#lwj is so beautiful here

[jingyismom]

Lan Wangji has known of his curse since he was old enough to run.

The first time he broke free of Shufu's arms and made his unsteady way toward the bright green world beyond the entrance of the Cloud Recesses, Shufu caught him hard around the middle, panic in his eyes.

"A-Zhan," he said, shaking him, "you must never try to go out of the gate."

Lan Wangji only stared, truly afraid for the first time in his life.

"You must NEVER go near it, A-Zhan, do you understand?"

He nodded, eyes wide and filling with tears. 

Shufu held him tight.

(wangxian, canon divergence, rated T, some angst but no warnings

imported from twt)

As he grew, and learned, and rose above his peers in cultivation and scholarship, he came to understand that his situation was unique. Others came and went through the gate with no issue, but he and Xiongzhang were not allowed.

He never asked why.

But the way Xiongzhang would sometimes stare out the gate in silence, or would shy away from the heads of deep forest paths, told him that Xiongzhang knew. That Xiongzhang was afraid. 

Until he was angry.

Every week, Shufu would lead the two of them to the house at the edge of the Cloud Recesses where their fuqin lived, and would make them recite their most recent lessons for him.

Lan Wangji hated the dim, stuffy rooms, the heavily perfumed smoke from the ever-lit brazier. He hated the sharp gaze of his fuqin, and the way he would drawl, "Good boys will will fetch good wives."

He hated the way Shufu's grip on his wrist would tighten when his fuqin would come forward to embrace him.

When he turned ten, Xiongzhang stopped coming with them.

"You will know why in time," Shufu told Lan Wangji, when he asked.

Their fuqin's sneer and Xiongzhang's refusal to speak of it made him eager to turn ten himself, if it meant he would also be allowed to abstain.

Visits to A-niang were altogether different, but happened only once a month. Shufu did not come with them on these visits at the edge of the Cloud Recesses. They only ever entered through the back door, which faced the rest of their sect.

The front, which faced the forest, was as off limits as the entry gate. Neither Xiongzhang nor A-niang went near it—though sometimes, when A-niang would gather him up into her warm arms, she would go very quiet looking out the window beside it.

Their fuqin died before Lan Wangji ever turned ten.

At their first visit with her immediately after, A-niang was different.

"My precious loves," she murmured, each of them held close in either arm. "Sometimes, even when the fall looks steep, you must take a leap of faith."

Lan Wangji blinked at her, confused. She smiled. He had never seen her smile this way before, without a hint of sadness.

"When you learn to weild your sword, you'll understand," she said. "The fear of falling is worth the chance to fly."

Xiongzhang began, silently, to cry. Lan Wangji felt confused, sympathetic tears prick his own eyes.

"A-Huan, be brave," she told Xiongzhang.

He nodded, and wiped his eyes.

She turned to Lan Wangji, smiling again, softly.

"A-Zhan. Gentle, sweet boy," she said. She kissed the top of his head. "Be good. Never forget A-niang loves you. Never."

Lan Wangji nodded dutifully. She squeezed him close.

This is the last memory Lan Wangji has of anybody touching him outside of brusque training corrections.

He dreams of it often.

He dreams of holding on when A-niang lets go.

The next month, Shufu told them there would be no visit. That A-niang was gone. Lan Wangji did not understand. 

He knelt outside her door anyway, waiting, until he fell asleep, numb with cold. He woke up in his own bed to a lecture from shufu about taking care of one's body. He listened dutifully.

But he knelt again the next month, and the next, and eventually, the lectures ended.

The snow faded and returned with the seasons.

The cold in Lan Wangji's bones did not.

It was Xiongzhang who eventually took him aside and gave him the scroll. It was marked as forbidden, and Lan Wangji hesitated to take it.

"I am not allowed," he said. He was fifteen, and adhered scrupulously to every rule save those he could not help breaking.

To make up for those he could not help breaking. Every month.

"You are," said Xiongzhang. "It's about A-niang. It's about us."

On the scroll was a virulent curse for trapping its victim inside a boundary. To leave would mean instant death. The only chance at freedom entailed true, requited love.

Their fuqin's message to A-niang was clear: 

Love me back, or die here.

Lan Wangji read the scroll three times before the anger set in, hot and all-consuming. His hands shook where they gripped its edges.

Xiongzhang watched him, and gave him time.

When he was calm, he rolled it up, and handed it back.

"It is unclear how it might weaken from generation to generation," Xiongzhang said. "Or if it will weaken at all."

Lan Wangji stared hard at the ground.

"Shufu is reviewing eligible matches for this sect leader next month," Xiongzhang continued. "But given our circumstances, we will be allowed...input."

Lan Wangji nodded.

"In a few years, you will be old enough to join the guest lectures, Wangji. It would be a good idea to practice making friends before then."

It was not until that impossible suggestion that the awful, agonizing yearning gripped Lan Wangji's chest. His stomach opened up, a bottomless pit. For a brief, horrible moment, he understood A-Niang's choice. He understood what it meant to live without the hope of ever knowing what it might be like to fly. Understood why she might grasp at any slight, impossible chance at freedom.

But the curse had not broken with their fuqin's death, she had proven that for all of them. 

And Lan Wangji felt certain that for him, it would never break at all.

The years go by, and the guest lectures begin. Xiongzhang's hope radiates off him like a gentle glow.

Lan Wangji hopes for him, too. He dreams of letters addressed to his name from far-off places, smelling of the sea, or of spice, or of unknown flowers; things he will never see.

He is unprepared for the influx of outsiders his own age. Their noise, their laughter, their bustle. Every time a new sect arrives he is assaulted with their liveliness. With their obvious camaraderie.

He keeps his distance. Watches carefully. He knows they are meant to learn from each other, and tries to honor that spirit. He is determined to keep an open mind about this.

Until.

Until.

Until he catches the Jiang head disciple sneaking over the wall with two jars of liquor in hand.

The boy introduces himself with a cheeky smile, and pats his contraband with a wink.

"I'll share with you if you let me in. What do you say?"

It angers Lan Wangji, unreasonably so, to the point where he draws his sword.

Another rule broken, and as they fight, another, and another.

But Lan Wangji finds he cannot stop following, cannot stop meeting him strike for strike, testing him and feeling himself tested in return. He has to work at it, far more than he is accustomed, and there is a startling joy in the exhilaration. 

He is lost to it such that he leans past the peak of the roof, and feels for the first time the curse that waits for him.

It is thick and viscous, sucking at his skin like sap. If sap were alive and hissing for his blood.

He startles away, heart pounding, and lowers his sword.

But Wei Wuxian smiles at him again, glowing with exertion and moonlight, and then politely takes his leave.

Lan Wangji's anger flares. He knocks the liquor from his grasp. Yet another rule smashes to pieces with the cloud-white ceramic jar.

He drags Wei Wuxian before Xiongzhang and Shufu, shaken by the curse, and the fight, and himself.

It does not go as he imagines. Instead of punishment, Wei Wuxian is granted mercy. And then knowledge of the mysteriously killed disciple that was brought in earlier that day. Somehow, he makes observations that escaped all of them.

His eyes are bright, when he is thinking. Almost as bright as when he fights.

That night, Lan Wangji's mind is far from the calm he is so adept at cultivating. He is far from the model disciple he works so hard to be. He meditates long after curfew, his thoughts swirling with glinting blades, and sunny smiles, and the phantom touch of blackened hands that resemble his fuqin's.

Things only worsen from there.

Wei Wuxian and his shamelessness plague him. Strange voices fill his normally quiet home. Tensions are rising with the Wens. 

But among it all, Lan Wangji has noticed the softness of Xiongzhang's smile when directed toward one of the Nie ambassadors, Meng Yao. It is the same expression, yet different, from the one he wore when the late Nie-zongzhu brought his sons to visit, when they were all young.

Lan Wangji understands it much more now than he did then. He does not allow himself to wonder about either of those smiles. But his feelings about them are twofold:

Where he had fearfully expected jealousy, he finds he feels only relief. That his brother so easily makes such connections can only mean his chance of escape is greater.

Anterior to this relief is another: that Xiongzhang's hope is founded, and Lan Wangji will not have to watch him, too, fall into despair.

When his mind is most turbulent, he calms himself with this thought. When he kneels behind his A-niang's house, he whispers of these hopes to bring the both of them some peace.

The curse will end, though differently in either of their cases. It will end nonetheless. No new generation will be held prisoner.

In the dead of night, when he wakes in cold sweats, his skin crawling with the memory of the curse's touch, he imagines the day he will watch Xiongzhang step through the gate, free of its hold.

In the full light of day, however, such calm is much harder to find.

No matter how he tries to remain upright, to provide a peerless example of his sect's teachings, Wei Wuxian relentlessly works to wear down his patience. He is arrogant, and undisciplined, and altogether too concerned with impressing others. He is clever. But uses this cleverness for all the wrong things.

He shines more brightly than anything Lan Wangji has ever seen.

This only makes his conduct all the more infuriating.

Yet worse is his tendency to turn this cleverness, this brightness, toward Lan Wangji. He seems to delight in Lan Wangji's anger, in his discomfort. In his attention. He tests his boundaries, finding new ways to wrest it from him. Lan Wangji does his best to avoid him, to avoid the foreign, unwelcome fire his presence stokes in his chest. 

But Shufu finally assigns him a punishment, with Lan Wangji as his keeper. It is impossible to stay out of his way.

"Wangji-xiong, look!"

"Ji-xiong, don't be so mean."

"Wangji-xiong, why don't you go on nighthunts with us?"

"Ji-xiong, what are you reading?"

His laughter rings out, golden in the sunlight.

"Ji-xiong, I'm sorry for being rude, forgive me. Ji-xiong? Lan Wangji? Lan Zhan!"

The constant teasing is unbearable.

Worse, at times his teasing seems to target something in Lan Wangji he himself has not yet been able to acknowledge. He tears the spring book to pieces. But the image, and Wei Wuxian's use of it to goad him, linger in his mind.

"Lan Zhan! You should have seen that monkey yao today! It was disgusting!"

He is once again leaning into Lan Wangji’s space to chatter at him during the evening meal. Lan Wangji glares at him, and he sneers.

"No talking during meals, bleeggghh, and you call me boring."

But he does not speak again until the meal is over.

"Lan Zhan, when will you come nighthunting with us? We would make such a good time. Team! We would have fun."

This plucks a strange chord in Lan Wangji’s memory. The reports he has always read of nighthunts have been clinical. Precise But when he was young, in a small house at the edge of the forest...he remembers hearing tales of excitement. Of daring. Of fun.

His jaw tightens.

"Lan Zhaaaan..."

"Wei Ying," he admonishes. 

For these are the names they use with each other now. He has lost track of when they began to feel natural.

"Jiang Cheng, stop making faces! Hey! It's going to freeze like that if you--HEY!"

He dashes off, as he always does, to more engaging prospects

Lan Wangji tells himself this is a victory on his part. A successful deflection. He goes to the back hills to fly his sword in peace.

Alone.

It takes until the lantern ceremony, until their carefully-fashioned lights fill the sky, for him to understand.

When Wei Ying speaks his wish, Lan Wangji's eyes are opened. He realizes all at once what is happening, what has been happening since their first duel. It shocks him momentarily, blunt and paralyzing. He stares at Wei Ying. His earnest, hopeful face.

He sees all the places Wei Ying will go. All the great deeds he will accomplish.

Of course he is in love with such a person. Of course. Of course.

He is suspended in the epiphany until Wei Ying turns that smile on him once more, and he comes crashing down to earth.

Of course he is in love with Wei Ying.

Wei Ying is in love with the world.

Lan Wangji watches from the roof as Jiang-zongzhu tows his disciples home. He watches, fists clenched, as the vivid red of a hair ribbon grows distant down the path.

He breathes deeply. He breathes, and breathes, and thinks hard of the difference between flying and falling.

For there is a difference. A-Niang knew it. And still she leapt.

But she was leaping away. Lan Wangji has nothing to leap away from.

He thinks of Wei Ying's anger at Jin Zixuan, and the way only Jiang Yanli was able to calm it.

The spark of red disappears between the trees.

Lan Wangji has nothing to leap toward, either.

In a flash of fear, he hopes he never sees Wei Ying again. He does not know what he would do. He knows that it is in him both to fall and to grasp too tightly, and he is loath to find out which would come most naturally.

He drifts down from the roof. 

He moves into A-niang's house, with the curse camped out at its door.

A year passes in quietude. The cold in Lan Wangji's bones sets, and hardens. There is peace in it.

One day, Xiongzhang leaves.

He does it without fanfare, as if it is easy and natural, and returns the same way. Lan Wangji receives his oft dreamed-of letters. They carry no scent of far-off lands. But Xiongzhang's freedom, his happiness, is enough.

This is what Lan Wangji tells himself, in his house full of ghosts. He tells himself that one day, when he becomes one of them, this life will have been enough.

It is not a lie if he is determined to make it true.

Months later, a message arrives from Wen Ruohan. He demands the heirs and top disciples of the sects be sent to Qishan, to "learn." Shufu sighs deeply when Xiongzhang reads the missive aloud.

"He will want us destroyed when we do not comply," he says. "It would not matter why. And we do not have the resources to outlast a siege of the mountain."

Xiongzhang nods. "An outright defeat, then."

"It is unlikely we have the resources for that, either," says Shufu.

"Not without warning, perhaps" Xiongzhang presses, "and not alone."

Shufu shakes his head. "Each sect is under its own constraints."

Xiongzhang turns toward him. "But we are stronger together."

Lan Wangji watches this exchange with a tightly-contained feeling of dread in his stomach. If they are attacked, every drop of blood will be on his hands. If they are attacked and must retreat, Lan Wangji will have nowhere to go.

After a moment of dissonance, of freefall, these two facts begin to cancel each other out. Begin to seem right.

They make plans for Xiongzhang and Shufu to write to their peers, and after, Xiongzhang walks with him.

"It's not your fault," he says softly.

Lan Wangji's jaw clenches, his fist tightening behind his back.

"The curse is not of your making, Wangji."

Lan Wangji is silent, for he cannot say what he is thinking:

That the curse was not of Xiongzhang's making either, but were his presence the one demanded outside their home, he would not be holding them at the brink of war.

When they receive word that the Wen soldiers are coming, they are as prepared as they can be. But they have not heard from anyone other than Nie-zongzhu, who, at the foot of Qishan, cannot spare more than a few fighters.

The Cloud Recesses are quiet. Braced for impact. Lan Wangji has plenty to occupy his mind away from the letter Xiongzhang convinced him to write to Wei Ying.

Unanswered, like all the other requests for aid.

When the battle comes, the chaos is unlike anything Lan Wangji has ever seen.

Wen soldiers rush the mountain path on foot while cultivators rain down from the skies. The wards hold until they are overwhelmed, and then the peace of his home is soaked with blood, and sweat, and screams. Familiar pathways are filled with the clash of steel and qi.

For the first time, Lan Wangji fights to survive.

He falls back on his incomparable training, and finds in himself a vicious precision for the taking of lives. There is no time to think on it between this cultivator and that footsoldier, this sword and that fist.

No matter how many he kills, more seem to come.

And more.

And more.

He is fighting back-to-back with Xiongzhang when a strange ripple of sound goes through the battle. Many pause—a fatal mistake—and turn to look.

Though Lan Wangji has never seen either of them before, it is clear that the two men leading the fresh column of soldiers are Wen Xu and Wen Zhuliu. The Wen heir wears an arrogant smirk. The Core-Melting Hand's eyes glint as they scan the carnage.

Their command fans out, red and black now outnumbering Lan white. Lan Wangji watches Wen Xu delight in slitting the throat of a disciple two years his junior. Watches Wen Zhuliu destroy the core of one of the elders.

The weight of his guilt is crushing, even as he struggles to keep focus on his sword.

If only he were different. More likable. Warmer. If only he tried harder to be amiable, to at least feign the welcome always apparent in Xiongzhang's eyes.

But it is too late now. His defects have cost his people their lives. Soon, perhaps, he will repay them with his own.

He turns to Xiongzhang.

"Retreat," he pleads. "Take everyone left to Qinghe."

Xiongzhang shakes his head. "Wangji—"

A flash of light in his eyes cuts him off. It is followed by another, and another. They look skyward.

A small host of cultivators flies down past the rooftops. Their robes are purple, gold, red, and gray. The numbers, it seems, are once again in their favor.

Xiongzhang meets his eyes, a fierce smile on his face.

"Fight, Wangji," he says. "They didn't leave us, and we won't leave you."

Lan Wangji nods, grim hope taking root. He fights.

"Lan Zhan!" comes an achingly familiar voice. Lan Wangji whips around to look, and sees Wei Ying bounding toward him. "I got your letter! I thought you'd never write!"

Shock, and joy, and longing mix with the fear and horror in his gut. He shoves it all away. Maintains his focus. Turns away from the distraction of Wei Ying's sharp smile, somehow more beautiful even than before. He keeps his mind on the blade.

"You did not write," he says, answering the accusation.

"I thought about it!" Wei Ying says, slashing, and dodging a gout of blood. "But things have been..."

He ducks, barely missed by a wild arrow, and they toil on. Lan Wangji takes fierce delight in the way they work together. Guarding each other's backs, filling the gaps in each other's defenses without speaking. He can feel where Wei Ying will move next, can anticipate his needs and his fulfillment of Lan Wangji's own. There amidst the fear and pain and death, Lan Wangji's heart lifts. His blood sings.

This is what it is to find one's equal. One's match. The word Wei Ying once tossed out casually, almost jokingly, comes to mind: zhiji.

Something essential locks into place in Lan Wangji's chest.

He does not think of the end of the battle, when it will be taken from him again. He thinks only of protecting his home, and of catching as often as he can the corner of Wei Ying's grin. 

It goes on for what feels like centuries. Lan Wangji's strong core is depleted, his muscles aching. 

But the tide is turning dramatically. No longer are they backing away from the onslaught—dead Wen soldiers outnumber the living, and those that remain begin to flee.

That is when Wei Ying spots Wen Xu making a break for the forest.

"Lan Zhan, look!" he shouts.

Wen Xu has a small group of cultivators with him, all of them battered and bloodied and looking for escape. Lan Wangji nearly buckles with relief at the sight of them running. But then Wei Ying is running after them, and Lan Wangji has no choice but to follow.

"We can catch them," Wei Ying calls back to him, "we can take him hostage instead!"

Lan Wangji understands that this could potentially change the balance of power, could give the newly-allied sects a powerful bargaining tool. But the back of his mind is uneasy, to be heading away from the center of action. To be heading toward the back hill, and the boundary which he cannot cross.

They run, all of them lacking the strength any longer to fly. Each of Wen Xu's men eventually fall behind to be cut down by either Lan Wangji or Wei Ying, until he is alone, and not far ahead.

"Lan Zhan, your qin," Wei Ying pants as they pass the last of the outbuildings.

Lan Wangji shakes his head. He does not have the power to stop him that way.

The curse looms ahead, waiting. Lan Wangji can almost feel its anticipation. He grits his teeth, ready to call out, to stop Wei Ying somehow from going on alone.

"Wen-gongzi!" Wei Ying calls. "You may as well surrender! There's no escape this way!"

Wen Xu snarls and turns on them, a cornered animal. He lashes out with something dark and twisting, something that drags at Lan Wangji's depleted core. He gasps, and hears Wei Ying choke beside him. The sound spurs him on.

He lunges, but Wen Xu twists away, catching Bichen's tip in only the meat of his arm. He yells, and spins, and cracks down hard at Lan Wangji’s shin.

It buckles beneath him.

Wei Ying is there suddenly, rushing up behind Wen Xu, Suibian extended—

But Wen Xu is fast. Inhumanly fast. His eyes are dark—black—and he turns toward Wei Ying—

Lan Wangji sees Wei Ying's eyes widen over Wen Xu's shoulder. Sees blood spill from his mouth.

Rearing back, Lan Wangji puts all of his remaining strength into his blade, but just as he drives it forward, a sudden, blunt force drives him back, throwing him from his feet.

When he looks up, Wen Zhuliu is there, standing before Wen Xu, palms outstretched to either side. Wei Ying lies motionless on the ground, a ways beyond them.

Lan Wangji moves to get up just as Wen Xu stumbles. His hand comes away from his side bloody, and his face twists with rage. He turns toward Wei Ying. Lan Wangji's heart stops.

But Wen Zhuliu grabs hold of Wen Xu, and simply shakes his head at his furious glare.

"Burn them! Burn out their cores!" Wen Xu screams, as he grips Wen Zhuliu's arm to keep upright.

Wen Zhuliu glances at Lan Wangji. 

Ice fills his veins.

He glances next at Wei Ying, and Lan Wangji struggles and fails to get to his feet. But Wen Zhuliu merely shakes his head once more, takes hold of Wen Xu, and mounts his sword. In the space of a few frantic heartbeats, they're gone.

"Wei Ying," Lan Wangji calls.

Wei Ying coughs, and Lan Wangji can see the blood even from here.

"Wei Ying!"

He tries to stand again, but cannot manage it. He crawls.

