#cheng visibly loves his silly brother and is also silly sometimes

[deadpoolsmom]

ep 3-5 of the untamed thoughts; follow up to my ep1/2 post because actually I am going to be annoying about this show that came out 4 years ago

It’s unclear how old the main cast is at this point but I’m guessing like older teens have to young 20s? Cause they’re students I think and the headband babies in the first eps were like 16?

Yanli visibly wants to fuck that rich man so bad lmao. Love that the first two episodes made sure to give us proof she got to; and that they both will die yeah but they are both palpably horny for each other every time they’re near each other. The way Wuxian and Cheng have so solidly misinterpreted this is extremely funny. She wants to dick him down So Bad and they’re like 😠 this rich man is rude to our sister 😠 she Hates him 😠 Death Penalty no remorse for everyone Yanli doesn’t like 😤

Jiang Cheng babygirl I could treat you right pspspsp He can do whatever he wants for the next 45 episodes and I’ll be like okay bbg you’re so right. His lil crush on Wen Qing rn is adorable though (pretty that’s not gonna end well but I want good things for her)

Wei Wuxian is great (A+ adhd king) but he would also be the most annoying brother in history. He keeps randomly disappearing in a new place and worrying Cheng, talking back to leaders, and getting in trouble in the middle of this group trip to place with 3000+ rules. Tbth if I was Cheng and in some part responsible for making the group behave and represent ourselves to these seniors? I would have literally killed him by the second night. Genuinely wildly tolerant; he should get a free pass on the whole killing him thing forever. He clearly loves his very silly brother so so much by how long he managed to hold out (expecting to be devastated by whatever causes this btw)

I think they previously said the body Wei Wuxian reincarnated through (Mo Xuanyu?) was the illegitimate son of the Jin leader? Which apparently the servant guy Meng Yao(?) with the hm… questionable vibes is also. Not sure how old Xuanyu is supposed to be but I guessing that’s the same guy? Which like. My dude. Get it together. Perhaps stop having illegitimate kids who hate you?

Wen Ning??? My beloved corpse weirdo is just a little guy right now? A little sweet baby boy?? I’m so not braced for whatever causes that okay. Me 🤝 Wen Qing: patting him on his little head 🥺

Lan Xichen every time WWX and LWJ interact: 👀🏳️‍🌈😏

[bettydice]

I didn’t expect you to be lonely (too)

Xicheng, Modern AU, JC&WWX reconciliation, E-Rated 

[Read on AO3]

Chapter 3

Saturday

Jiang Cheng gets up early the next day, opens his window, clothes his eyes, breathes in the cold air, then says: “Fuck.”

Today, Jiang Cheng will meet with Lan Xichen again. After everything that happened yesterday. Him crying. Lan Xichen being understanding and nice and wonderful. Both of those things are going to be issues. The crying is an issue because Jiang Cheng did eventually feel that promised catharsis. He could sleep a little better, dream a little lighter after letting it all out for once. Maybe it wasn’t so much the crying as Lan Xichen being fucking nice about it afterwards. Taking care of him… Which is a problem, because Jiang Cheng can’t have such things. But he wants it.

He wants to talk with someone about it, but he can’t talk with his sister, because she’d be enthusiastic about Jiang Cheng expressing interest in someone and encourage him to pursue it, which is not the advice he wants. This is the kind of thing he’d talk with Wei Wuxian or Nie Huaisang about. But he can’t talk with Wei Wuxian - for obvious reasons.

And Nie Huaisang…

Jiang Cheng opens his messenger and scrolls through his conversation history with Nie Huaisang. There’s a bunch of party invites from Nie Huaisang, all unanswered by Jiang Cheng. Further up, there’s “What, are you going to ignore me too?” and “You’re a fucking idiot, Jiang Cheng.”

It’s true, he’s a fucking idiot. And everyone knows it. Yet they aren’t the ones who stopped replying first. They aren’t the ones who just assumed that if Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng stopped talking, it meant they’d have to stop talking to Jiang Cheng too. He is the one who did that.

The day goes by horribly quickly, so very soon he finds himself lying on Lan Xichen’s massage table again. Lan Xichen smiles at him and wraps him up as though nothing’s ever happened. The unwrapping and the following massage go by without any incident this time. Well, at least without a crying incident. Jiang Cheng does let out what could be considered almost a moan at one point but Lan Xichen only asks, “Painful?”, and Jiang Cheng nods instead of saying what he actually thought, which was: “No, it felt fucking amazing, your hands are magical, put them all over me.”

Once he’s dressed again, Lan Xichen takes a few minutes to go through some stretches for his neck and shoulders with him, so he can do them at home. A few very embarrassing minutes, during which Lan Xichen shows him how far a normal person can tilt and turn his head, and Jiang Cheng demonstrates that he’s not even half as flexible.

