#Nothing but respect for my queer fore-parents

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

The Sculptor

Chapter 1 - The Ad

[Masterpost] [AO3]

This whole fic was inspired by @ceru-draws' incredible fanart (here) - which I'll be embedding with permission in the appropriate place in the fic over on AO3 once we get there - as well as in part by the original painting by John Koch that the fanart is based on (here's my reblog of ceru's post that includes a bit of context and a link to the original piece). Koch's painting is from 1964 but I've set the fic in the 70's instead just because I wanted to.

A quick housekeeping note: this fic heavily features a lavender marriage between Wen Qing and Lan Wangji, so if that bothers you give this one a pass - they're platonic, of course, but they do love each other very much and are still married at the end of the fic because I mean. It's a lavender marriage in 1970's suburban America. Also, I wrote this entire fic legitimately in the span of three days, so research was uhhhh very loosely done, don't look at anything too closely and just roll with the vibes (as per my usual). Anyway - I hope you enjoy!

-/-

From the moment his new model steps into the studio, Wei Wuxian knows that this is a man unaccustomed to this line of work.

It’s not impossible, he supposes, for someone to read his ad in the paper - worded somewhat delicately so as not to offend any good ol’ bread and butter types and their prudish sensibilities over their morning coffee and bacon - and not understand exactly what it is he’s looking for.

Wanted: Subject to pose as reference for neoclassical academic commission. Tall-ish height and muscular physique helpful, but not necessary. 3 months’ pay at min. Enquire at Yiling Fine Arts Collective if interested. 

The man who steps into the studio could very well be the very god Wei Wuxian has been asked to portray in his newest piece, though the true shape of him is a little difficult to make out under the prim cut of his suit, well-tailored and clearly expensive. He’s got the height Wei Wuxian had wanted, anyway, and perhaps then some; and when he catches sight of the man’s hands holding the brim of his hat he wonders if it’s too late to ask his client if he wouldn’t want to perhaps commission something specifically dedicated to such an incredibly lovely feature.

“Hi,” Wei Wuxian says a few beats too late. “Hey-“ he stands from behind his easel that currently contains nothing more than an extremely vague sketch to help plan the layout of a potential piece and steps forward to stick a hand out.

The man - God? Angel? Man - hesitates a brief moment before stretching his hand out and taking Wei Wuxian’s carefully in his warm, smooth grip.

“My name’s Wei Wuxian,” he offers when the man just continues to watch him with honey-gold eyes, his gaze intense though whether that’s from the strange color of his eyes or the sharp cut of his brows - or something else entirely - it’s hard to say. “Are you here about the modeling position?”

“Mn. My name is Lan Wangji. I wish to ask for further details.”

Wei Wuxian is fairly sure that if he were still near his stool he’d sink right down onto it. Lan Wangji’s voice is deep and smooth, resonant without being overbearing, and between the suit and that voice he can’t help wonder just what it is this Lan Wangji does for a living. He’s never seen an artists’ model dress like that, for one, and he’s also fairly sure that he’s been around the local art scene more than long enough to know if any of them had such a handsome man for their muse.

“Sure, sure,” he says easily instead of voicing any of his own questions. He gestures for Lan Wangji to sit on the stool behind the easel and hustles over to the sink in the corner to empty out a tin bucket full of canvas scraps and nubby charcoal sticks so he can overturn it and use it for a makeshift stool in front of him. “What do you want to know?”

Lan Wangji settles his hands on his knees and makes Wei Wuxian’s humble wooden stool seem like a throne for all his poise and gravitas. “I am..uncertain how these commissions work. You say it is..academic?”

Wei Wuxian nods quickly - and then grimaces a little as he raises his hand palm down and gives it a bit of an uncertain waggle. “Well..sort of. It’s an academic subject anyway, and like it says in the ad it’s neoclassical in style-” he pauses to check Lan Wangji’s expression, but he doesn’t seem confused so Wei Wuxian is just going to assume he’s familiar enough with the movement to know what that means, - “so it’s perfectly acceptable for stuck-up scholarly, professor types.”

Lan Wangji stiffens minutely and Wei Wuxian laughs just a bit, fidgeting with his hands between his knees.

“Ah…Don’t tell me you’re a professor, Lan Wangji?”

“Mn. I am not offended.”

“Oh good,” Wei Wuxian exhales in a rush with another laugh, less nervous this time. “Apologies anyway, but you know what I mean. Oxford types, British museum types - not that my work is going to end up in either of those hallowed halls, but that’s what the client wants, for it to look as if it could have made it there had they not snatched it up first.”

