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: In the present, Wei Ying finds himself separated from his family and friends when he travels to help Lan Zhan move into a new home. In the past, Nie Huaisang brings a new friend back from summer orchestra camp. ➤ an #mdzs #wangxian modern au set during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, with flashbacks to 2003 ➤ this fic is everything to me. it's just. so beautiful & good? grounded and present to its settings, seeing its characters with open-eyed affection, funny and heartbreakingly painful-hopeful and so, so gentle ➤ I love how the fic is about many relationships at once - wwx & the wens, wwx & jiang cheng, wwx & whatever he had going on with nhs back in the day, and of course, of course, wangxian. and all of these are vital relationships in wwx's life; all of them make him who he is ➤ a "straight boy wei ying" type fic; I love how compassionately wwx is viewed as he goes through his years-long process of realisation. the fic is never mean-spirited about wwx's lack of self-knowledge. he had a lot going on & was doing his best! ➤ I've read this fic at least 3 times and it hits just right every time ➤ 25k words

Summary: Two birders with an intracommunity beef with each other are the only guests on a pelagic trip. It's Nie Huaisang's first, and he's very excited. Until he wants nothing more than to go home. ➤ a cute modern au sangcheng fic where they're both birders and end up on the same pelagic boat trip ➤ I especially loved all the birding details! ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: Lan Zhan is — a friend. A guy. That takes the pressure off, knowing they’re doing this as friends, that Wei Ying doesn’t have to perform. And, he’ll admit, it’s flattering that Lan Zhan wants him. The guy is gorgeous. And when he said "I know how to please a man," in that deep, silky voice of his — / Straight boy Wei Ying enters a friends with benefits arrangement with his gay roommate and best friend, Lan Zhan. It absolutely doesn't awaken anything in him. ➤ modern au wangxian fic where they're friends and roommates who start a friends-with-benefits arrangement ➤ a-spec wangxian! I liked how it was handled with wwx's difficulties in recognizing what he was feeling about lwj ➤ I read this fic as a wip and I have a bad memory so I don't recall everything I thought about it in the earlier chapters but it was good! ➤70k 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: The Institute of Religious Studies was housed in one of the oldest structures at the university, an ornate hipped-roof building that overlooked the campus from the foot of the northern peaks. Aside from the narrow drive that wound up the rise from the other side of campus, the only access was via a steep staircase or a switchbacked path that took twenty minutes to ascend. Most people on campus called it the Mountain. ➤ songxuexiao t4t4t modern au where they're grad students in china ➤ I had the pleasure of getting to see this fic as it came together, and the thought and care verity puts into their writing is always so evident in their beautifully written and beautifully constructed stories! ➤ from song lan's pov as he watches creepy stalker xue yang entwine herself into his bff (and object of pining) xiao xingchen's life ➤ sl DOESN'T trust xy, he DOES find it super hot to put her in her place and have sex with her, he DOES struggle to be fully vulnerable with xxc despite everything she is to him ➤ the vibes are so good, I love how real and present each character and their complex emotions about each other are, and I love the way the theme of the weather runs through the whole fic holding things together ➤ highly recommend! ➤ 12k words in length

Summary: “How could you let him?” she asked abruptly. It came out—menacing. Her own voice hadn’t been capable of conveying anger like that. If she’d tried very hard to rage, it would have been shrill and unimpressive, and if she’d spoken the way she’d tried to just now, it might have chilled the right room but it would still have sounded gentle. A-Cheng’s voice had no softness in it, and both boys went very still. ➤ mdzs/cql canon divergence au, where instead of mxy sacrificing himself to resurrect wwx, jc sacrifices himself to resurrect jyl ➤ jyl and wn and mxy eat soup together about it ➤ and jyl grapples with how she feels about everything that happened. and what she's going to do next ➤ and like. DANG I love it!!! ➤ 5k words in length

no summary ➤ mdzs/cql time travel au fic where Sect Leader Yao travels back in time at the point of his death, and intends to Make Changes For The Better ➤ a funny and fun look at how things happen, with and without his intervention! ➤ 6k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Even from the bar's parking lot, Lan Wangji could feel the presence of the spirits inside. This place was haunted. There was evidence of demonic cultivation everywhere from the wards to Wei Wuxian's bed. Lest he crawl back into it, Lan Wangji unsheathed Bichen and climbed on.</blockquote> ➤ mdzs wangxian modern-with-cultivation au where lwj is a trans man and wwx is a trans woman ➤ and ahhhh it just makes me so emotional about how GREAT wangxian are!!! ➤ wonderfully integrated characters/plot into a world they inhabit where friends and work and weird tastes in books are part of their lives, and also, lwj and wwx find each other and are immediately obsessed with each other, finding something in each other that allow them to best be themselves ➤ so many very funny details also, at the same time that it's many feelings ➤ 10k words in length