After, Lan Xichen invites him to the living room for tea again. Jiang Cheng wants to ask whether this is something he does for all his clients, but it’s better he just assumes so, even if it’s not true.

“How are the bunnies today?” Jiang Cheng asks as soon as he sits down. Bunnies should be a safe topic - right?

“Great! I seem to have offended neither. Do you… do you want to meet Cloud today?” Lan Xichen asks haltingly as though Jiang Cheng would ever say no to that.

“I’d love to!”

A few minutes later, they’re sitting on the floor, each with a bunny in their lap. Cloud had eyed him suspiciously for a while, but when she realised Jiang Cheng was very happy to provide her with attention and petting, she allowed him to do just that.

“You should feel honoured that she accepted your presence this quickly.” Lan Xichen nods at Cloud, amusement crinkling the skin around his eyes.

Jiang Cheng looks down at the bunny, who has her eyes closed while Jiang Cheng rubs her head. “I do. I actually read up about that yesterday, how bunnies have a high sense of… well, manners basically. I didn’t know that!”

Lan Xichen straightens up when he hears that, visibly excited. “It’s true! I also find it very fascinating. Though I think Cloud has an usually unpronounced sensitivity for such things. Or maybe she’s just realised she’ll get treats that way. My brother and I have a spreadsheet where we collect all of the bunnies’ - mostly Cloud’s - rules.”

Jiang Cheng looks at Lan Xichen to see whether he made a joke or whether such a spreadsheet actually exists. It seems to be true, he can detect no hint of a joke in Lan Xichen’s eyes or in his smile. Jiang Cheng laughs. “I’d be interested in reading that. I wouldn’t want to accidentally offend Cloud by not stroking her head enough, or too many times.”

Lan Xichen blinks at him a few times without saying anything. Uhm, has he said something wrong?

“I didn’t mean you have to show me,” Jiang Cheng rushes to say. He’s probably being too pushy, implying he’d spend more time with Cloud. He’s just a client, he shouldn’t assume such things. “Just uh…”

“Oh, no, of course.” Lan Xichen shakes his head, his gentle smile back on his face. ”I don’t think Wangji would mind. In fact, I know he’s already tried to get your brother to read it.”

Jiang Cheng really needs to learn how to stop showing a reaction whenever Wei Wuxian is mentioned. He quickly plasters on a smile, tries to smooth his frown.

Lan Xichen doesn’t seem to have noticed him tensing up and leans forward, whispering conspiratorially: “Cloud actually bit your brother a while ago. Nothing bad, just a warning. I think he was too enthusiastic in petting her.”

Wow, amazing. That’s… yes, that’s exactly the kind of information he needed to hear today. Jiang Cheng snorts a laugh. “Of course. I wouldn’t have expected anything else.”

Lan Xichen laughs softly as well, then cocks his head. “Is it okay if I mention your brother? I know your relationship seems to be a bit… strained… at the moment.”

Jiang Cheng grimaces slightly, then tries to hide it by lowering his head to focus extra hard on petting Cloud. “It’s fine. I have feelings about that whether or not anyone mentions Wei Wuxian.”

As soon as he says that, he realises how true it is. He’s such an idiot. Making his sister walk on eggshells around him. Why? For what? It doesn’t make a difference. Even if nobody says Wei Wuxian’s name for a week, he still misses him every day.

Lan Xichen nods, as though he knows exactly what Jiang Cheng means, humming his agreement, but not saying anything.

“Wei Wuxian was here then?” Jiang Cheng eventually asks. He can’t help himself.

Lan Xichen doesn’t know that Jiang Cheng never directly asks about Wei Wuxian, so he doesn’t react surprised and answers readily. “He comes by sometimes with Wangji. He’s very excited about the bunnies, but I’m afraid Cloud isn’t his biggest fan. Jade tolerates him.”

Jiang Cheng knows it’s silly to feel smug about Cloud sitting peacefully in his lap whereas she bit Wei Wuxian, but he’s done sillier things, so he’ll let himself count this as a win. “You’re a very smart bunny, aren’t you?” he whispers to Cloud. She rubs her chin on his thumb and he continues stroking her.

“We used to have a dog, but Wei Wuxian is deathly afraid of dogs, so we had to give it away. My mother didn’t allow us to have other pets. She said dogs at least had a purpose.” Jiang Cheng doesn’t know why he said that. Just like he never mentions Wei Wuxian, he also never talks about his mother. He blames it on Lan Xichen’s soothing presence - he feels like he could tell him anything and it would be okay.