The rough forest floor drags painfully at his mangled leg, and his progress is maddeningly slow. He is almost there when he feels it.

The curse. The boundary. Wei Ying lies on the other side of it.

Desperation beats at Lan Wangji's ribs as he nears, but Wei Ying is just out of reach.

"Wei Ying," he repeats.

"Lan Zhan?" Wei Ying rasps. He tries to sit up.

"Do not move," Lan Wangji says. He crawls along the barrier, so close he could touch him, if only...

"Lan Zhan? Where are you?" A pause. "That was—are you alright? Are you—did he—"

"I am fine," Lan Wangji says tightly, holding back tears. "Do not move. I am here."

The curse hisses and churns. Lan Wangji's stomach turns.

A-niang felt this. A-niang walked straight into this hungry abyss, and did not look back. Did she think it would give way if she persevered?

Lan Wangji used to think she did.

"...Where?" Wei Ying murmurs. His voice is weakening.

"Here," says Lan Wangji, desperate. "I am here."

"You're hurt?" Wei Ying asks. "Can you not...move? Let me see."

He tries to push himself up again.

"No!" Lan Wangji says. "No, I..."

"Lan Zhan?" Panic, now, in his voice.

Lan Wangji sets his jaw and takes a breath. He summons the last of his remaining spiritual energy.

"Here," he says, and pushes his hand through the boundary, into the clinging, tarry dark.

He holds back the gasp of shock, of horror, of pain, and stretches forward, pushing his qi into the limb. Trying to keep the curse on the surface only. It is like plunging his arm into quicksand, into death. He stares at it, at the incongruous sunlight on his skin, and pushes harder.

His fingertips brush Wei Ying's arm.

"Wei Ying," he forces out.

Wei Ying's hand finds his and holds on.

"Lan Zhan...your hand is so cold."

Lan Wangji cannot feel Wei Ying's hand at all. 

He leans back, and pulls. The curse seeps through his skin, but he does not let go. He pulls, and crawls back, and pulls, terror spurring him on. Wei Ying scoots himself to the side, and together they move him far enough in. Lan Wangji looks down into his pallid face.

"You're alright," Wei Ying says with an echo of his usual grin.

Lan Wangji nods, and hauls him to sit half up, propped against his unharmed leg.

"Pressure," he says, and presses Wei Ying's hand over the wound in his side.

"Oh," says Wei Ying distantly, "right."

He is still staring up at Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji still cannot feel his arm. Or his shoulder. Or his entire left side.

Wei Ying's eyelids begin to droop.

"Stay awake," Lan Wangji says.

Someone will come. Someone must come.

"Mm?" Wei Ying says, still smiling. "We made a good team, didn't we Lan Zhan."

"We do," Lan Wangji says.

There's a sudden cool sensation on his chin. Something wet drops down onto Wei Ying's robes.

Wei Ying frowns. His lips are white. "Are you sad, Lan Zhan?"

"Stay awake," Lan Wangji repeats. "Use your qi."

"Mn," Wei Ying hums. "Not much left."

"Use it."

"So tired..."

"Wei Ying."

"Sing me a song? Sing me...keep me awake, ah?"

Lan Wangji takes a deep, unsteady breath. He does not remember breathing being so arduous. He tries to remember songs of healing, of clarity, of power.

He cannot call up any of the notes.

He hums instead a song only he knows. A song he wrote one summer for the most vividly alive thing he had ever seen. A song for the boy currently dying in his lap.

"Pretty, Lan Zhan," Wei Ying murmurs. He pats Lan Wangji's arm. Lan Wangji cannot feel it. "What's it called?"

The song dies off as Lan Wangji's lungs go weak. He forces more air in.

"Wangxian," he answers.

But Wei Ying's eyes have closed.

Lan Wangji stares. Kneeling, cold and helpless as he always has been, he stares.

"Stay," he whispers. "Please. Stay."

When Lan Wangji wakes, once again in his own bed, aching and cold, he tries to stand.

Xiongzhang gently pushes him back down.

"Wei Ying—"

"He is well," says Xiongzhang. "Or will be soon. He's healing quickly now."

Relief washes over Lan Wangji, loosening his constricted muscles. He registers Xiongzhang's pristine robes.

"The Wens?"

"Beaten back," Xiongzhang says. "They fled once Wen Xu abandoned them."

Lan Wangji looks away. "Casualties?"

Xiongzhang sighs. "Minimal. This was a victory, Wangji. If we had fled, or even given in to the initial demand, Wen Ruohan would simply have considered himself above reproach. Recovery...should be your focus, now."

His tone is strangely careful, and he will not meet Lan Wangji's eye.

"I am fine," Lan Wangji says. He feels heavy, and tired, but unhurt. "I will look in on Wei Ying."

"It would not be prudent for you to go out at this time."

The refusal is stark. Shocking.

"Xiongzhang."

"Your health comes first," says Xiongzhang. "And I do not think you would wish for people to see your injury."

Lan Wangji blinks up at him, and then moves his leg experimentally. It is nearly entirely healed. He looks down at himself, and turns back the blanket. 

His arm is covered in thick bandages.

He does not understand. He turns it, and it moves, but with a leaden slowness. It is then that he catches the glint of energy—activated talismans woven into the dressings. This would require a near-constant stream of spiritual energy. He looks back at Xiongzhang.

"The curse did not leave you unscathed," he says, "though we believe you will make a full recovery."

Xiongzhang's presence at his bedside begins to make a different sort of sense.

"You have been containing it," Lan Wangji surmises.

"Yes. And Shufu, and the healers, in shifts."

Dread and guilt grip him once more. He can feel it faintly, a sluggish hissing along the meridians of his arm. The curse that traps him, trapped inside him now. Waiting much closer to take him to his death.

"Now you're awake, you must focus on purging it, while we keep it caged."

Lan Wangji blinks, and nods, and takes a deep lungful of air. The knowledge that Wei Ying is nearby, that he could see him if only he were to go, tugs insistently at his mind. He expels it. He will never see Wei Ying again if he is dead.

Xiongzhang very graciously says nothing of how Lan Wangji was found, how he must obviously have come in contact with the curse. But it is a very loud silence. Lan Wangji is appropriately ashamed of his recklessness.

The days pass, and he is hardly aware of them. He does nothing but meditate. He cultivates, and he works against the curse, and he is hardly aware of his family and the healers changing places to keep his bandages intact.

Shufu always rouses him when he leaves in the evening, though.

"Eat, Wangji," he says each night. "You have done well. Rest."

Lan Wangji is alone for a quarter shichen to eat, and to bathe as well as he can, and to ready himself for an exhausted, dreamless sleep, before one of the healers comes in to take up the containment process. 

The curse is lessening. It is growing smaller, weaker, in the face of his blunt assault, and the unrelenting force of the bandages holding it back.

And Lan Wangji is growing lonely.

He is accustomed to loneliness—it has been his constant companion for many years. A deep, gnawing lack, a futile need for something long out of reach. But this feeling is a shade different. The sadness is the same, but more present, its fruitlessness more unbearable. He wonders if A-niang was this kind of lonely. And for whom.

One of many things about her he will never know.

He does not ask after Wei Ying again, does not wish to draw attention to his obvious weakness for him. Does not wish to know when he will be leaving. Like this, he can pretend Wei Ying has already gone, and the loneliness can shrink back to its proper size and place. Eventually.

Surely, it must.

Perhaps when the curse is gone back to its home at the border, he will feel less cold. Perhaps when he can once more go out and feel the sun on his skin, the loneliness will melt away.

He can only hope.

But one evening, when Shufu is gone and Lan Wangji has put his weary self to bed, there is a faint rustling sound from near his window.

He sits up, the sleeves of his softest, warmest robe trailing. He hugs it closer, and peers through shafts of moonlight until he sees movement. It is small. Like a bird, or a mouse. But it moves strangely, an ungainly shadow in the blue dim of night. It hops onto the foot of Lan Wangji's bed, and his heart seizes.

The paperman toddles toward him, climbing along the slope of his leg to stand proudly atop his knee. It bows, exaggerated and grand.

Lan Wangji is frozen.

The last time Wei Ying visited, he was only able to send his papermen over short distances. The idea of him waiting just on the other side of the thin wall of Lan Wangji's house, is...

The paperman awkwardly tosses a folded slip of paper on the blanket and then crosses its arms in front of itself as if waiting. It is painfully dear. Lan Wangji resists the urge to scoop it up and lay it gently in his box of memories, an apology and a friend for the crumpled red one still kept there. Instead, he takes up the proffered note.

Lan Zhan, it reads, in Wei Ying's effortlessly elegant scrawl, I'm leaving soon. How are you? They won't let me see you.

And then, at the bottom of the misused talisman paper, a crude drawing: ☹️

Lan Wangji stares at the characters, memorizing the slant of the strokes, the unique quirks of the speed of Wei Ying's mind and his hand. Absently, he runs his fingertips over the ink and finds it barely dry.

The paperman shifts, startling him, and then exaggeratedly mimics writing. Lan Wangji's pulse hammers up to speed. There are scant moments before one of the healers will return, expecting to find him asleep. Wei Ying expects an immediate reply. He hurries to his desk and quickly grinds ink into the long-dry dish, and composes his reply with shameful haste.

Wei Ying, I am well. And you?

He hands the note back to the paperman and carries it to the sill it came in through. He watches as it floats down to the earth, watches as it hurries across the garden, through the bushes and around the pond. He tracks it across the stone, following from cracked window to cracked window, until he spies him.

Wei Ying, kneeling behind A-niang's house.

Lan Wangji's heart stops altogether for several breaths, then pounds as he watches him take the paper. Watches him read the note, and shake his head.

He looks well. Very well. It is hard to see from this distance, yet all the kinetic life of him is clearly back in his limbs. Lan Wangji takes a deep, relieving breath, finally easing the part of himself that could not let go of the image of him cold and still, despite Xiongzhang's reassurance.

He is well. He is well. That is all that matters. And he is going home.

Before Lan Wangji can feel properly sad at the prospect, the paperman is sprinting back toward him, practically glowing with Wei Ying's re-infusion of spiritual energy. He catches it as it comes in, and gently plucks the new note from its hold.

You're not well, obviously! It's the resentment, isn't it?

Lan Wangji feels a stab of horror, of breathless confusion. He never considered Wei Ying might come to know of the curse. He hates thinking of the way his kindness would spill over in the knowing of it. Of his pity.

But the paperman is frantically performing a strange twisting gesture. Lan Wangji flips over the paper.

I felt Wen Xu wield it somehow. He has a new weapon. How badly did it hurt you?

Lan Wangji looses the breath he has been holding, relieved once more. But the healer will be here any moment. He takes up a sheet of his own paper and tears off a strip.

I will heal fully soon, do not worry. I am glad you are well. Safe travels.

He pauses, and then, for the mere pleasure of writing it, amends it to, Safe travels, Wei Ying.

He sends the paperman off with a pang of loss that echoes like a bell inside his ribs, and goes back to bed. He breathes, and he calms his speeding heart, and he waits for the healer to come in. Just before she does, the rustling sound returns. Before Lan Wangji can get up, the paperman is hopping up his chest.

He snatches it out of the air, hoping to read this last missive before it is too late. But it carries nothing. It merely goes limp in his careful grip.

He hears his door slide open.

Eyes shut tight against unbidden tears, he slips the paperman inside his robes, against his heart.

Lan Wangji does not sleep that night until exhaustion sweeps him away from the world.

Xiongzhang brings news of the volunteer Jiang cultivators' departure the next day.

He tries to accept it with graceful disinterest, but feels the gentle weight of a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm certain you will meet again," Xiongzhang murmurs.

Lan Wangji's jaw clenches. If he were not trapped—in this room, in this house, on this mountain—he would simply leave this conversation. He has nothing to say on the matter.

Days pass, and eventually, the curse is purged from his fingertips.

"Wangji?" Xiongzhang says, when it happens.

Lan Wangji opens his eyes, and nods.

The relief in Xiongzhang's smile reveals just how tense he has been. But he quickly hides it.

"Is it...could it be..."

The restrained hope in his expression makes Lan Wangji's stomach clench.

"No," he says.

He can still feel it. Alive and writhing just outside the door. If anything, the curse seems more ravenous now that it has had a taste. Lan Wangji shudders just as Xiongzhang's face goes serious, and he nods.

"In time," he says.

There is nothing for Lan Wangji to say. There is no sense in dashing his hopes. He does not need to know that Lan Wangji's position is the perfect foil to A-niang's, and Lan Wangji does not wish to speak his darkest secret: That in this—the unrequited, clinging love of a bright, free thing who can never love him back—he is exactly like their fuqin.

He emerges from his seclusion to find the Cloud Recesses still recovering from the attack. The damage and loss of life are devastating, but drive home his understanding of the gift they were given. Had help not come, they would have been decimated. The debt they owe is great. And all the sect is busy rebuilding, healing, preparing for the inevitable repaying of it.

Lan Wangji joins in the work. He trains harder, if only to drive his comrades to train harder as well. He cultivates, and he studies, and he works.

He also writes back and forth with Wei Ying. He seems determined to discover the source of Wen Xu's power and safeguard against it. He writes like a man obsessed. Lan Wangji treasures every letter, and scours the Lan Sect library, and begins to compile his findings. He writes to Wei Ying of a device he finds in the archives, an ancient belt imbued with a powerful ward. They begin to unspool its inner workings, to try to construct a solution that will work for an army instead of an individual.

It is invigorating, to work together. He tells himself, as is his custom, that it is more than enough. Even as Wei Ying's responsibilities grow and he writes less often, each letter is enough.

Between them, Lan Wangji fulfills his duties. He regains his strength. 

As the exhaustion of fighting the curse falls away, so does the bliss of dreamless sleep. As the nights wear endlessly on, they become plagued with nightmares. In the dark, his mind is not his own. It fills with gruesome imaginings of A-niang's death, of his own, of his fuqin's. It fills with Wei Ying's weak voice, his bloodless face. His death rattle.

It fills with the curse. Hissing, calling him a disappointment for not bringing in a good wife. Sweetly welcoming him home. Gripping his wrist hard, harder, his fuqin's fingers pulling him into the muck. Telling him they are one, now. They are the same.

He does not wake screaming. He chokes, gulping down clean air. He calms his racing heart. He sleeps again, determined to rest, to keep up his strength for his people.

When he kneels in the garden that month, he apologizes to A-niang. He knows she had greater hopes for him than this. 

He has told her of Wei Ying many times in the past, but does not mention him now.

It seems not long at all before the news comes. Lan Wangji is meditating with his peers in one of the courtyards, cultivating. He is as strong as many of the elders now, and has begun to teach some of the youngest disciples. It is a good thing he is not on duty with them when he overhears the messengers leaving Xiongzhang's meeting room.

"...hit them too fast. Nobody knew, no warning. Nothing we could do. The disciples we sent last week were something, but we may be holding their funerals tomorrow."

Lan Wangji's eyes fly open. He knows of only two sects to which Lan disciples were recently sent. Qinghe Nie, and—

"Jiang-zongzhu has some of the most powerful fighters in the cultivation world. Don't they stand a chance?" the other messenger asks.

The first does not answer.

Lan Wangji is on his feet before their footsteps fade from earshot.

"Xiongzhang," he says, bursting into the room, "is Lotus Pier under attack?"

Xiongzhang and Shufu turn to look at him with disparate expressions of surprise and disapproval. He catches his breath, straightens, and bows.

"It is," Xiongzhang says, calm and mournful. As if it is over.

"When?"

"As we speak. The Wen forces have just—Wangji? Wangji!"

Shufu joins in, and they call after him as he breaks rule after rule, running all the way back to his house.

He has no sense of time, nor of whether or not he is pursued. He does not think of the many punishments incurred by interrupting his elders, by departing rudely, by ignoring them, by running, by disturbing the peace. He simply runs until he is opening the door, and then he is running to his desk, snatching the ancient belt from its surface, and tearing outside once more.

He runs all the way to the eastern gate before he hears quick footfalls behind him, and Shufu's voice. 

Scared. Just like it was that day when he was a child.

He leaps atop the gate, and then, only then, does he hesitate. 

The world unfolds beneath him, bright, and green, and wide. It is beautiful, and it is not his. He loves it dearly, fiercely, in a way he has never before allowed himself to consider. He wants to fly, he wants to see it—he wants to be allowed to want it.

He lets himself want it. Just this once. Desperately.

He mounts his sword.

And he realizes, sudden as the breaking dawn, that he has misunderstood A-niang all these years. For it is not like falling at all if the leap of faith has any chance of saving someone you love.

He leaps.

The curse closes in around him, a void of sticking, sucking, seething hunger. He pushes hard and finds that it gives—thinner than mud but thicker than water. It drags at his skin, at his bones, at his meridians, as he flies. But fly he does. He speeds through the open air, slower than his usual pace but faster than the horse runs. He keeps his mind on his purpose and his fist clenched around the belt.

He is stronger now than most cultivators. He puts that strength to flight, and to repelling the curse.

He cannot help but think of his A-niang. Of how long she tried to keep going once it was clear the curse was not broken. Did she bother to try to hold it at bay? Did she lie down and let it take her in the hope her death would break it?

He does not think of the distance. Forest, road, and town reel below him, and he would look, would drink his fill of these first and last sights, but he cannot spare the focus. He drives on, and on, and on.

He does not know how long he lasts before Bichen begins to falter beneath his feet. His face is long since numb from the sting of the wind, his hands curled into unfeeling claws. His strength is drained, inevitably, by the dual strain of curse and sword. And what's more, he does not know the remaining distance.

He pushes harder, no longer bothering to shield against the curse. It seeps through his skin with a sigh, as if it belongs. Perhaps it does.

It is nothing. He would break his meridians if it meant bringing Wei Ying a weapon to keep him safe. He pushes, and pushes, until he has nothing left.

He goes down, sailing through leafy green canopy, branch and twig slowing his fall. He lands in a bed of moss, he thinks, for it is soft. Everything feels soft. The world is cradling him, rocking him to sleep.

His eyes close. Or at least, the world is hidden from him. It is dark.

He would weep for Wei Ying, if he could. He is briefly angry with himself for not reserving the strength for that. 

Or maybe he hopes. Hopes that Wei Ying will live, and live well, despite this last failure. Maybe that is why he does not weep.

He hears a woman's voice, somewhere. It is familiar. Kind.

"A-niang," he breathes.

He hopes he is smiling. She was always happy when he smiled.

He strains to hear her again.

But he hears no more.

Wei Wuxian hefts Xing'er up higher with his good arm, and glances back along the road. He does a quick headcount, making sure they're all still together, before zoning back in on what A-Cheng is saying.

"...not going to reach the gates by nightfall."

"No," he replies, "we'll make camp."

A-Cheng rolls his eyes. "That's what I just said."

Wei Wuxian grimaces. "I was agreeing with you, since you were right...for once."

"That last blow addled your brain."

"At least I was actually getting hits in!"

"Wei Wu—"

"Boys!" Shijie calls, behind them. "Is this really the best use of your energy at this time?"

Wei Wuxian glances at Xing'er's frightened little face, then back at the ragged group following them through the trees. He sighs.

"He started it," Jiang Cheng says.

Before Wei Wuxian can so much as open his mouth to yell something back, Shijie cuts him off.

"He also started the advance warning system that saved Lotus Pier today," she says. To Wei Wuxian's smug look, she says, "And A-Cheng defended the gates while you were at the water."

He grimaces again.

"We should make camp soon, so that we can gather supplies and make dinner before dark," she goes on. "None of them have strength enough to go without."

"Cooking and babysitting and taking care of the wounded," A-Cheng mumbles. "How did we get stuck wi—"

"A-Cheng," she admonishes.

"Yeah, come on, we're the most trusted disciples," says Wei Wuxian. "Of course they sent us to defend the defenseless."

"YOU volunTEERED!" A-Cheng says, pointing. "As soon as we got word the infirmary was destroyed you piped up!! 'Gusu is closest!!'"

"I did not," Wei Wuxian says, even though he did.

"Ugh. Ridiculous, just because of your precious Lan Wa—"

Something flashes in the sky, and then a crashing sound breaks through the woods to their left.

"What was that?" A-Cheng finishes.

Wei Wuxian is already setting Xing'er down.

"Stay with Lao Pei and the others," he murmurs, and draws Suibian.

"Something fell," Shijie says, a hand on his arm. "Don't look for a fight."

He pauses, and nods. Nothing too dangerous would have made all that noise. He lowers his sword but keeps it bare, just in case, as he follows A-Cheng into the trees. Shijie follows, too, and Wei Wuxian tries to keep her behind him until she gently pushes his battle-wounded arm out of the way.

"Let's split up. Stay in shouting distance," she says.

As they move away from each other, he feels as if he hears each and every tiny movement in the entire forest. He's still on edge from the attack, wary of Wen stragglers looking to win back their lost glory. It's like he can hear insects breathing. He tries to settle, and remember what Shijie said. If there's something wounded here, it'll probably need to join them, not fight them.

"A-Xian!"

Shijie's voice is panicked. He runs.

"A-Cheng? A-Xian!"

