ok...wangxian spirited away au but instead of chihiro + haku, wwx is a random bath-house worker and lwj is the polluted river spirit

yeah im sorry i dont have a proper mdzsww to offer this week but i watched spirited away last night n cant stop thinking abt it so have a threadfic instead!

(i think wwx would be a byakko like lin!! but he can’t transform into his true white fox form within the boundaries of the bathhouse bc it’s part of his employee contract)

one evening, the bathhouse gets visited by the most disgusting stink spirit that anyone has ever seen (or smelled). it crawls slowly across the bridge to the bathhouse, leaving a trail of oozing brown slime in its wake

not a single creature with a nose can stand to be in the same room as it without gagging, and NO ONE is willing to be its attendant for the night!

except wwx.

in his mind, a customer is a customer!

and as far as customers go, this stink spirit is pretty nice. wwx’s had to serve some pretty awful patrons before, ones that send him running back and forth to get more towels and platters of chashu without a minute to catch his breath

but this stink spirit is quiet and, dare he say—polite.

it clambers into the big tub and sends out a sweeping brown wave when its massive body displaces the liquid, and then just...sits there. soaking in its muddy half-bath.

wwx thinks that such undemanding behavior deserves an extra hot bath! so he goes to fetch some herbal bath tags, even scrubs away at the spirit’s oozy surface. he starts to chatter away, emboldened by the lack of complaints

the stink spirit hums every now and then in response. for all that it is non-verbal, it’s surprisingly kind! it retrieves the tub of herbal bath tags for him as wwx struggles to reach it through the thick muck; it reaches down in concern when wwx hits his knee on the tub edge;

it doesn’t even mind when he loses his purchase against the slippery surface and falls into its bath head-first! it simply uses one of its big tentacle-y appendages to dislodge him from the sludge and hoist him out of the water!

this is when wwx feels the object in its side.

“quit dawdling, wei wuxian!” roars master jin from the upper floors, where the entirety of the bath-house staff has been gawking at how cheerfully wwx has ignored the gods-awful stench from his sludgy customer

“there’s a thorn stuck in the customer’s side!” wwx calls back.

and very quickly, master jin realizes that the ‘stink spirit’ is not what it seems to be.

the entire bathhouse is set to work pulling the ‘thorn’ out, and when it finally comes free, all manner of human trash starts pouring out; bicycles, discarded plastics, metal cans, etc

wwx nearly falls back with the force of the wave, but something holds him steady.

the water in the tub is clear now. a great horned head breaks the surface. “well done, wei ying,” says the ancient river spirit, teeth sharp and large eyes blinking.

one long, scaly tail is still wrapped around wwx’s waist, holding him steady as he regains his balance.

then it lets him go.

that rippling body uncoils, and the river god bursts out of the tub and leaves through the entrance, disappearing into the night with a joyful roar.

as the rest of the bathhouse staff scrabble over the gold deposits the river god left behind in the floorboards, wwx stares out into the sky and laments the fact that he never said a proper goodbye to his customer.

but what is an indentured fox spirit to a great river god? wwx resigns himself to the fact that he’ll probably never see his nicest customer again, and gets back to work.

and then.

the following week, a remarkable spirit shows up at the bathhouse.

wwx only finds out because he’s passing by after his lunch break and hears the commotion at the main doors

he pokes his head out, and it seems like half the bathhouse is there, fussing over...the most handsome spirit wwx has ever seen. male and female spirits alike are swarming around, each clamoring for his attention

even with the noise, the spirit seems to know the second wwx steps into the room. his head snaps around and he pins wwx to the spot with his sharp golden gaze

“you.” his deep voice cuts through the chatter, and everyone else falls silent. he’s still looking at wwx. “i would like you to be my attendant for today.”

and. well. who is wwx to disagree? he holds his head high, ignores the confused whispers from the other staff members, and leads the spirit straight to his bath.

attending to a customer of such awesome beauty is quite distracting. wwx chatters on as he always does, but he can’t help but feel a little flustered as he tries not to eye all that bare skin and muscle too hungrily

the spirit doesn’t seem bothered at all. (in fact, wwx thinks that the spirit is staring back at him just as much.) he nods along to all of wwx’s word-vomit, even asks a few quiet questions of his own

the whole time, wwx is dying to know exactly why he’s been chosen, but he forces his curiosity down. a customer is a customer, and he can’t be rude

at the end of their session, he sees the spirit straight out to the entrance. just as wwx has finished bowing and is halfway through turning back to the main doors, the spirit speaks.