“Why would animals need another purpose than existing?” Lan Xichen frowns as though he’s actually offended. Jiang Cheng is suddenly glad he won’t ever be able to meet his mother, because he can’t stand the thought of his mother saying one of her mean things that cut straight to the bone in the presence of Lan Xichen.

And isn’t that thought just a can of worms on top of a boiling volcano? Better not get any closer.

“No idea. Look at you, Cloud, you’re so cute. Nothing else is needed, right?” He lifts her up a little and smiles at her. When he looks back to Lan Xichen, he finds him staring at him again. Is he holding her wrong? He’s always making sure to support her hind legs and -

Cloud pees on him.

"Fuck!" Jiang Cheng stares at the bunny in horror, who only stares back at him as if daring him to do anything. While she fucking pees on him! But there is nothing he can do, is there? Standing up or putting down the bunny would only make things worse - he doesn’t want to ruin Lan Xichen’s beautiful hardwood floor. So he just… keeps holding her and lets her pee on his shirt and jeans. Fucking hell.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry! Don't move! I'll -" Lan Xichen jumps up, bunny still in his arms, and rushes out of the room. Then he rushes back, plucks Cloud from Jiang Cheng’s arms and brings the bunnies back to the balcony. Jiang Cheng can hear him say: "That was very rude of you! We'll talk about it later!” If he wasn’t currently covered in bunny pee, he might find that adorable.

While Lan Xichen hurries across the flat to get cleaning supplies, Jiang Cheng is just sitting on the floor, bunny pee soaking his shirt and jeans, trying not to move. All in all, he thinks, it’s an improvement over yesterday.

Lan Xichen returns with kitchen towels and normal towels and wet wipes. They both begin patting Jiang Cheng down, but… well, it’s pee.

“I’m really, really sorry. I… you should take a shower. I’ll give you a change of clothes and of course I’ll wash yours.” Lan Xichen keeps apologising and feels so obviously bad about the whole situation that Jiang Cheng in turn can’t even be mad anymore. He agrees to the shower and fresh clothes, because 1. he’s covered in pee and 2. he wants Lan Xichen to stop feeling guilty.

In the bathroom, Jiang Cheng feels like an intruder. He’s standing naked in Lan Xichen’s shower, right next to his shampoo (a very pretty and expensive looking bottle with jasmine fragrance), using his shower gel (a matching set with the shampoo). He’s going to smell like him, wear his clothes. As though… Nope, not like a boyfriend. He shouldn’t even think that. He’s just someone that got peed on by a devious bunny.

When he returns to the living room, everything is clean and tidy again. Lan Xichen is sitting on the couch, drinking tea, and lifts his head when Jiang Cheng enters the room. He starts smiling, then freezes… simply looks at him, head to toe. Probably because Jiang Cheng looks ridiculous, sleeves too long, pant legs drowning his feet.

Jiang Cheng’s neck feels hot anyway and he clears his throat. "Can you promise me to never tell Wei Wuxian about this?"

"Jiang Wanyin, nobody will ever hear a word about this," Lan Xichen solemnly promises.

Jiang Cheng sits down on his chair and sighs. Lan Xichen puts down his teacup and their eyes meet. For a second, neither of them moves. Then, Lan Xichen’s lips twitch, one corner of his mouth drawing up. Yeah… it actually is fucking funny. A laugh bubbles up Jiang Cheng’s throat and bursts out of him. Lan Xichen soon joins him. His laugh is bright and clear and probably the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard.

"I guess Cloud doesn't like me after all." Jiang Cheng decides to fall back on the Safe Topic, instead of staring at the marvel that is a laughing Lan Xichen.

"Oh, on the contrary! It can be a territorial thing. It's quite possible she's just claimed you. I saw that she rubbed her chin on you earlier. She definitely thinks you belong to her in some way."

"That's… I guess I should feel honored I got peed on?"

"Absolutely. There are people who'd be jealous of your status." Lan Xichen laughs and gives him a little wink. Jiang Cheng thinks this is very unfair to his feelings.

"So… What does belonging to a bunny entail? Any duties I have to fulfill? Cleaning out her cage or feeding her hay?"

"She's quite high maintenance, so it'll be all of those things. Many petting sessions will be required of you, too."

"I can do that." He knows Lan Xichen is just joking, but he certainly wouldn’t mind coming over often to spend some time with Cloud.

“She’ll be pleased, but won’t show it.” Lan Xichen laughs.

“Ah, well, I suppose it’s something we have in common.”

“You do?”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how to react. Has Lan Xichen not noticed how… well, how Jiang Cheng is or is he too polite to mention it? His confusion seems genuine though.

“Uhm, yes.”

Lan Xichen blinks, taken aback, then laughs awkwardly and takes a sip of his tea. Well done, Jiang Cheng, you fucking idot.

