LINKDING

summary: The air conditioned chill of Wei Ying's office gave way to a wall of humid heat as soon as they left the building. The walk to the station was only a few blocks, but the back of Lan Zhan's shirt was damp with sweat by the time she went underground. "So what's the curse, exactly," Wei Ying said as they jammed themselves into a packed subway car. At lunchtime on a weekday during summer break. Lan Zhan steadied herself against the car door. "I believe it's bad luck." "Holy shit," Wei Ying said. "Did she curse you to step on a Lego?" ➤ modern au f/f mdzs wangxian fic ➤ lwj and wwx are academic colleagues; lwj comes to wwx for help dealing with a minor curse ➤ I love the glimpses into their broader world, the way cultivation is a part of modern life, the dynamics lwj has with her family, etc ➤ the way lwj being a poet affects the prose of the piece, and her point of view! ➤ and the dynamics between lwj and wwx are soooo good <3 ➤ 1.7k words in length

summary: Lan Wangji summons Wei Wuxian's spirit using Inquiry. ➤ flashfic about lwj successfully summoning wwx's spirit after death to ask questions ➤ OUCHHHHHHH YES IT'S SO GOOD ➤ 350 words in length

summary: <blockquote>Wen Qing’s world was small these days, but she was alive.</blockquote> ➤ this is a remix but you don't need to read the original to follow this one, as it follows a character who gets less focus in the original ➤ about wen qing and her interactions over the years with jin guangyao, in an au where she's imprisoned by him and helping him, after surviving leaving the burial mounds ➤ a great look at wen qing and her choices, and what she is and isn't able to do to affect things, and what she's willing to help with ➤ 2k words in length

summary: <blockquote>The Nie-furen Jin Guangshan could have invented out of her would have haunted these hallways; sometimes the universe slyly hands Meng Yao what he has not paid or begged for but what he deserves.</blockquote> ➤ a look at trans man meng yao and his experience of his gender, and nie huaisang experimenting with transfemininity ➤ a beautiful look at the complexities of identity, the precarity of position, and the connection between jgy and nhs ➤ 1k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Jiang Cheng begrudgingly agreed to share Nie Huaisang's table on the condition they went back to a private room; one sect leader spotted in public was bad enough, let alone two.</blockquote> ➤ jiang cheng/nie huaisang ➤ a post-canon fic, running into each other at an inn and Not Talking About Things ➤ a wonderful little interlude of finding space to have a bit of something fun ➤ because sometimes the opportunity to not talk about things, and not even think about things, is what you want the most! ➤ even though everything that happened IS still there. but you're with someone else who knows and understands and has seen you since before anything went bad. ➤ it's great ➤ 1k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>"He's in the sword," Wei Wuxian realizes. "Shuoyue is the man and Xichen is the sword."</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>Wednesday nights at Cloud Recesses strip club are always a little weird, but usually they're not this /horny/. Whatever Wei Ying and Lan Zhan get up to, Mianmian is /not/ going to be the one to clean it up.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>When Jiang Yanli was eight years old, she was sent on a visit to her grandmother in Meishan.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>Who is to say when you first understood what really happened? At times it felt like a painting you’d looked at too closely, tracing your eyes over the delicate brushwork until you could no longer see trees and stones - so close that you could see where the ink feathered at the edge of the stroke, the way it soaked tiny claws into each individual fiber that made up the page. And then abruptly you’d blinked and there it was, as it always had been: the mountain. The waterfall. The arc of his intentions.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>Sometimes a man's old enough to know his own mind, even if his brother worries, even if his family are living in exile in a mass grave, even if the boy he's set on is an unstable necromancer who could kill them all. Even if he has a history of making dubious choices. A vignette.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>"See, it's a fair trade," Wei Wuxian said, outlining the situation. "You get a wife! That's me! And Xuanyu can have a husband." Lan Wangji looked at the screen separating him from the bathtub. "In your proposition, you also have a husband."</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>In the aftermath of Guanyin Temple, Jin Ling has one question for Nie Huaisang.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>So, she thinks, watching Wen Chao go down the Xuanwu's gullet, there goes that plan.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>"Yes, you've been saying my name for the past five minutes," Wei Ying says, worried, and oh heavens, yes, this is indeed his husband. "It woke me up. Were you having a bad dream?" No, it was a good one, Lan Zhan wants to say. You were yourself again – He catches the thought mid-drift, and is mortified. / Lan Zhan sometimes misses Wei Ying's old body, and it's hard knowing he'll never see it again.</blockquote>

