Shen Qingqui: This Man Would Be Exactly My Type If I Were Gay, Bummer I'm Not Into Massive Heavenly Perfect

Shen Qingqui: this man would be exactly my type if I were gay, bummer I'm not into massive heavenly perfect dicks

Wei Wuxian: this man is objectively the most attractive person to ever exist, too bad he's a boring prude made of stone who is also mad at me

Xie Lian: this man must be so beloved by his special someone, I hope our friendship doesn't get in the way of that

Meanwhile:

Luo Binghe: unconditionally obsessed for life since day 1

Lan Wangji: unconditionally obsessed for life since day 1

Hua Cheng: unconditionally obsessed for life since day 1

The discourse around "Wei Wuxian was oblivious" or "Lan Wangji was mean and didn't show his feelings" makes me so tired.

Clearly, many people have not loved someone so much it terrified them, loved a person in such imminent danger that every interaction became tense and difficult. The desire to remove that person from danger, control the situation (or even the person themselves), see them safe makes you yourself a different person entirely.

And on the flipside, the sense of belonging and care so absent and broken that you cannot see what is in front of you. Trust so destroyed (in yourself and others) that you no longer do the work (as you were trained to) to see beyond the cruelty and control as a facade for love and care. To see yourself as a sore and soft creature, encased in a hard weaponized shell that has to fight everything every second to survive, until it no longer seems worth it.

There is no nuance in either perspective, just a profound amount of fear and a drive for survival. MDZS is about war, class disparity, violence on a massive scale that also impacts every single relationship. One of the many reasons I love the story so deeply is that, yes, we see the connection between the two and the potential for so much, but the very reasons they are soulmates -- their values, sense of justice, intensity, dedication, sincerity, etc -- are also the exact reasons there was no option for them to be together under the onslaught of systemic violence.

They both understood that in their own distorted ways, and did not have the time or space to discover what they could make together instead. I think if they had even an iota of a chance to do so -- so close, teased at in LWJ's visit to Yiling with A-Yuan -- they would have tried. But they didn't.

It's all painfully human and real and I love mxtx for that.

I just read that one recently! It's so good. I also had been meaning to bookmark it and read the author's other works so thank you for the reminder. 😈

I had to go hunt for the other ballroom dance one I love, Unstrictly Ballroom by Ariaste. I didn't know anything about the different ballroom dances and both of these taught me a lot about competitive dancing. Also again underlining varied my velocities above for also having fantastic gender discussion and just :chefskiss: wangxian dynamics. It's bottomji, if anyone happens to mind switching. (One of my favorite bottomji fics.)

[Also haikyu literally made me able to watch volleyball and appreciate it, I love sports anime as well despite, again, not caring for irl sports at all LOL]

Just finished Waiting for Spring by thievinghippo despite actively not giving af about baseball and had that postfic high of the closure and relief that so often comes with Wangxian. I love them so much. I love how well they can be put into so many AU and still be them. Different authors always highlight different themes from MDZS, whether it's A-Yuan, WWX's exile or sense of justice, LWJ's moral growth or clan challenges, all the side characters, family dynamics, betrayals, grief, hope... I eat it all up.

(And whew the quality smut of this fic and the fandom overall is definitely a huge plus.)

A hundred sword strikes

studying alone on a friday night? 🤨

Mxtx love interests and their relationships with captivity are fascinating and all, but I’d rather just focus on how funny Hua Cheng’s is in particular.

We have Luo Binghe‘s creepy replica bamboo hut and the tragic horror of watching him succumb to his worst impulses and try destroying the world to trap Shen Qingqiu by his side.

We have Lan Wangji warring internally with himself for years over his smothering need to hide Wei Wuxian from the world and save him from himself.

And then there’s Hua Cheng

Professional Gege Catch and Release Wildlife Expert Hua Cheng.

This man is a gege rehabilitation facilitator who does what he loves and loves what he does.

He tags his gege with a gps tracker so he can study his migration patterns. He humanely traps and relocates his gege whenever he’s strayed into danger.

If you hit a gege with your car, all you need to do is call Hua Cheng and he’ll be there with an animal control slip leash, a GoPro to promote his TikTok campaign promoting awareness of gege welfare and conservation to the masses, and Yin Yu is on the phone preparing the treatment center for a new arrival.

He’s one of those guys who lovingly cares for a feral cat colony in his backyard, providing handmade housing with heating and regular check ups.

He’s insane don’t get me wrong. But his crippling self doubt and unbreakable compulsion to provide merged in such a weird way, it comes off a little more wildlife rescue than I think is intended.