After a few seconds of horribly awkward silence, Lan Xichen clears his throat. “Would you... Do you want to stay for dinner again? It’s the least I could do after... I’m sure Cloud would be pleased to have you around longer, too. You could feed her a post-dinner treat later. Of course I’ll drive you home, too. You don’t have to take the subway in these clothes.”

Jiang Cheng nods, a little stunned. This is unexpected. “Oh, thank you. I’m sorry, I feel like I’m always troubling you and taking up your time...”

“Not at all, not at all! If anything, I’m imposing on you. It’s always nice to have company for dinner.” Lan Xichen smiles, completely genuine and sincere, though there’s an undercurrent of nervousness Jiang Cheng can’t really make sense of. “I’m afraid there’ll be no amazing soup today, though - just a plain vegetable stir fry. Would that be okay?”

“Oh, yes, sure. Anything is fine, really.”

“Right, I’ll... go prepare then.” Lan Xichen clears his throat again, stands up, gestures towards the kitchen, then walks in said direction.

“I’ll help!” Jiang Cheng follows him quickly, seeing no reason not to spend this time together while he has the opportunity.

A few minutes later, Jiang Cheng is sitting at Lan Xichen’s dinner table, chopping vegetables. Lan Xichen has turned on the radio and is humming along to the music, even though he keeps saying he doesn’t know the songs. Jiang Cheng... falls in love a little more.

Soon, the delicious smell of the stir fry fills the kitchen. Jiang Cheng has missed this. He’s always liked cooking with other people, hates cooking on his own. When he’s visiting his sister, he sometimes helps her prepare dinner, but lately he’s usually been playing with his nephew while Jiang Yanli is in the kitchen. And his visits have grown fewer, haven’t they. Because he’s afraid to run into Wei Wuxian. Which is stupid. (Like pretty much everything Jiang Cheng does.)

It’s nice to sit here in this kitchen, chatting while cooking, knowing he’ll share this meal with someone.

It’s bittersweet, of course, because this is a rare exception. There won’t be a repeat performance. Lan Xichen feels bad Jiang Cheng got peed on by his bunny. After his sessions are over, they’ll probably not see each other again. Well... what if this boyfriend of Wei Wuxian is something permanent... what if Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian actually make up eventually... he might see Lan Xichen at his sister’s for dinner or...

Fuck, he can never see Lan Xichen when Wei Wuxian is around, his brother would know. Instantly. His stupid smirk would unfurl on his face and he’d make insinuations and Jiang Yanli would catch on and say things like “Lan Xichen really is handsome, isn’t he” and ... wait, she already said that on the phone. How did she know? No, she was just stating a fact, she wasn’t...

“Would you like something to drink? I made some lemon water earlier.”

“Sure, thank you,” Jiang Cheng quickly accepts, happy to be distracted from his musings.

Lan Xichen pours him a glass of lemonade. Jiang Cheng nods his thanks, takes a sip and... starts choking immediately.

Lan Xichen looks alarmed, gets up and rubs his back while Jiang Cheng tries not to die.

"I'm okay… Ugh… everything… Fine!"

Lan Xichen keeps rubbing his back until Jiang Cheng looks up at him and Lan Xichen hastily returns to his chair.

"Ah… Is it too sour? I added more lemon juice this time. Wangji let me know Wei Wuxian found it a bit bland, so I thought -" Lan Xichen takes a sip and crinkles his nose, the most displeased he's ever looked. "Oh. Oh, that's very… I'm sorry."

"Of course it's Wei Wuxian's fault again," Jiang Cheng murmurs. Lan Xichen laughs, thinking he made a joke, and Jiang Cheng can't help but laugh too.

The food tastes delicious. Lan Xichen lines up a bunch of herbs and spices in front of him, because "We Lans usually eat our food pretty bland, I'm afraid. Sensitive stomachs". Jiang Cheng doesn't want to be rude, so he only adds a little bit of pepper. It tastes fantastic, and he tells Lan Xichen so.

After dinner, Lan Xichen drives him home again. Jiang Cheng could get used to this. To all of this. Drinking tea, snuggling bunnies, having dinner together. Seeing Lan Xichen every day. They agree to set the next session for Wednesday, however, so this time he’ll have to wait a few days.

"Thank you again, for dinner today and yesterday. And the clothes. And driving me home." Jiang Cheng turns to Lan Xichen, who is already looking at him, hands still gripping the steering wheel.

"Oh no, I really don't mind. Thank you for indulging me."

Indulging… that's quite the word choice. Jiang Cheng doesn’t really know what to say to that, so he gets out of the car, waves and returns to his flat.

