#was so against staying with ANY wen that they basically had him knocked out for their entire stay

[tls123]

alright episode twenty-seven vs twenty-eight !!

[thepurplewombat]

I'm having thinky thoughts about the idea that JGY was waiting to see which way the winds of War blew, and if WRH had won, would have just stuck by him as his loyal enforcer.

They are basically...he probably would, and???

I mean this is quite possibly because I've been stanning a morally gray antagonist (who turns out to be a big damn hero although still not a nice person) for twenty+ years now, and I've read a Great Many bad-guys-win fics where said character remains in place as the Bad Guy's right-hand man, but seriously...why is that painted as some kind of moral failing?

Because like, if we posit that all of MY's info was accurate, and he did all he could to help, and the Sunshot Campaign still failed (which they legitimately might have without wwx! Between them MY and WWX won the war for the sects!) why is it painted as morally wrong for him to have stayed alive?

Like, imagine the scene in the palace, but the Sunshot Campaign had failed. You're MY, and the war has been lost. Everyone on the other side is either dead or captured. You could kill WRH - but then you could have killed him months ago, if it hadn't been for the problem that there was still the rest of the Wen sect, and removing the sect leader would not have ended the war because the rest of the Wens would have immediately killed you and then gone even harder for the other sects.

Wen Ruohan isn't Voldemort. He's not a lone prophet with a few disciples who will, once they've lost their leader, fade resentfully but quietly back into normal society. He's the leader of a Great Sect! Canonically the biggest of the Great Sects! If you killed WRH at any point other than the point where MY killed him - the tipping point where the campaign had essentially been won (the Wen armies broken, the Sunshot Campaign knocking at the gates of Nightless City) but could still have failed due to WRH's great personal power, his death might even have caused Sunshot to fail - there have been numerous examples throughout history and fiction of armies losing a leader but coming out victorious because they were so enraged by his death that they fought even harder.

But I'm getting off track.

Because the thing is, if the campaign had failed and the good guys had lost, MY would have been well within his rights to attempt to survive as best he could and pretend he had always been loyal to WRH. Maybe he could have curbed some of his worst excesses. Maybe he could have saved some people. But even if he didn't, even if he just kept his head down and survived as best he could, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with not wanting to die. Especially if your death wouldn't have helped.

Like, maybe if WRH was like Voldemort, in terms of his place in society, you could say 'if MY had killed him it would have been worth it' but he's not. The Voldemort problem and the WRH problem had to be approached from different ends - Voldemort can't be killed, but once you kill him his supporters will fade back into the woodwork as best they can (as they canonically did!) to await another leader who matches their ideals. So you have to kill Voldemort first, and then you can take care of his supporters. But WRH is a very strong cultivator backed by a great sect. He has numbers and power, and a great many loyal supporters (because realistically, if à worthwhile percentage of Wens were against him, he would have kicked it long ago) and you have to destroy both or it won't work.

If Snape had the ability to kill Voldemort, he could have won the war. MY had the ability to kill WRH, but outside of the specific moment he did it, killing WRH would have accomplished nothing except his own death.

And not to put too fine à point on it but from what we see in Canon WRH treats MY better than the great sects ever did. He would probably have been personally better off if he hadn't killed WRH.

did nie mingjue give jin guangyao a 'new life' after his mother's death?

okay i'm not trying to call out one post specifically or anything but this is definitely not the first post on this site to call jin guangyao the cruelest character in MDZS, and that is such a reach, especially when both xue yang and jin guangshan are, you know, right there. but i also want to dig into one of the points raised about jin guangyao and nie mingjue's relationship, and what they owe to each other, because i could not disagree with the principle assertion more.

so, did jin guangyao "[kill] the man who gave him a new life after his mother died"?

I assume we are discussing nie mingjue here and not jin guangshan lmfao.

okay, let's for the sake of argument assume your assertion that jin guangyao owes nie mingjue a life debt is correct. to be clear: I don't think it is. i do not think that meng yao owes nie mingjue a life debt when he comes into his service, nor do I think that he accrues one after receiving his courtesy name and title of lianfang-zun. but let's just pretend anyway.

JGY LIFE DEBTS OWED TO NMJ (STARTING TALLY): 1 - because nie mingjue gave him a job NMJ LIFE DEBTS OWED TO JGY (STARTING TALLY): 0 - how nice for him

I also want to emphasize that nie mingjue's attempt to help creates additional hardship for meng yao that he likely wouldn't have experienced if nie mingjue had stopped to ask him what he wanted before deciding he knew best. recall that he did not offer meng yao a promotion after overhearing his cultivators mocking his low birth: he just gave it to him, without considering how this promotion might (and in fact did) cause the bullying and harassment meng yao received from the nie sect cultivators to escalate. please also remember that meng yao does not ask mingjue for a letter of recommendation to take to jin guangshan to seek his recognition--he does not even want to leave! in fact he is explicitly telling lan xichen in that moment before nie mingjue interrupts their conversation that he feels obligated to remain with nie mingjue! it is nie mingjue who decides to send him off to jin guangshan with a letter of recommendation, and while meng yao expresses his immense gratitude for this gesture in the moment, it is so important to emphasize that he not only did not ask for this, but he was not asked if he wanted it, either. even then, the letter of recommendation that nie mingjue sends along with meng yao when he opts to release him from his service does not open any doors for meng yao at all. in fact, jin guangshan seems to use this as the perfect opportunity to eliminate another inconvenient bastard son during war time, and assigns meng yao--a weak and self-taught cultivator--to the front lines under a captain who not only beats and abuses him, but also forces him to come up with military strategies for the jin sect's successes, which he then takes the credit for when reporting to jin guangshan. if meng yao had not killed this captain, it's likely he would have died on the langye front during the sunshot campaign. meng yao gives himself a new life as jin guangyao and lianfang-zun because he is the one who kills wen ruohan during the battle for nightless city, and he does this entirely on his own (making use of deceit and trickery that nie mingjue finds dishonourable, in fact).

but anyway. after presumably giving meng yao this 'new life' in the form of the impromptu field promotion that meng yao did not ask for, meng yao repays his, um, debt (is that what we owe our employers when we are already providing them our labour?) to nie mingjue in full (??? only in full? he isn't, you know, maybe owed some change?) when he saves nie mingjue's life from wen ruohan at the battle of nightless city. and to save myself a lot of stress and frustration, let's all just collectively agree that, while the life-debt ratio of "giving someone a job" vs "risking your life to save else's" is absolutely not 1:1 in the real world, we're just. assuming it is, for the sake of this argument. the salient point is jin guangyao's ledger is now clear. he's back in the black, as it were.

JGY LIFE DEBTS OWED TO NMJ (UPDATED TALLY): 0 - he saved the life of the guy who gave him a job NMJ LIFE DEBTS OWED TO JGY (UPDATED TALLY): 0 - and the guy who gave jgy the job does not owe him anything in return for having his life saved, since jobs and lives are interchangeable and of equal value apparently

that's it, y'all, they're square.

except nie mingjue then explicitly attempts to murder meng yao/jin guangyao three times before jin guangyao even begins to play the song of spirit turmoil for him. which means we need a new scoreboard for keeping track of the mutual-murder attempts that define the rest of their relationship, beginning immediately post-sunshot campaign. here's where the mutual-murder attempt tally stands:

JGY'S ATTEMPTS TO MURDER NMJ (STARTING TALLY): 0 - he did literally the opposite of attempting to murder nie mingjue NMJ'S ATTEMPTS TO MURDER JGY (STARTING TALLY): 1 - nie mingjue tries to kill meng yao (who is not fighting back!!) with baxia, prior to being stopped by lan xichen (chapter 49)

that's explicit attempt #1! but if we believe that part of lan xichen's intent with all three of them swearing brotherhood to each other was to, in essence, provide jin guangyao and nie mingjue a clean slate upon which to rebuild trust in their relationship, then let's go ahead and reset that scoreboard. even though that is not how reconciliation between human beings actually works, particularly not when mutually-inflicted trauma is at work, but. whatever.

JGY'S ATTEMPTS TO MURDER NMJ (UPDATED TALLY): 0 - by the power vested in zewu-jun as the first jade of lan, apparently NMJ'S ATTEMPTS TO MURDER JGY (UPDATED TALLY): 0 - zewu-jun now pronounces u both even stevens, you may put baxia down. ..put it down, mingjue.

nie mingjue does not put baxia down, figuratively or literally. explicit attempt to murder jin guangyao #2 happens after they have sworn their binding oath of brotherhood to each other, and is the infamous "what else should I expect from the son of a prostitute" confrontation at the top of the jinlintai tower steps. nie mingjue literally kicks jin guangyao down 50 solid stone steps, which could easily have broken his neck or spine (or both). please note that this was an unprovoked act of violence against a much, much weaker cultivator whose only offence[1] against nie mingjue--arguably the strongest cultivator and martial artist of his generation--at this point was… saying words nie mingjue didn't like, and not killing xue yang when nie mingjue told him to. time to update the scoreboard again!

JGY'S ATTEMPTS TO MURDER NMJ (UPDATED TALLY): 0 - no, jin guangyao has not begun playing the song of spirit turmoil for nie mingjue yet! (chapter 104) [2] NMJ'S ATTEMPTS TO MURDER JGY (UPDATED TALLY): 1 - kicks nmj down the jinlintai steps, which, yes, is attempted murder (chapter 49)

which brings us to explicit murder attempt #3, which happens immediately after nie mingjue kicking him down the stairs. while jin guangyao is still recovering and picking himself up off the ground (in other words, not retaliating in any way or provoking further violence) nie mingjue unsheathes baxia to finish the job, and would absolutely have done so if lan xichen had not, yet again, intervened to protect jin guangyao. you know what time it is now.

JGY'S ATTEMPTS TO MURDER NMJ (UPDATED TALLY): 0 - nope, still has not begun playing the song of spirit turmoil between getting punted down the stairs and standing back up again NMJ'S ATTEMPTS TO MURDER JGY (UPDATED TALLY): 2 - yes, this is a second attempt at actual murder, I am not going to argue about this with anyone

all of this happens /gestures @ literally all of that, while jin guangyao is continuously traveling back and forth between jinlintai and qinghe to play the unaltered version of cleansing to help stabilize nie mingjue's qi. we know this because lan xichen explicitly tells us this in chapter 49, and nie mingjue agrees with him. we also know that this unaltered version of cleansing is having a positive impact on nie mingjue's spirit and his relationship with jin guangyao, because wei wuxian remarks on this while experiencing nie mingjue's memories in empathy. to be very clear: before jin guangyao has played the song of spirit turmoil for nie mingjue even one time, nie mingjue has already tried to kill jin guangyao three times. he is actively attempting to murder jin guangyao while jin guangyao is actively working together with lan xichen to repair their relationship and forestall nie mingjue's inevitable death by qi deviation. and we can go around in circles all day about whether jin guangyao ultimately kills nie mingjue solely because he is defending himself against a man who will not stop trying to kill him, or whether he's doing this because daddy said jump, or if it is a bit of both--I fall into the "it is always a bit of both" camp with jin guangyao--but that is actually beside the point.

the point: if we are keeping score about who has attempted to murder whom (and how frequently) by the time nmj ultimately kicks it, the final tally is nie mingjue 3 - jin guangyao 1. if we include his attempt to kill jin guangyao at the point of his qi deviation, the final tally becomes nie mingjue 4 - jin guangyao 1. so, even if i didn't disagree with the principle assertion made here, i would argue that jin guangyao not only squared that debt to nie mingjue years ago by saving him from wen ruohan, nie mingjue in fact now owes a life debt to jin guangyao for all the attempts to kill the guy who literally saved his life.

tl;dr these are the actions of a man who gave his subordinate a lot of trauma and anxiety, but not a new life.

[1] I am shelving any discussion of what meng yao does or doesn't owe nie mingjue within the context of his time spent undercover in wen ruohan's court because I feel there is nuance enough in that situation to justify its own post. meng yao and nie mingjue both deeply, irreparably traumatized each other in that situation and should never have been let within 6 li of each other ever again after the end of the war, much less pressured to swear brotherhood to each other. (grips lan xichen's shoulders, stares deeply into his beautiful eyes: wtf were you thinking, er-ge)

[2] even if I were to agree that he obtained the song of spirit turmoil in advance of the stairs incident and had already begun playing the song for nie mingjue (which I do not), it is clear that mingjue is improving, pre-stairs. this implies that jin guangyao, while he may have prepared a contingency plan, has not been putting any spiritual power into the portion of cleansing that contains the altered bars of the music. we know that he is capable of altering which parts of the song receive spiritual power because both wei wuxian and lan xichen confirm that this is possible in their (emotionally fraught, for poor xichen) conversation inside the cloud recesses library pavilion after the torn page is discovered. this, combined with the two to three month time frame that the altered song requires to trigger mingjue's qi deviation, plus the two month time frame that jin guangyao presents disingenuously to nie mingjue regarding xue yang, are clear textual evidence in support of my position. the music changes after the stairs.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 24 part two

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Arguing

After enjoying a tense  afternoon with Lan Xichen, Wei Wuxian comes home to enjoy a tense evening with Jiang Cheng. He pauses in the doorway as he takes in Jiang Cheng’s mood and decides which metaphorical mask he will put on to interact with his shidi. As someone who grew up with explosive people, I find this routine very familiar. 

Wei Wuxian is always carefully playing a role as he interacts with the people in his life. Clearly he has read the classic sociology text The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and is using it as a how-to guide. We see him do this same calculation over and over, in which he reacts internally to a situation, comes to a decision about what persona to inhabit, and then dons that persona. It’s a typical abuse survival tactic and...it is exhausting. 

This is why I think his leaving to be alone for a while in Episode 50 is a good thing. Being alone isn’t better than being with someone else, usually, but for Wei Wuxian, who is (by Episode 50) assured of love but not sure where he belongs in his own life, being by himself for a while is going to be the best thing for him. He can learn how to just be a person, instead of constantly trying to mold himself to fit everyone around him. 

For the current tense situation, Jiang Cheng is polishing his sword, which, incidentally, is slang (in English, not necessarily in Chinese) for masturbating. Which makes their conversation about how frequently it needs doing kind of a hoot. “One time a month should do,” per Wei Wuxian. 

Jiang Cheng yells at Wei Wuxian--fairly, really--for being drunk all the time and not working on clan tasks. Then he responds to a hug attempt by shoving Wei Wuxian and knocking him down. JC asks WW if he’s too drunk to manage his spiritual power. Now, we know that he doesn’t have any spiritual power to manage, and that’s the main point of this interaction. But it also shows us something else about their dynamic. 

This was just a quick hit, and when it takes WWX out, JC asks why he isn’t responding with spiritual power.  Which means that apparently *every* time Jiang Cheng gives Wei Wuxian a shove or a shoulder check, or strikes him--like he’s been doing constantly since Episode 3--he’s putting spiritual power behind it. That’s...really harsh. 

Jiang Cheng wants Wei Wuxian to fight back, and Wei Wuxian can’t; this is a big part of why their relationship breaks down. Casual blows loaded with spiritual power are part of their vocabulary, and Wei Wuxian can’t speak that language any more, even for basic defense. He’s literally not safe having simple interactions with Jiang Cheng now, because he’s secretly disabled, and Jiang Cheng is casually injuring him whenever he gets too close. 

