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“No, I mean…” They’d been having this conversation for awhile now, and Wei Wuxian still didn’t understand what Jiang Cheng was so worked up about. He growled out a frustrated noise, then took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said, “let me try it this way.” Wei Wuxian put on what he thought of as his Patient Shixiong Face and hoped this attempt would actually make sense. “You know how sometimes a really pretty girl—like Liu-qianbei or that jiejie who always gives us extra tanghulu—makes you… feel things?”
Was Jiang Cheng… just now noticing people like that? His sweet shidi! Wei Wuxian supposed that, like the lotus flowers on the lake, different people blossomed at different times. Perhaps none of the older disciples had felt comfortable having this talk with the Sect Heir? Wei Wuxian could be a good shixiong and reassure him what he was feeling was normal! He nodded encouragingly. “Or like Yinzhu and Jinzhu, yes! That’s very normal, Jiang Cheng; it just means you’re growing up!”
Jiang Cheng turned bright red. “You are ONE WEEK OLDER than me! Wait—Yinzhu and Jinzhu?? I don’t even want to know what— anyway, that’s not the part I’m asking about.”
Heavens help them. “Okay, so then what are you asking about?”
Jiang Cheng glared at him—as though he were the one making this conversation difficult! “Is it— Am I— D'you-ever-feel-that-way-about-boys-too?” he asked, all in one breath.
“Oh, is that all? Yeah, Jiang Cheng, that’s normal.” Honestly, what a thing to get worked up about.
Jiang Cheng frowned, which Wei Wuxian felt was rather the wrong reaction. “But everyone always seems to act like boys are going to marry girls, like Jiejie and the Peacock.”
“Oh, well if you’re talking about marriage, yeah, because you’ve got to make little sect heirs—wait, you do know how little sect heirs are made, right?”
“I know enough!!” Jiang Cheng spluttered, which was good, because Wei Wuxian wasn’t… 100% sure he could explain that part.
“Well good. But yeah, as far as just who you notice is pretty, I’m pretty sure everyone notices all kinds of people.” Jiang Cheng still didn’t look convinced, so Wei Wuxian brought out the big guns. “If you don’t believe me, we can always ask Shijie.”
“I can’t ask Jiejie that!!”
“Ask Jiejie what?” Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng both jumped when Jiang Yanli piped up behind them. (Sometimes Wei Wuxian wondered if anyone else realized Jiang Yanli enjoyed teasing just as much as he did. She was sneakier about it.)
“Wei Wuxian, don’t you dare—” Jiang Cheng started.
Wei Wuxian covered his mouth and asked the question that would put Jiang Cheng at ease. “Shijie, please enlighten these humble disciples: Isn’t it true that it’s normal for someone to find both boys and girls pretty? Y'know, Like That?”
Jiang Yanli’s expression was fierce. “Yes,” she said emphatically, “that is perfectly normal.”
“See, Jiang Cheng, I told you!”
Jiang Cheng buried his face in his hands. “Great, let’s never speak of this again.”
A lifetime later, in the middle of the night, Wei Wuxian sat bolt upright in the Jingshi. “Oh my god, she meant that in a SUPPORTIVE way, not in an everybody’s-like-that way!”