding his hand. Before they stepped in, he told the little boy:

“From now on, your name will be Lan Yuan. Understood?”

Lan Yuan took his thumb out of his mouth and nodded. Lan Qiren frowned when he spotted father and son, hand in hand, walking into their sect, into their home, breaking a few hundred unwritten rules (and others that were written too, but Lan Wangji had paid debt for all those already).

By becoming a Lan, Lan Wangji had to give the boy his forehead ribbon, which’s meaning and symbolism he explained superficially, for Ah Yuan wasn’t old enough to fully understand. Still, he tied the headband around his head, carefully, telling him he couldn’t take it off from now on, and that only he and his family could touch it. Lan Yuan nodded, understanding. Lan Zhan’s fingertips touched the boy’s cheek momentarily, offering him a smile.

Those gestures and touches started to come natural to him with time, but with time Lan Yuan grew, and as he aged he was told he couldn’t t act like a little kid anymore, that there’s things he could and couldn’t do, love he could require and comfort he had to bring to himself. However, when he’s eight, he starts to get nightmares, and although he doesn’t want to ask Lan Wangji for help or wake him up in the middle of the night for some silly reason, he still curls at the edge of Lan Wangji’s bed (he sleeps in the jingshi with him until he’s around fourteen, when he joins in the other disciples’ dormitories) and leaves before the man wakes up, hiding back in his own bed.

It’s like this how Lan Zhan finds him one night: sitting by the bed with his head buried between his arms, a hand curled on his bedsheets. He draws him off the floor and into the bed with him. Lan Yuan is so sleepy that he doesn’t have the energy to excuse himself, or to complain that he’s a big boy and doesn’t need to, and nuzzles close to Lan Wangji’s warm body instead, sighing happily as the man embraces him with an arm.

Lan Wangji discovers there’s no specific age to stop needing your loved ones, or to ask for their love. He also learns that if he holds Lan Yuan really close, nothing bad can happen to him. Not in any existing way.

By the time Lan Yuan becomes Lan Sizhui, most of the gestures Lan Wangji learnt to be able to love him right have been left forgotten in their past. However, he can still encourage the now teenager with a squeeze on the shoulder, or by pressing a light hand at the bottom of his back.

He learns that there’s no need for touches to show affection, because there’s a thousand different ways to let Ah Yuan know he cares about him. He brings him gifts from his trips, leaving them by Ah Yuan’s table in the dormitories, the way he always dreamt he’d do to Wei Ying, at some point or another. While they eat, he puts more and more food in Ah Yuan’s bowl so he grows stronger, so he’s never sick or feeble again. Whenever Ah Yuan asks for a lesson of inquiry or to accompany him to feed their rabbits, Lan Wangji Mns, even if the boy is supposed to be somehere else. Sometimes, he’d ask for Lan Sizhui’s presence and he’d walk them to watch the sunset together, for no other reason than to enjoy each other’s company.

And it all pays off, really.

It pays off because Lan Sizhui trusts Hanguang-Jun with everything he has. When he needs help, he asks for it. When he doesn’t know the answer to a problem, he goes and learns from Lan Wangji’s wisdom. When he feels conflicted, he knows that Lan Wangji will listen to him, and help to all of his extent.

It pays off because Ah Yuan doesn’t cry anymore. Not in the way he did when he pleaded for his uncle, his aunt, the family that wasn’t going to be back. It pays off because he has the sweetest, purest of smiles, because there’s something soft and tender on his expression that has been crafted on him with pure, unadulterated love.

It pays off in Lan Wangji’s heart, too. And when he finds Wei Ying again, it’s already easy for him to give him gifts, to grab his hand, to brush the hair off his face, to smile his way, to say yes, yes, I trust you, I love you, I’m never leaving you. And he thinks that, maybe, if he had learnt how to love long before, Wei Ying would have never died.

Maybe he would have been able to save Wei Ying like he had saved Ah Yuan, and like Ah Yuan had saved him.

