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eleanorfenyxwrites · 2 years

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Looking For My Family

For the Polyshipping Week Day 4 Prompt: Open Relationship | Meet the Family | Domestic Fluff

Ao3 - Modern 3zun feat. varying flavors of extended family dynamics

(Once again, Idk if I can really count it as domestic fluff since that bit is relatively quick and minor but oh well)

-//-

Meeting Mingjue’s family is the easiest of the three, in Meng Yao’s opinion. Mostly because his immediate family consists of Huaisang and Huaisang only, who’s been privy to their relationship since before it was even a relationship. In fact he claims a solid 89% credit for pushing the three of them together over and over again until they’d finally figured things out and gotten it right, which even Meng Yao isn’t going to fight him too hard on.

Mingjue’s extended family is naturally quite a bit bigger than his immediate family, but still not too much to handle. No one really seems to mind at all that he’s not only gay but dating two men at once. In fact they’re so fine with it - not overly supportive, not hostile, just genuinely do not give a single fuck - that Meng Yao grows suspicious and has to be coaxed out of a handful of theories as to how they could be plotting something behind his back.

“It’s just a different attitude, A-Yao,” Xichen murmurs into kisses to his hair that feel heavenly even when they’re being bestowed upon him in a janitorial closet at the community center currently playing host to a Nie family reunion (apparently a once-a-decade affair since they’re all weird hermits like Mingjue always says he’d like to be). “There’s no reason to be suspicious, the Nies are just…eccentric.”

“Eccentric,” Meng Yao parrots back with a scoff even as he nuzzles into Xichen’s very inviting chest. “Having an aunt who keeps bees to provide honey to the local hippie communes, of which there are apparently many and not one of which she’s a part of, is eccentric. Having an uncle who lives in a shack he built himself on the side of a mountain is eccentric. Not knowing if one of your cousins is able to be contacted or if they’re still living out on a houseboat in the middle of some remote lake is eccentric. Having every single one in one family is too far! This is an entire family made up of every flavor of eccentric there is in the world!”

“I find them quite lovely,” Xichen hums. “Refreshingly honest, just like Mingjue. And you must admit that - so long as we understand they have no ulterior motives - it’s quite nice to be treated like our situation is utterly normal to more than just ourselves. We’re barely even a blip on the radar of strangeness in this family.”

Meng Yao presses a few thoughtful kisses to the chest so kindly offered to him as he thinks that through. He has to admit that Xichen makes a good point. It’s..novel to not be treated as a novelty himself. Not one single person has taken a look at the three of them and asked, ‘So how does that work?’, or ‘What do you do when someone gets jealous?’. Not one person blinked twice when Mingjue introduced them as his husbands, they’d all just nodded along, some of them shook their hands, others hadn’t wanted to. Meng Yao has never met so many people at once who just accept the information given to them at face value and see no reason to pry, especially not family members, but Xichen’s right. It’s nice.

It’s really nice.

“Yes alright fine,” Meng Yao huffs so that Xichen will kiss him again and smile at him in that sweet way Meng Yao can never get enough of. “They’re very nice people and I’m glad they don’t care that we’re married to Mingjue. Where is he anyway?”

Xichen opens the door to the closet now that Meng Yao’s moment of panic has passed and coaxes him back out into the hallway, the sounds of the party just a short distance away in the main hall. “I believe I last saw him talking to Zonghui.”

“Which means they’re either talking about knives or butchering,” Meng Yao groans and scrubs at his eyes. “Er-ge, I love Mingjue but if he decides to take up butchering I’m going to have to draw the line. I will not have bloody animal carcasses anywhere near our home.”

“I believe he would be required to do it in a place suited to purpose-”

“I am willing to bet you a month of cuddly-Da-ge privileges that he’ll propose building a new shed for it in the backyard after talking to the uncle who built the mountain shack.”

“Oh dear,” Xichen tuts, beginning to look as concerned as Meng Yao thinks the situation deserves. “As much as I like the Nies I am glad that these gatherings happen so rarely.”

“A-Huan, A-Yao,” Mingjue calls for them when they reenter the hall. He makes a beeline for them, eyes alight with the manic glow of new crafting projects of varying levels of sanity. “I was just talking to Uncle Zhuang and-”

Meng Yao claims his extra month of first dibs on Mingjue’s cuddles with only a little bit of gloating.

-/-

Meeting A-Huan’s family, Nie Mingjue decides, is a pointlessly stressful endeavor and for the most part he doesn’t see why he should have to do it.

“It’s only fair, Da-ge, and it’s important to Er-ge,” A-Yao reminds him for the hundredth time, despite the fact that he’s also about to vibrate out of his skin with stress. Nie Mingjue reaches out without bothering to ask so he can squeeze and massage A-Yao’s shoulders, tight and snarled up with knots under his hands. Nie Mingjue ignores his pained yelp and just digs in harder - A-Huan’s the one who’s good for gentle massages, but he’s busy stress-baking enough cookies to feed an army, so A-Yao will just have to settle.

“Mingjue, stop tormenting A-Yao,” A-Huan calls from the kitchen.

“I’m just rubbing his shoulders, he’s just about as tense as you are!” Nie Mingjue protests as A-Yao gives in grumbling under his hands. He finishes up quickly and releases him again, watching in satisfaction as A-Yao rolls his shoulders and cracks his neck with a look of long-suffering relief to be momentarily free of tension. A-Yao leans up to thank him with a kiss on the cheek and then he’s marching into the kitchen to lovingly boss A-Huan out of it, cookies be damned.

“Ah - no escaping,” Nie Mingjue warns when A-Huan tries to skirt past him. He snags him with an arm around the waist to drag him in front of him and then he’s attacking his regular-sized husband’s shoulders with just as much unrelenting pressure. He’s even worse than A-Yao, his shoulders bunched up practically around his ears and his neck so tight it cracks just from the combined relaxation of his muscles and the press of Nie Mingjue’s fingers.

“They’re going to ask questions,” A-Huan tells him for roughly the 20th time. “Many of the questions will not sound kind, but they mean no harm. It’s just..going to be difficult for them to understand-”

“Yes, A-Huan, I know,” Nie Mingjue replies with what he thinks is impressive patience considering his track record. “We’ve already met Qiren, remember. If we can survive that dinner - and if he can accept your lifestyle, which we did and he has - then we’ll be fine meeting everyone else you hardly ever see.”

“Yes, alright,” A-Huan agrees through his hands pressed to his face, tension still radiating off him in waves. And the following day, when they head to the Lan estate up in the mountains, Nie Mingjue is secretly glad that they’ve already managed to get Old Man Lan’s gruff version of approval. The number of raised eyebrows is far too high for his liking, but when Lan Qiren levels a glare right back at you for questioning his beloved elder nephew’s decisions, you stand down.

Not that Nie Mingjue particularly cares what these people think of him. Their disapproval isn’t going to be anywhere near enough to make him think twice about having married his husbands - and it’s already done anyway, he doesn’t understand what these people think their disapproval is going to accomplish. How many glares do they think it would take for all three of them to decide they don’t actually want to be together in the end - ‘Oops, our mistake’? Absolutely ridiculous, his family’s ‘live and let live’ attitude is a much healthier outlook on life, he thinks.

He tries to say as much to A-Yao, but considering he married two incurable people-pleasers, the sentiment goes in one ear and out the other while A-Yao looks like he’s grinding his teeth down to nubs under his smile.

Needless to say Nie Mingjue is remarkably glad when Wei Wuxian shows up on Wangji’s arm with his brash, attention-grabbing attitude and a flask he passes off discreetly for Nie Mingjue to get enough to take the edge off. And if he has to end up giving his husbands both nice, long massages to loosen them back up when they return home, at least they thank him for it with plenty of enthusiasm and imagination.

-/-

“Oh. Well that’s. Um. Congratulations! How does that-“

“A-Xuan,” Jiang Yanli cuts off her husband’s almost-question and Lan Xichen hopes she understands the grateful look he gives her. A-Yao’s patience is already paper thin as it is, the last thing he needs is to be pushed closer to the edge before they’ve even stepped inside his father’s house. “They’ve driven so far, let them come in and get comfortable. There’s plenty of time to chat later.”

Getting comfortable is likely to be utterly impossible in Jin Guangshan’s home, but Lan Xichen will take the offer as the olive branch it is. He’s sure his brother-in-law means well - he’s not an actively cruel sort of man, just genuinely lacking in social graces - but it’s not something he wants A-Yao to have to deal with if he doesn’t absolutely have to.

They all troop inside with the air of men going to their deaths, and Lan Xichen helps his husbands with their coats with hands that only shake a little. They’ve already met A-Yao’s siblings (though in the case of Jin Zixuan they had waited to reveal the precise nature of their relationship, lest he say something he shouldn’t in the wrong ear). They’ve yet to meet A-Yao’s extended family as his husbands, nor told Jin Guangshan that such a happy event as a marriage has occurred. Lan Xichen has no fear of Jin Guangshan, but he worries for the man’s influence over A-Yao, whether his darling husband will admit to it or not.

“Hey.”

Lan Xichen glances over at the nearest door to a room of unknowable purpose only to find Mo Xuanyu poking his head out of it, hair up in a neat bun and makeup surprisingly subdued. He wonders which of the boy’s siblings is responsible for curbing his usual enthusiasm in that department.

“Hello Xuanyu. You look lovely this evening.”

“Thanks Xichen-ge. Has anyone seen Su-jie? We need a sibling debriefing before we walk into that minefield-”

“What’s wrong?” A-Yao asks sharply, already on high alert.

“Nothing!! It’s okay Yao-ge, unclench a little bit! You’re going to give dear old daddy a heart attack just walking in with two handsome men on your arms, you don’t have to worry about a thing!”

“Not helpful, Xuanyu.”

“Not really trying to be, Mingjue-ge, if I’m being perfectly honest with you. Anyway - Su-jie? Anyone? No?”

The woman herself thankfully comes sweeping in before A-Yao can lose his tightly-controlled temper with his younger brother, dragging Jin Zixuan behind her and with her typical sweet smile on her lips.

“It’s alright A-Yu, I’m here. Come on, quickly, Guangshan is nearly ready for dinner.”

Lan Xichen blinks as his husband is whisked away from him into what he can only assume is a powder room decorated as gaudily as the rest of the Jin manor.

“I feel like all troops should be debriefed before being sent into battle, not just the Jin battalion,” Nie Mingjue snarks at his side once they’re alone and Lan Xichen allows himself a quiet chuckle, a nudge of his shoulder against his husband’s.

“It’s a family dinner, Mingjue, not a war. We’re meant to help A-Yao relax this evening, not wind him up further.”

“You wouldn’t be relaxed as a soldier to have me as your general? You wound me, my A-Huan.”

Lan Xichen huffs another laugh as Mingjue leans in to scratch at his cheek with a kiss that’s more mustache than lips in retaliation and he nudges him with his shoulder again. It’s wonderfully distracting up until the moment the door opens again and the siblings file out, expressions grimly determined.

“We only have to last for an hour,” A-Yao informs them as they fall in behind Jin Zixuan to head further into the house, to where Jin Guangshan lurks in wait. “Wei Wuxian is watching A-Ling for Zixuan and Yanli-jie, he’s got a distraction planned to get us all out hopefully once father is drunk enough not to care but not so drunk he’s ready to bring out his latest conquest for a round of entertainment-”

Lan Xichen begins to think that perhaps Mingjue was correct in his assessment, joking though it was. It certainly feels that way when they (finally) make their way into the dining room to find the table set and Jin Guangshan already seated in his throne-like chair at the top of the long expanse of solid oak, playing host to a fair number of Jin cousins already. Any hopes he may have had for their entrance going unnoticed are thoroughly dashed within moments, and Lan Xichen is very relieved in the end to have Mingjue’s strong presence at his back. Maybe there’s something to the idea of him as a general; dinner certainly feels like a battle, with verbal artillery being hurled in their direction and social mines to watch for no matter where they step.

Wei Wuxian’s intervention is timely and thoroughly welcome. In the mad scramble of the horde of children he has released into the party (clearly under instruction to do their worst), Lan Xichen and Mingjue manage to escape with A-Yao between them, shepherded on their way by Jiang Yanli. Her eyes are alight with the same flavor of mischief that had been in her brother’s, and as she walks them out to the car Lan Xichen genuinely considers giving her a hug.

“Oh goodness I’m so sorry for the disruption,” she says with sparkling insincerity. “I invited some of A-Ling’s friends to keep him company during dinner, I had no idea they’d be that rambunctious! I hope you aren’t too put-out to have to leave so soon.”

As it turns out, Lan Xichen doesn’t have to offer his sister-in-law a hug - Mingjue beats him to it, pulling her into a bear hug that looks like it might be crushing her ever so slightly, though she’s laughing so thankfully she can at least breathe.

“Come over to ours soon for a proper family dinner. Alright? Come over whenever you want for family dinner, bring Zixuan and the kid and whoever of A-Yao’s siblings you want to, just don’t make us do this bullshit ever again.”

“Oh I think something can be arranged,” Jiang Yanli reassures as she’s finally released, looking a little rumpled but otherwise no worse for wear. “A-Yao is just so busy with his work, of course he’s much too preoccupied to make the trek all the way out here, this was a special occasion.”

Jiang Yanli winks and pulls A-Yao in a brief but solid hug, and then Lan Xichen ushers both of his husbands into the car. (He has the foresight to shut the door so A-Yao may begin screaming his frustrations whenever he’d like.)

“Well - Brother-in-law twice over,” Jiang Yanli says with a dimpling smile up at him when they’re the last two left standing in the drive. “I’m so happy to have you, A-Yao, and Mingjue in my family, Xichen. I really am sorry about tonight, I hope you three can make the most out of the rest of your evening. You at least know all the rest of us support you, don’t you?”

She doesn’t have to specify for Lan Xichen to know who she means. He glances at the house where he knows the remaining Jin siblings are covering their exit. Where Wei Wuxian is leading his mad little ragtag army of children in the cheerful destruction of Jin Guangshan’s property. He knows it extends further, to their immediate circle of friends and siblings and numerous in-laws of the younger generation (and all of Mingjue’s family). It’s immensely comforting to know that there are so many kind people in the little village they’re building together, and Lan Xichen finds he can only smile, pull Jiang Yanli in for a hug after all, and sigh long and slow.

“I know,” he hums, happy and content even in spite of the shitshow they’d just left behind. “I second Mingjue’s invitation, as well. Come over whenever you’d like, and please extend the offer to the rest of our numerous siblings-in-law.”

Jiang Yanli’s happy laughter is a pleasant end to an awful evening. She reassures him that she’ll do just that and then sends him on his way with a promise to visit within the month, and as Lan Xichen returns home with his loves he finds himself happy. Content.

And really fucking relieved that they’ve finally gotten all their families out of the way. Perhaps Mingjue’s desire to become hermits isn’t a terrible idea after all.

#the untamed fanfic #3zun #polyshipweek22 #Meng Yao #Lan Xichen #Nie Mingjue #Modern AU #the Nie family is a family full of happy weird autistic/neurodivergent individuals #Also is everyone I listed as an 'eccentric' someone I know personally? Mayhaps.#Also if you noticed the rapidly diminishing word counts no you didn't #Title from 'I Want to Live' by John Denver

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vrishchikawrites · 3 years

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JC's condemnation of WWX and the recent discussion about Lan Xichen made me wonder about how both characters failed their brothers (JC obv more than LXC) and the entire discussion about how things could've changed if JC had stood by WWX.

And that made me wonder of a scenario where Xichen for the sake of his brother, actually tightens his belt and visits WWX in the Burial Mounds- would that have made an effect? After all LXC doesn't know WWX at all and only through second hand accounts at this point so why not actually DO something about it.

Honestly i wonder about a comparison between LXC and Jiang Fengmian where both characters are the wait-and-see type and do the bare minimum of courtesy but never proactive enough to bring about a change or raise their voice. I don't dislike these sort of characters because they still feel better then the ones who accuse and vilify and have no control over their emotions, but they also feel like a cautionary tale of being too mild and trying to make everyone happy but failing completely.

I know everyone says LWJ is suppressed but sometimes I think LXC is worse. LWJ is eventually honest with himself but I feel like LXC lies to himself a LOT. So much that he actually believes it. Always smiling. Always unruffled. The First Jade of Lan.

The cast is so big it's a bit hard to think about all characters so i've liked/been neutral about LXC for a while. I have to admit though that in many many fanfics he basically exists only to give shovel talks to WWX (which is beyond annoying) and very rarely makes friends with WWX and often when he does WWX is overly tearfully grateful and it's affected my view of the character somewhat. I've become less fond of LXC but I still sympathize with him for Meng Yao. It's what he warned to his little brother about WWX but instead it was actually happening to him.

On a different note- how strong a cultivator is Lan Xichen? I feel like he should be right up there among the best but his cultivation skills are mentioned. What is he good at? Is he super good at anything?

I sometimes think LXC is, in a way, a foil for LWJ. He's this gentle, placid guy, willing to cruise along with the world, serene as the surface of the lake until someone throws a stone. LWJ, on the other hand, feels powerful like a storm sometimes. Even his silence has an edge to it, he comes across as fierce in ways LXC just isn't.

His fierceness makes him proactive instead of reactive, that's especially true when he's an adult. He's always ready to shoot and he doesn't hesitate. That's why he goes where chaos exists. LWJ isn't the kind to sit idly by when people face problems, even if the people don't concern him.

With LXC, things are different. Yes, he earns his title during the war and is known for helping hundreds of cultivators. We get the picture that he's this incredibly kind, gentle, and honorable guy. And he is.

But honestly, there's a limit to how much a kind guy will care about other people not connected to him. He knows LWJ cares for WWX in some capacity but LXC himself isn't attached to WWX in anyway. In his view, this is the guy who teased his brother relentlessly as a teenager and then showed up rebeling against everything they had been taught.

WWX's no innocent peasant or helpless cultivator that needs defending. In his eyes, WWX is powerful, dangerous, and a proven soldier. He knows WWX is smart and cunning. LXC knows he's capable of being very ruthless.

All of the heroism and kindness that LWJ has seen first hand, LXC has seen none of it. I'm also uncertain about how much he understands LWJ's feelings for WWX. He was forced to go mediate between the two a few times during the war because they were fighting so much.

So why would he go out of his way to get the true facts regarding WWX and the Wens? Especially if JC, WWX's own sect leader is set against him? He has no reason to distrust JC, who has always seemed like a steady guy, trying to reign in WWX's chaos.

From his perspective, whatever happens to WWX and the Wens is just a part of the post-war politicking.

Now, if LWJ had asked him to check, LXC would've definitely gone to the BM settlement. But he didn't afaik. LXC simply went on handling his own sect business and life.

All of that makes perfect sense for his character and his station in life. He becomes a little more invested post-ressurection when LWJ and WWX request his aid. He gets involved because both of our heroes ask this time. And due to his connection with JGY. If he wasn't tied so closely to the situation, with JGY and LWJ at risk, he wouldn't have paid much attention to the situation.

Imo, he's just a kind guy who is inclined to help but also needs to have some sort of personal stake to truly involve himself. Everytime he's shown stepping forward (outside of war) in any meaningful way, it happens when someone close to him is at risk like JGY, NMJ, LWJ, or even NHS.

There's a big difference between how JC and LXC failed their brothers.

JC activily turned the entire Cultivation world against WWX. He refused to defend him or offer help when needed.