(more after the cut!)

This time Wei Wuxian has had enough, and raises Chenqing to Jiang Cheng, who immediately backs off. Jiang Cheng has seen that thing in action, not just on the battlefield, but in a small room full of whatever remained of Wen Chao when they were done with him. He takes this as a serious threat, and backs off, disturbed and puzzled and hurt.

Jiang Cheng thinks the change in Wei Wuxian is coming from apathy, not from disability, and so he misunderstands it over and over.  Think of a friend saying “whatever, I’m sick of arguing with you, do what you want.”  Jiang Cheng is very ready to feel rejected, and not at all ready to look at Wei Wuxian’s behavior and try to actually understand it. 

Crying Over You

Wei Wuxian bails and goes to see Jiang Yanli in the ancestral hall, where she is polishing a name plaque. I turned the gamma way up to see whose it is and...I dunno. This character might be 江 (Jiang), I guess?

Jiang Yanli is the only one of the trio who knows how to mourn properly, in that she is taking some time to sit and be sad. Mourning the dead--both ritually and just in the emotional sense--is as important a part of reclaiming Lotus Pier as the training of disciples and having good times on the lake.

She asks him about his fight with Jiang Cheng and he says he’s used to fighting with him. Jiang Yanli asks him if he’s tired of living there, and Wei Wuxian deflects and deflects, saying “it’s my home, where else would I go?” and that if Jiang Fengmian hadn’t adopted him he would still be begging in the streets. He says “no matter what happens, I won’t leave Lotus Pier,” which is not an answer to her question.

It’s also not true. Like so many of his promises, it’s an expression of his wishes, with no space for the surprises real life is made of. He promises her that he won’t be reckless again, and asks her not to be mad at him. She says she can’t be mad at him, and then they share a flashback about Jiang Fengmian finding him on the street. This is a story, not a memory; Wei Wuxian can’t remember but he remembers her telling him about it. Jiang Yanli wasn’t there, in the moment. So this is her telling the story as it was told to her, probably by Jiang Fengmian. 

Flashback Time

In the flashback, picky salad-hating Wei Ying is out on the street, looking for food in a cartload of pretty okay scraps. I mean, yeah, skip the tomatoes, but most of the greens look fine.  

He’s found and fed by Jiang Fengmian, who recognizes him and decides to take him in. 

Within a couple of episodes, we will see Wei Wuxian paying this favor forward, saving someone he finds starving on the street. Just like Jiang Fengmian, he's going to upset and disrupt his family in order to help someone for whom he feels a deep connection.

During this flashback we get a look at Jiang Fengmian’s sword, and it is a beauty. 

What is Love

As the flashback ends, Wei Wuxian is smiling, hearing Jiang Yanli tell this touching story of starvation and orphanhood. She tells him he was born with a smiling face, and that he never minds much about sorrowful things; no matter how bad the situation is, he is always happy. Way to reinforce that metaphorical mask he’s wearing over his deep, deep despair, sis!

They talk a bit about Jiang Cheng’s bad temper.  Then Jiang Yanli says now that her parents are gone, they three are the closest in the world, and he responds by putting his head down on her knee and theatrically saying he’s hungry. But he’s crying for real, and so is she.

Then he decides to ask her why people fall in love, basically, and claims that he does not have anyone in his heart. He says there’s no need to like a person that much, that it’s like “haltering your own neck,” according to Netflix. Let’s have a look at that figurative language for a second, and what’s missing from the Neflix translation. 

What he says is (as near as my qhanzi.com skills can make out) “這不就是自己給自己脖子上套犁拴韁吗” which Google tells me means "Isn't this just putting a plow on my neck with a rein?" The part of the image that’s missing from Netflix subs is the plow, and the hard labor and animal servitude involved in pulling a plow. This isn’t a pro-romance image.

He’s clearly thinking about Lan Wangji when he lies about having no-one in his heart, but right now the yoke that he wants to escape has nothing to do with Lan Wangji. The person he’s harnessed to in a team, the person who he labors with, the person he wants to escape, is Jiang Cheng.  What’s chafing his neck is the promise he made, to stay and serve as one half of a pair, when he can no longer pull his weight. 

Busted

Speaking of Jiang Cheng, he is hanging around outside the shrine, listening to the conversation. Wei Wuxian busts him, pointing out not that eavesdropping is bad, but that it’s bad for grownups. Jiang Cheng points out that he’s the master of Lotus Pier so he’s allowed to go anywhere he wants.

(I love how he looks framed by this giant lotus behind him)

We Wuxian has another of those moments where he assesses the best approach to Jiang Cheng before responding. 

Then he picks a fake fight with him about soup.  Yanli comes out and tells them both to grow up, saying that JC is losing his demeanor as clan leader. He jokingly fixes his already-perfect robe ad they all have a chuckle.

Then Jiang Cheng reminds Wei Wuxian of his promise for the millionth time, and Jiang Yanli goes to make soup for the millionth time. As soon as the boys see that she’s gone, the smiles drop right off of their faces. They’re both performing their typical relationship dynamic for Jiang Yanli.

Being Reasonable

The brothers repair to the main hall, and stand behind the lotus throne looking out of this complicated wall/doorway thingy, while they talk about Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan. 

Jiang Cheng is being mature and sensible here, trying to give Jiang Yanli what she wants and also explaining very, very basic political stuff to Wei Wuxian, who is too caught up in his hate boner for JZX to want to think about the bigger picture. He also thinks that Jin Guangyao is a nicer person, but Jiang Cheng says that nice doesn’t matter.  

Wei Wuxian is getting a full head of steam going about what a jerk JZX is, when Jiang Cheng makes him actually stop and think, by pointing out that it’s not for them to forgive or not forgive Jin Zixuan’s past behavior; it’s up to Yanli.

Wei Wuxian sees the reasoning in this, and starts to say he can’t understand why Yanli chose to like this person, but then he stops himself and goes through a rapid series of thoughtful, uncomfortable expressions. 

Perhaps he’s realizing that he himself has chosen to like an infamously stuck-up, fancy cultivator, albeit one with no soup-related character deficits.

Library Time

The stuck-up cultivator in question is currently in the Cloud Recesses library, where he has snuck into the forbidden books room, against his uncle’s express command, for the purpose of helping Wei Wuxian. The forbidden books room is an entire basement floor of the library; it probably has more books than the not-forbidden part of the library, since the main floor needs space for the restrooms, circulation desk, and copy machines.

(Did OP photoshop the Wangxian-in-the-Library porn picture onto Lan Wangjis’ book? She did.)

A couple of other Lans come along and see the main door unlocked. The lock is a big fish that probably uses magic for locking; it definitely doesn’t use a key. One of them steps in the doorway, glances back and forth without walking through, and does not check the secret door to the forbidden vault. Gosh, how did Su She and/or Jin Guangyao  ever manage to steal secrets from this highly secure location, wow.

Lan Wangji hears the Lan disciple on guard duty say “don’t tell Hanguang Jun about this!’ and has a series of microexpressions that might indicate some kind of feeling about simultaneously being a rule breaker and a rule enforcer.  

Boat Time

We end with an idyllic scene on the lake in Lotus pier, where a new batch of disciples is harvesting lotuses and learning the opposite of boat safety. 

Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian are having a good time, and seem utterly carefree; both of them are good at living in the moment, or faking it. 

Wei Wuxian thinks, in voiceover, that it seems that it’s not so hard to go back to the old days. Uh...ok.

Except he’s hiding a massive secret and these replacement kids are not the same juniors he used to hang out with, and he can’t actually teach them cultivation, since he has no socially-acceptable magic power, and everything is about to go to shit in the next episode. But you gotta take your joy where you can, I guess. 

Note: There are a lot of questionable effects in The Untamed, but there are also beautiful scenes like this one, which looks like a Maxfield Parrish painting. Compare with the BTS below and you can see what a good job the VFX team did in bringing this lake to life. 

[neverdoingmuch]

a superhero au from this ask.

okay so in this au superheroes join different sects as disciples and go through a superhero training program and then if they pass they become official superheroes for the sect

for the most part things stay the same, your good guys go out and defeat evil and save the day but there’s also a bunch of extra stuff bc they’re in a sect

the extra stuff is mostly legal stuff like if you destroy a building in a fight, who pays for it and what happens if a superhero goes rogue, who stops them?

so the sects are good bc they give that security and also make sure things run smoothly, so you don’t end up with three superheroes in the one area

obviously you still have independent superheroes but they usually get picked up by a sect pretty quickly (or join the wens who are just the bad guys i guess but shh they’re hiding it,, badly)

for the most part though, new heroes realise they can’t cut it and quit

notice the most, because there are a few people who don’t, including people like the yiling patriarch 

so, worldbuilding aside, let’s start with lwj

bc we still have sects, lwj and lxc both went through the training program together and even graduated a few years early, meaning they debuted pretty young

they were both way too powerful to actually be needed in the field most of the time so lxc ended up helping his uncle and lwj started teaching at the training program (and even when he is needed, it’s usually enough just to send lxc, so he hasn’t been active in like five years)

life is going pretty okay for lwj but then there’s a fight between some wens and yllz and a building ends up being destroyed - lwj’s apartment building

at first he’s like whatever i’ll just stay at a hotel till it gets fixed but then he gets told that there’s some issue with the building regulations so it’ll be more than a year

lwj goes apartment hunting and ends up finding the perfect apartment. it’s spacious and convenient and looks really nice and the only drawback is his neighbour (spoiler: it’s wwx)

now we have wwx

he used to be a disciple with the jiang sect and was on track to graduate their training program probably even younger than the twin jades but then he dropped out suddenly. no one knows why 

what happened was that wwx had befriended wen ning at an intersect meeting thing where the training heroes could compete against each other 

when wen ning found out the truth about the wens being evil, he begged wen qing to take their family and leave the wens to get to safety. wen qing refused bc who would they go to? who would risk everything they had to keep them safe?

wei wuxian would. 

and he did!! when he found out what the wens had gone through, he immediately quit the jiang sect and spent the next four years helping them go in hiding, making fake identities etc. 

the only people who refused to leave were wen qing and wen ning and a-yuan so wwx was like i’ve done my best now we gotta live and ends up buying an apartment for the four of them and gets a job

at night he goes out as yllz and tries to bring the wens down. it’s slow-going at first and he’s just busting minor crimes and not really gathering any useful information but he keeps going bc a-yuan and the others will never be safe for as long as the wens are able to keep hurting people

he works a full-time job during the day and spends his nights fighting crime and he’s always tired and sore but it’s fine because he needs to do this but then one day his new neighbour moves in next door

the first time he meets him, he’s come back from work and by the time he bakes a welcome cake it’s like 10:40 and he goes over and knocks on his neighbour’s door and the guy eventually answers and holy fuck he’s hot (also grumpy bc lwj does not appreciate being woken up)

lwj slams the door in his face without even taking it from him, so wwx just leaves it on his doorstep and goes back home to nap for a few hours before going on patrol

the next day when he gets home from work there’s a letter in front of his door and when he opens it it just says thanks for the cake it was very delicious if unnecessary

wwx writes on the back: it’s all fine! i’m glad you liked it. if you need any help settling in, i’d be more than happy to help. he adds his phone number and then he leaves the note on lwj’s door and that’s where it all starts

the next morning he wakes up to a text from lwj saying that he appreciates the offer & his name. it’s short and kind of rude but wwx is lying there going lan zhan, lan zhaaaan, his name is lan zhan 

they run into each other in the morning a few times and take the elevator down together and wwx always chatters at him. lwj doesnt really respond but he doesn’t tell him to shut up either so that’s practically permission

and wwx is no idiot. he knows that hot neighbour + texting ability = potential romance so he makes sure to text lwj a lot 

and by a lot, i mean a lot. lwj is sitting in a meeting with his brother and by the time he finishes he has fifty new messages

but that’s okay bc lwj kinda likes the attention he thinks? lwj’s neighbour is funny and cute 

and after a while, lwj starts responding properly. it’s not like he’s sending 50 messages back but he’s engaging wwx in conversation and sometimes they call and once, when wwx was coming back from work, lwj had invited him in for tea

when lwj realises that wwx goes to work early and gets home late he starts inviting wwx over for dinner. wwx doesn’t mention that wen ning is more than able to cook dinner (if he ever mentioned that he was living with him at all) and they start having dinner not-dates and sometimes wwx falls asleep on lwj’s couch

the first few times wwx always felt really guilty bc lwj doesn’t want to put up with that and he’s letting down the wens but wen qing is like no, it’s good, you need to take some time for yourself and lwj is like it’s fine so whatever, wwx can sleep on lwj’s couch now

except it’s not just lwj’s couch bc wwx keeps waking up leaning on lwj and it’s very embarrassing bc he’s starting to find that he has difficulties sleeping without being able to hear lwj’s heartbeat 

so wwx is falling in love. wen ning is supportive and wen qing is probably laughing at him but wwx is so conflicted

on one hand, wwx’s entire life revolves around the wens and trying to stop them or protect them, and here lwj is, a completely normal man, who has no expectations about wwx. he doesn’t need to be a guardian for lwj, he doesn’t need to be the terrifying yiling patriarch, he can just be wwx

on the other hand, lwj is a civilian and wwx doesn’t want to drag lwj down with him and risk him getting hurt or killed

so he decides to stay as friends. he won’t give lwj up but he won’t tell him he loves him (unless something happens to make wwx need to give lwj up, in which case he will)

around this time lwj gets a call from his uncle asking for help with the yllz

he’s never met him before but lwj does not like the yllz 

like yes he’s taking down the wens which probably makes him good but he’s also taking what the wens had stolen for himself

so no one knows whether he’s a villain stealing from the wens or a hero who doesn’t trust the official means

Either way it’s a bad look for lwj & co bc they either look incompetent for not knowing about this guy & not being able to stop him or untrustworthy and maybe even corrupt 

but lqr wants lwj to either bring him in as a disciple or as a criminal. whichever is easier

the first time hanguang-jun shows up to a fight wwx is completely shocked bc he vaguely remembers seeing hanguang-jun fight at the practise matches and he was good, definitely on par with wwx so if hanguang-jun were to fight him he isn’t sure that he’d win. 

wwx quickly finishes off the wens and then turns to lwj, refusing to let his guard down but hanguang-jun just asks what he’s doing

wwx is cagey at first but eventually reveals the truth (or as much as he can tell) and hanguang-jun is like i don’t like your methods but what you’re doing is just, so i’ll help you and so commences the most awkward team up ever

wwx had expected to have to carry most of the weight but hanguang-jun is there defending him and helping him fight the wens and he can’t help but start to trust hanguang-jun.