"Shijie! Where—"

"A-Xian, here!"

He weaves through the trees until he sees her kneeling on the ground beside something large and white. A-Cheng is beside her, standing still. Wei Wuxian rushes forward.

And stops short.

His pounding heart stalls.

He feels A-Cheng staring at him, but he can't look up. Can't look away from. From.

"Lan-er-gongzi," Shijie says, panic still thinning her voice. She shakes one of his pale white arms. "Lan-er-gongzi, wake up. A-Xian, what—"

Wei Wuxian collapses to the earth on Lan Zhan's other side, and grips his other arm.

"Lan Zhan," he finally manages.

"What happened?" A-Cheng says. "Why is he...what's wrong with him?"

Wei Wuxian shakes his head. His chest feels tight, and he can't...he can't think. Lan Zhan almost looks as if he could be asleep, if he weren't so pale. He's like a statue, like actual jade except for the angry red scratches on his face and throat. Bichen is a good stone's throw away. He fell. Out of the sky. And now he's. He's...

"A-Xian," Shijie interrupts, holding out a crumpled paper. "This is from you. And this..." 

She lifts a threadbare strip of fabric decorated with small, bronze discs. He takes the paper from her and forces his eyes to scan it, forces his brain to understand. It's the last letter he wrote him. The page about how that old, warded Lan belt could be activated, expanded—

"He..." he breathes.

He picks up the fabric. The belt. He clears his throat.

"He came to help us," he says. "This..."

"What's wrong with him?" Jiang Cheng repeats.

"JIANG CHENG," Wei Wuxian shouts, livid. "What's wrong with YOU?! LOOK! Look! He—he died for US, and now YOU—"

Jiang Cheng is staring at him strangely. "Died? He's breathing."

Wei Wuxian breaks off, the sudden taste of salt in his mouth shocking him almost as much as the words. He wipes at his face and looks back down at Lan Zhan. At his perfect, horribly still face.

Shijie is holding a hand above his nose, and then touching his throat.

"He is," she says, low and shocked. "He's alive. He is. But why—"

Wei Wuxian knows what she means even as she's unable to finish the sentence. After a day so full of it, they know—Lan Zhan feels like death. He feels empty. He feels like a candle that's just been blown out.

"He's cursed," he says. 

He puts two fingers to Lan Zhan's wrist, and feels first relief, then fear. Relief at his steady pulse. Fear at the deep, thrumming resentment in his meridians, proving Wei Wuxian's old theory correct.

"Cursed? How? Since when?" says A-Cheng.

But Wei Wuxian is already pulling at Lan Zhan's arms, lifting him, trying to get him off the ground.

"I don't know," he says, struggling with his wounded arm. "Since we've known him? It was a hunch. I don't—can you—can you help—"

Shijie unhooks one of Lan Zhan's torn, trailing sleeves from a root, and Wei Wuxian finally lifts him, then gets his other arm under his knees. He's not heavy. His head lolls back. Wei Wuxian resists the animal urge to press his face to Lan Zhan's throat and cry.

Shijie's hand on his shoulder steadies him. He realizes he's breathing fast and shallow, and takes a deep breath.

With a nod, Shijie gently lifts Lan Zhan's head, and lays it against Wei Wuxian's chest.

He looks to A-Cheng.

"Keep everyone safe," he says, half expecting a scolding, or an attempt to forbid him to go. But A-Cheng just nods. "I'll see you soon."

He calls Suibian from where it lies on the ground, and steps up onto it. He staunchly finds his balance. And he flies.

He flies as fast as he can, keeping in mind his lowered spiritual energy and the distance ahead. He knows he can make it, he just doesn't know how long Lan Zhan has.

He ignores the weight of his head on his chest, and the shape of his ribs beneath his fingers.

It's always felt like a violation, thinking and feeling the way he does about Lan Zhan, when Lan Zhan holds himself so separate and trusts so few. But this is worse. Lan Zhan hates to be touched, and this is...so much touching.

He wants to hold him closer. But he doesn't.

Lan Zhan deserves respect above all else. He can give him that. Even if he fails at everything else, fails to save him. He can give him that. He hopes Lan Zhan knew—knows. Hopes Lan Zhan knows, despite all the ridiculous antics, that he's always, always respected him. Even when they were young, and silly, and Lan Zhan was always so angry at him, he always—

He stops that train of thought. His vision is beginning to blur again. He can't have that. Instead he goes back over what he knows, to try to determine how the curse might work. To try to determine if Lan Zhan will even survive this flight.

It can't be something the Lan doctors can cure, or they would have done it by now. Unless they don't know. But they must—they knew Lan Zhan could never leave the Cloud Recesses, that much was obvious even to him as a teenager.

So no cure in the sect, though he remains hopeful they can keep him alive until the cure is procured, or found, or...invented. He's good at that. He can invent something, he knows he can. As long as Lan Zhan—

Boundary curses. It has to be a boundary curse. Which Lan Zhan knew the borders of. And feared enough to never try to break.

Until he thought Lotus Pier needed help. Until he thought. Until—

Boundary curses vary in strength, so it might not be too difficult. But if it were a weak one, then surely they would have dealt with—or maybe it's just creative? Something he can work with.

He can't feel Lan Zhan's breath through his mere two layers of robes. He should be able to, his face is right there. He should be able to feel his breath, his warmth, he should be able to feel him, but he still just feels like nothing. He could already—could already be—

Maybe it's not strong, or creative, but rare? He'll journey a thousand mountaintops to find the answer if he must, that's not an issue. He'll do anything, and nobody will be able to stop him. He'll steal that new weapon off Wen Ruohan’s corpse and use it to leach the resentment away.

He just has to...he just has to fly faster.

He shatters the wards at the Cloud Recesses without a second thought, and breaks their precious law against flying within the bounds of the sect. There is no pause between dismounting his sword and running for the healers. Nobody stops him, nobody so much as calls out. At least, if they do he doesn't hear. Not until he's almost reached his destination, and a familiar, if rattled voice says his name from just behind.

"Wei-gongzi!"

He doesnt turn. "Lan-zongzhu."

Lan-zongzhu follows him into the bare, herb-scented rooms as three healers rush to greet them.

"Wangji, is he—how did you find him?"

"In a ditch," Wei Wuxian finds himself growling, "unconscious. Barely alive."

"Alive," Lan-zongzhu breathes.

He lays Lan Zhan gently on the nearest pallet. Two of the healers rush forward, one transferring energy and the other assessing his pulse and core.

"Wei-gongzi—"

"How could you let this happen?" Wei Wuxian snaps, cutting off whatever Lan-zongzhu might have said. "How long have you done nothing? How could you let him just...just..."

Lan-zongzhu's face slides smoothly from distress into diplomatic calm.

"There was nothing for any of us to do. Wangji has long been beyond need of guidance."

Wei Wuxian grits his teeth, and looks back down at Lan Zhan. So lifeless despite the red of very living blood congealing over his cuts. He can tell the spiritual energy isn't taking. It's going nowhere, the curse filling all the strong pathways of Lan Zhan's qi.

"What will you do?" he asks the healer who assessed him. "What does he need?"

She steps back, and bows her head. "An end to his curse."

"Which is?" he persists. "What's keeping it alive? Who cast it?" He looks at Lan-zongzhu. "Why hasn't it been dealt with?"

Lan-zongzhu sighs deeply, and then eyes him shrewdly.

"Our fuqin cast it. On our muqin."

The idea of such an act blindsides Wei Wuxian. He stares at him.

"He inherited it? He was born cursed?"

A nod. "As was I."

"But..." He's seen Lan-zongzhu in Qinghe. He knows it.

"The curse is an old one," Lan-zongzhu says, "and impossible to circumvent. Wangji nearly died confronting it for you once before. Do you remember?"

"Yes," Wei Wuxian says slowly. "I remember."

It was the thing that solidified his guess. But he hadn't thought of it as done for him. The suggestion makes his skin crawl with guilt.

"He knew both times it could kill him," Lan-zongzhu goes on. He pauses. "As it killed her."

Wei Wuxian looks into Lan Zhan's cold, still face. It's more relaxed than he's ever seen it. There’s none of Lan Zhan’s determination, none of his pride, his fire. 

He hates it.

"Why?" he murmurs.

"Thank you all," Lan-zongzhu says to the healers. "Please give us some privacy."

They leave. Wei Wuxian is alone with the two brothers, both of them now cold as stone. He waits impatiently, Lan Zhan languishing beside him.

"It is a love curse, Wei-gongzi," Lan-zongzhu says, when the door has closed. "Requited love will break it, nothing else. Effectively a death sentence, and a deliberately cruel one. Its effect on us was, I believe, unintended...but not regretted."

Wei Wuxian can do nothing but stare yet again.

A love curse. Cast to kill a woman trapped in an unwanted marriage. He feels numb with the knowledge of it. With the knowledge of all the life stolen by one man's rapaciousness.

And then the hopelessness descends. He closes his eyes, and his heart falls through his stomach.

There's no one on this earth deserving of Lan Zhan's love. If there were, the curse would already have broken.

He can't stop his hand from gripping Lan Zhan's wrist. Can't stop the awful sound his lungs make as they try to keep working.

"Wh...he..."

He wrests back control of his voice.

"He's strong," he says. "He survived, before. He's still breathing. Do something."

Lan-zongzhu shakes his head, watching him all the while.

"By all reason, he should not have lived—then or now. The curse should have taken him immediately."

Wei Wuxian shakes his head, uncomprehending. Tears fall from his eyes.

"Wei-gongzi. Something is keeping him alive."

It takes effort to resist the urge to get up, to pace, to run. But he can't leave Lan Zhan. He won't. Not even to escape Lan-zongzhu's knowing gaze.

"It doesn't matter," he says, in answer to the implied accusation. "He's still dying. It's not enough."

Lan-zongzhu's voice is soft. Gratingly gentle. Painfully kind. "What is not enough?"

Wei Wuxian squares his jaw. He meets his eyes.

"That I love him," he says. "It's not enough. It's never been enough."

There's a moment of heavy silence.

And then Lan-zongzhu smiles.

"It could be."

It jolts Wei Wuxian, sets fire to his skin like lightning.

"How? Lan-zongzhu. How? You must tell me."

"I have told you everything we know," Lan-zongzhu says. "Only requited love can render the curse ineffective."

Wei Wuxian shakes his head again. "Then how—"

"Think, Wei-gongzi," Lan-zongzhu interrupts, fierce and uncharacteristically short. "Wangji is unconscious."

He repeats himself, speaking slowly.

"Unconscious. But alive. Do you not think it possible that things might change, if he were...made conscious of certain things?"

Wei Wuxian's own loud breaths are the only sound in the empty room.

"What?"

It is Lan-zongzhu's turn to shake his head.

"I would not dare to speak for Wangji, however...of what has been clear to me for a long time, his very heartbeat now speaks for him. You must listen. And then you must make him hear you in return."

The shift in Wei Wuxian's worldview is seismic, and seems to begin deep in his gut. When it has finished turning him on his head, his panic returns twofold.

If Lan-zongzhu is right, Lan Zhan's life rests in his hands.

"But how??" he asks again. "He's. He's unconscious. How can I..."

Lan-zongzhu's expression goes somber. "That, I do not know. But you must try."

He lets the command, the plea, sink in.

"No one can help him, if you do not find a way to reach him." He takes a deep breath. "I will leave you."

He goes out, and shuts the door silently. And then Wei Wuxian is alone with Lan Zhan.

Or, what remains of him. His unmoving, battered body. His dear face with its disapproving brow, its sharp eyes that go soft with wonder at the most unexpected times. His hands, strong and skilled and elegant.

Lifeless, all.

"Lan Zhan," he croaks, and that won't do. If this is really so important, so possible, he must speak clearly. He tries again. "Lan Zhan, listen to me," he says.

He takes one of Lan Zhan's hands between both of his own. It feels wrong.

It should be clenching into a fist, or flinching away from his touch. But it doesn't move. 

He holds it tight.

"Your brother seems...seems to think. That you...that if you knew, somehow. That I. If you knew how I felt."

He stops. It's too hard to say to him, even unconscious. Too embarrassing.

"Lan Zhan, I've said it already. Didn't you hear? You should...you should wake up."

He doesn't even look like he's breathing anymore. Wei Wuxian's heart stutters, then gallops faster. He checks Lan Zhan's pulse again.

It's so very weak. He can barely feel it now.

"No," he says. "No. Lan Zhan. Wake up. You wake up now, right now. Listen, Lan Zhan, listen to me."

He shakes his hand, his arm. There's no resistance. It shakes his entire limp body.

He presses his palm to Lan Zhan's soft, red-striped cheek.

"Please," he says.

He leans down, closer.

"Hear me," he begs. "I want to do everything with you. I want to see the world, to fight by your side. I want...I wanted. I've wanted so much, and I thought it was too much, but all I want now is for you to wake up."

He's struck all at once by the futility of thinking this might work. By the naive, ridiculous hope of one brother for another, completely divorced from reality.

He buckles, and lets his grubby, wet face fall on Lan Zhan's pristine shoulder. He cries.

Ugly, wracking sobs come and go, interspersed with short periods of calm. He begs again, each time more desperate, Lan-zongzhu's voice ringing in his mind.

"Lan Zhan," he says again and again, hoarse. "I want...Lan Zhan, I'm sorry. I don't care if you love me or hate me, just wake up. Tell me to fck off. Tell me to copy lines until I die, I'll do it, I swear. I'll kiss you every day or never speak to you again. Just stay."

No one can help him, if you do not find a way to reach him.

He keeps his fingers pressed to the inside of Lan Zhan's wrist, desperately chasing the fading thud of his failing heart. Until he can feel it no longer.

He sobs into the front of his robes, his hair, the side of his throat, his face.

"Lan Zhan," he murmurs, "what do you want to hear?"

He presses his lips to his cool cheek. To the corner of his soft, full mouth.

He cries, and he whispers, "I'm sorry."

He kisses him gently. Reverently.

A goodbye.

"I love you," he breathes in his ear. "I'm so sorry."

Beyond the silence of this room, beyond the pall of death, the sun is still shining, and birds still sing. The merry sound of water bubbles somewhere nearby.

Wei Wuxian looks up, out the high window, and sees the shadows of wings as they pass. The glint of light on a leaf. He does not understand how each of these things, by virtue of simply existing now, when Lan Zhan does not, can be like a dull knife to the heart.

He cannot let go of his hand. He does not know what he will do when they try to make him.

He closes his eyes against fresh tears, and waits. Lets the silence fill him.

"Wei Ying?"

He looks down, and the movement feels strangely slow. Impeded. Suspended. He looks down, and sees Lan Zhan.

He sees Lan Zhan looking back at him.

Air fills his lungs, burning and heady as liquor. He can't speak.

Lan Zhan looks around, sluggish and confused. "Wei Ying?" he repeats.

Wei Wuxian almost laughs at the sharp joy of his own name in that low, steady voice. It's been so long. And he really thought—

He feels for Lan Zhan's pulse again, his meridians. All are strong and steady and clear. There's no trace of the curse.

He feels as if his face might split open on his smile.

"Lan Zhan."

Lan Wangji watches as Wei Ying's face lights up, blindingly bright despite the tears not yet dry on his face.

"What has happened?" he asks, feeling dazed.

The last thing he remembers is flying. And falling. But now he is here. At home? In the infirmary.

He becomes aware of his hand because of the way Wei Ying is squeezing it. He looks down at them tangled in Wei Ying's lap, yet more confused. Wei Ying has never touched him this way. No one has ever touched him this way. Not since A-niang.

"You woke up," Wei Ying says, wiping roughly at his wet face. It is ineffective. He is still crying.

Lan Wangji blinks. He does not understand.

"What of Lotus Pier?" he asks, shamefully unable to so much as dread the answer with the miracle of Wei Ying beside him.

Wei Ying lets out a brief, damp laugh. "It's alright, we won the day. It's—it's not—how do you feel?"

This is a question that requires some thought. Lan Wangji focuses inward, and takes stock. His core is depleted, and he feels...worn. Battered. But well enough.

"Fine," he says.

He wants to repeat his earlier questions, but restrains himself. He is afraid to speak with his hand cradled between Wei Ying’s. He does not know what he will say.

Wei Ying swallows, nodding, tears still periodically dropping from his eyes.

Lan Wangji watches one catch in the corner of his mouth, and his heart thumps hard.

He dreamed...he thinks. He thinks he might have dreamed—

"Your curse is—is broken," Wei Ying says. "It's...you’re free."

Lan Wangji’s eyes snap to Wei Ying’s face. To his watery smile, his reddened, puffy lips. For a brief moment, he has a wild, impossible thought: that not only nightmares can be true.

But he grounds himself in reality, reminding himself that Wei Ying is nothing if not a genius, and a determined one at that.

"How?" he asks. A thought occurs to him. "The belt?"

Wei Ying's face does something he has never seen before—it shows hurt. It makes him look young and vulnerable, before he twists his mouth into a more rueful shape.

He shakes his head. "I, ah..."

He glances toward the door.

"I should. I should tell them you're alright. Everyone was...we all thought..."

He smiles again, brief and only partly sincere, and tries to stand.

Something stops him. Lan Wangji realizes it is his own hand, still holding tight.

"Wei Ying," is all he can say.

His throat is thick with a strange mix of fear, and anticipation, and something yet more choking that tastes almost like hope. It takes the space of several shallow breaths for Wei Ying to look at him, but when he does, his gaze is steady.

"You know, Lan Zhan," he says. "You heard me. I know you did, because it worked. You woke up. You can keep on pretending, or forgetting, that's alright. I understand. But don't ask me, when you know."

Lan Wangji stares at him, and stares at him. And stares some more. His mind is utterly, entirely empty.

Save for A-niang's voice.

My precious loves. Sometimes, even when the fall looks steep, you must take a leap of faith. The fear of falling is worth the chance to fly.

He thought he took his leap of faith when he rode Bichen out into the world, to his death.

But somehow...this fall looks far steeper.

"Lan Zhan?" Wei Ying says. He looks alarmed, and then terrified. "What's wrong?"

His hands fumble for Lan Wangji's wrist.

"Is it—are you—I'll go get the healers back. Hang on, don’t—"

"Wei Ying," he forces out, still holding on.

He pulls until Wei Ying is facing him, waits until he knows he is listening.

"You spoke to me," he says. "You..."

He touches his free fingertips to his own lips. He still cannot believe it. But Wei Ying's expression confirms it.

"I heard you," Lan Wangji breathes.

He is airless, hollowed out and light with disbelief. Feathered with hope. Wei Ying is looking at him as if he does not know whether to run or to devour him whole. 

This, he has never dreamed of. Such a look in his eyes. It makes everything real.

"I have—" Lan Wangji's voice stalls, lodged in his throat under the weight of all his years of believing himself to be one thing, which he is now not. "I have always—"

He reaches out. Clasps the knot of their hands, wordless. Wei Ying knows him all the same.

"Lan Zhan," he says, broken.

He is crying again. He hauls Lan Wangji up, crushes him close. Lan Wangji crushes him back, yet closer. They shake in each other's arms as the new shape of the world, open wide and full of Wei Ying, settles over his mind.

"Don't cry, Lan Zhan," Wei Ying says, crying.

He pulls away enough to wipe at the tears on Lan Wangji's face. With only the barest hesitation, Lan Wangji returns the favor, brushing a thumb across Wei Ying's sharp, tanned cheek.

He loses track of himself somewhat, in the act. He finds his fingertips trailing down, searching out the touch he only half-remembers from his sleep. Wei Ying's lips are sorrow-soft. He wonders if they would have tasted of salt.

He comes to his senses at the thought, and snatches his hand away. But Wei Ying takes up his wrist, and pointedly presses his mouth to Lan Wangji's fingers. To his palm.

Their eyes catch, as he does it.

"Wei Yi—"

Lan Wangji's voice is cut off by a kiss. True, and hungry, and deep. When it ends, he no longer remembers the urge to speak.

He kisses Wei Ying back.

Days later, a leader and an heir of the great sects stand at the Cloud Recesses gates. They speak lightly, of the fine weather and of the even finer goods that travel between their lands. They are not there for serious discussion. That will come soon enough. Now, they wait.

At length, two cultivators—one in white, and one in black—approach.

"Wangji," says the sect leader, smiling.

It is his truest smile. The one that few people know.

The cultivator in white bows. "Xiongzhang."

"Travel safely," the sect leader says. "Your mission is dangerous. Take no unnecessary risks. Come home soon."

The cultivator bows to him once more.

Then the sect heir crosses his arms. "If you get killed showing off, I'm not making you a shrine."

But the cultivator in black only grins.

"Maybe Gusu Lan will be the ones in charge of my shrine," he says.

The sect heir splutters. "You—Wei Wuxian, you—"

The black-robed cultivator laughs, and laughs, and tugs the sect heir in for a rough hug.

"Stay safe. I'll see you at home," he says into the embrace.

The sect heir grimaces and pushes him away, but only after he's squeezed him back.

They all exchange bows of farewell, and the matched pair turns to the gate.

As they walk through, they find each other's hands, and hold on.

