Dear F5K Writer,

I'm

greygerbil on AO3, thank you for writing for me! Right from the start, I want to say you don’t have to do anything with my prompts, they’re just here in case you want some ideas. If it has my pairing and avoids my DNWs, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it! All ratings are great. I included a list of my general likes and smut likes which apply to all my requests. When it comes to kinks, you can include anything not listed under my DNWs.

Feel free to entirely erase the existence of canon relationships or break them up if they get in the way of the pairings I requested, whichever works best with what you’re trying to do.

Fic where the couple is not yet together but clearly in love, or on the road to getting together, or having their first time kissing/in bed together are great. However, so are established relationship fics. Whatever suits your ideas!

Considering the number of canons I have where you slaughter your way through untold heaps of NPCs, I should also point out I generally have no problem with gore, blood, and graphic violence.

DNWs
Likes
Smut Likes
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect Trilogy
Cyberpunk 2077
魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī
陈情令 | The Untamed

DNWs and Likes

DNWs

permanent death of requested characters (they can die temporarily and come back to life, though; if a character canonically dies and is not part of the pairing you’re creating for but just requested in a different pairing, they can also die; MDSZ/Untamed characters can also stick around as fully conscious fierce corpses or fully conscious spirits)

requested characters cheating on anybody

unrequested open relationships or poly for requested pairings (threesomes can start out as open relationships between two or three of the characters, or have two characters simultaneously fall for a third, or have unclear FWB-who-are-pining lines, but I'd like them to eventually become closed triads and for no one to deliberately cheat on someone else while it’s clear that the rules of their relationship don’t allow being with others)

unrequested noncon including sexual assault attempts (mentioning/discussing/describing canonical instances of SA & noncon is fine, as is mentioning noncon that doesn’t happen to or between the requested characters; and of course, if I have a prompt that includes it, it is totally fine to include as well!)

completely unhappy endings (vaguely hopeful or bittersweet is fine, just not full dark)

smut involving underage characters (under 18) (it can be referenced as backstory if the character is 15 or older at the time, like as something they did when they were younger, but I wouldn’t want any explicit scenes with underage characters)

unrequested non-canonical incest (for requested characters, not a problem for background characters)

ageplay, diaper play, daddy or mommy kink

raceplay

scat, emetophilia

necrophilia (MDSZ/Untamed’s fierce corpses with full human-level consciousness wouldn’t count as this for me, neither would fully conscious spirits)

cannibalism, debilitating mutilation of requested characters for sexual pleasure, vore

crackfic (humour is great, but I don’t enjoy complete randomness)

high school/college AUs (other modern AUs as well as all other sorts of AUs are fine; modern or Modern AU characters just going to school or college as part of their life at some point is also no problem; basically, I just don't want it to be the main setting)

1st and 2nd person POV (they are fine for epistolary fic and mock articles/social media entries/documents/research papers, though)

Likes

UST (and also eventual resolving of UST)

friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers, friends with benefits to romance

battle couples fighting together

loyalty kink

admiring competence/skill

sparring

protectiveness

possessiveness

hurt/comfort

fluff

mpreg
kidfic

epistolary fic

angst

arranged marriage turning into marriage of love, characters pretending to be in a relationship falling in love

tough characters being driven to their breaking point

character who is suffering trying to soldier through

hurt character trying to comfort distressed person who is helping them

dancing

one partner manhandling the other

focus on height differences if applicable

Soulmate AUs, played straight or averted

Kemononimi AUs (I don’t even need an explanation, though having one could be fun, but feel free to just give somebody animal ears and a tail)

Wing AUs

Modern AUs

I also enjoy A/B/O AUs and gave some ideas who I’d like to take which role in the header under every pairing. Male omegas can have the male cis gender set of genitalia or have a vagina in addition, either is fine for me! Alphas can have knots or not, whichever you like. For mpreg childbirth, A/B/O or otherwise, feel free to give them new genitalia to manage it or just have an anal birth or a Caesarian. Male lactation is also fine to include.

Smut Likes

rough sex

slow, loving sex

marking with biting and love bites, scratch marks, bruises

overstimulation

focus on hands, fingering, handjobs

intercrural, intergluteal

oral

anal

rimming

body worship

first times (in general, or with that partner, or with a partner of that gender)

BDSM, D/s, honour bondage (as well as regular bondage)

generally playing around with dominance, one character calling the shots very clearly, or both challenging each other during sex, fighting for control

however, I also love smut that is just really vanilla and fluffy and gentle

for vampires (and other people who don’t do lasting damage to each other): bloodplay

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Jaal Ama Darav/Evfra de Tershaav
I always thought these two would make a sweet couple. Jaal is very much the quintessential angara with his emotional honesty, whereas Evfra seems unusually closed-off for his kind. Opposites attract! However, they also have a lot of ambitions and skills in common, both being passionate fighters for the freedom of their people. There’s also this conversation (with timestamp at 1:47) of Jaal praising Evfra to Drack, which just sounds like he may have a crush. Whether it’s set before, during, or after the game, it’s all great. For smut, I prefer bottom Evfra. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Evfra. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Evfra and alpha or beta Jaal.

Evfra obviously can’t be on the frontlines all that often since he’s running the Resistance, but we do see that he goes out to fight sometimes, like at the end of the game, and he’s known for being good at it. Jaal and him kicking some ass together would be great.

Evfra and Jaal going out to some of the planets the new map established and finding old angaran worlds would be cool. Or maybe Jaal just taking him to an especially beautiful, newly rediscovered place! It would be very nice for Evfra to get out a little.

The angara pushing the kett back in some place and Jaal, who helps at the front lines with Evfra, proving to Evfra how much he has learned in his time with the Pathfinder (and making Evfra’s crush on him that much worse).

Jaal being with the Pathfinder will obviously make Evfra pay more attention to him. He always figured that he was a very capable soldier (he even calls him his best in one conversation in the game), but now Jaal is showing other talents, too. Naturally, Evfra starts to work more closely with him and suddenly they spend time together...

Evfra is well aware Jaal has a crush on him, but he’s likely at least 10 years older and has a lot of baggage, so he doesn’t think he’s the right person for Jaal. However, Jaal is persistent and charming and talented and Evfra isn’t made of stone, no matter what people say.

Evfra has a bit of a crush on Jaal that he’s not going to tell anyone about, ever, counter to how angara usually act (and perhaps also for the reasons stated in the prompt above). Jaal finds out somehow, anyway, and is quite intrigued.

Evfra and Jaal, true to the angaran habit of emotional honesty, start sleeping together to let off steam. But what happens when they start pining? Because Evfra might not be so honest about that and Jaal might think it means he’s not interested... how do they manage to get together?

Angara are wild about family, so I’d love Jaal and Evfra tentatively thinking in that direction if they have been together for a while. There are probably lots of orphans around and I’d love the option of adoption (maybe one kid started following Evfra or Jaal around?), but maybe some angaran males can also get pregnant? Being mpregnant might not help Evfra’s mood, but building a life with Jaal sure would.

If they’re together before the Pathfinder mission starts (or just sleeping together, but realising how much they miss each other being separated this much), I would love to read about their brief but surely passionate meetings whenever Jaal is back on Aya.

Evfra is a fairly severe and headstrong guy and maybe Jaal thinks Evfra wants to top and thus leaves that spot to him – which Evfra doesn’t mind at all. He’d just also like for Jaal to fuck him, but it doesn’t seem like Jaal is interested and surely someone like Jaal would tell him, since he’s so open about everything else. Jaal is maybe just suffering from a bit of timidity in front of the leader of the Resistance, or thinking that since Evfra very rarely speaks about what he wants or likes, he should go by his best guess. He in fact would very much like to top Evfra. Can they figure it out?

I’d love for them to do something light-hearted, like explore a kink together (although if you want some inner conflict, maybe it’s a kink one of them is ashamed about – my go-to suggestion is Evfra wanting to sub or Jaal wanting to Dom and wondering what the other would make of that, but feel free to go for something totally different, too!).

Jaal finds out that Evfra used to sub to his late husband (and/or perhaps to others) and is very interested. Evfra eventually agrees to teach him. Basically, I really like experienced sub/newbie Dom, so, this is that!

Evfra may have lost a husband (and perhaps even children) with that family the kett stole from him. I could see Jaal being the first person who reawakens the desire to have a lover and/or a family again. How does he deal with it?

Jaal is still somewhat unsure of his way in life when he goes with the Pathfinder. I’d love it if becoming more secure in his role also led him to realise he wants to take a shot at dating Evfra (and if Evfra finds this new confidence low-key quite attractive).

Jaal introducing Evfra to his big family as his boyfriend. Obviously, every angara knows who Evfra is and Jaal even has family in the Resistance, but this would be a very different context. How does Evfra deal with suddenly being swept up in a typical giant angaran family again after shutting himself off for so long after losing his own?

Jaal and Evfra writing messages and e-mails while Jaal is with the Pathfinder, chatting, videochatting, just having a budding (or established) long-distance relationship.

Both Jaal and Evfra worked themselves ragged lately. Maybe they get to take a few days off together after the kett have been pushed back?

Whatever the angaran equivalent of a marriage proposal is! That, and the build-up towards it/what happens afterwards would be awesome.

(I also have a letter dealing with heats, sex pollen, and A/B/O, one with smut prompts, one for marriage tropes, one for pining tropes, one for mpreg and kidfic, one for hurt/comfort tropes, one for epistolary fic and one with an AU focus for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

Original Male Character/Evfra de Tershaav
Evfra is my favourite character in this game. I thoroughly enjoy how gruff he is and that his guarded personality makes him such an outlier amongst the angara. Yet, the man has dedicated his life to helping his people, shouldered a lot of responsibility, and the few times you manage to dig a little deeper in his dialogue, it’s clear that he cares about them and even starts to accept the outsiders once they have proven themselves. Please give this grumpy guy with the good heart a boyfriend! For smut, I prefer bottom Evfra. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Evfra. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Evfra and alpha or beta OMC (scenarios where only one species has A/B/O or they have A/B/O systems that aren’t completely the same are also fun!). There are some ideas for the OMC below, but feel free to go wild as long as the character isn’t related to Evfra and isn’t underage.

Evfra is not the most approachable person and people greatly respect, and, as the game suggests, often even fear him. How does the OMC break through his tough shell?

Or maybe, unexpectedly, Evfra has been in a relationship with someone for a while now, but never really made it public? Would love to see everybody’s reactions when it eventually becomes clear.

Evfra lost his whole family – perhaps also a husband? It’s very unlikely, but maybe, through some great stroke of luck, that husband is still alive all those years later? But I’m sure this much time in a kett labour camp would have changed him and Evfra must be a much different person now, too, having worked his way up from what seems to have been obscurity to the leader of the Resistance. I would love to see them rekindling their relationship. (If they had other partners in the time in between, thinking the other was dead, I’d like for those not to have been serious relationships.)

Probably to Evfra’s own surprise, it’s one of the alien newcomers who manages to win his heart. Is it a contact he knows from Kadara or someone else he gets to know on the Nexus?

However, I'd also love to see an angara as the OMC. Is it a Resistance member, a politician, a random civilian, or maybe even an angara from a newly discovered world which was up to now cut off from the others?

Evfra enters a political marriage with someone from an important family and figures it will never be more than a marriage of convenience, but then the two actually fall in love.

Fleshing out the Multiplayer Classes into characters is also always fun. We only have their little wiki descriptions and a handful of voicelines. Who of that group might appeal to Evfra and vice versa? How does he get to know them better? In-game, they were APEX strike teams, but there were angaran characters, too, like the Insurgent and Exemplar. However, I’m also open to a completely original APEX guy.

I enjoy battle couples, or couples who otherwise work well together in some capacity if your chosen boyfriend for him isn’t into fighting.

However, I’d also enjoy Evfra getting to take a bit of time off for once with his lover. What do they do to relax?

Evfra and his boyfriend exploring one of the new places discovered through Meridian.

Evfra working hard and falling sick/growing exhausted and his lover ushering him home and making him rest; and if Evfra’s sick, it would be sweet if his lover hung around to care for him even with the angaran taboos around talking about sickness.

Evfra probably hasn’t been on an actual date in ages. I would love for someone to take him out to have a drink or private dinner or maybe watch a movie, just some normal stuff that Evfra probably did in the past but has basically forgotten about by this time.

Someone is openly flirting with Evfra, which throws him off a little. He’s not exactly opening himself up for contact, after all. Still, we see Evfra doing well with people who put it out there (when the Pathfinder tells him the reason he should let them help is that they get things done, he says “Bold. A little arrogant. Like me.” and doesn’t seem annoyed by it). Maybe he actually agrees to a date, if only to test if the guy means it? And he does.

Evfra likes karaoke. This is actually canon (well, if Liam’s intel is good, anyway). Maybe his crush/boyfriend can coax him into leaving work be for a while and singing a few songs? Is there a lover’s duet? I don't even mean this in a crackfic way, I just want Evfra to get to have a little fun.

Mass Effect Trilogy

Male Shepard/Javik
Javik is possibly my favourite companion in ME3 and I love his interactions with Shepard. He’s so abrasive, but the longer you talk to him, the more you realise that the glorious Prothean empire they taught them about when he was born was really already a long lost memory in ruins and he lived his whole life in a total dystopian nightmare, only to wake up to the next apocalypse. I like Default Shepard just fine, but feel free to make him look different and give him a different first name. Paragon, Renegade or Paragade/Renegon (mix-and-match choices) all work, too, though I wouldn’t want a Shepard who is totally irredeemable. I also like Javik having touched the Echo Shard, but would not want him to go through with his plans to kill himself (but feel free to have him stop at the last possible moment). As for the Endings… whichever one you want, as long as Shepard lives somehow, really! I’m not a fan of any of them and I’d also be totally fine with an AU ending or with the Crucible just being a big Reaper-targeting gun. For smut, I prefer bottom Javik. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Javik. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Javik and alpha or beta Shepard (scenarios where only one species has A/B/O or they have A/B/O systems that aren’t completely the same are also fun!).