LXC only saw his brother's somewhat 'friend' was turning bad and his brother maybe felt a little put out about it. Can't even consider that a failure, tbh.

When he knew how seriously invested LWJ was, having seen his brother suffer for love, he became seriously invested in WWX's wellbeing too. He showed that by sheltering WWX even if it meant going against his sworn brother in spirit.

But that doesn't mean WWX owes LXC anything.

So to conclude, I think he's a kind but casual character. MXTX basically wanted him to be a humbo, so there's that.

As for his power, I believe he's a skilled cultivator, particularly good with musical cultivation. He's so good that JGY thought he was nothing in comparison. He's also a good swordman and very good at archery.

Is he has powerful as LWJ - I somehow don't believe he is simply because LWJ seems to go on many more nighthunts. I assume that hightens his cultivation somewhat. But LXC is very competent from what the text suggests.

#reader asks #my personal opinion #i could be wrong

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shadowofmoths · 3 years

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nieyao 20...

ok lets definitely not think about how old this ask is!! heres a “what if nmj and jgy had, like, literally one adult honest conversation about things” scene :0 it wasn’t as though meng yao was a born liar. it was something he practiced, had had to practice, until deception was a second skin that he fit snugly within. but practice did not mean he could not make mistakes. it was his emotions that were dangerous, running hot in his veins and making him careless. it was anger, this time, that damned him.

“if he takes credit for my work one more time,” meng yao says, harsh under his breath, “i’ll kill him. i could make it look like an accident. they wouldn’t punish me, not if i act like it was a mistake. he wants to think that i’m good. i can help him believe that. i--”

“meng yao?”

oh, heavens.

“n-nie-zongzhu, i--” meng yao loses control of his face entirely. his expressions, normally meticulously controlled, slip away from him. dimly, he is aware that he must look shocked, eyes wide open and face flushed. he must look guilty, which is much worse. “i didn’t know you’d arrived in lanling, nie-zongzhu,” he blusters.

“who is taking credit for your work?” nie mingjue asks.

“oh, sect leader, you don’t need to concern yourself with--”

“who, meng yao?” nie mingjue does not sound any more angry than he normally does, but he is not being gentle.

“just my supervisor, nie-zongzhu. it’s--its nothing, really.” meng yao has found control over his face again, and opens his eyes wide, quirking his eyebrows up in concern. he tries to gentle his blush into something softer, less incriminating. it doesn’t seem to soften nie mingjue any.

“and were you serious? your threat--do you really want him dead?” unprepared, meng yao falls silent, shuffling excuses around in his head.

“don’t lie to me, meng yao.” nie mingjue pauses, and then adds, “please.”

meng yao sighs, a small contained, thing. folding his arms behind his back he steps forward, pushing himself into nie mingjue’s space. he lets his gaze drop, lets his eyelashes flutter.

“yes.” meng yao reaches up to rest a hand on the collar of nie mingjue’s robe. “i do want him dead. the thousand other little faults of his i could deal with but...well. i take pride in the work i do, nie-zongzhu.” meng yao’s voice is low, soft enough that nie mingjue leans imperceptably closer. meng yao brings the blush back into his cheeks and takes a step backward. nie mingjue follows, seemingly without thought, and meng yao has to hold back a smile.

“does it make a difference?” nie mingjue asks. “that it was me that overheard?”

“of course it does,” meng yao laughs, harsh and wounded. “i care what you think of me. although i’m sure i’ve ruined my reputation, now.”

“is that what you think?”

“are you going to prove me wrong, zongzhu?” meng yao keeps his face still as he waits for nie mingjue to respond.

“i just wish you would have let me know you.” nie mingjue says. he doesn’t sound as betrayed as meng yao thought he might. he just sounds tired. meng yao, abruptly, feels as exhausted as nie mingjue sounds, and lets the mask fall from his face. it would be so much easier if mingjue would hate him, instead of this neutral disappointment. “and what would you have done? would you have tried to fix me, nie-zongzhu? to redeem me? would you have tried ot bring poor, lost, a-yao back to the light?” he’s drawn closer to nie mingjue as spoke, tilting his chin up to look him in the eye.

“no, meng yao.” nie mingjue’s hand lifts, nearly settling on meng yao’s shoulder before dropping away, like he’s not sure he’s allowed. “i would have asked why. and i would have listened, if you told me.” “oh,” meng yao says. the room falls silent as he turns mingjue’s words over and over in his head. almost without thinking, he leans his head against nie mingjue’s chest. after a moment, nie mingjue lifts his hand again, resting it on the small of meng yao’s back with uncharacteristic uncertainty. “well. if...if you ask. if you were to ask me, some time. maybe i’d tell you.”

“hm.” there’s a smile in nie mingjue’s voice. “then i will, some time.”

“okay,” meng yao says, and smiles--intentional, but real.

“and...try not to kill your superiors, meng yao. i’m sure you can come up with another solution.” meng yao sighs, put upon and dramatic.

“well. since you asked so nicely, nie-zongzhu, i’ll think about it.”

#asks #jason writes #no seriously i think this ask is months old.#anyways i think parts of this are okay at least so here yall go #the untamed #nieyao #nie mingjue #jin guangyao

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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years

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Three Gates - on ao3 (for content warnings check Ao3) - on tumblr: pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, pt 4, pt 5, pt 6, pt 7, pt 8, pt 9

- Chapter 10 -

Everyone did believe that Meng Yao had been robbed in love. It even got to the point that Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen – both somehow taken by surprise by it, he had no idea how, given that it was so obviously the result he was aiming for – spent a great deal of time behind doors trying to make sure Meng Yao didn’t feel bad about it, which was very nice, if unnecessary, of them.

He assured them that he didn’t mind the gossip at all, but, well, if they were offering to spoil him…

More importantly, Wen Ruohan believed it, too, just as he’d hoped, and his belief that Meng Yao belonged to him was shored up to the point of being nigh-unbreakable, just as Meng Yao had intended. His comments on the subject, made in a small break during a Discussion Conference when Nie Mingjue was enduring a lecture from Lan Qiren, were sticky sweet and suffocating and revolting to the point that it tested even Meng Yao’s well-practiced façade.

Interestingly enough, Wen Ruohan didn’t seem to be jealous of the relationship, or even to mind its existence, as Meng Yao would have expected given his now years-long obsession. Unfortunately, he also didn’t stop his usual antics – which probably formed part of the basis for Lan Qiren’s lecture, come to think of it. He seemed to regard it as little more than a childish lark, a passing whim scarcely worth noticing; as if it didn’t matter what Nie Mingjue did because he knew, or thought he knew, how everything would end.

It was, Meng Yao reflected, the sort of thing that would drive a lesser man up the wall with rage.

Wen Ruohan did express a mild curiosity as to how far things between Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen had gone, but luckily was just barely self-aware enough not to ask the supposedly jilted Meng Yao to find out more details for him.

As a result, Meng Yao was able to nod along with his recruitment speech without having to swallow back too much bile.

“You’ve always been very kind to me, Sect Leader Wen,” he said, his voice as sincere as he could make it. “I find that I’m often overlooked, given my status, though of course Sect Leader Nie’s needs must come first…”

“That is not necessarily true,” Wen Ruohan hummed. “You are just as worthy as he, with as many needs; are you not human, too? Why should you be the one overlooked?”

“Qinghe Nie values strength of arms,” Meng Yao demurred. “And mine is – lacking. There can be no comparison.”

“It must be difficult to be somewhere where you don’t fit in,” Wen Ruohan said sympathetically, as if he had any notion of such a thing. “Especially when you know there are places where you would fit in much better, if only you had a chance.”

Meng Yao heaved a sigh. “I have long ago given up hope of – other places,” he said, dropping obvious hints with his body language that the hope was merely dashed, not gone. “One should be content with one’s place.”

“Never be content with anything,” Wen Ruohan told him, his own voice slightly more sincere than usual, and it might be the only honest thing the man had ever said to him. His own personal motto, no doubt. He dropped his hand on Meng Yao’s shoulder. “Perhaps you should make more time for yourself – there are some areas in Qishan where you could go night-hunting to earn some glory, and I think you would find the game there to your liking. Especially, oh, around the end of the month?”

Meng Yao allowed himself a small victorious smile, and let Wen Ruohan think that he had convinced him that he had wanted the recruitment all along – a perfect catch, after years of setting out lures.

“That sounds like an excellent suggestion,” he said, and even meant it. “My skills have grown rusty, staying in the office so much…though I only fear I do not know the way. You know that Sect Leader Nie does not trust me at the border.”

He did, of course, but what would be the point of sending him there? Meng Yao’s skill was in logistics and management; while that was useful in active battle it would be utterly wasted in patrolling their well-armed borders to help pep up morale. But it was easy enough to make it appear to be a slight.

“You are capable of doing anything you put your mind to,” Wen Ruohan said encouragingly. “But you are right in acknowledging limits, and should not fear to turn to – capable guidance, when you find difficulty in finding your own way.”

Meng Yao lowered his eyes, full of triumph – for real, this time. “I am honored that Sect Leader Wen is willing to instruct me.”

Wen Ruohan patted him on the shoulder again, then went off his own way. Meng Yao turned to do the same, and abruptly saw Lan Wangji standing in the distance, looking out a window at the sky; it gave him a start, wondering if the younger man had seen. Hopefully not, or at least he’d hopefully know to keep his mouth shut – Meng Yao would have to go feel him out later.

The work never ended, he thought to himself with a sigh, and returned to Nie Mingjue’s side before his sect leader broke something trying to keep his mouth shut while talking to Lan Xichen’s uncle about righteous conduct, a subject on which the Lan sect seemed to think they had the final say and on which Nie sect principles were wildly and fundamentally different.

(Lan Wangji seemed to act the same as always when Meng Yao talked to him later – which was to say, virtually expressionless except for whatever it was that Lan Xichen claimed he could read in his posture, and still hilariously distractable with news of Wei Wuxian, who he’d met for all of a few months during the lessons in the Cloud Recesses that Nie Huaisang had finally passed – and that was a relief. The less Meng Yao had to think about what he was doing when he wasn’t actively doing it, the better.)

Getting permission – and publicly – to go out night-hunting was easy enough, since Nie Mingjue actively enjoyed slaughtering evil beasts for the good of mankind and thought that everyone else did too; he only needed to casually mention that it had been a while since he’d had time to go out to stretch his legs and Nie Mingjue immediately suggested that he go out on a night-hunt.

Convincing him not to come along with was slightly more difficult, especially when he mentioned that he’d heard some whispers of a demonic presence near the border with Qishan – Wen Ruohan was certainly demonic enough, in Meng Yao’s opinion – but with his position it wasn’t difficult to juggle the paperwork schedule to ensure that there was far, far too much work for Nie Mingjue to accompany him.

Arranging that Lan Xichen come to visit shortly before he left was an extra perk that Meng Yao included for both of them – for himself, getting to spend a wonderful day in the presence of someone infinitely more relaxing than Nie Mingjue, and for Nie Mingjue, getting to spend time on paperwork with someone infinitely more sympathetic than Meng Yao, who truly enjoyed the process of comparing long lists of received goods with each other to see if something was missing.

He’d miss Lan Xichen’s departure due to his night-hunt, but that was good, too – him going off to an atypical night-hunt would be understood by the majority of the cultivation world as a huffy retreat to avoid having to see his former lover and his superior together, and no one would think twice about it.

Once it was all set up, it was only a matter of waiting.

Wen Ruohan was confident in him, Meng Yao knew, and rightfully so: if he’d really been the person he’d been displaying in his presence since childhood, Wen Ruohan’s tricks would have snared him without question. A fool with an endless pit in his heart, greedy for affection and too stupid to be able to realize that no amount of glory would satisfy that greed, cunning but having no heart to see the bigger picture…dumb enough to agree to go meet Wen Ruohan, but smart enough to demand a measure of trust before he did.

A measure of trust – like the guide he’d insisted on.

Like the identify of whoever it was that had been so-cleverly dropping off all those letters, over all those years. Whoever it was had to have a considerable position in the Unclean Realm since the time Lao Nie had been in charge, and corrupted by Wen Ruohan since way back then; someone who had the freedom of the interior parts of the fortress, someone trusted, with good enough martial arts to avoid being spotted even when Meng Yao was specifically looking to identify them.

He’d run some tests and confirmed to his satisfaction that it seemed to be the same person each time, so there was only one high-level spy he needed to be concerned about – there were others, of course, but Meng Yao knew about those, and what he knew he could manage.

Or, well, Nie Zonghui could manage, he supposed. Nie Zonghui was technically the one in charge of managing personnel, or at least he was whenever he wasn’t stuck on some type of body-guarding duty – while they hadn’t shared classes due to the age gap between them, Nie Zonghui being older, Meng Yao knew that they’d had all the same ones, preparing them for much the same role. Between the two of them as advisors, Nie Zonghui was better suited for fighting and advising on situations involving imminent death, and they'd generally divided the work accordingly, but he was more than competent enough at managing spies and Meng Yao had handed the job off to him with great satisfaction. It worked very well.

Well, as long as Nie Zonghui didn’t turn out to be the traitor, anyway.

Meng Yao sincerely hoped he wasn’t. Nie Zonghui’s hobby was learning saber forms, and he spent all his free time on it to the point that he made Nie Mingjue’s training schedule look reasonable – Nie Mingjue was still the more powerful of the two, but only because he had ridiculously high cultivation for someone his age.

(That high cultivation had made his position as sect leader secure and allowed him to earn a name and a title and respect throughout the cultivation world, but Meng Yao wasn’t the only one that worried about how Nie sect cultivators died of qi deviation once they got too powerful. But Nie Mingjue was fairly stable for the moment, despite his rapid advancement, and Lan Xichen had devoted himself to trying to find a way to keep it that way – Meng Yao thought he might allow himself some room to hope.)

It turned out that the traitor wasn’t Nie Zonghui.

It was Wu Bixian, one of the army commanders, which was not quite as bad but only slightly.

Wu Bixian was from a smaller sect very close to Qinghe, a part of the Nie clan by marriage to one of the closer cousins. He was a good warrior, a tolerable commander, and had once had the occasion to save Lao Nie’s life in their youth together – he had been in a position of trust for a long time. He was wealthy, in the way most members of the Nie sect were with the sect’s treasury at their back and night-hunts to their name (Nie Mingjue’s comment as a child that the money ran free and easy once you started night-hunting wasn’t wrong) and he had a good wife, a few children, a saber of his own, moderately strong cultivation that was slowly gaining in strength…He had never shown any interest in acquiring more power than he had, no lust for domination, nothing like that.

He seemed content.

He was one of the ones that made snide comments about Meng Yao’s mother and had initially tried to refuse to take Meng Yao’s orders, even the ones that came straight from Nie Mingjue, until Nie Mingjue had personally told him to cut it out or else accept a demotion in favor of someone who could follow orders, but given how early the letters had started landing on Meng Yao’s desk, his betrayal must have happened far earlier than that incident and could not be the inciting factor.

Meng Yao had no idea what sort of things had Wen Ruohan offered to turn him, but whatever it was, he hoped Wu Bixian had enjoyed it while it lasted because he was going to kill him.

“It is kind of Commander Wu to take time out of his day to assist me,” he murmured, lowering his eyes to hide his rage even as his voice remained sweet and gentle.

“Sect Leader Nie wanted to make sure you were safe,” Wu Bixian said, and for half a second there Meng Yao wondered if it had been some sort of terrible miscommunication because he could see Nie Mingjue doing that, but then Wu Bixian continued, “I thought it would be good for someone like you to have a proper guide to teach you.”

If he had used anything like that language around Nie Mingjue, he wouldn’t have been allowed to come help, and that meant that Wu Bixian was in fact the right contact.

“I will follow in your footsteps,” Meng Yao said, still playing cautious. He saw a smirk steal over the other man’s face, smug and arrogant, and they left without another word between them.

With Commander Wu with him, finding a place to cross the territory line into Qishan without being spotted was easy – and worrisome, of course – and it wasn’t long before they arrived at the forest glade where Wen Ruohan was waiting for them.

His retainers had already set up a place for them to take tea, with him sitting above and them below, and even his traveling chair resembled the throne to which Wen Ruohan believed himself to be entitled.

Before they left the woods, Wu Bixian elbowed Meng Yao in the side, hard. “None of the backtalk you sometimes give Sect Leader Nie,” he instructed. “You ought to count yourself as very lucky that Sect Leader Wen has come himself to meet with you – he puts a high priority on the affairs of Qinghe Nie.”

That meant that Wu Bixian thought himself better than Wen Ruohan’s other spies in other territories, which were probably only good enough to report to a Wen disciple, or maybe Wen Xu if they were especially prominent.

Arrogance was good. Meng Yao could use arrogance.

He knelt in front of Wen Ruohan, giving him the deference he longed for – he’d only ever knelt to Nie Mingjue once, when he’d sworn an oath to him as part of becoming an official disciple of the Nie sect, and it had been outrageously awkward for them both – and Wen Ruohan smiled.

“You made a wise choice,” he said. “Qinghe Nie will not remain standing and independent for much longer. Only those that realize the truth will have a chance to influence the future.”

“Sect Leader Wen’s strength is undeniable,” Meng Yao said, because his mother taught him how to say the words that men wanted to hear. His mother as she used to be, before Sisi came back into her life and made her happy – his mother, who now spent some time being mistress of Qinghe, some time traveling, some time merely visiting other places with Sisi at her side; his mother, who asked him if he was happy with Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen, who accepted his answer and sought to aid him as much as she could; his mother, who loved him, well if not always wisely. “I do not wish to be on a sinking boat when I could join the rising tide.”

There was a bit more of that, mostly mutual ego-stroking and puffery, but finally Wen Ruohan got to the point: “What is it that you want?”

“My rightful inheritance,” Meng Yao said, because it was the safest thing to ask for. He didn’t really care if Wen Ruohan got rid of Jin Guangshan, after all, and Nie Huaisang’s reports hadn’t been especially positive in regards to Jin Zixuan – Wen Ruohan would probably just disinherit him in favor of Meng Yao, and leave him alive to cause Meng Yao too many problems to have time to rebel. And it was much safer than asking for anything else. “The venerable Sect Leader Wen is above such petty matters as gossip, of course, but he undoubtedly already knows…my father…”

“The Jin sect is a pearl of great value,” Wen Ruohan said lazily. “Do you think your service can justify such a reward?”

“I am sure of it,” Meng Yao said, full of confidence.

“And there’s nothing else you want?”

Meng Yao hesitated, having not anticipated that question the way he had others, and Wen Ruohan laughed to see him. “I told you before not to be content,” he said with a smile Meng Yao did not trust. “You have chosen wisely to trust in the power of the sun, and in the heat of its rays, from the ashes of the old ways, too stiff in their rules to change, you will be rewarded with your heart’s desire.”

Meng Yao smiled. “I await your excellency’s benevolence with eagerness, to give me light where I have been blind.”

He bowed and took his leave, heading back to Qinghe with the heads of some fierce corpses to show as the results of his hunt – Wen Ruohan was thoughtful, in some ways – and left Wu Bixian behind to discuss further matters to which Meng Yao was still too new to hear: an excellent people management stratagem to whet Meng Yao’s jealousy of Wu Bixian’s position, while also assuaging any concerns Wu Bixian had regarding his primacy.

