Wei Wuxian, ariving on the Jingshi: Hello, people who don't live here.

Lan Sizhui: Hi, baba!

Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen: Hello, senior Wei!

Jin Ling, mumbling: Hi, da-jiu.

Wei Wuxian: I gave you the key for emergencies.

Ouyang Zizhen: Well, we wanted cuddles. That's an emergecy.

FISHING AND INTO THE RIVER

FISHING AND INTO THE RIVER I GO TO LOSE MY MIND AND FIND MY SOUL T-shirt

unbelievably obsessed with how the juniors realize ‘mo xuanyu’ who is meant to be a bumbling idiot and embarrassment to his family is incredibly powerful, brilliant, and clearly very close with lwj, and they barely question it they’re just like yeah sure that checks out, moving on!

Ribbons :)

AU Masterlist

The junior council has decided, you are parent

When the only edible food is the chimken....

drew the juniors and wwx as ducklings waddling after mama duck 🥹

I love them all so much aaaa ❤️

One of the sweetest things about all the juniors shipping Wangxian even as early as Yi City (as well as one of the funniest if you’re a fan of irony), is that it’s really easy to realize, but also really good why they’re the first ones to accurately name what they’re seeing.

The Multi-Clan Duckling Squad are the first people to ever see Wangxian together without any preconceived notions about their relationship — including Wangxian. They alone get to just see them as they are, two dorks who perfectly match and are clearly in love with each other, and they never assume that there’s something else going on because of their understandings of the men involved.

The juniors continue to prove that you can’t really understand someone if you’re coming at them with an assumption in place, and only with clear eyes can you see what was there all along to see.

Saw just enough of The Sound of Music tonight that I was reminded of Captain von Trapp mentioning that the most important thing in his house is discipline (or some such sentiment), and

because I have the brain rot

While I cannot conceivably find a way to make that specifically into an au, I was nonetheless charmed by the thought of disciplinarian and rule-abiding Lan Wangji vs sunny and energetic Wei Wuxian cheering up the juniors with a little music tell me you are not turned to mush by Wei Wuxian teaching juniors the equivalent of “my favorite things” I dare you

Anyway

All of this to say, a no-sunshot-campaign au where, for whatever reason, Wei Wuxian is invited as a guest lecturer at Cloud Recesses. There are several thousand rules that Wei Wuxian is ignoring at any given moment. Lan Wangji, who is in charge of discipline, is annoyed (intrigued). Tiny juniors are following their new teacher’s heels all around while he’s playing the dizi like a more adorable version of the pied piper (and perhaps Wei Wuxian warns them with a wink that he is Very Evil and he is going to Steal Them Away which is met with un-Lan-like giggling). The Elders have discussed sending him back to Lotus Pier but, unfortunately, he is a fantastic teacher.

There are also, of course, shenanigans. Night hunt field trips. Wei Wuxian inflicting his cooking upon the poor, innocent youths. Bad dreams on both sides leading to some broken curfews and soft music in the garden. Some conflicting curriculums - not “demonic cultivation” level, but there are a lot more disciples asking a lot more questions in their other lectures.

Lan Qiren is incensed.

Lan Xichen refuses to do anything about it (he is watching his brother watching Wei Wuxian and waiting).

Lan Wangji should be doing his job of disciplining but, you see, whenever he tries Wei Wuxian smiles at him or hands him a bunny or chatters about how well the Lanlings are doing or about an idea he has for a lesson, and what is he to do? Stop that from happening?? Remove the smile from this man’s face??? That would be a crime.

(Lan Qiren gets the abridged version of this sentiment, which amounts to “Wei Wuxian is good” and he despairs. He is fighting a losing battle to send the guest teacher home.)

(The losing battle becomes a lost battle when Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian play a duet for the juniors together and share a kiss as soon as the juniors are out of sight and off to their next lesson. Lan Xichen catches his brother pacing while on patrol that night, his face as forlorn as it ever is, and says “You know, we could… offer him a permanent place here?”)

Lan Wangji writes to Lotus Pier that Cloud Recesses will not be returning their head disciple. The entire sect hears the “WHAT” and “HE CAN’T STEAL MY BROTHER” echoing from Jiang Cheng’s general direction.