hanguang-jun blocks a hit meant for wwx and wwx spends like half an hour carefully cleaning the wound on his arm and bandaging it up and at the end he presses a kiss to it and he immediately goes bright red but it’s okay bc hgj’s ear are red too

wwx slips on a roof and hgj ends up catching him and damn he’s strong and the look of concern on his face is almost making wwx think hgj doesn’t hate him

hgj brings in some intel once and wwx automatically goes damn i could kiss you right now and then decides to just become one with the floor

not only that but wwx talks a lot. when he’s patrolling, when he’s fighting, when he’s waiting,, he never shuts up and hanguang-jun listens to him every time and, just as wwx fell for lwj, he starts falling for hanguang-jun

it’s even worse in this case bc hanguang-jun is all righteous and good and here wwx is using the superhero equivalent of demonic cultivation (has he perverted his own powers or did he always have necromancy powers? up to you)

so here wwx is falling in love with hanguang-jun and lwj and he feels terrible about it

there is definitely a case going on in the background but it’s basically just the sunshot campaign if only lwj and wwx were fighting it for the most part

eventually he complains to wq about his feelings and she’s like just try confessing! so the next time he and hanguang-jun team up he tells him that he loves him

 lwj is 100% in love wwx and semi in love with yllz. for the most part, the things he loves about yllz all remind him of wwx so he doesn’t really see it as a crush as much as more yearning for wwx

but lwj is very awkward so he gives this kinda terrible rejection? he’s like im sorry, i don’t return your feelings maybe we should work apart for a while?

from his pov he’s giving yllz room to deal w/ his emotions alone and they’ll team up later but from wwx’s pov hanguang-jun is so disgusted he never wants to work with him again

so they go their separate ways and when wwx gets a tip-off about some weird shit about to go down at nightless city so he sneaks in by himself bc hanguang-jun definitely wouldn’t want to help him and ends up getting captured by wen ruohan

lwj, for his part, is freaking out bc wwx hasn’t responded to his texts in over a week and maybe he’s come on too strong and wwx has figured out his feelings and is letting him down gently? (by disappearing??)

but then wq comes banging on his door and asks to come in. he lets her in and she immediately tells him i know you’re hanguang-jun

lwj is defensive and ready to be blackmailed or something but she just explains that wwx has gone missing and he’d received a tip the day before he disappeared and when lwj sees the message wwx had got he’s just like why is wwx involved with the wens?

because he’s yllz, wen qing tells him and lwj is Buffering

reason 1: yllz wasn’t meant to be someone he liked and lwj had definitely been feeling guilty about the fact that he would need to be brought in bc he is morally dubious on main & he can’t reconcile that with the sweet and kind wwx 

reason 2: holy shit does wwx like me?

bc lwj is a disaster he only ends up asking about the latter and wq stares at him, dead-eyed and exhausted, and tells him wwx is in love with lwj and hanguang-jun

commence lwj’s plan to get wwx back and confess to him and hopefully get married but he’ll be happy if they just kiss and/or hold hands

 he starts off by explaining most of the stuff to his brother who ends up calling jyl (bc they have to be friends, i’ll cry if they’re not) who is like my brother?!! and decides to help. also probably nhs bc friends who share porn definitely save each other from wen ruohan

so they attack the wens. for most of the heroes it’s bc they finally have proof of wen ruohan being evil (helpfully collated in a colour-coordinated binder by wwx) but lwj is just there for wwx

he finds him in the dungeons or something and wwx is hurt kind of badly and lwj collapses beside him and presses down on the main wound, trying to stop the bleeding

and wwx goes hanguang-jun? what are you doing here? and lwj says nothing just pushing down harder bc he’s losing too much blood and wwx is like oh, do you hate me that much that you won’t even speak to me anymore?

lwj can’t bear it for another second and rips his mask off and wwx just gawks at him. lan zhan? you’re hanguang-jun? wwx stammers and lwj just nods and rips some fabric from his cape (would he have a cape?) and tries to bandage the wound

wwx asks him why he’s here, why he bothered to come for wwx when he doesn’t care for him but he passes out before lwj can actually say anything

he wakes up in hospital and lwj is sleeping in the chair beside him and the second wwx twitches he jolts up and stares at wwx with such relief that wwx wants to blush

i love you, lwj says, not waiting for another second. the reason i didnt accept your confession was because i loved you. i didnt know you were yllz 

and wwx is like and i didnt know you were hanguang-jun!! and lwj is like yeah but wen qing did /:

and wwx is like yeah but she’s smart & they kinda fall quiet for a few moments before wwx is like did you know i think hanguang-jun is very handsome and lwj is like yes? and wwx is like good! lwj is also handsome!

and lwj is like yllz and wwx are attractive to me and they finally kiss and it’s not a complete disaster thankfully

after that lwj goes back to his semi-retirement bc he doesn’t need to catch yllz anymore and sometimes wwx comes in to help teach a class with him and they’ll go home to lwj’s apartment after and watch movies together and not once do they comment on the miscommunication between love interests

[pandawritespoorly]

With Time: Chapter 22 - Christmas

Author’s Note: Kwamis honestly kind of screw with Christianity. Consider this more of a winter get-together-with-friends-and-family sort of holiday. I would say gift giving, but I didn't really write those scenes. Other than that, I'm pretty pleased with this chapter and I hope you'll all enjoy it! Just friends hanging out without angst or crying! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or just have an extraordinary day regardless of what/if you celebrate! I love you all! ❤️

Chapter Summary: Marinette, Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Felix and Allan all celebrate Christmas together.

First | Previous | Next

Marinette comes to slowly, blinking slowly at her surroundings. She has the distinct feeling that today is important. What is today?

December...20 something?

December 25th….

25…

Oh!

It’s Christmas! 

She shoots up, regretting it when spots fill her vision. Ladybug-instincts don’t care if it’s Christmas - she’s still tired. Despite this, she manages to crawl out of bed, not bothering to change out of the very comfy pajamas she put on the night before.

She enters the kitchen where her Papa is making breakfast. He smiles when he sees her, giving her a quick hug before returning to the food. As her Maman enters the room he finishes, serving the family.

They play some games together afterward, before moving onto the gifts. By the time they’ve finished, Marinette is languidly stretched across her Papa, almost entirely spent. He carries her up to her room carefully, placing her in bed.

When she hears him leave, she almost allows herself to drift off to sleep before she remembers her other plans. Grabbing a bag, she takes a moment to gather herself, before she transforms, taking Tikki by surprise.

Ladybug exits through her trapdoor, wobbling a little as she adjusts to the fierce winds and snow. She takes off in one direction, only realizing after a few minutes that she’s going in the entirely wrong direction.

She’s so tired, she really wants to sleep.

But this is important.

She turns around, tempted to move faster, but well aware that’ll only trip her up. She arrives at her destination eventually. At least she got here, she’ll consider it a victory.

--- 

Adrien’s day has been very slow. Father is off who-knows-where for some out-of-country fashion event. There was no present from him.

Plagg had used his computer to order some merch for him of an anime he likes. Adrien had gotten Plagg a bunch of fine cheeses even worse better than camembert. It had been a very nice Christmas, and that’s about all he’d expected from the day.

Then Ladybug was knocking at his window.

He rushes to let her in, noticing the way she’s shaking slightly from the chill.

“Ladybug! It’s snowing - basically blizzarding - what were you doing out?!” She just leans into him, still transformed and barely awake. She’s coated in snow, which can’t be helping.

“Mer’y… chri’maaa…” she mumbles into his shoulder.

Plagg cackles from the desk, “Kid, your Bug came all this way just to wish you a happy holiday!”

“Mari you could have texted me.” he holds her a little further away, noting the way that she’s completely limp in his arms, “Mari?”

“Pfff, now she’s hibernating!” The Kwami floats to sit on his head.

“This isn’t funny Plagg!” he closes the window and leads her towards the couch.

“It is, because she isn’t in any danger now. She’s with her Cat, you’ll take care of her.” “But why didn’t she stay home? Going out as Ladybug - especially as Ladybug - she could have collapsed on the way over.” “She’s a Bug, Kitten. Stubbornness runs in her blood, especially when she decides it’s important for you.”

He only hums in response, opening his closet to get out blankets - he doesn’t use them much anymore. He grabs all of them. He might change the thermostat a little too.

Ladybugs break out of hibernation at 13° (55℉) - that’s a fact he’s memorized.

“She’s still transformed, give me a minute.” Plagg floats toward her head, touching the earrings and closing his eyes. As Adrien approaches, he hears the beeping and Ladybug is soon replaced with a sleeping Marinette and Tikki.

“As Ladybug she’s two sleeping bugs in one.” The God explains, “It’ll be better with them separated.”

Adrien only nods, tossing a heated blanket over their Bugs and turning it on before piling on the rest. He turns on a movie as he leans against the blanket pile. The background noise is nice. Plagg settles back into his hair.

Towards the end of the movie, he feels stirring from the blankets, turning to see her squinting at the room,”Hi Marinette. Welcome back to the real world.”

“???” It’s a difficult thing to properly voice three question marks in a row, but she’s got it down.

“Someone decided to run through Paris during a snowstorm, and ended up hibernating. I’m just glad you made it here.”

“Oh.” she thinks for a moment, “M’rry Christm’s?”

“Merry Christmas.”

She blinks tiredly, and he returns the slow blink, smiling at her. Despite the blankets, she is still dozy - there’s no escape from the winter outside. She’ll wake up a little more after more time indoors though, so Adrien turns on another movie for them to watch. His phone dings.

 Sabine: Is Marinette with you? We didn’t see her leave. Adrien: Yes, she’s with me. 

Sabine: Oh, that’s good. She can be so quiet! Enjoy your holiday!

Adrien: You too!

 Yeah, she can be ‘quiet’. It certainly isn’t that she left through the balcony. He’d assumed she’d left the normal way and then transformed. Evidently he overestimated how much of her human common-sense is still with her. 

“Mari, how did you get here?”

“Yo-yo.”

“I meant from which way did you leave the house and then come here?”

“I said ‘spots on’ and then it was col’ and then I wen’ the wrong way and then I went the right way and then it was still cold and snowin’ and then I got to your house and you let me in and then I was here.” Her story-telling skills are truly at their peak mid-winter. She hasn’t even noticed that she transformed when she spoke the words.

“Alright. Thank you. Can you detransform?” He smirks at her.

“I’m not? Transformed?” Ladybug looks at him as though he’s completely lost it.

“Okay, what do you say to detransform?”

“Spots off. Don’ you know?” As she says it, there’s a pink flash and Marinette returns. Tikki shoots out of the earrings bewilderedly and goes to rest beside Plagg. Adrien can hear the Kwami’s quiet purring.

“Sorry, I just wanted to double check. How are you feeling?”

“Blanke's.”

“How tired are you? Would you say you’re more ladybug or girl right now?” seeing as she went into hibernation, he should make sure she’s recovering properly.

“Tired.” She doesn’t seem to register the second question. 

Before Adrien can think of another way to phrase it, Plagg interrupts, “Here, give me your phone kid, I’ve got a test.”

Adrien hands Plagg the phone. The Kwami taps at the screen for a little bit then turns it to face Marinette, “Alright Pigtails, what do you think of this?”

Marinette draws back initially, then returns hesitantly to her original position, glaring suspiciously at the phone the entire time.

“She’s doing fine.” Plagg shrugs and returns the phone. Adrien looks at the screen. There’s a picture of a crow, and the page it’s from is titled, ‘Ladybugs’ Most Common Predators’.

Ah. That makes sense.

By the end of their movie, Marinette seems to have recovered from her little stint outside.

“Presents?” she cocks her head at him, gesturing towards the bag she’d brought with her, “I brought yours.”

“Is that what that is?”

She nods, “It’s everyone’s presents.”

“You brought them all, huh?” 

“Yep! I didn’t want to have to leave.”

“What?” He gets the feeling he’s missing something.

“Did you think we were going to let you spend Christmas all alone in this dumb house? I already got permission from Nathalie. Allan, Allegra, Felix, and Claude are coming over. Plagg and I have been plotting.”

“She gave me lots of cheese bread.”

He hugs her tightly, “Thank you Mari, you’re the best person I know.”

“Mon minou, you’re my favorite person, it’s the least I can do.” After a moment they separate and she gestures to the bag, “We should probably do the Kwami’s presents and Chat’s present before they all get here.”

“Let's do the Kwamis first-”

“Yes, lets!” Plagg interrupts him

Marinette shrugs, bringing the entire bag over and handing two small boxes to Tikki and Plagg. Tikki already knows what it is - having been required for sizing. They open the small boxes to find little cloaks to wear, each themed around their respective animals. Tikki chirps excitedly at finally getting to wear hers and flies to her chosen, hugging her cheek and resting on her shoulder.

Plagg has put his on and goes to sit next to her, “Thanks, Bug.”

Marinette grabs a rectangular wrapped package, “I didn’t make Chat anything in case I saw him wearing it in real life. Even if it’s not a problem anymore…” She shrugs and shoves it at Adrien.

He unwraps it, seeing a large book titled, ‘1001 Puns’, “Oh, I’m memorizing this!”

“I regretted it as soon as I bought it.”

Adrien has already opened it up to a random page, “What do you call a classy fish?” “No.”

“So-fish-ticated!” He looks so pleased that she can’t help but smile at him, “Ooh! Okay my turn!” He stands quickly and rushes over to his desk, grabbing a couple of boxes, ” I only got Tikki some cookies because I don’t really know her that well-”

“I like cookies!” She interrupts, “Thank you, Adrien!”

“I got Ladybug a necklace, with a ladybug on it! It’s almost as cute as you!” Her face flames at that, accepting it and trying to put it on, before handing it back to him for help.

With it clasped around her neck she takes a moment to look at it. She turns to him, “Please tell me you didn’t spend a ridiculous amount of money on this.”

“While no amount would be ridiculous for you, I didn’t.” 

She looks at him suspiciously, then sighs, “I’ll allow it.”

“It’s too late anyways! Returning a gift is rude, m’lady!”

“Well, kitty, we’d better avoid the superhero nicknames when everyone else is here.” She pushes him back by his nose.

He pouts, then turns to her questioningly,”When are they going to be here? We need to get rid of the extra wrapping paper and stuff.” They should probably hide Tikki’s cookies too - they don’t want them to get eaten.

“I said I’d text them. I can do that now?” He nods and she sends out the message.

While they wait they clean up quickly, and put the cookies in a closet that the Kwamis decide to hide in.

Eventually the pair hear the doorbell buzzer. Adrien goes to answer it, leaving Mari in the warmer room.

“Adrien, has your house always had this little robot camera guy?” Claude is the first to speak when he gets to the doorbell.

“Yeah… Father can be a little …extreme?” He allows them in, “You can come in now.”

He waits a moment before he opens the main door, well aware that the walk will take a moment.

As he allows them in he notices that the snow has died down. That’s good. They all have gifts with them and are dressed in winter gear that’s dusted with snow.

“You guys can leave your winter stuff here - Mari wouldn’t appreciate snow getting into my room, and the gifts can come up to my room.”

“How’s she holding up? It was blizzardin’ earlier.” Allan inquires.

“My room’s pretty warm, so she’s pretty awake. She can only cheat the system for so long though, so she might get sleepy in a couple hours or so, and then be more awake. As long as she stays in the warmth it’ll just kind of cycle like that.”

He pushes the door to his room open, following them in. As soon as they’re in the main part of the room - before they even set the gifts down - the group gets tackled into a hug by a noticeably-not-sleepy Marinette. “I would have met you out in the entryway, but it’s almost as cold as Gabriel Agreste’s heart, so I just waited for you here.”

“Marinette, you can’t just insult my Father like that. He could be your boss one day.”