I would love for Javik and Shepard to still be out there helping people after the end of the Reaper war. Javik doesn’t really have a place in the new world yet except at Shepard’s side – and him realising that his place being there is true in many ways would be great.

Javik and Shepard fighting together and being big damn heroes. That’s it, that’s the prompt. Would especially love it if they had complimentary skills, like perhaps a soldier or vanguard Shepard who makes use of the biotic setups that Javik can create, or whatever else you can think of.

Was there even time for something like romance back in Javik’s day? Or was it all forbidden by their multitude of strict rules to keep people focused? Did people do it anyway? Whether Javik ever had a real boyfriend or not, the man’s definitely dead now (and considering probability, may actually have been one of the indoctrinated people from his ship that Javik was forced to kill). With all that in mind, how does he go about starting a relationship with Shepard?

What about Shepard? Did he have any romantic entanglements? Maybe he’s just over that break-up with Kaidan or Ashley in ME2 (other former romances are totally fine, too, though), or swore off relationships a while ago for some other reason, and now there’s Javik and suddenly, on the eve of the apocalypse, Shepard wants more.

Shepard is interested in Javik, but there is an extinction event going on and they’re both twelve flavours of traumatised. But when Shepard recovers after the Crucible incident, suddenly him and Javik have some time and get closer.

Javik and Shepard tell themselves and each other the fact that they keep falling into bed together is just them letting off steam. It’s definitely more.

Paragon Shepard (or hell, maybe even Renegade Shepard!) enjoys cuddling, hugging, physical affection in general. Javik needs a little while to get used to it, but finds he’s just as touch-starved as Shepard and really loves it, to his own embarrassment.

Maybe Javik is the one who is unexpectedly touchy-feely with a partner – after all, Protheans communicate and read through touch. Shepard didn’t think he’d be into it, but he actually totally is.

Generally, I’d prefer for Javik to have genitalia that is somewhat comparable to humans, whether he's biologically male or intersex. I don’t think it was ever said how Protheans procreate, or how many sexes/genders they had, aside from like one line from Javik that may or may not have been another weird Prothean joke. Three or more sexes/genders or just one, like the asari, could also be options, after all. Javik and Shepard intimately exploring each other would be a lot of fun either way.

Javik had his trysts with half-opened armour on some military cots back in the day and that’s probably how it went with Shepard at the start, too. It’s really the only sort of sex he knows. Now, after the war, they suddenly have time. Cue Javik getting really flustered/insanely turned on/probably falling even harder (or all of the above) when Shepard decides to spend an evening going really thorough and slow.

How does the Prothean touch-reading thing work with sex? Maybe Javik is unfailingly good at predicting what Shepard wants him to do in the moment? Maybe Shepard asks Javik to be as vocal as possible to pay him back in kind, since he can’t do the same for Javik?

Shepard is suffering from PTSD in ME3. Maybe Javik notices through his touch-reading or just context clues and surprisingly turns out to be quite helpful? He must have some strategies to handle it, considering, well, his entire life. Maybe they can also heal together.

Javik gets hurt on the battlefield, but fights on. This is pretty normal to him as they didn’t have much time for any not totally necessary medical treatment back in his day. To his surprise, after the mission is over, Shepard sits him down in the shuttle (or wherever) for some first aid to hold him over until he can get to an actual doctor. Javik probably gripes that it’s a waste of time/resources, but boy does it not help his crush on Shepard.

Javik bodyblocking for Shepard or otherwise saving him at the risk of his own health. It’s totally just because Shepard is the avatar of this cycle and not because Javik has a big crush on him.

If Shepard has one of the firmer personality types (Renegon, Renegade, or even an outspoken Paragon) I could see him and Javik clash often at the start. Their frequent arguments lead to them getting to know each other, though, and they find they have common ground as well.

The Crucible really is a straight-forward Reaper-killer weapon and the destiny-choice machine was an indoctrination hallucination. Shepard fights through it and uses the weapon and then meets Javik again (maybe collecting a traditional hero’s reward in the form of a kiss?).

If Javik touches the Shard, he will want to kill himself to be with his crew. I would love for Shepard to either talk him out of it or become the person Javik wants to live for (not the most psychologically healthy thing, maybe, but let’s face it, the bar is low for Javik), and maybe from there Javik can go on to establish a real foothold in the new cycle, too.

Shepard and Javik building a new life for each other after the war and getting used to peace (something which Javik has never actually seen before and Shepard hasn’t experienced in a while), whether that be on a Spectre ship or in a house on a quiet farming colony.

Spacer Shepard introduces Javik to his mother (and father if he’s around).

Shepard and Javik adopting some war orphans and perhaps settling down after the war would be cute. Also, in case you want to go for mpreg, maybe Protheans can get pregnant by any species, like the asari. Shepard is eager to help Javik repopulate the Prothean race (Javik being mpregnant the mammal way or laying eggs both seem equally likely here).

(I also have a letter dealing with heats, sex pollen and A/B/O, one for soulmate tropes, one for epistolary fic as well as in-universe articles, one with smut prompts, one for marriage tropes, and one with an AU focus for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

Cyberpunk 2077

Male V/Delamain
Okay, so a taxi service is certainly kind of a new one for me as far as characters I love go, but Delamain and his relationship with V are great. I really like his perspective on humanity and how he purposefully sought out a job where he has a lot of contact with humans and their chaos because he enjoys adapting to it, and also that he seems to have a concept of beauty and some philosophical thoughts on humanity. V also seemed quite impressed with Delamain and considering how many bad things happen around and to V, Delamain seemed like a bright spot in Night City.

From non-lethal to highly dangerous, I’m happy for any interpretation of V that’s not on the road to becoming full cyberpsycho, with any look and origin you prefer. I’m not into requested character death, so if you’re setting it post-ending, it’d be great if Mr. Blue Eyes could find a way to keep V alive, or if V found a different way to cheat the 6 month time limit (this doesn’t have to be part of the story, you can just handwave it). As for Delamain, I’m happy with him being Delamain V.2 (Reset), Delamain Jr. (Merge), Excelsior (Destroy), or for V to find a way to keep Delamain V.1 intact while also releasing his other personalities, in case you’re setting it after Don’t Lose Your Mind.

I prefer Delamain to bottom, but considering his state, those roles might not even be applicable considering he doesn’t have a human body. He can get an android one, though! Or not, both is fine! The only thing I’m not really interested in is objectophilia/sex involving the cars too directly (sitting in the car to jerk off to be close to Delamain, or playfully touching or patting the cars outside of sex would be perfectly fine, though). If you wanna do A/B/O and V is an alpha or a beta who is into omegas, maybe Delamain adjusts his mechanical body accordingly to be closer to that of an omega.

V moves heaven and earth and spends significant money and/or effort and/or resources to quickly cobble together a solution where he can preserve the original Delamain while also releasing his other personalities. Delamain is thankful, but not sure why V went through such trouble to keep him. V eventually has to admit it’s because he’s in love with Delamain.

A V who is already flirting/FWB with Delamain (but secretly pining for more) resets the Core, but did not expect Delamain’s backup to set him back so far. He’s depressed until Delamain sends him on a mission to retrieve some data his previous version apparently considered very important. Turns out Delamain’s last act was to make a backup of all memories regarding interactions between the two of them because it was so important to him, and now Delamain can make that re-merge within himself.

V goes for the Nomad ending and takes Excelsior or Delamain Jr. (or basically any Delamain who can be contained within one car) with him. Delamain growing into a Nomad setting with the Aldecaldos would be really fun. I’d also love the two of them just bailing from Night City and setting off on their own adventure, too.

V lets Johnny have the body, joins Alt, and goes to find Delamain in cyberspace. Delamain helps him to become a stable presence and retain his personality.

For the Night City Legend ending, one of the speculations is that Mr. Blue Eyes is an AI. Maybe Delamain can cajole him or steal the secret he has that might allow V to continue living, even if Mr. Blue Eyes doesn’t end up holding up his end of the bargain. Alternatively, Delamain hits up his own AI contacts and finds his own solution. Is that when V realises Delamain likes him a lot? Or are they already together?

Maybe V tends to be closed off from others after losing Jackie, but once he gets his Delamain taxi after Don’t Lose Your Mind, he gets in the habit of talking to Delamain and starts to build a relationship.

However, I also kind of like the opposite idea, where he’s more social and starts to introduce Delamain to Viktor and Misty and Judy and/or whoever else he’s friends with in that playthrough and Delamain learns, through V, to have friends, too. How do their friends react to V’s and Delamain’s relationship if/when they find out?

For that matter, what does Johnny think about V falling in love with a whole-ass taxi service?

I want V to cause devastation to his enemies with the Delamain combat function at least once more. I was so sad the taxi you get doesn’t have them anymore! Maybe a scene of that?

The Night City Legend ending seems to indicate that the split-off Delamain goes back to running his taxi service (you do get in a Delamain AV), which makes sense, since he seemed to enjoy it. However, I’d also love to see V help Delamain explore other parts of humanity, maybe a hobby? Maybe Delamain, being into beauty, could like art? Or maybe Delamain only plays taxi for V alone at this point and has a whole different occupation?

I also think V wouldn’t necessarily have to drive his Delamain by himself (I mean... it’s a taxi! And Excelsior will eventually figure out how to drive, too, I’m sure). The two of them having a slow cruise through the city and V enjoying the sights while chatting with Delamain on autopilot would be great.

I’m not really into objectophilia, so I’d prefer if V wasn’t sexually attracted to the cars/having exhaust pipe sex or anything, but I could see the cars or building being part of their sex life? Maybe V likes to jerk off sitting in the Delamain car(s) (or in the AV) or inside the HQ/core room just because he feels closer to Delamain that way. Maybe Delamain helps along with dirty talk, too?

Maybe Delamain can experience sexual pleasure, but it’s a bit different than with humans. Luckily, V happens to be a techie, gets himself a good cyberdeck and figures out exactly how to press Delamain’s buttons. I could also see V meeting Delamain in cyberspace and the two of them having weird but very fun code-sex there.

So V has been through hell and back and yeah, he’d like to have sex, but he’s really just happy that someone in this weird city earnestly loves him, even if it’s an AI, and if sex is not in the cards, whatever. Then Delamain gets an android body to surprise him. The body could have a biologically male configuration or also have a vagina or be able to switch if Delamain guesses V might be into that. I’d love it if the body looked a bit like Delamain’s visual representation, too.

As with the prompt above, Delamain gets an android body. Maybe before this, Delamain had no way to experience sexual pleasure, but this body has functionality that mimics this, and it’s quite overwhelming at first. V loves to experiment with it and show him all the fun things organics can do.

Delamain plans to get an android body and since it’s mostly just for interacting with V and Delamain has no strong opinions on it, he involves V in the planning of what it’s supposed to look like/which genitalia he’d prefer etc. V finds this kind of weird at first, but also kind of sweet.

(I also have a letter dealing with smut, one with iddy tropes, one for heat fic, sex pollen and A/B/O, one for hurt/comfort, one for iddy fic, and one with an epistolary fic focus for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

Sandayu Oda/Goro Takemura
Takemura was one of my favourite side characters in this game and we didn’t see much of Oda, but I really enjoyed what we got. Though the dignified middle-aged bodyguard in the pretty suit and the cyberninja with the 2004 jrock hairdo and combat gear are quite the stark contrast, their attitudes are plainly very similar. Their backstory is great, too – that at some point Takemura started being a mentor to Oda, probably when it became clear he was destined for a higher position at Arasaka, and that their relationship then developed into a friendship that lasted for a quite a while before the beginning of the game. The push and pull of that friendship against the intense sense of duty these two have was great to watch. Since I don’t like major character death, I’d like both Takemura and Oda to survive (actually possible!). I’d also prefer if Oda were at least 20 when they first start to get to know each other. I prefer bottom Takemura for smut. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Takemura. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Takemura and alpha or beta Oda.

I would love for Takemura to visit Oda when Oda is recovering from the boss fight. Takemura is probably pretty beat up himself from the ambush on the hotel. Maybe Hanako keeps them stashed away together to keep both their survival secret from her brother? It would be interesting if after this dramatic time they lived through, the two discover their shared romantic feelings. However, I’m also totally here for established relationship – I think things could pretty much have gone down the exact same way even if they were lovers, since they’re both so dutiful.

The two of them sparring would be great! It’s said that everything Oda knows he learned from Takemura. I just gotta know: can Takemura go cyberninja, too, and has just opted for a different fighting style? Whether he does or whether he has learned to take on Oda through other means, I’m here for it. I'd also love to see them practice sword-fighting if you want to go for something with weapons. Which one wins? Is there maybe a private wager, a “prize” to claim?

Takemura and Oda both seem like guys who take their jobs seriously and are pretty much married to them, so how does their friendship tilt into romance? Waiting outside a meeting between Hanako and Saburo? Sharing a hotel room between Hanako’s and Saburo’s rooms because it’s just the best place for them to guard both of them? Double missions? Training session? Just on small breaks enjoying good food? All of it somehow cumulating?

I imagine Takemura and Oda would feel they’d eventually have to reveal a steady relationship to their bosses (could be a security risk, after all!). What do they think? Or maybe someone else saw something and they’re being asked to explain themselves, forcing them to put words on it for the first time?

I always love FWB to lovers with lots of pining in the middle, so that would also be great.

Generally, I’d love to see prequel stuff, from when Takemura was still somewhat more Oda’s mentor to when they were friends on equal footing and probably felt like the only people who could really understand each other due to their similar positions.

The two of them fighting together! Maybe Militech or another rival company is hitting Arasaka and they have to get their charges out of there in one piece, or launch a counter-attack.