#lan wangji #lan sizhui #wei wuxian #the untamed #I'M SAD #lwj #wwx #lsz #wangxian #dadji #bro this shit long #my things #tp

[besanii]

I'm really curious about lwj meeting a-yuan. I mean, they met in the past, will lwj recognize him? Will he finally learn about wwx's involvement with the eyes of god?

There is a young man sitting by the bed with Wei Wuxian’s wrist between his fingers when Lan Wangji enters the room. His first thought is danger—they may be married now, but there are still those who oppose the union, and Wei Wuxian’s presence in his life, both socially and politically—and he immediately shifts to a more guarded stance: shoulders back, feet planted, eyes focused on the stranger in such close proximity with his consort. But then Wei Wuxian laughs quietly and shakes his head fondly and the fear eases enough to allow the tension to bleed from his person as he takes another step into the room.

Wei Wuxian spots him first, over his visitor’s shoulder, and his smile widens with delight.

“Lan Zhan, you’re home,” he says, beckoning him closer with his free hand. “Come, I have someone I’d like you to meet.”

It is easy to be swept up in the moment when Wei Wuxian is brimming with joy; Lan Wangji had always been helpless against it when they were youths, even more so now that they are married. There is nothing he would deny him—could deny him—if it means bringing Wei Wuxian joy. He’s already walking forward, reaching out to take his hand without a thought, brushing his lips over his knuckles tenderly. The casual display of affection never fails to bring colour to Wei Wuxian’s cheeks, a fact that Lan Wangji has learned only very recently and resolved to utilise as often as possible.

“Wei Ying,” he murmurs. “How are you feeling today?”

“Better,” Wei Wuxian says, slightly breathless. He clears his throat and gestures for Lan Wangji to take a seat beside him on the bed. “Lan Zhan, this is A-Yuan. He is…an old friend.”

The young man slips off the stool by the bed and sinks to his knees, clasping his hands in front of him in a formal bow.

“Wen Yuan greets Hanguang-wangye,” he says.

Lan Wangji stiffens. “Wen?”

Wei Wuxian squeezes his hand and gives a tiny shake of the head as Wen Yuan continues.

“Please be assured that I mean you no harm, Wangye,” he says. He lifts his head to allow Lan Wangji a proper look at his face; his eyes are bright and clear, no hint of deception in them that he can see. “My bogong was Yiling-hou, Wen Ruoheng.”

Wen Ruoheng, the Marquess of Yiling, Wen Ruohan’s younger cousin. From memory, Wen Ruoheng had not been a major participant in the war, choosing instead to remain neutral for as long as possible before Wen Ruohan had strong-armed him into obeying. Even then, Lan Wangji had known the man to be nothing but honourable to friend and foe alike and had held great respect for him until Jin Guangshan had ordered his execution before anyone had had the chance to defend him.

That his line had survived the genocide that followed the war and is here in this room with Wei Wuxian…it was difficult to believe. He catches Wei Wuxian’s look of concern out of the corner of his eye and pats his hand reassuringly; he motions for Wen Yuan to rise.

“How did you come to be here?” he asks. “According to the reports from Lanling Jin back then, Jin Zixun had left no survivors.”

At the mention of Jin Zixun, both Wei Wuxian and Wen Yuan’s expressions darken. The man has been dead for almost ten years now, but it seems their hatred of him has not lessened in the slightest. Lan Wangji had had very few dealings with him before his death, most of their interactions had been perfunctory at best—formal greetings at state banquets that had little value to them outside of social niceties—but he had witnessed a few of his more…unsavoury characteristics in the aftermath of the war.

“We left Yiling when I was very young,” Wen Yuan explains. “My father was the younger son of a concubine. He was never really favoured and didn’t have an affinity for the military arts, so after I was born, he took my mother and I to Chongyang. We lived as peasants, as doctors, along with members of other branches of the Wen clan.”

The smile on Wei Wuxian’s face turns wistful.

“That’s where we met,” he tells Lan Wangji. “ I stumbled across their settlement while out surveying the farmlands with my parents. A-Yuan was only three then. I must have been about ten or so, but he liked to follow me everywhere like a little duckling!”

