#it's to tease wwx that he reaps what he sows

[admirableadmiranda]

How to you feel about wwx sort of taking advantage of lwj when he’s drunk re: the kiss? (It’s a genuine question, I’m trying to instigate a fandom war or bash any character!)

Well first off anon, I think that framing it as "sort of taking advantage" already states where your thoughts on it lie. I recognize that you do likely mean to be neutral and are asking in good faith and just accidentally missed the word not, but the way you phrased the question does have a lead in.

Which is really unfair because I wouldn't call either stolen kiss in Modaozushi either one of them taking advantage of the other. They are both impulsive actions, taken then immediately regretted with neither of the kissed party punishing the other in any way.

The Phoenix Mountain Kiss has been done to death, but let's go ahead and talk about the DrunkJi 2 kiss. It might be a bit scattered because I was having some revelations myself about this moment when I was rereading the scene. Namely that LWJ is being a lot more consenting than it first appears.

They are both not sober in the moment. Wei Wuxian was drinking before Lan Wangji joined him, at the end of the scene he discovers that the whole bottle is empty while he's all rattled about it. I would hesitate to call Wei Wuxian drunk, but as someone who has had more than my own fair share of drinks, there is a point where you can still be very aware of your actions, your senses yet your instinct that pulls you back is numbed. And it does not necessarily take a lot of drinking to get there.

They have been playing a very flirty game. Lan Wangji was threatened if he got caught during chase to get licked and his response was to turn around and walk right into Wei Wuxian to be licked. He gets all shuddery and fluttery about it like the flustered maiden he is, but also goes back in for more. He is definitely very drunk, but every sign that Wei Wuxian is getting is not only a level of enjoyment, but actively seeking out more. In addition, this is the second time Lan Wangji has gotten drunk around Wei Wuxian, so it's not like it's a surprise to either of them that he's a bit of a wild child, running around, causing trouble and being a pouty baby when Wei Wuxian doesn't give him what he wants. Lan Wangji choosing to drink alongside Wei Wuxian is both of them acknowledging that this is going to go in interesting directions; Lan Wangji is not going to remember it and he trusts Wei Wuxian with his drunken inhibition free self.

Here's where we get to the first amazing thing I've discovered on rereading this. There is a lot more going on beneath the surface than framing this as Wei Wuxian suddenly kissing Lan Wangji out of nowhere. This whole scene is showing us what their dynamic really was when they were younger and how only now do they have the ability to actually pick up on these confused signals that they were sending each other as teenagers.

Lan Wangji may be drunk, but for the first time, Wei Wuxian is absolutely picking up on what he wants.

As he was pondering, Lan WangJi turned around, his face as calm as always, “Again.”

Wei WuXian, “Again? Again what?”

Lan WangJi hid behind the wooden screen once more and peeked at him with only half of his face showing.

His intentions were as clear as could be—again, you chase, I run.

Speechless for a moment, Wei WuXian obeyed and did it again. This time, having only been chased for a short while, Lan WangJi ran into him again.

Wei WuXian, “You really are doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

Again, Lan WangJi brought Wei WuXian’s arms around his neck as though he couldn’t understand what his words meant, waiting for him to fulfil his promise again.

These are not the actions of someone who just wants to play. There is a whole other layer going on beneath the surface. A context clue clicks into place for Wei Wuxian and presumably the audience as well, although that latter one I strongly doubt given that I only really caught onto it now myself.

Lan Wangji is not running because he is afraid or because he isn’t enjoying it. Lan Wangji is running because he wants to be chased and caught. He wants to resist up to a point and then give into Wei Wuxian and surrender the need to pretend and protest. Wei Wuxian is teasing him as though he were a playful kid, cause licking is gross at that age and it theoretically should make Lan Wangji run faster. Instead he makes it a few steps, turns around and walks right into Wei Wuxian’s arms.

It is rather an intensely vulnerable scene as I reread it for this. For just a moment, Wei Wuxian lets his guard down because Lan Wangji is asking him for something very different than he might sober and he is responding to that deep attraction within the both of them. He has picked up on that Lan Wangji was a little frightened of the deepness of the emotions within, but also he really does want it. Thus he continues because he for a brief few splendid moments has no doubt.

With his arms around Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian returned to the bed with him, then asked, “You like this, don’t you? Don’t turn around. Speak. Do you like it or not? If you like it, we don’t have to run around every single time. How about I let you have as much fun as you want?”

As he spoke, he held up one of Lan WangJi’s hands, bent down, and kissed between two of his slender fingers.

Lan WangJi wanted to take his hand away again, but Wei WuXian held it tightly, not allowing him to do so.

And then, Wei WuXian’s lips pressed onto his distinct knuckles. Softer than the touch of feather, his breaths wandered to the back of his hand, and he kissed again.

It is easy to forget, especially since the extent of Lan Wangji's strength won't be shown until the Guanyin Temple, about sixty chapters away from this point, but he is very strong and Wei Wuxian is in the body of a normal person who has not cultivated a golden core. The text here in ExR Allure says that Wei Wuxian wouldn't let him pull his hand away, but if he actually really wanted to stop it, he could easily pull his hand away or push Wei Wuxian off. He is not resisting because he doesn’t want it, he is resisting because he is continuing to play hard to get.

He is still being chased, Wei Wuxian is about to catch him.

