Thread by @lanergeges

arranged marriage au where lqr arranges for his bff's, cssr, son, wwx, to his nephew, lwj. now, ofc, wwx is wwx, all bright smiles and non-stop chatter while lwj is decidedly a homebody, quiet person. lwj very much thinks that this match will not work.

the first time he meets wwx, he's decided that he could never spend his life with someone like wwx. he needs his peace and quiet, he can't spend his life with such nervous energy surrounding him.

wwx is also not 100% on board with the whole match bc he thinks lwj is a boring fuddy duddy who has never had fun one day in his life. which is truw, btw, but lwj likes his life the way it is. he does not need wwx's brand of adventure in his life. his life is absolutely a-okay.

so now, they're both sorta engaged bc wwx will die before hurting his godfather and lwj is literally incapable of saying no to his uncle who he respects more than anyone in his life.

they don't wanna get married. but. they don't wanna be the one to break the engagement and break lqr's heart bc he's their fave person in the whole world.

so, lwj ropes in lxc and wwx ropes in jc, and there is this whole covert operation going on where the lan and jiang brothers are tryna get the other to break off the engagement.

listen, jc doesn't like the lans. they're too uptight and his brother deserves better. and lxc, well, he'll give lwj anything he asks for, no matter who it hurts, or how outlandish that demand is. so both of them are very invested in breaking the engagement too.

but no matter what plans they come up with, no matter how much they try to rile each other up, neither lwj nor wwx breaks the engagement. and then... somewhere down the line, they're like... ykw? my fiance is not so bad actually™

and then it's a slippery slope to them falling in love and now they're just spending all their time making out but do lxc and jc know? ofc not. the wedding is fast approaching and they need to get their brothers out of it. so what do they do? they go see lqr about it.

now, lxc knows their uncle is strict and rigid, but his and lwj's happiness is of utmost importance to lqr. so, he believes he'll be able to talk lqr out of a wedding, even if it will bring both families shame to call the whole thing off so close to the wedding date.

on the other hand, jc has all these plans of storming into the lan house and giving lqr a piece of his mind, lan propriety be damned. this is his brother. he's not spending his life with that ice block.

coincidentally, they both go see lqr at the same time. they have prepared very convincing arguments to convince lqr. they have a 57 slide presentation. (really. lxc made a whole presentation.)

so, anyway, they're there and when they realize they share a common goal, both lxc and jc decide to join hands, hoping to have a better chance to get lqr to agree. they descend on an unsuspecting lqr with their arguments.

lqr just wants to have a nice afternoon in, but now he's been accosted by these two menaces and has no choice but to listen to them to get some quiet.

the more they talk, the worse it gets. lqr is questioning all his life choices. he thought that both lwj & wwx would be happy together, but it seems they're not. both of them are like sons to lqr and he won't have them be unhappy, no matter what.

never mind that he's been planning this wedding for literal years now. his boys will not be trapped in unhappy marriages. so, he agrees to call it all off, everything else be damned. lxc & jc are positively ecstatic at the outcome and run to tell their brothers.

only to walk in on them making out on the couch. it is very graphic. hands are in places lxc will never forget. jc has seen more of his brother's skin before and they shared a bedroom when they were kids. suffice it to say, they both wanna die.

once everyone has gotten their bearings and both wangxian are appropriately dressed, they all sit down and talk. wangxian admit that things changed in the past few weeks and they found themselves falling for e/o and everything is fine and dandy now.

they just didn't tell their brothers bc they've only confessed a couple days ago. they expect both their brothers to be happy about this but they're both so horrified wangxian actually wanna cry. when lxc tells him what they just did, lwj actually does cry.

but, it's no big deal. they can just go to lqr and tell him it was a misunderstanding and they very much do wanna get married. only, jc was very convincing. so, lqr refuses to believe them. he thinks they're both lying to him to keep him happy bc the marriage was his idea.

he absolutely refuses to entertain the idea of a wedding and is in the process of painfully writing out letters to everyone they'd invited to tell them the wedding is off. things did not pan out the way he wanted but lqr assures them he's fine™.

which he obviously very much is not. he wanted them to get married dammit! but that's not happening and they're being so sweet and nice and he really lucked out with such nice boys, he wants to cry. so he does. he cries into his salad while writing those letters.

seeing as how he refuses to believe them, wangxian are now thinking up ways to make him see they're in love. they're happy. they wanna marry each other and adopt a hoarde of grandkids for lqr. but nothing seems to work.

they talk to each other on the phone all the time esp when lqr is near, being nauseatingly sweet, they send e/o tons of presents, they artfully place hickies in visible places for lqr to see, they even arrange for him to walk in on them in a compromising position.

but nothing works. lqr keeps believing they're doing it to make him happy and they don't actually love each other. they're at their wits end. when lxc's new presentation outlining how in love wangxian are also fails, wwx decides he's done.

they're in love and they wanna get married but clearly lqr will not let them, so there is only way left, isn't there? wwx doesn't know how he does it, but he does. he convinces not only lwj, but also lxc and jc that they need to elope.

which is why, on the day that wangxian were supposed to get married in a lavish ceremony in a 5 star hotel, they're at the registrar's office & getting married in court with lxc & jc as the witnesses.

they both hate that lqr isn't there bc he's the one who was the most excited about the wedding. but well, he's the one standing in front of his own dreams and not letting them come true. plus, wwx has assured everyone that they will have a very grand ceremony to make up for this.

when the four of them turn up at the lan household with wangxian all married, lqr, for a second, is sure he's died. there's no way that what he's seeing is real. his boys would not go behind his back to get married. they wouldn't, would they? but they did.

he's not so sure that they were just getting married for his sake now. they actually went ahead and had the ceremony without him. they wouldn't have done that if the wedding was for his happiness alone. so, yeah, he's having a crisis yet again. questioning his choices once more.

there's lots of tears but wangxian promise him that they love each other very much and that they married for the right reasons, and lqr finally settles. he sees the way they look at each other, all giddy and amazed, and knows they're not faking. he's sad to have missed it before.

but, it doesn't matter. they're in love, they're happy, they're married. the rest of it is just science. and, he'll be throwing them a frand reception where they perform all ceremonial rites anyway, so it doesn't really matter. his boys matter the most. he's so happy for them.

but, he makes lxc swear to not even think about marrying without him present. which is why lqr is the first person lxc tells when he proposes to jc. they get married in a huge ceremony with all the pomp & show and they all live happily ever after. ❤