LINKDING

Summary: Laurence says, “It is wholly natural, anyway, with no women around.” ➤ delightful post-canon queer gen temeraire fic ➤ ft. Laurence & Tharkay friendship, and Laurence realising some things about himself ➤ I love how much fun Tharkay can have teasing Laurence, and how Laurence despite his excess englishness is still willing to engage with the conversation! ➤ 800 words in length

Summary: <blockquote>After the end of everything, Hark returns to his old, familiar job at Sanctuary. Life, however, does not return to normal. It begins with small things—things far too small to notice. Open windows that ought to be closed, doors that slam themselves shut, objects in the wrong places. Coincidences. It becomes something far worse.</blockquote> ➤ fic for the Frances Hardinge book "Deeplight" ➤ focusing on the friendship between Hark and Jelt ➤ absolutely perfect creepy vibes, and capturing what's compelling to Hark about his friendship with Jelt despite everything ➤ also perfect bits about Quest as mentor-figure! ➤ 4k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>When Mu Qing glanced over at Xie Lian beside him, he was startled to find him already watching him. A small smile played on his lips. “You know, Mu Qing,” he started—and if Mu Qing didn’t know any better he would say he sounded almost shy— “no one else that I fight with feels like a challenge. You’re the best of them all.” Mu Qing’s throat was tight and his face was hot, like he was going to cry. His eyes were quite dry, though. “You’re the best. You always will be.” / Mu Qing can't seem to reconcile the simple facts of his relationship to the crown prince with his more complicated feelings for Xie Lian.</blockquote> ➤ mu qing pov from the xianle trio era ➤ ft. class issues and teen relationship drama ➤ xie lian is an enormous martial arts nerd and a naive but shining prince; mu qing is pining but hyper-aware of class boundaries and how everyone sees him; feng xin is ready to judge ➤ it's so great and succeeds so well at what it's doing, I love it ➤ I love the last scene, which it ends on, about xie lian's appearance after he ascends. perfect ending to the fic ➤ 7k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Jin Ling didn't mean to commit zine fraud. Surely you get a free pass if you didn't know how taxes work?!</blockquote>

<blockquote>He Xuan starts coughing so loudly and so violently that for a second Xie Lian loses track of reality, and thinks it was He Xuan who got buried under what feels like half a mountain, and not Xie Lian. It’s only as he tries to get up, alarmed, that the pain shoots through his body and reminds him why that would be a terrible idea. A grunt of pain must escape him, because He Xuan pushes him down again. This time, he leaves his hand on his shoulder, a constant reminder to “stay the fuck down, dianxia, fucking idiot.” “You sounded like you were in pain. Are you sure you weren’t hurt in the collapse?” “It really is very galling to be fretted upon by a man who is bleeding half of his intestines unto the floor.” (or: Xie Lian and He Xuan end up trapped in a cave together, and Xie Lian won't stop saying upsetting things. It's probably the concussion.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Wen Qing rubs her cheek against Wei Ying’s shirt—in the way a cat might when pretending it's not about to bite you—and says absently, “Your tits are almost bigger than mine.” Through the haze of Grandaddy Purple, something clicks into place in the rat maze of Wei Ying’s brain and a sincere, “I wish they were,” falls out before he can stop it. / Wei Ying wants tits and has some Gender about it.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Shang Qinghua was really enjoying having an actual friend, and Cucumber-bro was great! It was just -- Shang Qinghua didn't actually remember him, or even any of his comments. But oh well, it'd been decades since he lived in that world. He had probably just forgotten more than he guessed... Right?</blockquote> ➤ the one where sy!sqq is also a creation of sqh's

<blockquote>He never calls, he never writes -- as the years go by without word, the last Homeward Bounder's friends make their own attempts to reach him.</blockquote>

<blockquote>A half-Vulcan and a half-Klingon walk into a dorm room. No, this isn't a xenophobic joke; Xichen is starting his first year at Starfleet Academy and his roommate turns out to be the tallest, broadest (kindest, handsomest) Klingon he's ever seen. . Three snapshots of settling into life on earth feat. culture shock and going to the gym for fun, profit, and gay pining. (No background Star Trek knowledge required!)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Murderbot is at a party. This is not a normal state of affairs for SecUnits. Neither is the comfy clothes or the sitting or the way the humans keep smiling in its general direction. The smiling, it suspects, will stop, if/when they realise their SecUnit has suffered some sort of catastrophic glitch and has no idea where it is or the specifics of its current assignment. So it's not going to let them find out.</blockquote> ➤ yessss

<blockquote>This boy who always scurries off as soon as the lecture ends in a flurry of papers is never in the dining hall, has no bed in the dorms, and no shift in the infirmary. Asking around about him only gets Mu Fang blank looks and shrugs. Whoever he is, and whatever color he may wear, he's not a Qian Cao disciple.</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Look, this is easier!” Shizun says, making a gesture with his fan that encompasses both Ning Yingying and Luo Binghe. “With you and I, Binghe, it’s... well...” He clears his throat again. “There’s a lot to say! But you and Yingying are just friends! Simply say that and the plant will release you and go dormant.” We’re not friends, Ning Yingying thinks, at the same time as Luo Binghe says aloud, “We’re not friends.” -- Ning Yingying gets caught in a wife plot.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Soon, she’d arrive at Starbase Orion VI and a station officer would offer her a summary of the ninety years she had wriggled out of through this assignment. The government-mandated prep course said most pilots took it hard. But wasn’t the time slip why she did this in the first place?</blockquote>