Lan WangJi couldn’t pull his hand back no matter how hard he tried. He could only clench his fingers together into a tight fist.

Wei WuXian lifted up his sleeves, revealing the pale-skinned wrist, then kissed it as well.

After he kissed, he didn’t raise his head. He only turned his eyes to Lan WangJi, “Is that enough?”

Is that enough for Lan Wangji, hapless fragile maiden being seduced by the man he really, really likes? No, no he would like a little more romancing please.

Lan WangJi pursed his lips, refusing to speak a single word. Wei WuXian finally sat up straight again and continued, his voice unhurried, “Tell me. Have you burnt any paper money for me?”

There was no answer. Wei WuXian laughed out loud and inched toward him. Over the clothing, he kissed where his heart was, “If you don’t talk, I’m not gonna give you any more. Tell me. How did you know it was me?”

Lan WangJi closed his eyes. His lips quivered, as though he was on the verge of confessing.

Suddenly, however, as Wei WuXian stared at those soft, pale-red lips, he didn’t know what had taken over him, but he suddenly went and kissed them.

After the kiss, he even licked them, as though a kiss wasn’t enough.

Wei Wuxian accidentally flips the game here. Lan Wangji is being coaxed slowly here and he is about to give in. Presumably to confess something that he might have wished he was sober to say, but as we’ve ascertained in both this and the previous DrunkJi he won’t speak if he doesn’t want to. Then Wei Wuxian gets a bit caught up in the moment and his lowered inhibitions get the better of him and he suddenly has to kiss Lan Wangji.

And there is no denying it that it is an impulse. He is shocked and rattled by what he’s just done and panics, throwing himself on the ground while Lan Wangji knocks himself out. Now I may be crucified by the purity police, but I’m pretty sure that taking advantage of someone involves some intent to y’know, take advantage of them. Not get caught up in the moment when you’re romantically playing with the guy you’ve been in love with since you were fifteen and get overwhelmed by instinct before remembering the situation and panicking. It throws him off balance so badly that he needs some time to recover from it.

Both of them widened their eyes.

A moment later, Lan WangJi raised his hand. At once, Wei WuXian was startled into realization. He immediately broke into a cold sweat, fearing that Lan WangJi would smack him dead on the spot, and quickly scrambled off the bed. Turning around, he saw Lan WangJi smack his own forehead. He now lay unconscious, collapsed on the bed.

Inside of the private room, Lan WangJi lay on the bed as Wei WuXian sat on the ground. A cold gust of wind rushed inside through the opened windows, sending chills down Wei WuXian’s back. His head finally felt clearer.

He stood up from the ground, pushed the table to where it used to be, then sat down beside it.

After spacing out for a while, he used his teeth to bite at the knots on the forehead ribbon. With effort, he finally managed to open the stack of lumps.

Now that his hands had been loosened, to get over the shock, he went to pour himself a cup of liquor. He held the cup to his lips for a few moments, but not a single drop entered his mouth. Looking down, he finally saw that there wasn’t any liquor in the cup at all. He had already downed the entire pot. Even when he was pouring, he failed to notice that nothing was being poured out.

Wei Wuxian is not exactly at his finest moment here. He might be a little bit rattled. First he has to sit on the ground for a bit. Then he moves the table, sits down and spaces out again. Even the exertion and effort required to untie himself still doesn’t snap him out of it as he still fails to notice that there’s no alcohol in his cup until he tries to drink it. Again, I would not call this taking advantage of Lan Wangji in any way as the very fact that he lost control for a moment and went that far has clearly shaken him up pretty badly.

There are definitely some things with consent in Wangxian, both in them crossing lines and in learning how to communicate with each other. But the fact that people want to blame one of them for their actions when what we get is that one of them makes a mistake and the other both forgives them and they learn from it frustrates me.

I’m not going to say that Wei Wuxian took advantage of Lan Wangji here. I’m not going to say that Lan Wangji took advantage of Wei Wuxian on Phoenix Mountain. I am going to say that they were two people who had no one to offer them guidance who sometimes fumbled a bit on the path to building a lovely, healthy, happy, trusting relationship.

Because sometimes it really actually doesn’t matter that much and people put way too much emphasis on making sure that every action someone takes is the perfect correct action and anything that even hints at maybe not being perfect must be apologized and corrected for. It’s a horribly restrictive way of looking at relationships and to me speaks of people not trusting each other at all.

Wangxian don’t hold any of these actions against each other, why are we?

[grewlikefancyflowers]

The cool thing about the Wangxian Dynamic is they're never really static, and with WWX's competitiveness and LWJ's stubbornness, never will be.

The difference between their teen selves and their adult selves post-resurrection is very obvious - but that 'WWX trying to tease LWJ and shooting himself in the foot' dynamic doesn't last, at least not until WWX finds a way to fluster LWJ like he used to again - post Drunk #1 when he acts like they slept together. But by the time Drunk #2 rolls around, the next morning, LWJ hits him with 'you reap what you sow,' and is totally unaffected. If WWX wants LWJ to react, then he's gonna have to up his game.

So what I'm saying is, Wangxian's every day activities definitely get more buckwild insane the longer they are married for, and even though WWX can tease LWJ with all his breeding talk after Incense Burner 2, LWJ will definitely immediately follow it up by giving WWX some herbal tea for 'fertility' in the morning, and once they're done doing the do, he props his hips up on a pillow and makes him stay there to 'make sure it takes'