If Alex Came Back We'd DEFINITELY Be The Local Power Couple [open post]

[summerdude]

Magnus has come to realize that nobody else in this entire place is presently in a relationship that has lasted nearly as long as his and Alex's. Shen Yuan's concept of "communication" "with" "Luo Binghe" is continuing to horrify him every time he thinks about it. What if there are other people who could use the advice of a sixteen-year-old twenty-five-year-old virgin who has been in a committed relationship for nearly seven years with someone to who he is probably widely known to have never verbally declared the undying depths of his love? (Gods, he hopes Alex figures out a way to do another little visit for their rapidly-approaching anniversary)

To that end, he posts an announcement sign over the welcome table, in the café, and on the door to the kitchen. It reads:

NEED RELATIONSHIP ADVICE OR FEEDBACK? Local Long-Term Relationship Expert Magnus Chase Offers His Aid.

He even lists office hours — an inoffensive parlor (meaning he can tolerate hanging out in it, and the door can close if people want privacy for their conversations) every other day for an hour, immediately following his Drosera hand-off to Galahad.

Comments

[summerdude]

"He died before you got up the nerve to tell him?" Magnus guesses.

[lightbearinglord]

"I told him. He died. He does not remember that." Two days of a confession, enshrined in no one's memory but his own. A great deal of that pain is blunted now by the eventual happy outcome, but not all of it.

[summerdude]

Oh, Lan Wangji looks sad. Magnus gets up and moves so that he's sitting next to him and can lean against him, calling up just enough warmth to maybe be a comforting presence. "Did you think he did remember, when he came back?"

[lightbearinglord]

Magnus' warmth is, indeed, comforting. His presence is even moreso. "I did." Lan Wangji had been so utterly certain of what he wanted, finally, and they had done such an abysmal job of understanding one another.

[summerdude]

"How did you figure out that he didn't?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I have my brother to thank. I was prepared to accept that Wei Ying knew my feelings and did not return them." The specifics of some of this story are not appropriate for sharing with Magnus.

[summerdude]

"Your brother asked him?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." Lan Wangji gives Magnus a sidelong glance, almost sheepish. "Wei Ying was the one to speak first."

[summerdude]

"He couldn't tell from all your extremely evocative facial expressions?" Magnus is only 15% teasing, and it's mostly based on his broader point about the importance of clear communication. He thinks he can read Hanguang-jun pretty well, and so surely everyone else can, too?

[lightbearinglord]

Essentially illustrating Magnus' point, Lan Wangji makes a fairly subtle little dubious face at him, one side of his mouth quirking and his eyebrows twitching up for less than a moment. "I believed my intentions were obvious. I should not have."

[summerdude]

"This is why, even if it's someone you understand really well and can communicate without saying anything, you still gotta say words sometimes," Magnus says, wisely.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji learned that lesson vividly, as they have just discussed, so he nods in acceptance of Magnus' wisdom. "I will remember that over the next six years."

[summerdude]

"You planning on having something change six years from now?"

[lightbearinglord]

"By that time, Wei Ying and I will have achieved the longevity you and Alex have now," Lan Wangji says serenely. Is he teasing Magnus again? Perhaps. Most likely.

[summerdude]

"Yeah, but in six years I'll be on the verge of thirteen, sooooo."

[lightbearinglord]

"I will expect considerably enhanced wisdom by that point." As ever, he manages to deliver every word with completely credible seriousness.

[summerdude]

Magnus, meanwhile, pretends like he knows Lan Wangji isn't joking. "Either Alex will be here by then helping me give a masterclass," he says, earnestly, "or I'll have figured out a way to carry out interdimensional conversations."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji nods, still quite serious, but then the solemnity becomes real as he looks toward Magnus. Six years is not forever, of course -- especially not to Magnus -- but it is a long time. He hesitates. He would like to promise that Alex will be here by then, but of course that is an impossible promise. He lets his shoulder press a little more firmly against Magnus'. "We will find a way."

[summerdude]

"Maybe your brother can figure out a way to let you know how your interdimensional letters work."

[lightbearinglord]

Another little hesitation. "If I see him again."

[summerdude]

Magnus decides to Helheim with it, it's time and transitions from leaning against Lan Wangji to slinging an arm around his shoulders in a half-hug. "I'm glad you have your husband here," he says.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji bestows a fond little look down upon Magnus. He doesn't precisely relax into this partial embrace, but he shifts into it, to make it clear that it is welcome. It's as he said to Nightingale, once, months ago: if Wei Ying had not arrived, he and Magnus would not be speaking now. Lan Wangji isn't certain what would have become of him by this time, but he might well still be in the woods, burning through his qi, desperate to force his way through the fabric of reality. It is one thing to grieve a dead man and another to endure a separation from a living one. It would be cruel, however, to say something like that to Magnus, who is without his Alex. So instead, he only nods, and then asks, "You are still caring for yourself appropriately outside?"

[summerdude]

"Yep! I'm keeping warm and safe and everything." Magnus pause for a moment, leaning more deeply against Lan Wangji. "Me and my mom used to go camping every weekend when I was a kid. Rain or shine, winter or summer, hot or cold. I didn't realize until after we both died but it's how she wanted me to feel connected to my dad. Which..." he trails off. "But I'm really good at, like, camping skills. Even without the--" he wiggles his fingers, to indicate his summer powers.

[lightbearinglord]

There always comes a little pang whenever Magnus brings up his mother. She deserved much better than her fate, and Magnus deserved to have much more time with her. Lan Wangji considers, but only very briefly, before tucking his own arm around Magnus in turn. He does trust Magnus to care for himself, but he can hardly help the flutter of worry each time he visits Magnus' room to tend to his plants and finds it, again, empty of any other life, devoid by now of the warm remnants of Magnus' spiritual presence. "Mn," he allows, then. "Will you stay out there?"

[summerdude]

Magnus shrugs. "Galahad said he'd help me adjust back to sleeping inside if I need or want it, but honestly I kind of like being out there^*," he says. "When I first got here, I kept, like, going to that clearing to pray every day? To try and get my dad to, like, do anything?" He doesn't even bother trying to hide the implication beneath the words: that his dad, like all gods, is pretty useless. "And I guess I still do, but mostly at this point, it's, like -- me and mom would camp literally every weekend, and sometimes me and Alex go camping when we can get away from Valhalla or the Chase Space because he likes it, too. So it's, like. A little bit like celebrating my actual -- uh, my loved ones, staying out there, even though they can't be here. For various reasons."

*This is what we call foreshadowing!