Neither of them look back. Only forward.

(They turn Wen Ruohan's weapon against him, and win the war. After that, it's all happily ever after. The End!)

#wangxian #theuntameddaily #mdzsnet #wangxian fanfic #the untamed fanfiction #my fic #this was a threadfic i took ages to finish #i wanted lady of shalott lwj simply because it Felt Right...and then of course. sleeping beauty lwj. we need him #debating throwing this on ao3 as well but that's tbd #so for now: here u go! <3

[gentil-minou]

#there is only one correct answer okay #all of them but for like very different reasons #lbh cries at everything he thinks its foreplay now and whats sqq gonna do refuse no of course not foreplay it is #lwj sometimes holds wwx face in his hands as theyre moving together and little drops fall out just because he cant believe wwx is here #and wwx tenderly kisses his tears away and presses his face against his heart so he can come listening to wwx's (beautiful alive) heartbeat #and hc cries eVERY TIME #just like #all the time #xl is very fond and okay with it and likes patting san langs head #mdzs #svsss #tgcf #mxtx #mo dao zu shi #tian guan ci fu #scum villian self saving system #wangxian #bingqiu #hualian #lan wangji #luo binghe #hua cheng #moshang was not included because neither ever cry they just like glare at each other or something

[icyolive]

"'He can ignore me all he wants. It's not like he's even that pretty.'" But then when he thought about it, yes, the boy was indeed that pretty."

Yeah so stop the presses etc etc, teenage WWX absolutely had a crush.

LWJ walks away and refuses to talk to him, and when WWX fails to chase him down, this is his reaction. Seriously, the conversation is JWY: he hates you and thinks you're evil because of the shit you're pulling, WWX: pssh whatever he's not even that pretty.

Bro. Bro. This was not the topic of conversation. No one else here is talking about his beauty. It has no bearing on the situation.

Idk how anyone could read this novel and think WWX was only interested post-resurrection.

#mdzs #rereading mdzs #wwx #wei wuxian #mdzs meta

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

Apr 9th

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1. ITMF fics with (a) good and well-developed original characters! i really enjoyed "I told you when I came I was a stranger" and would really love to read more like these. also looking for (b) fics where wwx is brought back in an OC's body, where their identity matters to the plot (eg politically), like "The Housewife’s Guide to Causing Chaos" (wwx brought back as a yu) & "Everyanything" (wwx brought back as qin su).

would still like wangxian to be tgt, & complete/actively ongoing fics only please. thank you!!!!! @potatokunst

1B)

There's the wwx resurected in other people's bodies comp, but more specifically,

❤️ Beauty and the Boot by PTchan (T, 44k, wangxian, summoned by f!oc, Canon Divergence, Romantic Comedy, Genderbending, Denial, Fem!WWX, WangXian kids, Crack-ish, WIP) would probably fit

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2. Hey there! For the next itmf:

I want fics where wwx is in love with lwj, and he knows it too. So I don’t care if its time travel or anything like that, I just wanna see wwx treating lwj good/like a spouse while being aware that he’s doing it.

And even greater would be, if lwj was very much confused/ in gay panic mode/ horny for it .

Thank you :3 @desperation-is-my-middle-name

two guys r in love thats literally it by victortor (M, 11k, wangxian, Time Travel, the fluffiest thing ive ever written)

When the Words Stop Coming by mrcformoso (T, 7k, WangXian, Canon Compliant, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Pre-Sunshot Campaign, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Canonical Character Death, Love Confessions, Rejection, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending) more of an angst take honestly but it fits the prompt?

And Time Is But a Paper Moon by sami (M, 139k, WangXian, XiChengQing, Time Travel, Fix-It, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Healing, Mental Health Issues, PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Depression, BAMF WWX, BAMF JC, BAMF LWJ, BAMF JYL, Getting Together)

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3. Hi! For ITMF, can you suggest fics where it picks up soon after the novel ends and explores wangxian’s relationship and how it develops?

Or just fics where wwx learns to take up space/ adjust to gusu and in lwj’s heart?

Thank you for your help, always!

And Yet Here You Are by cosmicmilktea (T, 10k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Domestic Fluff, Cloud Recesses, settling down, Separation Anxiety, Teacher WWX, very light angst, Chief Cultivator LWJ)

call me home and I'll build you a throne by anaphoricae (E, 51k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Cloud Recesses, Getting Together, Developing Relationship, Self-Indulgent, Gusu Lan Juniors Dynamics, Touch-Starved, Non-Sexual Intimacy... and then Sexual Intimacy, Lán Juniors Gossiping about Wangxian, as a treat, Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, little hurt lots of comfort, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, WWX Has a New Golden Core, Farmer WWX, Chief Cultivator LWJ, iMutual Pining, Communication, Quietly Falling Into a Married Life, Light Angst, Wholesome, POV LWJ, POV WWX, LWJ in braids agenda, Sharing a Bed, WWX's Birthday, Semi-Public Sex, Cold Springs, Inventor WWX, Jealous WWX, turkish translation)

I hope that you will come and meet me by feyburner (M, 28k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Getting Together, Love Letters, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Literal Sleeping Together, Intimacy, CQL Compliant, No Plot Just Feelings, First Time, Two soulmates figuring their shit out, Let Hanguang-jun talk about his feelings agenda, Podfic Available)

my age has never made me wise by idrilka (E, 63k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Part-epistolary, Mutual Pining, Getting Together, Marriage Proposal, Homecoming, One Brain Cell WWX Strikes Again)

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4. hello! for itmf any fics with wei wuxian and mo xuanyu? smth like i'll take a secondhand monster by stratisphyre

tysm<3 @r3n-vy

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5. Hi! Hope u r having a great day!

Do you know any good wangxian fics where LWJ leaving cloud recesses along with A-yuan and raise him on his own? You know, before WWX's return? I remember reading one where LWJ competely fell off the radar once. Sadly, i can't recall the name. Pretty please @grrumpywoof

❤️ And Miles To Go Before I Sleep by Glitterbombshell (T, 23k, WIP, WangXian, Heavy Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, LXC is not really a good brother in this sorry, Canon Divergence, rogue cultivator!lwj) It's a WIP that hasn't updated since 2020, but there's this

Home isn't Where the Heart is. by Hauntcats (Not rated, 7k, wangxian) Jingyi comes along too here

The Best I Can by Zephyr (ZephyrAndTheSilverfish) (T, 26k, LJY & WWX, wangxian, WWX talking to his donkey, Canon Divergence, Light Angst, Drama, Recovery, Coming of Age, Secret Identity Fail, Friendship, Rogue Cultivator LWJ, Road Trips, POV Multiple, Happy Ending)

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6. Hi!!! Thank you, you are all amazing and this place is magnificent!! Well, In the mood for... A) Fics were Wei Wuxian raised or helped raised the Juniors, all of them, modern if possible, I just finished The Edge of Night by Hobbsy3 and the relationship with the kids is so amazing, even if is not the central theme also B) Zombie themes fics, similar to the previous one, modern to if posible with happy ending!! Thank you so much for everything!! Be well :) @monicaop21

6A)

🔒 and having a marvelous time by varnes (E, 108k, WangXian, Yúnmèng Siblings, Sound of Music AU, (i know!!! i know. stay with me on this.), Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Family Feels, spies to lovers???, Protective Siblings, Sometimes You Just Want Your Dads To Admit They're Your Dads, Angst with a Happy Ending, podfic of and having a marvellous time by varnes by Spinifex) not modern but WWX raises all the kids

6B)

Darkness Before the Dawn by Selenay (E, 64k, wangxian, Zombie Apocalypse, Modern With Magic, Necromancer WWX, Reunions, toddler A-Yuan, There Was Only One Bed, There are zombies but not graphically horrific zombies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Find a home in the middle of an apocalpyse)

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7. Academic rivals wangxian? :<

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8. For the next itmf! I wonder if there are any fics where the lan and nie bros are really close and then wwx gets added into the mix, and there are shenanigans! Things like the lan/nie bros having a problem that only wwx can solve, or the bros discover how wwx's been treated by other people and get super protective. I just read With This Shadowed Blade and discovered that I very badly want to read more of this dynamic! Thank you all!

Come Around and Stay by trippednfell (M, 160k, wangxian, modern, slow burn, kid fic, found family, it gets worse before it gets better, PTSD, blood and injury, dissociation, trauma, angst w happy ending, musicals, alternating pov, JC & WWX reconciliation, hurt/comfort, panic attacks) 

Debts of a Child Part 2 by Hauntcats (M, 111k, WangXian, YZY Bashing, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Angst and Feels, lots of anger, JC Bashing, not Jiang friendly, Angst with a Happy Ending, Content warning for icky spiders in later chapters.)

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9. Pls pls next itmf secret relationship wangxian? Bonus points if it’s CRA but modern au or post canon or whatever is great too I just need it (I have read a few where their families don’t believe they’re dating but I want them hiding it)

Silenced With A Kiss by NinjaKK (E, 132k, WIP, WangXian, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Flirting, Teen Romance, Cloud Recesses Shenanigans, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Soft WangXian, WWX in WWX’s Body, Secret Relationship, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Dates, Inventor WWX, Genius WWX, Canon Divergence, Protective LWJ, Protective WWX, Ripple Effect, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Optional Smut, Supportive LWJ, BAMF WWX, Inappropriate Use of Gūsū Lán Forehead Ribbon, Has an Angry LWJ Kink, Drunk LWJ, Gusu Lan Alcohol Tolerance, No Golden Core Transfer, WWX Leaves the Yunmeng Jiang Sect)

A Guide on How to (not) Have a Secret Relationship by Grapesey (YumGrapeJuice) (T, 6k, wangxian, Established Relationship, Secret Relationship, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Boys Kissing, they are horribly in love, WWX is a Little Shit, LWJ is So Whipped, WWX is obsessed with LWJ's hair, JC is So Done)

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10. For the next itmf could I see if we could find any fics where mo xuanyu is adopted by wangxian. I’ll take both modern au and canon type fics

a thousand fragile and unprovable things by theLoyalRoyalGuard (G, 5k, WangXian, Modern AU, Trans Male Character, Trans MXY, MXY Deserves Happiness, Best Dads Wangxian, Handwaving The Legal System With The Power of LWJ, A little bit of angst, mostly soft, Happy Ending, Gender Happiness, Let LWJ Wear Skirts Agenda, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note)

silk linked together by theLoyalRoyalGuard (G, 6k, LWJ & MXY, Wangxian, Modern, Autistic LWJ, Cellist LWJ, LWJ, Runs A Rabbit Rescue, MXY Deserves Happiness, Fluff) which ends w/ both wangxian relationship and Mo Xuanyu adoption in process.

🔒 and having a marvelous time by varnes (E, 108k, WangXian, Yúnmèng Siblings, Sound of Music AU, (i know!!! i know. stay with me on this.), Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Family Feels, spies to lovers???, Protective Siblings, Sometimes You Just Want Your Dads To Admit They're Your Dads, Angst with a Happy Ending, podfic of and having a marvellous time by varnes by Spinifex) (link in #6A)

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11. Hello! ITMF current wips? For the last few months Truth Will Out has been super fun to keep up with, but now it is complete I would love to find other wips to follow! Any genre (canon, au, or modern) and any topic/plot! Preferably something that updates with relative frequency, like weekly or every other week. Thank you so much!

No Matter What You Are by LilyFaraday (M, 209k, wangxian, WIP, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Female WWX, MXY is a girl in this one and WWX has to deal with it, Genderbending, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, A lot of comedy coming from WWX dealing with being a girl, and also using it to his advantage, Marriage of Convenience, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, no miscarriage)

A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 84k, wangxian, time travel fix-it, graphic depictions of violence, underage, LWJ pov, JC pov, dark LWJ, manipulation, grooming, teen body adult mind for LWJ, happy ending for wangxian, problematic consensual underage sex, blood & violence, insane LWJ, manic LWJ) My current MDZS WIP is the A Matter of Time Series, it's currently on worlbuilding extras before the actual sequel. It's update about monthly but considering the amount of thought and worldbuilding and the size of this series I think that's pretty fast hahaha make sure to read the warnings first!

once upon a time, 很久很久以前 by gentil-minou (Flyingsuits) (M, 69k, wangxian, LSZ & WWX, LSZ & LWJ, WIP, Modern, Canon Divergence, Transmigration, of the townwide variety, Amnesia, of the nearly everyone variety, Mystery, of the shenanigans variety, Not Everyone Dies AU, WWX Has Self-Esteem Issues, WWX is sad and down bad, Single Parent LWJ, except a-yuan runs away to find his other dad, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Minor Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Once Upon a Time Fusion, Curses, part of the fun is figuring out how to make these characters as miserable as possible :) ) may i offer up my wip? Updates arent thay frequent cause each chap is over 15k but im hoping to post the next chap this month!

🔒 The Second Hand Unwinds by trulywicked (E, 51k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, WIP, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Time Travel Fix-It, Not JC Friendly, Not Yunmeng Jiang Sect Friendly, Not Jiāng Family Friendly, Not YZY Friendly, Time Travelling LWJ, Protective LWJ, Fluff, Minor Angst, Minor Character Death, JGS is his own warning, Wooing, LWJ is romantic af, Inventor WWX, Genius WWX, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Gusu Lan Sect, Supportive LXC, Good Uncle LQR, WWX Protection Squad)

A-Yuan's Big Adventure by KatanaHatake (G, 13k, wangxian, WIP, Time Travel, transmigrator LSZ, Found Family, Canon Divergence, Parents LWJ & WWX, People believing WWX birthed A-Yuan, Eventual Happy Ending, Accidental Baby Acquisition)

We Meet at the Thousandth Step by Admiranda, Rynne (T, 273k, wangxian, CSSR/WCZ, WIP, Canon Divergence, No Sunshot Campaign, CSSR & WCZ Live, Rogue Cultivator WWX, Different First Meeting, Night Hunts, Genius WWX, Inventor WWX, Romance, Drama, Fluff, Strangers to married, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Everyone Lives AU, Developing Relationship, Minor Violence, Case Fic, Mystery, Flirting, WWX's Canon-Typical Flower Flirting, Arson, There Was Only One Bed, Getting Together, First Kiss, Meeting the Parents, Resolved Sexual Tension, Resolved Romantic Tension, WWX Is a Good Big Brother, New Relationship Bliss, Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Blood and Injury, Yiling siblings)

🧡 The Shade of Old Trees by Kryal (T, 266k, WIP, WangXian, Ridiculously Long Notes, History, Canon Divergence, Modern AU, Slow Burn, Worldbuilding, Slow Life, Action/Adventure, Magic Returns, BAMF WWX)

At heart by apathyinreverie (M, 28k, wangxian, WIP, Dark LWJ(Ish), Amnesia, WWX gets to be Not Okay after the BM, Hurt WWX, Recovery, Caring, Protective LWJ, Possessive LWJ, some definite manipulation, but not everything is as it seems, not nearly as dark as the tags make it sound, Canon Divergence, Golden Core Reveal, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It, kind of, Domestic WangXian, Fluff, WWX Goes to Gusu, Possessive WWX, WWX happily atticwifing away, Sunshot Campaign, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ)

~*~

12. Itmf for qiongqi path divergence 🖤

The Fire Lapping Up the Creek by notevenyou (E, 66k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Injury, Injury Recovery, Blood, Respiratory Illness, Major Illness, Fever, Grief/Mourning, Burial Mounds, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hunger and food scarcity, Surgery, Fix-It of Sorts)

when you're doing all the leaving (then it's never your love lost) by tardigradeschool (T, 23k, wangxian, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Sharing a Bed, Sharing Clothes, Fix-It, the inherent eroticism of under robes, Golden Core Transfer, LWJ finds out about wwx's missing core and says i have plenty to go around)

the cycle of regret by KouriArashi (T, 14k, WangXian, Groundhog Day, Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending)

in this place where we don’t have a prayer by Cerusee, Mikkeneko (T, 42k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, WWX dies at Qiongqi path, Demonic Cultivation)

Home and the Heartland by Witch_Nova221 (T, 210k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, Slow Romance, Romance, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Fix-It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Self-Discovery, Golden Core Reveal)

isn't there a Qiongqi Path canon divergence comp?

~*~

13. itmf fics with Lan Wangji laughing/smiling/giggling etc. The bts of The Untamed with Wang Yibo laughing his ass off are killing me and i need LWG just being happy and laughing now

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14. An ITMF ask: I am looking for fic where WangXian's marriage is being arranged but one or both of them simply don't know about it until late in the game -not just "everyone knows but them" but literally they are being measured for wedding outfits and are clueless. Pining a plus! HEA pls! <3 @kimboo-york

Searching for a Heart by vesna (mrsronweasley) (E, 21k, WangXian, Modern AU, married at first sight au, this is basically modern arranged marriage, Getting Together, Reality TV AU)

Lead Me On Through by vesna (mrsronweasley) (E, 54k, wangxian, Alternate Universe, Arranged Marriage, Practice Kissing, practice other things, horny boys in love, questionable logic, Questionable Choices, they're dumb but cute, but dumb, but really cute, slight knives, Happy Ending)

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15. itmf modern au inventor wwx, similar to kizukatana's Truth Will Out? thank you for all that u do 💗

💖 One Can Keep A Secret (If He Does Not Know It’s There)by H_Belle (T, 5k, wangxian, NHS & WWX, modern w/ cultivation, inventor WWX, secret identity, identity reveal, YLLZ WWX, rogue cultivator WWX, pining LWJ, WWX pov)

There's An App For Everything by Sweetlittlevampire (G, 4k, wangxian, Modern Cultivation, Rivals to Lovers, Friends To Lovers, Competition, Demon fighting, Getting Together, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Night Hunts, Wangxian x Caves is the real ship here, Happy Ending, Humour)

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16. hi hi! could you recomend any fics where Lan Yuan grows up in Lotus Pier? thank you <3 @nyxiblue

What Remains After the War by Swan_Song (T, 41k, JC & LSZ, JC & JL, JL & LSZ, JL & LJY & OYZZ & LSZ, JC & WWX, WIP, Canon Divergence, LSZ is a Jiang, Good Uncle JC, Cousins JL & LSZ, JC Needs a Hug, JC Needs Therapy, The juniors solve a mystery, Junior Ensemble Shenanigans, Good Uncle LQR, he tries his best, LSZ Needs a Hug)

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17. ITMF any fics where other characters preferably Jin zixuan has an unrequited/one sided crush on Wei Ying. Could be any setting preferably Canon/Canon divergence or with some sort of cultivation and wangxian end game. Gimme all you have please @linossock

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If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic recs #i'm in the mood for a fic #the untamed #wangxian fic search #wangxianficfinder #long post

[decalcominia]

I really wanted to talk about the infamous 'if I shall die I'd at least die in your hands' scene in ep. 26/27, specifically wangji's umbrella because it had already amazed me the first time I watched it and now that I watched it again, I have even more thoughts on it. I'm pretty sure it has been talked about at some point since the fandom has been around for a while and is quite big but I just had to write about this because it is such a great scene for me so here we go :)))

I was beyond speechless when I watched this scene for the first time and saw this umbrella because it's genuinely such an insane way to portray what's going on in lwj's mind. First, we have the colours. The umbrella in white, a colour that is widely associated with purity and good, and then its opposite, black, a colour associated with bad and evil. It seems almost scattered across the umbrella and looks like it's spreading in it and 'tainting' the white.

Then we have the colours representing each character; white represents lwj because besides it being prominent in his and the lan clan's colour palette, by practising the traditional (and therefore approved) cultivation method, he represents the right path. black represents wwx, not only because of his general aesthetic but because the black on the umbrella resembles the resentment energy he controls, a method that's been disapproved of and condemned as evil and wrong.

lwj grew up in a clan with 3.000 rules determining what's right and what's wrong, giving him a clear understanding of what to do and what not. He sees wwx practising evil cultivation, which he has been taught is bad, therefore wwx must also be bad, right? But he knows wuxian, he knows he has no evil in his heart and would never hurt someone unjustly so how can he be bad?

Considering all of this, I feel like the umbrella visualizes lwj's indecisiveness and how wuxian caused wangji to question his ideals. stirring up his mind with different beliefs, different colours and blurring the lines between what lwj has been taught as good and bad, right and wrong, black and white.

now this scene. I might be reading way too much into it but I feel like the rain itself could be interpreted as the disapproval of the cultivation world and so we have wwx and the remaining wen clan members standing right under and being drenched by it since neither the mere existence of the wen clan is approved nor is wwx's actions to help them. As opposed to this 'single-plank bridge' where they have no shelter to hide under, lwj is covering himself with the umbrella he holds on to while trying to convince wuxian to stop, and is safe from the rain.

until they continue talking and lwj understands the intention behind wwx's actions, the importance of it, why it makes sense and why he might be right, which leads to him letting go of not only wwx but also his umbrella, and with it, the beliefs that had been instilled in him.

he no longer hides from the rain and lets himself get drenched as he lets go of those "set in stone" beliefs and finally accepts that there is no true right or wrong, good or bad, just like his brother had told him.