The second he was out of sight, he pulled Chiwen out of the qiankun pouch he’d tucked into his sleeve – sabers generally disliked small places like that, but Chiwen had always been extremely understanding of the indignities one had to suffer to achieve greatness – and threw him down, leaping on top of him and hurrying forward at break-neck speed, and even so he only just barely managed to catch Lan Wangji before he disappeared back into the woods.

(He hadn’t realized that Lan Wangji was suspicious at first, despite him having coming willingly to the Unclean Realm alongside Lan Xichen and being even less social than usual; it wasn’t until that very morning, when he’d murmured some denial about having plans for the day – and Lan Wangji always had plans for the day – that Meng Yao had realized that he might need to keep an eye out for a tail.)

Lan Wangji was stiff as a board, his hand already sliding to Bichen on his waist; Meng Yao ignored it.

“You need to go back to the Cloud Recesses,” he said. “As soon as possible.”

Lan Wangji paused. “Why?”

“Because Wen Ruohan is going to burn it down,” Meng Yao said flatly. “The Lan sect doesn’t have the ability to stop him, but if you go now, you can pack away your sect’s most valued treasures and hide them away somewhere safe before they do.”

“Why?” Lan Wangji asked again, still wary, only this time he meant why are you telling me this.

“Because you have to make sure Lan Xichen isn’t there,” Meng Yao said. “He’ll hate it and he’ll fight having to run away with every ounce of will he has, but he can’t be there – or else everything will be so much worse.”

“Sect Leader Wen told you?”

“He all but promised me Lan Xichen as a prize for my cooperation.” Lan Wangji flinched, and Meng Yao nodded grimly. “Make sure he has a safe place to go. The Nie sect will come to your aid, nominally, but the real purpose will be to make it seems as though the Wen sect has defeated two Great Sects in one blow – it will be devastating to the morale of the smaller sects, and convince many of them to just give in to Wen domination rather than fight back...listen, come up with whatever reason you have to in order to convince them, but don't explain where you learned of the information. You understand?”

Lan Wangji nodded slowly. “You plan to spy.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Meng Yao said, because he was far beyond planning at this point. But he knew, as Lan Wangji might not, that the elders of the Lan sect would never listen to Sect Leader Jin's bastard son or Sect Leader Nie's aide, so recently jilted in love - they weren't like Nie Mingjue or Lan Xichen, who would understand. “Listen, empty the Library Pavilion in advance, wait until they’ve started burning the other buildings, and then set fire to it yourself. If you defend it as if it’s full, maybe you can convince the Wen sect that they’ve done more damage than they really have.”

He shook his head – he’d been hoping to have more time, but the winds of war always came more swiftly than hoped. “Good luck, travel fast, and above all tell no one.”

#mdzs #meng yao #jin guangyao #wen ruohan #lan wangji #my fic #my fics #three gates

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begrudginglytumbling · 3 years

Text

An Uncle’s Wisdom

Summary:

Sometimes, just sometimes, it pays to listen to your elders.

or Lan Qiren would like more grandchildren, please and thank you, and Wei Wuxian's ridiculously low levels of self-worth will not be stopping him from creating the family they all deserve.

(Can be found on AO3 too)

Wei Wuxian was decidedly not in the mood when Lan Qiren decided to visit.

He wasn’t even sure he’d be able to tolerate anyone other than Lan Zhan around him at that moment.

…and if he was being completely honest with himself, he might not be able to tolerate even Lan Zhan’s presence.

Yet, regardless of what was going on, when Lan Qiren came round for tea, you sat your arse down and had tea. It was awkward and stilted, yet Wei Wuxian managed to dredge up enough politeness to get through it, and not actively throw the man out.

At least, he thought he’d managed to present a sufficiently acceptable front until Lan Qiren set his teacup down, nudged the coaster to sit parallel to the edge of the coffee table, folded his hands primly in his lap and said, “Now then Wei Wuxian, will you continue with this farce, or would you like to try the truth?”

The flinch was inevitable, Wei Wuxian couldn’t help it, the words stinging more than usual.

He felt fragile, sitting there under Lan Qiren’s gaze, fingers fiddling with his teacup.

Lan Qiren sighed after the silence had stretched on a little too long. “Know that I do not enjoy it when you force my hand, Wei Wuxian.”

Wei Wuxian merely blinked, uncomprehending and still struggling to find the words that usually came so effortlessly, as Lan Qiren pushed himself to his feet and made his way to the bathroom.

Realisation was a horrible thing, sending ice dripping down his spine when Lan Qiren re-emerged carrying the small bin they usually kept next to the sink. Wei Wuxian knew what was in that bin, and he desperately wanted to forget.

But Lan Qiren seemed insistent on reminding him, pointedly setting the bin down in front of Wei Wuxian, before gracefully sitting beside him.

“Talk to me.”

“Why?” Wei Wuxian’s voice came out quiet and hoarse, his vision blurring as tears gathered on his lashes.

“Because you are struggling, and sometimes talking to someone outside of the situation can help bring things into perspective.”

“Perspective? What other perspective is there?” Wei Wuxian laughed, a wet and pitiful thing. “You can see for yourself, I’m a failure. My existence has a single purpose, and I can’t even do that.”

“Single purpose?” Lan Qiren snapped, clearly indignant at such a term. “Do you deem me a failure then? For spurning this so called ‘single purpose’? For refusing to find a mate and raising a child I have born from my own body?”

“No!” Wei Wuxian cried, grasping at Lan Qiren’s sleeve, eyes wide and horrified. “Uncle I would never suggest that!”

A warm dry hand pat comfortingly at Wei Wuxian’s clenched fists. “Then why do you insist on accusing yourself of such things, hm?

“Because I…I…” he couldn’t help turning his eyes to the bin, to the white sticks littered at its bottom, the bolded ‘Negative’ clear as day on every single one of them.

He startled when Lan Qiren’s slipper came into view, kicking the bin carefully away. “They are not the sum of your worth. Your ability or inability to procreate is not the sum of your worth.”

“But…”

“Have you had your fertility tested?”

“…no?”

“Then if you must lay blame for this, how do you know the fault lies with yourself? Perhaps the fault is Wangji’s.”

Wei Wuxian’s response to such an accusation was an instantaneous and vehement, “No!”

“But you do not know,” Lan Qiren pointed out, even as Wei Wuxian shook his head, refusing to even entertain such an idea.

“Lan Zhan is perfect, this is my fault, not his.”

“My boy,” Lan Qiren sighed the sigh of the long suffering and resigned. “As much as I love my nephew, I will be the first to admit he is not perfect.”

“You…!”

Lan Qiren held up a hand, halting the words likely to spring forth in defence of Lan Wangji, “Let me finish. I do not say this to slander him. I say this because I am fully aware that humans, by their very nature, are not perfect. We are not infallible creatures. As I said, if you must find fault then my nephew is just as likely to blame as yourself.”

Shoulders slumping, a tear finally escaped to roll down his cheek. “But I just want to have a family with Lan Zhan.”

“And what makes you think carrying the child yourself is the only option for that? There are other paths you can explore. Adoption is always an admirable path to take, and, it would seem, is becoming something of a family tradition.”

“You would not think less of me?” Wei Wuxian asked, voice small.

Lan Qiren softened as much as his stiff posture would allow, reaching out to cup Wei Wuxian’s cheek, “a-Xian, how could I think less of you for doing the very same thing that I have done when I took in my nephews? How could I think less of you when Xichen has done the same with his mates and given me a-Yi to dote upon?”

“But don’t the Lan need a blood heir?”

“Blood does not matter. We are not the Jin, nor are we the Jiang. A good heart, a just soul. These things matter. Family matters. By blood or by bond, family is the most important.”

A smile curved Wei Wuxian’s lips. Watery though it may be, it was still true.

“Thank you, Uncle.”

“Uncle? Wei Ying?”

The pair turned to see a lightly frowning Lan Wangji standing in the doorway.

“Ah Wangji, you’re home, good.” Dropping his hand to give a reassuring squeeze to Wei Wuxian’s shoulder, he rose to his feet and straightened his clothes. “I shall return in a week’s time. I trust you shall both be here?”

“Of course, Uncle, but…”

“Just tend to your husband, Wangji, and I shall deal with the rest.”

-x-

They were honestly not quite sure what had happened, but a week later, as promised, Lan Qiren swept into their home ladened with forms and files and annotated paperwork.

The three sat at the dining room table, Lan Qiren on one side, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian on the other. A relatively thick folder was pushed towards them.

“Following our discussion I took it upon myself to make some enquires. This is Wen Yuan. He is three years old and an orphan. His parents were tragically killed in a car accident, following which he was placed in some less than satisfactory foster homes before his remaining family could be found and contacted. Unfortunately, due to varying circumstances, his family have been unable to offer the care he needs.”

Wei Wuxian reached out a trembling hand to open the file, his breath hitching at the photograph of an adorable little boy. “Lan Zhan?”

“Mn.” A strong arm curled around Wei Wuxian’s shoulders, holding him safe and secure.

“The child’s birth family would like to maintain contact and are accepting of the fact his name will change with the adoption. What matters to them is that the child is loved and well cared for.”

“How…why him?” Wei Wuxian asked, fingers still tracing the curve of a cheek, plump with baby fat.

“As I have already told you, to the Lans, family matters. I believe, even at such a young age, this boy embodies those beliefs of the Lan. I believe he would thrive under your care, and I also believe that you would thrive within a large family.”

-x-

Three Years Later

Wei Wuxian could happily say that the party was going to be a rousing success. With a glass of Uncle Four’s latest batch in one hand, and a plate piled high with various foods made by his sister, his Lan Zhan, and the budding culinary skills of Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian couldn’t stop smiling even if he tried.

Taking a seat next to a gently smiling Lan Wangji, he turned his attention to the people gathered in their garden.

Nie Mingjue stood, shoulders slumped and chastised, as Wen Qing listed all the things he needed to do to care for his health. Clearly the instigators of the dressing down Nie Mingjue was receiving, Meng Yao and Nie Huaisang sat to one side, smug little smiles on their faces.

Lan Xichen and Wen Ning were sat beside a heavily pregnant Jiang Yanli, talking about this and that in gentle tones, while Jin Zixuan fluttered about tending to Jiang Yanli’s every need.

Granny Wen and Lan Qiren had taken over the comfortable garden chairs under the shade of an umbrella, swiping at their phones in that awkward way some technologically challenged older people had. But they were content, radiating pride as they told stories and showed off various photos of their grandchildren and family, and shared the odd image that the other didn’t already have.

Jiang Cheng was splayed out on the grass, Lan Yuan, Lan Jingyi, and the neighbour’s kid Ouyang Zizhen sat on his back cheering about defeating the great evil water ghoul. All the while little three-year-old Jin Ling sat giggling and happily whacking his uncle’s head with a foam sword.

This, this is what he’d wanted all those years ago, when he’d had a bin full of negative pregnancy tests and was so very close to just throwing Lan Qiren out of the house.

This was the family he’d always craved

What he’d always wanted.

Snuggled against Lan Wangji’s side, the scent of sandalwood under his nose, and the sounds of family filling his ears, Wei Wuxian could admit that sometimes, just sometimes, it paid to listen to your elders.

#mdzsbingo #The Untamed #Lan Qiren #Wei Wuxian #Lan Wangji #my writing #fanfiction writing #there are family feels #and I made LQR into a good parent because I didn't feel like making him a villian this time #especially when I could pair him with Granny Wen looking at pictures of their grandkids and bragging to each other

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songofclarity · 3 years

Note

Hi cat anon back again I absolutely loved your response to my ask though I doubt WRH sleeps 16 hours a day lol. On the contrary I think he's more likely a workaholic who rarely if ever gets a full night of sleep. even if he delegates a part of his workload, leading a sect as large as qishan wen is still a very hard and demanding job and there are things that just can't be delegated and there's also his cultivation that he must put a lot of work in to be that powerful I would be surprised if he ever gets time to rest. If I were to compare WRH as a leader to anyone it would be Miranda Priestley from "the devil wears Prada", all those working under him are terrified of him not because he's needlessly cruel but because he's extremely strict, demanding, and has very high expectations of everyone starting with himself and the higher you go in the hierarchy of the sect the higher his expectations of you will be and if you can't meet his expectations you will be kicked to the curb without mercy (srsly if you haven't watched that movie you absolutely should especially if you're looking for inspiration for WRH because Meryl Streep slays the role of the demanding and tyrannical leader in it).

Also I'm curious what kind of parent you think WRH is. We never get to meet WX in the novel so there's no way to know what he's really like but WC strikes me as a sort of spoiled kid who was used to getting all his demands met without question and was never disciplined for anything ever in his life but also there are WQ and WN whose upbringing WRH had more or less involvement in depending on the adaptation and who seem to be far better adjusted people than WC even if WN seems to suffer from near crippling social anxiety and stage fright. I personally think he has no idea how to parent because he was mostly raised by nannies and tutors and barely had any relation with his own parents if he had any so his idea of being a father is buying his children anything they ask for no matter how extravagant and having dinner with them once in a while.

Sorry for the rant but you're my favorite writer who writes WRH I just love the way you write him ❤️

Ahaha, 16 hours is indeed much too much, he needs to have time to work on his cultivation! I'm so happy you love the way I write him and I love hearing you talk about him, so thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!

I will confess I, too, have a soft spot for workaholic/insomniac Wen RuoHan. It’s a big sect and there is a lot to do! At the same time, I also have a soft spot for well-rested and idling Wen RuoHan who is purposefully kept oblivious to most things happening in his sect, either because other people are doing a good job taking care of it all, because they just don't want to look bad in front of the boss and so don't tell him, or both lol

To be honest, I don't see Wen RuoHan as someone who is that critical of people! I just don't see him dropping people simply because they make a mistake. The way he lightly jokes with Meng Yao after Meng Yao nearly gets himself killed is kind of something I can see Miranda Priestly doing though lol But she knows she's top brass and has the attitude for it. There is an arrogance about her that when she says something disparaging, it's really not a joke even if she might smile and laugh. By comparison, I don't think Wen RuoHan is nearly that arrogant or, if I may, that rude. I think politeness and proper manners are actually very important to him (and there is a whole essay in me about that lol). Wen RuoHan says "you good-for-nothing" only after Meng Yao was being self-deprecating, and then they laughed and carried on with Wen RuoHan going along with Meng Yao's ideas. Meng Yao's status doesn't falter in the slightest.

(So yes, The Devil Wears Prada is a great movie and I have definitely seen it!)

Instead of Wen RuoHan creating a toxic environment where he plays an active hand in making people fight for privileges and status, I can better see people around Wen RuoHan vying for his attention that it becomes a dog-eat-dog situation. It's like with the guest cultivator who threw Nie Dad under the bus. Wen RuoHan did not pose a question that needed to cause a sect-sect incident, but the guest cultivator made it into one. No one is quite sure why he would say such a thing, although one of the assumptions is that he said it simply to stand out and gain attention.

Although I may just have some rose-colored glasses on lol Wen RuoHan just kind of has that personality, to me, that draws people in. They see Wen RuoHan, recognize his power, and are like, "If I can have 5 minutes of his time, my whole life will change for the better." I do think Wen RuoHan thought he was making things better with his policies. The problem is that some bad people are taking advantage of this offer, and it in turn reflects badly on Wen RuoHan. I will say this though: I think there is some room to argue that Wen RuoHan does follow the teachings of Wen Mao.

For the record, I like to completely ignore what CQL did to the Wens, tbh LOL Wen RuoHan is Yikes, Wen Chao is more just evil asshole rather than pompous asshole, and Wen Qing and Wen Ning are like desolate orphans for some reason. I love the younger actors, acting, and the aesthetics (although white and red will always be Wen colors to me!) but the changes to their story line and their relationships with each other made a complete mess and I don't like to see it ;;

But man, I wish we knew, like, anything about Wen Xu! Wen Chao is absolutely spoiled though. Although one thing I like is how he's being given opportunities to practice leadership, management, and organization skills. He's the one arranging the Wen Sect team for the archery competition and he's put in charge of indoctrinating all the juniors when he himself is the same age as them. We see evidence that he's getting the right education and opportunities to maybe even become Sect Leader one day (Wen Xu, who are you!?), but we also know he's a rather rotten, arrogant person who seems to enjoy his power and privilege more than anything. Wen Chao is also the second son and we get a nice comparison with Nie HuaiSang, who also enjoys all the wealth and the pretty things of his station but doesn't want the responsibilities that come with it.

My headcanon is that Wen RuoHan adores children and is very good with them. I want to believe he was very good to Wen Xu, Wen Chao, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning. This is in part because every other parent in MDZS is awful so statistics says at least one of them needs to be good, so let's give it to Wen RuoHan LMAO

But for the actual teaching of said children, I can definitely see them being given tutors and Shifu and all that good stuff. Then when they have learned something, they show it off to Wen RuoHan, who I think is someone who likes seeing others learn and improve. I don't think utilizing nannies and tutors would make him a bad parent though! It might make him somewhat distant, however, which might explain why Wen Chao lies about killing the Tortoise of Slaughter. That would be a great way to get his father's attention! But it might not be because his father is distant. That lack of attention could also be because he's competing, as I mentioned before, with all the other people vying for Wen RuoHan's attention.

Considering Wen RuoHan gave Wen Chao his strongest bodyguard, a whole ton of disciples to lead, and opportunities to prove himself, I think Wen RuoHan is arguably a decent father. That Wen Chao was desperate to get back to him when it all went south shows that his father is someone he knows will protect him, which no other kid in the series (except Lan SiZhui who has the benefit of being from the next generation lol) ever displays. Considering how Wen RuoHan protected Meng Yao in the Sun Palace with Extreme Force, I like to think Wen RuoHan really doesn't mess around with the safety of his kids (with Meng Yao as honorary kid). Even Wen Qing and Wen Ning had ZERO fear running around as they did right after the massacre of Lotus Pier. No one and nothing is going to harm them--not with Wen RuoHan around.

(As a side note, Wen Qing said she wouldn’t be able to protect Wen Ning from Wen Chao if Wen Chao really wanted to kill him, but there is no mention of harm coming from Wen RuoHan. It really does sound like a sibling spat of “He’s going to fucking kill you when he finds out you ate his pudding and there is NOTHING I can do to stop him.”)

With all that said!! I really like your headcanon that Wen RuoHan wasn't close with his own parents and thus having no idea how to parent. It makes me sad, but in a good way lol So I'm definitely willing to run with you on it! Although I love the idea that Wen RuoHan is trying to be different than the generation before him. His parents weren't close to him, so he is close to his own children. He cultivated to a high level because no one was around to protect him, so he makes sure he's around to protect them. Wen ZhuLiu is an extension of Wen RuoHan and it shows when he protects Wen Chao, despite not liking the kid in the slightest.

So Wen Chao grows up spoiled and Wen Ning grows up fearless and Wen Qing grows up prideful because Wen RuoHan is just one letter away and no one wants to mess with Wen RuoHan.

#ty for waiting and for sharing wrh thoughts with me!! i love them!#asked from above #anon #wen ruohan #wen fam #mdzs thoughts #the problem with my headcanons and opinions is that #they change depending on what i want and where i am #especially for someone like wrh where we can tweak him depending on what we want out of him

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a-very-fond-farewell · 4 years

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The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 19/?