The thought of a ten-year-old Wei Wuxian, still yet to outgrow the baby fat on his cheeks, with an even younger child clutching the hem of his robes, brings a soft smile to Lan Wangji’s face. He glances over at Wei Wuxian when he feels a weight against his shoulder as he tucks himself against Lan Wangji’s side; his heart skips a beat, as it unfailingly does every time Wei Wuxian welcomes his touch, and his ears heat.

Wen Yuan ducks his head politely to hide his own smile.

“Xian-gege would come to visit us quite often while we were growing up,” he says. “He even had me enrolled in school when I was old enough, and personally taught me how to use a sword. He taught me everything I know. I owe my whole life to him.”

“Ah, that’s an exaggeration,” Wei Wuxian says, embarrassed. “I did what I could, but the rest was all you, A-Yuan.”

“Without Xian-gege, A-Yuan would not be alive today,” Wen Yuan insists. “I pledged my life to your service once before and I’ll do it again. I’m not a child anymore, Xian-gege. You can’t stop me.”

Wei Wuxian laughs helplessly in the face of his determination, but Lan Wangji can see the pleasure and fondness in his eyes. He does not yet know the full extent of their history, but he is grateful nonetheless to see Wen Yuan’s unwavering devotion to Wei Wuxian. He beckons for him to rise and resume his seat by the bed.

“Wen Yuan,” he says, once the younger man is settled. “You said you owed Wei Ying your life. What happened?”

Something unspoken passes between Wen Yuan and Wei Wuxian as they exchange glances; although he does not pull away, Wei Wuxian sits up straighter and lifts his head from Lan Wangji’s shoulder, his grey eyes somber. But it is Wen Yuan who speaks, his words careful and measured.

“When the war broke out, my family was still in Chongyang,” he says. “Anti-Wen sentiments were growing stronger by the day, and we were only a very small settlement. Bogong insisted we move back to Yiling, where he could protect us. But not everyone could go—those who were too old, too weak to travel. In the end, only a handful of people decided to leave. My parents and I stayed behind with the rest.”

His hands curl into fists in his lap.

“We stayed for as long as we could,” he continues, staring at his lap. “And Xian-gege helped as much as he was able: getting us food, speaking up for us when others wanted to use us against Qishan, protecting us against people who tried to take their anger and hatred of the Wen out on us. But he couldn’t protect all of us, not forever.”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes drift closed as if in pain, and Lan Wangji’s arm tightens around his waist comfortingly; Wen Yuan continues speaking, his eyes distant and unseeing.

“My parents begged him to take me away, to keep me safe. But then…not even a few months later, a mob attacked our settlement in the middle of the night and burned it to the ground.” A chill runs down Lan Wangji’s spine as he raises his head to meet his eyes. “There were no survivors.”

The look in his eyes is familiar—Lan Wangji has seen it in his own reflection, in Wei Wuxian’s, and in the faces of countless others, both during and after the war. Haunted by ghosts and shadows, struggling to piece together fragments of their old lives. He inclines his head, a gesture of empathy that Wen Yuan accepts with a nod of his own before he continues.

“Xian-gege kept me by his side, told everyone I was his protege, that he was training me to be a soldier. That way, no one would question who I was, or try to hurt me.” He looks to Wei Wuxian then, guilt and regret warring on his face. “I was not in Yunmeng when it fell. I—I wasn’t there to protect you, Xian-gege. I’m sorry.”

Wen Yuan slides from the seat and onto his knees, pressing his forehead to the floor. Wei Wuxian exhales around an aborted noise of protest, his lower lip trembling as his eyes grow wet.

“No, it wasn’t your fault, A-Yuan,” he says, voice choked by his tone fierce. “No one could have known what would happen. You were only doing what I had told you to do. It’s not your fault.”

It is an old argument, Lan Wangji surmises from the way they speak. An old argument that has been going on for years, best left to the people involved for a resolution. He strokes his thumb over Wei Wuxian’s hip, grounding him with his touch.

