a loose howl’s moving castle wangxian au: nhs as howl, wwx as calcifer, and lwj as a fallen star who followed his soulmate down to earth 💫
wwx falls to earth in a star shower on the darkest night of winter, and on his way down he figures that there are two possible ends for him:
1) quick and merciful 2) horrible and painful
he has his own opinions on which of the two he deserves, but leaves it up to fate.
but fate has a funny sense of humor, and wwx finds himself landing in a pair of gentle and curious human hands—hands that belong to a wizard named nie huaisang.
(nhs: omg! i actually caught a star!
wwx: wh. what the hell is this meatman thing)
when wwx—after a full year of sideways glances and brushing hands and secret blushes—first found himself attending the same NYE party as lwj, it felt as if they had reached the light at the end of a very long, excruciatingly slow-burn tunnel.
or, at least, wwx had hoped lwj also felt that way.
when he had stepped over the threshold of the house at 8pm, wwx had briefly entertained every single one of his silly little fantasies in a speedy montage that flashed through his mind, rom-com style:
maybe they would exchange a meaningful glance over the potluck table straining from the weight of dishes, and wwx would put food on lwj’s plate, and lwj would put food on wwx’s, and they would just /know/.
wangxian au where they have a first date and instead of being endeared by e/o at first sight, they totally misunderstand the other’s character and come out of the whole thing like “wow that was the worst. good thing i’m never seeing him again!”
famous last words.
the day after his worst ever first date, wwx’s new neighbor moves into the apartment unit next door, and he goes over w a plate of food to welcome them
the door opens. it’s lwj.
theyre both, understandably, very put out about this. after the world’s most tense “hey neighbor” exchange, both escape into their respective living rooms and immediately text their brothers
wangxian modern au: while on the same bus tour, wwx and lwj both get accidentally left behind at a rest stop, and join forces to make it back to their luggage! 🚌 let’s gooo!
(yet another meet-awkward story from me...yue meet-awkward cinematic universe. ymacu)
there is, wwx decides, a special horror to stepping out of a highway-side truck stop bathroom and realizing that the tour bus that you were travelling on is no longer there.
new modern wangxian au where they actually meet through a matchmaking granny who knows “the son of a friend’s cousin, a very nice young man, handsome too, here a-zhan i have his wechat contact” but wwx’s wechat icon isnt of him, it’s one of those horrible yiling laozu drawings
and because lan zhan is a good boy he still messages this weirdo on wechat but then he’s pleasantly surprised at how good the convo is going
eventually he asks what the display picture is of and wwx’s like “oh that’s a portrait of me :)” while also neglecting to mention it was drawn by a three year old who was mad at him at the time