I feel so so so insane. I do not usually ship rarepairs, but now I am suddenly extremely invested in a pairing with no content.
So let me pitch it for you, maybe somebody will be able to see it my way, and will want to chip it too.
It's Lan Sizhui/Wei Wuxian (mdzs). Wait, no, don't go away! I know that when Lan Sizhui was very little Wei Wuxian was in a sort of parental role, he played with him, regularly babysat him, was called gege and joked a few times about being the kid's parent. And it is easy to lean into that. I myself like stories when he literally adopts Wen Yuan. (And when I said that there is no content, I lied a bit, it's just that all of this content leans into pseudo-incestual vibes, and that is not what I want from the pairing). But it is not the only possible angle, especially considering that when they meet again for the first time they don't know each other and start from a new page.
Ok, so first of all, after Wei Wuxian' resurrection they are pretty close in age. Much closer than Wei Wuxian is with anyone from his generation, Jiang Cheng or Lan Zhan. It doesn't take a lot of stretching of the canon to say that Lan Sizhui is 18 (though 16-17 is more likely, for my purposes he is 18) and Wei Wuxian is 21 (I think he is between 21-23, but again, he can be 21)
And now, the concept:
Lan Sizhui is gay (cutsleeve), knows it already for some time, but doesn't share it with anyone for obvious reasons (yes, not even Lan Jingyi). He doesn't have any sort of gay-radar, and even though he knows that people like him exist in theory, he's never met any of them. So meeting Mo Xuanyu for the first time is a bit... interesting. He is quite a bit strange and his family treats him badly, so Lan Sizhui mostly feels pity than something else. And then night hunt turns more dangerous than was expected, and the disciples get over their heads. And then Mo Xuanyu suddenly takes the lead. He is very confident and he knows what he's doing. He is not lost (like Sizhui is). He is unexpectedly competent. And even though he is still a little weird, Mo Xuanyu isn't ashamed or afraid of being himself, it is also an attractive quality. So at this moment Lan Sizhui catches a crush on "Mo Xuanyu". But as soon as Lan Sizhui realises it, Mo Xuanyu disappears without a trace... Now they probably won't meet each other ever again...
But unexpectedly they meet again literally the next day!!! Lan Sizhui is very happy and excited. Mo Xuanyu once again puts himself in a leader's position and saves the day. He takes Sizhui's sword to make his flute! Then there is this whole situation with him maybe being Yiling Patriarch, Lan Sizhui tries to verbally defend him against Jiang Cheng. The whole Dafan Montain ends with several things happening simultaneously:
1) Mo Xuanyu again with no shame and in front of many influential cultivators openly talks about liking men
2) He says that he likes Lan Sizhui's teacher/parental figure (rip)
3) Lan Sizhui's crush goes with them home to Gusu Lan (❤️❤️❤️!!!)
4) against his will... (double rip)
Lan Sizhui sees that Lan Jingyi treats Mo Xuanyu normally, doesn't judge him specifically for being gay, so he is a bit less afraid and decides to share with him. Lan Jingyi is very supportive of him. He tells Sizhui to "go for it" and tells him that he totally has a chance with Mo Xuanyu. The rest of the story he acts as a professional wingman, always talks Lan Sizhui up in front of Wui Wuxian.
Lan Sizhui feels more confident with a crush on Mo Xuanyu than he would be with a crush on somebody else. Yes, he seems to like Hanguang-jun, but it doesn't seem that serious and Hanguang-jun doesn't like men (obviously), and at the very least Sizhui is sure that Mo Xuanyu likes men and wouldn't judge him for the same if he decided to confess.
For Jiang Cheng, when he finds out about Lan Sizhui/Wei Wuxian, it would seem even more that Wei Wuxian moved on. It's not a continuation of whatever's been before, Wei Wuxian starts new life and completely new relationships with new people.
When Wei Wuxian and Lan Sizhui find out about how they knew each other before, it would be a bit awkward for them, but they'd be fine. On the other han, Lan Wangji would freak out privately. I believe that he totally liked to imagine Lan Sizhui as his and Wei Wuxian's child.
Feel free to add anything, talk to me about the pairing, take any ideas from this post and run with them, link me any works with this pairing (no incest though)
