I Up My Boyfriend Game With The Help Of My F̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Bother Figures [closed post]

[summerdude]

Magnus shows up to the kitchen earlier than the agreed-upon time, since he's actually really excited to fold tamales (and learn how to prep the individual components thereof) with a couple of his favorite people. When he gets there, he remembers having to teach Galahad about hand-washing, and thinks about the fact that both Sagramore and Lan Wangji are from old-timey places. When they arrive, they'll find him scrubbing down the countertops, making sure they have a clean workspace.

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[summerdude]

Oh, well now Magnus is self-conscious about it! He pauses in peeling garlic and says, "Lan Zhan?" a little uncertainly, but clearly trying very hard to get the tones right.

[lightbearinglord]

It is surprisingly jarring, but Lan Wangji can hardly object, since he gave his permission. He considers, then says, "Acceptable."

[sagramore]

Short work is being made of the onion. It's a bit of a trial to shut up and listen for once, but Lan Wangji and Magnus are clearly having a moment, so he manages.

[summerdude]

Magnus nods seriously. "I won't say it again," he promises. "Thanks for letting me try it out." He's done with the garlic, and he pushes it toward Lan Wangji.

[lightbearinglord]

It's only a name -- but it is a name that crossed no one's lips, except occasionally his own in introduction, for thirteen years. "Thank you," Lan Wangji tells Magnus, ostensibly for the garlic. It goes in another pot along with the chiles, water, a few more bay leaves, and Sagramore's second onion. He lights that burner as well, then has to admit, with some gravity, "I have never used a blender."

[sagramore]

"Oh, neither have I. Magnus, can you shepherd us?"

[summerdude]

"I haven't used one since I was fourteen," Magnus says, with a tiny little flashback to smoothie all over the small apartment kitchen, the first time he decided he wanted one while his mom was at work. "...but I guess I watched Janet use one a couple weeks ago, and it won't be hard to remember the basics. We need to blend something?"

[lightbearinglord]

"The sauce," Lan Wangji clarifies, with a nod at his smaller pot. The larger, with the pork, is just beginning to think about simmering.

[sagramore]

"Speaking of which, Lan Wangji, I need to ask you something."

[summerdude]

So Magnus goes to retrieve the blender from the pantry and set it up on the counter.

[lightbearinglord]

A question about sauce, or a question about blenders? Lan Wangji has considerably greater expertise in one of those than in the other. He turns and gives Sagramore an understated glance of invitation, a go on.

[sagramore]

"I was speaking to Shen Yuan the other day, and he told me you told him that one of his friends was having some difficulties with nightmares, and he assumed it was me and that Asmodean was involved. Obviously I told him that was patently ridiculous, but I wanted to clarify that you absolutely weren't thinking of me."

[summerdude]

Wait, this is news to Magnus. He looks between Sagramore and Lan Wangji, frowning a little as he fumbles to plug the blender in.

[lightbearinglord]

Outnumbered by people who actually like Shen Yuan, Lan Wangji schools his expression into nothing in particular. "No. As I said, I believe Master Asmodean's remorse is sincere, and his regard for you."

[sagramore]

"That's what I told him too. Asmodean would never hurt me." Asmodean's remorse is sincere rings in his head. Having heard it from Laertes and Lan Wangji shakes something loose in him and his chest feels light and fluttery. "Do you mind if I ask who it was? For clarification's sake?"

[summerdude]

Okay, now Magnus is brimming with questions. He decides to let one slip: "The music guy?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn," Lan Wangji says to Magnus. Asmodean's claim to the moniker of the music guy is arguably somewhat gruesome, but it is accurate. As for Sagramore's question, he hesitates before he answers. Talking behind other's backs is prohibited; he elides that rule often enough, but he tries to do it carefully. "My concern was for Galahad."

[sagramore]

"Well, Asmodean certainly has nothing to do with him. You're after someone else entirely." Is it a touch defensive? It's a touch defensive. It doesn't need to be, either, considering his previous conversation with Lan Wangji.

[summerdude]

Magnus drops the blender lid to the floor and scrambles to pick it up and go rinse it off. "Galahad's been having nightmares?" he asks; he doesn't mean for his voice to sound tiny when he says it, but it kind of does.

[lightbearinglord]

With the defensiveness in Sagramore's tone followed immediately by Magnus sounding so surprised and unhappy, Lan Wangji goes still. He could not have imagined that Galahad would tell him something without also giving that information to Magnus, with whom he is so close. The pot with the pork is getting close to a boil, and the chiles for the sauce are now considering the possibility of simmering.

"He was," he says to Magnus, slowly, "when we spoke some time ago. Dream manipulation is difficult to prove. A dream may only be a dream." He knows for a fact that Luo Binghe did it to Magnus and then, later, to Claudius; he also has strong suspicions regarding a dream of his own, one that could not have been better crafted to haunt and distress him. He has no true evidence, however. He glances at Sagramore, who is friends with Shen Yuan and, therefore, presumably protected, just as Galahad and Magnus are. "I told him I would look into it."

[sagramore]

"Of course," more smoothly, as he recovers himself; Magnus' tiny sad voice has taken him out of his own feelings. "Who better? You asked Shen Yuan because you wanted to know whether it was Luo Binghe's doing, and presumably he explained that it wasn't, but since you weren't explicit about the object of your concerns he assumed it was me. That all makes sense. If I were considering people here I don't trust, I suppose I'd come around to--" A thinking pause. "Lady Ragnelle and Aornis¹. But neither of them have any particular power I'm aware of, simply unpleasant demeanors."

¹Ping!

[summerdude]

"Ragnelle is awesome," Magnus corrects, immediately and emphatically, with a guilty little look at Sagramore. It is, at least, a distraction from thinking about Galahad suffering and not telling him about it!!! "She can't do dream stuff, though, just tree stuff." Something is tickling at the back of his mind, though. Like the hair is raising on the back of his neck? It's not, actually, but it kind of feels like it is. He frowns, trying to place it.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji has never met Ragnelle and has no opinion on her. Also, it is probably wildly obvious which person at the mansion he trusts the least. Belaboring the point will do nothing useful in this moment; he is convinced that Luo Binghe is innocent of this particular violation. "That is why I spoke with Master Asmodean, in hopes that he would know of a third resident with dream manipulation powers."

[sagramore]

Sagramore throws Magnus a doubtful look.

"But he didn't, I presume."

[summerdude]

"I mean, how are we even defining 'dream powers?'" Magnus asks, wanting to be a bigger part of the conversation. "Like, do my dream powers count as dream powers?" He glances quickly between Lan Wangji and Sagramore. "Um, they're not evil, though, and I'd never give Galahad a nightmare even if they were evil."