summary: <blockquote>“If you died,” Huaisang started, not knowing quite where he was going with this. “I mean, you did die, da-ge, but if someone had killed you… what would you want to happen next?” / In the wake of Nie Mingjue’s death, Nie Huaisang realises how much he’s been left in ignorance. How could the artsy little brother be left to run their ancestral asteroid-mining clan? What other secrets are hidden in his san-ge’s past? And how should he get revenge? Maybe having da-ge’s personality backed up on a server was supposed to help with all this. Maybe.</blockquote> ➤ mdzs space au about nie huaisang and his years-long project in avenging his da-ge ➤ a repeated theme throughout the fic is nhs visiting and talking to back-ups that had been taken of nmj's personality before death, and the way that this makes literal how HAUNTED nhs is by his brother's absence is just sooooooo good ➤ the worldbuilding is great, the things that are changed from canon due to this different context are great, the anguish and monofocus of nhs are great ➤ I AM ALL EMOTIONS ;_; ➤ 8k 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>The gang finds out that everyone has kissed Lan Wangji except for Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian has a meltdown about it and then fixes the problem as quickly and thoroughly as he possibly can.</blockquote> ➤ modern AU wangxian fic wherein wwx finds out that lwj has kissed all of their friends except him ➤ obviously he immediately goes insane about this ➤ I'm very charmed that this is a "mutual pining" trope fic wherein the two of them never doubt for even a moment that they are each other's most important person ➤ the writing is extremely funny. such good comedy bits overlapping with the genuine emotions in ways that make both parts better! ➤ 31k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>“The…Lan sect?” Meng Yao said doubtfully. “Are you sure?” “I am,” his mother said, her mouth tight. She looked upset, the way she always did these days when he referenced, intentionally or otherwise, the original plan that she had had to send him to join his father, sect leader of Lanling Jin. She’d raised Meng Yao on a steady diet of stories of what his life would be like when his father finally took him back the way he’d promised her he would, stories that had filled his days and nights for years and years and years, and then just last year she’d suddenly stopped talking about it entirely. It was as if the person who’d told those stories had nothing to do with her. Meng Yao didn’t know what had happened, but he assumed it must have been pretty bad. “It'll be a good fit,” she added.</blockquote> ➤ canon divergence fic where young Meng Yao goes to the Lan Sect to learn cultivation as a guest, instead of trying to be accepted into Jin ➤ I had a lot of fun with the route this fix-it took! ➤ and I enjoyed that it included friendship between Meng Yao and Su She <3 ➤ 5k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>The Yiling Patriarch is a living legend—a terrifying, ancient force of nature, dispensing punishment or reward with implacable, indifferent fairness. Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, is a weird but oddly charming guy who wanders around the cultivation world making fun of people's art and mooching food from sect leaders. It really upsets people to find out that they're the same person.</blockquote> ➤ a fun cute look at a time travel fixit au where wwx is the alarming immortal who fixed the burial mounds and will grant wishes to deserving people, and lwj meets him for the first time at 8 years old and decides he'll marry him ➤ I enjoyed the look at how this au has changed things for all sorts of different people across the cultivation world, and the ways in which wwx both is indeed extremely powerful and also is someone who still has his blind spots and emotional vulnerabilities ➤ lots of different povs throughout the fic which is fun too! ➤ 17k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Drawing on multiple sources, I have assembled a list of currently known Lan clan rules.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>Lan Wangji comes over and they kiss. Lan Wangji comes over and they have tea. Lan Wangji comes over and they talk. It turns out that the available study materials are contradictory and unenlightening.</blockquote> ➤ Because Of Reasons, wwx and jc are both married off to lwj after the destruction of lotus pier. wwx is blissfully happy about it; jc struggles with it on a NUMBER of fronts ➤ from jc's pov, about him figuring out how to have a successful relationship with his husband, with his place in his new sect, with his brother and co-spouse, with himself and his struggles in cultivation these days ⮞ jc's pov obviously doesn't like to think about any of these things straightforwardly, he's too busy being tsundere about everything lol ➤ I love seeing him finding his own way, figuring out how to have a life that works for him even if it isn't what he would have chosen! ➤ 17k words in length ➤ (also: fuck jkr and all, but if you also fondly remember helenish's hp fic "theft of assets, destruction of property" then this is the mdzs fic for you!)

