A/N: For the 2020 MDZS Kink Meme. De-anon, please!
Prompter, this isn't exactly what you asked for; because there's a lot of LQR-centric character growth and development that takes place beforehand. That said; I will be giving you what you asked for later. It'll just take a while to get there. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to avoid, please; I think I tagged the things that matter.
(There is no underage/non-con/prostitution/etc in the fic itself; but there are references to that kind of thing being a thing that happens/has happened to some people. Life can be shitty at times, and in that time period sometimes Bad Things Happened and victims rarely got the justice they deserved. There are several discussions involving past events that were Very Not Good, and LQR having some uncomfortable realisations about stuff; but nothing explicit. Mature rating is simply because there are mentions of adult themes.)
Prompt:
A post-canon story where LQR finally gets to know someone he clicks with in a way he never has before, and he thinks, oh no, this is it for me, this is my one and only, this is the one that makes my teenage infatuation with CSSR look like the childish silliness it was.
And, in the best tradition of all Lan boys, it is the most inappropriate person it could possibly have been. And then they fall for him too. And they live happily ever after while scandalizing even WWX.
Prologue
Lan Qiren was never interested in love or sex.
The closest he ever came to desiring anything of the sort was a very mild teenage attraction to Cangse Sanren; but that was accompanied by a confused frustration and infuriation at her unruly nature, and it ultimately died a fiery death the moment she shaved off his beard. Mostly he had simply been unwittingly intrigued by the vibrant young woman who was so different from anyone else he'd ever met; but his short-lived, reluctant fascination with her wasn't really romantic or sexual in nature.
He'd long ago accepted that he was above such base, earthly desires, and he was more than fine with it.
Personally, Qiren felt that his lack of need or want for any kind of intimate companionship was a mark of his profound righteousness.
Not that he would ever admit to feeling such a thing - Pride was forbidden, after all - but the thought had burrowed its way into his subconscious and stayed there. Just another example of the shameful self-righteousness he indulged in without noticing or recognising he was doing anything wrong.
In the end, he might never have even noticed it if it hadn't been for her.
She came along and changed everything.
She introduced Lan Qiren not only to the mortifying ordeal of being known; but also to the even more mortifying - as well as painfully humbling - ordeal of knowing himself.
A/N:
Prompt Details:
I don't really care who, although there aren't many people around in canon by the end who are both inappropriate enough to live up to his brother and nephews, and also capable of thriving while married to LQR. Except maybe Wen Ning? The living corpse Ghost General being LQR's fated life partner would be both hilarious and weirdly sweet. But anyone you can make work, including an OC, is fine!
-Nobody LQR helped raise, not that kind of inappropriate
-Happy ending!
-Any gender, LQR even can be aro/ace if you want, or go just as feral as LWJ once he finds his person, or anywhere in between
-Please don't go on about how all single people are miserable and incomplete. I want more LQR was perfectly content being single and doesn't regret the years he was, but then this happened, because Lan
-Lots of schadenfreude and i-told-you-so's from the younger generation but everybody's supportive underneath
-Not a full soulmate AU, just Lans being canonically Lan. Unless you want to do a soulmate AU, then you do you.
I've been absent due to having a total of three surgeries between Nov. 26th and Dec. 11th; so I won't be updating this for a while since I'm going to focus on my other WIPs. But the plot basically outlined itself in my head when I read the prompt, and the prologue pretty much wrote itself right away, so I figured I'd post it.
This is more focused on LQR's canonical flaws and fixing them than it is on romance; as well as some of the social/cultural issues of the time and LQR figuring out that the world isn't nearly as black and white as he wants it to be. The romance does play a role, but it's something that doesn't play a major part until the end. LQR isn't inspired to do this by his feelings for someone; his feelings are inspired by what he goes through and everything he learns. Part of his feelings will be based on gratitude for his love interest having given him the kick in the pants he needed to re-evaluate his life and his choices. But ultimately none of the fulfillment he gets from it involves romance; that just ends up being a bonus.
Basically, this is a fic about LQR learning about what it takes to really be righteous, rather than just giving the appearance of righteousness. I hope that when it's finished you'll find it satisfies!