At the same time, I think it also visualizes his acceptance of his feelings toward wuxian in general like he finally opens himself up to those feelings and I can only praise and thank them for creating such a beautiful and poetic scene, it is genuinely one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen in media.

I'm not entirely sure if any of this made sense but this was my interpretation of it and if you have read all of it a big thank you and kisses <333

#really no idea if it makes sense #thanks to my shitty memory i cant tell if it makes sense in the plot as well #i feel like i just kept repeating myself jsjsjs #but they were insane for this #and i'm thankful for that insanity #the symbolism was symbolisming #the untamed #cql #mdzs #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan zhan #wei ying

[accio-victuuri]

let’s start the new year with some good old cpn!

so glad that yibo’s stages all went well! as expected from a performer like him. i was kinda nervous that a bad hot search will come out but it was all good. from people being touched with his/dls song, wanghan crying, his clothes, the bystander stage, his high ratings and him seeing the green sea. i’m sorry to the other celebrities who got smeared in the hs but that’s just how it is, better luck next year.

now onto the clownery, if you clown today, it means you will continue to do so for the rest of the new year.. so proceed with caution 😂😂😂😂

starting with the most obvious one are the photos from yibo-official and the effect it gave — it was so little prince. something they both have connection with and a favorite among turtles. international or not, it’s already there and we are not the only ones who noticed the reference.

also the similarity to xz’s weibo night ( their wedding day outfits lol ) effect and little prince look. 👀

another “similarity” is this right here. i like how wyb is in black and xz in white because in cql wyb was the one in white for lwj and xz in black. and the drumming!!! 🥁

during the countdown, WYB was doing the chongya pose. similar to XZ. awwww. i love that this has really become their thing now, tho it really originated more with XZ. even if they didn’t spend it together, they still do it. they have the same hopes and attitude for the new year!

in the subject of the countdown, some are commenting on this incident where wyb didn’t hug the girl/s who were moving closer to him. lol. he is married! what are you all doing? 😂😂😂 kidding aside, i think that a part of it is he is not familiar with them. the girl’s skin was also exposed so maybe he didn’t wanna touch inappropriately. and well, he is wang yibo. people will slice and dice all his public interactions so he is also being careful so people won’t misunderstand.

another thing that fans were looking into was the type of flower he was wearing as a brooch! lol. turns out it’s a ginger flower and it means to keep memories in summer forever. ginger flowers bloom in May-June in summer. the flowers are pure white, the fragrance is refreshing when blooming, and the flowering period is very long.It's short-lived, but it's also accompanied by beautiful memories.

i’m sure we’re over interpreting here lol. but whatever. it’s the summer we remember! 🤍

THIS PART IS NOT CPN BUT TO MENTION THE TIMES the cpf related light signs made an appearance on the screen. So there is a small screen in the venue where they can zoom in on the audience and some of the stuff that made it there were cpf light signs. not to say that these people understand the reference, maybe they found it interesting so they focused on it.

you may have also noticed the lone red and green headbands in this scene! lol. as a casual viewer, you won’t be paying attention to it and if you notice, you won’t even know what they are. but it means something to us and it’s nice to see representation.

and this one, i’m pretty sure he saw that huge ass turtle light sign! 😂😂😂

Disclaimer: i am not trying to undermine what his so/os did today to make sure the green sea was there for him to see. they have worked hard and i’m sure yibo appreciated them showing up for him. this is a cpn post so i would post cpf related stuff.

Lastly, fans have tried to send them a message on weibo and this time there is an automatic reply of them giving a happy new year message ☺️

-END.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #day 1 of 365 days of clownery 💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻

[stiltonbasket]

For the wen!wwx au, how does lwj find out that wwx is a spy for the resistance?

(chapter list here)

On the night Wei Ying's daughter is born, the Wei-fu does not sleep until well past sunrise.

After Wen Qing was summoned to tend to Li Shuai, Wei Ying and Yu Zhenhong began keeping vigil in the rear court's central garden, accompanied by Wen Sizhui. From what little Lan Wangji hears from Wei Ying's private courtyard as the evening draws on, both mother and child seem to be faring well; but as hai shi passes, and then midnight, he takes his wheeled chair to the training field and rolls slowly around the perimeter until Xiao Liuzi comes to bring him a tray of snacks and tea.

"I saw the light in the Jade Courtyard," Xiao Liuzi explains. "Supper was hours ago, Hanguang-jun, so Cook asked me to bring you a tea-tray."

"I have no appetite," Lan Wangji says brusquely, "though I am grateful for your kindness. Tell me, how is Lady Li?"

"Ah, that..."

Lan Wangji's blood runs cold. "Is she—her child, are they—?"

"No, Hanguang-jun! There hasn't been any news at all. This is Lady Li's first child, so it might be early evening before the baby comes."

"And what about Wei Ying? Has he eaten?"

"He and Master Yu are still in the garden," Xiao Liuzi tells him. "My lord managed to eat a little, but he says he won't sleep until everything is over."

He hesitates for a moment, and then:

"He said there was no need for you to wait up for him, Hanguang-jun. You could damage your meridians again, and your legs..."

"One night without sleep can hardly make them worse," Lan Wangji says. "Return to the garden outside Lady Li's courtyard and report back to me the moment you hear anything."

"Yes, Hanguang-jun!"

"And get something to eat."

"Yes, Hanguang-jun! If you don't want the cakes, Cook is making—"

"I meant for yourself."

At that, Xiao Liuzi turns pink and takes to his heels, leaving his plate of cakes behind him; and Lan Wangji comes to a halt under the great oak in the south corner of the field and remains there until Xiao Liuzi comes crashing back through the gates with Wen Sizhui at his heels.

"She's here, Hanguang-jun!" Sizhui cries, grasping Lan Wangji's hands. "I'm a xiongzhang! I have a sister!"

"Lady Li is well, too," Xiao Liuzi jumps in. "Tired, of course, but she had enough appetite to drink a bowl of soup and eat some of the rice left over from supper."

Lan Wangji closes his eyes.

"The general must be delighted," he says thickly.

He could not quite tell what he was feeling, just then. Certainly Lan Wangji is relieved on behalf of Lady Li and her baby daughter—Wei Ying's daughter—but some part of his heart aches as if some small animal had begun to gnaw on it, blind to the fact that even its weak teeth were sturdy enough to do harm. It aches as it had ached on the nights that Wei Ying slept in Yu Zhenhong's courtyard, or spoke of how Li Shuai's beauty had enchanted him at first sight; and though Lan Wangji is dimly aware of the fact merely laying eyes on Wei Ying would be a comfort to him at that moment, he cannot bring himself to go looking for him.

"He is," Xiao Liuzi beams, not noticing the strange look in Lan Wangji's eyes. "Junshang will surely be disappointed, for he was hoping for a new young master, but my lord is overjoyed. Shall I help you to bed now, Hanguang-jun?"

It strikes Lan Wangji then that Wei Ying might not return to his own quarters that day. Perhaps he would sleep on the long sofa in Li Shuai's sitting room, unable to part from his lady and her child. Or perhaps he would go to Yu Zhenhong instead, for he had been too busy preparing for the child's arrival to grant any favor to his most-beloved concubine since the turning of the last month.

He will be a nuisance to Wen Qing and the other physicians if he sleeps in Li Shuai's room, Lan Wangji thinks wretchedly. And if he sleeps in Yu Zhenhong's quarters, then...

But Yu Zhenhong stood vigil with him; he too had not slept, so if Wei Ying could bring himself to leave Li Shuai—and it would be to his credit if he could not, for she had risked her very life to bring Wei Ying's daughter into the world—might he not choose to rest in his own courtyard, rather than troubling Yu Zhenhong?

"Yes, you may," he hears himself say to Xiao Liuzi. "And afterwards, draw a hot bath for your lord and lay out fresh sleeping robes on the bed."

In the end, Lan Wangji breaks his fast alone. Wei Ying does not appear for another three hours; and when he finally returns, heavy-eyed and pale from the night's worry, he has a tiny bundle of blankets clutched close to his chest.

Lan Wangji's heart seizes. "Is that—?"

Wei Ying falls to his knees at Lan Wangji's side.

"Oh, look at her," he whispers, spellbound. "I never dreamed that I would have a daughter, Lan Zhan! Isn't she perfect?"

He draws back the blanket and lets the baby grasp his little finger. "This is your Zhan-shushu!" he murmurs, kissing her downy black head. "His face might be fierce, but his heart is as soft as tofu, really, so A-Mei mustn't be afraid of him."

"A-Mei?"

"It's only her baby name," Wei Ying says, blushing. "A-Shuai always wanted to have a little girl named after the roses that grew in her mother's old garden—but Mei doesn't sound quite right with my name, so we'll have to choose something else for her formal name."

Lan Wangji frowns and opens his mouth, for Wei Mei is a perfectly serviceable name: but then he stops and stares at the crease of pink skin between the child's left thumb and forefinger.

There is a blood-red mole there, shaped like a tiny crescent moon. Lan Wangji ought to have thought nothing of it, for he saw three Lan children born with moles the color of spilt wine on their faces when he was a boy.

But he has also seen a grown man with a mole identical to small Wei Mei's—within the very walls of the Wei-fu, at that—and that man was not Wei Ying.

He reaches out to touch the baby's hand, meeting no resistance from his besotted husband. He places his own finger in the child's left palm, and then in the right; and just as he suspected, the baby's right hand is weaker than the left.

There are no left-handed men in the High General's manor, other than Yu Zhenhong.

Lan Wangji releases the baby's arm and straightens his posture, his heart racing. The more he studies Wei Mei's features, the more he finds of Yu Zhenhong and Li Shuai; but Wei Ying, overwhelmed with happiness at having gained a second child after sixteen years spent wishing for a brother or sister for Sizhui, seems to have noticed nothing at all.

What would he do, if he were to learn that Li Shuai's baby had been fathered by another man? Would he cast her out? Kill Yu Zhenhong? Lan Wangji would keep silent to the end of his days to prevent such a thing from happening, for a wiling affair, while cruel to the utmost, did not merit death as a punishment.

But he knows Wei Ying; and if not for the obedience sigils carved into his back, his husband would have taken up his dao and cut his own throat before spilling even a drop of innocent blood.

"Wei Ying," he says at last. "Return Xiao Mei to her mother. There is something I must ask you."

So Wei Ying goes, ferrying his precious burden back to Li Shuai's courtyard with breathless care, and then he returns to the bedroom he shares with Lan Wangji and brings out the red-jade tea service in the cupboard.

Lan Wangji watches him move about the room, gathering tea leaves and preparing hot water, and decides that the most advantageous way forward is to catch Wei Ying off his guard.

"I know that Yu Zhenhong and Li Shuai are only your concubines in name," he says slowly, for Wei Ying's kindness is not of the sort that might dull a man's wits; and now that Lan Wangji thinks on it, he would certainly have noticed if his concubines were carrying on together in his absence. "But given that you have no interest in either of them, I cannot understand why you took them into the Wei-fu in the first place."

The blood drains from Wei Ying's face—out of fear, not wrath—and in that moment, Lan Wangji realizes that he has stumbled upon something of far greater significance than a love affair between two concubines, though he knows now that Wei Ying had never belonged to either of them.

"Belong to them?" Wei Ying says with a strangled laugh. "I'll never belong to anyone, other than Wen Ruohan."

Lan Wangji is silent for a moment.

"That is not true," he replies. "There is something more behind all this, I know it. Tell me."

So Wei Ying bows his head, and tells him everything; and when they finally begin preparing for bed, Lan Wangji fetches a sandalwood comb from the nightstand and asks Wei Ying to kneel so that he can brush out his hair.

"You will not always belong to Wen Ruohan," he whispers between strokes, his eyes lingering on the back of Wei Ying's fair neck. "You do not belong to him now. A thief may lay his hands on whatever he pleases; it does not follow that he owns it."

"But he can do whatever he pleases with his stolen goods, can't he?"

"You speak as if you have not already betrayed the thief in question a hundred times over, Wei-jiangjun."

"...En, that's so."

Lan Wangji lays down the comb and weaves Wei Ying's hair into a long, thick braid.

"Now that I know," he says quietly, "I beg of you not to keep such secrets from me again! I will follow your commands from this day forth, whatever they may be; and until your work is over, I will not leave your side."

#wrh raises wwx au #wangxian #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #my fic #this was a long one

[only10th]

Been thinking about Pianist!wwx and violinist!lwj playing together at a mall. Wei Wuxian likes to go to the mall to play for people, he loves taking requests, or plays some well known musical pieces and sometimes he’ll play one of this original compositions.

One day he’s playing “Rain” by Ed Carlsen, which is one of his favorite pieces to play when he's out and about. He’s just so caught up in the moment that he doesn’t notice a man standing next to him, pulling out his violin and just joining him on the piece with so much ease. His eyes grow wide but soon that sparkle he has shines brighter at how easy and harmonic both of them sound. He laughs, he smiles, he shows off while the mysterious violinist stays focused and composed, yet the passion drips into every note they play.

Their duet attracts a lot of attention, multiple people taking videos and pictures (plus wwx is recording the whole thing himself since he sometimes uploads the videos of himself playing online) this is the first time anyone has joined him in a duet. After they’re done, they look at each other breathless, a bright smile on wwx’s face while there’s the smallest curve on the mysterious violinist’s lip. Before Wei Wuxian could even ask for his name, he had already put away his violin and walked away. Wei Wuxian groans, annoyed he didn’t even get to know the handsome violinist’s name. Maybe they’ll meet up again.

He hopes they do. He had never felt such a connection with another musician before.

A few weeks later, Wei Wuxian is playing at a restaurant. This time he’s getting paid to do so, which is great! He can’t just let opportunities like that pass by!

So, he’s playing something classical to fit the mood. It is rather fancy, your food, of the size of a quarter, costing you an arm and a leg type of place. Wei Wuxian will never understand why people want to spend their money like that, but it’s because of places like this that he has a place to work. Well, if playing here during the weekends is even considered work. He enjoys it nonetheless.

Once he’s done with a piece there’s scattered claps through the restaurant. This won’t do, the people need to be entertained! Wei Wuxian sets his phone against the piano, already recording. There’s a smirk on his face, cause he already has the perfect piece in mind. Fingers hovered giddily over the ivory keys, an exhale leaving his lips and soon began to play.

The melody startles some of the clients, which makes Wei Wuxian chuckle under his breath. The tune is fun, like a little dance around the calm waters of the lotus lakes of his old home. It’s one of his original compositions, but he’s played it a few times before, so he wouldn’t be surprised if people knew it. Wei Wuxian lets himself get lost in the song, silver eyes fluttering close. A sense of pride fills his chest, noticing how the restaurant had become quiet. He could sense all eyes on him, which sent a chill up his spine. What he didn’t expect was to hear a violin joining his now gentle melody.

His eyes snap open with a gasp, and right next to him he sees the same violinist from a few weeks back. His mouth hangs slightly agape, and for a moment he loses his focus which causes him to play a few sour notes. Yet, he smiles brightly, impressed that, despite this not being composed as a duet, the mysterious violinist was even able to join and keep up. Wei Wuxian can’t help but huff a laugh, and just as he does he is met with a piercing golden gaze. His breath stutters, he had never seen such beautiful eyes, especially ones that looked at him with such intensity.

Wei Wuxian has to stop playing, knowing there’s a solo coming up. He’d usually play it through, but he wanted to see if this violinist had also come up with his own solo, and he delivers as expected. He lets his eyes close and he plays his piece, swaying with the music he produces with much passion and Wei Wuxian can’t help but be completely mesmerized by such beauty. Not just him, but the crowd around him! At some point he has to join back, continue their little dance as both their melodies become one.

A round of applause erupts once they’re done, both of them looking at each other as if nothing else mattered in the world other than this moment. For the first time since their first encounter, Wei Wuxian could take a better look at the violinist. He was only a few inches taller, dark, ebony hair like the keys of a piano cascaded over his shoulder, a white ribbon braided and intertwined in it. A wide smile paints on Wei Wuxian’s face as he stand from the small bench to offer a small bow.

“We finally meet again, mysterious violinist.” Wei Wuxian says, quirking an eyebrow upward, “You know my song.” It was more a statement than a question.

The man nods in response, “Wei Wuxian is very talented.” Oh, his voice. The low timber sends a shiver down his spine. Wait, how does he know his name?

“How do you…?” Wei Wuxian starts, narrowing his eyes if trying to recall someone or something. “You follow my page. You’ve seen my videos.” He says with realization, which is followed by a laugh.

The man nods again before offering a courtly bow. He doesn’t say anything else as he turns to leave. No, not this time. Wei Wuxian manages to grab his wrist, stopping him in his tracks. “Hey, hey, don’t leave like that! Will you at least tell me your name?”

The violinist seems to consider shaking the grip off or telling Wei Wuxian his name. Golden gaze seems to stay glued on the other’s hand for quite some time before exhaling softly. “Lan Zhan.”

“Nice to finally meet you, Lan Zhan. Though, I’ll miss calling you my mysterious violinist.” Wei Wuxian chuckles. His fingers slip from the other’s wrist, now tucking them into his inner coat pocket to take out a piece of paper and scribbling a series of numbers. “I really, really like playing with you. Maybe… maybe we could…?”

“Yes.” Lan Zhan is quick to answer before Wei Wuxian can even finish his sentence, as if he’s been waiting for him to ask all evening. “I would like to play with you, Wei Wuxian.”

“Wei Ying. Call me Wei Ying.” Handing him the piece of paper with his phone number, a broad smile on his face. “Maybe we can grab some coffee? You took my song and modified it into a duet, I’ll forgive you only if we can play it again.”

There’s the tiniest curve at the corner of Lan Zhan’s lips. Golden eyes melting like honey as they gaze at silver ones. “Mn” he agrees. After that, you’d see them playing anywhere they could: malls, airports, restaurants, out in the streets when it was warm enough. They’d perform the most beautiful duets anyone has ever heard.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #wei ying #lan wangji #lan zhan #wangxian #modern au #pianist!wwx #violinist!lwj #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #my writing

[youhideastar]

Recs: Canon-verse WLW Wangxian

This fandom loves modern AU wlw!Wangxian, but sometimes you want your Wangxian ladies-in-love to come with all the sword-riding, hanfu-wearing, and talisman-wielding that we love from canon. ❤️ Here are my favorite wlw Wangxian fics set in the canon universe:

hold her where you want her by damnslippyplanet (7000 words, Burial Mounds, sort of a PWP and sort of a fix-it)

I am OBSESSED with this fic, O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D. You could summarize it as, “LWJ visits WWX in the Burial Mounds and, in effect, fucks her into letting LWJ stay,” but that vastly undersells the depth of feeling, the exquisite LWJ POV, and the beauty of the prose. The line “Their foreheads are touching, but Wei Ying has touched Lan Zhan’s ribbon before, so many times. It hardly matters. Lan Zhan will let her fly it as a banner from the entrance to this place if she wants.” lives rent-free in my head for all of time. And there’s so much more! Run, don’t walk, to read this one.

Married to the Demon by @iamwestiec (10,000 words, AU, warprize!LWJ, yllzhot!WWX, Big Switch Energy)

A captured LWJ is claimed as a war prize and married by WRH’s most powerful ally, the Demon of Qishan… who promptly solicits LWJ’s help in overthrowing WRH. But they still have to keep up a façade in public--and WWX is driving LWJ up a horny wall with the public groping and resentacle-collar-and-handcuffs situation. I love their vibe here—so playful in spite of the terrible situation they’re in—and extra, extra love how much they like calling each other “wife.”

the biggest tits in history by @dulosiswrites /el_em_en_oh_pee (6000 words, very horny, 5 Things, canon retelling)

This fic is really neat because you go in expecting, from the title and tags and summary (“Five times Wei Wuxian notices how absolutely enormous Lan Zhan's tits are, and one time she does something about it.”), that this is going to be crack or porn or both. And there is definitely porn at the end, and it’s very good! But this fic is actually five very sweet snapshots of WWX and LWJ’s relationship, from Cloud Recesses to Xuanwu Cave to the Burial Mounds to WWX’s resurrection (plus the aforementioned porn), each one slightly and delightfully different from canon… and yes, all united by WWX’s fixation on LWJ’s enormous breasts. 😂

out of breath, out of mind by mme_anxious (4000 words, post-canon, PWP, bondage, adorable)

About-to-be-married Wangxian get a book of pornography as an engagement present and are inspired to try bondage for the first time. This is soooo cute, and also really beautifully written – so many gorgeous sentences. Plus, extremely hot. What could be better?

~

It would be tacky to write loving paeans to my own work 🤣, but I'll quickly throw in three of mine since they fit the theme!

Dangerous by Deastar (14,000 words, A/B/O, canon retelling, angst with a happy ending): Beta!LWJ has been raised to fear alphas—aggressive, ungovernable, promiscuous—and meeting alpha!WWX does nothing to change her mind… at first. Then, it changes everything.

scarcely trust my candid heart by Deastar (7000 words, Cloud Recesses arc, fluff and smut, A/B/O, humor): Beta/beta Wangxian with a LWJ who has gotten the incorrect impression that all betas are asexual and therefore finds WWX’s whole, like, everything extremely perplexing.