“Not if my company outdoes his and I steal his best model.”

“I’m with Mari! I like that plan!” Claude adds.

“Sorry dude, you’re the only one on your side.” Allan puts an arm around Adrien’s shoulder.

“I’m not saying she’s wrong necessarily…”

“She’s already stolen the model!” Allegra interjects.

“Yay!” Marinette throws her arms in the air victoriously, then gently pushes Adrien forward, “Be free my darling! Pursue your dreams!”

“I’m liking this plan more and more!” Claude joins Marinette.

“Anyway. Welcome to my room.”

“The room his Dad designed for him by googling ‘teenage boy interests’.” Marinette amends.

“You’re rather bitter today aren’t you?” Allan remarks.

“I always am - in regards to Gabriel Agreste!” Especially when she’d realized that Adrien’s awful father was also Chat’s awful father.

He’s just double-awful now.

“That’s a mood I can get behind.” Allegra adds.

“I’m going to stop this here before she gets the slideshow out.” Adrien gently shoves Marinette toward the couch, “You sit under the blankets for a little bit and calm down.” She complies sulkily, muttering about how she’d storm the office one day.

“What slideshow are you referring to?” Felix questions.

“Just one about my father. It’s kind of long. Especially with her notes.”

“Are you telling me she made an entire presentation on your father?” Allegra raises an eyebrow. “On how bad he is!” The baker interjects.

“Again, moving on, because we can do things that are more fun than stating facts.” Adrien raises his hands peaceably, “Any game ideas?”

“I brought some from home!” Claude raises one of their bags, “There’s also the internet for ideas!”

“I want to play board games! I need to get caught up on the years I’ve missed out on!”

“Oh, you poor boy. No board games for so long…” Allegra shakes her head.

“I guess you could say I was board?”

“No.” Felix, Allegra, and Marinette speak in unison.

“Alright, Adrien we’re playing Dixit now.” Claude takes one of the larger boxes out, setting it up, “Which bunny do you guys want to be?”

“Pink!” Marinette doesn’t hesitate in the slightest. She moves to be where Claude is setting up the game on the floor, taking a blanket with her.

“Wait, we’re bunnies?” Adrien still has no idea how the game works.

“It’s what represents your spot on the board. Basically like the hat, car, and stuff in Monopoly.” Allegra explains.

“I’ll be green.” Allan sits by the board, next to Marinette.

“I shall claim blue!” Claude claims his bunny and numbers.

“Yellow.” Allegra says, taking the one she chose.

“I will take either bunny. Adrien, do you have a preference?” Felix turns to the model as he sits as well.

After a moment’s consideration, Adrien takes the red one, “The Ladybunny!”

“Here, you’ll need these.” Allan hands him a red stack of six number chips as Felix takes the white bunny and corresponding numbers.

Claude hands everyone six cards, “Adrien, these are your cards. You can look at them, but no one else can. When it’s your turn, you put down a card face down and describe it in one word or so. Everyone else will put one of their own cards that fits how you described yours and when everyone has them down, we flip them over and everyone else has to try and figure out which is the original. Everyone puts down the chip that makes the number slot their guess is in and when everyone’s done, we assign points based on this.” they gesture at the top part of the board where it’s described pretty simply.

“I know it sounds complicated, but it’ll get easier when we get started.” Allegra reassures him. He nods, considering the directions.

“Alright… maybe I can go last.” He looks around, “Who’s starting?”

“Mari chose her color first, so she can go.”

“Sure!”

They get started, playing several rounds, moving a little faster as Adrien catches on. Towards the end it is an intense bunny race between Allan and Felix, but the white bunny gets there first.

“Victory!” Felix smiles, “Good game everyone.”

They pack up the game and talk for a moment before something occurs to Adrien.

“Hey, do guys want something to eat or drink? Like hot choco-” “Grapes?!” Marinette speaks over him excitedly.

“-late. Yes, Marinette, you can have grapes.” She cheers quietly as he continues, “So anything I should grab? I think the cook made a bunch of stuff in preparation for today before Father left so we’ve got a bunch of stuff.”

“Hot chocolate is good. Is everyone good with that?” Claude looks around as the group nods.

“Any finger food, or jus’ stuff that isn’t that messy would be fine too.” Allan suggests.

“Alright, I’ll be back.” Adrien exits, heading to grab the food.

“Surprised to hear you so excited about food, ‘Nette.” Allan says to the girl.

She shrugs, “I like grapes. Fruit, really. Or bugs.”

“Why not bring that as your lunch?” Felix suggests.

“I’m usually too tired to do that. Maman does it, but I think the doctor told her to try and give me things that are actually nutritious - like a balanced meal.”

“Huh.” Allegra considers this.

Adrien walks in, with various snacks, hot chocolate, and a bowl of grapes for Marinette. He puts them down near the group, and Marinette grabs her choice immediately, and everyone takes a drink.

“Should we get to the presents now? Before Marinette falls asleep?” Allegra suggests.

“Probably, I don’t think I’ve got long.” As she says this, Marinette yawns, which only supports her point.

By the time they’ve finished, Marinette is - as predicted - barely awake. She’s slumped against Adrien, her eyelids fluttering as she tries to remain awake.

“So what should we do now?” Adrien asks the group.

“Have any movies? That would give Mari a chance to rest.” Allan proposes.

“Sure, we can move to the couch then.” They all stand, Adrien coaxing Marinette to stand with him, she mumbles softly about nothing in particular.

“Going by the blankets, this is Marinette’s spot?” Allegra gestures at the pile of blankets upon blankets in one corner of the couch. At this, Marinette - who had been relying on Adrien to stand - flops onto the pile, claiming a few as her own before putting the rest aside for the others to use.

“Aw, thanks ‘Nette.”

Eventually they’ve all gotten comfortable and decided on a movie. Marinette is back to resting against her partner, blinking lazily at the screen that she isn’t paying any real attention to. She eventually drifts off as she gives in to her tendency. It only takes a few moments for her to be completely dead to the world, sleeping heavily and comfortably in the presence of her friends.

“How is it going at your school?” Felix asks the model.

“Ugh, I keep thinking they can’t get any stupider, and then they do. Lila spun the whole museum incident around. Apparently, Mari attacked her.” Adrien is still mad about what happened that day. Especially now that he knew Marinette had had to come back and fight her akumatized tormenter instead of resting at home like she deserved.

“And they believed her?!” Allegra looks ready to start a mob.

“They believe anything. People were still angry about Marinette before break.”

“Any ideas on when we’ll expose her?” Claude asks, clearly eager to unmask the girl.

“If we can get the date right we might be able to get a few choice celebrities to show up, so I’m not sure. I might be able to turn the media against her - if I’m careful I can do it without Father getting upset, or at least without him being able to punish me without media backlash.” “How you gonna’ pull that off?” Allan raises an eyebrow.

“Well the ‘no punishment’ bit could be harder, but Paris won’t exactly be pleased to find out someone’s been sexually harassing their ‘Sunshine Boy’.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you realize that.” Allegra sighs, “I was worried you thought she was allowed to do that.”

“I wasn’t entirely sure last year, but Mari made sure that changed.”

“Good job ‘Nettie.” Allan says, “Protect the Sunshine Boy.”

Marinette obviously doesn’t respond, but curls closer against Adrien as if aware he’s the current topic of conversation.

“See, she’s guarding him even in her sleep!” Claude says.

“Thanks, Mari. I feel safer already.” Adrien pats Marinette’s head, and she hums at them.

“I think she’s been doing better.” Allegra smiles, “I’m glad she told us about what happened, keeping that secret must have been tiring.”

“I’m glad she finally told you. You guys have been good for her.”

“She deserves it. She’s so sweet.”

“Mari~ Do you hear that? We love you!” Claude speaks to their napping friend.

Marinette doesn’t seem to hear, but when they brush her hair out her face, she leans into their hand, unconsciously aware of any heat as always.

“Hey, we never asked. Um, she said she ‘fell’ and that’s where the bruises came from, but…?” Allan trails off.

“But you don’t believe it?” They all nod, “Neither do I, but I wasn’t there. Stupid all day photoshoot - I didn’t find out until I got to my house, and I didn’t see her until the next day. Chloe and Sabrina only caught the tail end of everything and they missed what exactly happened.”

“So what do you think happened?” Allegra prompts.

“Well Chloe and Sabrina think Alya pushed her, but I’m not …entirely sure of that. I think it was an accident, but it could have been avoided if Alya had just let her go. Regardless of what happened, Mari’s wrong - she’s not at fault.”

“No, she is not.” Felix agrees.

They all look at her sympathetically, before eventually turning back to the movie. They’re halfway through another movie before Marinette begins to stir, blinking at the people around her in sleepy confusion.

“Hey, welcome back, Mari.” Adrien is the first to notice.

“Hi…?” She still isn’t fully awake, and looks about ready to return to her rest for a little longer.

“How awake are you, ‘Nette?” Allan asks her.

“No?” 

“Alright. Good to know.”

She closes her eyes for a little longer, eventually opening her eyes and sitting up slightly, “How long was I asleep?”

Felix glances at his watch, “About 2 hours or so. A little more. We have completed one movie and have watched a considerable amount of this one.”

“Oh, okay.”

Once the movie finishes, Claude speaks, “So what should we do now? Another movie, another game, or something else?”

“I’m up for learning more games!” Adrien says.

“I still can’t believe you deprived of fun for your entire life,” they tell him.

“Time to introduce Adrien to more great games!” Allegra stands with Claude and they try to decide which game to play next. The others move to sit on the floor again, Marinette dragging a blanket with her. 

“Wait!” Claude says when they’ve all sat down, throwing his hands in the air, “I almost forgot!”

“Forgot what?” Allegra asks. The others are similarly confused, though Marinette only blinks groggily.

“Adrien, team up with me here,” Claude ignores the question.

“On what?” Adrien wonders if he’s supposed to know what’s going on.

“I have been researching puns. That new knowledge combined with your efforts, I hope to complete my goal of making Marinette laugh at a pun!” Claude is clearly in a theatrical mood, gesturing wildly as he speaks.

Adrien’s face lights up, “Yes!”

Marinette only groans, “I should have expected this.”

“I will allow the puns - just this once - because it’s for a good cause.” Allegra acquieses, and Felix reluctantly nods in agreement.

Marinette glares at them.

Allan’s face splits in a mischievous grin, “Aw, come on ‘Nette, they only want to wish you a Mari Christmas.”

Adrien and Claude cheer excitedly, Marinette tries her best to look completely and utterly betrayed.

“Let’s start with some fun facts! Did you know that snowmen call their offspring chill-dren?” Claude turns to Adrien as though they are having a legitimate conversation.

“I did not. Though I have to ask, are you aware of how snowmen get to work?”

“No, how?”

“By icicle.”

“Ah! Of course, that makes perfect sense. Did you gingerbread men make their beds with cookie sheets?”

 Adrien grins, “Do you know what a sheep’s favorite Christmas song is? Fleece Navidad.”

Felix turns to Claude, “Do not do what I presume you are thinking of.”

Claude doesn’t respond, “In this group, our favorite song is Felix Navidad!”

Felix glares, but the rest don’t seem particularly apologetic. Marinette grins slightly, Claude and Adrien high-five when they notice - she scowls.

“Speaking of sheep,” Adrien continues, “Be sure to wish any you meet a season’s bleatings.”

“Do you know why Dasher and Dancer like coffee? They’re Santa’s star bucks!”

“On the subject of reindeer, I’d just like to warn everyone that rude-olph has absolutely no manners!”

“He always steals Santa’s favorite snack - crisp pringles.” Claude shakes his head, clucking his tongue.

“Yeah, Rudolph has an F on his report card. He went down in history and all that.”

“There’s an elf that won the lottery, he’s very welfy now.”

“Do you think he could spare some change for Saint Nickel-less?”

“He actually just bought himself a new car, it’s a toyYoda.” Claude shakes his head regretfully. Out of the corner of their eyes, the two boys can see Marinette trying to smother a smile.

“Mrs. Claus’ detergent of choice is Yule-Tide, in case you were wondering. Great for soot stains.”

“Everyone gets so santa-mental this time of year.”

“If you see an angel, be sure to say ‘Halo!’”

“If a Christmas plant wants to be a star, they go to Holly-wood.”

“The North and South Pole aren’t as similar as some might think. There’s really a world of difference between them.”

No one misses Marinette’s snort at that.

“Scrooge won the football game - the ghost of Christmas passed.”

“The couple had their wedding on Christmas Eve so that they could have a married Christmas.”

“Oh I saw a new artist on Spotify, an elf! He’s a wrapper!”

“A kid who doesn’t believe in Santa is a rebel without a Clause.”

“Did you know the alphabet is different around Christmas time? There’s Noel.” Claude informs the group.

It’s the last straw, Marinette’s face breaks into a brilliant smile as she begins laughing quietly. Soon enough she, Adrien, Allan, and Claude are all laughing hysterically. Every time they begin to stop, a glance at one of the others sets them off again. An endless, vicious cycle.

Allegra and Felix watch their antics, amused. They’re both smiling, but manage to restrain themselves from laughing at a pun. One of Claude’s puns no less.

“Allegra, I guess it is up to us to decide upon a game.” Felix says to his only sane companion.

It’s a good day.

---

Author’s Note: Do they have a sleepover? You decide!

There you are! I hope that was satisfactory! I apologize I didn't write them opening presents, but I kept putting it off, and I didn't know what to get them, so I put it off more, until it was suddenly today. Sorry if that was disappointing, but I hope the rest of the chapter makes up for it!

As for Mari's necklace, (one of the only presents I actually wrote), you can find a picture here. The Kwami cloaks are something I've seen fanart of, and something I thought was a cute idea so I'm sure you can find drawings somewhere. The pun book is pretty self-explanatory.

When the Quantics arrived this became Gabriel salt. At first I was going to apologize for that, then Chat Blanc happened and I realized that the fandom now lives on Gabriel salt. There will be plenty of salt in this fic for many characters, and he is certainly one of them.

Once again, I just don't settle for games most people are familiar with. Sorry about that, but Claude has all of my favorite board games and I can't just not have my babies play. Dixit, in case you were wondering, is a fantastic game I would definitely recommend (yes you do play as bunnies). As for playing on the floor instead of a table, I'm sure I can't be the only one who plays board games on the floor? I honestly think I prefer it.

Next chapter is Saturday as usual! In case you want a bit of a hint (teaser? preview?) content wise (as a gift!), I guess I can say that there will be some cuddles and fluff, and someone has to stop at Master Fu's. I wonder why? Maybe I should come up with a chapter summary early and add it here.

Anyways, I hope you all have a spectacular day! Whether you celebrate Christmas or anything else (or nothing), enjoy yourself, your friends, your family, and smile! (Stay safe, especially if you've got icy roads like me, or rather, like I'm supposed to). Love you all! ❤️

For those of you over here on tumblr, you may or may not have noticed I added a page for With Time to my blog. I hope that makes navigation easier for reading/rereading! If it’s not working please let me know, because I will a) not be surprised b) do my best to fix it.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in my ask box, in replies or through reblogs. I love seeing what you think!