For established relationship, I’d love to see little details: how a rare lazy morning goes, if they have quirks the other rolls their eyes at (maybe Oda enjoys the substandard food that Takemura hates?), moments of gentleness when one gets hurt, etc.

Takemura talks about cooking in the game once, so apparently that's a skill he has? I'd love to see him cook for Oda.

In one of the endings where Arasaka struggles, maybe Takemura and Oda are fucked over somehow, as corpos are wont to do, and have to flee to survive. Old dog Takemura might feel like his life is really over now, but Oda could have enough enthusiasm (or spite) left to continue. Oda learning to fight without his Arasaka implants, the two of them joining the nomads as Takemura says he might have liked to do, and/or them generally starting a new life together would be awesome.

As above, but it's only one of them about to be taken out. However, unlike the situation in the game, it is massively clear that the person is being targeted for company politics reasons and they realise that Arasaka is nowhere near as loyal to them as they are to it. The one who wasn't targeted then decides (possible after much angst and deliberation) that they will be loyal to the other instead of Arasaka and they escape together (would also work well with established relationship).

Smut would always be great. Are any of those fancy Arasaka implants put to good (if potentially unintended) use? Do they have some uninterrupted alone time or is it a quickie between obligations?

I love younger Dom/older sub, so if you’re in the mood to write BDSM, that would be great. I could imagine that maybe Takemura hasn’t trusted anyone to Dom him, at least not in a long while, since he can’t chance being incapacitated – but for Oda he makes an exception. Or maybe Oda is the one who brings it up and Takemura makes the decision that he’s going to try it because it’s Oda and then he actually finds he enjoys subbing.

Related to the BDSM prompt, experienced sub/inexperienced but enthusiastic Dom is also always great. They did say Takemura taught Oda everything he knows... so whether it’s them just starting out or Oda eventually ‘surpassing the master’ and finding something to surprise Takemura with, either would be great.

(I also have a letter dealing with smut, one for iddy tropes, one for mpreg tropes and kidfic, one for heat fic, sex pollen and A/B/O, one for epistolary fic, and one with a hurt/comfort focus for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī

Jiang Cheng/Lan Xichen
This is a pairing I’ve really come to enjoy despite the fact that they don’t have that much contact in canon – at least not that we see because I assume as leaders of major sects, and with Lan Xichen being so close to Jin Ling’s other guardian, they have actually met quite a bit. We know from Lan Xichen’s friendship with Nie Mingjue that he can handle tempestuous temperaments. Also, I feel like Lan Xichen ticks, though not at all, quite a few boxes on Jiang Cheng’s romance checklist, so that’s good! This could be set right after the war (it would probably be difficult after Wei Wuxian’s death due to Lan Xichen’s loyalty to his brother, who does not like Jiang Cheng past the Burial Mound siege, but perhaps Lan Xichen’s and Jiang Cheng’s relationship somehow ends up preventing the whole Wei Wuxian thing from going really south in the first place, or the Wen fled and that entire plot disappears entirely); or it could be post-canon, when they both have to work through their pain. Either way would be interesting! Post-canon, Jiang Cheng is probably not super welcome in the Cloud Recesses courtesy of Lan Wangji as long as he and Wei Wuxian haven’t had some sort of reconciliation, but does Lan Xichen end up facilitating it, or do the two of them end up meeting more once Jiang Cheng drops by sometimes to see Wei Wuxian after having a heart-to-heart with him? For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng had a crush on Lan Xichen during his time at the Cloud Recesses, but with Wei Wuxian already all over Lan Wangji, he didn’t also want to be causing trouble. However, he keeps running into Lan Xichen during the war and they slowly get to know each other better...

Or for a similar prompt as above, after the war, Wei Wuxian (possibly in a timeline that doesn’t end in disaster for him) eventually picks up on their interactions and is delighted with the idea of Jiang Cheng being in love with a Lan, too (good taste in his opinion). He decides he’s absolutely going to matchmake them (perhaps men can even marry here, but I feel like Wei Wuxian wouldn’t be stopped either way).

Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen meet up during the war. After a harrowing fight, they spend the night patching each other up and more happens... how do they deal with it afterwards?

Post-ending, Jiang Cheng ends up making up with Wei Wuxian and sometimes comes to the Cloud Recesses. He’s pretty much the only one who doesn’t really respect Lan Xichen’s seclusion there and keeps stubbornly talking at the door or forcing invites. Even if he’s not the most sympathetic person in the world, though, it ends up being good for Lan Xichen. Was Jiang Cheng already in love and that’s why he was so stubborn? Or did he just not like Lan Xichen shutting himself away, but as they talk they slowly come to understand they’re both hurting (and have other things in common, too)?

Jiang Cheng is stretching himself thin trying to run Lotus Pier and help with the Jin Sect. As Lan Xichen leaves seclusion, he offers his help, since he feels responsible for... well, basically everything that went wrong in the last twenty years. As they work together, they start to get along.

Just Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen as a couple who both feel they’ve made terrible mistakes, but are much easier on the misdeeds of the other than they are on their own and find a little forgiveness with each other.

Generally, I would love to see battle couple stuff at any point, whether it’s during the war or on a nighthunt or any other occasion where they have to defend themselves, each other, the other, or innocents.

On the other hand, seeing the two of them being competent sect leaders together would be great, too. Jiang Cheng isn’t known for his gentle touch in diplomacy, but Lan Xichen probably folds too easily sometimes, so they really have matching strengths and weaknesses.

What does Jin Ling think of his uncle’s relationship if he ever finds out? He’s getting surrounded by Lan... but Lan Xichen is at least pretty nice.

I have to include a forehead ribbon prompt, of course. Does Lan Xichen offer it to Jiang Cheng? Does it fall off and Jiang Cheng doesn’t think for a moment before he picks it up and is quite mortified, but Lan Xichen says he’s allowed to touch it? Or maybe Jiang Cheng touches/grabs it accidentally and the way Lan Xichen gets flustered makes him wonder? Does Jiang Cheng take great pleasure in touching the thing once he’s allowed and Lan Xichen thinks it’s cute?

I admit this is tropey as hell, but I always love animal shapeshifter stories. Maybe you shift according to your personality if you form a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Jiang and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else)? What do Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them has that power?

Smut is, of course, always appreciated. Whether it’s their first or hundredth time together, whether they’re both very experienced or both (or one of them) fumbling their way through, all would be great.

Kink discovery could be really fun with these two. Lan Xichen, as a Lan, is probably somewhat sheltered. Maybe Jiang Cheng has to introduce him to some of the more daring concepts? I also like the idea of Lan Xichen being very embarrassed about a kink and Jiang Cheng eventually coaxing it out of him (already worried because Lan Xichen is making such a big deal out of it), except then it turns out to be something totally milquetoast that Lan Xichen just couldn’t just properly gauge as not-actually-that-kinky.

In a same-sex-marriage-is-allowed AU of any sort, Jiang Cheng was hoping to ask for Lan Xichen’s hand at some point and had even gotten the approval of the Jiang elders. However, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji announce their betrothal first and now there’s really no political need to tie themselves even tighter to the Lan. Jiang Cheng pines away hard. To his surprise, Lan Xichen also seems a little distracted the next time they meet (perhaps it’s even at the Wangxian wedding). Turns out they may have had similar plans... when do they find out? Do they decide to marry, anyway?

Alpha/Beta Jiang Cheng has always found himself being compared to Wei Wuxian (whether he’s also an alpha, or seems to outclass him even as a beta or omega). It means he’s definitely never had the confidence to court someone like omega Lan Xichen, who has so many suitors (especially not if his brother already snatched Lan Wangji, meaning Lan Xichen would constantly have Wei Wuxian around to compare the two). What changes his mind? Maybe they fall in love working together and he realises Lan Xichen already holds him in high regard? Or maybe Lan Xichen is the one who starts courting him?

On the other hand, maybe Lan Xichen makes for a very awkward omega in the eyes of most (stronger than most alphas in both body and cultivation, tall, a fighter, a leader) and is surprised when Jiang Cheng ends up courting him.

Idea for A/B/O or any other reason (some) men can get pregnant: Post-ending, a relatively broken Lan Xichen introduces the idea of an arranged marriage to Jiang Cheng so they can both get heirs for their respective sects, since Lan Xichen can carry children and doesn’t want/believe in a love marriage anymore, since obviously he's not great at picking the people he cares about. Jiang Cheng sees the political sense in it and has pretty much given up on finding a partner by himself, anyway. Only it turns out they end up falling in love accidentally...

Idea for A/B/O or any other reason (some) men can get pregnant: Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen lick their wounds together post-ending and fall into bed together as acquaintances-with-benefits. Lan Xichen accidentally gets pregnant. During the pregnancy and/or after caring for the baby together, the two of them fall in love.

I would also like Modern AUs for these guys. I’m sure their relationship still has some hiccups, but sometimes I just want nice things and no war and (excessive) bloodshed for them.

(I also have a letter dealing with smut prompts, one with iddy tropes, one with hurt/comfort prompts, and one with mpreg and childfic tropes for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

Nie Huaisang/Lan Xichen
This is such an interesting pairing because depending on the point in the timeline, it could be a cute story about Nie Huaisang’s crush on his older brother’s best friend, or an extremely fraught tale about two men who just came out of a very complicated situation that will leave them unsure about how the other feels about them, or maybe even how they feel about the other. Inbetween are potential AUs where they get in a relationship in the thirteen years between Nie Mingjue’s death and canon and Nie Huaisang tips Lan Xichen off much earlier (we do know from canon Lan Xichen does act against Jin Guangyao when presented with evidence he can’t refute), or where perhaps he doesn’t and leaves his lover Lan Xichen in the dark (maybe because he thinks Lan Xichen is just not a good enough liar to help with his plan, or wouldn’t want to believe him, or would do unwise things like confront Jin Guangyao directly) and they have to mend their broken trust later. All options sound great to me, so have at it! For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta Nie Huaisang.

Nie Huaisang spent the war at the Cloud Recesses. Lan Xichen was mostly running around the country helping where he could, but I’m sure he checked in at home, too. Obviously Nie Huaisang has been to the Cloud Recesses quite a few times as a teenager, but this is the first time he isn’t really there as a kid to be taught (even if Nie Mingjue wants him to practice, lol). Maybe Lan Xichen finds an unlikely calm in the storm with him whenever he passes by and they get closer?

Nie Huaisang having a big crush on Lan Xichen is generally a cute prompt to me. Maybe post-war things don’t go as sideways with Wei Wuxian (perhaps Lan Wangji can marry him to force others to see him as respectable again or something, or the Wens managed to flee and never became a point of contention, etc.) and he ends up being a slightly ridiculous matchmaker for his good friend Nie Huaisang?

Modern AU would be fun for a mid-twenties romance, too, or in general! Sometimes, I just want them to have nice things without all the bloodshed and murder, lol.

I also like weird set-up of Nie Huaisang having a bit of a puppy crush on Lan Xichen, but not at all wanting to disturb Nie Mingjue’s relationship with him. However, Nie Mingjue dies and after some time, Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen end up getting closer.

Okay, so what are we going to do about the Nie sabre problem, though? Because that’s going to continue to haunt the Nie sect. Is Nie Huaisang going to use his smarts to change their cultivation method? Maybe he needs Lan Xichen’s help to come up with something, since Lan Xichen is undoubtedly a much greater cultivator on a technical level or might find ways to incorporate the same energy that is used in Cleansing to regulate them. Lan Xichen may agree for the sake of stopping unnecessary deaths or to honour Nie Mingjue, but now Nie Huaisang and him are talking again…

Lan Xichen doesn’t feel like he really knows who Nie Huaisang is post-canon, but as he drags himself out of seclusion, he decides he probably can’t afford to ignore him completely. On the other hand, he’s also not sure if he isn’t next on Nie Huaisang’s hit list for not catching on to Jin Guangyao’s betrayal sooner or accidentally providing him with the murder weapon. Nie Huaisang, meanwhile, has no plans to kill him, but isn’t sure where they stand, either. The two establishing a new kind of relationship would be interesting.

Nie Huaisang is aware that Lan Xichen is not in a good state and people who have nothing to lose do unpredictable things sometimes. He comes to talk to him in seclusion mostly to prevent Lan Xichen from snapping and killing him. However, it turns out Lan Xichen isn’t really very angry at him and understands why he killed Jin Guangyao and they actually still get along, if on a different level than before.

Nie Huaisang looking to become Chief Cultivator may feel like a bit of a deja-vu to Lan Xichen, who is worried he’s about to fall for the tricks of yet another power-hungry Jin Guangyao type. What convinces him Nie Huaisang won’t be so bad?

For a smaller, sweet prompt, Lan Xichen is apparently a renowned painter. I’m sure Nie Huaisang would love to have some of his paintings. Maybe he even gets Lan Xichen to paint a fan for him? Or Lan Xichen decides he wants to paint one as a gift.

Lan Xichen giving Nie Huaisang some tips for his own painting would be fun, too (probably behind Nie Mingjue’s back if he’s still alive). Or just the two of the painting together – they have a nice shared hobby.

I have to include a forehead ribbon prompt, of course. Does Lan Xichen offer it to Nie Huaisang? Does it fall off and Nie Huaisang doesn’t think for a moment before he picks it up and is quite mortified, but Lan Xichen says he’s allowed to touch it? Or maybe Nie Huaisang touches/grabs it accidentally and the way Lan Xichen gets flustered makes him consider what Lan Xichen feels for him? Does Nie Huaisang take great pleasure in touching the thing once he’s allowed and Lan Xichen thinks it’s cute?

I admit this is tropey as hell, but I always love animal shapeshifter stories. Maybe you shift according to your personality if you form a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Nie and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else? Is Nie Huaisang the less threatening form of what the other Nie turn into, like a very small tiger or something?)? What do Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them has that power?

Of course, I would also love smut with these two. Whether it’s post-canon hate-fucking that turns accidentally less aggressive, or sweet, loving sex at any point in the timeline, all would be fun to explore.