The Certainty of the Answer by Deastar (1300 words, Xuanwu Cave, fluff): A Xuanwu Cave amuse-bouche in which LWJ kisses WWX and then is stymied re: how to go about securing her hand in marriage.

#fic recs #the untamed #wangxian #wlw wangxian #mdzs #cql

[ravenpureforever]

random question time! which wwx's relationship do you like the most and why? It could be platonic or romantic, all canons allowed

Thank you for the ask! Oh boy this question is hard, because I like I appreciate so many of his relationships for different reasons that picking just one feels kinda cruel 

I think the biggest tie for me is between JC and LWJ for WWX. 

Wangxian is the rare ship where I genuinely can only see them romantically with each other, like I’m multishipper, I’ll ship literally anything if you have an interesting concept, pretty words or beautiful art, like grab my attention I am yours, except these two, they live in my head rent free and they can only be together because like maybe you lost everything, maybe you can never go back to that blissful youth you once had, but that doesn’t mean you can’t build a new life for yourself and find happiness and all the grief and tragedy does not define you but you still want to help people and you will help people and maybe it isn’t the life you thought you wanted when you were fifteen but it is a wonderful one and you love and you are loved and you are happy and that is enough. Maybe you suffered, maybe you were cruel, maybe the world misread who you are and assigned you a role you did not ask for, but maybe that doesn’t matter because you know who you are, you are still kind, and you have someone who knows and understands you and trusts who you are. You are both also kind of insufferable in your love and get to be annoying too. 

But JC & WWX are my ultimate tragic doomed platonic relationship, my neurotic little freaks who can’t be normal about each other and have zero boundaries, bickering idiots, wanting to go back to your youth except you’ll never be 15 again and you the person who knew the most intimate parts of yourself is now a stranger except you still see the glimmers of the person they used to be, the most brutal variation of you’ll never recover from that kind of devotion, the ultimate capturing  lost youth and having to go down different paths and really depicting what growing up is like sometimes, the viciousness where I am able to hurt you unlike anyone else (regardless if I want to or not), the abusive household codependency of survival, literally carrying a piece of your soul in my chest and making the ultimate sacrifice you never asked for because I couldn’t bare to risk losing you, the hollowness is a symbol of my devotion and the fullness is an omen of our splintering, there is one brain cell being shared like a game of tennis, my pathetic meow meow and beloved blorbo, I genuinely can’t be normal about them. 

I think if I really have to pick between them though, I’ll have to say JC & WWX just by virtue of I don’t like Wangxian fics that mischaracterize or villainize JC, like if he’s featured and isn’t a well-written character (Shanastorytellers' and loosingletters’ fics my absolute beloveds), it really takes me out of the narrative. His depiction and relationship with WWX has a lot of impact on my Wangxian enjoyment, and even in canon my beloved Wangxian gets to develop because of all the Ls this poor guy takes, so congrats JC, you win here! It’s by a literal hair, but JC & WWX platonic relationship, get these boys a reconciliation so they can drink in Lotus Pier and gossip about their kids and people they think are stupid, WWX it will enrich your marriage so much I promise. It’s what *I* deserve.

#mdzs #the untamed #rom-com asks #wangxian #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #lan wangji #cql

[rynne]

There’s a moment in the Second Siege I really love. (Well, more than one, because the Second Siege is one of my favorite scenes in the whole novel, but one I want to talk about right now.)

Suddenly, Wei WuXian spoke up, “HanGuang-Jun!” Lan WangJi turned around to look at him. Wei WuXian took in a breath, “I want to do something.” 

The eyes of the others were led over by the conversation as well. Wei WuXian, “Will you do it with me?” 

Lan WangJi gazed at him. He answered, firm and articulate, “I will.” 

Wei WuXian grinned before he took off his black robe.

(Chapter 81, ExR)

I love this moment so much. It’s such a beautiful reversal of some of the biggest missed opportunities of WWX’s first life in the Wangxian relationship. WWX kept his business to himself. LWJ offered help that wouldn’t really work for WWX. Neither of them quite trusted each other enough.

And yet here is a moment full of trust. WWX outright asks for LWJ’s help. LWJ does not hesitate to offer it even when he doesn’t know what WWX wants to do. 

And the way this is phrased also feels meaningful to me. WWX says “I want to do something.” Like in his first life, this is something he is initially only committing himself to doing. But then he reaches out to include LWJ, to ask if LWJ will do this thing he wants to do with him.

WWX is also often fanon-stereotyped as being unwilling to ask for help, though that’s not really the case, and we clearly see here that WWX has no problems asking for help when he trusts that he can get it. And he’s happy about getting it. He grins.

But that’s the thing here. WWX can ask for LWJ’s help because he now trusts that LWJ will give him the help he needs -- and he trusts that so much that he knows he doesn’t even need to give LWJ more specifics. And LWJ, who once upon a time would not have been able to unconditionally offer whatever WWX needed, no longer hesitates to do just that.

It’s such a good moment. These two build such a good relationship.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #novel scene commentary #love the way their relationship evolves

[gentil-minou]

wangixan modern au ft. a-yuan and big lwj wearing tiny dragonji costume

happy new year!

Wei Wuxian takes A-Yuan along with the Wens to check out the fireworks and light display. It's well past his bed time but everyone is having a blast!

That is until A-Yuan goes missing...

Wwx didn't even let go of his hand for more than a second, just to adjust the pile of sweets they'd bought from the market stalls. But when he reaches down to grab A-Yuan's hand, only chilling empty space greets him.

"A-Yuan?" Wwx whispers, not quite believing he'd lost a child in this crowd of what must thousands gathered by the waterfront.

"A-Yuan!!!"

"Wei-ge, what's wrong?" Sweet innocent Wen Ning asks, not realizing it's officially the worst day of their lives. What a horrific end to the year.

At least Wen Qing wasn't the one to find him, otherwise wwx might not make it to the new year at all.

Wwx frantically explains the situation and then, once he's dumped his haul with WN along with solemn orders to stay out in case A-Yuan returns, wwx runs off to search for him in the crowd.

He barrels through the crowd, heedless of the shoving but keeping a careful eye on the ground since A-Yuan would be too short to see over their heads.

He's not back at the market stalls nor is he dangling off the railing to get a better look at the colorful lanterns dotting the river, thankfully. He's not hiding in the crowd of kids listening to a storyteller weave a tale of dragons heralding in the new year.

As wwx whirls around again, the crowd blurring into nothing but streaks of color, his ears turn their cheers into taunts and jeering.

He can't—he can't lose A-Yuan. Not A-Yuan…not after everything. A-Yuan!!!

But no matter where he looks, there's no trace of his little radish.

He hastily rubs away the tears from his eyes and grits his teeth before more can fall. Theres no way he can give up now.

The crowd begins to thin the further away they get from the light display. A-Yuan had been most excited about seeing "the dragon in the sky!!!" so there's little chance he'd be here...but wwx is willing to scour the earth for as long as it takes.

Frankly, he's debating diving into the river to search that too, just in case, when he hears a beautiful, wonderful, familiar joyous shout.

"Gege!"

Relieved tears flood his vision as he spins around and drops to his knees to welcome his little radish and never let go…

Except, although that is A-Yuan's excited shout, wwx isn't the one A-Yuan is talking to.

"Dragon-gege, this way!"

No…the one A-Yuan is clinging to, tiny little hands wrapped around oversized synthetic claws, is a person dressed as a life-sized cartoon dragon mascot.

(Please imagine, for your viewing pleasure, a life-size version of tiny dragonji. Thank you)

His costume looks less like a dragon and more like…

When Wei Wuxian was young, he'd seen a tv show about a big purple dinosaur that was really more terrifying than kid friendly.

That's what this guy looks like, except his suit is light blue with a hole cut out for his face that's just out of view with how he's turned away. And written on his big white belly are the characters for "Gusu Electronics."

Wait.

Gusu Electronics?

Finally, the man turns, giving WWX a full view of his face that holy shit happens to be, of all people, his old dormmate Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji. Lan Zhan, who Wei Wuxian hasn't seen in years since he'd dropped out of school for reasons, who he'd never said goodbye to…

Who is currently being dragged around by a toddler while wearing a giant dragon costume, with all the solemnity of a king.

WWX bursts into laughter, lighting him up from the inside.

A-Yuan is safe. That's what matters most. Lan Wangji would keep him safe.

A-Yuan is also clearly trying to guide his bewildered Dragon-gege away. Though Lan Wangji's expression is still so difficult to read, it's clear from his hesitancy that he's not sure how to handle A-Yuan's stubborn determination to get his way.

WWX decides to put the poor dragon-guy out of his misery.

"Lan Zhan!"

At sound of his name, LWJ whirls around, the plastic horns on his costume bobbing dangerously with the movement.

Unfortunately, the tail attached to the back of his costume whips around too, knocking A-Yuan over.

WWX howls with laughter at the sight of A-Yuan on his bottom, staring up at LWJ with a look of utter betrayal only a 5-year-old can muster.

LWJ's puffy dragon arms reach out towards him as he glances back and forth between WWX and A-Yuan, eyes wide and stricken.

"Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan wait! Let me help!" WWX sputters between lingering stray giggles.

Something about wearing a glorified dragon onesie makes LWJ look especially vulnerable. Even his horns seem to droop and the feathery scales that circle his head look sheepish.

WWX helps A-Yuan back to his feet, though that doesn't stop the boy from looking balefully up at LWJ.

If it were possible for a grown man to deflate, that would be it. LWJ attempts to kneel in forgiveness, only it looks like the padding in his knees is too thick to do so.

Instead, he inclines his head—also difficult given that this his costume doesn't have any actual neck to twist—and apologizes seriously.

A-Yuan narrows his eyes and gives his Dragon-gege a cold, hard stare.

Finally, he deems his apology satisfactory and nods, then promptly sticks his thumb in his mouth.

WWX has to bite his cheek to keep from dissolving into a giggling puddle.

"So! Lan Zhan! What are you doing, uh, dressed like that."

A-Yuan tugs on his hand, drawing his attention, "That's Dragon-gege, Xian-gege."

"Ah yes of course, my mistake, Dragon-gege. May I ask what your esteemed self is doing?"

LWJ glowers at him, which means WWX /has/ to send him a cheeky, teasing grin in response.

"…Xiongzhang volunteered me." LWJ replies, pointedly avoiding eye contact.

"Ah, that makes more sense! Why else would the Gusu heir be wearing a costume like this?"

WWX would know; one of his part-time jobs involved dressing up as a meatbun during a humid stretch of summer. Definitely not something Lan Zhan would do for fun.

A-Yuan gasps. "Whoa~ Dragon-gege is an heir? Like a prince? Dragon-gege is Prince Dragon-gege!"

"That's right A-Yuan. Remember, how to greet princes? Just like in Popo's dramas?"

A-Yuan proceeds to execute a pretty accurate, if somewhat messy, curtsy, his two hands pressed together and his face adorably serious.

LWJ looks like he's about to combust, maybe actually breathe fire. The thought sends WWX into another round of uncontrollable giggles

A-Yuan directs his patented big, pleading brown eyes up at LWJ, and oh no. WWX knows that look.

"Will Prince Dragon-gege leave now that A-Yuan found his Xian-gege?" A-Yuan's lower lip wobbles. Oh, the little fiend. "He won't play with A-Yuan anymore?"

LWJ's mouth flops open like a fish trapped on land. A-Yuan adds more of a pout and twist back and forth.

WWX knows the next step if he doesn't get his way is to bring out the crocodile tears, and he's sure that will actually make LWJ combust. As much as he's enjoying seeing his old friend, if he's technically working they can't monopolize all his time.

"Come on little radish, time for dragon princes to run off for their palace. We can't keep him too long, he's got a new year to bring in!"

Unfortunately, this has the opposite effect and now A-Yuan's act has dropped into wide-eyed wonder as he looks at LWJ like a treasured deity.

"Wow! Dragon-gege brings in the new year? We have to play, Xian-gege! For luck!"

This is definitely something Uncle Four taught him, but now A-Yuan is sending the full force of those doe eyes at /WWX/, and WWX is a weak man.

"No! Not the A-Yuan eyes! Anything but that!" He tries to shy away, only for A-Yuan to tug on his arm until they're eye level.

He sets those beams to kill and WWX staggers under the weight of their cuteness.

At least A-Yuan is giggling and completely focused on making his Xian-gege fall over. WWX uses his genius distrction to wave LWJ away, gesturing for him to escape.

Except apparently Lan Wangji sucks at charades because instead of tucking his dragon tail and running off, he says, "I can stay. And celebrate. With A-Yuan and Wei Ying."

WWX jaw drops as A-Yuan cheers and dances happy circles around his Dragon-gege.

WWX tries to pull him aside. Luckily, A-Yuan's excited shouts drown out his whispers. "Lan Zhan, you, you know you don't have to right?"

LWJ gives him a look he can't read, but if he had to he'd assume it meant "Duh" in Lan Wangji-speak.

"I know, I want to."

WWX blinks, trying and failing to understand why anyone would want to spend their New Years dressed in a dragon costume while hanging out with a college drop-out and a toddler who's too good at manipulation.

But before he can protest, LWJ reaches out his hand for A-Yuan to grab and they're off. It's all WWX can do to catch up and run after them, shouting, "Hey! Wait for me!"

LWJ must know this festival better than them, because he instantly finds the best stalls and booths, with games that catch A-Yuan's eye and food that makes WWX drool.

His aim should be terrible and he should be at least a little uncoordinated considering what he's wearing, but no, not at all. Apparently LWJ is somehow stronger wearing a dragon costume, as if he's actually got some new abilities that lead him to win every game and every prize.

Somehow, he even manages to pay for everything too. Before WWX can so much as shuffle the pile of stuffed animals in arm aside to grab his wallet, LWJ has dug up some cash from whatever hidden pocket is in his suit.

He can't find it in himself to really complain though.

Back when they shared that small dormroom, LWJ was always doing things like this. Buying whatever they needed and paying for WWX even when he didn't ask, especially when he didn't ask.

He hasn't had anyone to do this for him in years. He and the Wens are always struggling to make end's meet, so any splurging they do is communal.

WWX had forgotten what if felt like to be taken care of like this. He'd forgotten the warmth that lit up his belly whenever LWJ wordlessly handed something to him. Like sitting next to a comforting campfire.

As midnight approaches, A-Yuan starts dozing off, his tanghulu gradually slipping out of his hand before WWX manages to save it

In one fluid movement, LWJ bends and lifts A-Yuan into his arms, resting his head against his shoulder where the puffy fabric of his costume is softest

A little part of WWX is jealous; he wouldn't mind cuddling with Dragon-gege too.

The other part is too busy trying to get a picture of them as LWJ walks off. WWX immediately sets the photo as his background, refusing to think too much about how his heart races.

Lan Wangji guides them over to a space cordoned off from the rest of the crowd. It must be where festival workers can hang back and relax, and it's blessedly peaceful here. Perfect for A-Yuan to relax.

"You know that costume of yours has its perks, Lan Zhan!" WWX says, whistling at the view. From here they can see the drones dancing overhead along with a pretty decent angle at the barge where fireworks sit at the ready. "Though all those kids wanting to take a picture, only for you to frown at them and scare them away! Haha! Maybe it isn't your thing after all."

LWJ lets out a breath that sounds a bit like a huff as he adjusts A-Yuan, cradling him closer to protect him from the slight breeze.

"This is usually Xiongzhang's idea of celebration. I am simply filling in."

WWX hums his acknowledgement, silently thanking Lan Xichen for giving him this good fortune today. He hangs over the railing, watching the current flow by and the shifting festival lights moving like stars in its waves.

He rests his head in his arms and glances over his shoulder

Lan Wangji stands with his eyes closed, enjoying what must be a refreshing breeze as he rocks slowly side to side. Just beneath the festival reverly, Wei Wuxian can hear him humming under his breath. Something soothing and melancholic as he rocks A-Yuan back and forth.

Even with all the pretty festival lights, and the fireworks that will launch any minute now, WWX finds he has no desire to look away. Something about the peaceful serenity on Lan Wangji, the way lanterns cast pretty patterns over his smooth skin. How his eyelashes cast long, fluttering shadows. The hint of a smile, the slightest tease lingering at the corner of his lips.

Why would Wei Wuxian ever look away?

A gust of wind tosses his hair and disturbs LWJ's costume enough for it to slip, revealing the side of his face covered in sweat and tiny strands of hair glued to his skin. LWJ's nose twitches, one of the feathery stands jutting out of his costume tickling him.

But with the limited range of movement his costume provides and the way what little is available is focused on holding a sleeping child, there's little LWJ can do other than contort his face to try and move the strand away.

When he starts blowing air out fruitlessly, his puffed up cheeks sticking out against his costume's hoodie, WWX chuckles softly and reaches over.

"Here, let me."

He carefully moves the strand aside and adjusts the costume so it's back in place. His fingers, cold from the late night winter chill, blaze with the heat of LWJ's skin.

His fingers brush against LWJ's cheekbones. How can skin be so soft?

LWJ stares back at him, eyes wide as the full moon overhead. In its reflection, his eyes seem almost gold with the light of a thousand lanterns living in them.

A hush falls over as WWX's fingers linger over his skin. He doesn't want to pull his hand away. He finds there's nothing he'd want to do less.

LWJ breaths in, and his exhale tickles WWX's nose. When did they get so close?

Distantly, the countdown begins.

Their eyes are still locked when the first fireworks are sent into the sky, a cascade of starfall lighting up the night. Colorful drones dance around them, transforming into a giant dragon chasing after the moon.

"Look, Dragon-gege. Is that you?" comes A-Yuan's sleepy voice from where it's tucked in his shoulder.

Finally, LWJ drags his gaze away from WWX, though tingles still race up his spine. He glances at the sky and says, "No, it's another dragon."

"Does that mean you'll stay here, with us?"

WWX heart clenches as he waits for his answers. LWJ looks at him as he replies, "Mn. If you will have me, yes I will."

The fireworks exploding overhead cannot be as loud as the drumming in WWX's ears.

But A-Yuan isn't finished tearing WWX apart. "Then make sure you kiss. That's the only way it will come true."

"A-Yuan!" WWX sputters. "Really, who taught you these things? That's not—Lan Zhan doesn't need to kiss m—anyone if he—"

"I meant /me/, Xian-gege," A-Yuan explains like hes the one explaining things to a toddler. He rolls his eyes and promptly kisses Lan Wangji on the cheek, happy giggles ringing as fireworks burst overhead.

A smirk twists across Lan Wangji's lips as Wei Wuxian gapes at them.

"Hey! That's not fair! Where's my kiss?"

LWJ lifts an eyebrow. "Would Wei Ying like a New Years' kiss as well?"

WWX's cheeks flame brighter than the fireworks. "I meant from—from—I didn't mean—Lan Zhan!"

A-Yuan giggles as LWJ huffs a laugh that works its way right into WWX's heart. Twin conspiratorial half-smiles creep across their faces, lit up by flashing colors.

LWJ leans over, and together he and A-Yuan kiss WWX's cheeks. A-Yuan's kiss is wet and messy, but the softness of LWJ's lips leave WWX cradling his cheek long after he pulls away, wishing he could trap the feeling there.

"I—I…That—"

"Hehe, Happy New Year, Xian-gege! Dragon-gege!" A-Yuan slips from LWJ's arms and leans against the railing, content to ignore them as he watches the rest of the show.

"Happy New Year, Wei Ying." LWJ says, still wearing that half-smile that twists WWX's insides.

WWX ignores how he must be a blushing mess and leans against LWJ, whose puffy costumed arm slides around his back, lending him warmth as the sky erupts above.

"Why did you have to wear this stupid costume anyway. We could be holding hands," he pouts.

LWJ huffs another silent laugh and presses a soft kiss against the crown of WWX's head.

WWX closes his eyes to savor the moment, then leans back and rests against LWJ, puffy glorified dragon onesie and all.

As he watches the show overhead reach its exciting concluding, listening to A-Yuan's quiet gasps and LWJ's soothing breathing, WWX makes a resolution.

Next year, he'll get a proper New Years kiss.

#Pretty pleased with this considering my only thought when coming up with this was “What if tiny dragonji but w/ life-sized LWJ dressed up as #My wish for the year is a Free Palestine and a collapse of the colonial powers 🍉🕊️ #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #wangxian #wei wuxian #wei ying #lan wangji #a-yuan #mdzs fanfiction #bushy writing #mdzs musings

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

~*~

1. ITMF a fic where the Lans or the neis or the cultivation world in general find out about the abuse wwx takes at jiang sect and the other sects trying to help him @zerokogane

~*~

2. Have you all seen maze runner? Yeah. I want a wangxian maze runner version/fusion/setting/same plot or something!!

~*~

3. A) ITMF fics where, in a wedding Wei Ying catches the flowers/bouquet brides throw?

Itmf fics where B) wwx is like a mystery unsolved to anyone and everyone

C) wwx is a magician. Like those cool tricky people uk. Could be real / fake magic. @constellationdks

3B)

Old Foreshadows by protos_metazu_ison (M, 15k, WangXian, YLLZ WWX, BAMF WWX, War, Universe Alteration, Sunshot Campaign) not sure i'm understanding the request, but maybe one of these?