“Mn. The length of the contract?”

“Three months minimum, yes. Ideally I’d like it to be longer, but most people who’d respond to an artists’ ad around here aren’t really looking for long-term work. Are you?”

“No.”

“Right. Professor. Probably with a lovely tenure and everything?”

Lan Wangji hesitates for a moment before he nods, just once, and a long lock of hair slips over his shoulder to fall gracefully on his chest as if it was always meant to be there. Wei Wuxian has the strangest urge to stand up and tuck it behind his ear for him.

“Just looking for a way to keep occupied over the summer, then?” Wei Wuxian teases with a little smile and props his elbow on his knee, his chin in his hand.

“I find myself…requiring extra funds,” Lan Wangji says delicately, as if waiting to be made fun of.

“You have my sympathies, any artist understands that situation very very well,” Wei Wuxian reassures him with a smile and thinks he sees something like relief in that inscrutable but beautiful face. “Luckily for you, my clients have paid half the commission in advance, and I had a very generous benefactor for my last two projects who have left me comfortable enough to be able to give the whole of what I’ve received for this one so far to my model. I can pay you fair wages for your time for three months at the least, and when that’s up we can see where we’re at.”

Lan Wangji nods again after another brief hesitation. Wei Wuxian, normally not used to keeping quiet, feels like there’s another question incoming so he denies his usual instincts and waits.

“Your..preferences,” Lan Wangji eventually prompts, and now he won’t quite meet Wei Wuxian’s eyes. There’s a long pause while Wei Wuxian waits for an actual question about them, but all Lan Wangji does is clarify, “...In physical attributes.”

Wei Wuxian can’t help but grin. “Yeah, I knew what you meant, don’t worry. You’re definitely tall enough for what I’d like, but it’s a bit hard to tell your physique until you undress-“

Wei Wuxian cuts himself off as Lan Wangji’s eyes widen when they snap abruptly to his. He sits up straight and drops his grin, nerves jangling down his spine at the sight of Lan Wangji’s clear alarm.

“Undress?” 

“Yes,” Wei Wuxian replies with a sinking heart - it had been a misunderstanding then, though how that actually happened he has no idea. In all of history hasn’t everyone known that artists need nude models? Particularly for the western style? Isn’t that a whole thing?! “That’s a requirement. Not all the time, I suppose, and definitely not right away…but a neoclassical piece means a nude or mostly-nude figure, Lan Wangji. I’ll need a nude model.”

“I…Yes, of course,” Lan Wangji prevaricates. He’s too well-disciplined to fidget, Wei Wuxian would guess, but it’s painfully clear that he wants to. “I understand.”

He doesn’t get up to leave or else seem like he’s trying to cut the conversation short all the sudden, so after a beat too long Wei Wuxian forces himself to relax again back into his slightly slumped posture. “So…Have I answered all of your questions?”

“There is one more.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

“When would you like me to begin?”

Wei Wuxian blinks and a slow grin spreads across his face. He’d only put the ad out on Sunday - it’s now Tuesday morning and already he’s got the perfect specimen sitting in front of him asking when they can get started. It’s far too good of an opportunity to waste.

“I’m just working on some general beginning sketches for now, but everything is better with a reference to work from. You can start today if you’d like, or…maybe tomorrow? It’s not like I need you to get totally nude from the start or anything but I’m not sure if being dressed in a suit will work for the poses I’m thinking of...”

“No need. I will start now,” Lan Wangji states and stands to shrug neatly out of his suit jacket. Wei Wuxian blinks up at him for a stunned moment and then hurries to his feet to take the jacket out of his hands so he can take off his waistcoat next. Wei Wuxian takes that from him too, tries not to be overly distracted by the warmed silk slipping against his fingers. “Acceptable?” Lan Wangji asks when he’s rolled up his shirt sleeves to above his elbows, each flip of the cuffs neat and perfectly aligned.

“Yeah. Great,” Wei Wuxian says despite the fact that he, at least, wouldn’t exactly want to lounge around a studio for a day in pressed trousers and suspenders, but he supposes Lan Wangji looks comfortable enough. Wei Wuxian takes his jacket, waistcoat, and hat over to the coat rack near the door to hang everything up neatly with a care he never shows his own garments (then again it’s not like he owns anything nearly as precious as Lan Wangji’s things).

