#FINALLY I always found the idea of wwx having a crush on nmj as a 15 yr old or w/e being kind of funny

[llycaons]

there's like three wwx ships that are semi-popular (way below the massive popularity of wx) and I don't like any of them but the reasons they don't work are self-explanatory enough (wwx is clearly just not as into them as they are into him, if they ARE into him) that I tend to not feel the need to write long paragraphs explaining why they don't make any sense. except for that one time I had to write out why JIANG CHENG would be a bad partner outside of the fucking obvious because I saw a post and it annoyed me

for lwj tho any other ships are just. laughable. like you don't even need an argument

[robininthelabyrinth]

Can you please write a second to your NMJ/WWX betrothal please, thirsty bi!WWX is best WWX (also how LWJ can enter into the dynamic) I love your writing so much 💕

part 1, part 2, part 3

“We should spar,” Nie Mingjue said one day.

That was a most unfortunate request, especially since Wei Wuxian was still crusading for him to seriously consider the three of them together –

Not together like that.

Just, you know, politically speaking, matrimonially speaking, it really all made perfect sense! 

Sure, it may have started as an impulse, but Wei Wuxian has belatedly come up with some very good reasons to justify it: he would have the backing of the Nie sect’s power and the Lan sect’s respectability, no one would be able to suggest that Nie Mingjue had married Wei Wuxian merely to gain access to his power, Lan Wangji would finally get to be with his (apparently!) childhood crush and Wei Wuxian would get to tease him forever, though maybe that was less of a benefit for Lan Wangji than it was for Wei Wuxian – 

Still, it would certainly obligate Wei Wuxian to protect and support the Cloud Recesses. Maybe it would be helpful for the ever-polite, ever-restrained Lan sect to have an ally with a bit more teeth and a reputation for being a little less than perfectly moral.

That’s all he meant.

…it was possible that he also meant the other way. That way.

He hadn’t, at first, really! It had just seemed like such a good idea: Nie Mingjue, who he admired so much, who had agreed to marry him and save both Wei Wuxian and the Jiang sect when he didn’t have to, and Lan Wangji, who Wei Wuxian had always liked so very much, who was always calm except when he wasn’t – he hadn’t thought of anything but how nice it would be if they were all living together.

Of course, he’d then realized he’d just proposed marriage, and that came with certain – connotations.

He still wasn’t entirely sure what was involved in being together in that way, but they all had hands, didn’t they? Hands and mouths and bodies, and the thought of all the ways those various pieces could join together made him blush just to think about.

It certainly didn’t make him feel repulsed, that was for sure.

It hadn’t been something he’d ever thought about before, especially not when it came to other men, but…well, he was proposing marriage. It was his job to study up on what might be required.

Especially since it seemed like Lan Wangji might actually be interested in – some of that.

Jiang Cheng had promised to get him a book with some cutsleeve art to help him prepare for the possibility of a wedding night – they’d both been red as a guests trying to eat chili peppers the entire time they’d had the conversation, since Jiang Cheng had been trying to apologize about the fact that he wasn’t sure if Nie MIngjue would give up on his rights as a husband and Wei Wuxian had had to explain that he was starting to think that he might not mind all that much if he did enforce them, ideally at length and on a regular basis, the whole thing had been excruciating and they’d both mutually decided to stop talking about it and get very, very intoxicated immediately afterwards – but it was taking him more time than expected, since he’d been trying to find one that didn’t come from Nie Huaisang.

For obvious reasons.

Still, long story short: Wei Wuxian was very much trying to stay on Nie Mingjue’s good side (not that all of his sides didn’t look good – the view from the back was as good as the front, and the sides weren’t bad either) so that he could talk him into it, and a spar, well, that made things awkward.

Wei Wuxian wasn’t sure about the best way to politely turn Nie Mingjue down and/or ask about whether he could pick fierce corpses as his weapon of choice, and he was still considering his response when Lan Wangji said, “It would be an honor” and Wei Wuxian abruptly realized that Nie Mingjue hadn’t been talking to him at all.

That put a totally different spin on things.

There wasn’t, strictly speaking, a training area in the Burial Mounds, only some flat space Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning had worked together to quickly clear of trees and other disturbances once they’d realized Nie Mingjue would be coming to visit, but it worked well enough even if the overhanging cliff to one side did occasionally drip mud on the unwary shortly after a rainstorm.

(Given that such an event generally required the removal of clothing, Wei Wuxian had decided that was one of the area’s good features rather than a problem that required fixing.)

Wei Wuxian shamelessly followed the two of them as they walked over to the area, perfectly prepared to insist that they needed a referee if they asked, but primarily just to watch the two of them. They were so different: Lan Wangji’s posture was perfectly correct, his pace slow and unhurried at every moment, while Nie Mingjue was upright by nature, his stride purposeful and determined, and yet they walked side-by-side without either one fall behind or going ahead.

They were both – very beautiful.

There were very few people that could make Lan Wangji look small, even delicate, but Nie Mingjue was one of them: he was tall and broad-shouldered, with big wide hands and an intensity that made the air around him almost feel like it was boiling, and then there was Lan Wangji, a statute carved out of ice, a refreshing breath of fresh air, perfectly calm and controlled in the fury of Nie Mingjue’s storm of a personality.