🔒 never been away so long by sundiscus (G, <1k, wangxian, Modern, Pre-Relationship, First Meetings, Ambiguous/Open Ending, (but a happy ending in the endnotes!), Ghosts)

~*~

4. Hello, thank you, my favorite fic comes from your recs. Any fic recs for lan xichen x jiang yanli. No modern era please @dramaqueenrolf

~*~

5. hii, for the next imtf can I ask for a fic where lwj and wwx break up and r mopey about it? a modern au maybe, like there's no promised goodbye here

thank you!! @mercurygirlwt28

~*~

6. Hello! I have a read fics where the characters cultivate to immortality and the story picks up with their lives in modern era. I like the combo of traditional clothes, cultures, and canon personalities in the modern setting. Are there more fics like this? (I cannot remember the names of the two I have read in the past. In one I think WWX loses his memory and regains it upon backpacking to modern Cloud Recesses? In the other WWX time travels to modern and meets LWJ who has lived all those years.)

ridiculous future bullshit by sami (M, 61k, wangxian, WQ/JC/LXC, LSZ & WWX, LSZ/Other(s), LSZ & his family, JYL/OMC, Future Fic, movies, the rewriting of history if the past was different the future is different, But still ridiculous, Humor, the evolution of fashion, immortals through history, LWJ visits other cultures and judges them, Modern, best boy LSZ, Pride Parades, Cats, the legend of WQ, Academia, Border Crossings, biosecurity, oz quarantine is SERIOUS BUSINESS, Kinda cultivated to immortality, Paperwork, Family, Parents and Children, Uncles and nephews, the mortifying ordeal of your family seeing how you really live, Social Media, Chaos Gremlin WWX, Slight Hostage Situations, University, outsider pov, WWX vs Local Culture, actions have consequences, Pets, Movie Stars, Fluff) though it’s a sequel to And Time Is But A Paper Moon so some people are immortal in RFB who died in canon.

Thanks for giving me an excuse to dig up one of my favorite tropes from my bookmarks!! The Future is Ours to Keep series by makebelieveanything & nerdzeword (T, 25k, wangxian, JC & WWX, JC & YZY, JYL/LQY/WQ, post-canon, modern, immortality, reincarnation, healthy family relationships, epistolary, groupchats, fluff) Some beloved cast is immortal in modern times, some reincarnated

Ever Thine, Ever Mine, Ever Ours. by JaenysBloodcourt (T, 3k, WangXian, Immortal LWJ and WWX, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Well it could be a Bittersweet Ending, Love Confessions) Wangxian are immortal, but have pined for a thousand years, and (spoiler!!!) they do get together but mind the bittersweet ending!!!!!!

dark and glimmering by Sanguis (T, 5k, wangxian, post-canon, modern, technology malfunction, established relationship, married couple, immortality) Beautiful and wangxian-centric, not so much about the modern world. But the world is around

Wandering Souls, Wild Ghosts by belleweather (E, 49k, wangxian, post-canon, victorian au, case fic, rentboys, smut, married wangxian, immortality, canon-typical violence, period-typical sexism & racism & homophobia, voyeurism, families of choice) Victorian England with immortal!wangxian’s adventures!

Traditions Series by Witch_Nova221 (G, 7k, WangXian, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Christmas Presents, Modern with Magic, modern day cultivators, Cloud Recesses, Established Relationship, Married Couple, Married Life, family traditions, wangxian family feels, Romance, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, immortal cultivators)

A Tale of Two Immortals by esk95 (M, 31k, WIP, WangXian, XiCheng, XuanLi, Post-Canon, Like waaaaay Post-Canon Modern AU, but cultivation still exists, Immortality, Reincarnation, Pretty much everyone is a reincarnation except Wangxian, Secret Identities, Modern with Magic, Immortal!Wangxian) A beloved wip: Immortal wangxian try to solve a mystery, poor Sizhui just wants to be a cultivator and have support of his parents who don’t know anything about cultivation (lol), a lot of reincarnated folk around

MDZS: The Golden Engine by iffervescent (E, 82k, WangXian, XiCheng, Explicit Sexual Content, Immortals) The summary says it all: “In the modern era, immortals Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian return to Gusu. New evil and old friends + new friends and old evils.”

All Old Things are New Again Series by The Feels Whale (miscellea) (M, 59k, WIP, WangXian, XuanLi, ChengQing, Reincarnation, Modern AU, canon still happened, extreme post canon, Sugar Daddy, Kink Negotiation, gentle dom!LWJ, canonical levels of consent play, Modern Cultivators, Epilogues, yunmeng bros reconciliation, rabbit acquisition) has some immortal lwj and lxc with reincarnation wwx,and it's amazing.

~*~

7. ITMF fics which have wwx's ghosts. Remember ghost brides? And that ghoul child? They don't have to have a major part or something, just the fuc having wwx talking and being friends with ghosts.

It can also have the ghosts taking care of wwx. Loving him and all uk

when the sun goes out by travelingneuritis (E, 176k, WangXian, Modern Cultivation, tech cultivation, Necromancy, Angst with a Happy Ending, insecurity around adoption, Dad!WWX, dad!lwj, Grief/Mourning, Mistaken Identity, Mood Whiplash, Body Swap, sex tears!, Falling In Love, Consensual Somnophilia, apocalypse (localized), Smut, unrealistic sexual stamina, Flashbacks, Time Skips, Illustrations) if you're okay with OC ghosts I highly recommend When the Sun Goes Out by travelingneuritis, it's one of my favorite fics and wwx's relationship with his ghost army (Kaichuang in particular) is one of the reasons why

Ad Oblivione by Baph, HikariNoHimeWriter (M, 70k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Temporary Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, POV Multiple, Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Identity Reveal, Golden Core Reveal, Cultivation World Critical, Not JC Friendly, Abusive YZY, Angst with a Happy Ending) WWX has a ghost companion who helps him & acts as a mother figure towards him

let the sun go down on your anger; let it burn you to sleep by enbysaurus_rex (Not rated, 86k, wangxian, WQ & WWX, graphic depictions of violence, chronic illness, narcolepsy, chronic pain, YLLZ WWX, oblivious WWX, sleeping beauty elements, body horror, WIP) has pretty much every one of Wei Wuxian's ghosts playing a part and teaming up with his family to help take care of him in their own way

~*~

8. hii, for the itmf

are there any fics w the trope "someone who believes they're hard to love and someone who loves then like it's breathing?

I hope ure having a nice day!!

~*~

9. Any fics where yu ziyuan treats wwx like a son or nephew??

And Time Is But a Paper Moon by sami (M, 139k, WangXian, XiChengQing, Time Travel, Fix-It, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Healing, Mental Health Issues, PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Depression, BAMF WWX, BAMF JC, BAMF LWJ, BAMF JYL, Getting Together)

Sail Away Sweet Sister by sami (M, 73k, WangXian, YZY/CSSR/MDM Lan, MingLi, Time Travel, EXTREME Canon Divergence, Wide Focus Narrative, Some People Live/Not Everyone Dies, Most Named/Canon Characters Live, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Families of Choice, Parenthood, this work contains a major tonal shift, Fluff, Angst, Underage Sex, not particularly explicit, but not at all ambiguous, PTSD, Only a tiny bit, Unforeseeable consequences, The butterfly effect, Slightly Dark JYL, Asexual Characters, but that’s not really the focus, Canon-Typical Violence) Also most of sami's time travel fics. this one for sure, probably a few others in the Same Moon series

Across the street to another life by danegen (M, 99k, WangXian, Modern AU, unleashed au, Family Fluff, Set in America, Hurt/Comfort, Past Child Abuse, Addiction, Crime, Amnesia, Ableist Language, another fridged mother, POV Alternating, past wwx/ofc, past wwx/omc, Medium parent YZY, A-Yuan is wwx’s biological son, Musicians, Happy Ending) it's mostly late in the fic but "across the street to another life" REALLY earns that "medium parent yu ziyuan" tag. Far from perfect but really steps up when it matters.

Hope series by RoseThorne (T, 57k, wangxian, WWX & YZY, WWX & JFM, WWX & JYL, YZY/JFM, JC & WWX, LQR & WWX, LXC & JYL, Madam Jin & YZY, LQR & JFM, LXC & LWJ, Transmigration, Time Travel Fix-It, Illnesses, Family, Scars, Memory Loss, Angst, Crying, Music, Nosebleed, Fear, Recovery, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed, Flirting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Good Parent YZY, Referenced Sexual Slavery, Blood and Gore, Monsters, Sexual Tension, betrothal, Arranged Marriage, Grief, Adoption, POV Third Person, POV Alternating, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Good Parent LQR, Clairvoyance, Butterfly Effect, Kid Fic, Epistolary, Food, Secrets, Resentful Energy, Cultivation Sect Politics, Character Death)

The Best Gift by Lan_Wangjoe (E, 45k, WangXian, Modern AU, Mistaken Identity, Miscommunication Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Family Fluff, Family Dynamics, Falling In Love, Idiots in Love, Dorks in Love, Nice LQR, Meet the Family, Nerdiness, Science Boyfriends, Science Experiments, Fake Science, Science Husbands, Geeks, Work Contains Fan(s) or Fandom(s), Fandom Allusions & Cliches & References, Fans & Fandom AU, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adopted Children, Marriage of Convenience, Secret Marriage, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Stupidity, Himbo LXC, Lan Himbos, L��n Family Feels, Everyone Is Alive, Everyone Thinks They're Together, Good Parents JFM and YZY, Genius WWX, Geniuses)

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10. Does anybody have anything where it’s just Immortal(one of them could be reincarnated and recultivated immortality) Wangxian being happy through the ages or in modern society? (Preferably modern Cultivation society) @omgnectarina

The Future is Ours to Keep series by makebelieveanything & nerdzeword (T, 25k, wangxian, JC & WWX, JC & YZY, JYL/LQY/WQ, post-canon, modern, immortality, reincarnation, healthy family relationships, epistolary, groupchats, fluff) (link in #6) Some beloved cast is immortal in modern times, some reincarnated

Ever Thine, Ever Mine, Ever Ours. by JaenysBloodcourt (T, 3k, WangXian, Immortal LWJ and WWX, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Well it could be a Bittersweet Ending, Love Confessions) (link in #6) Wangxian are immortal, but have pined for a thousand years, and (spoiler!!!) they do get together but mind the bittersweet ending!!!!!!

dark and glimmering by Sanguis (T, 5k, wangxian, post-canon, modern, technology malfunction, established relationship, married couple, immortality) (link in #6) Beautiful and wangxian-centric, not so much about the modern world. But the world is around

Wandering Souls, Wild Ghosts by belleweather (E, 49k, wangxian, post-canon, victorian au, case fic, rentboys, smut, married wangxian, immortality, canon-typical violence, period-typical sexism & racism & homophobia, voyeurism, families of choice) (link in #6) Victorian England with immortal!wangxian’s adventures!

Traditions Series by Witch_Nova221 (G, 7k, WangXian, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Christmas Presents, Modern with Magic, modern day cultivators, Cloud Recesses, Established Relationship, Married Couple, Married Life, family traditions, wangxian family feels, Romance, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, immortal cultivators) (link in #6)

A Tale of Two Immortals by esk95 (M, 31k, WIP, WangXian, XiCheng, XuanLi, Post-Canon, Like waaaaay Post-Canon Modern AU, but cultivation still exists, Immortality, Reincarnation, Pretty much everyone is a reincarnation except Wangxian, Secret Identities, Modern with Magic, Immortal!Wangxian) (link in #6) A beloved wip: Immortal wangxian try to solve a mystery, poor Sizhui just wants to be a cultivator and have support of his parents who don’t know anything about cultivation (lol), a lot of reincarnated folk around

MDZS: The Golden Engine by iffervescent (E, 82k, WangXian, XiCheng, Explicit Sexual Content, Immortals) (link in #6) The summary says it all: “In the modern era, immortals Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian return to Gusu. New evil and old friends + new friends and old evils.”

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11. Itmf pregnant wwx doesn’t realize he is pregnant at first. Broody, hormonal, instinctive, etc., can be foxxian but doesn’t have to be. Bonus points if LWJ has it figured out. Any era is fine.

I didn't know I was pregnant! by Haunted_Cheese (G, 1k, WangXian, A/B/O Dynamics, Modern AU, Mpreg, Unplanned Pregnancy, Childbirth, Omega WWX, Alpha LWJ, Pregnant WWX)

🔒Little fall of rain by luckymoonly (M, 10k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, WWX didn't know he was pregnant, Mpreg, Mention of Birth, Family Feels, Nielan himbo rights, soft LQR, Misunderstandings, jealous lwj, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Smut, Breastfeeding, Thirsty Granny Wen, JGS being his usual self)

🔒Surprise Baby! by trulywicked (M, 10k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Modern Cultivation, Mpreg, Unplanned Pregnancy, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Didn't know he was pregnant, birthing scene, Little bit of blood, A/B/O Dynamics, Inspired by Twitter, Established Relationship, Fluff)

Blood, Google, and Love by Prairie_Grass (E, 4k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, they were roommates, A/B/O Dynamics, Getting Together, Mpreg, semi graphic giving birth, Alpha LWJ, Omega wwx, Intersex Omegas, (or you could head-canon WWX as trans if you wanted), Fluff and Angst, the run-on sentences are on-purpose because WWX and LWJ are both:, neurodiverse characters, slightly traumatic birth)

Impermanence, Transience, Permanence by Best Bepsy (BepsyGray) (E, 39k, wangxian, canon divergence, unplanned pregnancy, mpreg, gore, sunshot campaign, assumed miscarriage, medical procedures, childbirth, golden core reveal) And the case of 'didn't know I was STILL pregnant'

Does Wei Ying have Covid? by Webawee (G, 2k, WangXian, Modern AU, A/B/O Dynamics, Mpreg, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Established Relationship, Pregnancy, Morning Sickness) there's a hillarious fic called does wei ying have covid? its exactly as it sounds our oblivious baby wwx thinks he has covid when lwj thinks wwx is scared to be pregnant/ anxious and wq is wq its great

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12. (Previous part added to FF)

if you could also recommend fics where lwj rejects wwx at first then feels so guilty about it after seeing/hearing about wwx suffering due to his rejection (just any au with this trope)?? i am a sucker for angst with a happy ending.

we are blessed in this community for all the work that you do, thank you so much! 🙇🏻‍♀️ @emkaii

When the Words Stop Coming by mrcformoso (T, 7k, WangXian, Canon Compliant, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Pre-Sunshot Campaign, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Canonical Character Death, Love Confessions, Rejection, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending) Basically where WWX confesses, lwj keeps rejecting him, and canon still happens.

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13. Itmf NMJ is everyone’s big brother (also the best brother nmj).

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14. Hey, hope you're well. ITMF Wèi WuXian appreciation fics. (ex- stunted, starving, juvenility, hua xianle) @tinyfoxpeach

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15. Hello! I wonder if there are works, where Wei Ying died from strangulation in the field by the hands of Jiang Cheng? Thank you!

Lay my body down by tawaen (M, 48k, WWX & WQ, WWX & WN, wangxian, WWX & JYL, canon divergence, time travel, rogue cultivator WWX, no golden core transfer, not cultivation world friendly, not JC friendly, OCs) Might not be what the requester wants? WWX dies in the siege of the Burial Mounds & part of his spirit gets flung through time & latches onto the moment where he is strangled & his heart stopped & goes 'it's free real estate', resulting in a time travel AU where WWX choses to nope the fuck out of the cultivation world. He does die in that moment, but if the requester wants an angsty MCD fic, this ain't it / has Wei Ying die of strangulation but a fragment of his soul returns to that moment and he lives again.

False Catharsis by mondengel (Not Rated, 792, Horror, Angst) WWX dies. It's only 700 words but it hits hard.

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16. Hello~! ITMF hanahaki disease fics, preferably canon setting? In hanahaki trope someone who has unrequited love will grow flowers in their chest until the roots and branches kill them. Basically a curse to wither away in sadness and die unless your love is requited.

Regret Blossoms by piecrust (G, 7k, wangxian, Hanahaki Disease)

This Lantern Shines For You by apollonie (M, 10k, wangxian, Hanahaki Disease, Angst with a Happy Ending, Post-Canon, Pining WWX, WWX Needs a Hug, LWJ is a Disaster Gay)

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17. Idk if you'll answer this but do u know any fics where lwj travels back in time to his younger selfs body and gets to change how he was like with wwx? (Bonus points if it was just a dream) thanks!!! 💗

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Time, Pining while fucking, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Angst with a Happy Ending, CQL Verse, almost everybody lives/almost nobody dies, epistolary-ish, canon-ish side pairings, radishes) LWJ goes back & changes his decision at Qiongqi Path

🔒 The Second Hand Unwinds by trulywicked (E, 25k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, Time Travel Fix-It, not JC friendly, not Yúnmèng Jiāng Sect friendly, not Jiāng Family friendly, not YZY friendly, Time Travelling LWJ, Protective LWJ, Fluff, Minor Angst, Minor Character Death, JGS is his own warning, Wooing, LWJ is romantic af, Inventor WWX, Genius WWX, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Gūsū Lán Sect, Supportive LXC, Good Uncle LQR, WIP) LWJ goes back to CRSA

A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 70 k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, POV LWJ, POV JC, Dark LWJ, Manipulation, Grooming, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Consensual Underage Sex, Except problematic please read warning in first chapter, Blood and Violence, Insane LWJ, Manic LWJ, Conditioning, WWX is a Lán, Minor Character Death, Confused JC, Golden Core Reveal, Good Friend NHS, WWX Isn’t Adopted by the Jiāngs, Abusive Jiāng Family, Jiāng Family Bashing, Jiāng Family Critical, POV NHS, Dark NHS, Anal Sex, Marathon Sex, Dual Cultivation, Qīnghéng-jūn Lives, LWJ Has a Big Dick, WWX Self-Lubricates, Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Scheming NHS, Manipulative NHS, BAMF LWJ, BAMF WWX) Features dark!LWJ. Mind the tags

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If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic recs #i'm in the mood for a fic #the untamed #wangxian fic search #wangxianficfinder #long post

[ninjakk]

The cold spring scene - An important part of Wangxian's developing feelings for each other

The cold spring scene when WX are adorable teens is just such an interesting spa date interaction between the pair. WWX is a big tease and poor LWJ just can't seem to escape him! I actually think more praise needs to be given towards LWJ here... He keeps his cool quite well considering the circumstances. Although the scene is quite short and sweet - it still has a lot of details hidden just under the water surface.

After recently re-reading the ongoing MDSZ manhua, I noticed quite a few bits from the novel are missing. One scene in particular, is the one I am going to analyse here. I was quite surprised to see this was not included, even if it 'needed' censoring for whatever bullshit 'reason' - it still could have been included somehow surely?!

To me, this scene and the punishment scene prior to this, are actually quite an important part of the CR arc and a fundamental building block of WXs budding friendship/relationship. It shows their true characters to each other and the reader. LWJ punished himself alongside WWX because he is in essence, fair and just - even if WWX pulled him out of the CR grounds! We also see the utter horror WWX has at realising that LWJ has taken his words so seriously and is going to punish himself also. WWX tries to stop this happening, because he's kind and caring - he doesn't want LWJ to get hurt or punished, especially for something he caused. So to omit this and the cold spring scene, where WWX is very sincere and somewhat in awe of LWJ, is quite sad in my opinion.

So let's take a look at the scene in question. I have to say, one thing that always stands out to me is that WWX doesn't visit the cold spring until night-time. WWX was dragged out of bed very early in the morning, apparently 'before daylight even appeared'. After the beating, JC is carrying WWX away and they bump into LXC, who informs WWX there is a way for him to heal in a few short hours. WWX was beaten quite badly, and very swollen - yet he didn't go to the cold spring until much later. There were no lessons, because LQR was still away in Qinghe - so I find it a bit odd he waited all day before seeing to his injuries.

Chapter 18

It was night-time, at the cold spring of the Cloud Recesses. Lan WangJi’s eyes were closed as he relaxed in the ice-cold water. Suddenly, a voice rang beside his ears, “Lan Zhan.”

“...”

Lan WangJi’s eyes sprang open. Sure enough, Wei WuXian was lying on his stomach, above the blue stones beside the cold spring, tilting his head and smiling at him.

WWX has snuck up on LWJ while he is mediating in the spring. We don't know how long he's been there, but he's lying down on the rocks watching LWJ. Personally, I think it's safe to assume WWX was probably thinking similar thoughts to what he did when he saw LWJ in the cold spring in his second life. Blinded by his looks, but convincing himself he's not - as he's done so many times. We already know he finds him attractive from the amount of time he's said so since coming to the Cloud Recesses - so it's probably not too far off! The fact WWX lay on the ground in quite an alluring pose, just adds to the teasing tone he loves to use with LWJ.