<blockquote>Dearest Stusan, Here I am, after all that—off the Mainland at last. We got in late last night and I came to the first inn I saw (appropriate name for me, ‘the Mainlander’!), so I didn’t see much of the island. Still exhausted from the travel. There’s no hiding that I’m a Mainlander. Apparently I’m overdressed—people see the longcoat and hat (the hat you gave me on my thirty-fifth birthday—finally it’s getting some use!) and just assume that I’m stiff and withdrawn. I suppose I am, compared to them. </blockquote>

<blockquote>In the aftermath of getting hacked, Murderbot asks ART to help it make sure it can't be hacked the same way again. As it turns out, applying and testing a security patch is a little more challenging than usual when the vulnerable system is, you know, your own brain.</blockquote>

<blockquote>In which Luo Binghe makes several friends by being the world’s okayest wingman, having an emotionally charged heart-to-heart, and performing a tax audit.</blockquote> ➤ Friendship! The one where lbh makes friends!!

<blockquote>Before she touched it, Leora closed her eyes and whispered a small truth to the golem: "I googled my foot pain thing, and I think I might be developing bunions?" It was a tiny truth -- nothing like enough to breathe a golem to life -- but it was still important to be respectful. She might not come from a long line of golemkraft practitioners, but some traditions were there for a reason.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Seth said sternly, “Perihelion, you need to tell us the truth. We can’t leave the home system until we find out what happened. If you’re hiding something—” Peri cut him off. I am not hiding anything. Peri might be able to lie astonishingly well to a corporate representative, even impersonate a human over the feed, but it couldn’t lie to Iris. “Yes, you are,” she said.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The lunch with Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan was a welcome reprieve, but Lan Wangji is no less eager to depart Jinlin Tower for the peace of the Cloud Recesses once it is over. Once he has discharged his duties as his brother’s head disciple, he returns to Gusu and thinks no more of the unusual repast. That is, until the first letter arrives. - Jiang Yanli decides that, since Lan Wangji is likely to become family sooner or later, she'd better get a head start on befriending him. </blockquote>

<blockquote>My god gazes at me, His eyes intense and unreadable. In one fluid motion, He closes the space between us, pulls the scarf from my head, and pushes His face into my hair. “What are you doing?” I cry, stumbling back. For fifteen years I have been a devotee, cloistered from the company of men, but my god’s expression is unmistakable. He regards me with hunger, as if He wants to devour me whole. I scream and run from the chapel.</blockquote> ➤ I read the mc as being ace

<blockquote>Wei Sizhui sets out on his first solo trip and finds a best friend</blockquote>

<blockquote>Four times having a governor module fucking sucked, plus one time [REDACTED: FILE MISSING]. (Or: Murderbot has Emotions for 8,000 words. ART tries to help. So does Dr. Mensah, but like, in a decidedly less assholish way.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Stevie and David get married on a whim during a time loop. It would really be a shame if the loop ended at that point, wouldn't it?</blockquote>

<blockquote>Sion sent a drunk text to Grant Hendryx at four in the morning, whipping off her hoodie and bra, snapping a pic and writing a sexy caption before hitting send. Except she aimed the camera the wrong way, and she picked the wrong entry in her address book, so Grant Donaldson, senior project manager at Aerodox Ventures, was surprised to receive a blurry photo of a pair of parking meters with a message that read, ‘LICK MY LEFT ONE.’ The next day, Sion had an invitation to go to outer space.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Though previous excuses had always been deployed before the last minute, Deania did not truly believe her childhood friend Seriola would join her until she surfaced from the sea to find Seriola standing punctually on the brief sand of the beach. Finally allowing her anticipation free, she lifted one hand high in greeting. Seriola returned the gesture, abbreviated. Hardly the enthusiasm Deania hoped for, but perhaps Seriola’s baby had kept her awake the night before.</blockquote> ➤ About recognising when the people in a friendship have grown too differently to remain friends. Also, mermaids??

<blockquote>Three times Mabeuf didn’t befriend Valjean and one time he did, I guess??</blockquote>

<blockquote>Two women who have been friends since they were children—one a recovering alcoholic brought up by parents who believe they’re alien abductees, the other an orphan with an eating disorder—contend with a secret that might doom their friendship.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Jade was the sort of backwoods girl who had a map of the countryside tattooed on her heart, and she could feel it in her bones when the pieces of her world shifted. So when the new family moved into the house across the road that late summer, she felt ripples of wrongness radiating out from them and their too-bright clothes, their bizarrely old-fashioned wood-paneled station wagon, and their rolling words that felt just a little to the left of normal. “Time travelers,” said Jade’s brother, watching them from the window the day they moved in. Jade stood nearby, not daring to move or breathe.</blockquote>

<blockquote>It’s Phichit’s fault. It’s always Phichit’s fault. (Or: A friendship told through three hamsters, a rice cooker, and the resurrected trade-and-barter system.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>Helpful coping mechanisms for an excess of solid weight that you didn't have yesterday include shouting, ranting, sulking, hiding, and occasionally sitting in blessed silence while your best friend pretends to be a plant.</blockquote>