yurifies phantom of the opera .đ„ Ę Ë
Hehe, I am thinking that JC got tangled in some shenanigans that keep following Wei Wuxian, and in effect got sent to some other dimension where everything is the same but isn't.
And now WWX has to go and retrieve him - and for that ends up going through quite a few realities in a "Where isy my shidi?" adventure that places him face to face with a variety of Jiang Chengs and his own feelings of shame, guilt, love and anger towards his shidi.
He sees a Jiang Cheng who have lost their core and a one that didn't, ones that reclaimed his sect and one that was enslaved by Wen Zhuliu as some sick standin for his mom. One that saved Yanli and sacrificed his sect and one that never forgave Wei Wuxian (ohz so that's how his actual hate feels) and one that got over WWX's death and forgot (and that's how indifference feels, Wei Wuxian hates it!). There is a reality where JC didn't get a replacement core and Wei Wuxian was the Jiang Sect Leader who kept him under lock and key (and that Jiang Cheng was miserable, but didn't want to run away, as long as his Wei Wuxian loved him still...).
There is one where Jiang Cheng is married to Lan Xichen and they have kids??? (Wei Wuxian hates it! Hates it! Hates it!!! ....just can't explain why... His shidi would never...right? And what does it mean Jiang Cheng gave birth to the kids?? Oh gods, he never wants to have Lan Xichen sit him down for a sex talk ever again>_<!!! The alpha/omega sex sure is something!) That world unsettled him the most. How is it that Jiang Cheng is happily married here? How is it that Lan Xichen chose him to marry??? Doesn't he mind the awful personality and constant anger? His shidi is very pretty and great, and strong, but he is just like his mom and... Lan Xichen almost slaps him in the head in that universe. Which is scary, because Lan Xichen never gets angry to Wei Wuxian's memory. And on account of a joke? Wei Wuxian doesn't get it.
"If you stopped looking at him and trying to see his mother instead of the boy you grew up with." The big alpha tells him. "Then you'd understand."
And uh, yeah, that one kinda....stung a bit. Maybe that reality wasn't that bad - for Jiang chengttonhave someone who cared for him and understood him. For his shidi to have family again, one that loved him as he should be loved even if it didn't include Wei Wuxian. Even if his shidi had to birth babies and take that monstrous Lan pillar...(he hated it, hated it, heated it!!!)
It's still better, however, than the one reality Wei Wuxian stepped into that just... Didn't have Jiang Cheng of its own. One where he died at the hands of Wen Chao, where the Sunshot Campaign never even got off the ground, because their Wei Wuxian burned the Wen to the ground and salted the ashes. There's no Lan Sizhui there, no Wen Ning. Wen Quing died under his hands like all the others. There's no Yunmeng Jiang. Just Wei Wuxian full of rage and the world that lives in fear of him. What a miserable existence.
He left that world as fast as he could, sick to his stomach.
On the quest to reclaim his precious shidi.
22 from the prompt list? if you want to, of course.
Thanks for the prompt, anon! <3
22. âThey wonât take you away from me ever again.â
Jaytim; established relationship; warning for brief description of eye trauma (not serious)
--
The first thing Jason does is check his pulse.
When he feels fluttering life under his fingertips and marks the shallow rise and fall of his chest, some of the anger collapses into jittery relief.
Some.
Tim's face is bloody and bruised, his cheek swelling purple under his mask. There are electrical burns on his uniformâ they must have gotten creative when they couldn't get him fully out of the costume. He's trussed up, his bare hands bound and hanging from a meat hook in the center of the dank, round cell. Seeing it, Jason would like to return to the floor above them and cash in every cent of good will he's earned with the bats.
But the toes of Tim's boots barely brush the floor, and instead of giving in to murderous impulse, the second thing Jason does is hoist an arm around his waist to take the weight off of his shoulders.
When he does, Tim gasps, a wounded sound that nearly sends Jason right over the edge.