At some point, probably after a long while of marveling at how beautiful LWJ looks WWX calls out to LWJ near his ear, which is quite a seductive way to make himself known. When LWJ opens his eyes, he sees WWX lying on the ground smiling at him with his head tilted. Interestingly enough, the head tilt is in a number of translations I have read as well. A head tilt is a subconscious facial cue that not only shows you are interested, but it also shows you are being submissive. Because it exposes a vulnerable part of the body, it's a sign that you are comfortable being vulnerable around the person you are talking to. Ironically, it's nonverbal communication that means 'I trust you not to bite harm me' - and considering LWJ's penchant for biting later in the novel, it's quite amusing. It's something females tend to do with someone they like. It's also often used in literature to convey flirtation and interest as well. So it's very interesting to see WWX adopting this stance in front of LWJ.

Lan WangJi blurted out, “How did you come in?!” Wei WuXian slowly crawled up, and spoke as he took off his sash belt, “ZeWu-Jun told me to come in.” Lan WangJi, “What are you doing?”

Wei WuXian kicked off his boots while leaving piles of clothing all over the ground, “I already stripped, so what do you think I’m here for? I heard that your sect’s cold spring can cure injuries aside from helping with one’s cultivation. So, your brother told me to come here and bathe with you. Except, it’s really not nice of you to come here to heal alone. Eep! It really is cold. Brr…”

I find this next bit quiet interesting. WWX slowly crawls up and proceeds to take his clothes off - which is a little provocative. He could have taken his clothes off before drawing attention to himself - but he didn't. He waited for LWJ to turn around and stripped in front of him. I know he's probably very used to be naked in front of the other male disciples back at his sect when they bathe and change. But it's the way he does it here that just seems more deliberate and teasing. Especially after speaking next to LWJ's ear and slowly crawling up before undressing. It's a good job LWJ's waist-deep in cold water if you ask me.

I also find it interesting that LXC told him to come and bathe with LWJ specifically. Perhaps to set up a spa date help mend their budding friendship after the joint punishment they received at LWJ's behest. LXC does seem to fancy himself as a bit of a mediator at times, and even used a similar approach to try and help clear up animosity between JGY and NMJ later in the novel. At least this one was more successful I guess! This could also be the reason WWX doesn't go to the cold spring until night-time as well.

“Do not move!” As he spoke, he extended an arm, and put his hand on Wei WuXian’s shoulder. Wei WuXian instantly felt a surge of warmth coming from where their bodies connected. Feeling better, he couldn’t help but to shift closer over there. Lan WangJi was wary of this, “What?” Wei WuXian replied in an innocent tone, “Nothing. It seems like your side is warmer.” Lan WangJi firmly kept his arm between the two of them, maintaining the distance. He sternly declared, “It is not."

I always find this part quite funny, as the adorable 'I do not have physical contact with others' LWJ was just pushed to the point he touched WWXs bare shoulder. LWJ refused to hold onto WWXs hand while saving him from the waterborne abyss, but now he's resorted to physical contact in order to keep WWX away from him - because he's shy. Personally I think the surge of warmth could have a double meaning here. Yes, the water is freezing and of course body warmth would cause this reaction. But considering how WWX subconsciously feels about LWJ, and the chemistry that has been there since they first met - it could also be a reaction to being touched by someone he is evidently attracted to. After the physical contact, WWX continues to gravitate towards LWJ, as he so often does. WWX claims he wants to get closer to him because LWJ's side seems warmer, apparently.

Wei WuXian wanted to get closer to Lan WangJi so that it was more convenient for him to flatter the other. Even though he couldn’t go over and was given the cold shoulder, he wasn’t angered at all. He glanced at Lan WangJi’s palms and shoulder. The bruises were still there, meaning that Lan WangJi really wasn’t here to heal. Wei WuXian spoke sincerely, “Lan Zhan, I admire you so much. You really did punish yourself as well, without treating yourself any better. I don’t have anything else to say.”

Lan WangJi shut his eyes again, without any words. Wei WuXian spoke again, “Really, I’ve never seen someone as prim and proper as you. It’d be impossible for me to do something like this. You’re so cool.”

Lan WangJi still paid him no attention.

WWX has now given two separate reasons as to why he was trying to get closer to LWJ, while they are naked in the cold spring. As we've previously seen, WWX actively uses self deception to rationalise the feelings or actions he is not ready to understand. There are many examples of WWX doing this throughout the novel. WWX actually did something similar when he saw LWJ in the cold spring prior to the Cloud Recesses flashbacks. He tried to rationalise why he was looking at the bathing beauty. So in the above scene, WWX is trying to reason with himself and justify his need to be near LWJ at this moment in time...while they're naked.

WWX goes on to state he wouldn't be able to punish himself if he was in LWJs position - but we know from other parts of the novel that this is not true. WWX actually takes the brunt of the punishment for the other junior disciples at his sect often. Perhaps not always out of choice, but I think he'd probably do it anyway as he's very protective of people he cares about.

What WWX is really impressed with is that LWJ took the punishment alongside him, which no one has ever done before. As we later find out, he's always the one taking all the hits and punishment dished out at Lotus Pier. No one has ever really stepped in to take some of the punishment with him. The joint punishment they received is an important part of the developing relationship (and somewhat unconscious feelings) WWX has for LWJ.

WWX didn't get a reaction from his very sweet and sincere compliments, so he continues to flatter LWJ to try and elicit a response. It is just adorable how much WWX craves LWJ's attention to the point he says 'I don't have anything else to say' after being so sweet - but then continues to praise him anyway!

WWXs compliments are genuine and sincere. He really is in awe of LWJ at this moment when isn't he tbh and his comments are very sweet. But as genuine as they are, this is also a flirting technique, as I've mentioned in a previous post. Complimenting in such a way, is feminine flirting technique that is a way to appease the male ego.

After Wei WuXian stopped feeling cold, he started to swim around the cold spring.

He swum for a while, but still went near Lan WangJi, “Lan Zhan, didn’t you notice what I was doing when I talked to you?” Lan WangJi, “I do not know.” Wei WuXian, “You don’t even know about this? I was complimenting you, trying to become more casual with you.” Lan WangJi glanced at him, “What do you want to do?” Wei WuXian, “Lan Zhan, why don’t we become friends? We’re already so familiar.” Lan WangJi, “We are not.”

WWX is yet again gravitating towards LWJ. As LWJ didn't react the way WWX wanted him to, he is trying to justify his compliments. He goes on to admit he was complimenting LWJ, in order for them to become 'friends'. Which I'm sure is what he wants, but subconsciously he wants more than that and doesn't quite understand that although he likes him, it's in a slightly different way to a 'friend'.

Wei WuXian slapped the surface of the water, “Now, you’re being boring again. Really. There are lots of benefits if you become friends with me.” Lan WangJi, “For example?” Wei WuXian swam near the edge of the spring, and leaned back with his arms on the blue rocks, “I’m always really loyal towards my friends. For example, I’d definitely let you be the first person to look at new porn that I get hold of… Hey, hey, come back! It’s fine if you don’t look at them. Have you been to Yunmeng? Yunmeng is really fun. Yunmeng’s food is also good. I don’t know if it’s Gusu’s or the Cloud Recess’s problem, but the food in your sect are so bad. If you come to Lotus Pier, you can eat lots of delicious food. I can take you to pick lotus seed pods and water chestnuts. Lan Zhan, do you wanna come?” Lan WangJi, “No.”

WWX begins to tease LWJ once again, because he has seemingly rejected his advances of striking up a friendship. So he initially jokes about lending LWJ porn, which he knows he would reject. In fact, WWX might have even been trying to get LWJ to get angry here once again - as he definitely got a kick out of it (and he later admits he most certainly does!). LWJ was about to leave because of WWX's teasing, so he quickly changes the subject in order to stop him from leaving. WWX invites LWJ on a date to come and stay with him at Lotus Pier so he can show him around where he lives - which is just utterly adorable! I've already covered some of this in a previous post, so I won't cover it much further here.

I really love this scene as it's nice to see WWX able to talk to LWJ away from JCs disapproval and hostility. It's also outside of the Library Pavilion environment, where he is being punished and LWJ is even more reluctant to talk. It's interesting to see how LWJ is able to converse with him a little more than usual, over their past two interactions. Granted, LWJ didn't say much here. But it's certainly a start! As @parlerenfleurs stated in a recent post, if LWJ had been a little less guarded - I have no doubt WWX would have been enticed into kissing LWJ, if he'd been able to get closer to him.

There is very much a sense of mutual respect and admiration starting to form, alongside their chemistry and physical attraction. Over the past few interactions they have shared, WWX has noticed that LWJ is very strong, perceptive and virtuous. LWJ managed to simultaneously save WWX and the third wheel Su She, pulling them away from the waterborne abyss. In turn, showing the shocking strength of his sword and himself - which certainly impressed WWX. WWX also got to see that LWJ is extremely observant, as he was first to work out the water ghouls were luring them to a waterborne abyss. As stated above, WWX is also incredibly impressed with how virtuous LWJ is, punishing himself as well as WWX. In turn, LWJ got to see how brave and kind he is by saving Su She. He also got to see that WWX is also a skilled cultivator with a keen eye, as he spotted the water ghouls hiding under the boats when no one else did.

I really think this small but sweet scene is a lot more important than some people might think. Once you have read the rest of the novel and extra chapters, this scene becomes even more important in showing the growing feelings that they had for one another from the very beginning. The Lotus Seed Pod extra shows the reader just how much both of them were affected by this small encounter. It's been around a year since they met and they are both still thinking about WWX's invitation to come visit him. Although they are miles apart, they are both pining for each other, thinking of what was said that night at the cold spring.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #mdzs novel #mdzs manhua #the Cloud Recesses arc is just perfect #wwx and lwj on a spa date #lxc setting up a spa date for his bro #mdzs meta #its a good job lwj is waist deep in cold water

[layzeal]

What are some of the things that are ace codesd abt wwx? I don’t hear much abt and and am curious!

HIII, okay so as always, "coded" isn't really the right word since it implies authorial intent, but i often use it anyway bc who cares it's my blog. just know i don't think wwx is actually canonically supposed to be demi, it's just a headcanon from silly ol' me!

i do have a #demi-wwx tag you can check if u'd like too hehe

now, what makes wwx come off as SO incredibly acespec/demisexual for me is his approach to... well, relationships in his first life. he's a flirt! he likes teasing people! he likes watching them blush! he likes getting a reaction! but as lwj questions him in the xuanwu cave about, it all seems like very much a game to him, something he does without actual intention, unaware of the torment he might be putting others (lwj) through

i often see people say that wwx didn't date or that wangxian didnt get together in his first life because "they had other things going on" and "there was no time", but that's not only innacurate to post-sunshot, it genuinely comes off to me as if wwx simply has no romantic or sexual interest in anyone at all. granted, he has an eye for pretty things and people, and is VERY vocal about whenever he finds others beautiful. lwj is a common target, but far from the only one!

basically, for as loud as flirty as he can be, we know that's never really genuine. there's no second-intentions or desire in his words (hell, he had even been saving first first kiss for twenty years!!), even when it comes to lwj. and the way we know it is by comparing it all to how he acts, thinks and feels after he's ACTUALLY experiencing attraction for the first time!

but what does have to do with him being demi? and what makes, in my mind, wwx so much more demi coded than lwj for example, whose entire romantic arc is only falling in love with one person?

well, that would be that despite the way it's been romanticized, demisexuality has nothing to do with "only falling in love once". devotion isn't acespec exclusive, choosing to love a single person in your life isn't acespec exclusive. demisexuality is simply a term to describe the specific conditions a relationship might need for an asexual person to experience attraction. those conditions? a strong emotional bond (which is why so many demi ppl are described as "only being able to fall in love with your best friend")

and to me, that's what sells wwx as demisexual the most. he's had so many friends, classmates, xiongdi, and all sorts of companions in his life, but none of them were particularly... emotionally fulfilling. other than perhaps shijie, who he saw more like a mother and sister, there was no one else who he could truly lean on and trust, open up, and be vulnerable with. for many people, that's not a barrier that gets in the way of developing romantic or sexual interest in someone at all, and that's great!! (we see it with lwj himself, who spent so many of his teenage years frustrated for liking wwx and had to slowly realize why that wasn't shameful or a bad thing. lwj's attraction not only came before there was any significant bond between them, it directly blocked it from forming earlier due to lwj's constant avoidance of wwx!)

but for demi people, and for wei wuxian, it is a barrier. it's almost comical just how fast and deeply wwx fell in love with lwj once he opened up to him. it is the most visible in wwx's second life, but i do find there are inklings here and there to it in his first, especially after wwx and lwj get to spend some pleasant time together (ie. post-phoenix mountain and post-yiling date with a-yuan)

but it really does become the most obvious after the yi city arc (drunkji 2 my belovedddd). by that point, their friendship and closeness was already solid, and wwx is already crushing HARD, but isn't quite aware of it yet. it isn't until post-jinlitai stab (and his flashback to his and lwj's youth, how they fell apart and how lwj was only ever worried for him) that he starts pondering if these feelings might be... more than just fondness. and boy do i eat it UUUUUP

it wasn't until wei wuxian got that reassurance of trust and closeness that his feelings truly started to develop. i genuinely cannot imagine a wei wuxian who falls in love with someone who he genuinely believes hates him, and it's actually something i believe stopped wwx from developing deep feelings for lwj in his first life. we know how much all his rejections and their disagreements hurt wwx, and in the back of his mind, he always thought lwj disapproved of him, maybe even disliked him. there was no trust, and it smothered any small, warm little inkling of romantic love from sparking into a flame

so when wwx finds himself with a lwj who is indulgent, who wants to be close, who protects him, comforts him, listens to him, and won't ever let him fall... well, you can't blame him for daydreaming about a calm farm life by his side, or being embarrassed for acting so shameless while still pretending to be mxy, or wishing from the bottom of his heart that even if lwj doesn't love him back, he'll still stay next to him

he only ever wanted lwj to be his friend, and now he's the closest and most intimate one he's ever had. and he treats him so well... all the barriers have fallen, how could wei wuxian not fall too?

(and i didnt rly get into it but this all applies to physical attraction as well! wwx behaves and sees lwj's beauty through two different lenses in his first and second life, and wwx himself noticed the difference from when he could see lwj's nakedness back then without batting an eye VS now. it's hilarious, endearing, and EXTREMELY relatable!!)

#this is just me babbling nonsensically for way too many paragraphs #BUT NOW U KNOW WHY MY BLOG TITLE IS ''wangxian friendship enthusiast'' #modao #lace speaks #demi wwx

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Moods

Here's the LWJ (me) being thirsty over WWX fic I've been wanting to write all day and have been enabled to do by @sasumimo <3

Enjoy!!

Today, Lan Wangji has woken up in a mood. What mood?

Guess. It starts with an "h".

Now you might be wondering - isn't he always like that? And the answer is yes, he is, but today it's even more so than usual, and that's saying something.

There isn't even a particular reason. He just woke up at 5 on the dot, like he always does, turned to look at his sleeping husband Wei Ying and had the same realization he has every morning - Wei Ying is alive, in his bed, naked, beautiful and married to him. For some reason, that realization hit so much harder today.

Wei Ying has always been beautiful, even if only just by virtue of being Wei Ying - but his features have always been objectively beautiful even without the added layer of Lan Wangji's adoration.

And now that Mo Xuanyu's body has become more Wei Ying's than ever before, his appearance shifting closer to that of the soul inhabiting it, Lan Wangji can't help but be attracted to him. That's a given, of course, since they're married and also very sexually active - but to be absolutely blunt, Wei Ying has been getting hotter by the day and Lan Wangji feels himself flashback to his teenage years when his beloved's beauty haunted his dreams and his fantasies every night.

Lan Wangji likes to take the time and appreciate what he has every now and then - and today he wants to do so thoroughly. And if he's a little late to his duties today, let the elders dare say something about it.

Wei Ying sighs, wistfully, in his sleep, his lips slightly parted to let the breath out. They're pink and plush and Lan Wangji knows from first hand experience how soft, inviting and insatiable they can be. And how very teasing and skilled.

Wei Ying's nose scrunches slightly at whatever he is dreaming, and Lan Wangji almost moves to kiss the very tip of it. But he knows Wei Ying doesn't like to be woken up so early, even with affection, so he tallies the kiss for later and continues his bout of admiration.

Wei Ying's long lashes nearly brush the tips of his soft cheeks, pulled over his stormy eyes in a serene expression. He looks angelic like this, nestled in white sheets like he is sleeping on the softest cloud in the sky.

His hair falls around him like a veil, the long strands hiding the naked skin of his back where Lan Wangji has bitten his love into so many times last night. The training he has been doing has already started to pay off, muscle rippling underneath the skin as Wei Ying turns on his other side, the blanket riding down to expose even more skin.

Lan Wangji's eyes inevitably draw along his spine, where his body narrows into his thin waist that still carries the finger-shapes bruises of Lan Wangji's hold, a dip like a valley between his torso and his hips.

The blanket covers everything that comes next, but Lan Wangji knows it all too well. The soft plush of Wei Ying's thighs, littered with hickies and bitemarks, the round meat of his ass that Lan Wangji just so loves squeezing and turning red and-

There is an insistent knock on the door of the jingshi and Lan Wangji curses in his mind at that. He did not want his fantasies to be interrupted just yet.

A disciple he doesn't recognize bows deeply. "Apologies, Hanguang-Jun, your uncle wishes to speak with you right now. I was sent to remind you, as you are late."

Lan Wangji sends the disciple on his way and grumbles to himself about the rude awakening from his soft, horny world, and finally proceeds with his morning routine.

Well, he'll get plenty of time to admire Wei Ying later.

---

Lan Wangji is going to die.

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, he's not in any mortal danger, he's just doing sword practice runs with the juniors right next to where Wei Ying is doing his core strengthening training.

Shirtless.

Why is he shirtless? Who knows, maybe there is some kind of cultivation-related reason, maybe he's just hot.

(He is.)

Either way, Lan Wangji is trying so hard not to embarrass himself in front of his class right now. He's trying to focus on their swordplay and give genuine advice on how to improve - but his eyes linger a bit too much on the way Wei Ying moves swiftly as he wields Suibian, his skin glistening with sweat in the sunlight. And so very full of hickies.

He's focused on his work, eyebrows furrowed, and his ponytail swirls in the wind like a whip - and Lan Wangji is so in love right now, and so distracted. He has never wished to be Suibian more than right now, to be so tightly held onto and moved around with such precision...

And then. And then! Wen Ning shows up. Why is he there? When did he return?

(Sizhui must be back too, what a relief, they've been gone for a long time!)

But Wen Ning and Wei Ying begin sparring after a short conversation and Lan Wangji doesn't know if the display makes him more jealous or aroused. His husband moves so nimbly, so confidently, and he's so powerful even if he has yet to reach the prime of his first life - Lan Wangji doesn't want to be Suibian anymore, he wants to be Wen Ning and get to fight Wei Ying, strategically let him close in the distance between them and pretend to lose his footing and ask to surrender... beg for mercy even...

One of the Lan juniors turns towards Jingyi, who pointedly refuses to look at either of their seniors, a pink blush on his cheeks.

"Should we tell Hanguang-Jun class is over?"

"You tell him."

"Why don't you tell him? What's wrong with him?"

"You don't wanna know."

---

When Lan Wangji doesn't find Wei Ying in the jingshi at the end of the day, his first thought is panic.

His second, the cold springs.

He does remember Wei Ying telling him he will be doing some intensive training today and will need to heal and balance his body after - and what better place to do that than the cold springs.

So, Lan Wangji goes to find him.

And find him he does.

He's submerge underneath the little waterfall that supplies the cold springs, hair curtaining his body as he meditates, water running down the contours of his body like silver rivulets.

Lan Wangji decides he's going to be a voyeur for a little longer, he's going to award himself the pleasure of watching the water drip down Wei Ying's body, shining onto his skin, and he's going to allow himself to fantasize about his hands trailing down the same pathway.

He's going to imagine himself joining his husband in the water, and pressing himself close to Wei Ying under a pathetic guise of seeking warmth... and he's going to find that warmth all over and inside Wei Ying for hours, with only the water as their witnes...

"Hanguang-Jun." Wei Ying's teasing voice comes and Lan Wangji nearly jumps out of skin at the sound. "It is improper to stare when somebody is bathing." And his eyes open, a mischevous glint in the grey pupils. "You either leave, or join in."

Wei Ying swims to the edge of the spring that's closest to Lan Wangji. "And by the looks of it, you've been wanting to join me for a while."

Lan Wangji's ears burn, caught red-handed, but he doesn't deny, proceeding to discard of his many layers of robes.

"I was wondering when you'd break." Wei Ying smiles, dark and seductive and Lan Wangji wonders if he'd regret not undressing properly if he jumped Wei Ying in the water right now. "I know you've been... admiring me all day, undressing me with your eyes... I'm going to catch a cold if you do that so often, you know? Exposure is no joke."

Lan Wangji reaches to undo his forehead ribbon.

"Leave that on." Wei Ying nearly purrs as he puts some more distance between them, taking his place beneath the waterfall. "You'll need something to catch this siren with, won't you?"

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #writing attempts