Part Two! ✌🏻

to wwx’s immense chagrin they’ve unfortunately Unionized™

(another messy chengsang meme comic since its been a few weeks)

that thing with the arrows in tgcf 235 that i still can’t believe feng xin can just DO

[I doubt this will be done by Nie Huaisang's birthday, but we'll see.]

Jiang Cheng looked different.

Not drastically so, of course, but to the eyes of someone who has spent an inordinate amount of time cataloguing his features, the way he moved, every minute detail about him, the differences were undeniable.

To someone like Nie Huaisang.

He had always been tall and handsome and well-built, of course. Nie Huaisang hadn't been able to look away, from the moment Jiang Cheng and his shixiong had arrived at the Cloud Recesses all those years ago. (Had it really been five years? It seemed like it was just yesterday. It seemed like several lifetimes.) Nie Huaisang's eyes were always drawn to him, drinking in everything about him, committing it to memory so he could recreate it with his brush by candlelight. He had filled so much paper with Jiang Cheng's likeness, really it was a wonder that Jiang Cheng never found them in his room. That would have been so embarrassing, and difficult to explain away.

The point was, at fifteen, Jiang Cheng had already been the most beautiful boy Nie Huaisang had ever seen. But now… he was taller for one. They both were, but comparatively the height difference was greater than it had been five years ago. His chest was broader, tapering down to a waist just as narrow as it had been. He had already been strong and sleekly muscled, Nie Huaisang had seen that plenty of times, when they had snuck to the creek and Jiang Cheng had swam in only his trousers. (Nie Huaisang hadn't known how to swim, he never ventured far into the water. Jiang Cheng swam like he'd been born in the water.) Jiang Cheng had filled out since then, the flowing silk of his sleeves could not hide the bulge of his biceps, and the collars of his robe strained to cross over his pectorals.

And his face. Five years, grief and war had melted away what baby fat had still been there at fifteen. His cheekbones were now exquisitely defined, his jawline so sharp that Nie Huaisang wondered if it could possibly cut his skin if he ran his fingers on it.

He had learned to school his expressions better, befitting the leader of a major clan.(It didn't matter that Yunmeng Jiang had been decimated, that its ranks were full of rogues or new recruits younger even than their leader, Jiang Cheng stood proud and commanding and if not everyone agreed that it was still one of the great clans, Nie Huaisang was certain that they would before long). But his eyes. No matter how impassive and dignified his expression, Jiang Cheng's eyes were full of storms, emotion shone in them like the crackle of electricity at his fingers.

Those eyes widened now, as he saw Nie Huaisang coming towards him. They softened, like clouds clearing after a storm, and those lips that Nie Huaisang had drawn so many times, had dreamed of so many nights, those lips quirked up into a smile. For him.

Without saying anything, and before Nie Huaisang could react, Jiang Cheng strode across the distance between them and enveloped him in a fierce hug, strong arms tight around him.

He really was substantially taller than Nie Huaisang than before. It was a little bit like being hugged by dage. Well, not really. Dage's hugs didn't set his heart racing like this, after all.

Nie Huaisang let Jiang Cheng pull him up on tiptoes while Jiang Cheng hunched protectively around him, bowing his head so his lips were by Nie Huaisang's ear.

"It's so good to see you," his voice was a raspy whisper. It made Nie Huaisang's hands clutch tightly at his robes.

How long had it been since they'd last seen each other? Nie Huaisang couldn't recall. Months. Not quite a year. Too long.

Jiang Cheng finally released him, setting him back on his heels and stepped back, looking a little sheepish at his display.

Nie Huaisang hastily straightened his robes before clasping his hands together in a bow. "Jiang-zongzhu."

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes at him. "Don't do that, Huaisang, there's no need."

He ducked his head to hide his smile. He would have pulled out his fan, snapped it open to hide behind, but something in Jiang Cheng's intense gaze stopped him.

"Jiang-xiong," he amended.

"Better," Jiang Cheng scoffed, lips quirking into a smile. He held out his arm and Nie Huaisang slipped his hand through. It felt comforting and familiar to walk arm in arm with Jiang Cheng like this, in this place.

"I only heard that you arrived a little while ago," Nie Huaisang said. "I'm glad I caught you before you left."

