#lan xingchen

[mdzs-fics]

Shorter stories 2

I've been reading a lot more short stories lately; stories with only a few chapters and 10k words or less. Here are a few to read over the remaining nights of summer. Note that some of these tales are darker, so be sure to check tags.

Break my heart myself by Sesugi

Mature 7 chapters 7k words

Wei Wuxian walks away from Lan Zhan, leading Little Apple. He returns after being found near death. Things are not all right for a while thereafter.

There are triggers listed in the Additional Tags. Pay attention. The story does end on a hopeful note, but it takes a bit to get there.

from the middle, this time with a plan by ShippersList

1 chapter 8k words

Wen Xu awakens, not to the afterlife, but to a time years before his death at the hands of Nie Mingjue. He decides to live this time around.

For those of us who believe that time-travel fix-it stories do not have to hover around Wangxian to be satisfying.

He Lian Xin: Lan-er-furen by Sa_To_Ri_SadlyWithoutExclamationMarks

7 chapters 5k words

Wei Wuxian dies during the siege. And his spirit sticks around long enough to bring A-Yuan to Gusu with a letter from He Lianxin, Lan Zhan's "wife".

People wonder but eventually accept.

Confirmation appears in a follow-up Epilogue.

And We Shall Not Go Gently by brysbeddixt

1 chapter 3k words

This is a brief snippet into a Zhancheng AU, beginning with a demand from a "diplomatic party" of Jin and Lan that gets stopped in its tracks. The rest takes place in the Jiang receiving hall. Pre-Zhancheng pairing, with Wei Wuxian and the Wen in Lotus Pier.

There is another work listed under the series title Of Our Own . I really enjoyed this relatively unique pair.

of night and light, and the half-light by stiltonbasket

1 chapter 2k words

A poignant discussion about mortality as seen through Lan Sizhui's eyes when he notes a white hair on his Father who has turned fifty-two.

This is part of Author stiltonbasket's Two Moons and a Fortnight series. . [Note that the series is restricted to registered users of AO3. An invitation link is provided on the home page of AO3]

Curse The GusuLan Elders! by JaenysBloodcourt

2 chapters 8k words

While Lan Zhan and Sizhui go on a night hut, Gusu Lan elders seize Wei Wuxian and hold a staged trial, followed by the use of the discipline whip. Rescued by Lan Xichen, he knows he's not going to live long enough to see Lan Zhan's return. He convinces Lan Xichen to work on a ritual that does not lead to his recovery but does send himself back in time. Things change, and two years after, Lan Zhan returns to the Burial Mounds.

Followed by a story of the return from the night hunt and what follows after. The Ones Left Behind is the logical aftermath of the Elders foolishness.

[thebiscuiteternal]

So there's a few spooky SangYao asks, can we get one where Mingjue and Xichen are also involved?

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Nie Mingjue grumbled as he leaned on a fencepost. "What even is the point? We hunt actual ghosts and monsters for a living."

"Because Huan-ge has never been to one and wants the experience," Meng Yao said, idly checking his email on his phone. "And none of us can say no to him."

"You least of all," Nie Huaisang added with a smirk as he poked his brother in the side with the paper fan that was part of his costume.

Mingjue muttered something under his breath that probably involved a few creative curse words, then folded his arms and looked away, face red.

Huaisang and Meng Yao glanced sidelong at each other, then both had to bite their tongues to keep from snickering. It really was too easy to pick on Da-ge about his helplessness in the face of his boyfriend's enthusiasm.

Though... now that they thought of it...

Huaisang took out his phone and checked for any new texts, as did Meng Yao.

Nothing.

"Da-ge, have you heard from him yet?"

"It's not like him at all to be this la-"

"Sorry!" Lan Huan's voice called from the entrance to the haunted house grounds before Meng Yao could finish or Mingjue could answer. "Something came up at the school that needed approval, and A-Zhan had already left."

None of the three ghost hunters already waiting could help their amusement. They'd all seen just how much Lan Zhan was tying himself in knots over tonight, given it was both his husband's birthday and the anniversary of their engagement.

"It's fine," Nie Mingjue said, holding out Lan Huan's ticket. "They're going to be open all night so we've got plenty o-"

A chaotic chorus of screams suddenly exploded from the house. Given they'd been waiting around for a little over an hour, they could tell that the flood of people bolting from every possible exit -doors and windows both- weren't acting according to the schedule.

Especially since some of them were clearly the house's actors.

"What th-"

Fog erupted from the windows in the shapes of snarling packs of dogs, but they didn't run far before swirling up the sides of the house to coalesce into a shrieking ghost.

"Oh." They all turned their heads in Lan Huan's direction to see his expression of excitement quickly fall into a mix of concern and disappointment. "That one's real, isn't it?"

Mingjue pressed his mouth into a thin line.

Meng Yao and Huaisang looked at each other and shook their heads.

Then all three silently drew their weapons -or in Huaisang's case, his talisman beads- from the between spaces in their clothing.

Hopefully they'd be able to get the actors to come back once they'd taken care of this.

[trans-axian-archive]

wangxian specific dumbassery for my motorcycle au:

- wei wuxian takes lan wangji to a petting zoo one day expecting him to only mildly enjoy it but he ends up being absolutely Enamoured by the rabbits and that's when wei wuxian realizes he likes lan wangji

- lan wangji realizes he likes wei wuxian two months after that fateful day in the library when he runs up to lan wangji in the hallway after his art class proudly presenting a very nice drawing of a rabbit very cheerily telling him "look lan zhan! I made it for you!"

- lan wangji comes to the hospital every day for 13 months and plays the guqin for wei wuxian....