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>Lan Qiren was running to catch up, because he was always running to catch up. He was determined not to fall behind, but he was slow, as always, and tired more easily than the others, and then he got distracted and realized a considerable distance had opened up between him and the rest of the group. He ran to catch up – He tripped. He was going to fall flat on his face, he realized as he pitched forward, throwing his hands up in front of his face to try to blunt the pain since humiliation was already a given. He probably wasn’t far enough behind for them not to see this, and then his brother would turn his face away and sigh, aggravated, his shoulders slumping in disappointment at how Lan Qiren had lost him and their sect face all over again. Lan Qiren was so bound up in his gloomy thoughts that it took him a moment to realize that he had not, in fact, hit the ground. Someone had caught him. Lan Qiren straightened himself up immediately and dropped into a deep salute. “Thank you for your help –” He looked up. “…Sect Leader Wen,” he finished weakly.</blockquote> ➤ another lan qiren/wen ruohan canon divergence au! though also wen ruohan/nie dad at the same time ➤ this one follows lqr from when he's a young teen and it's very fun to see his changing perspectives on wrh over time ➤ I enjoyed it a great deal, and also it's fun to see what is and isn't the same between this fic and the others by the same author featuring these characters and ships ➤ and I just want MORE! ➤ 89k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Lan Qiren still couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it. He was married. He had a wife. That wife was Wen Ruohan.</blockquote> ➤ omggg I tore through this fic SO fast and had SO much fun with it ➤ lan qiren/wen ruohan arranged marriage! ➤ I'm always here for fic that's like "okay this ship might sound ridiculous but WHAT IF --" and then comes up with genius ways to make it plausible ➤ there's fun character interactions and fascinating plot and it does interesting things exploring the situation between Qingheng-Jun and his wife, and I love how much lan qiren loves rules and has carefully considered what they mean wrt right behaviour ➤ I love this vision of lqr so much, and I love how FUNNY the interactions between lqr and wrh are, and how well these interpretations of the characters work with each other and play off each other in mutually beneficial ways! ➤ the fic started off a little slow but once I was into it I was INTO IT and read every word with relish ➤ completely delightful. do recommend. ➤ 287,000 words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Sequel to Late Night, North Station. Lan Zhan brings Wei Ying and A-Yuan home with him. Now he just needs to figure out how to get them to stay.</blockquote> ➤ modern au where wwx reappears after many years and lwj wants to keep him in his life in whatever way he can ➤ I love! how much they care about each other, and how they try to navigate the new/old dynamics between them with the additional perspective that being older will bring ➤ though lwj still hasn't entirely figured out the framework to understand his attraction to wwx ➤ they're both trying so hard to not overstep boundaries between them but they can both agree that whatever is best for a-Yuan is worth doing ➤ watching them slide into intimacy and intertwined lives, and how lwj comes alive with wwx and a-yuan in his life! endless delight ➤ impeccable under-negotiated d/s vibes between them ➤ I love the glimpses into all the other people in their lives as well! ➤ ahhh there are so many things I could keep saying about this fic! it's so good ➤ 106k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Jiang Cheng realises that his own nephew has never tried his mother's signature dish, and takes it upon himself to rectify this. [Recipe at the end]</blockquote> ➤ post-canon, jiang cheng realises jin ling has never tasted his mother's soup ➤ cue the epic quest to learn how to recreate it, and the things he learns along the way ➤ lovely fic about family and about food ➤ 4k words in length ➤ thanks to stultiloquentia for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>all I really want is some peace, man</blockquote> ➤ author's note: "doomed best friends who understand each other so deeply" ➤ an Untamed vid about Wei Wuxian & Wen Qing ➤ ahhhhhh I have SO MANY feels about them and this vid GETS them ➤ ouchy in the best way ➤ audio is solely the music ➤ no subtitles ➤ 4:41 in length ➤ thanks to lesbianwangyibo for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>“Let the games begin.” Jin Guangyao’s glitchy final death thoughts about his boyf- sworn brothers, his daddy issues, and his manipulative schemes.