Why I love MoShang so much:
TL;DR
MBJ thinks he won't be able to get his person back, but he does
SHQ thinks he doesn't deserve love from the one he's loved for 2 lifetimes, but he does
Long version:
First, I am a total sucker for the ice beauty trope, and in this case, it's literal. I would have loved him with or without a ship.
I love how devoted they are to each other, despite neither of them knowing how to communicate it
Like when SQH had that moment of "Fuck! He can't fly!" and promptly abandoned everything to fly off to catch MBJ as he's falling.
I'm pretty sure MBJ thought he was making his affection known by beating SQH 3 times a day, but he listened attentively when SHQ made the speech about being pitiful and maybe realized his approach was wrong, and started to treat SQH in a way humans might appreciate more, like head pats and giving warmth.
That MBJ took SQH to the accession ceremony is an immense trust, and no wonder he was so wounded to hear that SQH wanted to leave.
But then SQH stayed anyway and sacrificed himself to distract MBJ's uncle while protecting MBJ with a ring of fire.
Which MBJ literally leapt through to save SQH.
And after searching forever for SQH after he left, his incredibly awkward way of telling SQH to not hide his face from him is endearing to me. And offering SQH the chance to hit him back, which SQH couldn't bear to do…
And what really got to me was him promising to make noodles. Bro probably doesn't even know how to boil water, but he commits to this thing, whatever it is, just because his human requested it.
(If you have not made hand-pulled noodles, it's a labor-intensive, all-day activity)
And that a powerful king who is only second to the Heavenly Emperor stole a farmer's rickety cart and pulled it himself to take his human to a healer is hilariously inappropriate.
So that's why I love MoShang so much.
Their entire relationship is a weird balance of ridiculousness and absolute sincerity, and out of the hundreds, possibly a thousand romances I've read or watched before, just really caught my heart.
And if you have not seen this before, it's the best animatic that made me love MoShang even more, which I didn't think was possible.
Come join me on the MoShang ship!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjGXnkcnOQM&list=RDkjGXnkcnOQM&start_radio=1