#hm. this is already so fetishy. maybe I should throw in a mind bond

[etirabys]

btw, I got into reading the book on Chinese history because I watched Nirvana in Fire, my favorite East Asian drama I’ve watched yet, and I realized I was totally unequipped to write fanfiction. So here’s one of my fanfic pitches!

This is spoilery for NiF, and also features dubcon/noncon, semi solitary confinement, and Stockholm syndrome. I am a dead dove writer through and through – please steer clear if you don’t like dead dove fics!

Has MCS/Jingyan as endgame ship but frankly the most psychologically interesting relationship in it right now is MCS/Prince Yu.

The fic diverges from show canon when Prince Yu's rebellion succeeds! Prince Yu decapitates the Emperor and puts out a fairly unconvincing lie that Jingyan did it and ran away. Jingyan is still out trying to get reinforcements, but he does get messengers telling him not to return (for now) and instead flee to try to recoup with a larger power base. MCS is among Prince Yu's captives.

MCS puts on a show of switching back to Prince Yu's side, which Prince Yu 70% buys. As a precaution, he puts MCS in solitary confinement and is the only one to visit him. MCS gives Prince Yu advice, which is examined like a hawk. Despite the severe constraints, MCS manages to influence Prince Yu in a way that is subtly favorable to Jingyan. MCS also notices that Prince Yu is hella unstable about his heritage, the way his father saw him, and the way he killed his father, and manipulates him about it. Because this takes months during which he doesn't see other humans beings, and he's necessarily using Prince Yu's deepest feelings – rather than his ambitions – to manipulate him, he ends up kind of emotionally attached.

Throughout this, Prince Yu starts fucking MCS as a form of control, revenge, humiliation, and affection. MCS never says no, and in some ways he does enjoy it, but overall it's an unpleasant experience that very much fucks him up and deepens his "Jingyan will never accept me, I'm not Lin Shu anymore, Lin Shu wouldn't do this" issues.

Eventually, Jingyan storms the capital, Prince Yu decants MCS out of the dungeons to use as one last form of defense/manipulation, which doesn't really work – Jingyan ends up killing Prince Yu in front of MCS. In his last few minutes alive, Prince Yu realizes that, once more, MCS has betrayed him for his lesser brother. As he dies, he asks for some kind of explanation. MCS, who is emotionally wrenched and crying just a little bit, leans in and tells him the truth – that he's Lin Shu, that Prince Yu never had a shot of gaining his loyalty if it meant he had to work against Jingyan. That, in another world, he would not have found Prince Yu impossible to follow and be loyal to. Prince Yu is at least a little insane by this point and finds this absolutely hilarious – he dies laughing.

And in a way, it's a truly satisfying resolution for him – the main thing that started driving him insane was finding out about his birth circumstances and realizing that, by the rules of his universe, he might be a human being who is fundamentally unworthy of loyalty or reward. MCS's second betrayal was truly devastating to him – they both got attached to each other – so knowing that the reason is "really old, unbreakable bond to someone else" rather than "no one wants me I guess" actually gives him some measure of peace. Anyway, Jingyan's there watching this incredibly intense 60 second interaction, going, ????

Meng Zhi is also there, watching MCS cry a little bit over The Worst Human Being, also going ???

MCS may not be in a state of moderate undress at this point because Prince Yu sexually humiliated him in front of an audience in an attempt to rattle Jingyan et al

Anyway, I'm a MCS/Jingyan shipper, so I also want the story after this point to be the painful game of telephone Jingyan and MCS play afterwards where MCS is like "okay I guess you'll discard me now that I've been so thoroughly dishonored?" and Jingyan is like "wtf you went through all that bullshit while helping ME, I don't think I can ever repay, I'm mortified at how much I'm unable to repay" and, also, yeah, "oof yeah I have hangups about masculinity and rape and I don't really know how to interact with a rape victim and also treat him as an intellectual peer. We don’t talk about it? That’s the respectful thing, right?"

(Then it gets better but the ways it which it gets better are obvious and don’t need full explanation)