Wedding Planner AU [xicheng edition]: “Chickens on the Loose”

[let me have this]

Jiang Cheng doesn’t believe in love and that’s precisely the reason why he plans other people’s special day. The most extravagant, the boldest, the loudest, the better. Because if there’s something he got to accept over the years is that people aren’t willing to pay for something realistic, but for something unattainable instead. Over-compensating bland, ordinary reality with fantasy and dreams is his job and he’s well aware that no one can compete with his genius. Not with his father owning a catering and food chain company. Not with his mother being the most sought out wedding gown fashion designer on the market. They taught him everything there is to know on how to make other people’s dream come true before the inevitable envelope of a dainty, innocuous divorce application can make its way in a once happy household. Better make the satisfaction last, because Jiang Cheng will only accept advanced payments in cash, no monthly installments allowed.

His sister YanLi may have married honoring tradition over useless exaggeration, but what did her love bring aside from suffering and neglect? Marrying into the richest family in the country to the heir of a textile empire has given her nothing but sorrow and a husband too proud and distant to even visit her regularly. Jin Ling growing up without a father, spoiled rotten by the wrong side of the family who lured him into their shining world of nothingness day after day. At least Jiang Cheng’s family did rise from nothing and learned to trick the rich into relying on useless services soon enough. But Jin ZiXuan and his family had never worked once in their life and didn’t know how to take care of their loved ones. Not that Jiang Cheng’s parents could do any better, their marriage a wasteland where no love could grow, but at least they were honest about it. Better enjoy a dream while it lasts.

That is why if even Wei Ying’s marriage were to turn out to utter shit like YanLi’s, at least it will not be Jiang Cheng’s fault. Everything needs to be perfect, from the vows to the tea ceremony, from the food to the color scheme, from the seat arrangements to the music. Hell, some of his stepbrother’s requests may be too much to handle for most, but not for Jiang Cheng and if Wei Ying wants a parade and a whole week worth of celebrations, Wei Ying will have exactly that.

Hence he will not, under any circumstance, allow anyone snooping around as he plans the wedding of the century. No, not even the fiancée’s overprotective older brother asking people for blackmailing material on Wei Ying behind Jiang Cheng’s back. Not even if he pays him in nature, no ma’am.

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

Lan Huan is the best divorce attorney in town precisely because he believes in unconditional love. That’s why he doesn’t see the point of two people (or three people, on one memorable case in Europe) spending the rest of their life together if change is inevitable and something to be expected. He would much prefer to get the best deal out of it for his clients and prevent children to suffer from it in the process.

Judges fear him and his diplomatic smile that can never hide his tunnel vision drive for victory. His trusty private investigator Nie HuaiSang is equally terrified by his assets, but still feeds him with the juiciest details whenever Lan Huan asks for favors, discreetly requesting the younger man to do background checks on this or that subject. Settlements may be nice, but not if the (soon to be ex) husband or wife in question can be easily found guilty of adultery, gaslighting, or even violence. Not on Lan Huan’s watch.

That’s why his world gets completely turned over the moment his younger brother Lan Zhan announces his intention to marry a man he hasn’t known for a full three months yet. Truth to be told, Lan Huan had never seen him this happy: glowing with something akin to adoration, affection dripping from every pore, love spilling all over just by mentioning one name, Wei Ying. In case this rascal happens to crush his precious baby brother’s heart, Lan Huan needs to find dirt on this man and squeeze everything he has out of his dead cold hands the second his brother files a request for a divorce.

But for some reason Nie HuaiSang cannot seem to be found for the job this time around. Not unlike most of his other contacts and informants, who have seemingly disappeared at the mention of his brother’s fiancee’s name. If this Wei Ying is such a big fish in the sea to make even Lan Huan’s most loyal colleagues dissolve into thin air, then he must find the answers by himself.

And if it means to bomb the wedding preparations to get shit done, oh he will. He’s not above flirting to get what he wants, but if this Wei Ying turns out to be a good person in the end... well. Lan Huan prays things won’t get too messy to proceed with the celebrations in the end. Hopefully, that is.

[fun stuff under the cut.]

NHS went to uni with Wei Ying and he knows LXC won’t find anything on him bc WWX himself is a blackmail master and will 100% diss you in front of your children calling you out on your deepest secrets so no. NHS will not mess with that and he urges to do as much to all LXC’s informants and sources.

JC looks scary but his staff loves how dedicated he is and they make bets on when he’s going to lose it and sleep with someone out of frustration. although they think he gets more turned on by going over every point in his check-lists at times...

LXC’s colleague always ask him if he’s dating anyone, clearly to set him up with someone (who will not be of LXC’s liking, he’s sure). to which he answers by smiling and lying saying he has a terrible personality. since nobody believes him, he asked his friend Meng Yao to make a scene at the firm once: (all too pleased to mess with his bestie’s reputation) Meng Yao murder-walked into the office and demanded to meet LXC, only to cry in front of everyone and smack him across the face for cheating on him. THEN his sister A-Su made her sudden appearance and smacked LXC’s other cheek lamenting the same, ridiculous thing. the two siblings gaped in fake horror at each other before spitting on LXC and storming off of the building.

NMJ laughed his ass off for weeks after the sharade. he started dating A-Su not long after (with both JGY and LXC’s blessings) bc he was mildly impressed by her willingness to jump on the opportunity to make a fool of both LXC and her brother at once. LXC thinks they are a good match, but he worries A-Su might be too tiny and full of undiluted mischief for NMJ to be able to handle her antics.

NMJ used to date LXC, but they were too driven and competitive to let their relationship get in the way and in the end they stopped seeing each other. they still care deeply for one another, but they love their jobs at the firm too much and making things messy at the office wasn’t worth it. A-Su knows about it and doesn’t feel left out because of it, glad that they settled into their respective lives while still being loyal friends to each other.

JGY tries to set LXC up with a new woman every week, saying he would benefit from having a cute wife taking care of him. but LXC doesn’t know what business JGY has to talk about women that way when Meng Yao’s been a raging homosexual since the first time he has landed his eyes on another boy in kindergarten. too many crushes on boys to even be aware of how many hearts he has broken in his life. all those pretty girls falling for his looks, poor kids. only JGY’s younger brother Mo XuanYu could rival his victim count, but barely so.

ZiXuan is secretly keeping an eye on his half-brothers and half-sister while he works as a representative for his family company and this is mainly the reason why he has distanced himself from YanLi and Jin Ling in these past few years. he would like to approach his three half-siblings and maybe have a chance to rekindle lost relationships, but by stressing over it he is losing sight of the found family he actually has. YanLi wants him to come around, eventually, but she knows how lonely ZiXuan has been with no siblings and how secretly jealous he is of the bond that she has with her family. so she won’t pressure her husband, but she feels lonely nonetheless.

the two wangxian lovebirds are too happy to notice the mess LXC is making and they don’t even realize he’s there until like, three days before the actual wedding.

LXC may be a shark but he’s not subtle. JC doesn’t know what he does for a living but he assumes he has too much time on his hands, hence not someone worthy of his time. but LXC always causes troubles on the venue or messes up with the flower arrangements or prods for information to the wrong people and JC is over it.

“if you don’t have anything better to do help me find the sommelier so I can ask him what’s wrong with him and if he studied anything at all” or “if you have so much time to waste be useful and learn how to make flower crowns for the children to play with” or “if you can sit on your ass all day at least look over my nephew while I go look for someone to emotionally bully to let off some steam.”

Jin Ling is five and even more bossy than his uncle and orders LXC around to be his pony when JC should babysit him at work. LXC discovers the boy is JGY and A-Su and Mo XuanYu’s nephew and that JC doesn’t what any of them to interact with Jin Ling. but LXC secretly lets them hang out with the boy when JC is too busy to notice.

JC and LXC get closer the more the latter understands that there’s not much dirt on Wei Ying (aside from some questionable pictures taken during a university party back in the days, but that’s beside the point). LXC appreciates how crafty and ingenious JC is, always helping others around instead of just shouting orders...even if his temper is atrocious at times.

JC forces LXC to take dance lessons with the lot of the main family members and LXC meets JC’s mother for the first time. she is competitive about her dancing skills and Wei Ying tries to win her over by asking her to show everybody how it’s done by leading her ex-husband in a tango. after publicly humiliating her ex-husband (and making him fall in love with her once more), she insists on practicing a waltz with LXC and basically threatens him to cut off his balls if he dares to lead JC on with his charms.

LXC realizes he’s been playing and flirting too much with the man for him not to notice, but JC seems oblivious. no. he’s completely oblivious and kind and beautiful as he dances with Jin Ling and twirls him around in delight. LXC played too hard and now he’s in too deep.

the only source of drama in this would be JC finding out LXC let Jin Ling hang out with his other uncles and aunt despite the warnings. JC was starting to trust the man... and LXC stabbed him in the back. he would have much preferred not to discover it from his nephew (who let it slip that LXC “told him not to speak of his uncles and aunt to Jiujiu”), because he would have given LXC a chance to explain himself otherwise. but no. JC cannot have good things apparently and now he’s heartbroken without even knowing why.

without the lucky charm that is JC (holed up in his flat eating junk food to forget the pain of being an afterthought in other people’s lives), everything goes to shit three days before the wedding: the chef quits, the tea set for the ceremony breaks, one of the maids has accidentally torn apart one set of wedding robes and so on.

the venue gets flooded with live chickens when a truck transporting them breaks down in front of the building and the chicken escape. Jin Ling is loving every second of it, but everything gets destroyed in the ruckus and JC’s hard work is ruined.

Wei Ying is heartbroken and Lan Zhan silently accuses LXC of being the cause of this and urges him to fix the mess unless he wants to receive the cold shoulder for the rest of his days. but LXC is a cowards and spends his time actually fixing the broken things or replacing them or finding seamstresses to help with the garments and so on himself. anything but facing JC and be rejected.

ZiXuan comes to his senses and blurts out that “he really just wanted to have a loving family” the moment JGY, A-Su and Mo XuanYu come check on LXC. they hug and cry and laugh and YanLi gently reminds them that this is not about them right now and that they should help with the preparations if they have so much time on their hands. her mother is very proud of her and nods appreciatively at ZiXuan’s shocked and weirdly intrigued expression after being humiliated so boldly in front of everyone. the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree indeed.

the day before the wedding Wei Ying threatens to call the wedding off if JC doesn’t show up for his big day: not because he’s the planner, but because Wei Ying wants him close on his happiest day and he will not have it any other way.

LXC goes to fetch JC in his apartment himself the night before the wedding and they yell and they make peace and then they make love and then they woke up late the next day and they have to rush to the venue.

Wei Ying is livid until JC appears and then they celebrate the wedding of the century. A week of celebrations later Lan Zhan deadpans that they actually got married already like, one month in after meeting each other, but Wei Ying wanted a big wedding and he didn’t want to deny his husband a single thing.

JC tries to strangle his brother as the last family picture is being taken.

give me an award already.

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #xicheng #wangxian #mdzs/au: modern #mdzs/au: wedding planner #mo dao zu shi

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purple-crabs · 4 years

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Day 8: Best Baddie

So, I don’t really understand what is meant by this category to be honest. The best villian, I guess? But best as in...he is actually not that bad? Or the one I liked the best? But honestly BL villains are honestly not really that likable...or does it mean the best villain character (as in well worked out)?

Anyway, I’m going with the last....

Lhong (Tharntype):

So, even though I think a few aspects about this storyline are really problematic, I was really shocked at the plot twist of Lhong being the bad guy in Tharntype. I really did not see it coming and it still somehowmade sense storywise. The makers should receive some credit for that. They also gave him a backstory and a reason for doing the things that he does and I really enjoyed that. I actually kind of liked his character before, so it hurt even more when he betrayed Tharn. That entire scene on the street was just 👌🏻 The acting, the emotion, wow...

Meng Yao (The Untamed)

Just like Lhong, I really didn’t see this one coming. He seemed so innocent in the beginning of the series. I really believed he was for probably way too long. Looking back at it, though, he did have some sort of creepy vibe, which can probably be attributed to the subtle acting skills of Zhu Zan Jin. Like an amazing villain character I could kind of understand where he came from, but still feared and condemned him whenever he came on screen. I also really liked his relationship with Lan Xi Chen. Too bad he fucked that up.

#bl drama #30 day bl drama challenge #the untamed #meng yao #zhu zanjin #tharntype #tharntype lhong #lhong #the untamed meng yao #tong thanayut

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khazadspoon · 4 years

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Day 6. Reincarnation/Wedding

Okay so this is... self indulgent. I mean everything I write is self indulgent but whatever. Continuing the modern au thing tho may stray from that tomorrow and just write this au in snippets for my own amusement. BOP.

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Comparing the two events is probably impolite in some way. The wedding of Wangji and Wei Wuxian had been small, family and friends only, and with just the necessary speeches so the two lovebirds could disappear as soon as they could. It had been emotional and lovely but hardly extravagant.

The wedding for Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan however…

The venue was large and lavishly decorated. Gold and red adorned each wall, ribbons and banners hanging from every available surface. There were candles and porcelain, collections of the most exquisite dinnerware Lan Xichen had ever seen, all matching and beyond any price tag even his rather well-off family could dream of affording. Waiters and staff seemed to glide about the rooms with trays of decadent drinks and food, even graciously bowing when requests for anything not on display were made.

“It’s ridiculous,” Nie Mingjue said from his side. “Why does it need to be this big? It took long enough for the man to propose in the first place!” He made an unimpressed sound and crossed his arms, the fabric of his shirt clinging delightfully to his muscles. Lan Xichen was happy to simply stare for a few moments and ignore the whole palaver. He was drawn from his examination of what might have been the peak of Mingjue’s nipple by the man’s amused laugh. “Something distracting you?”

Xichen flushed and laughed, leaned against Mingjue’s side and toyed with the cuff of his own white shirt. “Perhaps. Do you have something against Jin Zixuan?” He asked instead of falling into the flirtatious trap.

His partner shrugged his wonderfully broad shoulders, nearly distracting Xichen again. “Not personally, no. His father is a bastard, though, and I hope I never get the privilege of meeting him.”

“If he gives that bad of an impression, I certainly hope I never do either.”

The ceremony had ended at least two hours ago, and with no clocks to tell the time and his phone battery long since depleted, Xichen could only guess at the time. They wandered about, Mingjue parting from him with a brief kiss to his cheek to find Huaisang, and Xichen tried to find a quiet corner away from the damned orchestra the Jin family had hired.

At the far end of the room was an alcove. It looked as though there had been a curtain across it at one point, though Xichen could see a table behind the half-drawn back fabric. He saw a chair and went to sit down. As soon as he crossed the line of the curtain his breath left his lungs in a rush.

A man, older than Huaisang by a few years but still younger than Xichen, sat at the table. His dark hair was pulled into a loose bun at the nape of his neck, wavy bangs framing the delicate curve of his jaw. His eyes were wide and dark with lashes so long they looked almost false. Xichen couldn’t stop himself staring at the plush lips, the high cheekbones, and was shocked by the sharp flash of fear that swept across the features before being replaced with what he could only describe as a mask.

“I’m sorry, I’ll just-” Xichen began, not wanting to leave but feeling he should.

The man stood and bowed, his short stature only depleting as he did. “No, please stay. I should go before someone notices anyway.”

The voice caught him off guard.

He knew that voice.

Recent memories of midnight phone calls, hours of quiet discussion, the gentle ring of laughter in his ear and affectionate compliments filled his mind. He saw his hand reach out and hold the man’s arm to lift his gaze.

“Meng Yao?” He nearly whispered. A flash of recognition filled those large eyes “I- It’s me, Lan Xichen.”

Meng Yao, and it was certainly him, stared at him for a long moment. “Xichen,” he breathed. The anxiety on his face relaxed, an honest smile brightening his features until Xichen nearly had to look away. “Why are you- How are you-!” A laugh bubbled from his lips and Xichen laughed with him.

He let his hand rest on Meng Yao’s arm a little longer and urged him to sit down. “I was invited. I am, I suppose, related to the bride by marriage.”

Meng Yao nodded, his eyes not leaving Xichen’s. “I had heard something about a wedding recently, but I thought the name must have been a coincidence. I…” He paused and shivered, his eyes bright with some nameless emotion. “I can’t believe you’re here, in front of me.”

Lan Xichen took his hands and held them, felt the softness of his skin and how small they felt. He felt his hands shaking as the reality of it dawned on him. It felt as though he had been there before - someone who was hurt, set aside, and only he was willing to take notice. The thought was ridiculous but it stuck at the front of his mind.

“How about we leave?” He asked quickly, eager to take Meng Yao away from the parade outside. “We could find somewhere to talk. To talk properly.”

Meng Yao’s face brightened. He smiled, wide and open and it was almost too much for Xichen to take. “I’d like that,” he responded with a waver in his voice.

“Meet me outside in ten minutes. I just need to tell someone I’m leaving.”

Reluctantly, he let go of Meng Yao’s hands and went to find Mingjue. This would take a little explaining.

#xichenweek2020 #lan xichen #meng yao #nie mingjue #nielan #xiyao #the untamed

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bloody-bee-tea · 4 years

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Spilled drinks and comfy sweaters

This is for @renazeros who very rudely came into my messages with an Xicheng idea too good to pass up on. <3<3

Jiang Cheng hates dinners at the Lans. He doesn’t know how he always gets roped into these things, because apart from being Wei Wuxian’s brother, he has nothing to do with them.

Wei Wuxian is the one who snatched himself a Lan, so he should be the only one who has to attend these things. Jiang Yanli certainly never has to go, and Jiang Cheng doesn’t understand why the same isn’t true for him.

He’s tired of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji acting like every minute of every day is their goddamn honeymoon, tired of Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao glaring daggers at him for reasons Jiang Cheng doesn’t understand, and he’s especially tired of Lan Qiren scrutinizing his every motion and word.

The only person who makes these dinners even the tiniest bit bearable is Lan Xichen, and Jiang Cheng refuses to think about why that might be.

There is no way Lan Xichen could ever be interested in someone like him, not with successful and beautiful people Like Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue present, and statistically it’s very unlikely that two Jiang family members should manage to snatch up a Lan.

So, no. Not thinking about that.

Instead, Jiang Cheng tries to figure out why the hell Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue keep glaring at him.

Both have a very different feel to them; Nie Mingjue’s glares seem to be more a warning than anything else, while Jiang Cheng gets the impression that he should drop dead from Meng Yao’s glare.

He refuses to, of course, but it only seems to enrage Meng Yao further.

“Hey,” Jiang Cheng lowly says to Wei Wuxian, when he catches him without Lan Wangji for a change. “Do you know what’s up with Meng Yao? He seems ready to kill me.”

“Who isn’t?” Wei Wuxian jokes, but he gets serious a second later. “I noticed that, too, actually. I don’t know. I asked Lan Zhan but he doesn’t seem to know either. But he thinks you should be on the look-out for Meng Yao, Lan Zhan doesn’t trust him at all.”

“Reassuring,” Jiang Cheng mutters and turns his eyes back to Meng Yao, who is already watching him. “He’s going to murder me,” Jiang Cheng goes on and Wei Wuxian pats his shoulder.

“If that happens, you can at least be reassured that Lan Xichen will be inconsolable,” Wei Wuxian tells him with a wink and before Jiang Cheng can do anything more than take a surprised breath, Wei Wuxian bounds over to Lan Wangji.

Immediately Jiang Cheng becomes overly aware of eyes on him, and he busies himself with getting something to drink.

