My hurdle in writing Shen twins/bros AUs is always the fact that a backstory which produces a Shen Jiu will never be a backstory that produces a Shen Yuan. You have to change fundamental parts of one of them if you want them to share an upbringing.
AUs that maintain the element of SY being a transmigrator work the best in that regard, because he can still have 20-some years of being a spoiled son, but even then, the more horrors of SJ's childhood that SY experiences, the more SY would be changed. SY thinking he's fine because it's just a story or because he's mentally an adult would not prevent SY from getting traumatized. Similarly, an AU where SJ grows up as the well cared for second Shen son is going to result in a very different man, because SJ is so heavily shaped by his trauma.
I think this is part of why I find them easier to write as parent and child; the fic conventions are that if SJ is SY's parent, then SJ has clawed himself to a higher position where he can offer SY comfort and stability, and if SY is SJ's parent, then SY changes SJ by giving him an un-traumatizing childhood. Either way, it makes sense for them to be those versions of themselves in that story.
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I absolutely don't think Shen Jiu should ever be a parent, but I think he would be a bad parent in really interesting ways, even when circumstances are otherwise right for him to love his child (there are many ways for circumstances to Not be right, but we will not be getting into those today). There's a lot of ways for that to play out, but imo, these are his main flaws that would affect his parenting:
SJ is not good at regulating his emotions; in canon, as an adult, he seems to repress his "weak" emotions and let anger and resentment simmer until he blows up. There's a lot of reasons why emotional regulation is an important parenting skill, but the main ones are that children often pick up whatever behaviors their parents model, and SJ would likely pass his bad relationship with his emotions on to his child, and perhaps more importantly, that poor emotional regulation makes parents more likely to lose their temper with their children and treat them in cruel or otherwise age-inappropriate ways that they wouldn't normally.
SJ is bad at taking care of himself, particularly his emotional needs. There's several different possible outcomes of that, but I think the main considerations are that a man who is falling apart at the seams or rocketing towards is own self destruction will Not, generally, be very well equip to take proper care of another child. The second factor there is that an irresponsible parent often creates an adulitifed child as the child tries to either take care of the person they love, or mitigate the risk of their parent's poor moods.
SJ hates himself. Aside from the afore mentioned problem with modeling behaviors, if SJ too much of himself in his child could cause him to project that self hatred onto them as he does with Binghe in canon.
SJ has [Qi-ge induced] abandonment issues, and in any situation where his relationship with YQY isn't fully resolved/mended, he is sure as hell going to be putting those issues on this little creature who has no choice but to love him/who can't leave him, at least for now. SJ doesn't trust anyone to really love him, which means he'll either preemptively place emotional distance between himself and his child in anticipation of them coming to hate him, or he'll desperately cling to the child's naive affection, certain its a limited resource that he has to preserve by force.
Anyways. We've see the range of how SJ treats children that aren't his with LBH and NYY, and I think that with SJ's own child, they'd likely experience that whole range, first in line for both his love and anger, stuck standing too close to a fire that both warms and burns.
Listening to "Never Love an Anchor" by The Crane Wives and thinking about absent father SJ distancing himself from SY out of a certainty that his presence will ruin his son.
time travel au where qijiu's daughter travels back in time and is summarily attached to newly instated sect leader yqy. sj is burning with jealousy at the thought of yqy someday moving on altogether with some random woman; he later finds out that Baby Yue was apparently born to YQY and doesn't have a mom, but a second dad. he moves from burning with jealousy to contemplating actual arson.
This is absolutely funniest if she looks like Shen Jiu. If she looked even somewhat similar to YQY, I think SJ would clock her as YQY’s relative (a sister or cousin perhaps), and be wildly jealous for different reasons; how dare YQY’s family come back and want him now after selling him off? They forfeited that right decades ago! This woman thinks she can come and worm her way into YQY’s good graces, stealing the place of YQY’s beloved family that rightfully belongs to—
But if she looks sort of ambiguously like SJ? Sometimes people look like each other, there’s nothing strange about that. She clearly doesn’t even look that much like SJ— would he make such a stupid smile as he hung off YQY’s arm? Obviously he shares no relation to this socially climbing harpy who moved in together with AN UNMARRIED MAN. I actually think he’d be corrected on that assumption pretty quickly because he wouldn’t be able to resist going to YQY with his feathers puffed, calling YQY a hypocrite for condemning SJ’s whoring when YQY does this without so much as announcing an engagement.
Once he learns she’s YQY’s daughter (sired upon him! By a man!! Did she just call YQY A-Niang?!?!) well, SJ is certain YQY would never want to be with him, much less have a kid with him, so that possibility isn’t even worth considering. Much more importantly, somewhere out there is a man who’s going to fuck YQY in a few years who needs to die.