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[taotrooper]

Reasons to live and die for

AO3 link Title: Reasons to live and die for Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi Characters: Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian Genre/tags: Gen, friendship, introspection, character study of sorts, banter Summary:  Post-canon and novel spoilers up to Exiled’s translation. After that long honeymoon and returning to the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian decides to visit Wen Ning to see how he's faring, and what he wants from the future. It turns out that Wen Ning's conclusions about life and death and love weren't so different to his own. Notes: Written for my sweet boy’s birthday. For @modaozushi‘s prompt: choices. I feel WWX and WN’s relationship is quite underrated even in canon, so I wanted to fix it a bit into something that shows how much both of them have grown during the book and how they could still overcome the previous master-servant awkwardness and their individual sadness as well.

"Even if I'm not a natural part of it," Wen Ning began, "life is beautiful. Don't you agree?"

"Yeah."

"So I wish to enjoy the time I have left as much as I can. I cannot change what I've done, I cannot atone for all my sins, and neither can you, but I think it's alright... to feel selfish and want to exist and be loved. To see the sunrise or hear the crickets. To feel the rush of adventure. To look forward to smiles and laughter and hugs. It's alright. Even if my heart doesn't beat, it still feels those blessings."

Wei Wuxian blinked.

"If I may be so bold, doesn't young master feel the same?"

It wasn't hard to find the modest wooden cabin at the foot of the mountain, barely hidden in the shade of the forest. Following Sizhui's directions, Wei Wuxian managed to navigate across a lagoon of trees, green canopies allowing shining rays of light to shimmer above his dark hair. Crickets and birds sang around him, and they was the only sounds his boots interrupted.

As he reached the place, a strong feeling of nostalgia filled him. That shabby little hut looked exactly like the ones back in the Burial Mound. Not like it was a surprise, as a good part of them were built by Wen Ning himself. He had followed the suggestions of the rest of his family, of which none of them knew a thing about architecture. Just a rooftop and walls to cover against the weather and possible corpse attacks. Those were the luxuries they could afford.

The fact his friend had even built a place was a pleasant surprise, in fact. Sizhui had told him he hid in a damp cave at first, not unlike Wei Wuxian back in the day. Maybe he was bored and wanted to make something. Maybe the cave was inhabited by bears or some other beast. Regardless, this was a good thing.

Before he knocked on the misshaped plank that could be called a door, it swung open and his eyes found an ashen face receiving him. By instinct, he jumped two steps back.

"Young master Wei!" While his expression hadn't changed, his voice expressed joy.

"Hey! It's been a while, Wen Ning," he smiled.

"Yes. A-Ah... Please come in..."

The man moved to let the other pass inside. The interior actually had more things than Wei Wuxian expected. A large bed and some cushions and mats to sit. A solid table, and on it there was a lamp and candles, despite the fact Wen Ning could see in the dark. A big wooden chest that stood against the wall.

"Please sit," Wen Ning said, his fingers straightening his shirt. "Would you like some tea? I have leaves for black tea, your favorite type."

That's when Wei Wuxian saw the makeshift kitchen in the farthest corner. Inside the half-open cupboard, there was an old teapot and several cheap cups and dishes. There was a large jar of water, half full.

"Sure," he replied. "You're treating your visits well, huh?"

"Um, I try." Shyly, he moved and got the teapot out.

The reason for that house and all those basic commodities, of course, had become obvious. They were not for Wen Ning's sake, but for the boys'. A place to hang out with the junior disciples when they weren't night hunting. A bed when any of them was wounded or had to stay for the night. Just in case they were needed.

"I would've liked some wine better, but I doubt you can afford it," Wei Wuxian joked while his friend filled the container with clear spring water. "Let me help, I have a fire talisman."

Both of them stared at the fire while the teapot simmered. Wen Ning shook his head.

"Even if I had money, I wouldn't buy wine," he carefully replied. "The boys are too young for that, and young master Wei drinks too much."

Wei Wuxian glared at him. "Okay, one: no, they're not. I had alcohol for the first time when I was fourteen, almost fifteen." It was Wen Ning's turn to frown at him. "Two: I've seen some of them drinking in secret! Don't let them fool you. You'll be so popular if you sneak booze for them. Three: I do not! I'm fine!!"

"For now. It slowly destroys your liver," Wen Ning retorted. "Studies prove it."

"And spicy food will destroy my digestive system. I know." He had heard the same speech from Wen Qing's mouth for months, and it was just as annoying.

"You just got a body and you have to take a better care of it," Wen Ning said, now with a sad tone.

"I've done worse things to it, what's one more thing?" A shameless grin was on his lips. He doubted Mo Xuanyu would mind about a slowly poisoned liver more than the stab on his stomach or the frequent wounds or the intense love making. "In any case, I'll probably drink less for the time being. Have you heard?"

"I've heard a lot of stories about young masters Wei and Lan's adventures, but I can't say I know what you mean." Wen Ning took the then hot teapot and one cup to the table. Wei Wuxian noticed he wasn't holding it by the handle. They sat down on two mats and he watched the fierce corpse put the leaves in the cup and serve. They let it soak.

"What a coincidence! We've also heard about you and the kids plenty! Three night hunts, huh?"

If Wen Ning could blush, he was sure he would be after that comment.

"I... see. Regardless, what brings you to Gusu? Is there anything you wanted to hunt? I could give you a hand if you need it so... Ah, but maybe I'd get in the way of you two..."

Wei Wuxian chuckled.

"Don't fret so much! Nah, that's what I was going to tell you. I'm not here for a night hunt. We're staying in the Cloud Recesses for the time being."

"Wait, really?" Wen Ning's jaw dropped. "But Senior Teacher Lan..."

"He missed Lan Zhan so much that he reluctantly allowed me in. I don't think he'll remove that stupid new rule about talking to me soon, but no one's going to obey that one anyway."

"When did you come back?"

"Three days ago. Lan Zhan is busy helping out with clan stuff, so I'm incredibly bored and I asked Sizhui about your location. I figured you'll be bored as well."

"It's relaxing by myself, but I'm honored you decided to visit me." Wei Wuxian mentally called bullshit. As much of an introvert Wen Ning was, he knew he was happier surrounded with his closest people. The same could be said about Lan Wangji. Even Jiang Cheng back then and Jin Ling nowadays, in his opinion. Wei Ying always ended up winning the affections of people with low social activity somehow.

"I would've come sooner but we were dragged into a family banquet just as soon as we got here."

"Ooh, that sounds so nice!" Wen Ning forced a kind smile that wasn't fake.

"It wasn't," Wei Wuxian shook his head. "It tasted as bland to me as it would probably taste to your dead tongue. I remember your sect's over-the-top banquets from that archery competition, and let me tell you: you wouldn't have called that dinner a Banquet at all either!"

"...Oh."

"It's alright, I just had delicious food delivered later, in private." Wei Wuxian sipped his tea. Not bad, not bad. Could use some snacks, but he wasn't going to push it on Wen Ning's limited hospitality.

He glanced at his former servant again. His dark clothes were brand new, no longer the rags he had been wearing the last time they saw each other, three months before. The hole in his chest was gone, too. The boys had a hand on it, surely. He could see some holes sewn, as if Wen Ning had teared it apart during their fights and had it fixed. One of the boys' hand too, perhaps: fingers of a corpse would have a hard time holding needles.

"Wen Ning." The sound of the long teacup clanging on the table echoed through the shack.

"Young master Wei?"

"What are you doing?" Wei Wuxian's question was said with a serious stare, no smile on his lips.

"Young master Wei..." he looked down, avoiding his eyes.

"It's not my place, but I worry you're revolving your existence over one person once again. Don't replace me with Sizhui, Wen Ning."

"I'm not!!" Wen Ning shouted. His hands curled into fists and hit the table, thankfully just a touch that wouldn't break it.

Wei Wuxian just stared in silence, allowing his friend to get upset.

"Not anymore. At first... perhaps I did... He was like sunshine in the darkness." Wen Ning finally admitted.

He gave him more time to sort himself out and drank more tea.

"While Sizhui and the others are back at home, I've had time to think. About being alive, about what I want to do, about whether I deserve this chance or not."

"That's good. So, what's your conclusion?"

"I think I have the same reason to live than you, young master..."

"Ha?" Unless Wen Ning had suddenly gotten a gorgeous bride or groom, he honestly doubted it.

"Let me show you. Do you mind if we walk around?"

Wei Wuxian agreed, his curiosity piqued. The trip out of the woods was annoyingly silent while he waited for Wen Ning to speak again. It didn't happen until they were past the exit, standing on a plain with tall grass caressed by the wind. The sky was clear and the same hue of blue as the embroidery of clouds on the Lans' uniforms and ribbons.

"Even if I'm not a natural part of it," Wen Ning began, "life is beautiful. Don't you agree?"

"Yeah."

"So I wish to enjoy the time I have left as much as I can. I cannot change what I've done, I cannot atone for all my sins, and neither can you, but I think it's alright... to feel selfish and want to exist and be loved. To see the sunrise or hear the crickets. To feel the rush of adventure. To look forward to smiles and laughter and hugs. It's alright. Even if my heart doesn't beat, it still feels those blessings."

Wei Wuxian blinked.

"If I may be so bold, doesn't young master feel the same?"

With a tug in his heart, Wei Ying remembered the first day in his new body. How much fun he had when he shocked the Mo family and the Lan juniors, his time wandering at that village. And despite the bad moments, living remained fun for the next days, for the next months. He agreed and nodded with a cackle. Yes, life could be wonderful by itself.

The fact Wen Ning, so taciturn and melancholy, also reached that point of view even with his limitations could only be good. Maybe bringing him back wasn't so bad, after all.

"Of course, I do feel more alive when I spend time with A-Yuan and young master Jingyi and young master Jin and everyone else. And I do want to do everything for them and protect him with my life. That's not all there is to it, though." His eyes smiled where his lips couldn't. "However, yes, I do think that after losing all my family, my main reason is being with those I love when possible. I'll have no regrets when I finally leave this world if I'm allowed to stay with them, and young master Wei too, for as long as I can. Also... I never found night hunts fun when I was alive, but now I look forward to them so much it hurts."

"That I can understand," Wei Wuxian beamed. "Night hunts are better with people you love."

"Is that so?"

"I mean, I've always loved them but it's true. Jiang Ch—" he stopped, not wanting those memories of happy times to resurface. "Anyway, not limited to cultivation partners. Family hunts are awesome, too."

"Sizhui and the others would love to go with you, too. Uh, so do I..."

"I'd love to!" He felt tenderness when he thought about the brats. Yi City with them had been relatively amusing. "Old man Qiren will have a heart attack, but I'm in. Hanguang-jun will be there as well." He probably should ask if it was okay to drag his husband to that, if Wen Ning would mind, if Lan Zhan would mind. But Wei Wuxian wasn't the kind of person who asked for permission. "The kids are fun to be around and so easy to tease."

"Young master Wei, don't tease them so much..."

"They need to learn how to deal with teasing. You know what's sad, Wen Ning? We're adults, but our the rest of our friends and allies are teenagers! We should probably fix that."

"I don't mind much."

"Haha! They are way better than our generation, aren't they?"

They kept walking towards the foot of the mountain, where the long road back to the Cloud Recesses stretched upwards.

"What do you mean with the 'rest of our friends', by the way?" Wen Ning asked.

"Let's see. Lan Zhan is my friend but he's also my lover and husband so I guess that's not really just a friendship anymore."

"I suppose not?"

"And then there's you and me! So, the rest of my friends is everyone else."

The range of emotion a fierce corpse with years of rigor mortis had was next to null, but Wei Wuxian could tell the ones Wen Ning was feeling as clear as day. Incredulity, relief, affection, joy. Not unlike the first time they had met and he had defended his archery skills, perhaps. They had gone through so much together, and yet Wei Ying hadn't realized until that moment how important Wen Ning's silent presence was to him. He didn't treat him as well as he deserved, and he had to work hard on improving that so the other would accept they weren't master and servant anymore, but equals.

"Take care of yourself, Wen Ning," he said with his hands on the man's stiff shoulders. "I'll visit more often, okay?"

"You mean when you're bored, the boys are in class, and young master Lan is too busy to, uh, do things with you?"

"Stop calling me and my sex life out!" He punched Wen Ning's shoulder, with no reaction. "But... yeah, pretty much."

"That's good enough for me, thank you." Wen Ning's lips lifted up as much as they could.

"Ah, and don't sacrifice yourself for the boys, okay?"

"..."

"Yeah, sure, I get it!" Gods if he got it. Most of his two lives were consequences from his constant sacrifices to help people out. "I'd probably die for them in a heartbeat too, especially Jin Ling. And Sizhui, he's my son now—"

"Actually—"

"Shush. By marrying his father I've been promoted from Brother Xian to Dad." He ignored the skeptic reaction, just as he ignored the fact Sizhui had never called him that way. "And you know what, Jingyi isn't related directly to me but fuck it, I'd die for him too. And Ouyang Zizhen, he defended me from a mob. And— I'm losing my point. Listen, let me give you an advice because I just learned this lesson the hard way."

"...What is it?"

"Be less reckless. Avoid dying. For all the cultivation world would love it, you leave behind the ones who love you. You want to stay with them and they want to stay with you. And even when that's no longer the case, and paths separate, new people to love will be here with you. No one is going to think your second death is enough redemption anyway, you know. So! Don't make Sizhui cry, you hear?"

"I'll try... Did your relationship with young master Lan teach you that?"

"In big part. I sure don't want him to mourn me again so soon! But he's not the only one who missed me, was he?"

Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian looked at each other in the eye.

"He wasn't."

Wei Wuxian leaned and rubbed Wen Ning's hard back. He thought about making a comment about how while he didn't cry when he thought Wen Ning and Wen Qing had been burned, he did start to lose his mind from that point. But that wasn't precisely nice to hear, and the other man likely could feel his pent-up anger and loss of control from whenever he had been locked in. Feeling awkward, he finished the short hug with a couple of pats.

"See you around, then! I'll bring my own wine and snacks next time!" he beamed.

"See you around, young master. And don't die either!"

"I sure won't. This pig has cabbage to eat."

Whistling a cheerful, hopeful tune that he knew Wen Ning could hear and feel on his way back to his hut, he ascended through the mountain path.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Can’t cover how I feel for you- Klance Month TV Week

Last week of Klance month, TV week. I wanted to do Hart of Dixie with a flirtatious small town guy Keith and city doctor Lance but then I remembered I wanted to do an au of You are Surrounded, a k-drama. It’s one of my favs and usually when I watch k-dramas, I’ve stopped half way through then take forever to go back and finish it. This one, I couldn’t stop until I finished it. Basic premise will be touched on in the story but you guys should give it a try. Oh god, it was so good. It’s a police officer au essentially and I’m still basing this in Korea because I got an understanding of how their teams work there and I’m not sure about the ones in the US, so yeah, Voltron team in Korea. I know you can get peaks of that idea of them  in Korea in @jhoca ‘s work. So, I hope you enjoy!

“Yes Veronica, your kids are fine. Nice to know you’re more worried about my team members then you are your own brother.” Lance said, as he looked around at his team as he sat on his desk at the precinct.

“Your sister knows class when she sees it.” Pidge teased from her seat across from Keith. Lance only glared at the girl

“Ok, I have to go. Take it easy ok? You’re still sore from that attack.” Lance said, seeing his teammates shoot him looks.