“You seem troubled,” Lan Xichen suddenly says from besides Jiang Cheng, and he only jumps slightly in surprise. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is good,” Jiang Cheng replies with a small smile, unwilling to explain to Lan Xichen that his friends leave him unsettled. “How are you doing?” he asks, because for all that Lan Xichen is the only reason he even comes to these things, Jiang Cheng didn’t have a lot of chances to speak with him yet.

“I’m doing very well,” Lan Xichen tells him with a huge smile and Jiang Cheng’s stomach swoops, like it always does when Lan Xichen seems this happy.

It’s a problem.

“Great,” Jiang Cheng says and they turn around to go to the table, when someone slams into Jiang Cheng and spills their red wine all over his shirt.

“Fuck,” Jiang Cheng breathes out, as the unpleasant feeling of wet and cold clothes sticking to his chest spreads out and he glares at Meng Yao.

“Oh, gods,” Meng Yao says. “I’m terribly sorry about this,” he goes on, but Jiang Cheng can see the calculating glint in his eyes, and he just knows that this wasn’t an accident. “It seems like you should go home, you’d catch a cold with a shirt this wet.”

“It seems like it,” Jiang Cheng presses out, but he relaxes when Lan Xichen presses a warm hand to the small of his back.

“You can take one of my shirts,” Lan Xichen tells him and swiftly leads Jiang Cheng away from the dining room and deeper into the house.

“You don’t have to,” Jiang Cheng tries, because really, at this point he is more than ready to just go home, manners be damned.

“I want to,” Lan Xichen reassures him. “It’s no hardship. And besides,” he tacks on as he leads Jiang Cheng into his own bedroom, “dinners without you are always terribly boring.”

Lan Xichen isn’t looking at Jiang Cheng as he says it, for which Jiang Cheng is glad, because he flushes bright red at that.

He watches Lan Xichen go through his wardrobe, and he’s still deciding if it’s worth it to tell him not to bother, when Lan Xichen already offers him a soft looking sweater.

“This should work,” Lan Xichen gently says and Jiang Cheng can’t say no to him so he takes the offered piece of clothing.

“Can I change somewhere? I should probably also clean up, at least a little bit,” Jiang Cheng says as he tries to unstick his shirt from his chest and Lan Xichen gets oddly flustered.

“Oh, yeah, of course, the bathroom is just through there,” he tells him, pointing to a door and Jiang Cheng quickly walks into it.

He takes off his shirt, cleans his chest as best as he can, and then slides on Lan Xichen’s sweater.

It’s slightly too big on him—the collar a little loose, the sleeves a little bit too long—but it’s warm and comfy, and Jiang Cheng refuses to admit that he smelled the fabric.

He imagines this must be what it feels like to get a hug from Lan Xichen.

Jiang Cheng shakes his head at that thought--how much more stupid can he get--and leaves the bathroom.

Lan Xichen is waiting for him, and his eyes seem to catch on the sleeves of the sweater, because he blinks a few times and doesn’t move at all.

“It’s a little bit big,” Jiang Cheng admits, playing with the hem of the sweater, and his voice seems to shake Lan Xichen out of whatever stupor he found himself in.

“It looks good on you,” Lan Xichen admits, and then promptly turns around. “We should probably get back to dinner now.”

Jiang Cheng stares after him when he practically flees his own bedroom, and he wonders just how long it will take him to get that compliment out of his head.

Dinner after that is interesting, to say the least.

Nie Mingjue is still throwing him glances, but they lost a lot of their force and he even smiled at Jiang Cheng once. Lan Qiren seems strangely pleased and exchanges more than the bare minimum of pleasantries with Jiang Cheng. Meng Yao on the other hand seems to only be more angry than before and his glares only gained in intensity, if such a thing is even possible.

Lan Xichen himself is constantly at Jiang Cheng’s side and Jiang Cheng catches him throwing him secret glances more than once.

It makes Jiang Cheng nervous, causes him to play with the sleeves of the sweater, but that only seems to make it worse.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know what to feel about any of it, so he excuses himself halfway through dinner to go to the bathroom.

He spends all of his time there trying to calm himself down, reminding himself that it doesn’t mean anything, and breathing in Lan Xichen’s scent that’s clinging to the sweater.

When he finally leaves the bathroom, only a little bit more stable than when he went into it, Nie Mingjue is waiting for him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jiang Cheng mumbles out, and steps to the side, but Nie Mingjue doesn’t make a move to enter the bathroom.

“Listen,” he starts, and dread already settles in Jiang Cheng’s stomach. “I know you’re worried about Meng Yao but he won’t hurt you,” Nie Mingjue says and while the statement in itself is confusing enough, Jiang Cheng also doesn’t believe him.

Which must be obvious on his face, because Nie Mingjue winces.

“Okay, he won’t hurt you seriously. For all that he is petty and jealous, he couldn’t hurt Xichen like that.”

“I—have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jiang Cheng admits with a frown, because why should it be his problem that Meng Yao is jealous?

“You’re wearing Xichen’s favourite sweater,” Nie Mingjue tells him, and Jiang Cheng flushes at that.

“He gave it to me,” he defensively says and Nie Mingjue nods.

“Yeah, he did. When a fully equipped guest room is right over there,” he says and points towards a door at the end of the hall. “Clothes and all included.”

Jiang Cheng blinks at that revelation and when he turns back towards Nie Mingjue he finds that the other man has already gone back to the dining room.

Jiang Cheng can’t help himself; he goes to the guest room and opens the closet, only to find shirts and sweaters in all sizes and colours.

There really isn’t a single reason Lan Xichen should have offered him his own.

Jiang Cheng must have spent more time here than he thought, because Lan Xichen shows up after a while.

“Hey,” he awkwardly says and Jiang Cheng whirls around.

“There are clothes here,” he says, and Lan Xichen grimaces. “There is no reason at all for you to offer me your own clothes,” he goes on and Lan Xichen has the decency to flush at that.

“I know, I’m sorry,” he mumbles and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.

“Did you put Meng Yao up to this?” Jiang Cheng demands to know and now Lan Xichen goes frantic.

“No! I mean, he did it because of me, but I didn’t put him up to that!”

“Explain,” Jiang Cheng orders him, because he’s getting all kinds of mixed signals here, and he doesn’t know how to handle any of them.

He needs Lan Xichen to clarify this.

“Meng Yao spilled his wine on you because he’s jealous,” Lan Xichen admits.

“Of what?”

“He confessed to me a few weeks back,” Lan Xichen says and Jiang Cheng doesn’t like the sinking feeling in his stomach at all.

“And?”

“And I told him I’m in love with someone else,” Lan Xichen goes on.

Jiang Cheng wants to ask what the hell any of that has to do with him, but before he finds his voice, Lan Xichen goes on.

“I told him I’m in love with you,” Lan Xichen admits, and he looks down at his feet, so he doesn’t see how wide Jiang Cheng’s eyes go at that.. “He didn’t take that very well, to be honest, and he hoped you would just leave tonight after he spilled the wine on you. It was on purpose.”

“And instead you gave me your favourite sweater,” Jiang Cheng weakly says and Lan Xichen’s head snaps up.

“How do you know that?”

“Nie Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng gives back and suddenly it clicks for him. “He’s been trying to give me the shovel talk through glares,” Jiang Cheng says and smacks his forehead. “That’s why his glares felt a lot more friendly than Meng Yao’s did.”

“I’m so sorry they are behaving like that,” Lan Xichen says and Jiang Cheng takes a deep breath.

There will be enough time to focus on Meng Yao’s and Nie Mingjue’s behaviour later—and Lan Qiren, too, Jiang Cheng guesses—but right now, only one thing is important.

“You’re in love with me,” Jiang Cheng says, a little bit dazed by the whole thing, and his heart beats faster when Lan Xichen blushes at that.

“Yes.”

“And you gave me your favourite sweater,” Jiang Cheng goes on.

“Yes,” Lan Xichen repeats, and then shuffles his feet in the most adorable way imaginable. “I’m sorry, I just--you look good in my clothes,” Lan Xichen admits, voice so low Jiang Cheng almost doesn’t hear him, but he does and it’s enough to make him smile.

“I like wearing your clothes,” he admits and raises the collar to take a deep breath. “It still smells like you,” he goes on and it seems to be enough to jolt Lan Xichen out of his shyness, because his head snaps up and he takes one long look at Jiang Cheng, before he marches forward, frames Jiang Cheng’s face with his hands and pulls him in for a kiss.

Jiang Cheng is frozen for a second, because this is quite unexpected, but he’s nothing if not quick on his feet, and so it’s not long before he slings his arms around Lan Xichen’s neck and leans fully into the kiss.

Jiang Cheng isn’t sure if he’ll ever get over the embarrassment of Lan Wangji clearing his throat at the door, ordering them back to the table, but Meng Yao’s face when he and Lan Xichen show back up in the dining room holding hands more than makes up for that.

#bt writes #xicheng #the untamed #mdzs #getting together #jealousy #first kiss #clothes sharing #fluff

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eleanorfenyxwrites · 3 years

Text

@guqin-and-flute I hope you don’t mind that I jumped in on this one? It happened to hit my inspiration bone just right so I wrote a quick one-shot while procrastinating my college assignments.

(Edit: now on my AO3, titled, “You’ll Have To Trust Me”)

In retrospect, Nie Mingjue supposes, he should have known that it would just be their luck - his luck, really - that they would run into something like this.

Leave it to Jin Guangyao to find the perfect excuse for the three of them to get away from the overwhelming crush of their duties for a night only to just so happen to walk right into a fucking trap that has conveniently left himself and Lan Xichen blinded and Jin Guangyao apparently untouched.

Oh not that he’ll ever get Lan Xichen to believe it was a trap, of course. It was an ‘honest mistake’ as far as he’s concerned, which he’s currently reassuring Jin Guangyao of throughout all the other man’s outwardly anxious fretting.

“Er-ge are you really sure you’re alright? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“A-Yao -” Lan Xichen’s voice is soft and warm and even though the kindness isn’t even directed at him it still feels like a warmed blanket around Nie Mingjue’s shoulders. Lan Xichen is just...like that. “I promise I’m alright, not even a scratch.”

There’s a pause and then a tentative, “Da-ge?” from much closer than he would have expected. He doesn’t flinch though. He won’t give Jin Guangyao the satisfaction.

“What?” he replies, his tone as curt as Lan Xichen’s was affectionate. He can practically feel the disapproval radiating off of Lan Xichen in response but that isn’t anything new with their new..situation. Nie Mingjue has already made his peace with the fact that he is likely going to spend the rest of his life upsetting his oldest friend in some way or another.

“You’re injured.”

“I know that!”

“Mingjue-xiong? You’re hurt?” Lan Xichen suddenly pipes up and Nie Mingjue knows that the only reason there’s not an accompanying rustle of clothing and a gentle touch on his arm is because Lan Xichen is as sightless as he is at the moment and likely afraid to move too much.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Will you let me look at it?”

Nie Mingjue instinctively pulls his injured leg closer to himself and away from Jin Guangyao, biting his tongue instead of groaning when something grinds under the skin in a spot where he’s pretty sure nothing’s supposed to actually move.

“It’s fine. We just need to figure out how to break this fucking curse before something comes and eats us,” he grunts once he’s sure he can talk without screaming, dull flares of pain dragging up and down his entire left side, from toes to shoulder and back down again.

“Mingjue-xiong just let him look at it,” Lan Xichen sighs. “We’re not going anywhere for awhile anyway until we figure out how to do this safely.”

Nie Mingjue holds out in silence for another two minutes (he counts) before he relents with a nod. For a long moment he’s able to maintain the hope that Jin Guangyao wasn’t watching him to see it, but then there’s a quiet shuffling and small, cool hands are lifting the suspiciously sticky fabric of his trousers to take a look at his leg.

“What’s wrong? How bad is it?” Lan Xichen asks when Jin Guangyao sucks in a gasp and Nie Mingjue glares into the middle distance that he can’t fucking see because this spirit that Jin Guangyao just had to chase tonight blinded them and now he’s broken his fucking leg because of it. And he’s still somehow the only person in the world who doesn’t trust the oh-so-accommodating, oh-so-polite, oh-so-obsequious Jin Fucking Guangyao, so the chances that his accusations of trickery and malicious intent will be listened to are little to none.

He’s pissed, basically.

“That fucking HURTS Meng Yao!” he snaps, his voice too loud and sharp in his frustration at the burst of pain from whatever Jin Guangyao had just done to his leg. His hands go still and this time the quiet gasp comes from Lan Xichen.

“Mingjue-xiong,” he chastises as Jin Guangyao’s hands slowly pull away from his skin.

“It’s alright, er-ge,” he demurs and that tone gets under Nie Mingjue’s skin even more, that kicked puppy tone, that ‘I’m used to the world not respecting me’ tone that he always uses to get his way with Lan Xichen. Whether he does it on purpose or not (Nie Mingjue fucking knows he does) it’s exactly the right way to get Lan Xichen’s sense of propriety involved and suddenly Nie Mingjue is the one in the wrong for using his old name rather than his legitimized one. As if that name isn’t a slap in Jin Guangyao’s face all on its own, but no one but Nie Mingjue even seems to notice that bit. “His leg is broken and it’s gone through the skin. I need to go find something to make a splint with, I’ll do my best to stay within earshot.”

“Alright A-Yao,” Lan Xichen murmurs. “We’ll stay right here.” His smile is audible despite their circumstances and Nie Mingjue takes a deep breath in, squeezing his unseeing eyes shut. His anger won’t find a home here - not with these two as his companions practically drooling on each other with all their gooey affection in their own little world - but he doesn’t want to take it out on Lan Xichen anyways. He’s got quite a few things he’d like to take out on Jin Guangyao, but that would only end up hurting Lan Xichen as well, and his childhood friend doesn’t deserve that.

Jin Guangyao’s footsteps retreat through the underbrush, growing fainter and fainter until there’s nothing to hear but the wind through the trees.

“Mingjue-xiong,” Lan Xichen starts, his lecturing voice out in full force.

“Don’t. I know.”

“Do you?”

“Yes, Xichen! I know! I got it, it was just a slip of the tongue! Is your precious A-Yao the only one here allowed to make ‘an honest mistake’?!”

“Alright.”

They lapse into silence then, Nie Mingjue still breathing too fast and too hard but unable to stop. He’s angry, he’s in pain, and he’ll never admit it out loud but he’s afraid. Ever since he had woken up in the Scorching Sun Palace to find Lan Xichen defending Meng Yao so fiercely he had known he couldn’t count on Lan Xichen’s protection from the other, which meant that if he was to keep himself safe from Jin Guangyao’s scheming mind and murderous hands he would have to always maintain the upper hand. He can’t do that while injured and blinded and with Lan Xichen similarly incapacitated, the pair of them suddenly entirely reliant on Jin Guangyao.

It would be so easy for Jin Guangyao to arrange for an unfortunate ‘accident’ and get rid of him. He’d watched the man murder with the intention to frame someone else for his deeds. If he was willing to do it once, who’s to say he won’t be willing to do it again?

He’s on his own, and he honestly can’t say he enjoys the feeling.

“A-Yao?” Lan Xichen calls a few quiet minutes later, startling him out of his spiraling thoughts.

“I’m still here, er-ge,” comes the faint call from some distance away and Nie Mingjue hears a few dry leaves rustle as Lan Xichen shifts his weight, presumably turning in his direction even though he can’t see Jin Guangyao out in the trees. “It’s difficult finding sticks that are both as long as da-ge needs and as strong and also straight enough to be a splint. Are you both still alright?”

“Yes. Take your time,” Lan Xichen replies and then things are quiet again.

“You can’t really think this is a coincidence,” Nie Mingjue finally mutters, low enough not to carry too far beyond their spot. “Xichen, please. Just entertain the idea that this is all on purpose.”

“I can’t, Mingjue-xiong, I’m sorry.” And he really does sound remorseful about that, because of course he does. “I trust A-Yao. Accidents happen on night hunts all the time, and we three are not infallible. I am only relieved that he remains unaffected by this curse so that we have hopes of getting out of here safely.”

“And just why do you think he wasn’t affected?” Nie Mingjue can’t resist asking, beginning to become desperate to understand Lan Xichen’s way of thinking that can keep him from becoming in the least bit suspicious.

“We shielded him from it, of course.”

“I didn’t!”

“You did, Mingjue-xiong. You and I both.”

Nie Mingjue mentally replays the last moments before the world had gone dark. They’d been pursuing the spirit as it fled back towards where it had come from, all three of them running as fast as they could over unfamiliar, heavily wooded terrain. He’d seen the spirit whip back at the last moment, diving towards them rather than back into a stone hut nearly completely crumbled under moss. He remembers shouting for Lan Xichen to watch out and -

Yanking Jin Guangyao behind himself as he skidded to a stop next to Lan Xichen just in time for the spirit to slam into both of their chests and knock them all backwards.

He remembers the moments after that as well, his vision fading quicker than a candle guttering out. He had shoved Jin Guangyao at Lan Xichen just before everything had gone completely dark and his momentum had carried him over the edge of a small ravine. He had been the only one to fall into it, the others had joined him almost immediately after, but under their own power.

Nie Mingjue growled low in his throat and pounded a fist against the soft earth beneath him once, irritated with himself for the moment of weakness; for his instinct to protect Jin Guangyao being stronger than anything else in him when it came right down to it.

He can’t admit to it.

“He’s smaller than us and he was lagging behind while we ran. We were in his way when the spirit turned and he couldn’t get around us, that’s all there is to it. We weren’t protecting him.”

“Alright,” Lan Xichen agrees far too easily and it’s clear by the tone of his voice that he knows Nie Mingjue is just trying to save face. He both loves and hates that knowing tone, as well as the fact that Lan Xichen doesn’t press him to tell the truth that they both know.

Nie Mingjue is thankfully saved from any further humiliation by footsteps returning through the brush and he sits up a little straighter, breath quickening again as he braces himself for the pain of having his leg shifted and splinted that he knows is imminent.

“I was looking for a crutch but nothing around here is sturdy enough for you, da-ge, you’ll probably have to lean on er-ge to walk,” Jin Guangyao supplies as he comes closer, stopping a few steps away. There’s the clatter of a few sticks being set down on the ground close to his leg and he forces himself not to flinch away from it. The movement would only hurt and it won’t stop what’s about to happen, so he holds himself still with a grim determination.

Jin Guangyao settles down near him again and his hands are back on his skin, his touch still featherlight and cool as he shifts his trousers up over his knee but now there’s a slight trembling in his fingers that Nie Mingjue can feel when the man places a hand flat on his shin just below his knee.

“I’m sorry, da-ge,” he whispers for Nie Mingjue’s ears alone. He doesn’t have a chance to reply before he’s letting loose a primal shout of pain that he has absolutely no control over whatsoever. He bites out a litany of swears next, his head swimming and unseeing eyes brimming with tears as the nearly unbearable flare of pain settles again.

“Mingjue!” Lan Xichen shouts and there’s the sound of movement from his direction.

“Over here, er-ge, take my hand. Don’t get too much closer or you’ll hit his leg.”

“A-Yao, give me one of his hands.”

There’s a bit of shuffling, the touch of two shaking fingers under his wrist, and then Jin Guangyao’s hesitant touch is replaced by the anxious surety of both of Lan Xichen’s surprisingly warm hands wrapping around his palm. He curls his fingers tightly around Lan Xichen’s palm in return, both to reassure him as well as to have something to hold onto as Jin Guangyao starts getting his leg splinted, every single touch against his skin like a line of throbbing fire. Somehow it hurts more when he can’t see what’s happening, can’t anticipate the next touch.