Jiang Cheng spends the next couple of days realizing once again his life is really sad. The time with Lan Xichen has been the nicest thing to happen recently and it’s basically a doctor’s visit. Sort of.

On Tuesday, Lan Xichen writes him a message, asking him to postpone the next session. He writes back, “No problem!”, but wasn’t prepared for the extent of his disappointment.

The disappointment continues during his classes that day, because he hates them all. They’re so fucking boring and he does not care about his stupid ‘business’ degree whatsoever. Yet he keeps on going, keeps learning this bullshit, because… He’s too afraid to quit. And what else would he do? He wanted to do it for his dad, wanted to do what was expected of him. Even though his father never expressed the wish that Jiang Cheng should work in his business, probably never even thought he’d be good enough for that.

And now it all doesn’t matter anyway. Someone else is CEO and Jiang Cheng really, really does not want to work there. They could sell their shares, as Jiang Yanli has suggested often. And then what...

This is what he’s mulling over, forehead thunderous, headache equally as thunderous, wishing for a soothing massage and tea with Lan Xichen, stomping through the halls of the university building when…

Nie Huaisang.

He sees Nie Huaisang around uni, occasionally, but usually, Jiang Cheng turned around and fled, before Nie Huaisang could spot him too.

This time, there’s no escape. There’s no one else in this hallway. Nie Huaisang is looking straight at him.

They both stand still for a few seconds, simply staring.

“Jiang Cheng.” Nie Huaisang’s eyebrows rise slowly, as does one corner of his mouth.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know what to do.

“Are you not running away this time?”

Fuck.

Nia Huaisang approaches him slowly, as though he’s still expecting Jiang Cheng to bolt. To be fair, he desperately wants to.

“How are you?” There, he’s the first to speak. That’s a good thing, right?

“How am I?” Nie Huaisang scoffs, then shakes his head and sends a very, very fake smile his way. “Well, I’m wonderful. Thank you for asking after a whole fucking year.”

Jiang Cheng clenches his entire body. Fuck. “Fuck, I’m sorry! I had to say something!”

Nie Haisang stares at him… then he laughs. “So, are you over it?”

“What-”

Nie Huaisang cocks his head and scoffs. “Come on.”

“I… I’m working on it, okay?!”

“Well, that’s something.” Nie Huaisang narrows his eyes for a second, then shrugs. “Come on, let’s go grab a drink.”

“It’s 2 p.m.!”

“Exactly.”

Nia Huaisang takes him by the hand and drags him out of the building. Jiang Cheng follows as in a daze. He feels like he missed a step going down the stairs, stomach jumping weirdly.

They end up in some kind of fancy ass lounge that is very much Nie Huaisang and very much empty, because it’s fucking 2 in the afternoon. Nie Huaisang greets the bartender like an old friend, while Jiang Cheng stuffs his backpack under the table, since it looks terribly out of place here. Nie Huaisang only has his phone with him. How has he not flunked uni yet? Has he taken notes even once?

Jiang Cheng orders a water, but Nie Huaisang laughs and orders them two cocktails.

“Don’t worry, Cheng-Cheng, my treat.”

Jiang Cheng has so many feelings about hearing his hated nickname he doesn’t even yell at Nie Huaisang that he’ll set his Gucci purse on fire if he calls him that again. Nie Huaisang of course notices the absence of any threats, and grins.

“Reunited and it feels so good, eh?”

“Shut up.” Jiang Cheng scowls but he can’t help but smile a little, too.

“So… How’s life?”

“Uhm… it’s… well…”

“I figured.” Nie Huaisang replies, as though one look at Jiang Cheng tells him all he needs to know about his miserable life.

The waiter brings their gigantic, colourful cocktails and a glass of water for Jiang Cheng. Nie Huaisang toasts him (‘To day drinking’) and Jiang Cheng tries a sip. It’s… tasty.

“This actually tastes very good, I can’t even taste the alcohol.”

“Because yours doesn’t have any, you dipshit. Do you think I want to have to deal with your maudlin drunk ass later? No thank you.” Nie Huaisang gives him a look. His eyebrows are still too powerful - they only need to twitch a little and Jiang Cheng feels seen and judged for what has been seen.

“Hey, I cried one time when I was drunk! One time!”

“You mean you only remember one time.”

“Whatever.”

Nie Huaisang takes a sip from his bends straw, then says, very casually: “So… have you talked to Wei Wuxian?”

“No.”

“Are you going to?” Nie Huaisang isn’t even looking at him, he’s playing with the fruit skewer of his cocktail. Jiang Cheng is grateful for that.

“... I’m thinking about it.”

“Alright,” is all Nie Huaisang says, nods, then changes the topic. “So, how are your massages going?”

“What the fuck? How do you know about that?”