“Where have you been since the war?” he asks instead. It successfully cuts through the silent argument between the other two, and Wen Yuan turns his attention back to Lan Wangji.

“Travelling, Wangye,” he says. “Doing my part to aid survivors. Searching for…”

He breaks off with a questioning look at Wei Wuxian, who turns also to Lan Wangji and takes hold of his hands.

“Lan Zhan,” he says. “I told you I had been taken prisoner after Yunmeng fell. Do you remember?”

Lan Wangji nods, his whole body going rigid at the memory. Wei Wuxian hesitates, looking down at their hands before he takes a deep, shuddering breath and meets his eyes again.

“I haven’t told you everything,” he confesses quietly.

Notes:

Yiling-hou (夷陵侯) - Marquess of Yiling, Wen Ruoheng (温若恒)

Yet another OC - think of him as like a nice version of Wen Ruohan. In canon, Wen Qing and Wen Ning are children of WRH’s favourite younger cousin and A-Yuan is the son of one of their other cousins (Wen Ning mentions that A-Yuan looks like his 堂弟 - a younger male cousin on his father’s side - and I’ve taken this to mean he is Wen Yuan’s father).

bogong (伯公) - great-uncle (father’s father’s older brother)

// buy me a ko-fi //

Master Post is here

#mdzs #wangxian #shattered mirrors au #shattered mirrors fic #王爷机 X 花魁羡 #my writing #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wen yuan #more plotty! #🔪 #not really knifey #but just to be sure #we find out more about Wen Yuan and what happened during the war #does LWJ know about Eyes of God yet? #not really #also LWJ doesn't know EVERYTHING about what happened to WWX yet #but he will #WWX won't go into too much detail tho #to spare his feelings #and before this he kind of already got an idea #also WWX doesn't know MXY and Madam Zhang told LWJ #hey nonny nonny #asks

[queenpersephonesgarden]

the heart wants what it does not have

Wangxian Week Day 1: Family

In the daylight the thought comes and goes, infrequent but so predictable it’s almost laughable.

There are times when he can ignore it, convince himself it was just nostalgia and old flights of fancy coming back to haunt him like lingering smoke from a bonfire. He gets better at not letting it sneak up out of nowhere to hit him unexpectedly, learns to anticipate it more often than not.

But it still stings, whether he expects it or not.

Jin Ling’s loud, cheeky banter with Jiang Cheng that echoes through whole rooms with both aggravation and affection so interwoven it is hard to tell apart.

Lan Sizhui’s quiet, respectful nod to Lan Zhan as he joins him for guqin practice every afternoon, his wide smile and Lan Zhan’s peaceful expression making for a perfect complement as they played.

Young married couples flitting through the streets of Caiyi with a small child in tow, both tiny hands clasped firmly by one hand of their mother and father as they are led wide-eyed in between stalls brimming with colorful toys and sweets.

Wei Wuxian sees these things, and he wants.

Can also be read on AO3

He wants so, so badly, half-formed dreams of a man leading a stubborn donkey along a winding road by the reins as his husband and child rode along after him, cheerful laughter ringing in the sunlight melting into the waking world to be splayed beneath his fingertips.

He could…. He could have that.

He could, if he would just open his mouth and ask for it.

Just having the option was enough to make him breathless, make his heart race like he’s run a thousand miles with still no end goal in sight.

Wei Wuxian watches a man on the side of the street scoop his daughter up and deposit her laughing into his wife’s arms, and wants.

“Lan Zhan!” he spins right around to face his husband determinedly.

Lan Zhan focuses on him instantly like he always does when Wei Wuxian opens his mouth, and he has to fight down the immediate flush that tries to crawl up his neck. “Lan Zhan, I’ve been thinking-”

The words are right there.

All that’s missing is a little one.

Such simple words, they’d been so easy to say before-

‘Wretched, ungrateful thing,’ some deep, insidious voice that he shamefully refuses to admit is just the slightest bit reminiscent of Madam Yu hisses in his ear. ‘You have so much more than Jiang Yanli, than Jin Zixuan, than all the Wens you let die, and still you dare wish for more?’