I could actually see Lan Xichen being the virgin between them, what with all those rules forbidding frivolities. Not to worry, Nie Huaisang is happy to teach him!

First time bottoming for Lan Xichen would be fun. Maybe they always did it the other way around because it was sort of ‘expected’, with Lan Xichen being older and much bigger and what limited understanding he has of sex told him that means he should take the lead. But Nie Huaisang asks to switch at some point and Lan Xichen realizes it’s actually really fun this way, too.

Nie Huaisang is a bit famous for his sizeable smut collection. Lan Xichen ends up stumbling over some of it in his bedroom. Maybe Nie Huaisang catches him while he’s leafing through the book? Or maybe Lan Xichen saw some fairly outlandish things, but because he’s still a sheltered Lan, he’s not quite sure what is expected. Can he get over himself and bring up his concerns to Nie Huaisang?

Or maybe Nie Huaisang is quite eager to share his porn! I would love for them to go through that to take inspiration (even if Lan Xichen probably feels like his head is going to explode looking at so much indecent material, but maybe he is more curious than he admits...).

For an A/B/O AU: alpha Nie Huaisang and omega Lan Xichen would actually make a pretty sensible match based on status alone. Even if Nie Huaisang is an alpha, he’s probably not a very stereotypically impressive one, so he could be an omega sect leader’s ‘lesser’ partner (and Nie Mingjue is probably relieved Nie Huaisang will be married to someone who can protect him). Nie Huaisang knows people laugh behind their back – an alpha who has to hide behind his omega’s back, how embarrassing –, but to his surprise, Lan Xichen actually approves of the arrangement. I bet Nie Huaisang has other ways than brute strength to be prove himself a good alpha and partner for Lan Xichen, anyway.

On the other hand, maybe Lan Xichen makes for a very awkward omega in the eyes of most (stronger than most alphas in both body and cultivation, tall, a fighter, a leader) and is surprised when Nie Huaisang ends up courting him. However, if Nie Huaisang is an alpha, he knows what it’s like not to live up to stereotypes, and if he’s a beta, maybe he just doesn’t care about all that.

Nie Huaisang becoming Lan Xichen’s husband would also work for any other AU where men can marry. He’s a second-born heir with no known inheritance of his own, so politically it would make sense. Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang finding their way through this arranged marriage and ending up very much in love would be nice.

When Nie Mingjue dies, Lan Xichen is mpregnant with his child. Nie Huaisang is there to support him and to take care off his nephew/niece, of course. Over time, the two of them start to get closer as they parent the baby together.

(I also have a letter dealing with smut prompts and one with mpreg and childfic tropes for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

Nie Mingjue/Lan Xichen
I really enjoyed the relationship between those two. Nie Mingjue does not seem to have many, or any other close friends, aside from Meng Yao, though that doesn’t last too long. What was it that made Lan Xichen different, made him fascinating to someone who, according to Jin Guangyao, is interested in nothing but decimating the Wen sect and his sabre? And how did someone as clement as Lan Xichen befriend the hot-tempered heir of the Unclean Realm? When Nie Mingjue isn’t currently trying to kill someone (usually Jin Guangyao), Lan Xichen doesn’t even seem too bothered by his temper at all, and he seems to genuinely enjoy his company as well. I would love to see anything, from childhood stories (perhaps with clandestine first kisses), to their time as young men, to fighting in the war, to a fix-it were all works out differently and Nie Mingjue doesn’t die. For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta Nie Mingjue.

How did Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue meet? Are they childhood friends? Did Nie Mingjue also go to the Lan sect for classes with Lan Qiren? Lan Xichen is a bit younger than him, I think, but he’s a Lan, so he might still have sat in the same classes, being a bit further in the curriculum, or shown the guests around. A teenage crush (with first kiss?) that eventually blooms into more once they’re older and get to see each other more often would be cool.

Maybe Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue are just polite at first, but then start bonding over being older brothers. Lan Xichen wishes Lan Wangji was a little more social and open to people, like Nie Huaisang, and Nie Mingjue wishes Nie Huaisang was as studious as Lan Wangji. Conversations spiral from there. Stuff like Lan Xichen saving Nie Huaisang from some beast or ghost, or Nie Mingjue training Lan Wangji while Lan Xichen watches would also be great and would surely endear them more to each other.

When Nie Mingjue’s father is wounded during the night hunt, Lan Xichen races to the Unclean Realm to calm Nie Mingjue with Cleansing, but also to be there for him. Already in such a raw emotional state, Nie Mingjue can’t quite keep in his feelings anymore...

How did Lan Xichen first start playing for Nie Mingjue? How did he even find out that the sabre spirit is so dangerous? Did Nie Mingjue tell him and Lan Xichen actively started searching for a way to help, or did Nie Mingjue just hear him play and then found ever more excuses to ask him to play more for him, until Lan Xichen realised that this was quite strange from someone who otherwise doesn’t seem to like music that much? (Although maybe Nie Mingjue also likes specifically Lan Xichen’s music for other reasons...)

I would also just love a scene of Lan Xichen playing for him and Nie Mingjue getting to relax for once. Maybe he falls asleep against Lan Xichen’s shoulder at some point and is flustered afterwards? Maybe sitting over the instrument late in the night leads to some confessions?

Lan Xichen accidentally (or on purpose?) had some alcohol and now Nie Mingjue has to deal with him in his happily enthusiastic state.

Battle couple is perfect for them. Whether they’re night-hunting together or fighting in the war, I bet they’re great as a team. Bonus points for one of them grabbing the other’s sword at some point (I mean Baxia and Shuoyue, smut prompts are further down) and fighting with it in a tight moment and the other finding that very fascinating to watch (okay, this could actually turn into post-battle smut).

What if Nie Mingjue had survived? I would love to see a romance that develops somewhere in the thirteen year timeskip as they balance their love for each other with their responsibilities as sect leaders.

I have to include a forehead ribbon prompt, of course. Does Lan Xichen offer it to Nie Mingjue? Does it fall off and Nie Mingjue doesn’t think for a moment before he picks it up and then remembers, but Lan Xichen says he’s allowed to touch it? Or maybe Nie Mingjue touches/grabs it accidentally and the way Lan Xichen gets flustered makes him wonder (or Nie Mingjue is the one who gets very flustered...)? Does Nie Mingjue take great pleasure in touching the thing once he’s allowed and Lan Xichen thinks it’s cute?

I would also be here for a now fully conscious Fierce Corpse Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen. Maybe once his body is all put together, he manages to spring the trap (for whatever reason) and goes to find Lan Xichen? Or maybe a demonic cultivator raises him, but Nie Mingjue is not under their control. Were Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue lovers before or not? Does Lan Xichen think Nie Mingjue has come to kill him? Does he plan to let him? Maybe it turns out Fierce Corpse Nie Mingjue needs to regularly hear Liebing’s sound to stay calm, at least at the start? Lots of options here, but I would love a good(ish) ending for them.

I admit this is tropey as hell, but I always love animal shapeshifter stories. Maybe you shift according to your personality when you develop a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Nie and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else)? What do Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them has that power? I’d also love a story about the Nie clan hiding the secret that they can all turn into beasts because of their cultivation technique, so Lan Xichen finding out about that would be a cool story, too.

Smut would be great! Were they inexperienced but enthusiastic older teens/early twenties when they first fell into bed together? Was it maybe just supposed to be experimentation, but they both have massive crushes? Or maybe it’s later and Nie Mingjue had a few trysts behind battlefield tents, but this is the first time he’s honestly in love? Or maybe Lan Xichen is the more experienced one and surprises him with some skills he picked up? It could also be, of course, that they’re both experienced and blow each other’s mind the first time they go to bed. And what about kinks? Does Nie Mingjue have some he indulges, or does he just know more than he wants to because Nie Huiasang keeps leaving his books lying around, but now for the first time he’s guiltily leafing through a few of them and wondering how that would work with Lan Xichen? Is Lan Xichen very vanilla due to being sheltered from such things by his sect and very flustered (and intrigued) by everything new?

For A/B/O or any other AU where mpreg is possible or they can adopt an heir, Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen would have made quite an obvious match. Maybe they were betrothed early, but only met in their teens? Maybe they weren’t even supposed to meet yet but snuck some clandestine glances at each other/had a few conversation? Or they might also have been convinced they would be mismatched based on their reputations, but then as young adults, they meet during a couple of night hunts and actually get along very well. Do they marry young or is it pushed off until after the war? Do they actually wait to start their romance until then or does it happen during the Sunshot campaign or even before?

Or maybe it is highly unusual for two sect leaders to marry because it basically means they’re merging their sects a little bit. People think Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue are acting out because of love and that’s their official story, too. However, in reality Nie Mingjue knew he had to do something or his bloodline was eventually going to be doomed because of the constant qi deviations. Lan Xichen, who is after all the leader of the sect who seem to have the secret to taming the Nie, offered his help. Now they’re married and wildly mutually pining because they’re also actually in love.

For A/B/O specifically, maybe Lan Xichen makes for a very awkward omega in the eyes of most (stronger than most alphas in both body and cultivation, tall, a fighter, a leader), but Nie Mingjue is absolutetly smitten.

Or for A/B/O, omega Lan Xichen is still considered quite desirable and Wen Xu wants to marry him. This severely speeds up the start of the war courtesy of Nie Mingjue (who may even be his actual betrothed that Wen Xu is ignoring, or otherwise just his friend who would never let that happen even though Lan Xichen might be unhappily considering it for the good of the Lan sect).

I would also like Modern AUs for these guys. I’m sure their relationship still encounters problems, but sometimes I just want nice things and no brutal death for them, haha.

(I also have a letter dealing with tropey stuff, one with smut prompts, one with mpreg and kidfic tropes, one with hurt/comfort tropes, one with iddy tropes, and one with A/B/O for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

Jin Guangyao/Lan Xichen
The story of these two really hurt me deeply in the best way. It is such a sweet friendship, with Jin Guangyao honestly caring for Lan Xichen despite seeing most everyone else as pawns, and Lan Xichen being so convinced that the world is wrong about Jin Guangyao and unfair to him – and you know, in many ways they really are, but in the end, there were also too many crimes Jin Guangyao actually committed. For Qin Su, I would like it if her and Jin Guangyao had never met/gotten married, or if she had died a natural death at some point, or ran off with a guy/woman she fell in love with to have a happy life somewhere away from cultivation drama. For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta Jin Guangyao.

If you’re going for a full redemption arc plus happy ending, I’d rather if the fic diverged from canon before Jin Guangyao kills Nie Mingjue (which I don’t think Lan Xichen could get over) and before Jin Guangyao kills his father. It could also be an AU where neither murder happens for Reasons, even if those Reasons are just Jin Guangyao being foiled/people dying on their own and he totally might have killed them if he’d gotten the chance (or he finds a way to kill his father that doesn’t involve also killing prostitutes, I’m really not actually bothered by him killing his father, just the other people that died as a result of Jin Guangyao’s canonical plan).

In such an AU, Jin Guangyao could even still be Sect Leader by handwavey way of rocks fall, everyone but Jin Guangyao’s baby nephew dies; or perhaps those deaths are indeed part of the plot of the fic and have to be solved by Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen.

However, if you’re going for something in the thirteen year timeskip, I’m also happy with a nice story of them getting together and Jin Guangyao just keeping Lan Xichen in the dark like he does in canon, sort of a semi-happy tale because of course we all know that the other shoe will drop eventually.

Maybe some co-parenting? Instead of Jin Ruson, Qin Su is the one who dies by assassination. Jin Guangyao really had nothing to do with planning that, but it doesn’t change the fact that he still believes his son eventually has to die. Only problem: when he tries to put the plan in action, he can’t bring himself to go through with it. Now he has to think of some other way to avoid suspicions about Jin Ruson’s heritage. Meanwhile, Lan Xichen stays over more to help out with both Jin Ruson and Jin Ling and since Jin Guangyao is not married anymore, their relationship eventually shifts as well...
Ages are kind of vague anyway, but if you age Jin Guangyao up to be eighteen by the time he helps Lan Xichen hide from the Wen sect, maybe their romance even begins there? Could be Jin Guangyao is already putting in place a plan of seducing Lan Xichen (which gets out of hand when he actually falls in love), or maybe he still has some youthful indiscretion then and just kind of tumbles into it just like Lan Xichen.

Relatedly, a full AU where Meng Yao decides, after being kicked down the stairs: screw all these cultivators, they seem like assholes, I’m going to become a rich clerk (or whatever) instead and not deal with any of that. Except he moves pretty close to Gusu, so it would be good to have a relationship with the Lan sect, which makes him hide Lan Xichen and oh no, this cultivator is very nice and respectful and now he’s in love.

Someone is trying to kill Lan Xichen. It was not a good idea to try to murder the crush/boyfriend of one of the most cunning men in the country.

I’d also love some fics about details of their relationship. For example, how did Jin Guangyao come by these pictures in the Blooming Garden study? Did he ask? Did Lan Xichen gift them spontaneously? Were they sitting a little too close as Jin Guangyao watched them being made? Does he maybe have other pictures by Lan Xichen in a more private place? Did he at some point fluster Lan Xichen by asking him to draw himself so that Jin Guangyao could always look at Lan Xichen even when they aren’t together? Did he ever find secret sketches Lan Xichen made of him?

Night-hunting together is always great! Jin Guangyao is not as strong as other sect leaders, but he is tricky and brought Lan Xichen as muscle; and I would love to see more of him fighting with his interesting sword.

The two of then helping out Nie Huaisang with some matter would be really fun as well.

Either a servant really messes up or Jin Guangyao told them to do so because he was interested in what would happen, but somehow Lan Xichen ends up being served alcohol while he’s with Jin Guangyao. How does Jin Guangyao deal with the enthusiastic, happy version of Lan Xichen? Is he just kind of in awe/surprised, or does he make good use by badgering the answers to some private questions out of him... ?

