Perhaps Instead Of A Homeless Teen I Shoulda Been A 19th Century Newsboy, Given All These Headlines

[summerdude]

It's been a big few days in general, and this day, specifically, has also been pretty big, and so Magnus does the number two thing that reliably lets him reach a place where he feels more grounded: he goes to Hanguang-jun's parlor at a time when Hanguang-jun is also there playing music. (Number one, of course, is burying his face against Alex's belly and groaning. Number three, embarrassingly, is still finding a summery spot outside and praying to his dad.)

This time, he has a stack of comic books to go through -- he wants to start making tailored recommendation lists, for Tally and Lancelot (who he's made general recommendations to), but also for Galahad and Sagramore and Sunny and Hanguang-jun and Gideon and Shen Yuan and Gu Xiang and Tress and Nina. So he lays on the ground for a while, paging through issues while Hanguang-jun quietly picks out a tune on his qin and Danding nibbles his hair.

But after about half an hour, he's still got excitement and overstimulation brimming through his veins, so he sets Sensational She-Hulk #39 to one side (it's definitely going on Lancelot's list, probably also Tally's, possibly also Gideon's), twists his head, and waits for a lull in the music. When it comes, he says, "Hanguang-jun? I have... stuff. Not crisisy stuff. Mostly good stuff, and also... some questionsy stuff."

Comments

[summerdude]

"He what?!" Magnus laughs, incredulous.

[lightbearinglord]

"It was easily extinguished," Lan Wangji assures him. "Next I heard of him, he had assumed my face and body in your dreams." He does still truly hate the thought of this. He has a deep and instinctive protectiveness of Magnus, of his relationship with Magnus, of his control over his own actions. Magnus, his head in Lan Wangji's lap, might feel the tension that tightens his body at the memory. "He finds it intolerable that I cannot look past what he did to Claudius. It was not long before he sent me a painful dream of my own."

[summerdude]

Magnus tilts his head, looking up the long line of Hanguang-jun's torso to the stormy look on his face. Well, stormy by Hanguang-jun standards. There's the lightest furrow to his brow and the smallest tension around his mouth, which means he's really pissed. "He sent you a bad dream?"

[lightbearinglord]

"For some time, I was uncertain whether the dream came from him or from Aornis. But I can remember now that I met Aornis well after this dream." It doesn't matter; what Luo Binghe has done to him is only half as relevant as what he has done to Claudius. "He entered Claudius' dreams, too. It was a less cruel effort, but no less manipulative." And, no matter how Claudius laughed about that dream with him and Crowley, he still considers it unconscionable for Luo Binghe to have invaded his mind at all. Surely he ought to have been satisfied with his temporary but complete control of Claudius' body.

[summerdude]

Magnus frowns. "What did he do?" he asks, not fully expecting Hanguang-jun to give him an answer -- dreams can be pretty private. "When was all this?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Last autumn. Melanippe." Lan Wangji is quiet for a beat, but he does then add, "It was a dream that asked me to choose one person to save amongst all the people who mean the most to me. Wei Ying, my uncle, my older brother, Sizhui, Claudius, and you."

[summerdude]

Magnus doesn't know Melanippe from Porphyrion, so the 'autumn' designation is helpful.

About a million questions bubble up inside him at the rest of what Hanguang-jun has said, though, starting with, me? Even back then? and spiraling on from there. Instead of asking most of them, though, he frowns. "Like," he says. "A month and a half after I got here?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." Slightly eased now, Lan Wangji smooths that same stray lock of Magnus' light hair back from his forehead again.

[summerdude]

"That doesn't make any sense."

[lightbearinglord]

A little surprised, Lan Wangji asks, "Why not?"

[summerdude]

Magnus frowns. "He gave me a dream then, too. But it was an apology dream."

[lightbearinglord]

Frankly, Lan Wangji is very surprised to hear that Luo Binghe is capable of apology. "He apologized to you? He has refused to apologize to Claudius."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, basically. He said he didn't mean to harm me when he, um. When he pretended to be you, and as a show of good faith and to make up for it he wanted to give me a good dream. So I made him have an actual conversation with me."

[lightbearinglord]

For a moment, Lan Wangji is silent. He doesn't want Luo Binghe to have been crueler to Magnus, but he can't understand how he would make such a gesture of goodwill toward Magnus while remaining so unrepentant toward Claudius. That tension creeps back into his expression. "Then I imagine he will not apologize to Claudius because that harm was intentional. And in imitating me, he intended me to be the target of that harm, not you."

[summerdude]

"I, um. I kind of thought that meant it was the end of all that... stuff," Magnus confesses. "His, like, bad behavior or whatever."

[lightbearinglord]

"Even if it had been the end, I would still consider him dangerous and unworthy of my forgiveness. But it was not." With some effort, he keeps to that reasonably calm cadence. "He continued to threaten Claudius. He invaded both of our dreams. He toyed with us both on the day the mansion traded likenesses among us. And he still refuses to apologize for the pain and fear he inflicted on my brother."

[summerdude]

"He did?" Magnus asks, dismayed. "Toyed how?"

[lightbearinglord]

"My friendship with young master Morozova was in its infancy. Luo Binghe, wearing his face, allowed me to believe that my new friend had turned abruptly unkind, mocking my efforts at cooking for him. On that same day, he failed to disclose his identity to Claudius and received affection to which he was not entitled as his reward for the deception."

[summerdude]

It's still so weird to Magnus that Hanguang-jun likes Nina's boogeyman. Magnus's frown deepens.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji was nearly incandescent with rage and the ghost of humiliation that day, and that was before he learned about Luo Binghe deceiving Claudius, too. He draws another slow, slow breath and tries to steady himself. "Claudius blamed himself, as if he should have known that any kind and beloved face might be Luo Binghe in disguise. He already spent months wary of preparing food after he was poisoned in a kitchen with a poison he could not have known to avoid."

[summerdude]

"That's so -- infuriating."

[lightbearinglord]

"It is." Lan Wangji could almost laugh. It is an understatement, but one of perfect truth. "I cannot release my anger."

[summerdude]

Magnus looks up at him.

[lightbearinglord]

Naturally, Lan Wangji meets his gaze. The tension is still there; he suspects he will never learn to soothe every bit of his tension when he thinks of Luo Binghe. The memory of Claudius' drawn face is stark, and that of how he tried to smooth over the desperation of his request for Lan Wangji's assistance. But he is more accustomed to this anger now, and better at carrying it.

[summerdude]

"You told me to be careful around him."