“well done today, wei ying.”

something sparks in the back of wwx’s head. he looks back in confusion. “have i met you before?”

the spirit blinks, golden eyes suddenly so familiar. “i see you don’t recognize me in this form. very well.”

he transforms, and suddenly—there is wwx’s kind and quiet river god, heavy body coiled before him.

wwx lowers his head. “my lord, i am honored to serve you a second time! please forgive this humble servant for not recognizing you!”

a deep rumble of words; “lift your head, wei ying. there is no need for such formalities. my name is lan wangji. and you, as my savior...you may call me lan zhan.”

then, before wwx can get over his shock, the massive dragon lifts off the ground and flies away, leaving without a proper goodbye for the second time.

once is sheer luck. twice is a kindness. wwx does not go through life tallying his encounters with handsome river gods, but he is already content with what he has.

but the thing is—lwj keeps coming back.

every week, like clockwork, he shows up at the bathhouse. he refuses to be attended by anyone other than wwx, and if wwx is occupied, he sits and waits, ignoring the protests of the employees that “you must be cold, my lord, why don’t we get someone else to draw a bath for you?”

wwx begins to look forward to lwj’s visits. each one is a bright spot in the long, tiring weeks of work. he’s so comfortable talking with lwj, even though it’s harder to focus now that he’s all Delicious Bare Skin instead of Simply Sludge

lwj’s baths get longer, and his visits become more frequent. they become closer, and wwx starts opening up to lwj more than he thought he ever would to another spirit

he tells lwj every little detail about himself; that he’s bad with faces, good with cooking. that he misses his true form—“i make a beautiful fox, lan zhan, trust me!”— and that he dreams of leaving the bathhouse and traveling.

one day, lwj asks wwx how he started working at the bathhouse, and wwx goes silent. he’s never told the truth to anyone—but this beautiful god. this kind, handsome blessing who is sometimes the only reason wwx can get up in the morning—he deserves the truth.

so wwx explains slowly, haltingly. about how in his first days as a fox spirit, he was so frail and weak that he couldn’t even find food. he was cold and starving and would have perished, if it were not a group of snake spirits that had taken him into their care

it was highly unconventional, but the jiang snake spirit clan saved his life and became the closest he had to family. so when he found out how much they owed to master jin guangshan, who ran the bathhouse, he didn’t even think twice.

in the end, it wasn’t that much—13 years of indentured servitude to pay off the jiangs’ debt.

“don’t they worry about you working here? do they not visit? i have never seen snake spirits at this bathhouse.”

wwx shakes his head. “no. i never told them—they don’t need to know. as far as they know, i just ran off and never returned. madam yu probably still curses my name to this day; ‘damn that wei wuxian! i told you all, never trust a fox spirit!’ haha.”

lwj’s face becomes awfully closed-off after that, but wwx puts it down to drowsiness from the warm bath.

“lan zhan, you must be sleepy! haha, turn around, let me scrub your back.”

the next time lwj visits, he’s unusually quiet, up until midway through when wwx is adding floral oils to his bathwater, and lwj turns around to face him.

“wei ying. if money is the problem, i can pay your debt off for you.”

wwx freezes. “lan zhan. what do you mean.”

“you must remember the treasure i carry in my body. the gold deposits in my river. i could pay your debt off for you, you wouldn’t have to work here anymore and you could walk free—“

and wwx is surprised with the—the absolute vehemency of his own response. he’s never shouted at lwj, ever, but this comes close. wwx isn’t lwj’s charity case, wwx doesn’t appreciate pity, and this debt is wwx’s own to pay off.

then he remembers who he’s berating, and shrinks back instantly. even if wwx has tricked himself into thinking that he’s a friend, lwj is still a god, a paying customer, and wwx is just a lowly fox spirit servant. he apologizes, and makes to back off;

and a wet hand rises out of the water to grab his wrist. “wait, wei ying, please. it was my fault, i overstepped. i didn’t mean to make you feel like i pitied you.

i just want to help.”

wwx is helpless and flustered and so, so confused. “i...why would you even offer? why do you care?”

lwj gazes back. “do you really not know?”

and wwx—his brain shorts out. lwj’s hand is so warm, power thrumming under his palm, and his eyes are pleading, and the steam is turning his skin baby-pink—

and wwx loses his mind and leans forward and kisses him.

the next second, he’s horrified. if he were in his true form, his tail would be dropped between his legs, his ears would be tucked back flat against his skull

so wwx stammers out an incoherent apology and sprints away, leaving lwj frozen in the bath, staring after him.

after that, the shame is too great to bear. not only did wwx delude himself into liking a customer who was a GOD, he forced himself on that god and he left him sitting in his cooling bath without finishing his damn job!

wwx starts avoiding lwj. “tell him i’m occupied,” he begs the other spirits when they tell him that his ‘favorite customer’ is asking for him. “tell him i’m busy, and that he should just get a different attendant.”

lwj starts coming by every evening. every day before they go to bed, the other bathhouse workers tell wwx about how the great river god lan wangji will sit the whole night at the front, waiting for wwx, and leave silently when the bathhouse closes.

wwx is miserable, but he doesnt tell them to shut up. it’s his fault after all; the least he can do is listen to the fallout.