I have to include a forehead ribbon prompt, of course. Does Lan Xichen offer it to Jin Guangyao? Does it fall off and Jin Guangyao doesn’t think for a moment before he picks it up and is quite mortified, but Lan Xichen says he’s allowed to touch it? Or maybe Jin Guangyao touches/grabs it accidentally and the way Lan Xichen gets flustered tells him quite a bit about his feelings? Does Jin Guangyao take great pleasure in touching the thing once he’s allowed and Lan Xichen thinks it’s cute?

I admit this is tropey as hell, but I always love animal shapeshifter stories. Maybe you shift according to your personality if you form a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Jin and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else)? What do Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them has that power?

Smut is always fun, of course. Jin Guangyao does not seem to turn away trysts (he did end up with Qin Su), but does he do it just for fun or is there usually a utilitarian purpose behind his decision to sleep with someone? Maybe sleeping with Lan Xichen is kind of overwhelming in its own way because, oh no, he’s in love. On the other hand, Lan Xichen seems a little more ready than his brother used to be to bend the rules, so has he ever ended up sleeping with someone or is Jin Guangyao the first? Honestly, all options sound fun here! I imagine Jin Guangyao with his perfect memory knew more than he should have even at a young age from what he saw at the brothel, and maybe he also experimented himself, so him introducing a much more vanilla Lan Xichen to kinks would be great, too. Or maybe this is when they’re quite young and both have no practical experiences and thus fumble through together. Is Jin Guangyao worried that he may have missed his shot by being clumsy, but Lan Xichen doesn’t care at all and just liked being with him?

This could either be A/B/O or other reason men can marry (other methods of mpreg, heirs can be adopted). Rocks fall, every Jin but baby Jin Ling (who I guess is a little older here to make the timeline fit) and Jin Guangyao dies shortly after Sunshot. However, Jin Guangyao doesn’t nearly have enough respect from the sects yet (he only just got his new name) after such an abrupt ascension and now he’s left holding a baby and Koi Tower. While he’s still reeling, to Jin Guangyao’s great surprise, Lan Xichen offers him his own hand to strengthen his position. Now they’re married but pining for each other because Lan Xichen doesn’t want to impose and Jin Guangyao thinks it was an act of friendship...

For A/B/O or any other reason some men can have kids (or an AU where they can adopt an heir) – I feel if there’d been a way for Jin Guangyao to marry Lan Xichen, he definitely could have tried to seduce him quite early, probably even right after his stint with the Wen sect. After all, what better way to gain his father’s favour than to snatch a valuable marriage to the elder Jade of Lan? However, he also accidentally falls in love with Lan Xichen. Are they married sect leaders eventually, or does Jin Guangyao actually end up enjoying the respect and honest regard he gets from Lan Xichen (plus Lan Xichen being interested in his ideas, like Lookout Towers) and instead settles into his role as husband in the Cloud Recesses?

Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen sleep together spur-of-the-moment during the tail end of the war. A few months later, Lan Xichen tells Jin Guangyao that he’s pregnant, quite distraught and unsure what Jin Guangyao will think. It’s a great advancement opportunity, of course, a kid with a Lan, so Jin Guangyao is overjoyed. However, maybe he’s a bit more led by his feelings than he wants to be, too.

Schemer encounters scheming: Someone doesn’t like the fact that Lan Xichen is/was pregnant with a bastard prostitute son’s child at all and tries to get rid of their (just born or still unborn) kid (unsuccessfully, but can definitely be close). Jin Guangyao focuses his entire plot power.

For A/B/O specifically, maybe Lan Xichen makes for a very awkward omega in the eyes of most (stronger than most alphas in both body and cultivation, tall, a fighter, a leader), and Jin Guangyao is an unusual alpha (shorter, weaker, appears to be quite meek), but they’re very attracted to each other.

I would also like Modern AUs for these guys. I’m sure their relationship still encounters problems, but sometimes I just want nice things and no brutal death for them.

(I also have a letter dealing with tropey stuff, one with iddy prompts, one with hurt/comfort tropes, one with mpreg and kidfic prompts, one with smut prompts, and one with A/B/O for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

Jin Guangyao/Nie Mingjue/Lan Xichen
I know it was unlikely, but I kind of wanted things to work out for them. They would have been immensely entertaining and probably near-unstoppable if they had managed to get it together and I always thought that perhaps they could have worked it out if things had gone just a bit differently! After all, they all independently of each other struck up friendships in the first place, so there’s enough there that each of them sees in the others to make a real triad relationship. However, if you would like to instead look at that moment in canon just after they become sworn brothers, or lengthen the time before Meng Yao leaves Nie Mingjue so that they have time to be together there (as long as Meng Yao is eighteen), that would also be great. For Qin Su, I would like it if her and Jin Guangyao had never met/gotten married, or if she had died a natural death at some point, or ran off with a guy/woman she fell in love with to have a happy life somewhere away from cultivation drama.

This fic can of course also include Jin Guangyao/Nie Mingjue, Nie Mingjue/Lan Xichen, or Jin Guangyao/Lan Xichen as long as it eventually turns into a closed triad; I just don't want anybody actively, purposefully cheating on somebody else, but muddled circumstances and we’re-pretending-we're-just-FWB-but-actually-pining is fine (as is two of them actively looking for a third, or just happening to find one, of course). For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen and have no preference between the other two; for BDSM, I like sub Lan Xichen with two Doms. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao.

Maybe the Xue Yang problem never becomes such a big issue and the relationship between Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue actually starts to mend, even if Nie Mingjue still doesn’t like sneaky methods and Jin Guangyao probably also takes potshots at him sometimes, especially as they get closer again. Lan Xichen is very happy! Everything worked out as he’d hoped. Except, well, they’re all getting along a bit too well now...

Lan Xichen is aware Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue used to be together and it looks like post-Sunshot Campaign, they’re slowly starting to get closer again, which is what he wanted! He does everything to facilitate mending their relationship, even though he’s in love with both of them and a bit lovesick. However, he ends up being sucked into the whole matter by accident.

Jin Guangyao (or Meng Yao, depending on the point in time) has finally found something Nie Mingjue wants, other than sabres and killing Wen dogs, and with which he could manipulate him: Lan Xichen. He does his best to provide Lan Xichen to Nie Mingjue, but his plan kind of goes off the rails and somehow he ends up intimately involved in their relationship. That still works out somehow, though, so plan failed successfully?

Nie Mingjue notices there’s something between Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen. Fine. It’s not like it’s his business. If he’s hovering and spending more time with them, it’s only because Jin Guangyao can be cunning and Lan Xichen too trusting. He’s not interested in this... however, when the other two invite him along, Nie Mingjue may or may not be surprised how happy he is about it.

Jin Guangyao is already in a relationship with Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen when his father tries to pressure him to kill Nie Mingjue. Jin Guangyao makes the decision to tell both of them (with evidence) so that they can turn against his father instead. It’s a good way to get rid of his father, but also, he’s at a point where he just doesn’t want to kill one of his lovers and break the other’s heart.

Someone makes a mistake serving drinks and Lan Xichen ends up drunk (which isn’t difficult, since he only has to accidentally drink a single cup). Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao end up watching over their happy drunk sworn brother, who starts open-heartedly confessing all sorts of things at just the slightest provocation, opening the way to perhaps a different way for their relationship to proceed...

Or they’re all drunk (well, Jin Guangyao may or may not be, it would also be interesting if he’s still here scheming, but maybe he miscalculated the how strong the drink is) and Lan Xichen gets the great idea in his head to resolve the strange tension between them with some physical affection. It ends in a wild night of sex. The smut itself or the morning after would both be great. Also, maybe, oddly enough, drunk Lan Xichen’s idea of fixing their sworn brotherhood through threesomes ends up working.

Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao playing the guqin together (properly, not qi deviating, lol) for Nie Mingjue.

A nighthunt or a case for them to solve would be great. How do their different strengths work together?

What about the forehead ribbon? Maybe Lan Xichen drapes it playfully across the three of them in bed? Maybe either Jin Guangyao or Nie Mingjue touches it first, then the other, and then it becomes a battle about who can get more swipes/touches in that flusters Lan Xichen as much as it pleases him? Maybe both of them get to hold one end when it’s tied around some part of Lan Xichen (okay, that could also be a smut prompt)?

I love animal shifter AUs always. Maybe you shift according to your personality when you develop a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Jin, Nie and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else)? What do Jin Guangyao, Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them or two of them have that power? I’d also love a story about the Nie clan hiding the secret that they can all turn into beasts because of their cultivation technique, so Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao finding out about that would be a cool story, too.

Smut would be great, incidentally. Are they at the same level of experience or does one have less? I could see Lan Xichen being quite sheltered, but on the other hand, if Nie Mingjue was focused on his training even before his father’s death, maybe he just never attempted anything? However, maybe they’re all not complete innocents and show this here. Jin Guangyao’s and Nie Mingjue’s relationship devolving into playful rivalry would be fun, whether it involves fighting over Lan Xichen, or whether Lan Xichen eventually ends up complaining (playfully, he’s probably happy that they’re not fighting for real...) that he feels superfluous because they just keep going at each other. And, of course, if one really needs to keep Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue apart for a little bit, Lan Xichen getting in the middle to be spitroasted would work! However, I’d also like to see a threesome between them that turns romantic and sweet, maybe more than any of them expected.

If they’ve actually been together for quite a while and strengthened their bonds, I would love a three-way marriage, even if it probably has to be a private ceremony for themselves, or maybe with a few family members who know attending.

If it is an AU where men can marry, does one of them find some historical precedent for a threeway marriage to actually be an option? Maybe the sworn brotherhood makes it possible? Or maybe two of them would have to become, nominally, the concubines of the other? If not, maybe two of them marry (after they’ve decided on the politically most advantageous pair), but invite the third into the bedchamber for the wedding night and make up for him not being able to participate publically?

Mpreg would be interesting, either through A/B/O or maybe really strong cultivation makes it possible to form new life, or whatever other reason that some men can get pregnant. Lan Xichen ends up pregnant and he’s terrified because he has no idea which one the father is because, well, both did, uh... luckily, this is not a topic Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao end up fighting about at all, they’re happy being a family with the three of them as fathers.

For A/B/O, maybe threeway marriages with alpha/beta/omega are pretty common. Alpha or beta Nie Mingjue and omega Lan Xichen are about to be married and ask Koi Tower for an alliance. Jin Guangshan is unwilling to commit too much and gives them alpha or beta Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao since he wants to get rid of him, anyway. However, these three turn out to be quite a great triad.

I would also like Modern AUs for these guys. I’m sure their relationship is still complicated, but it probably wouldn’t be quite as bloody and sometimes, I just want nice things for them, haha.

(I also have a letter dealing with tropey stuff, one with smut prompts, one with mpreg and kidfic prompts, one with hurt/comfort tropes, and one with A/B/O for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

Original Male Character/Lan Xichen
I always like seeing what people come up with when it comes to original characters, and I would really enjoy seeing Lan Xichen bouncing off all kinds of guys you might invent, as I think he has a personality that allows him to get along with quite a lot of different types. Something that starts in his youth or during his time as sect leader would be really fascinating to see, though something post-canon would be just as great. I mean, oh boy, canon did not end well for Lan Xichen, did it? I guess unlike many others, he is not dead, but all his best friends are, he’s learned he should not trust his own judgement even a little bit, is understandably riddled with guilt about both deaths of his sworn brothers, and by the time of the banquet, he seems to be slipping ever deeper into depression. It would be great if he also found someone to love and trust, or if he had an existing lover who could give him a hug. I have some ideas below, but anyone over eighteen who is not related to Lan Xichen and wasn't raised by him (like significantly younger disciples of his own sect) works. For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta OMC.

Who is the OMC? Maybe a cultivator from a sect who used to come visit when Lan Xichen was still in Lan Qiren’s classes, and whom he maybe had a boyhood crush on? Then, years later, they run into each other again at a Discussion Conference or something.

Maybe he’s a cultivator or even a civilian that Lan Xichen meets while he’s saving people all over during the Sunshot Campaign. Both being exhausted, frightened, desperate, they spend a night or a few together. They do not expect to meet again (perhaps regretfully so), but it turns out that person moved to Gusu/joined a prominent sect and suddenly they’re facing each other after the war.

The OMC could also be a rogue cultivator who Lan Xichen knows and likes because he sometimes helps at the edges of their sect’s area. Working together again and again during night-hunts, they get closer.

Or he could just be a commoner who lives in Gusu or in the surrounding villages who ends up keeping an eye out for the supernatural (maybe he’s a regular hunter who travels back and forth quite a bit). Lan Xichen and him keep meeting up and end up really liking each other.

If this is past the end of the story, maybe Lan Xichen decides to go night-hunting on his own and then finds himself being hit on by a random traveller/regular hunter who doesn’t know who he is. Feeling like he has little to lose at this point, he shares the bed with him, and they start travelling together. He tells him he’s a sect leader, but the traveller knows little about cultivation and Lan Xichen actually likes just getting to be a person around him. It’s probably a bit of a surprise when Lan Xichen takes him back to the lofty Cloud Recesses, or it’s revealed in a meeting with other cultivators just how renowed Lan Xichen is.

Or, while he’s in seclusion, a low-level disciple he knows but has never been particularly close with is tasked with checking on him from time to time. Lan Xichen and him start talking, and then feelings slowly develop. Did the disciple always have a bit of a crush on Lan Xichen?

For something more light-hearted, Wei Wuxian catching wind of some guy always hanging around Lan Xichen and immediately realising what is going on (maybe even before Lan Xichen does) would be very fun. Hey, Lan Xichen is so depressed in seclusion and it worries Lan Wangji, so as a good husband and brother-in-law, Wei Wuxian basically has to intervene and make this happen...