</blockquote> ➤ fanvid focusing on jin guangyao, especially his relationships with lxc and nmj and qin su ➤ set to "Ready For It" by Taylor Swift ➤ this was so much FUN. the song makes it a real bop, experiencing jgy and his uhhhhhh Choices. the vid makes excellent use of his patented customer service smile also! ➤ thanks yet again to lookitmychicken for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>This is alarming; he has always been a solid cultivator, master of his senses and body and spirit, etcetera, as rigorously forged as his sword. Even in his deepest grief Sandu Shengshou will run in a straight line. It is not alarming. Hasn't he, hasn't the entire cultivation world, been through a shock? / Jiang Cheng attends Wen Qing's execution because he must. And then he learns about his passenger.</blockquote> ➤ after wen qing's execution, she ends up sharing jiang cheng's body! ➤ they're both dealing with so MUCH at this point in the narrative, and they're so careful with each other now that they are tied together like this, and it's so gorgeous ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Qin Su is a surprise when Meng Yao brings her to Wen Qing, mid-war. Even more so when she stays.</blockquote> ➤ Wen Qing/Qin Su canon divergence fic! joining forces along with Meng Yao to spy on the Wens :))) ➤ Qin Su is a character who I always love to see being given more scope for complexities and personhood and decisions than we get to see in canon and this fic delivers ➤ also it really lets itself inhabit that period where Wen Qing is working for Wen Ruohan and everything that means ➤ the subtleties of how the relationships between Qin Su and Wen Qing and Meng Yao are portrayed in this fic are soooo good ➤ 2k words in length

no summary. ➤ fanvid about wei wuxian as the yiling laozu, set to the Lorde song Everybody Wants to Rule the World ➤ incredible ominous vibes threaded through with the pain of everything that happens ➤ beautifully edited! I was hooked from the start ➤ 2:33 in length ➤ thanks to lookitmychicken for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>The truth was they had been friends. Three months is a long time to spend with someone, day after day, sharing meals and weary hours. At the time, Jiang Cheng really didn’t have anyone else and neither did Lan Wangji. It wasn’t only the search that bound them, but the desperation as well: that there might be some mercy in the world left for the two of them. That out of everyone else they’d lost, Wei Wuxian at least should live.</blockquote> ➤ exploring the relationship between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji; the three months of almost-friendship when they were searching for Wei Wuxian together, and then the many years of hatred that followed ➤ and yet lwj saves jc's life when he's injured in a night hunt. but they still hate each other. ➤ the deep well of bitterness on both sides, as both feel fully justified in their hate! god it's so good. the vibes in this fic are impeccable. ➤ 2k words in length ➤ thanks by-lookitmychicken for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>“Sorry, was I too enthusiastic about your cock? I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, like, as a straight guy.” Wei Wuxian chose the most remarkable moments to acquire self-awareness about how often he made Wen Ning uncomfortable. “It’s just, like, an objectively beautiful cock, in a heterosexual way. We are just two dudes, having gay sex for money. Bromosexuals.”</blockquote> ➤ modern au where wei wuxian is a camboy and wen ning is his roommate ➤ wei wuxian is bad at recognizing boundaries and wen ning is bad at having them and it leads to them having sex together on camera ➤ they are both disasters and I love them very much! ➤ 3k words in length ➤ thanks to by-betty for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>"I have regrets." - Lan Wangji</blockquote> ➤ wangxian fanvid set to "Hold On, I'm Coming" by Book featuring Ndidi O ➤ damn this vidder is so good at using the motion of clips with the music to create and build intensity! ➤ I love how clear the arc is of what the vid is doing, even with almost no words in the song ➤ thanks to lookitmychicken again for reccing this one!