MDZS a/b/o where Wei Wuxian is scorned by the cultivation world for remaining in combat after presenting as an omega, and he assumes that must include Lan Zhan.
(But he's actually mistaking worry, jealousy, and confusion for scorn.)
Because they WERE working their way towards a friendship (WWX thought so, anyway) when he went into his first heat in Gusu. The first rule Lan Zhan ever willfylly broke was when WWX begged him to help him hide it, to keep it a secret. He always assumed Lan Zhan hated him for it.
To be fair, Lan Zhan SEEMED angry every time he had to lie about where Wei Ying was, or when he watched Wei Ying sparring and hunting with alphas, and Wei Ying always figured it was because Lan Zhan thought it was inappropriate for someone of his gender. That he was disgusted.
Will never stop thinking about how the cultivation world was content to use Wei Wuxian’s demonic cultivation as a weapon to bring down tyrants, then called him a monster when THEY were the ones who became what they were fighting.
They REALLY said, “oh look, a young gay person is trying to hold us accountable for war crimes, let’s frame him, murder him, then steal the cultivation method we ostracized him for using 🤪”
and i mention "gay person" because whether or not he was OUT at the time there are so many implications in his character, his refusal to carry a sword, the connotations behind his later hairstyle, and the often gender fluid way that he refers to himself that make him queer coded
Thinking about Xie Lian never getting his first kiss in high school—mainly because the kid he babysat, Hong-er, kept interrupting Xie Lian and his boyfriend at the WORST moments, almost like it was on PURPOSE.
(Xie Lian gets his first kiss when he’s 25, from…well…)
AND It’s not like Xie Lian NEEDED to babysit anyone, but Hong-er was a foster kid always getting into trouble in the neighborhood that took a liking to XL when he saved him from a group of bullies, and he stopped trying to run away when XL started watching him after school 🤧
They first met when Xie Lian was 14 and Hong-er was 8, and XL didn’t understand what anyone else was talking about when they called the kid a ‘menace.’ He was SUPER sweet, never raised his voice, always did anything XL asked!
I love physically protective Hua Cheng and everything but I am WEAK for emotionally protective Hua Cheng.
Like someone offhandedly saying something casually cruel to Xie Lian, watching his husband trying to smile and laugh it off, and Hua Cheng going fucking NUCLEAR
And Xie Lian was so accustomed to people being cruel and dismissive of him before, but now, after years with Hua Cheng, he’s gotten used to being treated with complete respect and gentleness and…
The words get to him, sometimes.
And all it takes is Hua Cheng seeing his beloved’s eyes widen slightly and his lips press a little tighter together for him to KNOW that Xie Lian is bothered, and he responds with a quiet, trembling wrath that makes the person who uttered the insult flee