A perfect match.

Plus him, of course!

Wei Wuxian settled down eagerly. He couldn’t wait to watch this.

Nie Mingjue took one side of the field, drawing Baxia in all her might; Lan Wangji took out Bichen, a gentleman’s weapon if there ever was one.

There was a pause, a breath of time when they just looked at each other – and then they moved.

Steel against steel, Lan Wangji moving in a cloud of white to avoid the downward swings, using his own not-considerable strength to try to drive Nie Mingjue back – they each fought for the center, the position of strength, and it slipped back and forth between them, the advantage elusive.

Nie Mingjue swiped at Lan Wangji’s legs; Lan Wangji leapt up and struck at his head – Nie Mingjue caught his hand and threw him overhead – Lan Wangji landed as agile as a cat and immediately lunged forward try to take advantage – Nie Mingjue had already turned, his saber at the ready –

Wei Wuxian’s jaw was gaping open like a fish and he didn’t even care.

He’d been good at sword-fighting before – he’d been good at everything before, really – and it would be a lie to say that he didn’t miss it desperately, but this, oh, this! It was very nearly as good, watching two masters of the art: the swift sword and the fierce saber, their motions fluid and decisive, forceful, well-timed, their bodies perfectly in time with their weapons – their bodies becoming weapons, deadly and beautiful.

Lan Wangji was faster, Nie Mingjue more powerful; they were about equally matched in technique, each one pulling out the exact move that would counter the other. Their breathing began to come faster as the fight raged on, sweat appearing on their foreheads, their muscles straining –

In the end, Nie Mingjue lifted his saber high as if to bring it down in a unstoppable swipe; Lan Wangji side-stepped, only to find that it had been a feint and Nie Mingjue was already coming in close for a lock – he stepped back, but Nie Mingjue’s foot had already found the back of his ankle –

They both hit the ground.

Lan Wangji was on his back, his hands pinned above his head, Nie Mingjue having caught them as he tumbled them to the ground; their weapons were tangled together. Nie Mingjue had a leg on each side of Lan Wangji’s body, his own pressed down low to maintain balance, their chests almost touching – their faces, only inches away from each other – they were still breathing hard, their faces flushed with exertion, their eyes locked on each other –

“Yield,” Nie Mingjue said, his voice low and heavy and hot. They were so close that Wei Wuxian could almost see his breath on Lan Wangji’s cheek as he stared up, defiant. “Yield. The battle is mine.”

Lan Wangji looked up at him for another moment, considering his options, whether to continue to struggle –

“I yield,” he said, and his whole body relaxed in surrender, his shoulders easing and his head rolling back a little to expose his throat, as if Nie Mingjue might decide to lean down and bite –

“Good fight,” Nie Mingjue said, and stood up, offering Lan Wangji a hand, his gaze lingering.

“Yes,” Lan Wangji said, taking the hand and standing; his ears were red and his gaze fixed firmly on the ground. “A good fight.”

“Very good,” Wei Wuxian said, and his voice cracked into a squeak about halfway through. He stayed very, very still: if he so much as moved, he might disturb the way he’d piled up his clothing onto his lap to hide his current predicament.

He wanted to be in Lan Wangji’s place – he wanted to be between them both, wanted them to both look at him with those intense expressions that they’d turned on each other – why hadn’t he agreed to join the spar? He could have been in the middle there. Or maybe he could have teamed up with one of them to bring down the other one, to climb on top of them and hold them down while he himself was also…

He cleared his throat. “Maybe you should consider cleaning up? After all, you both got all – sweaty.”

Lan Wangji’s blush was moving steadily past his ears and towards his cheeks.

“That’s a good idea,” Nie Mingjue said, looking up at the sky. “It’s getting late, and it’s a hot day – Wei Wuxian, do you have a pool we can soak in? You’re welcome to join us, of course.”

“Uh,” Wei Wuxian said. His brain may have stopped working. Did he have a pool? He should have a pool. No, not a pool – a hot spring. Everyone would have to undress to use it, he’d insist on it as a matter of hygiene; the only thing that would conceal them would be the billowing clouds of humid heat that came up from the warm water, the tempting glimpses of skin in between…

“Unfortunately, I believe Wei Ying has reserved the use of his pool for experimental purposes,” Lan Wangji said, and that’s fine, Wei Wuxian would be happy to experiment as much as they liked – “It’s currently full of blood.”

…right.

Fuck.

His past self was an idiot.

“A pity,” Nie Mingjue said. “A regular wash will be fine, of course…though you might enjoy the pools we have in Qinghe.”

“My brother speaks highly of them,” Lan Wangji said. “Both hot and cold.”

“I like that combination,” Wei Wuxian said, finally getting enough control over himself enough that he could stand up and walk with them like a regular person rather than some sort of lecher. “I like it a lot.”

“Yes,” Nie Mingjue said. “I do too.” He paused for a moment, apparently considering something, and then nodded as if he’d made a decision. “We should talk about that.”

Wei Wuxian had the feeling they weren’t talking about bathing any more.