#and they've been mostly neutered ever since.

[sleepynegress]

Manny Jacinto just posted Oshamir fanart on his insta...

[taihua]

And now for the fun meta post!!!!!

@delilhhatesyou: And now since everything is clear out, do you think fengqing could have worked out? I’m on the fence between no they will still be so messy lol even as friends but the shipper in me is like fuck yeah. Why not? Great learning experience for both of them. I’m sorry for clogging ur post with my comments!!

FENGQING CAN ABSOLUTELY WORK OUT! And here is why!!!

I agree that they're unavoidably messy--I was in a discord chat once where some people were talking about all the therapy techniques that Fengqing could use to get along better and I kept thinking stop it noooo you're neutering them like feral cats this isn't who they are

There's a line somewhere in the revised version of TGCF that I found as I was skimming that amounts to "9 times of 10 Feng Xin and Mu Qing's fights were just verbal disagreements." Sometimes it escalates to a full-scale brawl, but the root issue is just communication problems--and by the time we get to the epilogue, they've worked through some of that problem. Feng Xin has been reassured that Mu Qing doesn't have bad intentions, and Mu Qing isn't reading a bunch of negative stuff he made up in his head to Feng Xin's words because the trio has affirmed their friendship.

So they're tolerating each other and their fighting is mostly surface level at this point, and now we can get to the best part about their relationship, which is how they're perfectly suited to meet each others' needs.

Feng Xin can't hover around Xie Lian anymore now that Hualian are together, but... that's his job! That's what he wants to do! He likes protecting people and hanging around them and supporting them with all his heart. He's a little moon without a planet to orbit.

Meanwhile, Mu Qing's name is literally "I crave affection," and he was so desperate to have a friend who cares about him--and also he's vain and likes being the center of attention.

So you've got a guy who is desperate to give all his love to someone and take care of them, and a guy who is desperate to be loved and doted on, and they're always around each other, going on unofficial double dates with the most annoying PDA couple in the three realms.... Plus they already perfectly understand one another's movements and are perfectly synchronized without even having to think about it, which shows a certain deep trust they have in each other which is hot

Anyway I tend not to see them as a marriage-and-kids-happily-ever-after kind of ship, but I think they are absolutely destined to be codependently obsessed with each other for the rest of their careers and all their non-canon reincarnations ❤️