love, in fire and blood
by cicer
E, 360k, wangxian
Summary: “You want Wen Ruohan dead,” the Patriarch continued idly. “You want his corpse puppets eliminated. You want his halls burned to the ground and his soldiers disemboweled and begging for mercy. Have I about covered it?”
He gave another knife-edged smile.
“But what will you give me in return?”
“We would be willing to offer quite a bit in return for Wen Ruohan’s defeat,” Lan Xichen admitted. “But I’m afraid we don’t know what an immortal such as yourself desires. Please advise us.”
The Patriarch waved at hand at the front of the tent. “I want Second Young Master Lan.”
(In which the Sunshot Campaign ends through an arranged marriage to the Yiling Patriarch, and Lan Wangji suffers the mortifying ordeal of falling in love with his own husband.)
My comments: LWJ is traded to the mysterious, powerful (sassy) immortal, the Yiling Patriarch, in exchange for him ending WRH and the war. The entire story is from LWJ’s POV and Author captures his voice and character beautifully. Nearly the first half of the story is filled with the two of them, newly wed, scared, suspicious, at cross-purposes. It’s got definite Bluebeard vibes for a minute.
LWJ is determined to make the marriage work, though, because he takes his responsibilities seriously. So he gathers up the 10 stray children and starts teaching (and parenting) them, and tries to help with the settlement, and makes efforts to fit in with the community (who fall in love with him. and so does WWX. and that’s mutual and kind of hilarious, given that they’re married and there’s so much UST). Even then, LWJ still doesn’t know his husband’s name. But he does dress in the colorful robes and lovely jewelry that WWX keeps buying him, which is a gorgeous image.
It comes to a head in near-tragedy, and the two finally communicate and realize they’re in love. So they’re adorably domestic and happy and then PLOT, political scheming, danger and subterfuge all happen.
The story is a fast read (no saggy middle!), engaging and fresh, and you come away just loving lwj and wwx SO MUCH.
Also, author’s dorky memes each chapter cracked me up.
canon divergence, arranged marriage, POV lan wangji, angst, non-yunmeng wei wuxian, getting to know each other, pining, insecure lan wangji (sometimes), gusu lan rules, falling in love, sect politics, lack of communication, secrets, hurt lan wangji, slow burn, domestic, fluff, homesteading, major injury, qi deviation, injury recovery, communication, adoption, found family, 10 children, love confessions, first kiss, first time, bottom lan wangji, top wei wuxian, accidental baby acquisition, yiling patriarch wei wuxian, domestic fluff, powerful wei wuxian, BAMF wei wuxian, BAMF lan wangji, parent-child relationship, family feels, lan wangji has friends, rogue cultivator wei wuxian (sort of), yiling wei sect (sort of), OP wei wuxian, kid fic, doting lan wangji, doting wei wuxian, slow burn, happy ending, @cicerfics
(You may wish to REBLOG as a signal boost for this author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)
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