"Being a slut doesn't make you a joy wizard. It has to be all-- spreading joy more generally, right?"

"I guess there was the cake quest. And the talking to things and wearing nice clothes quests."

"Nie Huaisang isn't really out for anyone but Nie Huaisang."

"They're not... Completely selfish." Says the man who has a crush on every human on the planet.

"They're completely selfish in an enlightened way where they realize they'll get more things they like if people like them."

"... Okay, that's fair."

"I'm sorry, a-Ning, you're just going to have to admit that you're a better person than they are."

"I'm not sure I'm better than anyone? ... I'm proving your point, aren't I?"

"No, that's the separate point that you have incredibly low self-esteem, and I know from low self-esteem. You'll still be a good person if you value yourself at all."

"I'm... Working on it?" Behold the fact his self esteem is a project he's working on, and not something he is in ineffectually hiding under a cupboard out of shame, as evidence for this fact.

"And the magic wants you to work on it too. I think it wants you to be happy."

"...I guess?"

Wen Ning's phone buzzes. It's Wen Qing, reminding him about lunch today.

Thank you for reminding me! <3

Wei Wuxian is going to chatter at Wen Ning about things for the rest of breakfast. It's very normal, except for the part where Wei Wuxian holds his hand the entire time. 

And one day is going to be able to have his hand held and follow a conversation at the same time, but today is not that day.

And Wei Wuxian walks him home and they make a bit more use of Edge Riding and then kisses his cheek and sends him off to talk to his sister.

He plans what he's going to say on the way. She's going to be pretty happy about the self improvement stuff. She'd be interested to here about the tree and the dolphin, though he is maybe going to have to censor the dolphin a little. ...she is not going to approve of him dating Wei Wuxian, but he should probably mention it.

"Hello!" she says, looking up from her phone, when he gets to their favorite lunch place.

(She is beautiful. She is so beautiful. He wants to touch her and to kiss her and to fuck her all night long-- he loves her, he has always loved her, but there's a different flavor to it now, has her hair always been that beautiful in the light--)

"Hi!"

He has made... Maybe as many as several mistakes.

At least he has experience dealing with crushing awkwardness. If he plays his cards right, she will not notice and he can pretend it isn't happening.

She smiles at him. "How are you doing?"

(She likes him, she likes him, she likes him, it is so important that she likes him-- has her smile always been so beautiful, it lights up her face--)

He has the Most Poker of Poker Faces, no expression he doesn't explicitly want is getting up there-- "I'm doing well. And you?"

"Work could be better. A bunch of depressing cases in the emergency room-- frequent fliers, that kind of thing. I hate not being able to help them."

(It's so terrible when Wen Qing is upset. Wen Ning should fix it.)

Oh look, a feeling that resembles a sensible one. Unfortunately he's not powerful enough yet to really do anything about health problems like that. "It sounds awful."

She looks sad. He should fix it by giving her a backrub. It would be wonderful to run his hands along her small, delicate back and--

"So, how is the magic going?"