A bright flare of pain erupts in his heart, dulled only the slightest bit by time but no less agonizing. His eyes sting, but he refuses to let any tears truly form.

The vitriol isn’t anything he hasn’t thought of before, but it still manages to trap the words behind his teeth once more, grinning widely in the face of Lan Zhan’s questioning look when the silence stretches.

“Ah, it’s nothing. Nothing important!” For a moment he dares to think he may be able to get away with it, that it really will remain a subject to discuss in the distant nebulous future that he simply never has to bring up again.

But then he catches Lan Zhan’s lips pursing out of the corner of his eye, and he knows there’s no way they won’t talk about it now.

--

He manages to stall the conversation for the rest of the day, though he is self-aware enough to know this is only because Lan Zhan recognizes this as a subject best saved for the privacy of the Jingshi.

Still Wei Wuxian does everything he can think of to avoid the inevitable, taking extra long in the bath after dinner, scrubbing exaggeratedly at his skin until it’s worn pink and wrinkled from the water, all the while keeping up a stream of nonsense chatter as it comes to mind.

“-and the time delay could probably be extended if I added another stroke in the opposite direction-”

“Mn.”

“-I’ll have to ask A-Yuan and Lan Jingyi if they’d be willing to help me test it-”

“Mn.”

“-course, we’ll probably have to find a bigger target range this time in case it catches fire again-”

“Wei Ying.” A towel appears draped over the privacy screen, right where it normally would be if Wei Wuxian had not purposefully left it behind to be cause for a bit of distraction once he stepped out of the bath, dripping wet and naked with nothing to cover himself with.

Wei Wuxian grins sheepishly even as he sinks a bit lower into the lukewarm water. “Ah, gege is so attentive today,” he lets his voice go sly and teasing at the end. “But is he sure he wants his husband to cover up? I thought he might enjoy a little show once I finished-”

“Wei Ying. The water is going cold.” The man manages to radiate disapproval even without looking behind the screen.

The confident smirk he’d been trying for slid off of Wei Wuxian’s face like rainwater.

He wraps himself in the towel and empties the tub in silence, listening to the distant shuffling of footsteps and fabric as Lan Zhan readied for bed across the room. Wringing his hands while his husband changed felt too strange, too- too distant, and Wei Wuxian did not like it at all, so he clenched his fingers and circled around the privacy screen, padding across the room in determined silence.

The Jingshi feels simultaneously too large and too small for the quiet, the shadows at the corners of the room stretching into silent nothingness as his footsteps bring him to the bedroom.

Wei Wuxian finally slips into bed and feels more nervous than he has for a long time. It takes him one moment, two, before he can raise his eyes to his husband.

Lan Zhan’s gaze was unwavering. “You are unhappy.”

Sudden panic jolted Wei Wuxian into blurting out, “No! I’m never unhappy with you!”

Lan Zhan’s entire face softening infinitely at the quick rebuttal was so unexpectedly endearing Wei Wuxian couldn’t help smiling helplessly, nerves abruptly melting with the force of his joy. Winding his arms around Lan Zhan to press close as he whispered softly, “How could I ever be unhappy when er-gege loves me so much? When I love him so much?”

A shaky breath that could have been a laugh as arms wrapped around him in turn, before lips pressed softly to his temple. “You are… upset,” Lan Zhan gently corrects.

Wei Wuxian hummed noncommittally, then cringes guiltily when the arms around him tighten minutely.

“Not… exactly, but I guess I am, a little.”

“Why?”

Wei Wuxian sighed gustily, a great, explosive breath as the same want from the marketplace surged through his ribcage and rather impatiently forced its way out of his mouth:

“It’s just…. This is more than I could have ever asked for, in a life. You, and A-Yuan, and Jin Ling and all the other juniors, Lan Xichen; even Jiang Cheng when he’s in a good mood! We already have a wonderful family. I wouldn’t change it for anything! I just-!” Here he bit his lip hard, relieved that the tears from earlier don’t resurface even as his heart clenches painfully.