“What is the subject?” Lan Wangji asks once Wei Wuxian returns and begins cobbling together a set-up that’s comfortable enough that Lan Wangji hopefully won’t mind sitting around on it for a few hours.

“Ah? Oh, Prometheus,” Wei Wuxian says distractedly. “We haven’t settled on the exact scene yet, but he’s certain he wants him for the piece, so it’s enough to start with.”

“Mn. There is much there to work with,” Lan Wangji agrees smoothly, calm as a lake.

“Ah, you know it, then? That’s great. What do you teach, Lan Wangji?”

“Chinese classical literature.”

“Ah of course, of course,” Wei Wuxian laughs as he tries to soften the too-hard wood of his sturdiest bench with a few blankets and pillows layered over a few yards of spare canvas folded into a rectangle for a bit of padding. “That makes perfect sense, I’m sure you’re great at it.”

“In what way does it make sense?” Lan Wangji asks, but not like he’s offended by the comment as Wei Wuxian assumes he might be if it came from ah…others around their lily-white town.

“You’re the perfect image of a scholarly gentleman, Lan Wangji! Of course you’d teach something so dignified.”

Wei Wuxian glances at the man over his shoulder to spot him looking quietly pleased and maybe a little pink around the ears before he schools his expression into neutrality again. Wei Wuxian just grins widely at him before he thumps the last pillow a few times to fluff it and steps back from his handiwork. It’s a rough-and-tumble sort of seating arrangement, he supposes, but he’ll admit that he wasn’t exactly prepared to have a handsome man lounging around his studio so soon. It’ll just have to do until he can manage to find an acceptable sofa somewhere within his network of contacts. Perhaps Nie Huaisang has a spare one laying around the endless storeroom of his theatre that he can persuade his friend to let him borrow.

“Alright, I’ll start with just sketching you for now, I need to get familiar with you before we move on to anything too complicated,” Wei Wuxian says as he steps back and gestures for Lan Wangji to take a seat. “Just sit however is most comfortable for you, and I’ll tell you if and when I’d like for you to move, alright? You don’t have to stay perfectly still, but try to pick a pose you can hold for a while, and of course I’ll understand if you can’t last very long just yet. Stamina comes with time and practice.”

Lan Wangji’s gaze is intense again, maybe even more so than before, as he meets Wei Wuxian’s eyes for a long moment and then nods with one of his little hums that Wei Wuxian is quickly becoming sure are his usual method of talking if he has to.

He leaves Lan Wangji to get settled in and bustles over to his easel to set out a clean sheet the color of fresh cream and arrange his favorite pencils in the tray in front of him. He takes a moment to sharpen a couple of them with the penknife he keeps in his apron pocket and when he looks up from his task it’s to find Lan Wangji sitting as still as a statue perched just on the edge of the hastily-padded bench, hands on his knees and shoulders loose as he looks right at Wei Wuxian.

“You sure that’s going to be comfortable enough for you?” Wei Wuxian checks and he’s treated to the slightest upward twitch of one of Lan Wangji’s severe brows.

“Mn.”

“Alright,” Wei Wuxian chuckles. “It’s your back, not mine.”

Wei Wuxian takes a couple minutes, pencil hovering just over the page, to study Lan Wangji slightly more objectively than he has so far.

He’s beautiful, of course, that much is obvious, but Wei Wuxian takes the time to figure out why. What is it about this man that makes him so arresting? Is it his eyes, sharp and distant as a hawk’s? His nose, the tip of it a surprisingly soft contrast to his gaze? His lips, equally full and soft beneath it? His brows are heavy, but not so much that they overwhelm - they’re a good anchor for the rest of his face, a harsh line above his equally-intense eyes.

Wei Wuxian’s gaze travels further downward and he realizes that even though Lan Wangji is still dressed in at least two layers - undershirt and crisp linen button-down  - it’s still clear that he’s muscular. There are faint hints of a tightly toned figure through the neat tailoring of his shirt, and Wei Wuxian shamelessly studies the strength in his arms, across his chest, before his gaze dips down to the narrow trim of his waist, caught neatly by his trousers’ unforgiving waistband. From there he lingers over his powerful thighs, his elegant hands curled into loose fists on his knees so that his knuckles stand out in sharp relief; the faintest hint of veins along the backs of his palms thread a few inches up his bared forearms, drawing the eye back up towards his chest again.

Wei Wuxian begins sketching, half his attention on the paper and half on Lan Wangji sitting there like he’ll never move again.

