inspired by this post by @evilhasnever re: JGY using his spy skills to find places for he and LXC to sneak off to 👀
husband: are you drawing gay sword wizards kissing again? me: I AM PROVIDING AN IMPORTANT SERVICE TO MY COMMUNITY 😤
smoooochiieeesssss!
DRAWTOBER #31 - A Retrospective by @evilhasnever
Lan Xichen cannot make sense of the scattered pictures of Jin Guangyao in his head. He erases and repeats his attempts until his fingers are caked with paint, his lungs burning, his eyes as dry as his throat. Eventually, he settles for the Meng Yao of the first day they met, fresh faced, svelte and clever, without any ornament but the glow of his youth. It is not that Lan Xichen loved him more then - though he already did love him - it is merely that Meng Yao of Yunping had been both a beginning and a turning point. - In seclusion, Lan Xichen paints something a little too real. (A Dorian Gray inspired ghost story)
my final fic for this year, rounding up drawtober with a truly spinechilling rec. in seclusion Xichen paints Meng Yao, and summons... something.
(if like me you're a sad little bitch who craves happy endings, check out the sequel for a more hopeful resolution 😌)
DRAWTOBER #29 - Writ In Blood by @dangerouscommiesubversive
Someone or something is killing the Jins, and Jiang Yanli is afraid for her own safety and that of her husband and baby. At her wit's end and too exhausted to take matters into her own hands, she reaches out to her old friend Lan Xichen, who hurries out to Carp Manor to investigate. Can he track down this spirit whose grudge is strong enough that its death count is at six and set to get higher? And if he does, will he be able to stop it in time?
despite the incredibly dark premise, this fic is actually a LOT of fun! I really love all the characterisations in this - particularly how no-nonsense Yanli is once she finally finds out who the ghost is (resolving tension by demanding he sit down, shut up, and hold the baby until he feels better???? incredible), and Xichen calling everyone "dear" is not something I've seen in any other modern AU, but you know what? it works really well here. I also love that Meng Yao gets to be a little bit Extra(TM), because he deserves it. a surprisingly upbeat story with the deeply unnerving undercurrent of a cheerfully homocidal ghost 👌
DRAWTOBER #27 - Sweet dreams (are made of this) by @evilhasnever
Lan Xichen could see ghosts since he was a child, though he could not hear them like his brother Wangji can. When he runs from the burning of the Cloud Recesses, he is saved by a silent boy who takes care of him and follows him like a shadow for years to come. But what is Meng Yao’s unfinished business? Will Lan Xichen be spared from his resentment? Alternatively: how different would the story be if Meng Yao had been a ghost all along?
we are now heading into the mandatory Halloween Section of drawtober and today I present to you the first of the ghost!meng yao fics. this manages to be both spinechilling and very sweetly heartwarming, with a gorgeous xiyao dynamic and, rarely, a very interesting dynamic between Wangji and Meng Yao! a great little read to get you into the spooky mood
DRAWTOBER #20 - Perchance to Dream by Jinkandtherebels
If Lan Xichen merely wanted him, Jin Guangyao could adjust. He is nothing if not adaptable. If Lan Xichen is in love with him, then that is something else entirely.
a gorgeous little fic that uses the infamous incense burner for, in the author's words, "sappy" reasons rather than horny ones, and it's delightful. presenting JGY with what is essentially a vision of an alternate life, of what his life could be, and writing a LXC who is so carefully respectful of JGY's trauma and ambition... [chef's kiss] I love it. a brilliant take on a canon element that navigates the complex elements of where xiyao's personal issues crossover and delivers a lovely combination of yearning and fluff, without veering into anything saccharine.
DRAWTOBER #16 - a micro utopia born as the overture plays by tardigradeschool
Lan Xichen pauses before he speaks. He often does. “A-Yao, will you…?” There are any number of things that Lan Xichen might be about to say. He might be about to say, “A-Yao, will you cook breakfast while I bathe in the river?” But then, there is a gravity to his tone, and a flush on his cheeks. So perhaps it will be, “A-Yao, will you do that thing with your tongue?” Or even more thrillingly, “A-Yao, will you teach me how to do that thing with your tongue?” Lan Xichen does not say any of these things. He says, “A-Yao, will you marry me? If we both survive the war, will you marry me?” . Lan Xichen proposes before the war. Somehow, through the property of transitivity, Wei Wuxian becomes Meng Yao’s problem to solve.
usually I find AUs were Meng Yao chooses a relationship/marriage over joining the Jins somewhat unrealistic and a bit OOC, but this one somehow really just works. Meng Yao never stops being his sneaky, sharp, scheming self just because he becomes Lan Xichen's husband, and it gives us the wonderful trope of him winding up fixing half of canon's issues because LXC needs to be happy > therefore LWJ needs to be happy > therefore WWX needs to not be dying of malnutrition in the burial grounds. and we all know that Meng Yao's love language is Solve Your Problems For You. overall it's a very fun and sweet little AU that hits that very indulgent what if without patronising Meng Yao or disregarding his personality.