“I have my sources.” Nie Huaisang smirks. “So? Is it relaxing? Getting worked over by Xichen-ge?”

Jiang Cheng chokes. He wasn’t even drinking anything, he’s choking on his own spit. “Fuck… ugh… why… why do you have to say it like that!?”

“No reason.” Nie Huaisang bats his eyelashes and takes a sip of his drink. “Is he loosening you up?”

Jiang Cheng buries his face in his hands. “Please don’t… I can’t believe I… Ugh.”

“My, my, why is your face so red?"

"No fucking reason, Huaisang."

"Mhm, do you still have a crush on him?"

Jiang Cheng puts his head on the table. Nie Huaisang cackles.

The next time he sees the waiter, Jiang Cheng waves him over and orders shots.

An hour or so later, they’re leaving the lounge and Jiang Cheng has put his arm through Nie Huaisang’s to support him while walking. Huaisang drank so much, he needs someone to lean on. Huaisang. Jiang Cheng can lean on Huaisang. A-Sang. Didi. A-di. Sang-Sang.

“This is why I didn’t want you to drink,” Nie Huaisang whines as he leads them over to a park bench. When did they enter the park?

“You’re the one who drank!”

“And you’re the one who got drunk!”

“Hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey. No. I’m not.” Jiang Cheng tips his head back. “I’m just a little tired.”

“Whatever you say. Anyway, I’m not gonna drag you all the way to your flat, I’m not getting all sweaty for you. So either we sit here until you sober up or I’ll call you a cab or something.”

“I am sober.” Jiang Cheng whips his head up to glare at Nie Huaisang and… his world spins a little. “Mostly. Fuck.”

Nie Huaisang grins at him. “Or I could call Xichen-ge to come pick you up.”

“Do you think he would come?!” Jiang Cheng asks. Fuck, he really is drunk, isn’t he? “I mean… Don’t you dare! He has better things to do, why would you… also, I wouldn’t want that. To see him. Outside.”

There, he totally saved that.

“Riiiiiiight. So, on a scale of one to ten, how badly do you want to make out with him?”

“Twelve.” Fuck. “I meant… Just in a… theoretically, you know? Like, if I were someone else and… Do I, Jiang Cheng, want to make out with Lan Xichen? I mean, yes, but no, I meant no… more like, would I, a human being, make out with Lan Xichen? Of course the answer is yes, because I am a human being, you know? But me, personally, Jiang Cheng… that’s, that’s something different, like if I were not also a human being, you know? So, there. That’s your answer!”

“Sweetie, you have it bad, don’t you?” Nie Huaisang, unlike Lan Xichen, has no problem with making super clear when he thinks you’re pitiful.

Jiang Cheng drags his hand down his face and sighs. “I don’t have it. I don’t have anything. This is no different. Just… I’m just weak and lonely and he’s nice and warm.” Jiang Cheng puts his elbows on his knees and buries his face in his hands. Suddenly, all energy leaves him. It’s true. He doesn’t have anything at all. No one.

“Oh no, here we go…” Nie Huaisang mumbles next to him.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t reply, because he’s too busy trying not to cry. What is wrong with him these days?

Suddenly, a warm hand comes to rest on top of his head. Starts stroking his hair.

“Jiang Cheng, listen to me.” Nie Huaisangs voice is calm and serious. That’s very rare. “You may be lonely, but you’re not alone. There are many people who love you, who miss you.”

Yeah, now he’s crying. Fuck.

“Xian-ge misses you, too.”

“What if he doesn’t? What if I’ve ruined it forever?” At least he’s not sobbing this time.

“You haven’t.”

Huaisang keeps stroking his hair. Jiang Cheng wants to tell him to stop, it’s embarrassing, he’s not a child, he’s…

“Why are you even here, with me? Shouldn’t you hate me?” He presses his hands closer against his face, too scared to look at Nie Huaisang.

“A-Cheng. Nobody hates you. Nobody. Least of all Wei Wuxian.”

“I hate me.” There, he said it. It’s the truth. Then he starts sobbing.

Nie Huaisang keeps stroking his hair until he’s calmed down. Why does he keep doing this? Completely losing it in front of other people? First Lan Xichen, now Nie Huaisang…

“I told you that you’re a maudlin drunk. You didn’t believe me.”

Jiang Chang can’t help but laugh. It sounds pitiful through the sobs, but it’s a laugh.

“Even more reason to get over yourself and call Wei Wuxian. You’ll find that he doesn’t hate you after all and maybe you can hate yourself less after.”

Nie Huaisang sounds so… pragmatic. As if it really was that easy. Maybe it is. Jiang Cheng wipes his face with his sleeve and finally dares to look at him.

