The ship dynamic of "I love you but I will always choose the world over you. I love you but my conscience binds me to the greater good in a way I can never escape. I love you but I would sacrifice you to save the world if I had to, even though it would kill me and I would never forgive myself. I love you and a part of me wishes that I could be the kind of person who would sacrifice everything for you. But I'm not, and I never will be, and if you're going to love me I need you to understand that."
So they say, in the unremarkable is where you find the universe sublime.
Langley wasn't anything special. He wasn't some son of a king or a wealthy businessman. Yet it couldn't have been any other man in Dechliant that could get him to unravel like this.
It was a frustrating, yet intoxicating how much of a spell he had on him. Langley was his antithesis. His tan, sun-kissed skin looks full of life compared to Alexander's pale, corpse-like pallor. His smaller, wiry frame looked diminutive next to Alexander's larger, muscular build.
Cool blue eyes looking down on warm purple ones. Rough, calloused hands grasped on elegant, pianist fingers.
Langley could be any other stranger Alexander normally would miss, yet it couldn't be anyone else. No one else could be this beautiful. It's not him to find comfort in dances with uncertainty, but finding his footing when duty calls is second nature to Alexander.
For now, he embraces the heady thrill that the free fall brings. One clandestine rendezvous at a time.
M Rating for bedroom allusions, nothing graphic though
Canon Divergent Oneshot Set during the lull between Act 3 and 4
Also crossposted on AO3
The dread that clarity brought in refused to settle down.
'Maybe because it's Alexander', Langley thought as he glanced at the man sleeping like a stone beside him. The Supreme Commander of Clavaria in the flesh right before him, literally. His imposing figure somehow remained intimidating, even without the uniform.
A hazy memory resurfaces from the inky depths of drowsiness. Langley couldn't help but grimace at the second-hand embarrassment. He'd never drank before, at least not like last night. But really, the most the alcohol did was fill his head with a warm, pleasant buzz and lower his inhibitions a little to act on desires that were already there. Drunkenness wasn't like how the romance books depicted it to be. He wished it was, so he wouldn't have to confront the truth that for the most part, he was in full control of his actions. He was in full control of the words that left his mouth.
'So,' Langley thought, flushing a little, 'What then, does that say about Alexander? What does it say about him when he was being--'
A murmur from a low, gravelly voice broke him out of his train of thought. Alexander had turned his head to face him. "Qui… vets..?"
Langley feigned confidence. If he was going to be mortified about this, he'll be damned if he wasn't going to bring Alexander with him, "I thought I ordered you to call me Langley instead." He said, a direct allusion to a specific memory.
Alexander turned his head away from Langley, but he could see a flush creeping from his cheeks to his neck. Langley felt smug. 'Hah, got em.'
It took a while before Alexander spoke again, "We slept together."
The urge to reply sarcastically was tempting. Instead he opted for a simple, "Yeah, we did."
A pause settles between them, the silence amplifying the tension to an unbearable degree.
Alexander glanced at Langley, narrowing his eyes, "We shouldn't have." He sat up and stared at his hands, blanket cascading off his chest to reveal his sculpted physique, "I... shouldn't have."
It was hard to get a proper read on what Alexander was really feeling. The room was dimly lit by moonlight flitering through the windows. Alexander wasn't making it easy either. His eyebrows were furrowed but his lips weren't scowling. A bonafide unreadable expression. The mark of a diplomat, through and through.
Langley frowned for the both of them. "Do you regret it?" He craned his head to look Alexander in the eye, "If you could redo and unfeel everything, would you?"
Alexander faced him head on. His brow more furrowed and lips thinned into a fine line, "What's your objective here? What is it you stand to gain from this?"
"I'm not looking to gain anything." It was Langley's turn to avert his gaze, "All I'm saying is, I still meant all the things I'd said. I thought you were-- still think you are attractive. I... wanted to see you disheveled, stripping off that military uniform. That the faces you were making looked so good with your undone hair." The word-choice was deliberate, despite not being verbatim. He's trying not to focus too much on the specifics. Even just by going off the blurred imagery of hazy memories was enough to get his blood rushing below the blankets again.