Smut would be great! Is the OMC the one who takes Lan Xichen’s virginity or vice versa, or are they both experienced? Does the OMC introduce him to some fun kinks or is in possession of some interesting pornography books? Is Lan Xichen in a “nothing matters” mood after the end and sleeps with several strangers in some attempt to stifle the pain, but ends up accidentally catching feelings for one of them?

For A/B/O or any other AU where two men can create a child (or are allowed to adopt an heir), Lan Xichen is pushed by the elders to finally get married. Since he knows his duties, he lets them pick an important member of a promising sect. Lan Xichen really did not expect their marriage to be based on love, but to his surprise he actually finds himself enjoying the OMC’s presence.

A slightly darker version could be that Lan Xichen is forced by the Wen sect to get married to protect the Lan sect. They want to humiliate him, so they give him someone unsuitable – a low level Wen disciple, or someone from an obscure clan like YingchuanWang (or another clan that has come into existence under similarly disreputable circumstances). However, the OMC was never a happy Wen servant, he gets along with Lan Xichen, ends up falling hard for him and defects. (If you want to go plotty or include background happy early Wangxian, maybe the Burial Mound-problem never appears because this husband consolidates the rest of the innocent Wen and gains protection for them.)

If the arranged marriage happens past the ending of the novel, maybe Lan Xichen thinks he can’t bring himself to really love or trust anyone who is not his immediate family anymore. Because he feels guilty that his husband is getting him in this broken state, he tries to be at least pleasant and polite. Turns out his husband, also being a quite high-ranking cultivator, of course knows what happened and ends up being honestly supportive and starts drawing him out more and more. Lan Xichen can’t help but be charmed...

(I also have a letter dealing with tropey stuff, one with mpreg and kidfic prompts , and one with smut prompts for this pairing, in case you're looking for more prompts.)

陈情令 | The Untamed

Jiang Cheng/Lan Xichen
This is a pairing I’ve really come to enjoy despite the fact that they don’t have that much contact in canon – at least not that we see because I assume as leaders of major sects, and with Lan Xichen being so close to Jin Ling’s other guardian, they have actually met quite a bit. We know from Lan Xichen’s friendship with Nie Mingjue that he can handle tempestuous temperaments. Also, I feel like Lan Xichen ticks, though not at all, quite a few boxes on Jiang Cheng’s romance checklist, so that’s good! This could be set right after the war (it would probably be difficult after Wei Wuxian’s death due to Lan Xichen’s loyalty to his brother, who does not like Jiang Cheng past the Nightless City siege, but perhaps Lan Xichen’s and Jiang Cheng’s relationship somehow ends up preventing the whole Wei Wuxian thing from going really south in the first place, or the Wen fled and that entire plot disappears entirely); or it could be post-canon, when they both have to work through their pain. Either way would be interesting! Post-canon, Jiang Cheng is probably not super welcome in the Cloud Recesses courtesy of Lan Wangji as long as he and Wei Wuxian haven’t had some sort of reconciliation, but does Lan Xichen end up facilitating it, or do the two of them end up meeting more once Jiang Cheng drops by sometimes to see Wei Wuxian after having a heart-to-heart with him? For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng had a crush on Lan Xichen during his time at the Cloud Recesses, but with Wei Wuxian already all over Lan Wangji, he didn’t also want to be causing trouble. However, he keeps running into Lan Xichen during the war and they slowly get to know each other better...

Or for a similar prompt as above, after the war, Wei Wuxian (possibly in a timeline that doesn’t end in disaster for him) eventually picks up on their interactions and is delighted with the idea of Jiang Cheng being in love with a Lan, too (good taste in his opinion). He decides he’s absolutely going to matchmake them (perhaps men can even marry here, but I feel like Wei Wuxian wouldn’t be stopped either way).

Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen meet up during the war. After a harrowing fight, they spend the night patching each other up and more happens... how do they deal with it afterwards?

Post-ending, Jiang Cheng ends up making up with Wei Wuxian and sometimes comes to the Cloud Recesses. If Lan Xichen is also in seclusion in this version, he’s pretty much the only one who doesn’t really respect Lan Xichen’s seclusion and keeps stubbornly talking at the door or forcing invites. Even if he’s not the most sympathetic person in the world, though, it ends up being good for Lan Xichen. Was Jiang Cheng already in love and that’s why he was so stubborn? Or did he just not like Lan Xichen shutting himself away, but as they talk they slowly come to understand they’re both hurting (and have other things in common, too)?

Jiang Cheng is stretching himself thin trying to run Lotus Pier and help with the Jin Sect. As Lan Xichen leaves seclusion (or right from the start if he never went into seclusion and was just dead inside regularly, lol), he offers his help, since he feels responsible for... well, basically everything that went wrong in the last twenty years. As they work together, they start to get along.

Just Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen as a couple who both feel they’ve made terrible mistakes, but are much easier on the misdeeds of the other than they are on their own and find a little forgiveness with each other.

Generally, I would love to see battle couple stuff at any point, whether it’s during the war or on a nighthunt or any other occasion where they have to defend themselves, each other, the other, or innocents.

On the other hand, seeing the two of them being competent sect leaders together would be great, too. Jiang Cheng isn’t known for his gentle touch in diplomacy, but Lan Xichen probably folds too easily sometimes, so they really have matching strengths and weaknesses.

What does Jin Ling think of his uncle’s relationship if he ever finds out? He’s getting surrounded by Lan... but Lan Xichen is at least pretty nice.

I have to include a forehead ribbon prompt, of course. Does Lan Xichen offer it to Jiang Cheng? Does it fall off and Jiang Cheng doesn’t think for a moment before he picks it up and is quite mortified, but Lan Xichen says he’s allowed to touch it? Or maybe Jiang Cheng touches/grabs it accidentally and the way Lan Xichen gets flustered makes him wonder? Does Jiang Cheng take great pleasure in touching the thing once he’s allowed and Lan Xichen thinks it’s cute?

I admit this is tropey as hell, but I always love animal shapeshifter stories. Maybe you shift according to your personality if you form a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Jiang and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else)? What do Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them has that power?

Smut is, of course, always appreciated. Whether it’s their first or hundredth time together, whether they’re both very experienced or both (or one of them) fumbling their way through, all would be great.

Kink discovery could be really fun with these two. Lan Xichen, as a Lan, is probably somewhat sheltered. Maybe Jiang Cheng has to introduce him to some of the more daring concepts? I also like the idea of Lan Xichen being very embarrassed about a kink and Jiang Cheng eventually coaxing it out of him (already worried because Lan Xichen is making such a big deal out of it), except then it turns out to be something totally milquetoast that Lan Xichen just couldn’t just properly gauge as not-actually-that-kinky.

In a same-sex-marriage-is-allowed AU of any sort, Jiang Cheng was hoping to ask for Lan Xichen’s hand at some point and had even gotten the approval of the Jiang elders. However, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji announce their betrothal first and now there’s really no political need to tie themselves even tighter to the Lan. Jiang Cheng pines away hard. To his surprise, Lan Xichen also seems a little distracted the next time they meet (perhaps it’s even at the Wangxian wedding). Turns out they may have had similar plans... when do they find out? Do they decide to marry, anyway?

Alpha/Beta Jiang Cheng has always found himself being compared to Wei Wuxian (whether he’s also an alpha, or seems to outclass him even as a beta or omega). It means he’s definitely never had the confidence to court someone like omega Lan Xichen, who has so many suitors (especially not if his brother already snatched Lan Wangji, meaning Lan Xichen would constantly have Wei Wuxian around to compare the two). What changes his mind? Maybe they fall in love working together and he realises Lan Xichen already holds him in high regard? Or maybe Lan Xichen is the one who starts courting him?

On the other hand, maybe Lan Xichen makes for a very awkward omega in the eyes of most (stronger than most alphas in both body and cultivation, tall, a fighter, a leader) and is surprised when Jiang Cheng ends up courting him.

Idea for A/B/O or any other reason (some) men can get pregnant: Post-ending, a relatively broken Lan Xichen introduces the idea of an arranged marriage to Jiang Cheng so they can both get heirs for their respective sects, since Lan Xichen can carry children and doesn’t want/believe in a love marriage anymore, since obviously he's not great at picking the people he cares about. Jiang Cheng sees the political sense in it and has pretty much given up on finding a partner by himself, anyway. Only it turns out they end up falling in love accidentally...

Idea for A/B/O or any other reason (some) men can get pregnant: Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen lick their wounds together post-ending and fall into bed together as acquaintances-with-benefits. Lan Xichen accidentally gets pregnant. During the pregnancy and/or after caring for the baby together, the two of them fall in love.

I would also like Modern AUs for these guys. I’m sure their relationship still has some hiccups, but sometimes I just want nice things and no war and (excessive) bloodshed for them.

During the war, Lan Xichen is all over the country helping people. Sometimes, he ends up at the Unclean Realm/at the Cloud Recesses (wherever Nie Huaisang is), though, and finds an unlikely calm in the storm with him whenever he passes by and meets Nie Huaisang. This leads to them getting closer.

Nie Huaisang having a big crush on Lan Xichen is generally a cute prompt to me. Maybe post-war things don’t go as sideways with Wei Wuxian (perhaps Lan Wangji can marry him to force others to see him as respectable again or something, or the Wens managed to flee and never became a point of contention, etc.) and he ends up being a slightly ridiculous matchmaker for his good friend Nie Huaisang?

Modern AU would be fun for a mid-twenties romance, too, or in general! Sometimes, I just want them to have nice things without all the bloodshed and murder, lol.

I also like weird set-up of Nie Huaisang having a bit of a puppy crush on Lan Xichen, but not at all wanting to disturb Nie Mingjue’s relationship with him. However, Nie Mingjue dies and after some time, Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen end up getting closer.

Okay, so what are we going to do about the Nie sabre problem, though? Because that’s going to continue to haunt the Nie sect. Is Nie Huaisang going to use his smarts to change their cultivation method? Maybe he needs Lan Xichen’s help to come up with something, since Lan Xichen is undoubtedly a much greater cultivator on a technical level or might find ways to incorporate the same energy that is used in Cleansing to regulate them. Lan Xichen may agree for the sake of stopping unnecessary deaths or to honour Nie Mingjue, but now Nie Huaisang and him are talking again…

Lan Xichen doesn’t feel like he really knows who Nie Huaisang is post-canon, but decides he probably can’t afford to ignore him completely. On the other hand, he’s also not sure if he isn’t next on Nie Huaisang’s hit list for not catching on to Jin Guangyao’s betrayal sooner or accidentally providing him with the murder weapon. Nie Huaisang, meanwhile, has no plans to kill him, but isn’t sure where they stand, either. The two establishing a new kind of relationship would be interesting.

Nie Huaisang is aware that Lan Xichen is not in a good state and people who have nothing to lose do unpredictable things sometimes. He comes to talk to him in seclusion mostly to prevent Lan Xichen from snapping and killing him. However, it turns out Lan Xichen isn’t really very angry at him and understands why he killed Jin Guangyao and they actually still get along, if on a different level than before.

One of the most interesting differences between MDZS and The Untamed to me is that it’s said by the author that MDZS Nie Huaisang is planning to use his cunning to get into a leadership position, whereas the one in The Untamed pretty explicitly says he doesn’t want to get into things that don’t concern him and become Chief Cultivator. Maybe this would make it easier for Lan Xichen to trust him again in the long run? After all, it does pretty decisively separate him from Jin Guangyao.

Relatedly, I’m not super sure that Lan Wangji would be happy having to deal with the more social aspects of the Chief Cultivator position (he’s not exactly a party animal, is he). Maybe Lan Xichen drags himself out of seclusion/pushes aside his depression if he’s not in seclusion to help him with a discussion or martial conference and of course they also have to invite Nie Huaisang for that. Maybe the two have a heart-to-heart, or over the course of several such occasions get closer?

For a smaller, sweet prompt, Lan Xichen is apparently a renowned painter. I’m sure Nie Huaisang would love to have some of his paintings. Maybe he even gets Lan Xichen to paint a fan for him? Or Lan Xichen decides he wants to paint one as a gift.

Lan Xichen giving Nie Huaisang some tips for his own painting would be fun, too (probably behind Nie Mingjue’s back if he’s still alive). Or just the two of the painting together – they have a nice shared hobby.

I have to include a forehead ribbon prompt, of course. Does Lan Xichen offer it to Nie Huaisang? Does it fall off and Nie Huaisang doesn’t think for a moment before he picks it up and is quite mortified, but Lan Xichen says he’s allowed to touch it? Or maybe Nie Huaisang touches/grabs it accidentally and the way Lan Xichen gets flustered makes him consider what Lan Xichen feels for him? Does Nie Huaisang take great pleasure in touching the thing once he’s allowed and Lan Xichen thinks it’s cute?

I admit this is tropey as hell, but I always love animal shapeshifter stories. Maybe you shift according to your personality if you form a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Nie and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else? Is Nie Huaisang the less threatening form of what the other Nie turn into, like a very small tiger or something?)? What do Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them has that power?

Of course, I would also love smut with these two. Whether it’s post-canon hate-fucking that turns accidentally less aggressive, or sweet, loving sex at any point in the timeline, all would be fun to explore.

I could actually see Lan Xichen being the virgin between them, what with all those rules forbidding frivolities. Not to worry, Nie Huaisang is happy to teach him!

First time bottoming for Lan Xichen would be fun. Maybe they always did it the other way around because it was sort of ‘expected’, with Lan Xichen being older and much bigger and what limited understanding he has of sex told him that means he should take the lead. But Nie Huaisang asks to switch at some point and Lan Xichen realizes it’s actually really fun this way, too.

Nie Huaisang is a bit famous for his sizeable smut collection. Lan Xichen ends up stumbling over some of it in his bedroom. Maybe Nie Huaisang catches him while he’s leafing through the book? Or maybe Lan Xichen saw some fairly outlandish things, but because he’s still a sheltered Lan, he’s not quite sure what is expected. Can he get over himself and bring up his concerns to Nie Huaisang?

