#iirc the actual wording was 'more than wonderful' but it seemed like a clunky translation

[llycaons]

it's easy and convenient to fall into this trope, and many of my favorite fics have fallen victim to it in some way or another, but readings of wx that imply or outright state that lwj saved wwx make me want to gnaw my arm off. because I feel like that's rly insidious and simplistic and does a great disservice to both of them and is missing the point of his character and of their relationship development. as teenagers, lwj wanted to be his savior, saw him struggling and demanded that he comply with lwj's own solutions, believing his path to be correct and his own judgements about wwx's situation (and body!) to matter more than wwx's own. and that's why they clashed so much - bc wwx refused to give up his agency or his autonomy, did not want to be treated as someone to be saved

and in canon, that was never his role anyway. he couldn't, and didn't, swan in to save wwx from all of the worst things that happened to him, and his methods for behavioral control - shame, judgement, commands - were repudiated in retrospect. wwx suffered, and was alienated from his loved ones, and died a horrible, violent death, and was not saved by anyone. postcanon, lwj is committed to trusting and believing in wwx rather than trying to stop him - he's listening rather than demanding

I hate this phrase but it's actually incredibly important that lwj didn't ever save wwx 'from himself'. of course, postres he does protect wwx - from jc, from dogs, from slander - but he never inserts himself as the hero in wwx's story, and he never tries to force his own judgements and opinions on wwx again, nor claim that his actions entitle him to anything. he doesn't solve the mystery alone, he doesn't defeat the big bad, and the final get-together is never framed as a reward for his actions. he offers support, comfort, physical aid, but wwx is still very much the main character in every way, and retains all his autonomy to drive the story forward and reckon with his past on his own terms. and this is exactly why they work postcanon in a way that they wouldn't have really worked in the flashback arc

in cql, this is more immediately apparent because lwj follows wwx's lead throughout the entire arc, offering trust and aid without condition or hesitation. but even in the novel, it comes through quite poignantly in the tree scene at lotus pier. wwx thinks that it's okay that he's going to fall. he's fallen many times before, and though it's hurt, he'd survived. but still, it would be wonderful for someone to catch him. and that's exactly what lwj does