“I would- love, love to have another child with you. To raise one with you, properly this time. Not that A-Yuan isn’t proper! He’s the most Lan-ish Lan I’ve ever met! You did an amazing job with him! But- just-!”

“To raise them with me,” Lan Zhan said quietly, and Wei Wuxian bit his lip even harder.

Nodded fiercely with his eyes squeezed shut.

“How many?”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes popped open. “Hah?”

“How many would make you happy?”

Fond surprise lit up his heart, before exasperated amusement berated him for being surprised at all.

Wei Wuxian hummed in exaggerated thought, gaze fixed on a certain point on the ceiling and ignoring his husband’s steady gaze; he knows if he meets Lan Zhan’s earnest, determined gaze now, he’d likely start either laughing or crying.

“A dozen. No, two dozen. Boys with your eyes and my smile. Girls with steady calligraphy like yours and loud laughter like me. Uncouth hellions that run carelessly through the Cloud Recesses and give your uncle a few new gray hairs before he reaches seventy. Dozens and dozens of little ones to equal the horde of rabbits you have stashed away in the meadow.”

Grinning far too wide at the images his words painted across his mind, Wei Wuxian chanced a glance down at Lan Zhan’s face. “Aiyo, but too many at once would probably send your uncle into a qi deviation. I don’t think my happiness would be worth that.”

“Wei Ying deserves to be happy,” Lan Zhan says, matter of fact, and though Wei Wuxian had meant it to be a joke, Lan Zhan’s voice was so serious that suddenly Wei Wuxian’s eyes were stinging again.

“Lan Zhan. You know you can’t just suddenly say things like that!”

Lan Zhan huffs in amusement, and Wei Wuxian cannot resist hugging him again.

“Would… would raising a child with me make you happy?” he asks, just to be sure, because Lan Zhan is far too often in the habit of focusing on Wei Wuxian’s happiness before all else, and this was a bit too huge of a decision for just one of them to make.

There was no response for a long moment. Wei Wuxian reluctantly pulled back from the embrace, just enough to look at his husband’s face.

The small, awed smile lighting Lan Zhan’s face is utterly devastating.

Wei Wuxian’s jaw goes slack when Lan Zhan offers a wordless, joyful nod, and for a moment they’re both too overwhelmed for words, foreheads pressed together and breathing the same air in a different, softer quiet than before.

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Silly imaginings of a little one with two parents and a donkey wandering the country no longer seem so silly.

It’s only a long time later that Lan Zhan’s eyes spark in the half-light, pale gold shining in a way that most people would believe to be far too devious a look for the illustrious Hanguang-jun to wear. The man who had married him knew him far too well to be surprised by it.

Wei Wuxian squinted in suspicion. “What is it?”

“Hmm.” Graceful fingers cupped Wei Wuxian’s jaw in a familiar soft gesture that had him instinctively, foolishly sliding his eyes shut at the painful warmth that touch awoke in his chest. “I was simply thinking that we should get started, then.”

Honest confusion made Wei Wuxian blink his eyes open and stare. “Hah? Started?”

Only the slightest tilt of Lan Zhan’s lips suggested his amusement when he said, “On the little ones. I’ve been led to believe they take time to make.”

Startled laughter burst out of Wei Wuxian’s mouth, only to be half muffled when Lan Zhan covered his lips insistently with his own. Still, even amidst such an onslaught of affection, Wei Wuxian felt the need to try and point out the obvious flaw in this logic. “Aha Lan Zhan, unlike most couples, we’re not going to be able to do this the old-fashioned way- ah! Ah!”

--

A/N: Mo Dao Zu Shi broke into my home and beat my writer’s block over the head with a mallet. It feels good to be back. ~Persephone

#Wangxian #Wei Wuxian #Wei Ying #Lan Wangji #Lan Zhan #Mo Dao Zu Shi #MDZS #MDZS fanfiction #my writing #Wangxian Week