"You know," Jason says through gritted teeth as he saws through the ropes, his jovial tone sounding strained even to himself. "This is a pretty needlessly convoluted way to get out of doing dishes. Do we need to rethink the chore wheel?"
The last of the straps around Tim's wrists give way with a snap. Tim's strangled cry is loud in his ear, and Jason grunts as he bears Tim down to the floor.
"Because you can just ask if you want to rethink the chore wheel."
He runs through the checklistâ spine: intact; head injury: negative. Unless you count the black eye and the split lip andâ
Baby blues peer out at him from narrow slits. His pupils are mismatched; possible concussion but a drug is also likely, and the white of one eye is nearly consumed by bloody red. They're the prettiest thing Jason's seen all night.
"...H'd?"
"Yeah," he says roughly. "I've got you, babybird. I'm here."
"Tal'ns. Mayor's off'ce. Midnight."
God. Even beaten half to death and drugged out of his mind, Tim still has the wherewithal to deliver cryptic warnings. Jason might swoon. And they say romance is dead.
"I hear ya. Don't worryâ it's taken care of."
It was the last transmission they received from Red Robin, before he cut out. There had been arguing in his comm for all of five seconds before the roar of Jason's bike drowned it out.
"Mm. 'kay." Tim blinks, and flops a hand to Jason's wrist. Aside from some scratches and chipped nails, his fingers are miraculously intact. He clasps their hands together.
"C'n we go home?"
Jason's chest clenches.
âYeah. Yeah we can."
He pulls Tim to his feet, then into his arms when he can't stand. He walks them out the way he came.
Ten steps down the corridor, Tim jerks in his hold.
"Talonsâ the mayorâ"
Jason shushes him.
"Hey, hey. You already told me. We've got it."
"Butâ"
"It's being dealt with. We'll get them. And they wonât take you away from me. Ever again.â
The last part slips out without Jason's permission, tight from his throat. Tim only sighs and turns his face into Jason's neck. Jason takes them home.
It's an empty promise. Not because he won't try to keep it, but because there's no way to guarantee it and they both know it. The Court has its scrawny little claws in every crack and crevice of Gotham, and there's no telling who's behind every mask.
The streets would run red and he'd lose Tim anyway.
OUR dream
Dying for a fic where Jiang Cheng has a second in command who's the closest friend he has and has been by Jiang Cheng's side since the war, and Wei Wuxian is jealous as fuck-
Jaytim for @ferreho-rocher for her bday today! <3
Happy bday babe!
straight guy two beers in
the deweys have a chokehold on me I cant stop thinkinh about them, so have this silly comic I spent 6 hours on (way too much time)
You wrote me a note, cast a spell on my heart
And bewitched me
Everything between Jayce and Viktor can really be traced back to their childhood inciting incidents and itâs killing me.
Jayce: a miracle saves him and his mom, forever imprinting him with the certainty that miracles do exist, they can be controlled, he can save his loved ones no matter how awful things get, if he can just be smart and bold and quick enough.
Viktor: he saw the horror of what Singed had doneâof forcing a creature to live against its will, of the degradation and terror of being fundamentally changed. For a while he thought he understood Singed, when he decided that he was willing to throw away all his principles to survive his own body. But he didnât, really. He didnât understand. There was still a line he would not cross. He wanted to die human.
Itâs fitting, then, and unspeakably tragic, that Jayce is the one who played Singedâs role in the end. Because you canât ask Jayce to let a loved one go, when he knows thereâs a miracle that can save him, the solution is right there, it will work if you will just let him tryâand so he forces a change onto Viktor against his will. He traps him into the Arcane, takes apart and reassembles his body, strips him of his selfhood and humanity. All so that Viktor will live. Singed wasnât talking about the desperation not to dieâhe was talking about the desperation not to lose someone you love.
And so Viktor isâŠchanged. He lives, whether he wants to or not.
And so Jayce loses him anyway.