Lance always thought that when he finally got into the police academy, he’d be able to protect his family. After his father’s death when he was in high school, even though he was the youngest, he wanted to do the most. He wanted to make sure no one in his family ever cried again. He’d been through so much when he came down to Gangnam from being scammed with his apartment, to facing his first troubles as a police officer, being held hostage, realising that his on field partner was actually Akira, the kid who’d gone missing after his mother’s murder, a murder they were reopening for investigation.

But the one thing he hadn’t been expecting was wen his older sister Veronica would come visit him for the second time, back when he was still sleeping on the roof of the precinct, she’d gotten attacked by the daughter of a politician. Zarkon was once the police chief and it was like his daughter thought she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. Veronica was in the hospital with her injuries and Lance was determined to find the person who recorded the attack and get her to testify. The person didn’t but she did give Lance access to the online folder of the whole video that would give them the chance to arrest the daughter. But they lost that chance when Zarkon came and begged Veronica to forgive his daughter, she dropped the charges. His daughter walked free and Veronica didn’t get justice.

It was one of Lance’s biggest regrets. He cried his heart out on multiple occasions, trying to stay strong but still mad he couldn’t get his sister justice. His whole team, all the members and their squad leaders were determined to help him and they were just as upset when Zarkon took their chance of justice. Thankfully, they had stopped with the pitying looks in Lance’s direction. They were more focused on solving the murder of Akira or as they knew him Keith’s mother. Lance was going to focus on helping his on field partner get justice.

Part of Lance always felt guilty. He had insulted Keith’s mom after they were all dragged to the police station but Keith was never angry with him. He just explained what his mother had told him and gave him his umbrella. Lance just didn’t know the day would end with Keith’s mother being killed and a killer trying to kill Keith himself. Lance tried to help but nothing ever came out of it and the kid known as Akira just disappeared. Except he was Keith now, the sullen, brash guy but still had the same heart of gold. Lance was happy he got to know Keith again. He’d been there during his weak moments and offered the comfort he could. He could blame it on Veronica saying she’d never call Keith her son because she wanted him to date her brother, but Lance was sure he had slight feelings for Keith, but he wasn’t touching that one. There were more important things to worry about then crushes, though, Keith had kissed him once. He remembered Akira wearing glasses when he was younger so when he walked into the locker room and saw Keith wearing glasses, he’d seen Akira. Lance was poking, demanded an answer, so sure Keith was the same person and then, Keith kissed him. He later found out Shiro was walking in the room and Keith kissed him to shut him up. Still though, the feeling of Keith’s lips pressed against his, that was something he was sure he wouldn’t ever forget.

“Lance?” Shiro called from his desk

“Ah, yes sir?”

“Tell your sister we hope she feels better.”

Lance gave his squad leader a thankful smile. If it hadn’t been for Shiro, Veronica would have stayed locked in that motel, not listening to her brother’s begging to go with him to the hospital. He hadn’t let the thought of Zarkon being an opponent stop him from trying to gain justice for Veronica.

“Hear that Ronnie, my team leader is also telling you to get rest. Now I have to go, take a nap. Bye.” Lance hung up his cell phone and fell back further into his desk chair. “she sounds better. I guess she’d glad to be home.”

“What did she tell your mom about the bruises she still has?” Keith asked from the desk next to his.

“Got knocked over by a chicken delivery bike. We told her I took care of it and how I made her stay in the hospital for extra precautions.” Lance answered starting to feel drained. Having to remember what his sister went through was never easy.

“Hey,” Hunk said from his spot opposite Lance, an encouraging smile on his face, “we’ll get her next time. She can’t hide behind her dad forever.”

“Thanks.” Lance took a big breath and pulled himself back to his desk. “won’t have the chance to catch her if I don’t catch up with all this work.”

As they started back up on their work, the squad leader of another team came over to Shiro’s desk. “Shiro?”

“Yes?”

“Any chance your team can help us? We’re trying to find a gang member but he’s seen one of our members so we don’t trust that we can go to one of their spots to find him.”

“You kids want to get away from paperwork?” Shiro asked, getting a resounding yes from his team. “tell us where and when. We’ll help out as best as we can.”

“Right, um, quick thing though. Any of your members gay?”

Shiro furrowed his brow, “why?”

“This member has a younger brother who’s gay and he’s defended his brother many times, even from his own gang mates. I was hoping two of your team members would be comfortable acting as a couple so they’d be able to get closer. Not talk to them or anything, but they wouldn’t bother them so we can see if he’s there.”

“Well,” Shiro started, looking over to Keith and Lance. He knew their preferences but he wasn’t about to out them for the sake of a cover mission. He watched as the two looked at each other and then nodded over to him. Well, if they were ok with it. “I do, but I’d rather not release it to the whole precinct. As stupid as it is, we’ve got assholes in this precinct and my team’s already got enough eyes on them.”

“If anyone asks, I’ll just tell them I needed them to do it for the cover. I won’t ask who. As soon as we have info on the gang moving and where they’ll be, I’ll let you know.” The squad leader turned to the team, “make sure and have good outfits on hand to go out. They tend to frequent at a popular café so be ready to impress.”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. I’ll leave it to you then.” He said to Shiro before leaving back to his own team

Shiro looked over at Lance and Keith, “I can trust you with this job?” the two nodded, “alright. You two head home and get clothes. When you get back, Pidge and Hunk will go after.”

“I’d ask you to get my clothes for me, but our fashion sense is very different.” Pidge said as Keith and Lance got up.

“Keith, we need to go to the store room.” Lance said as he waited for Keith to grab his phone.

“Right.”

Lance was still living on the roof of the precinct building so majority was in one of the unused store rooms Shiro had gotten for him after he found out Lance lived on the roof. While Lance had a good selection of clothes with him on the roof, all his more outing clothes were in the store room. Keith kept watch to make sure their second head wasn’t lurking around. Iverson had an annoying habit of doing that.

“You done?” Keith asked from his spot.

“Give me a second. If I have to pretend to be your boyfriend I have to look the part, since you’ll no doubt be in that leather jacket of yours.”

Keith looked down at his leather jacket, “what’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing, just you wear it almost whenever we have to go out for covers. Oh, I forgot I had these!” Keith turned and controlled himself from seeing a pair of fishnet pants in Lance’s hands. “I’d wear these under my favourite ripped jeans. Do you think it’d be too much for a café?”

“Yes Lance! We’re not going to a club again.” Keith said, turning away, trying not to imagine the fishnet shaped around Lance’s long legs

“Alright, alright.” Keith heard him rummaging around the boxes again, more clothes being pulled out. “ok, I’m done.” He turned to see Lance come out with jeans and a blue jacket. “I’ve got the other stuff upstairs.”

“You go ahead and get your things, I can go to the apartment and get my things.”

“Wait, Keith we have to match!”

“Lance, I’m not wearing couples’ clothes with you.” Keith stated

“Not like that. Unless you want to. But have you ever been on a date? You need to dress so it looks like you wanted to impress your date. That time those fan girls took your picture didn’t count. They’re fangirls.” Lance said, reminding Keith of when two opposing groups of fangirls had been brought into the station after getting into a fight over their oppas. They had all been infatuated with the new group of rookies and Keith was quick to leave the room after a few pictures.

“Alright fine. Go throw those clothes up in your tent, I’ll go get one of the station cars.” Keith gave in. it wasn’t like Lance hadn’t been to their apartment. After they had been held hostage, he had come over with beer and chicken for them to celebrate. Then there was the first time Veronica came over and he lied to his sister, saying he was staying with the rest of the team. It was just both those times, he had been pushed even closer with Lance and that was making it hard not to fall for him. He hadn’t felt like this back when they were kids and he didn’t think he’d care when he realised that Lance was the same Lance he knew back then but something changed. Maybe it had been when Veronica had been attacked and he kept finding Lance when he’d break down. Seeing Lance, who could usually get him annoyed so easily break down like that, Keith hated that. He wanted to do whatever possible to keep Lance smiling. It was probably why he’d get so jealous when Hunk would attempt to flirt with Lance. And now he’d have to act like his boyfriend.

He sighed. “like my life isn’t complicated enough.”

“I’m here! Let’s go.” Lance said, throwing his arm around Keith and dragging them to the key check out.

The team was called in much quicker than they thought. The van pulled behind the bushes behind the café. Coran parked the car as Shiro turned to his team.

“Alright, this is the guy we’re looking for.” He said passing back a picture. “he’s part of a gang and has been linked to many thefts. His group like hanging out here and they’ve never caused any problems so they couldn’t report them. Because Griffin’s team was caught they know who to look for. If he’s there, text us and we know we can follow him to eventually arrest him. Keith, Lance, you two are a couple. Like was explained, he has a younger gay brother so he won’t try anything and if most of his gang members are like him, neither will they.”

“What about us?” Pidge asked

“Make sure Hunk doesn’t do something stupid and you’ll be fine.”

“Hey!” Hunk yelled insulted

“Hunk, you’ve been held hostage more than us. Like our first time out on the field.” Pidge said

“Then when we were actual hostages, you were held at knife point.” Lance added in.

“Then when you told us Pidge was a doctor at one point, you had also been held at knife point. We are dealing with gang members.” Keith said, making Hunk pout and flop back in his seat.

“You two ready?” Shiro asked Keith and Lance, who nodded at him, “good. You guys look good by the way.”

Lance pulled up the van door and climbed down, fixing the cuffs on his pants and pulling his white shirt down, Keith following him as he pulled his leather jacket on.

“You couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Lance asked

“Shut up. Let’s go.”

Lance held onto Keith’s arm as he put his hands into his jacket pocket. They let themselves drift closer together as they walked into the café. There were a few members in line, loudly making their orders, those picking them up going to the outdoor area. Lance let his free hand rest higher on Keith’s arm, letting himself lean against Keith. He caught the attention of one of the workers, who started to sneer at them. He also noticed one of the members look over their shoulder and Keith pulled the arm Lance was holding onto out of his pocket so he could grab Lance’s hand, Lance nuzzling his head on Keith’s shoulder.

“Oi! What’s with those looks your giving them? You got a problem with them?”

“No sir. So sorry.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Lance looked over at Keith, who shook his head slightly. Not their guy but at least his teachings seemed to affect his members.

“What can I get for you?”

“Can I get an iced mocha latte? He’ll have the same but with soy milk.” Lance ordered for them.

“I got it.” Keith said when they were told the price.

“You don’t have to.”

“Least I can do for my baby for being with me for 100 days.”

Wow, Keith was really selling it. 100 days together was big in Korea. It also reminded Lance of when they had to pretend to be a couple that time they were hostages. Lance was going to quit the team and Keith called him out on it which ended up in an argument to which Pidge handcuffed the two of them together to have them make up. It had been interesting, being handcuffed and having to pretend to be a couple just to stay close. Lance still remembered how close Keith had held him.

They got their drinks and went out to the outside area where most of the gang members were seated, talking loudly and enjoying their drinks. Lance sat with his back to them, so Keith could get a good look at everyone. Keith’s photographic memory hadn’t failed them yet and neither had his ability to spot their target.

Keith is looking for our guy. No problems so far, they seem to be accepting of gay couples, we did get defended by one of the members

Keith put his drink down, catching the attention of Lance from texting his team and he shook his head at him slightly. Not here.

He’s not here. I’m going to get Keith to take pictures of the other members here

Lance put his phone down and pulled out one of the stations hand held cameras from his pocket.

“Babe? Take my picture?” Lance asked

“Huh? Oh, sure.” Keith took the camera and waited until Lance was done moving over before lifting the camera. “alright, ready? 1, 2, 3.” He took many photos, hoping the gang didn’t noticed he was drifting away from Lance’s form to get the guys at the very end. “one more.” Lance flashed him a big smile and he couldn’t help getting that on camera.

As he put the camera down though, they were approached by the staff, one of which was holding a cake with number candles on it. Candles that spelt out 100. Lance and Keith jumped out from their seats as they started to sing congratulations.

“Please blow out the candles.” One of the workers said, a camera in her hand. They did hesitantly, but the two cops blew them out together, the awkward looks on their faces showing how they felt

“Hey, you should kiss your boy! 100 days and no problems, right?” one of the members called, starting off the chant for them to kiss.

The noise could be heard from the van, leaving those inside confused

“What’s going on? I can’t hear what they’re chanting.” Pidge said, trying to plaster her face to the glass like it would do anything.

Keith was filled with tension. This was not how he planned for things to go. He didn’t want to do this in front of everyone.

“Keith,” Lance called loud enough for him to hear over the chanting. He gestured to himself, “I’ll do it.” Do what? He watched Lance walk around the table until he was standing in front of him. He watched Lance take a few breaths and suddenly he got closer.

Keith never really kissed anyone that mattered. But the feeling of Lance’s lips on his was…different. Good different. When Lance pulled away, seeming embarrassed, he should have let Lance go but…he didn’t. he grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him close, his other hand holding onto Lance’s face. He caught Lance off guard, he could tell, but slowly he started to kiss him back.

“Oh my god.” Pidge breathed in English. She turned to see Hunk looking heartbroken. Shiro and Coran were too busy looking surprised.

“That’s twice now.” Shiro muttered but it was still loud enough for the team to hear him

“Twice?! They’ve kissed twice?” Hunk asked, going back to looking at his two team members who had yet to separate themselves from each other, seeing how Lance’s hands were now on Keith’s shoulders as a way of holding him closer.

“I’m sorry Hunk.” Pidge said. “something tells me you didn’t have much of a chance. But it’s ok, you’ve still got me.”

Hunk gave her a blank stare, remembering how Pidge would tease him by pretending to flirt with him. “that wasn’t funny then and it’s not funny now.”

Pidge looked annoyed, “who said I was ever joking?”

“Huh? Wait what?”

Shiro sighed, slouching in his seat, “one kid is the son of a victim I couldn’t protect who got murder, another is a former long haired know it all, that one was a former doctor who suddenly decided she wanted to be a detective and the other one is a guy who crush is so obvious he can’t see anything else. What did I do to deserve a team like this?”

“Just lucky I guess.” Coran teased, seeing Keith and Lance pull away from each other. He’d seen the look on their faces before, the same one Shiro gave to Allura or the one he gave his own wife. Poor Hunk indeed, he didn’t stand a chance.

[forthemultiverse]

Countdown Pt 2 - Jason Todd x Reader

Request: If requests are open, could you do a part 2 to “Count Down” where Jason gets injured and the reader winds up being the one to patch him up. And during the commotion, his helmet comes off and the reader freaks out because IT’S THEIR SOULMATE!?!?! Or maybe Alfred tells Jason about how she was his soulmate and so he keeps an eye on her as much as he can until one night he has to step in and save her? If this is too much I completely understand and sorry for it being so long. Have a nice day 💗💗💗!

I hope you like it since I hadn’t even considered a part two to this but the second I saw this request my head went wild. Thank you for the inspiration, I just pray it’s good!! (Also, this is my 100th post and I’m nearly at 400 followers and freaking out inside. Thank you everyone for coming along for this ride)

- People have asked to be tagged (<3) in this Part Two so here you go: @sailorsolar12 @satansspacebubblegum

Soulmate AU: A Soulmate Universe, where the clock on your wrist counts down to the day your soulmate dies.

