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i think wwx’s general “obliviousness” is sometimes overstated in fanon bc in a society upheld by courtesy and convention, there was no reason for wwx to believe that the illustrious model student lwj had feelings for him, the orphaned son of a servant
n just personally ig? it would b nice if wwx’s scholarly strengths were recognized too. bc he may be mischievous and playful but like....he also invented demonic cultivation and experimented and wrote textbooks and forged the tiger seal...not simply a “gremlin” or w/e
i read wwx as someone who is aware of social conventions and also proud+idealistic. for ex wwx acted against wc bc he believed what he did was honorable v. wen tyranny and wwx was willing to sacrifice his hand bc he understood he was indebted towards the jiangs...
another ex: wwx is also very aware of his position as yiling laozu in relation to the newly rebuilt jiang sect and as someone with ties to the wife of the jin sect leader. so in these rigid social hierarchies i doubt he would have imagined lwj could have feelings for him.
wwx’s pride and idealism is at odds with lan sect’s teachings of restraint and tradition so whatever lwj said and did was in reference to their gusu studies. how would wwx know the internal conflict lwj was having when they never talked like that. he just thought he was offensive
lwj is undeniably awkward and brusque around wwx during gusu days bc 1) wwx is the opposite of lan teachings and 2) he’s never had a crush before. and later on lwj isn’t just acting as the lan sect leader’s younger bro...he knows he’s repeating what his father was punished for
but despite status and reputation and duty lwj falls in love with wwx anyways and protects him and rebels for him. so for me, the beauty of wangxian is that they are each other’s divergence from an “ordered” society that creates more problems than its structures supposedly solves
so the end of my spiel is that nothing wwx believed in was unfounded...it was all very logical and there was nothing to challenge his perceptions until after he died and wangxian actually communicated. wwx is very perceptive and intelligent it’s a disservice to say otherwise