DRAWTOBER #12 - Something is Rotten in the State of Lanling by @eastofakkala
In which Madam Qin tells her daughter instead of her daughter’s betrothed about why she and Jin Guangyao can’t get married. Angry and humiliated, Qin Su comes up with a way out for both of them. Or, Qin Su saves the day.
Jin sibs bonding fic!! in which Qin Su and MXY are far more happy jumping on the violent enthusiastic patricide bandwagon than JGY is quite prepared for, and he isn't certain whether to be proud or horrified of his bloodthirsty younger siblings! though there are a few emotional ups and downs, this is largely just a super fun hilarious fix-it with the three younger Jin sibs trying and failing to murder their dad, and what more could you ask of from a fix-it???? not only is there wonderful genuinely heartfelt bonding between JGY, QS and MXY, but even JZX gets some character development, and the plot is a really enjoyable romp through the twists and turns of attempted patricide.
DRAWTOBER #9 - The Oriole, Caught by Moonsheen
A rogue cultivator and his cult have captured the young niece of Nie Huaisang. A shame there's more to this young Nie lady then they expected. It seems even beyond the grave, Liangfang-zun keeps getting caught in his own old schemes.
technically I already rec'd this series back in 2020, but I had to include it this year because the author published a new fic in the series and it's just so- [screams, cries, etc.] Nie Minglin is no stranger to grappling with the consequences of her past life as Jin Guangyao - she was raised by Nie Huaisang, after all - but this fic introduces a rather more immediate threat in the form of a kidnapping by a cult leader who claims to be able to see the sins of people's past lives...
I won't give any more details because I don't want to spoil it but I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS SERIES ENOUGH. GO READ IT.
DRAWTOBER #5 - two bowls shatters loneliness and melancholy by @spinecorset
Lan Xichen is wearing sea-dark robes. Settled at his guqin across from Jin Guangyao, bathed in light that makes the silver-threaded clouds and eddies that swirl delicately and yet with surety across the understated fabric spark and glimmer, eyes half-mast as his slender fingers pick across the strings, the length of his neck accentuated by how his hair has slipped from his shoulders and spilt down the stretch of his spine, he looks like something out of a painting, or perhaps one of Jin Guangyao’s carefully hidden fantasies. He pays attention to the notes, carefully reproduces them, but his mind is—elsewhere. He cannot be blamed—if asked, he would merely say he was admiring his sworn brother’s famed beauty, and this is true, but only inasmuch as an apple is part of an orchard. Instead, his mind—the one weapon he has honed since his youth, what has helped him survive through the furious whirl of public rumour mills, of Wen Ruohan’s inner court, of the pit of vipers he now faces among the wider gentry as the bastard Jin—spins, like a top let loose, string pulled too violently, gone wild and swaying sharply, held upright only by the force of its movement. - AKA Lan Xichen seduces Jin Guangyao with fashion: the fic.
this is such a hilarious execution of an attempt to justify LXC's Fuck Me Robes and it's thoroughly entertaining reading poor JGY do his best not to dissolve into a horny mess whilst the two of them play Cleansing for NMJ. I love any fic where LXC gets to be a little bit schemey, a little bit cheeky, and be sexy on purpose, and this one is a very fun read through LXC's sartorial seduction attempts! it could perhaps be renamed "5 times Lan Xichen drove Jin Guangyao slightly crazy by how sexy he is + 1 time Jin Guangyao (very smugly) returned the favour" 😌
MISTER BLUE (ALTERNATIVE VERSION) | CATHERINE FEENY
he's mister blue... because lan... means blue... get it? 😭
(there is sound! just give it a second or two)
"what if Meng Shi didn't die" is an AU concept that I ADORE, not only because I genuinely believe her presence would fix a decent amount of JGY's shit (one of JGY's most significant core motivations is Making Mama Proud, and I do think that if she'd been alive to tell him that enduring constant emotional and physical abuse from the Jins just isn't fucking worth it, he might have done things pretty differently), but also because having his own mum witness his Fall In Love/Lifelong Obsession With Every Tall Handsome Man Who's Nice To Him tendencies would be inherently hilarious
also Xichen and Meng Shi would be bffs IMMEDIATELY. this man is the ideal son in law, and he hasn't had any maternal influence in his life since he was like eight years old, so JGY is definitely gonna become the third wheel if he lets them interact for more than a couple hours dkfjlsjfklsfd
@guqin-and-flute expressed a sadness that there aren't more 3zun smooches in the world, so obviously I had to remedy that!!!
NieLan wound up with the most hilariously BRO kiss pose ever. truly they are beefcake4beefcake ✊
because you matter to me / simple and plain and not much to ask from somebody / you matter to me / I promise you do / you matter too / I promise you do / you matter to me / you’ll see
I just feel like the soft tender yearning of "You Matter To Me" by Sara Bareilles is EXCEEDINGLY xiyao (though I tweaked the lyrics a little for JGY), and I feel like Jenna's lines that are added to it in the musical Waitress are really how we all feel about JGY in xiyao -
I hope someday, somebody wants to hold you for twenty minutes straight. They don't pull away, they don't look at your face, and they don't try to kiss you. All they do is wrap you up in their arms and hold on tight without an ounce of selfishness to it. I hope you become addicted, baby. I hope you become addicted to sayin' things, and having them matter to someone.