YQY stops their daughter from explaining things to SJ because SJ is already angry and YQY is so certain that SJ will hate him more if he learns the truth. His daughter told YQY that they’re happily married in the future, but despite her insistence, YQY is fairly sure at this point that she came from a different world; maybe in a life where in didn’t fail Xiao Jiu so terribly, this is what he could have had.
Writing this I’m feeling bad for the daughter because SJ would be so mean to her this whole time— I don’t think he’s be outwardly calling her hateful things, but he’d at very least be incredibly cold. She had better complain about it when she gets back to her own time. YQY still asks SJ to apologize in the present but SJ grips his fan so hard it creaks and storms off 😔.
When she gets back she's going to delicately tear up and tell her parents that past-A-Die was so hateful 🥺🥺🥺. SJ is ready to kill his past self.
I'm writing a fanfic and a side plot point is that QHT and SQQ had SY. I've been wondering how SQQ would treat SY under these conditions. I made SY in this Au look half like SQQ and half like QHT.
So not only does he bare a resemblance to Shen jiu himself but also of Qiu haitang, also of Qiu Jianluo.
I feel like his treatment of Shen Yuan would be really bipolar, loving him one second, hating him the next.
Taking him out to eat because he has that smile childlike loving smile that Yue Qingyuan used to give him but also yelling at him and ignoring him the next because he also shared a face with the Qius.
Extra info, this is a Qijiu fic but at the moment SQQ Is raising him Yue Qingyuan is more of a uncle to him. And also he still is the Qing Jing peak but he's less hated because all of his allegations have been defended by Qiu Haitang. Despite shen jiu desperately wishing silently that she just kept her mouth shut because people now see him as someone to pity.
Ooo interesting question— I've been going back and forth on this for a day so I'm just going to say 'first thought best thought', and put my waffling under the cut.
For this scenario I think he would perform the role of father for the sake of appearances and as to not lower Qiu Haitang’s opinion of him, but would be cold in private, and potentially cruel if Shen Yuan continued to seek Shen Jiu out.
Nuance: I think this would depend on a number of factors, including under what circumstances the child was conceived, what his present relationship with QHT is like, how the child behaves, and of course their gender.
Since you didn't specify, I'm going to assume that QHT had SY pre-fire, and given the dubiously consensual nature of SJ and QHT's relationship (non-consensual, really. Slavery.) and also Everything About SJ, I'm going to assume he didn't want a child. While it might seem that such a case would inherently cause SJ to purely loath his child, I do think one could make a case to the contrary.
There are (imo) pretty explicit parallels in the text between Qiu Haitang and Ning Yingying, with the implication being that SJ favors her in part because she's like QHT. Obviously NYY not being SJ’s own child removes a lot of Baggage, but he likes her specifically because she's a child who resembles QHT. If the child was a girl who acted just like QHT? SJ has way less issues about It, and his bad-parent-isms drift more towards overprotection and over-involvement than disdain. The further they get from "Mini QHT" this worse this will go for everyone.
Shen Yuan is immediately off on the wrong foot for being a boy, of course; to SJ, the traits he likes in QHT would be signs of weakness and foolishness rather than empathy and naïveté. Anyone SJ recognizes himself in is not allowed to be weak, because SJ wasn’t. SJ does not want to break the cycle he wants everyone to suffer with him.
The part that I’ve been really stuck on though is how SJ would feel about his son resembling Qiu Jianluo. There is no evidence in the novel that SJ ever reacts to someone because they remind him of QJL. (“A-Luo” being a trigger for SJ is not canon. Qiu Haitang never calls Qiu Jianluo that, only gege. To my understanding it would also be strange for a younger sibling to use the “A” prefix for their older sibling. Also very importantly, the “luo” in Luo Binghe and Qiu Jianluo are two different tones. With cPTSD do often spread outside of just the direct 1-to-1 reminders of events, but I feel like this is more a case of non-English speakers misunderstanding.) I’m especially uncertain of how this affects SY because I don’t think SY acts much of anything like QJL— he’s certainly not a sadist who views those below him as inhuman. The only way I can imagine SY’s behavior reminding SJ of QJL is if SY is a transmigrator who knows SJ is the scum villain, and acts hatefully towards SJ + avoids him at any cost, clinging to his mother. SY glaring or looking down on the scum villain he loathes with QJL’s eyes could definitely be triggering to SJ. Still, there is a ton of room for interpretation here because trauma responses aren’t logical nor are triggers consistent between people.
Otherwise, I think SY acts much more like a combination of SJ and QHT. This still puts SY firmly in the danger zone tho lol— SJ would massively struggle to get along with a child that reminds him of himself (points at Binghe). That brings me the to the question of who else is witnessing SJ’s interactions with SY, how much SJ cares about their opinion of him, and how likely he thinks they are to tell other people about SJ’s parenting.
