♥️wwx, ☮️ nhs, random headcanon (I could not find the emoji) lwj?
I’ve mentioned this before, but I think Jiang Cheng was always a bit insecure about Wei Wuxian’s bond with Jiang Yanli. He could always just talk to her so easily, about anything he’d been doing or anything that was on his mind, in a way that Jiang Cheng couldn’t.
When Jiang Cheng ropes Wei Wuxian into teaching at Lotus Pier for several month stretches at a time, post-canon, they end up swimming together every night, and that’s how they start getting more comfortable around each other again. I’ve also got a picture of them building a boat together, something they always used to talk about when they were kids. Jiang Cheng is the kind of person who bonds with people by doing activities together, rather than by talking.
Nie Huaisang firmly believes in something like “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,” hence why the most intense relationship of his adult life was with the person whose downfall he was orchestrating, i.e. Jin Guangyao. He didn’t have many friends growing up, I think in part because his brother kept him pretty sheltered, and because while the Nie disciples are certainly fond of him in Fatal Journey, he doesn’t fit in well with that very martially-focused environment. But he really comes out of his shell once he’s older and interacting more with others - he can be pretty charming when he wants to be, and he’s also just so insistent that people don’t really know how to shake him off even if they want to. (“People” primarily being Jiang Cheng.)
So he does know and is familiar with plenty of people - he’s gotta populate his extravagant queer parties somehow - but they’re mostly either artist friends who he’s funding in some way or another, or up and coming politicians who’ve slept with him. He has few intimate, personal friends that don’t have some sort of economic or political entanglement with him, and there is a semi-conscious part of him that’s a bit lonely. Wei Wuxian is kind of a special case when it comes to his friendships because he knew Nie Huaisang back when they were kids and before NHS was cool, and because he doesn’t really need NHS’ money or favours and therefore can kind of let him have it when he deserves it. As a consequence, NHS has p much all of his emotional breakdowns on WWX. And they are dramatic.
In the midst of Lan Wangji’s frequent post-canon bickering with his uncle over proper interpretations of the rules (arguments they both secretly enjoy because they’re intellectually invigorating), he finds an unexpected ally in his second cousin, Jingyi’s mother. She thought he was a bit prissy when they were growing up and didn’t really like him, but now that’s he’s rules lawyering away she gains a sudden respect and appreciation for him.
(I do not think LWJ was very popular among the other Lan disciples when he was a kid. He was considered pretty rigid and uptight even by Lan standards, and being a part of the immediate family only contributed to that impression for his peers.)
