im a multishipper but not really when it comes to wangxian HOWEVER i like to make an exception to XiXian (Lan Xichen/Wei Wuxian) mostly for the comedy of it all:
Imagine youre wwx and the one guy whose nice to EVERYONE just hates you specifically. In his eyes, you're a disrespectful little piece of shit who cannot tell the difference in your famously unreadable little brother <-- the guy who grew up reading lwj emotions like a comic book since they were kids, and therefore he thinks you are a stupid playboy who should be knocked down a couple pegs. Lxc likes to think nicely of everyone but when it comes to wwx all bets are off and he's rolling up his sleeves for a fistfight in the back of the jingshi like it's the 21st century.
Wwx on the other hand, little doesn't understand why the nicest guy in the Jianghu did a 180 on him and now absolutely despises him so out of spite, he's like "Well fuck you too then" and start purposefully trying to piss lxc off in the most genuine way possible, how does he do this Intellectual showoff of course. He pokes holes in lxcs plans on night hunts, purposefully takes lxc targets, calls out lxc mistakes in logic and overall finds any opportunity to either make lxc look stupid or just rage bait the guy with nonsense. Most of the time, it's the former. To some extent, wwx does think lxc is kinda stupid but don't tell anyone he said that
where wangxian actively support each other in intelligence and morality, they are characters who work well together independently and dependently, on the other xixian are complete opposites, it's built on rage baiting and being on opposites of the spectrum so far apart that it does a 360 and overlaps that way, though not very cohesively if you ask me.
lxc pushes wangxian together as friends but nothing more because he's a little shit whose been his younger brother's support their entire lives so when it becomes obvious that wwx is taking up the support mantle (he's better at it btw) in lxc's place, he becomes a full fledge hater and it just spirals from there backed up by wwx's use of unorthodox cultivation during the war and it becomes so so SO easy for lxc to hate him until he witnesses wwx interact with his sect siblings (he was not eavesdropping thank you very much, he is a Lan) and has to come to the uncomfortable realization that wwx is a human being with emotions (and trauma *shudders*) and he might actually find it attractive (oh the horror!) and not just some guy with too much audacity and cartoon evilness in his heart. He is running back into his tent and blaring sounds from his xiao someone help him.
God forbid Wei Wuxian catches Lan Xichen trying to get white girl drunk, there is truly no rest for the wicked.
Them in a nutshell:
LXC: Fuck you! WWX *sarcastically*: Ooooo you wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look fucking stupid *mumbles* dumbass bitch
To me they are the slow progression of onesided hate to full fledge hate and uncomfortable realizations and it stays like that for a very long time. Do they actually get together? No clue. Are they having passive aggressive through their intensive eye fucking? Most likely.
Are they hate fucking in a modern au? Oh absolutely! Wei Wuxian is barging into Lan Xichen's work office, kicking off his beaten up black converse and begins correcting all of Lan Xichen's spreads sheets that he did while last min while stoned with Nie Mingjue in Huaisang's art studio in a tone of voice he knows gets on Lan Xichen's nerves. They try to fuck about it 20 minutes before a meeting and Wei Wuxian throws his shoe at Lan Xichen so when he goes into a meeting he has to come up with wild explanations for the giant bruise forming on his forehead. They are the office's weekly entertainment and Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng wants to dieeeeeeeeee from 2nd hand embarrassment)