"I'm staying the night," Jiang Cheng said. "Besides, I wouldn't have left without seeing you."

ah…the timeless taste of gay chicken

Thinking about Sokka and Zuko loving each other but they both know that because of their responsibilities and positions they’d never be able to be together, so to protect each other it’s always just this unspoken thing, and they’re both often left wondering if it’s all in their head, and the other doesn’t feel the same way, then one day Zuko finally gives into the pressure and gets married to a woman of his advisors and the royal council’s choosing, and Sokka’s there because of course he’s there he’s always going to support his best friend. And he’s happy for him he really is, he’s so happy that Zuko’s happy, because Zuko is happy, right? All he want’s is for him to be happy, even if it’s not with him, which why would it be? It could never be with him. But as long as Zuko’s happy, he’s happy. Or at least that’s what he keeps telling himself.

lucissa post of the day but one of my favorite headcanons for them is that they weren't really the match narcissa's family had in mind for her. the malfoys are filthy rich, but we have canon info that they did sometimes marry half bloods to yk avoid inbreeding, even bellatrix diminishes lucius on this basis, favoring the Crouch family, saying that they're one of the only true purebloods left.. It got me thinking that lucius was not considered pure enough for the Blacks and a huge fight ensued, the first involving narcissa, because she was promised to wed a Crouch (diff branch than Barty) but she put her foot down that she did want to marry her boyfailure way-too-blonde high school sweetheart.. it worked and they eventually warmed up to him a bit (but Bella ofc) and it ended up being pretty nice because money and they actually loved each other so

Why is Jin Ling the way that he is (85% Jiang Cheng by mass), despite having presumably been raised mostly in Lanling - you know, the sect he’s going to inherit? A series of headcanons by me:

For at least a year following his brother’s the Yiling Patriarch’s apparent death, Jiang Cheng had a vibe like he was one word, half a sideways glance, a single split hair from snapping and killing everyone in this room and then himself. This only intensified when he was holding his sister’s son. And he held his sister’s son whenever physically possible. So they, uh. They let him keep the baby. Jin Guangshan was furious when Sect Leader Jiang just kind of stormed into Carp Tower and took his grandson, and everyone let him, but he finally saw Jiang Cheng face to face and it was like…you know what you can keep him. It’s okay. It wasn’t even a politically manipulable rage, it was so ABUNDANTLY clear that anyone who tried would also die. So Jin Ling lived in Lotus Pier and was carried around by his uncle like 24/7.

When this was starting to abate, Jin Guangyao’s son, Jin Rusong, was born. Coincidentally and tragically, Jin Guangshan dies shortly thereafter. 

Not in words, no, goodness no. Not even in actions. Maybe in non-actions - in Jin Ling only being invited to spend about one week out of every four in Carp Tower, in Jiang Cheng making no real move to find a wife - Jiang Cheng and Jin Guangyao have an agreement for several years. If one day Jin Ling were to give up to his cousin his claim on LanlingJin, and inherit YunmengJiang instead…that’d be okay. 

Then Jin Rusong dies and Jin Guangyao is a practical man, and begrudgingly so is Jiang Cheng: Jin Ling really needs to be spending more like 3 weeks in Carp Tower to every 1 in Lotus Pier. He needs to be raised by his father’s family, of whom he will one day be the head.

But it’s TOO LATE! The boy has spent his impactful first like five years learning to be shouty and straightforward! And moreover, Jiang Cheng has, uh, opinions about things, so little Jin Ling’s gonna hear Jin Guangyao and Qin Su’s advice to, like, smile and make friends even when he doesn’t want to, and he’ll be like, “well that’s DUMB. I WON’T.” They’re probably genuinely trying to parent him and still! This is how it goes! 

Maybe it would’ve sunk in eventually, but he kept going back to Lotus Pier for a week out of every month for positive reinforcement - because you cannot actually tell me that even when Jin Ling was at his brattiest, the entirety of Jiang Sect didn’t pick up on their sect leader’s energy of “this child will be CHERISHED or YOU WILL ALL DIE.” Not, you know, explicitly cherished, but…it beats the annoying court politics and terrible cousins of Carp Tower hands down

(in fact, you KNOW Jin Guangyao could’ve somehow arranged for Jin Ling to have more friends at Carp Tower, and instead he actively chose to be sure he would be Jin Ling’s only real ally there, and tbh that’s why he needed to die.)

TLDR Jin Ling imprinted early on the angry grape and part of that imprinting meant he was resistant to all other options for how to be, and also it got continuously reinforced by the directions from which he did and did not receive love

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

A little FengQing comic I did for my patrons a bit ago 💚

*me, getting out of my dissociative state to log back on my mdzs bullshit for a hot second:* there really wasn't much of a choice for Nie Huaisang but to send those girls with Jiang Cheng. No matter how upright Lan Xichen was, he didn't trust him enough to play the role of a neutral judge given how close he was to Jin Guangyao. Nie Huaisang couldn't take care of that part without disturbing the wishy-washy persona he carefully crafted for himself in front of the entire world. But Jiang Cheng? Relentless. A dog with a bone. He'd get to the bottom of the matter and dig out all the facts in less than 2 hours, never mind if someone he should be cultivating strong and stable alliances with is at the centre of the storm. Trust the leader of the sect represented by the flower that blooms in the mud to lend his ear to a servant girl and a prostitute.

xie lian: mu qing, are you still undressed? you've been in your room for hours now.

mu qing: *breathless* I just... I just can't find any nice clothing... to wear.

xie lian: what do you mean? your closet has a lot of nice things.

*xie lian opens up the door to the closet*

xie lian: see? shirts, pants, hi fengxin, shoes...