"I wanted you." Langley pressed harder. He sat up so that now he's eye to eye with Alexander. "I wanted. still want to make a mess out of you." The quick glance to his lips doesn't go unnoticed, and Langley feels an inexplicable warmth pool at his chest.
Alexander looks down and mutters, "You've already made a mess of things." If Langley couldn't see his lips, he wouldn't be able to know. It was barely audible.
He chose to point out another thing entirely, "You never answered my question."
Alexander inhaled sharply and sighed. "It'll be sunrise soon. Won't your associates be looking for you?"
"They'll be fine. I'm honestly still spent." Langley said as he'd returned to laying on his back. "Yours?"
Alexander glanced at the door, "They know not to enter my office until I've already went out for the day. Admittedly, I—" He paused, the look of someone realizing what they're about to say on his face. "I feel like I need more rest."
Langley gestured lazily, "Well... It's your bed, so..."
It was silence again for a while. Langley looked at Alexander intently from the soft pillows. He was right beside him and yet his eyes looked like he was miles away, deliberating every move. The moonlight casted on his troubled face made him look almost ethereal. The same moonlight that illuminated him as he tried to get him on his side. Langley's still not buying his crazy ideals, but damn. Alexander is gorgeous. Like a marble statue, in all ways. He honestly still doesn't know how he managed to get in his bed.
"I..." Alexander paused and looked at Langley's lips. Langley gave him a look of silent understanding. Alexander's throat bobbed as he seemingly swallowed down his hesitance "May I?"
Langley responded by propping himself up his shoulder to make it easier for him. Alexander put one hand on his cheek gingerly and kissed him softly. It was chaste, nothing like the way they made out with so much heat, hunger and want earlier in the evening. And yet, Langley's heart stuttered and filled up with warmth.
personally, i see langlex as familial. i know they were only raised in the same orphanage but zofuri's designs made them look borderline related and i can't see it as anything else. their relationship in canon is also hardly romantic like they both were magnus' mentees for gods sake!
plus, almost every ship fanart i see makes langley look like a goddamn child throwing a tantrum while making alex act like nothing but stoic and masculine. i think this ship fuels the infantilization of langley and is at best weird and at worst fujoshi-levels fetishization.
Honestly it's so sad that that's all you interpret Langlex as. You're free to view their dynamic as familial, but if you go into fandom spaces expecting everyone to adhere to canon, them you're going to consistently let yourself down. Fandom is a celebration of the media, yes. But it's nature is also infinitely transformative, allowing us a glimpse of the things that couldn't be.
Also you curate your own fandom experience, op. For every incorrectly characterized Alexander you see is hundreds more that really get into the psyche of the character. I've written and seen several where Alexander is vulnerable and Langley keeps his cool to comfort or reassure him. It feels in bad faith to put hate on the ship's main tag just because you saw a few bad interpretations of the ship.
WAIT YOU'RE YANGREI ON AO3??? I remember when the fandom was niche and your langlex fics were one of the less than 20 fics on the dechliant fandom tag!
Even to this day, Magicked Strength is still one of my favorite Langlex oneshots! Thank you for your service!!!!
Thank you very much 💙
We were in the trenches, anon haha. It was rough to be part of the few who started shipping at the early hints of their shared past, but theorizing was very fun. I think it's because I've been with this ship for so long that I feel it's such a comfort ship for me.
Honestly I already cringe at a lot of my early oneshots but i'm still really proud of a few specific lines from Magicked Strength.
seeing this reminds me, that since alexander is renowed as the hero that brought order to clavaria, i fully believe that some citizens would make in-universe thirst trap edits of commander alexander evergreen if they could
Let's be real. The real reason why Artemisia gets introduced so late is because so many of the gang's problems in the earlier acts would be solved instantaneously. If she acted like that during the Clavaria arc, can you imagine what she could've done in the other arcs?
Can you IMAGINE her in Act 2? Let alone Act 1??? She would've seen through Alysia's socialite façade immediately. She would've made the fight at Magtroff less dire. So many deaths prevented...
everytime i look into the mirror and feel dysphoric i think about that one interview with fenn where he said that langley is his height and alexander is the height he wished he was
titsay
baratheonpilled
kianamaiart
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
theartofmadeline