Or maybe Nie Huaisang is quite eager to share his porn! I would love for them to go through that to take inspiration (even if Lan Xichen probably feels like his head is going to explode looking at so much indecent material, but maybe he is more curious than he admits...).

For an A/B/O AU: alpha Nie Huaisang and omega Lan Xichen would actually make a pretty sensible match based on status alone. Even if Nie Huaisang is an alpha, he’s probably not a very stereotypically impressive one, so he could be an omega sect leader’s ‘lesser’ partner (and Nie Mingjue is probably relieved Nie Huaisang will be married to someone who can protect him). Nie Huaisang knows people laugh behind their back – an alpha who has to hide behind his omega’s back, how embarrassing –, but to his surprise, Lan Xichen actually approves of the arrangement. I bet Nie Huaisang has other ways than brute strength to be prove himself a good alpha and partner for Lan Xichen, anyway.

On the other hand, maybe Lan Xichen makes for a very awkward omega in the eyes of most (stronger than most alphas in both body and cultivation, tall, a fighter, a leader) and is surprised when Nie Huaisang ends up courting him. However, if Nie Huaisang is an alpha, he knows what it’s like not to live up to stereotypes, and if he’s a beta, maybe he just doesn’t care about all that.

Nie Huaisang becoming Lan Xichen’s husband would also work for any other AU where men can marry. He’s a second-born heir with no known inheritance of his own, so politically it would make sense. Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang finding their way through this arranged marriage and ending up very much in love would be nice.

When Nie Mingjue dies, Lan Xichen is mpregnant with his child. Nie Huaisang is there to support him and to take care off his nephew/niece, of course. Over time, the two of them start to get closer as they parent the baby together.

How did Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue meet? Are they childhood friends? Did Nie Mingjue also go to the Lan sect for classes with Lan Qiren? Lan Xichen is a bit younger than him, I think, but he’s a Lan, so he might still have sat in the same classes, being a bit further in the curriculum, or shown the guests around. A teenage crush (with first kiss?) that eventually blooms into more once they’re older and get to see each other more often would be cool.

Maybe Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue are just polite at first, but then start bonding over being older brothers. Lan Xichen wishes Lan Wangji was a little more social and open to people, like Nie Huaisang, and Nie Mingjue wishes Nie Huaisang was as studious as Lan Wangji. Conversations spiral from there. Stuff like Lan Xichen saving Nie Huaisang from some beast or ghost, or Nie Mingjue training Lan Wangji while Lan Xichen watches would also be great and would surely endear them more to each other.

When Nie Mingjue’s father is wounded during the night hunt, Lan Xichen races to the Unclean Realm to calm Nie Mingjue with Cleansing, but also to be there for him. Already in such a raw emotional state, Nie Mingjue can’t quite keep in his feelings anymore...

How did Lan Xichen first start playing for Nie Mingjue? How did he even find out that the sabre spirit is so dangerous? Did Nie Mingjue tell him and Lan Xichen actively started searching for a way to help, or did Nie Mingjue just hear him play and then found ever more excuses to ask him to play more for him, until Lan Xichen realised that this was quite strange from someone who otherwise doesn’t seem to like music that much? (Although maybe Nie Mingjue also likes specifically Lan Xichen’s music for other reasons...)

I would also just love a scene of Lan Xichen playing for him and Nie Mingjue getting to relax for once. Maybe he falls asleep against Lan Xichen’s shoulder at some point and is flustered afterwards? Maybe sitting over the instrument late in the night leads to some confessions?

Lan Xichen accidentally (or on purpose?) had some alcohol and now Nie Mingjue has to deal with him in his happily enthusiastic state.

Battle couple is perfect for them. Whether they’re night-hunting together or fighting in the war, I bet they’re great as a team. Bonus points for one of them grabbing the other’s sword at some point (I mean Baxia and Shuoyue, smut prompts are further down) and fighting with it in a tight moment and the other finding that very fascinating to watch (okay, this could actually turn into post-battle smut).

What if Nie Mingjue had survived? I would love to see a romance that develops somewhere in the thirteen year timeskip as they balance their love for each other with their responsibilities as sect leaders.

I have to include a forehead ribbon prompt, of course. Does Lan Xichen offer it to Nie Mingjue? Does it fall off and Nie Mingjue doesn’t think for a moment before he picks it up and then remembers, but Lan Xichen says he’s allowed to touch it? Or maybe Nie Mingjue touches/grabs it accidentally and the way Lan Xichen gets flustered makes him wonder (or Nie Mingjue is the one who gets very flustered...)? Does Nie Mingjue take great pleasure in touching the thing once he’s allowed and Lan Xichen thinks it’s cute?

I admit this is tropey as hell, but I always love animal shapeshifter stories. Maybe you shift according to your personality when you develop a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Nie and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else)? What do Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them has that power? I’d also love a story about the Nie clan hiding the secret that they can all turn into beasts because of their cultivation technique, so Lan Xichen finding out about that would be a cool story, too.

Smut would be great! Were they inexperienced but enthusiastic older teens/early twenties when they first fell into bed together? Was it maybe just supposed to be experimentation, but they both have massive crushes? Or maybe it’s later and Nie Mingjue had a few trysts behind battlefield tents, but this is the first time he’s honestly in love? Or maybe Lan Xichen is the more experienced one and surprises him with some skills he picked up? It could also be, of course, that they’re both experienced and blow each other’s mind the first time they go to bed. And what about kinks? Does Nie Mingjue have some he indulges, or does he just know more than he wants to because Nie Huiasang keeps leaving his books lying around, but now for the first time he’s guiltily leafing through a few of them and wondering how that would work with Lan Xichen? Is Lan Xichen very vanilla due to being sheltered from such things by his sect and very flustered (and intrigued) by everything new?

For A/B/O or any other AU where mpreg is possible or they can adopt an heir, Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen would have made quite an obvious match. Maybe they were betrothed early, but only met in their teens? Maybe they weren’t even supposed to meet yet but snuck some clandestine glances at each other/had a few conversation? Or they might also have been convinced they would be mismatched based on their reputations, but then as young adults, they meet during a couple of night hunts and actually get along very well. Do they marry young or is it pushed off until after the war? Do they actually wait to start their romance until then or does it happen during the Sunshot campaign or even before?

Or maybe it is highly unusual for two sect leaders to marry because it basically means they’re merging their sects a little bit. People think Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue are acting out because of love and that’s their official story, too. However, in reality Nie Mingjue knew he had to do something or his bloodline was eventually going to be doomed because of the constant qi deviations. Lan Xichen, who is after all the leader of the sect who seem to have the secret to taming the Nie, offered his help. Now they’re married and wildly mutually pining because they’re also actually in love.

For A/B/O specifically, maybe Lan Xichen makes for a very awkward omega in the eyes of most (stronger than most alphas in both body and cultivation, tall, a fighter, a leader), but Nie Mingjue is absolutetly smitten.

Or for A/B/O, omega Lan Xichen is still considered quite desirable and Wen Xu wants to marry him. This severely speeds up the start of the war courtesy of Nie Mingjue (who may even be his actual betrothed that Wen Xu is ignoring, or otherwise just his friend who would never let that happen even though Lan Xichen might be unhappily considering it for the good of the Lan sect).

I would also like Modern AUs for these guys. I’m sure their relationship still encounters problems, but sometimes I just want nice things and no brutal death for them, haha.

(I also have a letter dealing with tropey stuff, one with smut prompts, one with mpreg and kidfic tropes, one with hurt/comfort tropes, one with iddy tropes, and one with A/B/O for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts. A couple of these are for the book version, but they should work for Untamed as well.)

Jin Guangyao/Lan Xichen
The story of these two really hurt me deeply in the best way. It is such a sweet friendship, with Jin Guangyao honestly caring for Lan Xichen despite seeing most everyone else as pawns, and Lan Xichen being so convinced that the world is wrong about Jin Guangyao and unfair to him – and you know, in many ways they really are, but in the end, there were also too many crimes Jin Guangyao actually committed. For Qin Su, I would like it if her and Jin Guangyao had never met/gotten married, or if she had died a natural death at some point, or ran off with a guy/woman she fell in love with to have a happy life somewhere away from cultivation drama. For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta Jin Guangyao.

If you’re going for a full redemption arc plus happy ending, I’d rather if the fic diverged from canon before Jin Guangyao kills Nie Mingjue (which I don’t think Lan Xichen could get over) and before Jin Guangyao kills his father. It could also be an AU where neither murder happens for Reasons, even if those Reasons are just Jin Guangyao being foiled/people dying on their own and he totally might have killed them if he’d gotten the chance (or he finds a way to kill his father that doesn’t involve also killing prostitutes, I’m really not actually bothered by him killing his father, just the other people that died as a result of Jin Guangyao’s canonical plan).

In such an AU, Jin Guangyao could even still be Sect Leader by handwavey way of rocks fall, everyone but Jin Guangyao’s baby nephew dies; or perhaps those deaths are indeed part of the plot of the fic and have to be solved by Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen.

However, if you’re going for something in the thirteen year timeskip, I’m also happy with a nice story of them getting together and Jin Guangyao just keeping Lan Xichen in the dark like he does in canon, sort of a semi-happy tale because of course we all know that the other shoe will drop eventually.

Maybe some co-parenting? Instead of Jin Ruson, Qin Su is the one who dies by assassination. Jin Guangyao really had nothing to do with planning that, but it doesn’t change the fact that he still believes his son eventually has to die. Only problem: when he tries to put the plan in action, he can’t bring himself to go through with it. Now he has to think of some other way to avoid suspicions about Jin Ruson’s heritage. Meanwhile, Lan Xichen stays over more to help out with both Jin Ruson and Jin Ling and since Jin Guangyao is not married anymore, their relationship eventually shifts as well...
Ages are kind of vague anyway, but if you age Jin Guangyao up to be eighteen by the time he helps Lan Xichen hide from the Wen sect, maybe their romance even begins there? Could be Jin Guangyao is already putting in place a plan of seducing Lan Xichen (which gets out of hand when he actually falls in love), or maybe he still has some youthful indiscretion then and just kind of tumbles into it just like Lan Xichen.

Relatedly, a full AU where Meng Yao decides, after being kicked down the stairs: screw all these cultivators, they seem like assholes, I’m going to become a rich clerk (or whatever) instead and not deal with any of that. Except he moves pretty close to Gusu, so it would be good to have a relationship with the Lan sect, which makes him hide Lan Xichen and oh no, this cultivator is very nice and respectful and now he’s in love.

Someone is trying to kill Lan Xichen. It was not a good idea to try to murder the crush/boyfriend of one of the most cunning men in the country.

I don’t think the show mentions it, but Lan Xichen is supposed to be a very talented painter. I would love for him to draw Jin Guangyao, whether this turns out to be a sweet or smutty prompt, or gift him some pictures like he apparently did in the book. Or maybe Jin Guangyao at some point flustered Lan Xichen by asking him to draw himself so that Jin Guangyao could always look at Lan Xichen even when they aren’t together? Did he ever find secret sketches Lan Xichen made of him?

Night-hunting together is always great! Jin Guangyao is not as strong as other sect leaders, but he is tricky and brought Lan Xichen as muscle; and I would love to see more of him fighting with his interesting sword.

The two of then helping out Nie Huaisang with some matter would be really fun as well.

Either a servant really messes up or Jin Guangyao told them to do so because he was interested in what would happen, but somehow Lan Xichen ends up being served alcohol while he’s with Jin Guangyao. How does Jin Guangyao deal with the enthusiastic, happy version of Lan Xichen? Is he just kind of in awe/surprised, or does he make good use by badgering the answers to some private questions out of him... ?

I have to include a forehead ribbon prompt, of course. Does Lan Xichen offer it to Jin Guangyao? Does it fall off and Jin Guangyao doesn’t think for a moment before he picks it up and is quite mortified, but Lan Xichen says he’s allowed to touch it? Or maybe Jin Guangyao touches/grabs it accidentally and the way Lan Xichen gets flustered tells him quite a bit about his feelings? Does Jin Guangyao take great pleasure in touching the thing once he’s allowed and Lan Xichen thinks it’s cute?

I admit this is tropey as hell, but I always love animal shapeshifter stories. Maybe you shift according to your personality if you form a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Jin and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else)? What do Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them has that power?

Smut is always fun, of course. I could see Jin Guangyao doing trysts, but is it for fun or is there usually a utilitarian purpose behind his decision to sleep with someone? Maybe sleeping with Lan Xichen is kind of overwhelming in its own way because, oh no, he’s in love. On the other hand, Lan Xichen seems a little more ready than his brother used to be to bend the rules, so has he ever ended up sleeping with someone or is Jin Guangyao the first? Honestly, all options sound fun here! I imagine Jin Guangyao with his perfect memory knew more than he should have even at a young age from what he saw at the brothel, and maybe he also experimented himself, so him introducing a much more vanilla Lan Xichen to kinks would be great, too. Or maybe this is when they’re quite young and both have no practical experiences and thus fumble through together. Is Jin Guangyao worried that he may have missed his shot by being clumsy, but Lan Xichen doesn’t care at all and just liked being with him?

This could either be A/B/O or other reason men can marry (other methods of mpreg, heirs can be adopted). Rocks fall, every Jin but baby Jin Ling (who I guess is a little older here to make the timeline fit) and Jin Guangyao dies shortly after Sunshot. However, Jin Guangyao doesn’t nearly have enough respect from the sects yet (he only just got his new name) after such an abrupt ascension and now he’s left holding a baby and Koi Tower. While he’s still reeling, to Jin Guangyao’s great surprise, Lan Xichen offers him his own hand to strengthen his position. Now they’re married but pining for each other because Lan Xichen doesn’t want to impose and Jin Guangyao thinks it was an act of friendship...