The fire starts to ease as he realizes Lan Xichen is passing him some of his own qi, two of his fingertips pressed firmly against the pulse point on his wrist. The thread of it is soothing, silvery blue where it slips along his meridians. It leaves the scent of fresh pine and the peculiar crispness of mountain air in his nose and on the back of his tongue in its wake as it chases away the sharpest pains and soothes the duller ones into a manageable ache.

None of them talk while Jin Guangyao methodically binds his leg and Lan Xichen tends to his pains as best as he can. When it’s finished Nie Mingjue hears Jin Guangyao murmur for Lan Xichen to stop before he exhausts himself too much to travel.

“I need you both to listen to me very carefully,” Jin Guangyao says, his tone perfectly even.

“Yes yes we know, you get to order us around to get us out of here - how lucky for you,” Nie Mingjue snaps, patience worn down to the absolute thinnest it’s been since he had been driven to threaten Jin Guangyao’s life in Qishan.

“No, I meant...well, yes. But..” Jin Guangyao sighs then, a heavy, world-weary thing. It’s been a very very long time since he’s heard Jin Guangyao - normally so silver-tongued - become tongue-tied over anything. He sounds exhausted.

Nie Mingjue is..dismayed but not surprised to realize that he can still be manipulated so easily by the other even when he can’t see him. Not that he’ll ever let on, of course, but that doesn’t mean the twinge of guilt at being part of the cause of that exhaustion isn’t real. “Let’s just get out of here first, I suppose. I have something to tell you when we return to the inn, and you’ll both have to listen to me. You’ll have to trust me.”

“We trust you, A-Yao,” Lan Xichen replies instantly. Both Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao’s silences speak volumes about what they think about that, but they both wisely say nothing. If there’s one thing the pair of them can agree on anymore it’s that Lan Xichen should be allowed to keep up his optimistic illusions about the world for as long as they can be maintained. He should always get to believe the best in everybody like he wants to.

Getting Nie Mingjue standing and propped up against Lan Xichen’s side for the return journey leaves him sweating and trembling but upright, and able to walk. Lan Xichen holds his free hand out to hold Jin Guangyao’s belt, Jin Guangyao warns them of any obstacles in their path, and Nie Mingjue does his best not to pass out.

They follow Jin Guangyao in this way back the way they had come, and while Nie Mingjue is constantly braced for something else to go wrong, after a small eternity they finally manage to return to the inn without further injury.

They agree to gather in Lan Xichen’s room, Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue sitting on the bed and facing Jin Guangyao’s general direction, and Jin Guangyao begins to talk.

“Just trust me,” he reminds them once again. “There are a few things you should know.”

----

In the morning, a scrap of post is sent from the smallest, cheapest inn of a small town that sits precariously on the edge of the forest on the far border of Lanling. The letter is bound for the heart of the territory under the control of the Jin’s, and Jin money is spared for the extra expense of ensuring it will arrive as quickly as it can.

The letter will reach Jin Guangshan in the afternoon just in time for his usual break for tea, and Jin Guangshan will sit on his throne in Jinlintai to read Jin Guangyao’s report that the plot Jin Guangshan had devised has worked to perfection, that Qinghe Nie will no longer be a threat to his position. That he is retreating to Gusu to ostensibly grieve with his remaining sworn brother while doing his best to gain whatever secrets he can from their library to further secure their position at the top of the world.

Shortly after the letter begins its hurried journey to Jinlintai, three heavily cloaked figures - two tall, one short; one limping, one supporting, and one guiding - quietly slip away to begin their own journey in the opposite direction, bound for the safety that only the Gusu Lan can provide to shelter them while they plan just what, exactly, the three of them are going to do next.

#the untamed fanfic #3zun #Nie Mingjue #Lan Xichen #Jin Guangyao #Definitely not my fixit verse lol #But I guess....a different kind????#idk I wasn't really planning anything when I started but I guess I accidentally made it a fix it by breaking it a little bit first #guqin-and-flute

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pangzi · 4 years

Note

Thank you for your NMJ comments So Much you get it! It's like everyone lifted a 1D impression of him as a violent asshole. No! He has a very black/white morality stance but he's genuinely a very sympathetic and kind man! He's unbending because he has to be to survive his environment and protect his brother. JGY knew what kind of man NMJ was and how he had his moments of anger, and him doing what he did anyway speaks far more to his character as a villain than it does NMJ's as a victim.

Oof I’m sosorry for my very late reply to this, I started replying to this right before Ihad to leave and ended up with a 600+ words long rant that made no sense andwasn’t finished haha I rewrote everything but I went off again I’m sorry… @anyone who replies to this my brain is allcql I barely remember anything that happened in the novel so don’t start with ‘Idisagree because in the novel this happened blah blah blah’

BUT!! Yes!!I agree!! With everything!! I have to be honest, nmj had to grow on me too! Butthat’s only normal as we only really get to know him late in the season. But oncewe got to know him, it was just really hard for me to dislike him? He definitelyisn’t perfect, but what’s interesting about a perfect character am I right?

Many peoplewho hate him try to pick out little things and seem to completely forget thecontext around them or whatever lead up to it, and use it against him? Likewith Jiang Cheng but that’s a whole different story.

I see NieMingjue as a man with an extremely big heart. Everything he does seems to bebecause he cares deeply about something. He is hard on Huaisang because heknows he can’t protect him forever and wants to make sure Huaisang can protecthimself. He sent Meng Yao away because he needed to protect the people aroundhim.

I wannatalk about that last thing a bit, he sent meng yao away. As we see withthe Wen Clan, nmj is very ‘an eye for an eye’, doesn’t seem to think the Wenscan do better. Then why doesn’t he kill jgy? Yes jgy saved his life. But thatdoesn’t change the fact that jgy is still a threat, like the Wens seem to be athreat later on. They haven’t killed yet but other Wens have so they should diebc maybe they will because they’re Wens after all. So it wouldn’t have been toowild of nmj to still kill him, and I lowkey feel like nmj used the ‘yousaved my life so I’ll let you go’ as a way to cover up the fact that he didn’twant to kill jgy bc he deeply cares for the boy (he cried when he sent jgy awayfolks, he cRIED). Now he sent jgy away, ok cool he didn’t kill him fine finethat’s it. He assumes jgy has gone to the jin clan, asks jzx if jgy is ‘behaving’ and ‘stayingin his place’ or sth. And I’ve seen people use this against him as well. ‘whydoes jgy have to stay in his place’ WELL DO YOU GUYS REMEMBER HOW A WHILE AGOJGY KILLED SOMEONE RIGHT IN FRONT OF NMJ’S EYES JUST LIKE THAT? I agree, thequestion is a bit harsh. But to me it also shows he cares? He could’ve asked ‘howis jgy?’ but what does he know by asking that? This is still someone who betrayedhis trust. He wants to know if this person who betrayed him is trying to dobetter, following the rules, not killing people. BUT oh no the boy isn’tthere? Then where is he?Oh there he is, working for the goddamn enemy, killing disciples right in frontof nmj’s eyes. And then his explanation? ‘It was me or them, I had no choice hahaoop’ while both me and everyone in that goddamn room knew nmj would’ve sacrificedhimself for even only one of those men bc that’s the person he is he wouldnever just kill someone for no reason, ‘because he had no choice’. Once againgiving nmj not a lot of reasons to trust him as they seem to have completely differentvalues and standards. BUT, there we go he does try to trust jgy again. He doesn’t like givingjgy another chance but he still does it. Yes he is cold to jgy and quite meansometimes. But this boy has hurt him several times already, he’s protectinghimself. He wants to give jgy another chance, he is quite literally putting hisentire life in his hands, and what does jgy do? He poisons his mind, brings himto his death. I don’t even think Nie Mingjue says any truly awful things to jgy except whenhe’s losing his goddamn mind.

Nmj tookjgy in when he was rejected by his father, stood up for him when nobody elsewould, promoted him just like that because he believed in him, trusted him overand over again, and what did he get for it? A very painful, sad and tragicdeath.

He has manyflaws, but nobody can make me believe nmj is a violent asshole. He is aman with a big heart who just wants to protect the people around him, thepeople he cares for but sadly the only way he thinks he can is by cultivatingin a way that will poison his mind.

So yeah… I loveNie Mingjue. He was clearly the victim in the entire situation and did notdeserve to die! And he does not deserve all these people making him out to be ahorrible person or even a villain.

#mirfie just blabbering about nie mingjue because she loves him #i hope this made sense i probably forgot 14850935 things i wanted to say bc my brain is a MESS #with both jc and nmj i honestly feel like if u hate them u rly don't understand them ha...#anyway sorry for going off this is 889 words ...#rip #i love nie mingjue #tagging this #the untamed #so isa won't get spoilers #long post

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eleanorfenyxwrites · 3 years

Text

All Dreams Were Worth Keeping

Part 16 - NSFW

[Masterpost][Ao3]

[Quick note: I'm tentatively setting the final chapter count at 20. I think I can finish this up in four more chapters, but we'll see! This is yet another 10k behemoth but something tells me y'all don't mind that (it's you. Y'all tell me you don't mind it so you have yourselves to blame if it's too much lol). Enjoy!]

-//-

“Mingjue is going to go to the ballet?” Meng Yao asks with complete and utter disbelief written all over his face.

“He is, and he has promised not to get impatient and ask to leave as soon as he grows bored,” Lan Xichen is quick to reply with a soft, nuzzling kiss to Meng Yao’s cheek, taking full advantage of the fact that he’s got Meng Yao temporarily perched in his lap.

“One time I did that, Xichen, and you’ve never let me live it down. Besides, I won’t ask to leave, it’s a date.”

“My heart, it was a date when we attended that evening as well.”

“How was I supposed to know that?! You brought Wangji!”

“Alright enough,” Meng Yao intervenes with a smile threatening at the corners of his lips that Nie Mingjue desperately wants to taste - and so he does.

Ever since the disaster of the Wen party – and the expressions of love between them (and Meng Yao and Lan Xichen of course) – Nie Mingjue has been putting forth more effort than ever to try to talk to Meng Yao about the sorts of things he and Lan Xichen take for granted between themselves after so long together. Meng Yao had seemed wary of it at first, and to be quite honest they’re both still feeling out the edges of it all, but part of the conversations (following on the heels of Meng Yao’s strict, slightly teary admonishment to never ignore him again if he values his testicles) had included a blanket permission to kiss him whenever Nie Mingjue feels the urge to, so long as they’re in private or – if out in public - somewhere no one from work is present.

So – with that in mind he leans over, his arm tightening around Lan Xichen’s shoulders where he’s sitting beside the pair on the couch, and he kisses Meng Yao until he feels him go pliant and Lan Xichen is chuckling quietly into a kiss against his ear, his hand skating up and down the expanse of his back with the slightest scratch of his nails that feels heavenly.

“I promise I won’t get so bored I ask to leave,” he says with a final peck to Meng Yao’s lips and he leans back again, resettling his arm properly around Lan Xichen’s shoulders and using his free hand to drag Meng Yao’s legs over his lap as well as the man settles his head down on Lan Xichen’s shoulder, turned sideways to better fit against his chest.

“You know er-ge, when you offered to take me on a proper date I didn’t think you’d really do it,” Meng Yao muses with a little smile, though the humor he clearly finds in the situation is lost on Nie Mingjue and, he knows, on Lan Xichen. The idea that Meng Yao doesn’t know what it’s like to be courted, to be romanced, to be made to feel special and important is one that plagues the both of them in equal measure.

“I do not say things I do not mean, my heart,” Lan Xichen replies, tucking the words into an affectionate kiss to the top of Meng Yao’s head. “I apologize it took so long to arrange it, but I believe you will enjoy what we have planned.”

“We? Isn’t it just the ballet, which I know wasn’t da-ge’s idea?”

Nie Mingjue reaches out to thump Meng Yao’s temple which earns him both a jab of Meng Yao’s heel to his thigh as well as a truly devastating pout from Lan Xichen. He’s (mostly) immune to both.

“Just the ballet would defeat the point of it being a date where we can both spoil you rotten, A-Yao. Xichen chose the ballet, I chose the restaurant for dinner afterwards – we’re both taking you out, don’t give Xichen all the credit.”

“Oh? And what suitably upscale restaurant did you choose for me, da-ge?”

Nie Mingjue clears his throat, suddenly self-conscious about his choice - and he already knows that Lan Xichen is going to be absolutely no help because he had already teased him when he’d initially brought it up. “A steakhouse,” he grumbles, braced for the teasing, and his boyfriends don’t disappoint. Meng Yao’s judgmental little hum and faux-sympathetic simper could (and has) make lesser men than Nie Mingjue sincerely question each decision in their lives that led to them being put in Meng Yao’s way, and Lan Xichen’s little cough can’t hide the fact that he’s not even bothering to suppress his polite, nearly silent, Lan version of a laugh. “You’re both terrible,” he mutters without any real heat as he withdraws his arm from around Lan Xichen’s shoulder and makes to stand up.

“Oh Mingjue darling, no-“

“Don’t go, da-ge!”

Nie Mingjue caves easily to their laughing pleas for him to stay and he lets Lan Xichen pull him back onto the sofa, this time to tuck his arm around Nie Mingjue’s shoulders instead and lean in to nuzzle an apology against his cheek.

“Explain your thought process to us Mingjue, we promise not to laugh again,” Lan Xichen murmurs with an audible smile. Nie Mingjue doesn’t trust them for a single second not to, but he doesn’t voice this disbelief with anything more than a frustrated huff.

“I picked it,” he starts pointedly, “Because it happens to be a five star restaurant, which A-Yao deserves to be treated to, andthey have a whole vegetarian menu for Xichen to choose from, and their portions are reasonable enough that I probably won’t have to order more than one thing to feel full like I would at one of those ridiculous ‘fancy’ restaurants where they give you a pathetic piece of lettuce and a weird line of dressing on the plate and call it a salad! It’ll be a good place for allof us. Plus I made sure we can have a private booth so A-Yao won’t have to worry about anyone spotting us and we can just have a nice evening out together.”

“Alright da-ge,” Meng Yao soothes, reaching out to brush the back of his finger along his cheek. “We’re sorry, that’s actually quite thoughtful and it sounds wonderful.”

“It does seem quite lovely,” Lan Xichen agrees with another conciliatory kiss to his cheek for good measure. “Thank you for considering all of our needs when making your choice.”

Nie Mingjue just grunts at that and turns his head to kiss Lan Xichen’s forehead and then he leans down to give Meng Yao the same before he stands. “I’m going to go clean the kitchen,” he grumbles and this time they let him go – though with no small degree of amusement. He’s not really all that frustrated, but he’s definitely flustered and those two are absolutely merciless when it comes to teasing him once they sense a weakness. Better to just let them have their fun together while he cools off, and so he steps into the kitchen with another huff to start deep-cleaning the fridge for lack of anything else to do (he keeps the room as neat as he can, which is good right up until moments like this when he really needs something to do with his hands).

He’s feeling much better several hours later when they’re all ready to leave for the evening, having spent the majority of the afternoon (after finishing with the kitchen) out in his shed working on a new project. Meng Yao had come to fetch him when it was time to start getting ready, already half-ready himself, and he’d kissed him right there in the overheated, sundrenched little space until Nie Mingjue had melted backwards against his workbench. It’s difficult to feel anything but syrupy sweet and content when Meng Yao dedicates so much attention to making him feel good.

Considering that he’s pretty sure Meng Yao is going to enjoy the ballet more than dinner, Nie Mingjue decides as they head out to the car that he needs to sweeten the pot of his own contributions to the date by also playing chauffeur. He opens the door to the back seat for both Lan Xichen and Meng Yao, shutting it behind them once they’ve both settled in with bemused looks at him that he pointedly ignores. He slides in behind the wheel as the pair in the back strike up a quiet conversation between themselves, their heads close together and their chatting occasionally interrupted by soft sips of kisses. Nie Mingjue can’t help but steal as many glances at them as possible in the rearview mirror while still driving safely, his heart clenching each time he sees Lan Xichen’s pleased little smile or Meng Yao’s wide, earnest eyes as he looks up at their partner with something like wonder. Like awe. Like he can’t believe he gets to have this.

Lan Xichen had, of course, decided to go all out for Meng Yao – a decision which hadn’t even required discussion between the two of them beyond Lan Xichen approaching him to say, ‘I think we should spoil A-Yao with an evening out’. They leave the car with the valet and are shown inside by a white-gloved attendant to the private box that the Lans hold at all times. For them tonight it’s outfitted not only with three obscenely comfortable armchairs, but also with a matching loveseat Nie Mingjue hopes will see some use before the end of the evening. It’s too small for the three of them to sit on comfortably, but as soon as Nie Mingjue spots it his mind very helpfully supplies a fantasy of Meng Yao lounging on it with him and Lan Xichen sitting on the floor at his head and feet, ready and waiting to do his bidding, whatever that may be. The fact that it’s not only possible but likely only makes the fantasy that much better.

They settle in the chairs for now at least, and within moments of doing so there’s a polite knock at the door by a waitstaff who delivers water and champagne with a little bowl of perfectly ripe strawberries and an offer of an hors d’oeuvres menu, though they decide to decline that last.

Meng Yao is clearly already pleased, looking like the cat that ate the canary as he lets Lan Xichen pour him champagne and lounges back in his seat in between them with that haughty glint in his eye that Nie Mingjue not-so-secretly adores. It’s already shaping up to be a much better evening out than their previous but he decides not to say so – they’re all anxious to put the events of the Wen party behind them, and this seems to be a much better memory to associate with their best evening get-ups (the only main difference being that Lan Xichen is wearing a painfully smart tux this time rather than his hanfu, though the two options are equally devastating in Nie Mingjue’s opinion).

“Da-ge,” Meng Yao calls lazily, snagging his attention away from staring at his boyfriends to instead actually pay attention to what they’re doing.

“Hm?”

“What should your punishment be should you actually get too bored to sit through the ballet?”

Nie Mingjue blinks long and slow at that and uses the excuse of accepting his own flute of champagne from Lan Xichen to delay answering. He’s not going to get out of answering it entirely of course, he can see that in the sharpness of Meng Yao’s gaze, but he’s not above stalling.

“You don’t trust my promise that I won’t?”

“Not for a minute. I know you - this is absolutely not where your interests lie and you’re fidgety at the best of times.”

Nie Mingjue can’t resist rolling his eyes but he can’t deny that Meng Yao knows what he’s talking about. “How would you want to punish me?”

“I suspect you’ll need an incentive to keep still,” he muses with that same predatory look in his eyes and a sharp smile on his lips as he takes a sip of his champagne, Lan Xichen hiding a chuckle behind him in a sip of his water. “If you don’t want to think of anything I’ll come up with something suitable, but you won’t get to complain about whatever it will be since I was nice and gave you a chance to decide for yourself.”

“Fine. Now stop talking about punishments,” he admonishes with a pointed clink of his glass against Meng Yao’s, who pouts and narrows his eyes at him but he still acquiesces with a little sip of his drink. Nie Mingjue knows that Meng Yao won’t ever let either of them feed him strawberries (allowing Nie Mingjue to feed him dinner after the Wen party had been a glaring exception to his usual borderline-obsessive need to be in control). Though he’s proven right almost immediately, that doesn’t exactly mean he’s exactly prepared for Meng Yao to take a bite – lips tantalizingly soft and pliant around the bright red berry - and then instantly lean over to kiss him, his tongue tart and sweet as he presses it between his lips to lick the taste of champagne from his teeth.