Part One

Sad to say, you’d been permanently stuck in Gotham since the day he died to the present. Every time you tried to leave, you felt the tug in your gut. The Universe wanted you to stay, which gave you even more motivation to leave, but still. You didn’t date, and most people worth being friends with didn’t cause a fuss if you rejected them once they saw the burnt date on your wrist. You didn’t want to go through that pain again. No more Soulmate deaths.

Your best friend didn’t get it. She thought you’d be desperate to meet your second one so you could have all the time you could have together. She also thought you wouldn’t want anyone else to know you for a minute then lose you to death. You thought avoiding dating would make it even easier for this mysterious soul number two. They could make their assumptions about soulmates, and you could die without causing them a minute of stress.

You’d probably change your mind about that when you were older, but for now, you were twenty, at Gotham University, and working for a section of the police that tried to reach out to teen runaways and orphanages. You’d spend your evenings at the orphanage, talking and getting to the know the kids, taking the older ones out and driving them to any parties they might have, baking with the younger ones, and you’d sleep there to make breakfast and tutor anyone on Saturday morning. You also found yourself playing video games and sports with them before having to leave after lunch on Sunday. Sometimes the police would have you come and talk to the kids they’d found on the streets since you always had a way with people. The kids listened to you and put up less of a fight if you were trying to convince them to get help.

Your introduction back into the Wayne Family life had been when you’d been asked to check in on one Stephanie Brown. It was separate from the police, but the Hospital also asked for your assistance when they were dealing with broken homes and kids with abusive parents. Not only was she the daughter of the Question, but she had been pregnant and had given the baby up for adoption. The Hospital asked you to check in with her, and you had information on her hold of she ever wanted to know where it was. You’d been against it first. You didn’t want anything to do with the Wayne’s, and she was dating Timothy Drake-Wayne. Surely you’d end up having to go to the Manor to meet her one time, and then you’d feel bad for never answering the butler’s calls and never explaining to Bruce why Alfred had tried to reach out to you. Ignoring his butler had resulted in multiple stroppy emails from the billionaire - and you didn’t want to know how he got your email.

You were right, but you were also too much of a pushover to say no when Stephanie sent you the location for your check-up.

You pulled up in the long driveway, suddenly hit with what it would have been like to visit the place when you were younger. You’d barely known Jason, you couldn’t make assumptions about what he was like beyond your one evening together, but you were a hopeless romantic and a very vivid daydreamer. You didn’t think about it. You refused to. You were a smiler, and bright face, a positive energy people needed in their lives. You wouldn’t let yourself seem down.

Steph had said to go round the side and into the gardens, claiming that you’d spot her easily. She was right. She sat, laughing and tangled with Tim Drake under a tree while the sun shined on them. You smiled to yourself, the aura coming off both of them was the aura of soulmates. Their legs were on top of each other, and there was a share bag of crisps knocked over slightly a few metres away.

“Hey?” You broke their bubble.

“Hey (Y/N)!” Stephanie straightened herself up slightly, her legs still tangled with Tim’s. “He’s been stuck in front of a computer for about three days and heavily sleep-deprived, so Alfred called me in - you don’t mind if he’s here right?” She suddenly sounded tense and panicked.

“I’m good if you are…what we might be talking about…?”

“He knows about the baby. We started dating right after I found out…is that weird, Nah, he was helpful and stuff. It was pretty great. Flew back into town just to help me through it.” Steph was a living heart eyes emoji for a good second, and you chuckled. The bags under Tim’s eyes were oblivious, but he was smiling softly back at her.

“Well, how are you doing? And I mean that to both of you,” you raised an eyebrow at Tim.

“Tired.” Tim sighed, leaning back on the tree.

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.” You thirded. “Anything cool going on in your life.”

“This is super casual, don’t you have to ask like a list of questions and stuff?” Tim asked

“Not a therapist yet, just helping out teens for the police and the hospital in the hopes of making people’s lives better.” You shrugged.

“Why do you wanna do that?” Tim asked, and Steph’s eyes went wide.

“Tim!”

“That came out wrong. I mean, helping people is great, what’s your inspiration?”

“I’ve always been good at getting people to talk I guess, plus I have a pretty good way of getting runaways to talk to me.”

“Which is?”

“Are you a runaway?”

“No,”

“Then you don’t need to hear it.” You turned back to Steph, “How’s school going?”

She groaned “I’m assuming you’ve been given information?”

“Just some missing homework and an absent from yesterday.”

“I overslept.” The phrasing was careful.

“Not sleeping well?”

“Nope, been up late at the moment,”

“Any reasons, or just, it’s Gotham, and no one should sleep if they want to live.” You joked and the look Steph and Tim gave each other couldn’t have been more obvious. Everyone was a bit stressed at the moment. Batman seemed to be at war with the Red Hood a few months back, then he disappeared, and reappeared about to unmask Batman and the latest Robin, then he disappeared again, and Batman disappeared. Then they both reappeared a few weeks back and even though there didn’t seem to be a problem between them this time - guns were a tense subject in America and having him just running around Gotham kept everyone on their toes and well behaved. “Wanna talk about that look or are you going to make me analyse it?”

“How are you doing at the moment?” Stephanie changed the subject. You stood up walked towards her and held out a hand. She took it and once you’d pulled Steph to her feet you gave her a tight hug. “Everything you say is between us and only us. No judgement. It’s okay to be scared.”

“There’s just a lot of stress at the moment.” You felt Stephanie relax slightly until the butler appears from the back door.

“Master Tim - ” his sentence was cut short when he saw you. “(Y/N)! What a surprise!”

“You know Alfred?” Stephanie pulled away to look at you closely. “Do you work for Bruce?”

“God no, well he basically owns the city so technically I do, but Bruce Wayne probably hates me. I never answer his emails.” You said while lifting your head to the side slightly.

“What?” Tim was looking at you, a gleam in his eye that made you feel vulnerable. Like he knew everything about you - or he would by the end of the conversation.

“What are you doing here? Not that you aren’t welcome,” Alfred had hurried over to the pair of you.

“What’s going on?” Steph’s walls were going up which meant you two were probably going to have a Bruce Wayne conversation in the future. There were some issues and anger to be dealt with there.

“Miss (Y/N) here, is…was Master Jason’s - ”

“Alfred!” You cut him off before he could finish the sentence, your voice raised slightly - something which didn’t happen often.

“Jason’s Soulmate…” Tim finished the sentence looking at the inside of your wrist. “You were - ”

“Yeah, you don’t need to say it again.” You sighed.

“Jason’s Soulmate…” Stephanie muttered in shock. “That must have been awful.”

“I knew him for about an evening of talking and a few days of texting…” your voice was low. You knew going to Manor wasn’t a smart decision.

“Anyway, you two are needed in Master Bruce’s…office,” Alfred said to Tim and Steph, and they disappeared in a second.

“I should probably go.” You didn’t like how stiff your voice sounded.

“You should come back for another visit,” Alfred suggested.

“I’m sure you’re very nice and all, and you mean it with the best intentions - but the last thing I want to do is be at the home my soulmate ran away from before he was killed.”

“I understand.”

“Thank you. Tell Steph she owes me a full half hour of chat,” you didn’t wait to hear him say yes as you exited the garden and hopped in your car to drive away.

Since that afternoon, something was off around you. Not with you, just around you. Gotham suddenly felt a lot safer. You spotted Red Robin and Spoiler watching you and the older orphanage kids head into a bowling alley, and you kept seeing red flashes when you walked anywhere at night. It took you two days to get curious as to what was happening and test this new aura. You did something very unlike you and went for a rooftop walk in the more dangerous part of Gotham.

Most of the buildings were tall and closely packed together, a few alleys ways every now and again - and you weren’t stupid enough to try and see if you could cross them. You walked across four buildings, waiting for anything to happen, anything at all.

“What are you doing.” You tensed up, turning round to face the Red Hood in all his hun slinging glory.

“Wandering.” Your voice was tight, and you started to regret your evening out very much.

“It’s not safe.”

“Has Batman been sending his army of smaller selves to watch me?”

“Why would I know?”

“Cos you’re clearly involved with him somehow.” Red Hood laughed.

“Just get back home okay.”

“Aren’t you going to try and shoot me?”

“My line of work is a lot more complicated than that.”

“How old are you?”

“20.”

“My age, I might know you.” You said without really thinking the sentence out fully, it just slipped out and he didn’t deny it. “So what’s your business with the city tonight?”

“I’m not going to tell you that.”

“Why not? You’re in the works with Batman, so anything you do will be all over the papers by next week, to my knowledge we don’t know each other, I have no place better to be. Talk to me.” The sentence felt all yo familiar but you didn’t click why you just had a weird sense of Deja vu. Something obviously bugged the Red Hood too as you noticed him tense for a second before relaxing.

“Do you always walk around smiling and saying things like that?”

“Not purposefully.” You shrugged. “Does it bother you that I’m smiling right now?”

“I just don’t get how people can be that happy all the time.”

“Maybe you should try it sometimes. Being positive is actually quite fun.” You teased and turned to look at the sky. Gotham was the city of clouds, the Batman symbol shining exactly where it always did. “So what are you dealing with tonight.”

“Just a surveillance job.”

“And why did you come talk to me?”

“You’ve been walking on these buildings for a good half hour, and I got curious.”

“It’s been half an hour?” You looked at your watch “Wow, time does fly when you’re alone with your thoughts.”

Jason didn’t like being at the Manor any time of the year, but when the whole family were together, it was the worst. The only reason he was there was because Dick had saved his ass and taken him back for stitches - now he was stuck listening to Stephanie half Yelp half encourage him.

“She’s so nice! Don’t you dare be mean to her and screw this up! Literally, how did someone so kind-hearted end up with you for a Soulmate! She’s the most supportive person I’ve ever met!”

“Cut it out already!” Jason snapped, grabbing some toast and contemplating shoving it in her mouth.

“I can’t believe you spoke to her but didn’t tell her!” Stephanie complained and Jason froze. He hadn’t even known who his soulmate was until Steph started screaming about it, and he only took it seriously when Alfred told him what had happened. That was the real reason he was still in Gotham. He didn’t care about Bruce’s job for him; he cared about the fact someone out there had been hurt by his death. Someone had really cried for Jason Todd - not Robin, not Bruce Wayne’s ward. Jason Todd.

“How do you know I spoke to her.” He spoke very quietly and everyone in the kitchen tended. He wasn’t sure if everyone in the room would ever trust him over than Alfred - but him speaking calmly terrified them more than him yelling.

“This is your first time in town not trying to kill one of us; you can’t blame me for wanting to know what you’re doing.” Bruce was observing him, and Jason didn’t enjoy being treated like a bomb about to explode.

“So that’s why you’ve been spying on her!” Jason almost laughed. “She’s seen you, you know. She knows somethings up because she’s seen you guys watching her! But you’re not watching her. You’re watching me.”

“Why are you just watching her if you aren’t going to talk to her?” Tim finally asked what they were all thinking.

“I died, Tim.”

“I know. It’s your favourite topic of conversation.”

“I can’t just walk up to her as Jason Todd. The second I do anything, everything comes out about what happened, all of you guys, and this entire world. She becomes apart of it. And I don’t even know her that well.”

“She’s your Soulmate. You are one of the few people who have 100% proof that they’ve found their soulmate.” Stephanie said, looking slightly towards Tim.

“Wooo, dying has one plus side I guess!” Jason said sarcastically. “The universe can say all it wants but let’s be real, whether she’s my soulmate or not, it’s my choice to be with her. My choice to use this information. If I ever decide I want to be with someone; it’s going to be my decision, not the universes, not you guys, mine.” Jason stuffed another piece of toast into his mouth and left the Manor as quickly as he could.

“He’s going to spy on her some more, isn’t he.” Dick mused

“Oh definitely,” Steph responded. “She just has this quality about her that makes it impossible to dislike her.”

So that’s what Jason did. He watched and he watched and he stayed in Gotham. Taking down bad guys and causing no trouble. He even started to obey some of Bruce’s rules. He didn’t want to be driven out of the city until he made up his mind. This was his choice to make - and yours he guessed. He didn’t want to cut you out of the conversation when it was your future he’d be deciding too. But talking to you meant he had to choose before someone in his family did it for him. He didn’t trust Stephanie not to somehow do something about the situation the next time she saw you. He also didn’t think Steph would do it with any cruel intentions. She understood where Jason came from, she was similar to him in many ways - and she justed wanted to help.

The gun rule was not one of the ones he followed. He liked using guns, but it was also guns that meant he was bleeding to death in an alley. He’d seen you walking around late at night again; you were coming back from dropping some kids off at the orphanage and obviously tired. A tired young woman was a prime target, and someone had grabbed you. He had to interfere, but his game was off. He kept expecting you to freak out, say his name, and he was worried you’d already been hurt. They’d pulled out a gun and shot six bullets while he was distracted. He was going to hunt them down and make them pay once he could move.

“Oh my god.” he heard your voice and for a second he thought his brain had made it up as some sick twisted way to give him comfort, but that wasn’t the case. You were there. You were talking to him. “You need to stay awake!”

“Get away…”

“No way, you need help, I’m going to get you help.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, bullet holes and blood equal fine.”

“I’ve been through worse.”

“Sure, and I’m sure that’s not part of the reason you’re running through Gotham as a gunslinging vigilante. Therapy’s a thing, and this is not normal. You’re not fine.”

“Just, get -”

“Get you some help? Sure.”

“That’s not what I was going to say,”

“Well, it’s what I said.”

“I’m -”

“In need of help, yes, I know,” you were searching him for any way to call any of the other superheroes to come help. You doubted he’d want to go to a hospital.

“Getting a bit feely, at least buy me dinner first.”

“Isn’t that normally the girl’s line?” You finally got sick of looking at the stupid helmet.

“You need air.”

“I’m -”

“Need to breathe.”

“That one didn’t work.”

“Doesn’t matter, you need air, and you need to text someone your location.”

“Please don’t take the Helmet off.”

“Would you rather die.”

“A little bit.”

“Very funny.” You felt around his head and found the two clasps, pulling the helmet off and take advantage of the fact he seemed unable to move the rest of his body. He wore a mask over his eyes which made you laughed, “See, isn’t it nice breathing fresh air?”

“I can -”

“I can breathe now, and it’s beautiful.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to say,” it wasn’t even close. Jason was going to say that he could explain. But the mask and blood meant you didn’t recognise him. Even without the mask you might not, he’d changed quite a lot since he’d died. He was safer than he thought, and sadly that fact hurt him a little bit.

“I’m taking this,” you pulled out his earpiece and put it in your ear, tapping the side to turn it on. “Red Hood’s bleeding to death in an alley.”

“Um…hello?”

“Hi, Anyway someone can come and get him?”

“Getting your location now.” you recognised the voice, but not well enough to place it.“I took the helmet off so he could breathe properly, he can talk, but he’s really pale and was shot like six times,”

“Spoiler and Nightwing are on their way.” the line went dead, so you assumed the person had ended the call.

You looked at the face beneath the helmet very carefully. Some part of your mind was turning and putting the dots together - I mean, there’s only so much face a mask can cover. Something was there, something you couldn’t figure out and it was infuriating.

