there’s so much reciprocated care in receiving care, like allowing that other person to provide for you, to know that you trust them and believe that they care for you too, that you believe they want what’s best for you,

reliance as a way of showing that you know you can rely on them, the vulnerability of showing another person the places that need tenderness, attention, this is me, here is where my flesh fractures and bleeds, you can do anything you want with me, i want you to do anything to me

especially someone like wei ying who has 9/10 been the one in the caretaking role, wanting to protect others and prioritizing his softness last bc be knows his skin is tough enough to handle it where others might not, the loneliness inherent in this...

and his strong sense of independence and individuality, to tell lwj anything is okay if it’s you, how could i not want it if you’re the one giving it to me, i want everything you do to me. to allow that belonging, that ownership...!!!!

even their consent kink is such a central culmination of their character development and their relationship with each other, wei ying deliberately playing at helplessness and vulnerability after a literal lifetime rejecting both those things,

and lan zhan being allowed to act on his long simmering feelings of intense possessiveness and greed and sadism in a way that’s safe and healthy for them,

having someone that sees the darker needs in him, recognizes how actively he works at being good, “the gentleness that comes not from the absence of violence but despite the abundance of it” and Wanting that, loving that, telling him every day that it’s okay if it’s him...