His eyes haven’t left Wei Wuxian throughout his study, and Wei Wuxian doesn’t let himself wonder what Lan Wangji makes of him in return.

He’s a professional, and Lan Wangji came to him in his capacity as an artist, as someone willing and able to pay him for his services - entirely on the up-and-up. Wei Wuxian won’t take advantage of that trust, no matter how much he wants to find out if there’s anything that can make that stoic facade crack.

[elexuscal]

I find myself so perpetuallly... frustrated by the discussion regarding Good Omen’s and the queer representation. From both side of the debates. 

Like, on one hand, as someone ace, I am always craving more asexual rep. While not being aromantic either, I also value that representation that focuses on deeply intimate friendships, or what could be called queer platonic relationships. And as a writer and biologist who just gets deeply frustrated by how people generally always project human sexual and gender norms onto non-human (or non-biological) beings, I appreciate a lot of the subtly on these issues in the Good Omens show.

So for this, I get pretty cheesed at people saying that on screen and/or implied sex is the only way to show meaningful queer relationships. I also get frustrated by people even saying romantic relationships with on-screen kisses. That’s a great way to deligitimise aro/ace’s experiences.

So, yeah. In that sense, I really loved the Crowely/Aziraphale relationship depicted in the show, and the last scene with the nightengale... mm, made me feel warm and tingly.

THAT SAID

Hey, I also get the other side! Anathema/Newt got a sex scene, while Shadwell and Madame Tracey got to move in together! Wouldn’t it be nice to get something that explicit?!

 And the explicitness wouldn’t even be fore me as a queer person. I know how to pick up on subtext; most of us do. It used to be all we could get. It’s more for the straight audience, you know? The ones who still are on the fence about queer stuff, or generally oblivious to it.

 I’ve sat with my parents as the most queer, UST-laden scenes have played out in things like The 100 or The Favourite, only for them to be completely sucker punched when two ladies to start making out. There’s no way folks like them are gonna be reading Crowley and Az as queer. 

So even though i wouldn’t personally call Good Omens queer-baiting, I also understand why some people are! And I respect their perspective! They’re folks who have been burned before, who are tired, who want something better! That’s all fair.

And then there’s the question of Authorial Intent. 

I like me some Death of the Author; I honestly have a lot of respect for Gaiman embracing it here. At the same time, I also think knowing an artist’s perspectives and backgrounds can be valuable for reading a work. (Which is what everything comes down to- there’s rarely one single interpretation of a piece, but many!) 

I’ve seen a lot of people saying Neil Gaiman’s written plenty of great queer characters before, so he can’t be criticised for any failings here.... Eh, I don’t buy that argument. I’ve made plenty of great cakes before. I’m still capable of making a bad cake. And if I sold that cake to folks, and some of those people didn’t like it, well- they’re free to say so. If they give some advice on how to make it better in future, I’m free to take it. Even if I don’t, other bakers might.

Plus, some folks have pointed out that Gaiman’s writing of other queer characters have been... less than ideal. Honestly, I’m not super familiar with Gaiman’s work outside GO (I’ve read some Sandman, some Marvel 1602, read American Gods, watched Coraline), so I’m really can’t comment much here. From a brief piece of research, I did find some pretty gross transphobic stuff here. I suppose I’d just generally encourage folks to do research, consider things in context, and don’t put anybody on a pedestal. 

I’ve also seen some similar stuff about Terry Pratchett. And yeah, Pratchett wrote some very powerful stuff that can be read with a queer lens, like the women dwarves of Discworld and all of Monstrous Regiment (both of which I hold dear to my heart). At the same time, explicitly queer characters were pretty sparse in his novels, and a number of his books made some pretty gross jokes about ‘mannish’ women that hurt both cis and trans women. 

And listen! I still like both of their writing! Love it, in fact! But that doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore the flaws in their works!

Nothing gained by rushing to Gaiman’s defense here, acting like he can’t be criticised. He’s a world famous, highly successful author. He can take critique. Some people have legitimate frustrations with how this queer stuff was handled. Let them air their frustrations. Even if Gaiman doesn’t see them, or respond to them, some other creator might- and we might get better queer representation elsewhere.

---

TL;DR-

- There’s some aspects of Crowley and Azriphale’s depiction that deeply resonates with queer viewers, especially the ace and aro communities.

- There are other aspects that felt too subtle or handwashy for some.

- Both perspectives are valid. We can discuss both sides without being cruel or dismissive of each other.