Nie Huaisang gives him an understanding smile, a sincerity that lasts only for a second. Then he grins. “Damn, you look awful.”

“Thanks ever so much.” Jiang Cheng has to laugh again.

Nie Huaisang wipes a few more tears from his face, also using Jiang Cheng’s sleeve. “Don’t worry, you’re still pretty.”

“What a relief.” Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. But he’s also grateful to Nie Huaisang. For being himself. For being here. “A-Sang, I…”

“Oh no, no way. Don’t do that to me. We’re going to forget this ever happened, okay? I didn’t see anything, you didn’t hear anything.”

Jiang Cheng pulls him close and gives him a crushing hug.

“Hey, what did I just say?!”

“I missed you,” Jiang Cheng mumbles into Nie Huaisang’s hair. There’s an awful lot of hair, some getting into his mouth. Nie Huaisang won’t be happy about that.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake… Just don’t cry on my shirt, I have a hot date this evening.”

Jiang Cheng eventually returns to his flat, mostly sober. It’s not even time for dinner yet and he feels as though this day has had 36 hours.

Nie Huaisang Cheng-Cheng all sober now? just wanted to say if you like Xichen-ge then you don’t have to do it quietly you’re very sweet when you’re in love don’t worry you deserve it, too just go for it if you reply to this message, I’ll kill you

[nattikay]

Sooooo I’m not sure if anyone would be interested in actually reading something like this, but I was looking through some of my older Miraculous art and seeing how the designs of my future AU characters have subtly evolved over time, so I wanted to make a post about designing these characters and how/why I made the decisions that I did! 

So first off, the birth order! I was originally intending to have the kids born in the order that they’re listed in the Stormy Weather episode:

...unfortunately, instead of actually looking at the episode to be sure, I just went off memory; I remembered Emma being the second but accidentally mixed up Hugo and Louis. By the time I realized this, the characters were already too cemented in my head to switch them back. ^^” Oh well.

In addition to the above, in my ~10 years of experience with next gen fics/art/OCs (I know, I have a problem), I’ve noticed that a pretty large fraction of the time folks opt for their OTP’s firstborn to be a daughter over a son. Nothing wrong with this, of course (heck, I’m a firstborn daughter myself haha), it’s just so disproportionately common that I thought making Hugo the firstborn instead of Emma might make my version stand out a bit more. ^^

Now with the siblings’ order decided, on to the designs! Starting with our oldest, 

Hugo!

Black hair and green eyes seems to be the most popular design for an Adrienette kid, and for good reason! It’s an appealing combo on its own in addition to using traits from both parents for the most notable genetic features in characters: hair and eyes. 

I also wanted to give Hugo some of his own flair though. I think the best next gen characters are recognizable as their parents’ offspring BUT can still stand on their own as unique individuals. One way to help do this is, when available, to draw on extended family rather than only their parents. 

Hugo’s strongest example of this (at least as a kid) is his slicked-back hairstyle, which was somewhat inspired by Gabriel’s. The slicked-back style seemed to fit his nerdy personality, but because he is a child and not nearly as uptight as his grandfather, Hugo’s hair is much messier than Gabriel’s, and he often has pieces falling out in the front. 

Admittedly I’m not super great at conveying the slicked idea from the front view, but you can see it a bit better in profile:

Hugo more than either of his siblings also takes after the Dupain side of the family, which isn’t super noticeable as a kid but becomes much more so as he grows up and develops the broad shoulders and strong upper body of Tom and Rolland. He’s not quite as enormous as Tom but is easily the strongest sibling (Louis, meanwhile, is a lanky little noodle like Adrien and Gabriel).

Going along with that, Hugo’s personality has loosened up a bit over time. While I do still draw him in his tucked-in button-up, I’ve also started drawing him in looser styles a bit more, because after all, he is just a goofy kid! This has included anything from using shorts instead of long pants to sometimes wearing just regular ol’ t-shirts instead of his nice button up (on which I rarely actually draw the plaid pattern I initially designed him with because wow it takes forever).

Funnily enough, this is a bit of the opposite of what happened to Adrien. My first sketches of adult!Adrien from this AU all have his shirt untucked, even whilst teaching, but now I almost always draw it neatly tucked in:

...interesting, interesting.

Anyways, while Hugo is still very much a little nerd who does quite well in school and LOVES learning about space and astronomy, he’s also a little more goofy and active than he was when I first created him. He’s probably the most athletic of his siblings (though really none of them are exactly jocks) and while he’s not particularly interested in organized competitive sports, he loves a good game of catch or tag. :)

While people in real life obvious wear any color they want, with my OCs I tend to pick a general palette and stick to it though all (or at least most) outfits, for consistency and easy recognizability. Hugo’s palette is mostly greens (for Chat Noir of course! ;) ), dark blues, and warm browns.

