Lecture: Extracurricular

[ranalore]

Title: Extracurricular
Author: Rana Eros
Word Count: 300
Character(s)/Ship(s): Jiang Cheng/Nie Huaisang, Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji
Rating/Warnings: G, Lan Wangji's delinquent toddler past, Nie Huaisang's canonical lack of academic motivation, Wei Wuxian's terrible flirting technique, Jiang Cheng is so done
Summary: Nie Huaisang's studies at Cloud Recesses are self-directed.
Author's Notes: I just started my most recent rewatch, and I'm always delighted to revisit the Cloud Recesses lecture days. They're all so young and high-spirited! Anyway, I feel like Nie Huaisang's history with Lan Wangji needs more exploration. Eliza gave it a thumbs up.

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Nie Huaisang doesn't mean to ignore any lectures. It's just that people are much more interesting than GusuLan's many thousand rules. And this particular batch of guest disciples promises endless entertainment.

The most lively of them, Wei Wuxian of YunmengJiang, even managed to provoke the intimidating, flawless, boring Lan Wangji on the first day! Nie Huaisang grew up with Lan-er-gongzi; he was inclined to bite as a child. Nie Huaisang didn't think to see that look again. He'd feel more sorry for Wei-xiong's longsuffering shidi, sect heir Jiang Cheng, except he gets too much enjoyment out of both Wei-xiong's antics and Jiang-xiong's irritable predictions of Wei-xiong's impending violent demise.

"Look at him," Jiang-xiong says into his ear, as they watch from a shaded walkway while Wei-xiong cheerfully chases after Lan Wangji. Lan-er-gongzi's gait is nothing like running, even as his pace increases the distance between himself and Wei-xiong at a rate imperial runners might envy. "Lan-er-gongzi's going to kill him any day now, and I won't even mourn."

Nie Huaisang forgets to answer, caught in the sensation of Jiang-xiong's breath against the sensitive shell of his ear. It takes a laughing shriek of "Ji-xiong!" to snap him back to the topic of conversation. "That doesn't sound like killing."

"I'm not sure I want to know what you think it sounds like." Yet, there's curiosity in Jiang-xiong's voice, and in his eyes when Nie Huaisang turns to look at him. His face is quite close. Nie Huaisang feels the need to gain the distance of his fan, pairing it with a playful look to ensure there's no sense of rejection.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he says airily, and is rewarded with a snort of laughter and Jiang-xiong's small, crooked smile.

Yes. Some people are very interesting indeed.

Comments

[fufaraw]

Eeee! Love this. Thank you!

[ranalore]

I'm so glad! Thanks for letting me know!

[magpie_fngrl]

Oh this is brilliant!!
I've also started a rewatch and I'm still at the Cloud Recesses episodes. You've captured their vibe really well x

[ranalore]

Thank you! Seriously, those episodes are awesome. Everything is beautiful, and nothing hurts.

[hhimring]

I was really amused by Nie Huaisang's attitude to Lan Wangji and memories of him as a toddler!

[ranalore]

I'm glad you liked it! There's just something about Lan Wangji that says, very loudly, "I was a TYRANT when I was a child."

[elwendell]

Oh yes, I can definitely see NHS as a people watcher. That one runs deep.

[ranalore]

He's kind of the designated expository character through the Cloud Recesses arc, which feeds well into the ultimate revelation of him as someone who manipulated at least some events and people to engineer his revenge. To know everything he does, he'd have to watch people closely, I think; it's no wonder WWX is so shocked to hear he's heard the nickname of "Headshaker" because he now claims to know nothing about anything.