For A/B/O or any other reason some men can have kids (or an AU where they can adopt an heir) – I feel if there’d been a way for Jin Guangyao to marry Lan Xichen, he definitely could have tried to seduce him quite early, maybe even while he was still with the Nie sect, or at least after the war. After all, what better way to gain his father’s favour than to snatch a valuable marriage to the elder Jade of Lan? However, he also accidentally falls in love with Lan Xichen. Are they married sect leaders eventually, or does Jin Guangyao actually end up enjoying the respect and honest regard he gets from Lan Xichen (plus Lan Xichen being interested in his ideas, like Lookout Towers) and instead settles into his role as husband in the Cloud Recesses?

Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen sleep together spur-of-the-moment during the tail end of the war. A few months later, Lan Xichen tells Jin Guangyao that he’s pregnant, quite distraught and unsure what Jin Guangyao will think. It’s a great advancement opportunity, of course, a kid with a Lan, so Jin Guangyao is overjoyed. However, maybe he’s a bit more led by his feelings than he wants to be, too.

Schemer encounters scheming: Someone doesn’t like the fact that Lan Xichen is/was pregnant with a bastard prostitute son’s child at all and tries to get rid of their (just born or still unborn) kid (unsuccessfully, but can definitely be close). Jin Guangyao focuses his entire plot power.

For A/B/O specifically, maybe Lan Xichen makes for a very awkward omega in the eyes of most (stronger than most alphas in both body and cultivation, tall, a fighter, a leader), and Jin Guangyao is an unusual alpha (shorter, weaker, appears to be quite meek), but they’re very attracted to each other.

I would also like Modern AUs for these guys. I’m sure their relationship still encounters problems, but sometimes I just want nice things and no brutal death for them.

(I also have a letter dealing with tropey stuff, one with iddy prompts, one with hurt/comfort tropes, one with mpreg and kidfic prompts, one with smut prompts, and one with A/B/O for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts. A couple of these are for the book version, but they should work for Untamed as well.)

Jin Guangyao/Nie Mingjue/Lan Xichen
I know it was unlikely, but I kind of wanted things to work out for them. They would have been immensely entertaining and probably near-unstoppable if they had managed to get it together and I always thought that perhaps they could have worked it out if things had gone just a bit differently! After all, they all independently of each other struck up friendships in the first place, so there’s enough there that each of them sees in the others to make a real triad relationship. However, if you would like to instead look at that moment in canon just after they become sworn brothers, or lengthen the time before Meng Yao leaves Nie Mingjue so that they have time to be together there (as long as Meng Yao is eighteen), that would also be great. For Qin Su, I would like it if her and Jin Guangyao had never met/gotten married, or if she had died a natural death at some point, or ran off with a guy/woman she fell in love with to have a happy life somewhere away from cultivation drama.

This fic can of course also include Jin Guangyao/Nie Mingjue, Nie Mingjue/Lan Xichen, or Jin Guangyao/Lan Xichen as long as it eventually turns into a closed triad; I just don't want anybody actively, purposefully cheating on somebody else, but muddled circumstances and we’re-pretending-we're-just-FWB-but-actually-pining is fine (as is two of them actively looking for a third, or just happening to find one, of course). For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen and have no preference between the other two; for BDSM, I like sub Lan Xichen with two Doms. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao.

Maybe the Xue Yang problem never becomes such a big issue and the relationship between Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue actually starts to mend, even if Nie Mingjue still doesn’t like sneaky methods and Jin Guangyao probably also takes potshots at him sometimes, especially as they get closer again. Lan Xichen is very happy! Everything worked out as he’d hoped. Except, well, they’re all getting along a bit too well now...

Lan Xichen is aware Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue used to be together and it looks like post-Sunshot Campaign, they’re slowly starting to get closer again, which is what he wanted! He does everything to facilitate mending their relationship, even though he’s in love with both of them and a bit lovesick. However, he ends up being sucked into the whole matter by accident.

Jin Guangyao (or Meng Yao, depending on the point in time) has finally found something Nie Mingjue wants, other than sabres and killing Wen dogs, and with which he could manipulate him: Lan Xichen. He does his best to provide Lan Xichen to Nie Mingjue, but his plan kind of goes off the rails and somehow he ends up intimately involved in their relationship. That still works out somehow, though, so plan failed successfully?

Nie Mingjue notices there’s something between Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen. Fine. It’s not like it’s his business. If he’s hovering and spending more time with them, it’s only because Jin Guangyao can be cunning and Lan Xichen too trusting. He’s not interested in this... however, when the other two invite him along, Nie Mingjue may or may not be surprised how happy he is about it.

Jin Guangyao is already in a relationship with Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen when his father tries to pressure him to kill Nie Mingjue. Jin Guangyao makes the decision to tell both of them (with evidence) so that they can turn against his father instead. It’s a good way to get rid of his father, but also, he’s at a point where he just doesn’t want to kill one of his lovers and break the other’s heart.

Someone makes a mistake serving drinks and Lan Xichen ends up drunk (which isn’t difficult, since he only has to accidentally drink a single cup). Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao end up watching over their happy drunk sworn brother, who starts open-heartedly confessing all sorts of things at just the slightest provocation, opening the way to perhaps a different way for their relationship to proceed...

Or they’re all drunk (well, Jin Guangyao may or may not be, it would also be interesting if he’s still here scheming, but maybe he miscalculated the how strong the drink is) and Lan Xichen gets the great idea in his head to resolve the strange tension between them with some physical affection. It ends in a wild night of sex. The smut itself or the morning after would both be great. Also, maybe, oddly enough, drunk Lan Xichen’s idea of fixing their sworn brotherhood through threesomes ends up working.

Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao playing the guqin together (properly, not qi deviating, lol) for Nie Mingjue.

A nighthunt or a case for them to solve would be great. How do their different strengths work together?

What about the forehead ribbon? Maybe Lan Xichen drapes it playfully across the three of them in bed? Maybe either Jin Guangyao or Nie Mingjue touches it first, then the other, and then it becomes a battle about who can get more swipes/touches in that flusters Lan Xichen as much as it pleases him? Maybe both of them get to hold one end when it’s tied around some part of Lan Xichen (okay, that could also be a smut prompt)?

I love animal shifter AUs always. Maybe you shift according to your personality when you develop a golden core? Or is it a hereditary thing (and what kind of shifters are the Jin, Nie and the Lan? Did Wei Wuxian bring bunnies to Lan Wangji because he can turn into one, or is it something else)? What do Jin Guangyao, Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen shift into? Or maybe only one of them or two of them have that power? I’d also love a story about the Nie clan hiding the secret that they can all turn into beasts because of their cultivation technique, so Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao finding out about that would be a cool story, too.

Smut would be great, incidentally. Are they at the same level of experience or does one have less? I could see Lan Xichen being quite sheltered, but on the other hand, if Nie Mingjue was focused on his training even before his father’s death, maybe he just never attempted anything? However, maybe they’re all not complete innocents and show this here. Jin Guangyao’s and Nie Mingjue’s relationship devolving into playful rivalry would be fun, whether it involves fighting over Lan Xichen, or whether Lan Xichen eventually ends up complaining (playfully, he’s probably happy that they’re not fighting for real...) that he feels superfluous because they just keep going at each other. And, of course, if one really needs to keep Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue apart for a little bit, Lan Xichen getting in the middle to be spitroasted would work! However, I’d also like to see a threesome between them that turns romantic and sweet, maybe more than any of them expected.

If they’ve actually been together for quite a while and strengthened their bonds, I would love a three-way marriage, even if it probably has to be a private ceremony for themselves, or maybe with a few family members who know attending.

If it is an AU where men can marry, does one of them find some historical precedent for a threeway marriage to actually be an option? Maybe the sworn brotherhood makes it possible? Or maybe two of them would have to become, nominally, the concubines of the other? If not, maybe two of them marry (after they’ve decided on the politically most advantageous pair), but invite the third into the bedchamber for the wedding night and make up for him not being able to participate publically?

Mpreg would be interesting, either through A/B/O or maybe really strong cultivation makes it possible to form new life, or whatever other reason that some men can get pregnant. Lan Xichen ends up pregnant and he’s terrified because he has no idea which one the father is because, well, both did, uh... luckily, this is not a topic Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao end up fighting about at all, they’re happy being a family with the three of them as fathers.

For A/B/O, maybe threeway marriages with alpha/beta/omega are pretty common. Alpha or beta Nie Mingjue and omega Lan Xichen are about to be married and ask Koi Tower for an alliance. Jin Guangshan is unwilling to commit too much and gives them alpha or beta Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao since he wants to get rid of him, anyway. However, these three turn out to be quite a great triad.

I would also like Modern AUs for these guys. I’m sure their relationship is still complicated, but it probably wouldn’t be quite as bloody and sometimes, I just want nice things for them, haha.

(I also have a letter dealing with tropey stuff, one with smut prompts, one with mpreg and kidfic prompts, one with hurt/comfort tropes, and one with A/B/O for this couple, in case you're looking for more prompts. These are for the book version, but they should work for Untamed as well.)

Original Male Character/Lan Xichen
I always like seeing what people come up with when it comes to original characters, and I would really enjoy seeing Lan Xichen bouncing off all kinds of guys you might invent, as I think he has a personality that allows him to get along with quite a lot of different types. Something that starts in his youth or during his time as sect leader would be really fascinating to see, though something post-canon would be just as great. I mean, oh boy, canon did not end well for Lan Xichen, did it? I guess unlike many others, he is not dead, but all his best friends are, he’s learned he should not trust his own judgement even a little bit, and is understandably riddled with guilt about both deaths of his sworn brothers. It would be great if he also found someone to love and trust, or if he had an existing lover who could give him a hug. I have some ideas below, but anyone over eighteen who is not related to Lan Xichen and wasn't raised by him (like significantly younger disciples of his own sect) works. For smut, I prefer bottom Lan Xichen. If you include mpreg, I prefer pregnant Lan Xichen. For A/B/O, I prefer omega Lan Xichen and alpha or beta OMC.

Who is the OMC? Maybe a cultivator from a sect who used to come visit when Lan Xichen was still in Lan Qiren’s classes, and whom he maybe had a boyhood crush on? Then, years later, they run into each other again at a Discussion Conference or something.

Maybe he’s a cultivator or even a civilian that Lan Xichen meets while he’s saving people all over during the Sunshot Campaign. Both being exhausted, frightened, desperate, they spend a night or a few together. They do not expect to meet again (perhaps regretfully so), but it turns out that person moved to Gusu/joined a prominent sect and suddenly they’re facing each other after the war.

The OMC could also be a rogue cultivator who Lan Xichen knows and likes because he sometimes helps at the edges of their sect’s area. Working together again and again during night-hunts, they get closer.

Or he could just be a commoner who lives in Gusu or in the surrounding villages who ends up keeping an eye out for the supernatural (maybe he’s a regular hunter who travels back and forth quite a bit). Lan Xichen and him keep meeting up and end up really liking each other.

If this is past the end of the story, maybe Lan Xichen decides to go night-hunting on his own and then finds himself being hit on by a random traveller/regular hunter who doesn’t know who he is. Feeling like he has little to lose at this point, he shares the bed with him, and they start travelling together. He tells him he’s a sect leader, but the traveller knows little about cultivation and Lan Xichen actually likes just getting to be a person around him. It’s probably a bit of a surprise when Lan Xichen takes him back to the lofty Cloud Recesses, or it’s revealed in a meeting with other cultivators just how renowed Lan Xichen is.

Or, if he’s in seclusion, a low-level disciple he knows but has never been particularly close with is tasked with checking on him from time to time. Lan Xichen and him start talking, and then feelings slowly develop. Did the disciple always have a bit of a crush on Lan Xichen?

For something more light-hearted, post-canon Wei Wuxian catching wind of some guy always hanging around Lan Xichen and immediately realising what is going on (maybe even before Lan Xichen does) would be very fun. Hey, Lan Xichen is so depressed and it worries Lan Wangji, so as a good husband and brother-in-law, Wei Wuxian basically has to intervene and make this happen...

Smut would be great! Is the OMC the one who takes Lan Xichen’s virginity or vice versa, or are they both experienced? Does the OMC introduce him to some fun kinks or is in possession of some interesting pornography books? Is Lan Xichen in a “nothing matters” mood after the end and sleeps with several strangers in some attempt to stifle the pain, but ends up accidentally catching feelings for one of them?

For A/B/O or any other AU where two men can create a child (or are allowed to adopt an heir), Lan Xichen is pushed by the elders to finally get married. Since he knows his duties, he lets them pick an important member of a promising sect. Lan Xichen really did not expect their marriage to be based on love, but to his surprise he actually finds himself enjoying the OMC’s presence.

A slightly darker version could be that Lan Xichen is forced by the Wen sect to get married to protect the Lan sect. They want to humiliate him, so they give him someone unsuitable – a low level Wen disciple, or someone from an obscure clan like YingchuanWang (or another clan that has come into existence under similarly disreputable circumstances). However, the OMC was never a happy Wen servant, he gets along with Lan Xichen, ends up falling hard for him and defects. (If you want to go plotty or include background happy early Wangxian, maybe the Burial Mound-problem never appears because this husband consolidates the rest of the innocent Wen and gains protection for them.)

If the arranged marriage happens past the ending of the novel, maybe Lan Xichen thinks he can’t bring himself to really love or trust anyone who is not his immediate family anymore. Because he feels guilty that his husband is getting him in this broken state, he tries to be at least pleasant and polite. Turns out his husband, also being a quite high-ranking cultivator, of course knows what happened and ends up being honestly supportive and starts drawing him out more and more. Lan Xichen can’t help but be charmed...

(I also have a letter dealing with tropey stuff, one with mpreg and kidfic prompts , and one with smut prompts for this pairing, in case you're looking for more prompts. One of these is for the book version, but should work just as well for The Untamed.)