Mo-gongzi!!! Senior Mo!!! Or, nothing cheers up a necromancer like a flock of ducklings ❤.

Wei WuXian, “Yep. Congratulations. You’re under corpse poisoning.” Jin Ling, “How is this something to congratulate someone for?!” Wei WuXian, “It’s another life experience. It’d be a conversation starter when you grow older.”

Wei Wuxian giving the ducklings life advice on how to handle stressful situations is my favourite thing - not only is it downright funny on its own, but it's also hillarious when you think about the various ~Life~Experiences~ WWX has had in his past - albeit short - life. Conversation starters indeed.

Lan Jingyi: I told Jin Ling his ears turn red when he lies. Now I can always know if he is lying.

Lan Sizhui: Wait, how?

Lan Jingyi: Go ahead, ask him something you know he will lie about.

Ouyang Zizhen: Jin-xiong, do you love us?

Jin Ling, covering his ears: No, y'all are annoying.

headcanon that wei ying just loves to give hugs. he always hugs the juniors, especially holding lan shizui tight and ruffling his hair. wei ying would give lan jingyi a high five first and then slap his back when they both go in for it. for ouyang zizhen, they do that thing where they both hold each other the same way and jump up and down bc they're dumb like that. wei ying is more mindful of jin ling's space, but when jin ling looks particularly sour when he feels left out, he would give a quick one-arm squeeze.

“I’m going to say it,” Zizhen says abruptly.

“Please don’t,” Jingyi says, voicing Sizhui’s own unuttered thoughts.

“Why did no one tell us the Yiling Patriarch was so — so handsome?” Zizhen demands.

Post-canon CQL Lan Sizhui-centric | on ao3

The fact that the Juniors (Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling, and Ouyang Zizhen) refuse to listen to what the older generation says about Wei Wuxian when they get to know him is so huge in the story. They got to know him and saw that he is a genuinely good man so when they found out the truth of who he was (and in Jin Ling's case once he learned the truth of the events that led to his parents' death) they all stood by him. I think it's such a huge part of the story and shows the next generation healing and being better. They aren't making the same mistakes as their parents' generation. Even at the end after the events at the temple (at least from what I remember from my read through so please correct me if I'm wrong) it seems like there are still people from the older generation that treats Wei Wuxian as horrible for past events and for his cultivation. However, we don't see the Juniors do that ever regardless of the point in canon. Even Jin Ling who's very reproachful in the beginning is just as interested as the rest of his peers. The Juniors continue to go nighthunting with Wei Wuxian and learn from him. Jin Ling looks to him for guidance and truly appreciates the time they spend together. The Juniors show hope for their generation and for the future. Especially Jin Ling because even Wei Wuxian accepted that he deserved to be stabbed by the boy (this a different meta post in itself and I'm not saying I agree) Jin Ling saw passed all of that and decided to see the good in him and treat him fairly.

Lan Wangji, professional dad

I have to say, for Lan Wangji, the biggest parent moment is that he can't even take a bath in peace without the kids getting in some kind of trouble… coughEp33cough. There's just something hilarious about how, when the ducklings come find him, he's basically in his bathrobe. And none of them are even remotely embarrassed by it. How many times do you think dad!Lan Wangji has told them to come get him if they need anything, meaning it literally, so they've actually been doing it for years.

Aaaand now I'm picturing tiny juniors on their PJ's sneaking in for sleepovers. Like, nine year old Jingyi Metal Gear Solids his way after curfew and Lan Wangji doesn't even blink when he wakes up with two kids in his house instead of one. As for Jingyi doing his best to sneak around.... he's had a lot of practice, he probably could. He's just slightly hindered by the blanket and plushie he insisted on dragging along.

I like to think it continues post-canon and one day Wei Wuxian comes home from a busy day of blowing things up inventing to find like five toddlers in the jingshi and he just goes… "Guess I'm a dad again. Who wants a bedtime story?" Lan Qiren was crushed to find out that Wei What-Is-This-Curfew-You-Speak-Of Wuxian is the one who actually enforces bedtimes.

As always co-authored with/enabled by @sswangxian