“You’re feeling soft tonight, aren’t you?” Meng Yao asks quietly for his ears alone when he pulls back, not allowing Nie Mingjue to reclaim his lips when he attempts to. “You don’t have to act like you’re not, you know. It’s alright if you want to relax, I’ll still feel like you and er-ge are treating me.”

Nie Mingjue goes still for a moment as a knot of tension he hadn’t even noticed lingering in his chest suddenly loosens and he nuzzles the tip of his nose against Meng Yao’s in silent gratitude before leaning in for another lazy kiss. Meng Yao allows it and takes control of it in an instant. Nie Mingjue is only too happy to let him, to let himself go relaxed and pliant so that Meng Yao can take whatever he pleases from him.

Distracted as he is, it’s a bit of a surprise to suddenly realize a few minutes later that Meng Yao has gradually migrated out of his chair and into Nie Mingjue’s lap, but he certainly isn’t going to complain. Instead he just settles back and lets Meng Yao kneel over him and take advantage of the rare chance to be taller than him to press him down and back and make him give Meng Yao whatever it is he wants. And Meng Yao wants quite a bit – his tongue and teeth are greedy as they kiss, his hands wandering to open buttons and slide under shirts until he’s got his hands on Nie Mingjue’s bare chest, his undershirt rucked up around his pecs by Meng Yao’s wrists as he digs his nails in hard enough to leave marks. Nie Mingjue is all too happy to let him have it, naturally, and in fact he briefly entertains the idea of shrugging out of all his stupid evening finery and letting Meng Yao just get him naked and be done with the whole thing.

He’s saved from a public indecency charge (and embarrassing Lan Xichen by getting the family box privileges revoked) by the overture music that sends Meng Yao tumbling from his lap as he rights himself to settle into his chair again, leaving Nie Mingjue panting and mildly debauched though thankfully not doubled over in pain – Meng Yao’s knee had just come perilously close to his groin in his scuffle to get back to his seat and Nie Mingjue is distinctly glad he won’t have to use the ice from the champagne bucket to treat it.

“A-Yao,” Lan Xichen tuts with playful disapproval along with his pointed glance at Nie Mingjue’s disheveled state, but Meng Yao is utterly unrepentant and Nie Mingjue waves off Lan Xichen’s concern with a lazy hand as he begins putting himself back together. He stands up to begin with tugging his undershirt back down to tuck it into his trousers (which require buttoning again, he hadn’t even realized Meng Yao had gotten them open), and then he makes quick work of buttoning his shirt again and tucking that in as well. By the time he settles back into his chair the performance has started and so he’s lost both of his boyfriends’ attention for the time being, and he settles in with a sigh too low to be heard over the orchestra.

It’s…so beyond boring. He can sort of see why other people would like it – people like Lan Xichen and Meng Yao, who thrive on art and beauty and don’t mind sitting still to watch it unfold before them. Nie Mingjue likes art too, in his own way, but he likes to make it with his hands, he likes the satisfaction of a completed project, of a piece of practical art, something someone will cherish for much longer than a memory will last them. He doesn’t understand performance art, not really, and it only takes about half of the first act for his attention to officially begin wandering to things he finds more interesting.

The building, for example, is historic and truth be told he finds more interest in the patterns carved into the crown molding on the walls and the metal flowers that adorn the support posts for the handrail of the stairs down on the lower level, just barely discernible from where they are. He spends an entire movement squinting down at the things trying to make out precisely what they are before he gives up and decides he’ll take a closer look some other time – he’s been meaning to get more into smithing and metalworking for years and he likes picking up little ideas he’d like to try should he ever get the chance to.

When the lights come up for intermission he finds himself breathing a sigh of relief – right up until the moment he hears Lan Xichen and Meng Yao discussing what they hope to see in the third act, which means that the thing isn’t even half over as he’d dared to hope. He tips his head back against the chair and closes his eyes, breathing slowly in and out and trying to find reserves of patience he most certainly doesn’t have.

“Da-ge,” Meng Yao murmurs from near his shoulder and a moment later he feels the press of his chin through his suit jacket, which means that he’s looking up at him with those devastating doe-eyes of his through his lashes. Nie Mingjue wisely keeps his eyes shut against his charms.

“Hm?”

“Could you go downstairs to the bar and get me a drink?”

Nie Mingjue frowns a bit at that in confusion and makes the mistake of opening his eyes, which means that he’s no longer immune to the way Meng Yao is looking up at him with his best pleading face. It’s such a pretty thing, his eyes wide and dark and surprisingly guileless, bottom lip poking out just a touchmore than usual, just enough to look particularly inviting to nip at.

“What do you want?” he asks rather than asking why he wants a drink when he already has champagne, which is perhaps what he would ask were Meng Yao not so skillfully scrambling all his thoughts around with a delicate flutter of his eyelashes.

“A lemon drop?”

“Yeah alright. Xichen?”

“I am alright darling, thank you.”

Nie Mingjue hums his acknowledgement and presses a quick kiss to Meng Yao’s lips before he shrugs out from under the press of his chin to stand. He buttons his jacket and strides to the door, pleased to have a task, some sort of purpose rather than continuing to sit there attempting to be still. He makes his way easily through the crowd, as he usually does considering his bulk, and finds the bar quickly enough where it’s tucked along one wall of the tastefully opulent main lobby. He orders Meng Yao’s cocktail and a whiskey for himself, which he sips on as he wanders, not yet ready to return to the confines of the box and sit back down in an arm chair that just barely fits his bulk.

There’s a set of stairs up to a mezzanine level that overlooks the lobby, and while he doesn’t particularly have any interest in appreciating the view from up there of columns and glittering chandeliers, he realizes as he drifts closer that the railing for the stairs has the same floral motif as those in the main theatre that he had spotted before, and so he drifts closer to take a look. It’s excellent craftsmanship, that much is clear, and he’s fully immersed in the process of attempting to work out if it had all been cut and beaten into shape from one piece of metal or made separately and joined together in some way when he becomes aware of a presence at his elbow.

“Oh dear,” a voice he doesn’t recognize tuts and Nie Mingjue registers that it’s addressed to him - perhaps a beat too late, as the woman he finds at his side is continuing before he can properly focus. “What are you doing standing here all alone, hm?”

“Uh-“

“Waiting for somebody?” she asks with something that is probably meant to look like sympathy and a glance at Meng Yao’s drink in his hand.

“Not exactly,” he replies, still utterly bewildered why this woman has elected to talk to him in the first place. He doesn’t exactly give off a friendly aura, he’s well aware of that, and anyone who may consider approaching him without a goal in mind would typically be too intimidated to actually attempt a conversation.

“Shame,” she says with a smirk that directly contradicts the sentiment.

“Was there something I could help you with?” he frowns, very much wishing she would just get to the point and stop looking like she’s sizing him up. His eyes go wide when she steps into his space to slide a hand slowly up his arm, her touch far too firm and familiar for a total stranger’s to be.

“Oh well that’s entirely up to y-“

“Mingjue?”

Nie Mingjue looks up with relief already written on his features at the sound of Lan Xichen’s voice, and between one breath and the next Lan Xichen tucks himself comfortably against his side and reaches for the cocktail to take it from him, as if it had been intended for him all along.

“A-Yao sent me to make sure you were alright down here,” he says by way of explanation, leaning in to press a kiss to Nie Mingjue’s cheek that surprises him a bit but he’s certainly not opposed.

“Yeah I’m fine, I was just about to head back up.” He turns his attention back to the woman who had approached him and he’s confused to see her looking embarrassed. “Was there something I could help you with?” he asks again and to his bewilderment she downs what’s left of her drink in one quick gulp and shakes her head.

“Nope, all good here. Have a good evening,” she says with a bit of a strain likely for the alcohol in her throat and Nie Mingjue doesn’t bother schooling his expression as he watches her walk away, utterly baffled and becoming increasingly more so as Lan Xichen turns to hide laughter in his shoulder.

“What just happened?” he asks grumpily around the rim of his glass, taking another sip as he waits for Lan Xichen to get his snickering under control.

“She was attempting to proposition you, my heart. Forgive me for being more forward in public than we usually are but she looked…persistent.”

“You don’t have to apologize for kissing me, Xichen,” he mumbles as Lan Xichen skates his free hand down his spine slowly to settle on his ass. Forward indeed. (Were he not intimately aware of Lan Xichen’s abysmal tolerance for alcohol he would wonder if Meng Yao had slipped him some champagne to make him so handsy.)

“Are you ready to come back?”

“Yeah, I guess. Hey – don’t tell A-Yao about this?” he requests as he lets Lan Xichen pull him by the elbow away from further study of the decorative railing.

“Why not?”

“You know he gets jealous sometimes, and I don’t want anything to upset him tonight.”

“Mn,” Lan Xichen acknowledges but says nothing else as he leads the way up a different set of stairs to the level their box is on.

“Oh there you are,” Meng Yao says as they step through the door, sounding a strange mixture of relieved and imperious. “What in the world took you so long?”

“Mingjue required rescuing from being propositioned,” Lan Xichen reports blithely, the traitor, and Nie Mingjue glares at him half-heartedly.

“And I asked you not to say anything,” he grumbles as he sits down again rather inelegantly with a huff, unbuttoning his jacket again with an impatient jerk of his fingers. He can feel the weight of his partners’ stares on him, clearly waiting for an explanation, and something about it frustrates him further, though he can’t put his finger on why. “I didn’t know she was hitting on me, I thought she needed something! I wasn’t even paying attention, I was just looking at…”

“At what, da-ge?” Meng Yao asks, gently prompting.

“Nothing, it’s stupid. Just-“ The lights conveniently blink once to signal the end of intermission and there’s a rustle as everyone begins returning to their seats, some of the members of the orchestra visible in the pit again as the others filter in quickly. “Just watch your thing,” he grumbles and knocks back the rest of his whiskey in the hopes that it will help loosen the new tension in his shoulders - he takes extra care to set the glass down gently when he’s done, just in case. The last thing they need is for him to shatter a glass here, of all places.

And he knows, logically, that his suddenly sour mood is the last thing that could improve this date (though he’s pretty sure it’s been going well enough up until this moment). He settles deeper into his chair as the opening strains of the next act slide through the theatre, plaintive and wailing, and his hands clench tight into fists in his lap to better fight against the urge to fidget or be otherwise distracting and ruin the experience further for his partners.

He hates that he’s suddenly so frustrated.

Anyone who has ever met him and seen his temper has probably thought that it’s an indulgence of his, a cathartic venting of his feelings, but he actually, genuinely, hatesit. For every time that it escapes his control (or that he can’t find any other way to cope with it but to let it consume him), there are at least a dozen more moments like this, when he sits and he seethes and the frustration feeds itself and builds until he needs to go beat the shit out of his sparring dummy to get it all out of his system in a way that’s theoretically productive.

Not really an option when he’s trying not to actively ruin his boyfriends’ very cultured and genteel evening out together, which means that his frustration has nowhere to go except inwards. He’s irritated with himself for getting so flustered and out-of-sorts just because some tipsy stranger hit on him, and he’s frustrated with himself for getting sidetracked looking at something so asinine that he’d gotten so distracted as to let it happen in the first place. In a related vein, he hates that he can’t pursue his craft like he used to, when once in his life he could have perhaps had a good excuse to be admiring such intricate metalwork rather than longing uselessly after a part of his life that he’ll never get back thanks to forces outside of his control. He hates being stuck in a little box to try to work through his irritation while also sitting through music and dancing that hold no interest to him – or, rather, he hates that he can’t be the sort of person who enjoys it, for his partners’ sakes.

The box is beginning to feel claustrophobic in the dark broken only by the lights down on the stage and his hands clench tighter on his thighs as he fights against it, the cloying anger, the choking of it around his throat. The disappointment in himself, the hatred for this part of himself he’s never been able to fully control, the fact that he can’t even master it for the men he loves. He wants to get up and pace, he wants to move, he wants to do something, but Meng Yao has already brought up punishing him if he can’t sit through this and though he knows it wouldn’t really be a punishment that doesn’t stop him from wanting to be good, to be what his partners need and deserve.

“Shhh da-ge,” Meng Yao says softly close to his ear and Nie Mingjue lets out a ragged, shaky breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding. “It’s okay. I’m here.” Nie Mingjue’s eyes slip closed of their own volition as Meng Yao’s clever fingers begin stroking through his hair, but he ends up actively squeezing them shut moments later to try to keep a handle on himself when they suddenly withdraw again.

There’s a faint rustle of cloth and Lan Xichen’s soft, inquisitive, “A-Yao?” just barely audible during a lull in the music, but before he can pry his eyes open again to find out what’s going on a familiar weight settles firmly in his lap and his arms come up automatically to curl tightly around Meng Yao’s waist. He allows Meng Yao to pry at his fingers until he manages to get them uncurled, and before he can twitch them into fists again Meng Yao covers the backs of his hands with his palms and threads their fingers together to squeeze tightly enough to make his knuckles ache in just the right way.

Nie Mingjue leans forward enough to bury his face in between Meng Yao’s shoulder blades and he presses their joined hands hard against his stomach to hold him as tightly as possible. It can’t be comfortable but Meng Yao doesn’t breathe a word of complaint, he simply hooks his feet around Nie Mingjue’s ankles and sinks back against him, feeling for all the world like he could sit like that for hours and be content judging by how relaxed he suddenly feels in Nie Mingjue’s arms.

Nie Mingjue is still frustrated - Meng Yao isn’t magic - but the anger begins to ebb and ease as Meng Yao lets him squeeze his fingers and shift his grip every so often when he needs more than just a squeeze. His thundering heart slows as he tracks Meng Yao’s steady breathing in the slow expanding and contracting of his back against his face, even and regular – soothing. Meng Yao is still watching the ballet so Nie Mingjue doesn’t have to feel guilty about distracting him from it, but he doesn’t have to sit utterly still and stare into space locked in the shrinking cage of his own spiraling thoughts. He can kiss Meng Yao’s neck and nuzzle against his hair and feel him alive and warm in his arms, in his lap – weighing him down, grounding him, giving him the sort of physical pressure that makes him feel the most content.

The noise of the ballet becomes nothing but background static to the rhythm of Meng Yao breathing, their clothes rustling, the soft connection of his lips with Meng Yao’s warm skin between the top of his collar and the perfect edge of his haircut. By the next intermission he’s feeling…still a bit on-edge, perhaps, but much less likely to get a migraine fighting off the rage that seems too close at hand far more often these days than it used to.

“Are you two alright?” Lan Xichen is quick to ask when the lights come back up. He stands to draw the curtain across the front of the box this time and the heavy velvet instantly muffles the indistinct babble rising up from the general admission seats below, to Nie Mingjue’s relief.

“Fine,” Meng Yao replies breezily, raising one of Nie Mingjue’s hands – still locked tightly with his – to begin pressing featherlight little kisses along the heel of his palm. “Da-ge was getting wrapped up in his head, that’s all. Are you feeling better da-ge?”

“Mhm.” The hum is muffled in Meng Yao’s jacket but it comes out clear enough anyway, and Meng Yao’s responding chuckle vibrates pleasantly against Nie Mingjue’s lips pressed to his spine. Nie Mingjue nuzzles in a little closer and tries to hug him tighter, and then Lan Xichen’s hands on his shoulders are too gentle to startle him when he begins massaging slow, firm circles against his muscles, having taken advantage of his distraction to slip behind him.

“Ah, I see. I apologize for not seeing the signs, Mingjue,” Lan Xichen murmurs, gentle and contrite. If his hands were free Nie Mingjue would wave him off, but trapped as they are by Meng Yao he just shrugs a bit and then relaxes again under their dual attentions. “Would it be best if we left?” he adds and this time there’s no levity to it, no hint of teasing Nie Mingjue for being unable to sit through something as benign as a ballet. Not that he thought the teasing from earlier in the afternoon had been malicious of course - far from it - but he’s still privately relieved that this time they seem to be taking it a bit more seriously. That they seem willing to see that sometimes he genuinely struggles with it, that it’s not so simple as finding the whole concept too boring to be worth his time.

“Da-ge?” Meng Yao prompts when Nie Mingjue says nothing. “Do you want to go?”

“No,” he answers, and it’s honest as he breathes it into the expensive fabric of Meng Yao’s suit jacket, as he slides one of his hands up from Meng Yao’s waist to press flat against his chest instead. “Just…stay in my lap and I’ll be fine.”

“I know you don’t like feeling confined - would you feel better if we moved to the couch so you could spread out?” Meng Yao asks with another reassuring squeeze to his fingers. This question, like Lan Xichen’s, is also asked with no judgement, and Nie Mingjue loves his partners so much it’s an ache in his chest.

“Yes.”

There’s a bit of a flurry as Meng Yao climbs out of his lap and tugs him up from his chair only to push him down onto the couch and straddle him a moment later to kiss him and check him over properly in the light. Only once he seems satisfied with what he finds does he turn and lounge sideways across his lap, Nie Mingjue’s arms around him and their hands once again tangled tightly together before Meng Yao has even fully settled in. Lan Xichen, seemingly uncaring of the pristine state of his trousers, drops to his knees in front of them to check them both over for himself with hands that wander far too much for what should be a relatively innocent purpose, and when Nie Mingjue finds the ability to smirk knowingly at him he just gets a wink in return.

“I will stay close as well,” he states once he has stopped feeling them up to sit back on his heels instead. “In case A-Yao should want for anything else.”

“Mm. I like it better like this than in the chairs,” Meng Yao hums while he settles in and tips his head in obvious invitation for Nie Mingjue to lean down and bury his face in his neck - which he promptly does to begin littering nips and little red bruises up and down the expanse of his throat. “Da-ge for a cushion, er-ge for an attendant – you both spoil your A-Yao.”

“We are on the path to meet our goal for the evening, then,” Lan Xichen replies with a dopey smile that has Nie Mingjue smiling as well purely out of instinct. Meng Yao rewards him with a squeeze to his hands (paired with a very unsubtle shifting of his hips that makes Nie Mingjue snicker).

“Er-ge,” Meng Yao pouts and though Nie Mingjue has returned his attention to leaving marks everywhere he can reach on his neck, he knows that something in his expression must have been one of his little silent communications with Lan Xichen that they’ve developed because a moment later there’s a rustle of fabric, a long-fingered hand on Nie Mingjue’s knee for balance, and Meng Yao sighs into a slow kiss, the sound muffled by Lan Xichen’s lips pressed to his.

It doesn’t take long for things to grow perhaps a bit more heated than they should under the circumstances. Lan Xichen is like that, Nie Mingjue thinks with no small degree of fondness. Every bit the perfect gentleman in his stunningly tailored suit, all polite smiles and respectful glances - right up until the moment he’s given an inch of freedom. He has a habit of taking that inch and stretching it as far as he can, and as Nie Mingjue sucks and bites a proper bruise to Meng Yao’s jaw he feels Lan Xichen’s hand leave his knee only for the sound of rhythmic rubbing to begin a moment later, closely followed by a muffled groan from Meng Yao. Their kisses turn filthy in a heartbeat like a switch has been flipped, wet and slick as they pant against each other’s tongues.