“Do I know you? I know you probably won’t tell me, but like…”

“Kinda.” He didn’t say anything else as you suddenly gasped. He’d changed, he changed a lot. And you didn’t understand how on earth he was alive. He couldn’t be alive. Your mind was playing tricks. A similar voice and facial structure didn’t equal Jason Todd. Jason Todd was dead and people don’t come back from the dead. You were being crazy, and irrational. But if laser shooting flying men were real, was resurrection really that impossible? You’d been at the funeral. You’d seen Alfred and Bruce’s reaction. You’d seen his older brother Dick beating himself up for not trying to be a good brother to Jason. You’d cried. You’d cried for someone you barely knew. He couldn’t just be alive. You were assuming things.

But you had two dates in a world where you only get one soulmate. It would make sense.“Your friends will be here soon…”

“Take the mask off.” He could guess what you were thinking based on the reaction.

“No. I will not have that conversation now. You can’t be -”

“Jason Todd.” he tried to nod.

“Nope.”

“I can-”

“Nope.” You took a step back, your breathing picking up. “I went to Jason Todd’s funeral, and I can’t yell at you while you’re dying.”

“Yell?” he didn’t expect you to yell.

“I’m freaking out a bit right now so yes I will probably yell.” your voice was all over the place, but you were determined not to yell. He didn’t deserve to be yelled at. “You can’t be Jason Todd, Jason Todd died.”

“I can explain everything.”

“Then do that, when you’re not dying.” You refused to believe it. “Jason Todd’s already dead, so he can’t be dying right now.”

“Take the mask off.“

“Fine, but only to prove you can’t possibly be Jason Todd because I went to Jason Todd’s funeral.” you were shaking slightly, wishing Nightwing and Spoiler would just show up already to end whatever mind trick Red Hood was playing. You leant forward slowly, peeling the mask off and trying to convince yourself not to. Not knowing the answer would be better than knowing because then you could pretend your first and real soulmate was out there. You could also assume that this was all some evil game and that Jason was dead and continue living your life just the same. It would be your choice.

The Red Hood, had been a killer, he’d gone rage on Gotham more than once and he used a gun. He killed people, and he worked in the shadows. You’d seen the amount of chaos and fear he created. If this was Jason, you didn’t know what you’d do. You’d want to give him a chance, and in a way, he was more effective than Batman, but you weren’t one for violence. You’d never been. You liked positive thinking and smiling faces. But it this was Jason, it was your soulmate. And he had really died, so whatever brought him back would’ve messed him up pretty badly so could you blame him for wanting to be a bit more permanent with his methods of dealing with crime. Every thought in your head was running wild and merging faster than you could cope with. You were overwhelmed and ready to break down. You couldn’t deal with all of this; no one should have to deal with all of this.

The mask fell to the floor, and it may have changed, but it was Jason Todd’s face. You’d stared at a picture after he’d died to help you process everything. You’d memorised his face and thought about how it may have changed if he’d been given a chance to live. You may not have known him all that well but you didn’t want to forget him.

“I went to your funeral.” you started to cry. The third time you’d let yourself cry over it, “You better recover and explain what the hell is happening.”

“Can I see your wrist?” he asked. You raised it slowly to show him.

He ran his fingers over the scaring on the first date. The burns had never faded and you could still vaguely still the numbers underneath. The 0 had turned into minus numbers just to remind you how long you’d survived without the universes input. He kissed the burn lightly.

“Crap, that’s a large number…”

“Which one?”

“Both of them.” you laughed slightly, still crying. “I guess you’re going to be living quite a while then, no dying tonight..”

“Your number’s big too.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“We’re here!” Spoiler announced, stopping dead when she saw you.

“We’re taking her to the cave,” Jason instructed.

“Obviously.” Spoiler nodded while Nightwing picked his little brother up.

“So, Dick Grayson?” you assumed, pointing to Nightwing and trying to piece everything together in your head.

“This is going to be a fun week.” Dick laughed

Part One 

[eliteweddingcoordination]

‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Recap 04×15: What a Wonderful World

Mallory Jansen as Aida. Eric McCandless/ABC

Oh boy what an episode. The LMD storyline has been a slow burn up until now and finally “Self Control,” the final episode of the arc is where it becomes every thing I could have asked for.

Let’s just get right into it. The reason this episode works so well is because it highlights the fear of LMDs. When May is replaced by Robo May, there is a certain fear that should exist but we never truly feel it because the audience already knows what she is. “Self Control” finally leaves the audience in the dark and makes you second-guess and over analyze who is and isn’t human. It reminds me of The Thing in a way; you can’t trust anyone, not even yourself.

The episode starts with some of the agents hooked up to the Framework and the Moody Blues’“Have You Heard” playing as Aida stands over a beat up Anton. He’s not in the best possible condition since Daisy dropped a ceiling on him but Aida is taking it upon herself to “fix” him with a little help from a power saw. The real meat of the episode is with Fitz and Simmons who realize there are four LMDs in the base and they have impersonated Coulson, Mack, Mace, and Daisy. They are terrified but realize they have the advantage in that the LMDs don’t know that they know (Friends anyone?). The Robo agents address Fitz and Simmons as if there is nothing wrong and Robo Coulson puts in the order to bring all Inhumans to the S.H.I.E.L.D base for their protection. Robo Mace tries to convince Jemma to join him alone in his office to talk logistics (turn her into a robot) but Fitz has some quick thinking to keep Jemma with him until they can decipher any of the tech they picked up from the Russian base last episode. Privately, we see Robo Mace and Robo Coulson saying that they have to replace the last two agents as soon as possible and we get a very beautiful long shot (Executive Producer Jed Whedon’s directorial debut) that follows each LMD agent as they begin to plan the rest of their mission. Robo Mack puts in a call to Yo-Yo to convince her to come in and Robo Coulson activates Robo May again. This doesn’t go as well as he’d hope. Robo Coulson tries to explain that just because they don’t have the bodies of the original agents, doesn’t mean they aren’t real. That their thoughts are all that they need and the Framework now makes a world without pain or regret and where May and Coulson can finally be together.

Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May. Eric McCandless/ABC

As Fitz and Jemma try and figure out what to do next, the episode takes a terrific turn and an LMD detection unit goes off and reveals that either Jemma or Fitz are a possible LMD. I literally screamed, “YES” after this. This revelation forces Jemma to hold Fitz at gunpoint and both plead their case that they are human. It’s tearful, it’s emotional, and it’s powerful. To see the two people we want together so badly finally pushed apart is great writing. Jemma asks Fitz to cut his wrists to prove there is no circuitry and he does accordingly. There is a lot of blood. But just as Jemma lets her guard down, Fitz does a sweet knife reversal and stabs her in the leg and knocks her unconscious with a paint can. Damn.

Aida wakes up Radcliffe from the Framework and again we get a scene I’ve been waiting for since the beginning of the arc. Aida has a paradox that she can’t get past. Her primary directive is to protect the Framework but it’s also to protect Radcliffe. The conflict is she believes Radcliffe’s lack of self-control jeopardizes the future of the Framework and that one day he could regret what he made and shut it and Aida down. Radcliffe defends himself by saying he’s helping everyone with the Framework and that even though people’s physical bodies may waste away while plugged in, their minds can live forever in the perfect world. This clears up Aida’s dilemma and SHE SLITS RADCLIFFE’S WRISTS AND PUSHES HIS BODY INTO A FRAMEWORK UPLINK! HOLY F#$%! Basically since Radcliffe said the bodies don’t matter, Aida can get rid of Radcliffe’s body, upload his consciousness to preserve him and the Framework forever and not have to worry about him physically shutting her down anymore. We also learn that the four LMDs at S.H.I.E.L.D are actually Coulson, Mace, Mack and Fitz, which means Daisy was human all along(!) and Jemma is in trouble.

John Hannah as Holden Radcliffe. Eric McCandless/ABC

Jemma wakes up and Robo Fitz is trying to upload her into the Framework. He talks about how in the Framework, the two of them can finally get married and grow old together. It’s sweet albeit creepy. She’s weak but she does crawl away and manages to drop like a car engine on him or something? AND THEN SHE STARTS STABBING HIM! LIKE A LOT! Props to Iain De Caestecker’s acting who goes from screaming to stoic so quickly as he tries to reason with Jemma who slices his neck and shuts him down. Now that we know Daisy is human, we find out Robo Mack is looking for her. She’s down in the containment area double-checking that everything is good for the oncoming Inhumans and finds a room filled with LMD versions of her (15 to be exact, I counted just for you gusy). It was like Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse or what I imagined it to be like if anyone had actually watched it. Robo Mack walks in to the room and realizes Daisy has taken off her clothes to blend in with the other LMDs. Mack picks the wrong one and the real daisy blasts Robo Mack and runs away. She’s hiding in a storage room and uses a tablet to check the security feeds and is shocked to see Fitz dead with Robo Coulson and Robo Mace investigating. They say Simmons has been compromised and is an LMD but some of the other agents see the wires sticking out of Fitz’s neck and realize he’s a robot. Robo Coulson and Robo Mace quickly take them out.

Daisy is left scared and alone and finds a trail of blood next to her that leads to Jemma who straight up looks like she is from a horror movie. She doesn’t trust Daisy and Daisy doesn’t trust her. Simmons even says, “that you don’t know you’re a robot until they kill you,” which is a hell of a line. Daisy realizes that an LMD can’t have her powers so if Simmons will let Daisy quake her, she can prove she is who she says she is and the quake can tell if she has normal bones instead of metal. It’s surprisingly logical. They prove to each other that they both are human and now we get a badass women team up.

The base is on lockdown and Robo Coulson is telling the rest of the agents that Daisy and Jemma are LMDs. With everyone against them, Jemma and Daisy don’t have much hope. They believe their friends must still be alive but still don’t know where to look. They realize that if they can get off this base and hack into the Framework, it could be possible to find everyone but that means staying alive first. Everyone is looking for them and Jemma and Daisy gas the base knocking the human agents out cold, leaving just the LMDs walking around. Robo Mace and Daisy have a super cool fight in the dark and even quakes herself into the air to do a drop punch. It’s just really cool and I had to mention it. Just as she takes down Robo Mace, Robo Coulson and Robo Mack shoot her and as they move in she charges up a quake that’s so powerful it shreds Robo Mack apart. The agents no one really cares about wake up and realize that Jemma and Daisy are telling the truth and they go to escape on the zephyr jet. On their way back, Jemma and Daisy are confronted by Robo May who is sitting on a bunch of explosives. Uh oh.

Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson. Eric McCandless/ABC

The final moments of the episode have Robo Coulson find out that Robo May let Jemma and Daisy board the jet despite her orders. She reveals that her programming is different than Robo Coulson and that she was made to help the real Coulson and that’s what she did. She says the pain and regret Robo Coulson can’t feel is what made Coulson into the man she loves and then she blows them up. The zephyr jet manages to escape in time and on board we have the agents no one cares about, Yo-Yo who we care a lot about and just happens to show up in time, and Jemma and Daisy who are uploaded into the Framework for one final gambit. I’ll get into what the Framework is like in a second, but first I’ll mention that Aida has finished building Anton’s body and we find out he is all machine now but being controlled remotely by his severed head. It’s gross and weird and cool. Aida even gives Anton the Darkhold to read but we finally find out what it is she wants and it’s what they’ve been building to all season: Aida just wants to feel emotion. She just wants to be human.

Okay and now for the good stuff: The Framework. What’s going on in there? Well first, Daisy wakes up in a tub and gets a text telling her to wake up her boyfriend who she believes to be Lincoln in this perfect world but we get to see who it actually is from a photo on their dresser and it’s none other than GRANT WARD. HOLY $#!%. Yes Ward will be back next season, ladies and gentlemen. And what about everyone else in the Framework? Well Coulson is a teacher teaching students why to fear Inhumans. Strange. Mack has a daughter again. That’s nice! Fitz is successful and rich (or at least that’s the vibe I’m getting from the suit and limo) and it looks like he’s married to Jemm-wait. Nope. JEMMA IS DEAD. Yup, we see her grave so no idea what is going to happen there now that she is uploaded as well. And lastly, May is in the Triskelion (The S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters that was damaged in Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and it almost seems as if she’s the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D-wait. Nope. IT’S HYDRA. This just gets better and better! I don’t know about all of you, but I’m excited. These are most likely the final 7 episodes of the series and there is no better way to wrap it up than the final arc, which will fittingly be called Agents of Hydra. But we do have to wait until April 4. So until next time, True Believers!

Source

http://observer.com/2017/02/marvels-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-recap-04x15-what-a-wonderful-world/

[chalkrevelations]

Roundup, starting with op:

#but god that second scene makes me so !!!!! because jiang cheng did NOT ask for any of the things that wei wuxian is throwing back at him #that he is demanding he be grateful for. and this is even MORE of a truth in the book where jiang cheng #was so against staying with ANY wen that they basically had him knocked out for their entire stay

#he TRIED #he had to get his nose rubbed in the fact that defending the Wen was not a position he could get away with holding #before he accepted it #and then he gets yelled at for being ungrateful #it’s another terrible day to be jiang cheng! #he’s in a terrible position and for like the first time in his life he’s having to go through it alone #without Wei Wuxian by his side #because WWX is the person who put him into that position in the first place #(don’t get me wrong I’m team WWX on not leaving people in death camps especially when they’ve helped you out in the past #but this really does highlight how much JC was Going Through It about this entire situation including about those feelings of obligation #towards people you recognize you are not able to help without incurring a catastrophe for people with a greater claim on your duty) (via @cerusee)

#i know everyone has said this but jc tries!! he tries so much and so many times!! even if he failed at something else before he has to try #to do this other thing because he cares! because his brother cares and he cares about his brother! because he knows the wen siblings helped #them and he IS grateful! but at this point he’s no one. no sect no respect no power. so he has to choose and of course he’s going to choose #keeping and protecting his own family! BUT!!! he still tries one last time even if it doesn’t work (via @thepainofmymotherwillnotletmego)

#he tried!! he really tried!!! #but he doesnt TELL wwx that he just tells him that no one will listen to anyone defending the wen #that the world is completely against them #he knows this because HE tried #but he didnt succeed so there's no point mentioning it #from jc's pov #xichen appears to be firmer here than in the book and that still doesnt help (via @autumnslantern)

#oof #he tried as best he could #hey people if there’s anyone you wanna get mad at for NOT doing anything to help #here’s a whole bunch of people to choose from (via @alternative27angel)

#also #hey lwj! #this is an opportunity to help #you clearly resented no one doing anything for wwx for 13/16 years #here's your chance to back jc up to help wwx #no? #not going to do anything? #ok #to be clear i love him #but he made no effort to help in this time except write a letter (via @not-rude-ginger)

alright episode twenty-seven vs twenty-eight !!

[the-forever-obsessed]

#but god that second scene makes me so !!!!! because jiang cheng did NOT ask for any of the things that wei wuxian is throwing back at him#that he is demanding he be grateful for. and this is even MORE of a truth in the book where jiang cheng#was so against staying with ANY wen that they basically had him knocked out for their entire stay

alright episode twenty-seven vs twenty-eight !!