Now, onwards to 

Emma!

I decided to make my version of Emma blonde for two reasons: one, it appears to be so in the screencap shown at the beginning of the post, and while Marinette’s imaginations do not necessarily have to dictate how you design your versions of the kiddos, I liked having the consistency.

...plus then some years later Frozer rolled around and showed a blonde (imaginary) Emma again, so like 

...validation ;)

(by complete coincidence they’re even accurate to the color schemes I use kashdfgjsddsafjdf)

And the second is just that, again, most (not all, of course, but a lot) of the other Emmas I’ve seen in the fandom have been dark-haired, so again I thought it’d help mine stand out a bit.

So now with hair color established, it’s time for eye color. Most of the blond-haired Adrienette kids you see have blue eyes, for the same reason that a lot of dark-haired ones have green. Which, as said with Hugo, makes sense, since it’s the hair color of one parent and the eye color of the other. So why didn’t I make Emma’s eyes blue, then?

Well, it’s a bit of a silly reason tbh, but the blond-hair-blue-eyes combo reminded me a little too much of Chloe. ^^” Not that it would cause any parentage concerns, of course, since obviously Marinette is the one who gave birth to her, but the visual similarities still made me go like...eh ^^”

So green eyes it was! Which, of course, made her look a heck of a whole lot like her father.

But of course, it’s fine to favor one side of the family, but she’s gotta have SOMETHING from Marinette, right? So what other visual could she inherit to show at least some of her mother’s genes?

✧・ﾟ:* F R E C K L E S ! *:・ﾟ✧

And since Marinette’s freckles are so subtle, I decided to make Emma’s a bit more prominent and easily visible.

Actually her freckles have multiplied quite a bit over the years. She’s always had more than Marinette but it used to be confined to just a few on her cheeks and shoulders. Now drawing her is more like DOTS! DOTS EVERYWHERE! with freckles all over her face, down her neck and arms, and even a few on her legs! It is very much her Thing at this point haha

Freckles everywhere!

As for her hairstyle, the default is a simple headband, but she also sometimes wears it just plain down with no accessories at all (usually when in PJs), or up in pigtails like Marinette’s!

Those are just the main ones though...really she can do pretty much whatever ^^

Emma’s outfit palette took a bit more consideration than her brothers’, since I needed it to match the yellow hair (whereas black, as a neutral, can go with just about anything. So I took a minute looking at her established colors--bright green eyes and golden-blonde hair--trying to think of what theme I could used. 

The grassy green and sunshine yellow ended up reminding me of warm weather, like a spring or summer morning. The easiest color for that would’ve been green, but I was already using greens for Hugo and didn’t want their schemes to look too similar. Ultimately I decided on pinks, because the pink outfit with the yellow hair reminded me of some nice fresh lemonade! Some bright whites and warm creams/off-whites then added to the cheery, springy theme. ^^

Her original outfit design included some small dots on her collar and pant cuffs, not unlike the inside of Marinette’s jacket, but I don’t really include that detail much anymore for the same reason I rarely draw Hugo in his original plaid.

Lastly but not leastly, onwards to 

Louis!

Thus far we’ve had Hugo, who’s a pretty good visual mix of his parents, and Emma, who takes more after her dad. As such, I figured that it’d only be fair if the third and final kid took more after his mom!

So in many ways Louis looks a lot like a mini male Marinette, right down to the subtle freckles. If Hugo has the most Dupain genes and Emma has the most Agreste genes, Louis probably has the most Cheng genes and has the easiest time convincing people that yes, he is actually 1/4 Chinese (absolutely no one believes Emma when she says this lol...she has to show pictures of her family haha).

We can’t completely ignore the Agreste side of the family though, and in Louis’s case is manifests mostly in his hairstyle which is very similar to Adrien’s, as well as his lean and lanky body type as an adult, very similar to Adrien’s and Gabriel’s (unlike Hugo who, again, is stockier like a less-extreme Tom).

His outfit color scheme is light blues and grays with splashes of red. The blues and grays work well for his shyer, more reserved demeanor, while the splashes of red like the t-shirt hidden under his sweater are like his big imagination! (Like his mother and grandfather, Louis is very much into art and design, though his interest tends to be geared more towards characters and stories than fashion).

Not as much to say about him tbh...he’s “evolved” the least from his original concept and is mostly just the cute baby brother ^^”

So yeah, there you have it! That was roughly my thought process for creating/designing my little kiddos ^^ 

Hopefully some of you found this interesting; I enjoy talking about my ideas and stuff so if you ever want to know more or about something else that I do/make, feel free to ask! ^^