If SJ is co-parenting with QHT, then he is going to be on his best behavior. Which means no physical abuse, and less emotional abuse until the child can control itself enough not to burst into tears every time SJ reminds it of its place in the world :/
SJ coparenting with YQY depends a lot more on his present relationship with YQY. When qijiu aren’t reconciled SJ gets a sort of resentful satisfaction from being his worst self around YQY and daring the man to do anything. YQY didn’t step in with Binghe, would he step in for SJ’s own son? If qijiu are on better terms SJ has more incentive to impress YQY tho, espically because YQY seems to care about the child (although that’s a jealousy risk).
No matter what, I think SJ finds interacting with SY fundamentally uncomfortable. Even if he feels affection for him, even if SY reminds him positively of QHT or YQY, there’s the sort of grating gnawing feeling when SJ looks at him too long. SJ is a busy man, anyways— the boy should leave him to his work and make himself scarce.
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Qijiu who had a baby to save their marriage, has twins, breaks up, each takes a twin. 13 years later --> Parent Trap
Yesss. I like those AUs with SY and NYY (SY when with YQY and NYY with SJ), or for a more angsty spin, SY and LBH (SY when with SJ and LBH with YQY), or even NYY and LBH. SY's meimei is also a great option! Shen Yuan is a natural meddler so regardless of who his twin is he's messing with shit.
NYY is fun because I think she would have a very fairy tale approach to things, convinced that there is one single, dramatic, but easy to overcome obstacle in the way of her parent's love story. She's at that age where she doesn't believe relationships can just fall apart because of a million little issues and she just wants her baba to be happy and isn't love meant to fix everything? And selfishly, she wants to feel less isolated for once.
I also love the angle of SJ's child SY thinking YQY is so cool (as per canon), and being pissed that his baba ruined SY's chance to have YQY as a dad.
SY: Baba, he gave me ice cream and let him ride on his shoulders can I keep him
SJ: Yuan-er I thought we already learned about bribery, you're not this stupid.
Also augh SJ meeting SY who was raised by YQY and feeling like, regardless of looks, he's like a mini YQY...
Side note, I could've sworn I've read a qijiu parent trap fic with SY and NYY before but I can't find it, so instead I will recommend this fic where plant baby SY helps get his Divorced parents together
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū & Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū, Implied Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū/Yuè Qīngyuán
Characters: Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū, Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Light Angst, Past Mpreg, Parent Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū, Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū is Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū's Child, SJ and SY have a Complicated Relationship, liminal space night driving, Ambiguous/Open Ending, that specific kind of heavy conversation with your parent that only happens in the car
Summary:
“You're going to take it, aren't you." Shen Jiu burst the delicate membrane protecting them from the fraught topic. The silence leaked out the car, only to be replaced by something much more dangerous.
"The offer was for both of us, baba."
Shen Jiu clicked his tongue. "He's just saying that. I'm just an unfortunately necessary add-on. What he wants is you." 15 years too late, Shen Jiu added under his breath (as though that would prevent Shen Yuan from hearing when they were in such close proximity. Shen Yuan pretended not to hear anyways). "He'll get rid of me the moment he can."
Shen Yuan didn't respond. By this age, he had learned he couldn't always trust what his baba said. Shen Jiu saw things differently than his son. The world Shen Jiu knew was sharp and unforgiving: much less kind than the one Shen Yuan had grown up in.
Before today, Shen Yuan had never doubted Shen Jiu's account of things: his other father was lying scum. He made a promise he never intended to fulfill. He left and never came back. He left Shen Jiu young, pregnant and utterly alone. Now, he was not so sure.
***
After meeting his other father for the first time, Shen Yuan has a tense conversation with his baba.
Dad Shen Jiu au gives off "dad and the dog he said he didn't want" vibes.
Like infact when a random ass plant plot device gave him a baby he was so ready to kill it.
But then it smiled in the same way Qi-ge did when he was younger. And well Shen Jiu is a selfish man, what harm would it cause if he was allowed to be selfish one more time?
And even if he didn't kill the baby once he began to love it he knew eventually the universe would take his son away from him anyways. Because it always takes what he loves.
Not a fun answer, but I think it is incredibly hard to make SJ attached to a child. Even if you engineer circumstances so that he does, I think it's practically impossible for him to be a good parent. More on that here.
Generally when I write a Shen Jiu who loves his child, such as in the reverse breeding WIP, I justify it by SJ seeing the child as an extension of YQY or a thing tying him to YQY. Both of these are incredibly inappropriate ways to conceptualize your child that will fuck them up in the long run. As your ask alludes to, I think the "good" outcome for parent SJ is him being controlling and codependent with his child (hey that's what my fic Night Driving is about!)-- I don't see any option for him having an entirely healthy relationship with his child.
