...Wait, I'm not done talking about the WWX and LQR relationship.

Hold my iced coffee, I'm going back in.

Okay! So! One of my pet headcanons for modern!WWX is that he's actually quite handy around the house.

He was the kind of kid who took apart toasters for fun, just so he could try to put them back together.

It was a genuine risk for parents/caregivers/babysitters!

If you turn your back on three-year-old XianXian, he's probably found the remote, dismantled it, and now he's blissfully treating it like a jigsaw puzzle.

But as a result, he's an adult who's actually amazing at fixing sinks and toilets and smoke detectors. He's good with computers. He likes hands-on projects of all kinds.

He actually ENJOYS helping friends move (filling up boxes is like tetris!!) and he will totally help you paint and regrout your bathroom this weekend. It's fun!

And that's the first way he convinces LQR to warm up to him.

I headcanon that none of the Lans are especially handy.

They're good at stuff like cooking and decorating, but they're used to hiring a handyman when the washing machine breaks. If they need the living room repainted, they just pay someone to do it.

So LQR mentions (during a family dinner, shortly after WWX enters the picture) that he needs to find someone to build a new deck.

LWJ and LXC whip out their phones and start looking through TaskRabbit. But WWX is just like, "Oh, sure thing, Uncle. I'll come over on Saturday!"

And he just.

Builds LQR an entire new deck.

For free.

With raised garden beds, too. He and LWJ to go Home Depot and fill up the beds with mulch.

Then WWX fixes LQR's router and cell phone, and breezes back home like it was NOTHING.

LQR is aghast, because OH NO, does this mean he has to LIKE this boy now?!

He's still in the this-hoodlum-isn't-good-enough-for-my-nephew stage. But OH NO, now this boy was NICE TO HIM.

And then, a few weeks later, there's another family dinner.

LQR (a lifelong academian and professor) is talking about some new research he just read. LWJ and LXC are listening respectfully.

WWX chips in with a Devil's Advocate counterpoint.

LQR gasps in outrage, but WWX insists on taking the opposing viewpoint and debating him!

LWJ and LXC are horrified, particularly as their uncle argues more passionately than they've ever seen. LQR is all red-faced, actually RAISING HIS VOICE at the dinner table!

LXC desperately tries to change the subject. LWJ is poking WWX's knee under the table, trying to get him to stop.

But WWX won't stop, and he finishes the debate with great glee.

Finally, LQR sweeps away from the table.

He comes back five minutes later with a stack of books and academic journals. He gives WWX a reading list and tells him to research this topic. WWX must choose the OBVIOUSLY WRONG position and prepare an argument for next week.

...Because LQR actually liked that debate.

WWX knew he liked it! He could SEE that LQR was deriving enjoyment from WWX trying to poke holes in his logic. LQR liked being challenged and he liked having the opportunity to discuss academic stuff with someone who pushed back against his arguments.

LWJ and LXC are completely dumbfounded.

But LQR pretty much decides to like WWX from then on. He tries to play it cool. He complains about WWX all the time, huffily refers to him as "Wangji's boyfriend/husband", etc.

But he likes WWX.

And soon, he has no compunctions about calling WWX up for whatever he needs.

His computer is doing something weird. There's a crack in the bathroom window. He needs another raised garden bed for his tomatoes.

Wangji's Husband Must Help Him. >:(