- mo xuanyu basically saves wei wuxians life by donating blood and lan wangji is so thankful that he saved The Boy Of His Dreams that he makes mo xuanyu a little thank you card and mo xuanyu is so absolutely thrown and touched that lan "cold as ice" wangji with a bad case of resting bitch face did such a sweet thing

- before they start dating wei wuxian comes to school one fine winter day in a mesh shirt no jacket in sight and he tries to be all "I'm not cold I don't FEEL temperature that's how punk I am" but he's Visibly shivering so lan wangji takes his big blue cardigan and wraps it around wei wuxians shoulders and they both sit there faces so red they match wei wuxians hair ribbon

- after they start dating jiang cheng corners lan wangji after school one day to make sure lan wangji knows that if he Ever hurts his older brother jiang cheng will break his legs so throughly they'll never heal

- they'll sit in the back of class and lan wangji will press soft kisses all over wei wuxians face and neck while wei wuxian just giggles and squeals "hehe lan zhan that tickles!! lan zhan stoooooop hehe lan zhaaaaaan!"

- their first kiss is two days after they start dating when they're working on homework and lan wangji looks up to like. ask to use wei wuxians pencil sharpener but there's a piece of hair falling over his face so wei wuxian reaches forward and brushes it behind his ear and lan wangji just takes a deep breath and carefully sets all his school work to the side and asks wei wuxian if he can kiss him. it is messy and wetter than they thought it would be and wei wuxian is giggling and they don't know what to do with their hands but it's okay that it's not perfect, they have plenty of time to practice

- The Confession goes something like this: lan wangji and wei wuxian are in some quiet corner at a new years party and wei wuxian is just sitting there thinking GOD he's so beautiful GOD I want to kiss him and maybe he's a little tipsy on expensive champagne so he just looks at lan wangji and goes "I want to kiss you so bad right now" and it's one of those moments where someone says something that's Not supposed to be heard by 20 people but it happens to be said at the exact time that the conversation in a room full of 20 people is at a lull and Everybody hears him say it. so everybody is sort of just looking at them, mix of shock, relief, and fear of what will come next thick in the air before lan xichen, bless his heart, very pointedly starts up the conversation again. and lan wangji didn't even Notice the 30 seconds of silence because he's just so caught up in looking at wei wuxian thinking what w h a t What WHAT and wei wuxian starts to panic and tries to give an explanation saying how he's liked lan wangji for so long and he really thinks he's So great and just wants to make out with him and never stop but it's not just that he thinks he's hot he really might be in love Wait What and lan wangji is still just staring at him thinking someone must have spiked his tea because none of this can be real but at this point wei wuxian really doesn't have anything else to say (for once in his life) and he's truly starting to consider the pros and cons of leaping out the second story window right next to him before jiang cheng comes over and goes "get a ROOM!" and dramatically points down the hall. so wei wuxian snatches lan wangji's hand and drags him down the hall to his bedroom and lan wangji has been in his room TONS of times why does this feel so much heavier why is he so nervous why is this Different and our boy lan wangji has just finished processing what's happening but he's a reserved boy with 17 years of impeccable manners ingrained into him and he's never kissed anyone in his Life so he leans forward and presses one soft kiss to wei wuxians cheek, and the other boy looks like a lifetime of stress has just been lifted from him, and so lan wangji takes his hand and says very simply, "I love you too" and at this point wei wuxian is just so overcome with pure joy that he breaks out in fits of laughter, and if lan wangji didn't know him so well he would be hurt, but he Does know him so he just gets to sit there and revel in the smile of the boy he adores for just a few moments

[mdzs-fics]

Autumn River by thewordyhibiscus

Time travel fix-it 5 chapters (complete) 28k words

[Must have an account with Archive of Our Own in order to read. An invitation is readily provided on the website.]

Wangji steps right up to the bed to take Wei Wuxian’s hand like he’s handling a rare book. Jiang Yanli leans forward to whisper in his ear; Wangji nods and says, “Wei Ying need not worry. I am here now.”

The broad contentment suffused with love that blooms across Wei Wuxian’s young face is entirely too big an expression for it—his very countenance softens, tension easing out of his shoulders.

“So you are, now,” he says, smiling and Lan Qiren watches in mute awe. He’s never seen any delirium quite like this; the thing in his mind’s eye begins to take on a little more definition. “I had a very strange dream today, you know. I dreamed that Shijie and Yu-furen and Jiang-shushu were all alive.”

The Jiang siblings flinch and Jiang Fengmian crosses the room to put his arms around his children, exhaustion written across every cun of his expression. This is certainly only a small sample of what they’ve been dealing with for three days now.

Wangji does not flinch. Instead, he considers this. “Why was it strange?”

Cangse Sanren’s son smiles at Lan Qiren’s nephew, a cheery expression contrasting his rumpled robes and his pallid face. Qi pulses through the room, warm and pillowy. “I don’t actually remember it happening. I’ve never fallen ill enough to be tended by Shijie before the guest lectures.”

Autumn River begins with Lan Qiren and his two nephews travelling to a decidedly off-kilter Lotus Pier at the request of Jiang Fengmian. The three are brought to the room of a delirious Wei Wuxian, who has been calling for them for three days. He calls Lan Qiren "Shufu" with relief when he hears his voice. A voice that he shouldn't know, as Lan Qiren knows that this is the first time they've met.

What follows are conversations, demonstrations of power, revelations, a settling of Wei Wuxian's relationships at Lotus Pier and the beginnings of a betrothal. The world is not yet set to rights, but Wei Wuxian is not going to be alone in working to that end.

This well told story uses Lan Qiren's point-of-view, which is refreshing.