“You two are insatiable,” Nie Mingjue mutters around Meng Yao’s earlobe caught between his teeth, though it’s ever-so-slightly hypocritical considering the fact that he’s getting hard just listening to them. Meng Yao tips his head back to pull away from both of them as much as possible in their position after another few long moments and Nie Mingjue makes a small noise of protest in the back of his throat to suddenly have to stop his kissing, only for it to be lost in the desperate press of Lan Xichen’s tongue between his lips.

Nie Mingjue’s hands tighten where he’s still gripping Meng Yao’s and he leans into the new kisses, letting Lan Xichen guide him however he wants. Kissing Lan Xichen is still one of the most thrilling things he’s ever felt, even all these years later, and the last of his irritation from earlier finally leaves him as the man reaches up to hold his jaw in both hands and kiss him like he’s trying to savor him. Like his world will end if he can’t keep kissing him. Nie Mingjue, upon hearing Meng Yao make a little pouting noise, unlaces one of their hands to replace Lan Xichen’s in his lap to press the heel of his palm against him through the fabric of his trousers, rubbing hard and slow in time with the rhythm of Lan Xichen’s searing lips and tongue.

“Enough,” Meng Yao says eventually and everything goes still comically fast, Lan Xichen’s tongue still half inside Nie Mingjue’s mouth and everything. “Intermission’s over.”

Lan Xichen sits back with some degree of reluctance and Nie Mingjue is startled to realize that the man is still kneeling on the floor in front of the sofa, that he’d just done all of that while on his knees, ostensibly ready to serve Meng Yao.

“Yes, A-Yao,” he says softly, obediently, with that soft, loose smile on his lips again and lingering in his eyes. Nie Mingjue is sure he must look the same, relaxed and content after being kissed so thoroughly, and indeed when Meng Yao looks up at him to study his expression he must approve of what he sees. He reaches up with his free hand to pat Nie Mingjue’s cheek a couple of times in reward and then he drops that hand down and out to cup against the back of Lan Xichen’s neck and begin massaging it with his fingertips.

“Watch the ballet, er-ge, I’ll tell you when I want you to get me something. Da-ge, keep doing whatever you’d like but don’t distract me.”

The third act thankfully flies by. Nie Mingjue sets up camp in the crook of Meng Yao’s neck again, sometimes kissing, biting, and sometimes just resting there and letting himself listen to Meng Yao breathing or swallowing a sip of his champagne, dutifully refilled by Lan Xichen about ten minutes into the act. He keeps his hand in Meng Yao’s lap for the entirety of the hour, sometimes actively stroking or teasing him, sometimes just..holding him. Satisfying himself with the feeling of him against his palm. If Meng Yao is physically frustrated by the constant touching without an orgasm, he doesn’t show it. He simply lounges there and lets Nie Mingjue touch to his heart’s content, for which Nie Mingjue is grateful.

“Close the curtain, er-ge,” Meng Yao practically purrs as the last note of the finale lingers and applause begins below. “And make sure the door is locked.”

“Yes, A-Yao,” Lan Xichen murmurs and rolls gracefully to his feet – not a hint of stiffness though he’d just knelt for an hour and then some - to draw the curtain across the opening again, the velvet once again muffling everything and making the box seem much more removed from everything else than it really is.

“This is a nice couch,” Meng Yao hums thoughtfully. Nie Mingjue pulls back from pressing slow kisses to his throat to look down at him with a raised eyebrow. He looks absolutely decadent like this, covered in lovebites and holding a nearly-empty glass of champagne in his free hand, sprawled out lengthwise on the cream-colored velvet sofa. “How difficult do you think it is to clean?”

“Why do you ask?” Nie Mingjue replies, confused, and Lan Xichen returns to the floor to kneel once again directly in front of them, his eyes fixed on Meng Yao to silently wait for his next order.

“Do we have time before our dinner reservations?” Meng Yao asks rather than answering Nie Mingjue’s question and he glances down at his hand in Meng Yao’s lap to check his watch.

“Yes, about forty-five minutes. It’s just a few blocks away, close enough to walk – there’s plenty of time.”

“Mmmmm perfect,” Meng Yao sighs with a luxurious stretch. Lan Xichen reaches out to neatly pluck the champagne flute from his fingers while Nie Mingjue uses the arm still curved around his back to help him sit up when he moves to, only for Meng Yao to turn and sit on his lap again properly. He tucks his hips back until his ass is flush with Nie Mingjue’s groin and understanding dawns hot and quick when he hears the rustle of fabric and Meng Yao murmuring gentle encouragements and praises to Lan Xichen. His hands find their home on Meng Yao’s hips as soon as they’re bared and Meng Yao leans back fully against his chest with his head tipped back over his shoulder just in time for him to shiver and moan softly right next to his ear in response to Lan Xichen taking him into his mouth.

It’s as lazy and decadent as the rest of the evening has been. Meng Yao doesn’t do much beyond stroke Lan Xichen’s face and neck and tell him that he’s good, but Nie Mingjue is all too aware that Lan Xichen thrives like this. They both like spoiling Meng Yao, of course, but Nie Mingjue knows that Lan Xichen could happily live his entire life like this, existing solely to please his partners. They won’t let him, of course, because he deserves to take care of himself and to have his needs met by them as well, but that really just makes his chances to have this all that much sweeter. Prior to their relationship with Meng Yao, Nie Mingjue hadn’t been able to indulge Lan Xichen like this too often considering their tendencies in this regard are perhaps a bit too similar. Lan Xichen has never once complained, of course, but Nie Mingjue had still always been aware that it was something he was missing judging by how frequently he tentatively suggested asking any of his casual partners for it while they were apart.

To see him looking utterly blissful now on his knees with his mouth on Meng Yao – to know that this is something Lan Xichen can just have now, whenever he wants it – makes Nie Mingjue almost unreasonably happy on his behalf. He wants the best for Lan Xichen, after all, and he likes to think that together he and Meng Yao can finally provide it for him, when Nie Mingjue hadn’t quite been able to do so on his own.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t take long (after nearly an hour of teasing and foreplay) before Meng Yao is going tense and sliding one leg over Lan Xichen’s shoulder to ground him and hold him down so he can’t go anywhere as Meng Yao spills down his throat. They give him a chance to recover and when he pulls away to stand up from Nie Mingjue’s lap and move one of the armchairs to face the sofa - when he settles into it like a throne and waves an imperious hand in a ‘go ahead’ sort of gesture - the implication is clear enough that they don’t need him to say a word.

Lan Xichen is on him in a heartbeat and Nie Mingjue is immediately rough with him, hands hard and demanding as he yanks Lan Xichen’s trousers down in the moment he’s given the same. He wraps one broad hand around both of their erections and finds Lan Xichen’s elegant fingers already covering what his own hand can’t, and it doesn’t take long at all for the two of them to shake apart just like that, stroking each other to completion together. He attempts to muffle the noises he can’t stop with his mouth pressed to Lan Xichen’s shoulder but Lan Xichen doesn’t even bother, simply panting and murmuring sweet praises right in his ear until the moment he cries out sharply and darts his free hand between them to keep from making a mess of their clothes. Nie Mingjue stumbles through his own orgasm moments later, groaning loudly enough that it’s probably audible to anyone who may be listening nearby. They linger there in the snug, overheated space of the box as the rest of the world goes on without them just beyond the flimsy barrier of the door, the curtain, the walls separating them on either side from the other boxes.

“You’re ours, da-ge,” Meng Yao says idly from his vantage point in the arm chair, looking as unruffled as if he hadn’t just let Lan Xichen suck him off and then watched them get off right after. “No one else gets to have you, and er-ge and I are happy to remind anyone who needs to be taught that lesson. Random people who think they have a right to hit on you will learn the truth sooner rather than later, you don’t need to worry about a thing.”

“Are you feeling better?” Lan Xichen asks softly with a kiss against his temple, and this time when Nie Mingjue hums in the affirmative it’s without hesitation.

“Good, because it’s time to go scandalize some very stuffy people in a nice restaurant,” Meng Yao replies for him and Nie Mingjue can only chuckle quietly (perhaps a bit tiredly, but in a good way. The best way).

Dinner is lovely.

The private booth Nie Mingjue had been sure to request is as private as he had hoped – and as teasingly public as well. Meng Yao tucks himself neatly in between him and Lan Xichen in the little circular space, putting him firmly out of view of the rest of the restaurant’s patrons. With his usual reservations neatly assuaged, he teases and flirts with both of them mercilessly until Lan Xichen is a helpless, besotted shade of pink and Nie Mingjue can’t stop glaring and/or smirking at him in nearly equal measure. Though Meng Yao isn’t visible to anyone else, Nie Mingjue certainly is where he’s sitting at the outer edge of the booth so as not to feel too cramped, and not one of them is exactly trying to keep their voices down as they murmur and laugh and tease each other throughout the entire meal. Nor is Meng Yao particularly careful about staying hidden whenever he leans over to kiss him, or Lan Xichen overly concerned about being subtle when he holds out bites for him to accept off his fork.

Meng Yao visibly laps it up, this sort-of-public declaration that he’s theirs as much as they’re his, and Lan Xichen, voyeur that he secretly is, won’t stop sneaking glances out towards the rest of the restaurant as if hoping he’ll get caught so ‘scandalously’ caressing Meng Yao’s cheek or hand with his fingertips. The pair of them are absolutely ridiculous - barely touching in between their soft little sighs and witty remarks that Nie Mingjue doesn’t bother trying to keep up with, but acting as if they’re committing some great indecency the likes of which could get them kicked out of the restaurant if caught. Nie Mingjue simply sits back to enjoy watching them whenever their attention slips off him, sweet and happy together in a way that makes his chest warm and satisfaction curl tender and heavy in his chest.

It grows and blooms into something savagely proprietary, violently pleased when he happens to glance around the room and lock eyes with the too-forward woman from earlier just as Meng Yao leans over to nip at his jaw and Lan Xichen reaches out to tuck a stray strand of Nie Mingjue’s hair out of Meng Yao’s way, making it clear that though two of them are mostly hidden from view, there are in fact three people in the booth, and that their relationship is far from platonic.

He can see it the moment she both recognizes him and realizes what’s going on, and he can’t keep the smirk off his lips as she hastily turns back to her own meal.

“You two need to calm down,” he snickers as Meng Yao shifts closer, grows a little more handsy. “Someone’s going to complain if you keep this up and I don’t want to get kicked out, I like this place.”

“Pay them off if it becomes an issue,” Meng Yao suggests flippantly with a sharper bite that makes his breathing stutter. “If I want you two to dote on me then I’ll have it, everyone else can simply deal with it.”

“Xichen are you listening to him? Have we accomplished what we set out to do? We’ve created a monster already,” Nie Mingjue asks over Meng Yao’s head with a pointed twitch of one eyebrow and Lan Xichen, still looking drunk off Meng Yao, just smiles sweetly and runs the edge of his spoon through a bit of the chocolate concoction on the plate between the three of them.

“I think we could go further, A-Yao could also be more spoiled,” he sighs dreamily, scooping up a bit of mousse and popping it into his mouth before he plucks at Meng Yao’s sleeve to coax him over to him again and into a deep kiss in which Meng Yao is clearly licking the taste of it out of his mouth, apparently done with their chaste little flirtations.

Yeah. They need to go home.

Nie Mingjue slips away while the other two are tangled up in each other to pay the bill and slip their waitress a hefty tip to go with it. They’re still going at it when he returns to the table and Nie Mingjue clears his throat pointedly.

“Home,” he states and waits patiently as they finish up and untangle from each other to slip out of the booth and join him. Herding them out to the valet goes smoothly only because they both find some shred of propriety again once they’re no longer ensconced in the artificial privacy of the booth, but as soon as they’re in the car again Meng Yao climbs right into Lan Xichen’s lap and Nie Mingjue has to seriously focus on not crashing the car as he tries to watch them in the rearview mirror and the road at the same time.

The night goes a bit blurry when they get home and stumble upstairs together, laughing and breathless, wandering hands and searching lips. He’s not sure how it happens but Nie Mingjue ends up between his partners, filled up and surrounded and able to show them both how much he loves them in return. It’s hazy, delicious, perfect, the glide of skin on skin, lips on his, hands in his hair, on his body, inside him, around him. They’ve experimented together enough over the course of their relationship to each have favorite positions, configurations that are comforting at the end of a long day or capable of giving each of them an orgasm that’ll curl their toes, make them forget their names in the face of overwhelming pleasure.

They eventually settle into one of Meng Yao’s favorite positions to finish. He and Lan Xichen hold him together and fuck him blind and spoil him utterly and completely rotten, their goal finally reached when they’ve tired him out too much to make any more demands of them, silly or otherwise.

Nie Mingjue stays awake just long enough afterwards to ensure his boyfriends are warm and satisfied and comfortable before he passes out as well, thoroughly worn out.

----

Lan Xichen wakes him too early the next morning as he usually does with a nuzzle of their noses, gentle flutters of kisses against his closed eyelids.

“Don’t go, A-Huan,” Nie Mingjue pleads softly on a sigh, as he always does the morning of.

“I’m sorry, A-Jue,” Lan Xichen whispers back, clearly upset, and Nie Mingjue opens his eyes to find Lan Xichen’s shining with unshed tears in the soft gray of dawn.

“I hate this part.”

“I know.”

“A-Yao’s going to handle it as badly as I do.”

“I know that as well.”

The pair of them look down at their sleeping partner between them at the same moment. Nie Mingjue takes in his tousled hair, the bruises that litter his neck and shoulders in the shapes of both their mouths, though of course he can’t tell whose is whose.

“I’ll take care of him,” he vows, low and fierce. Lan Xichen presses a lingering kiss to his forehead.

“Keep him safe for me. I will make the same request of him, to keep you safe in return.”

“We’ll miss you.”

“I know, my heart. I will miss the both of you more and more with every breath.”

“Wake him up,” Nie Mingjue deflects, unable to bear the full weight of Lan Xichen’s ardent love like this. “He deserves to wake up with you one more time, your yoga can wait.”

“A-Yao,” Lan Xichen calls dutifully with velvet warmth, lips pressed into Meng Yao’s hair. “Wake up, my love.”

Meng Yao comes awakes as gracelessly as ever, gasping sharply and pouting before his eyes are even open. He flails a hand out to smack at Lan Xichen for committing the grave offense of waking him up, but Lan Xichen catches his hand easily and laces their fingers together to pull their joined hands close to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he breathes and Meng Yao turns to hide in him. Nie Mingjue runs his hand down Meng Yao’s back in silent consolation, but he knows firsthand that there’s nothing that can really make Lan Xichen’s departures any less miserable.

Lan Xichen holds him closer and after a few long minutes, when Nie Mingjue had thought that Meng Yao had gone back to sleep, he hears a muffled sniffle and he sighs slowly.

“I know,” he says against the back of Meng Yao’s neck, not needing words at all to understand what he’s feeling. “I know, A-Yao. It’ll be alright.”

“Come back as soon as physically possible,” he demands weakly, his voice hoarse with sleep and Lan Xichen nods instantly, curling up even more around him to hold him close.

“I will, A-Yao, I promise you. I will call and text and I will return home to you the moment I can.”

“Let’s go, then,” he sighs heavily, and Nie Mingjue has to close his eyes against the torn expression on Lan Xichen’s handsome features.

He says his goodbye at home a couple hours later, holding Lan Xichen and kissing him unhurriedly in the privacy of his workroom out in the garden. They’ve done this enough that they don’t really need words, but this will be the first time in years that Lan Xichen won’t be soothing his aching loneliness while they’re apart with casual partners, and Nie Mingjue can tell from the barely-contained tension in his shoulders that he’s nervous. He curls one large hand around the back of his lover’s neck and holds him to his chest, tries to soothe him even just a little. They linger there in their own little bubble until the very last moment they have before they have to leave, and the drive to the airport is spent in tense silence.

Nie Mingjue takes Lan Xichen’s luggage out of the trunk and heads across the level of the parking garage towards the entrance to departures, the other two trailing along behind him with their hands linked together so tightly he can see their knuckles are white when he turns to look at them. Once inside, he helps Lan Xichen check his bags and get his ticket settled, and then he steps away to let Lan Xichen and Meng Yao say goodbye to each other on their own. His heart aches more than ever to watch Lan Xichen smile sweetly but sadly down at Meng Yao and brush a finger against the curve of his cheek before he leans in for a chaste but lingering kiss. Meng Yao leans up into it, swaying onto the balls of his feet to get closer, and Lan Xichen wraps an arm around his waist to steady him, hold him close one more time. He can’t hear it, of course, when Lan Xichen tells Meng Yao that he loves him, but he doesn’t have to. He can see it in the unbearable tenderness of Lan Xichen’s expression, the cracks in Meng Yao’s. He can read it in the trembling of Meng Yao’s lips as he says it back, in their lingering hands as they step apart, maintaining those points of contact until it’s physically impossible to keep reaching across the space growing between them.

Meng Yao stays suspended between Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen as the latter leaves, standing alone in the empty space thrumming with the passage of other travelers as they both – together, but both alone – watch Lan Xichen walk away from them on his way to security. He turns at the last moment to offer them one more brave smile and a little wave, and then he’s gone and Nie Mingjue exhales sharply.

Meng Yao watches the space where Lan Xichen had been for another few moments before he seems to steel himself and turns around to cross back to him. Nie Mingjue instantly folds him up into a bone-crushing hug, lets Meng Yao bury his face in his chest and cling there to hide as he tries to regain control of himself.

“It’s just a year,” he whispers – the low volume can’t quite keep him from sounding as agonized over it as he feels.

“How do you do this?” Meng Yao demands, his voice thick. “How do you both do this every fucking time he has to leave?”

“It gets harder each time, I don’t know how many more of these I have in me. It’s comforting to have you this time, though. We’re better off than he is.”

“Hm. Then I guess we’ll just have to keep from killing each other while he’s gone,” Meng Yao huffs with a clumsy attempt at levity. He tips his head back to look up at him finally and Nie Mingjue lifts a hand to brush his thumb against his cheek, hot and damp with tears.

“I promised him I’d keep you safe, and I’m going to. We’ll talk to him soon, I promise, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’d better not. I’ll come after you, and you won’t like what happens when I find you.”

“Noted. Let’s go home, A-Yao.”

Meng Yao allows Nie Mingjue to tuck him under his arm to guide him back out of the airport. The both of them look over their shoulders one last time before they pass out into the early morning heat, but of course Lan Xichen is long gone. Nie Mingjue looks down at Meng Yao next, and he hopes that his gaze is as determined as Meng Yao’s is when their eyes lock.

They’re going to make this work. They have to.

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#The untamed fanfic #3zun #Nie Mingjue #Lan Xichen #Meng Yao #Modern AU #Also surprise tiiiiiime - NEW POV!#I know a couple of people have lamented in past chapters that we don't get to see NMJ's side of things #except through the lenses of the other 2 #and I was saving it for now!#Also - I'm hesitant to tag it but I might anyway but:#Autistic!/Neurodivergent!NMJ rights #physical stimming through his sparring and (in this universe) his leatherwork #overstimulation and understimulation both feeding and worsening his inherited anger problems #needing pressure/calming rhythms/pleasant sounds to calm himself down #I'm just sayin - that man ain't neurotypical #oh and let's not forget that I've previously made sure to characterize him as missing subtle social cues and the like #it's not just that he's unobservant (though that's part of it)#He just literally doesn't think like that #thank you that is all

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