<blockquote>After Guanyin Temple, Lan Wangji has to adjust to the fact that Wei Ying is here to stay...albeit in a body that's still unfamiliar to them both.</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Who are you?” Wei Wuxian asks finally. Sizhui takes a deep breath. This is it. He isn’t ready. But he is. Er-ge said so. He lets his eyes fill with tears and spill down his cheeks. Wei Wuxian leans away, probably unconsciously. Good, Sizhui thinks, a little viciously. He never promised Er-ge to tell Wei Wuxian the truth, but he has never had a better weapon at hand than exactly this. “My name is Nie Sizhui,” Sizhui says. “I’m the master of the Unclean Realm, now.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>He lets himself imagine when he will be able to greet Mingjue again, since he has not seen him in a while. After he and A-Yao have greeted, Mingjue will be in the sort of mood Xichen most likes to see him in: agreeable and generous, full of good will and benevolence.</blockquote> ➤ written for the Discovery Channel Exchange, with bonobo sex as the prompt ➤ perfect pov choice for this!

<blockquote>"Your predecessor had your advantage in memory, attention to detail, organization, and support from the major sects." Ah, here was the disapproval Nie Huaisang had anticipated. Lan Qiren's expression was severe, his lips pressing briefly together. He continued, "Though you have done well for yourself, you cannot be expected to carry this burden alone. For that reason, in six month's time, I will be retiring from my current position in the Lan Sect." What. That didn't follow at all. "At that time, I will accept your invitation and take up the position you have offered." Lan Qiren's eyes were intent, boring into Nie Huaisang. "Though I expect you to continue without my assistance until then, you may write, both for advice and to get to know one another better." Lan Qiren steepled his fingers on the table between them. "Is that acceptable?" "You're saying yes," Nie Huaisang said slowly, "to the position I offered." "Yes."</blockquote> ➤ the end notes add so much to the experience

<blockquote>Nie Huaisang's brother is dead.</blockquote> ➤ a good example of the art form of the true drabble, packs a great punch in exactly 100 words

<blockquote>Lan Qiren did not raise Zhan'er to text an hour and a half before dinner to call it off without explanation.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Gravel crunches under his soles; so familiar that he knows instantly that he’s walking along the paths of Cloud Recesses, near the back wall. "Lan Wangji!" Wei Ying hears and his breath catches in his throat. That voice. "Are you here to look at the moon?" Take me back to the night we met I don't know what I'm supposed to do Haunted by the ghost of you Oh, take me back to the night we met</blockquote>

<blockquote>Wei Wuxian returns to Mo Manor to burn paper money for Mo Xuanyu. He meets Nie Huaisang there. How can you honor a dead man when you walk in his skin?</blockquote> ➤ augh (complimentary)

<blockquote>"That was an exhibit," Lan Zhan said after a moment. Tarbosaurus bataar, the gem of the Museum of Natural History's collection. "It was," Wei Ying said smugly. "And now it has feathers!"</blockquote>

<blockquote>Lan Zhan likes him like this. Lan Zhan liked him before, too. With his core. Without it. Lan Zhan says the body he is doesn’t matter; it is only set dressing. The Wei Ying of him can play out across the trellis of any body’s bones. The Wei Ying of him is not in his hands or his mouth or his feet, it is in what he laughs at. It is in what he doesn’t laugh at. Wei Wuxian doesn’t know. Does he laugh at the same things? Would anyone be able to tell, if he didn’t? / OR: Wei Wuxian, and Mo Xuanyu.</blockquote> ➤ I feel like the ending paragraph doesn't match what the fic is doing, but if you ignore that bit it's super great! Gen about wwx's relationship with the body he's in

<blockquote>In a tragic reversal of Ouyang Zizhen's fantasies, he is rescued by Senior Wei. Hanguang-Jun assists. </blockquote>

<blockquote>“I didn't even notice at first,” Wei Wuxian said, "Maybe if I'd had to pee as often then as I do now, but we had a lot going on."</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here's the thing: it's surprisingly difficult, keeping a body alive. This is, presumably, why Wei Wuxian fucked it up the first time. (Or: coming back to life, first one way, and then the other.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>After one final look at the profile photo, Lan Zhan closed Grindr. "Not even a flame?" Startled, Lan Zhan turned to his left. "I know not everyone wants to start chatting right off the bat, but you spent long enough looking at my face," said the man from the app, who was sitting at the bar. Or: Lan Zhan gets stranded at the airport, decides to scroll through Grindr, and meets someone new.</blockquote>