then, early one evening, he opens the sliding doors to the garden to pour out the water he was using to clean the floors before the bathhouse opened

and lwj is just. there.

it’s the first time wwx has seen lwj in person for weeks, and even though he’s standing there looking pale and cold and rained-on, he still glows with the power of a god. he still looks so, so breathtaking.

and wwx may be a coward, but even he is not so shameless as to ignore a god when theyre standing right in front of him. so he steps down to the gravel of the garden in his bare feet, bows his head in shame, and apologizes as deeply as he can.

and then he waits for lwj’s rage.

instead—a gentle hand lifts his chin. “i’ve told you before, wei ying.” lwj’s eyes are sad. “there’s no need to bow to me. not when it’s you.”

all wwx can do is ask, again, “why?”

why shouldn’t i bow to you? why aren’t you mad at me? why do you come here, sit night after night in the rain, waiting for me?

why are you looking at me like that? like i’m someone who matters?

and lwj says, simply, “because i love you.”

wwx’s heart thumps,

flips,

and then he’s throwing his arms around his river god.

they kiss there in the dark garden, soaking wet from the rain.

and when they break free, gasping, lwj presses his forehead against wwx’s own and whispers, “i will wait for you. however long it takes to pay off your debt, i will wait for you, and when you are free i will take you wherever you want to go.”

they manage, after that. lwj has his weekly visits, and wwx chatters away happily in every session. wwx is maybe a bit more touchy than a bath attendant needs to be, and lwj responds in kind.

one year passes. and then two. and suddenly, wwx’s thirteen years are nearly up. the week before his contract expires, he even dares to sneak a kiss, and as he pulls back he murmurs, “i’ll be with you soon, lan zhan.”

at the end of his final day, he goes all the way up to master jin’s study to terminate his contract. he’s on cloud nine—he’s just minutes away from freedom. lwj is already waiting for him outside the bathhouse. they’ll finally be able to embrace properly.

but; master jin’s jeweled rings glint in the candlelight of his study. his smile is indulgent. and his eyes don’t look like those of an employer about to lose his best worker.

wwx’s stomach fills with lead.

“13 years to pay off the jiang’s debt, wei wuxian,” master jin purrs. “you stupid, silly boy. what did your contract ever say about letting you go after?”

wwx doesn’t remember much after that. shaking, screaming, cursing; and then suddenly he’s fleeing through the crowded levels of the bathhouse, his contract clutched in his fist, master jin’s henchmen hot on his heels.

there are bird-like paper talismans surrounding him, slicing at his exposed skin in a flurry; he keeps running, feet a pounding beat under him.

keep going, he thinks, lungs burning. lan zhan is outside. you’ve kept him waiting long enough.

he’s nearly at the entrance when they catch him, and they start dragging him away as he flails and bites and shrieks. “you can’t do this!” he cries. “lan zhan is still waiting for me! LAN ZHAN!”

someone slaps him across the face, hard, and he tastes blood.

the entrance is getting farther and father away.

i was almost there, wwx wants to howl. i almost made it. i was almost happy.

his heels bleed as they drag on the wooden floor.

then, a great roar; and the main doors splinter to pieces as lwj plows right through them in his true form and rains down upon the henchmen with all the terrifying fury of a vengeful river god.

the destruction rages around him, and the arms restraining wwx fall away. in the eye of the storm, wwx drops to his knees—

and before he can bruise them on the ground, he’s swept up into the protective embrace of an angry dragon.

of course, wwx’s contract ends up being terminated. no one is brave enough to stand between wwx’s freedom and lwj’s massive sharp teeth, least of all master jin.

they leave the bathhouse behind them in disarray and fly off, wwx cradled gently in lwj’s massive talons.

naturally, (after he is healed with lwj’s tender loving care) one of wwx’s first things on his to-do list as a free spirit is to stretch out in his true form.

he poofs into the cutest little white fox lwj has ever seen and frolics around in the grass. maybe lwj cannot resist the urge to bury his face in that fluffy tummy and wwx just pwaps his little paws on lwj’s head

maybe lwj is in his true form too!! little fox spirit wei wuxian all snuggly in this massive coil of big dragon river god lan wangji

(im slowly realizing that this au is just another variation of dragonji and foxxian. oops)

and then also, now that wwx is no longer a bathhouse attendant, lwj can finally return the favor. he draws wwx a hot bath and plays the attendant instead!

maybe wwx is a little shy because he realizes that for all the many times he’s seen lwj with his clothes off, lwj has never seen HIM naked. lwj gives him a nice massage, and then a smooch on his shoulder. and, softly, a kiss on his neck. a nip on his jaw.

and then they make out like they never dared to in the bathhouse and [redacted] in the tub like canon wangxian. they break it too because i love that for them

and lwj takes wwx everywhere just as he promised and they kiss as freely as they like and live happily and in love for all eternity!!!!

ack this was a long one...thank u everyone for reading!! i hope u enjoyed!!