happy halloween! imagine wwx as 白骨精 (baigujing/the skeleton demon from ‘journey to the west’) and lwj as the courageous traveler who comes to defeat him

lwj: i have come to slay the great evil. begone, hideous demon
wwx:
wwx: sir im just bones

lwj: you kidnapped a child from the village! you fed his guardians poisonous and maggot-filled fruits to kill them!
wwx: they were abusing him! and he’s fine now, look, a-yuan is in the corner having fun with the skulls :)

in this au, a-yuan doesnt need chenqing to teethe on when bones-gege is right there!!

sometimes when a-yuan cant sleep at night wwx turns into his skeleton form and rattles around for that sweet sweet asmr effect

lwj is very good at detecting lies, and this demon seems to be...telling the truth! it doesn’t seem to have any evil intent either.

he finds himself unwilling to kill it.

but lwj cant leave this child alone with a demon, and he also can’t risk returning a-yuan to an abusive home with the villagers (the main branch wens)

so naturally. he starts visiting the baigujing’s dwelling every day, to act as supervision!

naturally, wangxian bonding happens, even if one party is a demon

as time goes by, lwj sees that wwx is not the horrifying, blood-thirsty thing that the villagers make him out to be; he’s kind, thoughtful. clearly some sort of a genius. and very good with children!

finally, the day comes that lwj locates some distant relatives of a-yuan (wq’s branch of wens) who are guaranteed to take much better care of him than his original family. he says as much to wwx.

wwx is quiet for a long time.

that’s good, he says finally. it would be good for him. a child shouldnt have to live in a place like this. take him there soon. take him there tomorrow, in fact.

lwj can only nod.

wwx spends the whole rest of that day holding a-yuan as much as he can; he bounces him around in his arms as they play, wipes gently at a-yuan’s face when it gets smudged with cave dust, swings their joined hands.

lwj watches with an ache in his heart.

when he’s back in his own lodgings that night, he catches himself trying to come up with ways that wwx and a-yuan could stay together. thinking of how bright wwx’s smile would be if that happened.

when, lwj thinks in shock, did he end up falling in love with the baigujing?

he makes up his mind as he’s returning to wwx’s cave the next day. he’ll bring a-yuan to his relatives. he’ll somehow make sure wwx can visit a-yuan.

if nothing, he’ll stay by wwx’s side. so wwx won’t have to be all alone anymore, in that cold and empty place.

lwj treks through the forest buoyed by that thought; and when he finally makes it to the entrance of wwx’s hideout, he’s greeted by a scene of destruction.

solid rock walls are cracked in; the little toys wwx managed to scrounge up for a-yuan are smashed to bits.

lwj rushes in, fearing the worst, and comes face-to-face with a stranger wearing purple.

ah, the stranger snarls. another disgusting demon. that’s fine, i’ll just kill both of you.

over his shoulder, lwj can see wwx, battered and bruised but standing strong. the skin of his arm is phasing in and out, flickering to reveal the bones underneath.

further back; little a-yuan, shielded by wwx, peeking frightened eyes around wwx’s back.

lwj is almost speechless with rage. how dare you, he hisses. who are you, to come here and—

jiang cheng, wwx interrupts. wait. lan zhan is not a demon, he’s human, he’s been helping me take care of this child, please. let him go.

to lwj, he says. you’re here. thank god, you’re here. quick, take a-yuan and leave. bring him to his family. i’ll handle this.

the stranger, jc, swings disbelieving eyes back at lwj.

lan zhan. he spits, lan wangji. i’ve heard of you—he who goes wherever the chaos is. you slay evil to help the innocents, and yet you let this monster live? you’ve been /helping/ him, even after he kidnapped a child?

lwj steps forward, hand on his sword. wei ying is good, he says. he has not harmed any innocents. he has saved a child from abuse.

leave at once, before i cut you down where you stand.

jiang cheng steps forward too, eyes spitting fire.

wei wuxian was killed by the wens, jc says, shaking in anger. they left him in this forest to rot.

lan wangji, you stupid fool. don’t you know? the baigujing drains its victims dry of their blood. it possesses their corpses, uses their bodies as disguises.

that thing wearing my brother’s skin;

do you really believe that is wei wuxian?

over jc’s shoulder, wwx’s human form keeps flickering. on and off, on and off, on and off.

his beloved face, and the desiccated skull underneath.

ok im gonna go eat lunch!! but i’ll finish this later today~

continued! https://twitter.com/_yukla/status/1322719934992973826