RKB 2026 fic - on the edge
why
The backstory for this fic is that a long time ago the tgcf kink prompt bot (in this house we love the kink prompt bots) posted "Mu Qing + Shaving Kink" and I was like wait, you CAN sexualise shaving, this is genius, and it fits him perfectly, and so I became obsessed. But I never found a way to use this concept.
Then recently I saw the Mulian prompt in Rare Kink Buffet (...I was also obsessed with my own prompt at the time which was about nonsexual kink) and the fic just materialised itself. I went back in my notes to check and it seems like I didn't do any brainstorming or high level outlining at all I just went for it. Smh every Mulian thing I write is so random and impulsive (because their canon content is amazing and satisfying and does not make me yearn for fics)
You guys.... Mulian and service kink what could be a more potent combination.... I just love to see Mu Qing feeling every kind of way about Xie Lian at once
other thoughts
I felt a lot of wholesome enthusiasm when writing this because it's all kinks I wish were more popular especially armpits. Pits are such a bog standard kink which seems mostly absent from fandom and I want to do my part to change that!!!
I have complained before about how it feels like 90% of Mulian fics are clothes and personal grooming centric and probably set in a dressing room or bedroom and I'm sorry to say that I have become even more of a hypocrite because this is my SECOND one after look in my eyes (arguably third considering lose lose situation is also set in Xie Lian's bedroom and has some kind of mulian going on in the background).
But at least I am breaking it up a bit by having this one be from Xie Lian's point of view and having absolutely no yearning or awareness of power differentials or serious thoughts whatsoever. It was really fun to go back through and edit to make sure Mu Qing was sufficiently grumpy and paranoid at every moment though.
.........
Okay, that's it I just got a surge of motivation for my other long planned Mulian platonic nonsexual kink fic. In that one they do not set foot in a single bedroom, and it's postcanon so the dynamic will be more interesting than all my precanon ones. I have a slight regret about the juicy postcanon Mulian hidden in my longer Fengqing fic that absolutely nobody would click it to see and hey one solution is to write more. They deserve to get a lil freaky.
While I'm on the topic, I do wonder whether I would still ship them exclusively platonically if Hua Cheng wasn't Xie Lian's one true love and all. I think so. At the moment it is definitely a deep part of the appeal for me that it feels almost psychologically impossible that they would see each other in a romantic light. Rather than keeping it platonic because Hualian must be together (which they must), I feel like Hualian set me free to follow my "Confusing platonic ships" dreams when it comes to Mulian. I have had many other such ships down the years and usually end up saving fanarts of them kissing to my phone while symbolically shaking my head. Hooray for TGCF being how it is.