link click fic recs

[lanternglass]

link click fic recs

[ hi– compilation of fics that are rentfree in my head rn. limiting myself to one fic per writer for length, but as a rule i'd recommend much more by each writer if i did not have that restraint + would suggest searching out more by each writer on the list. bonus obligatory self-rec in form of: you can find either niche genfic or veinxiao/polyhouse crimes on my ao3 at lanternglass. crossposted on tumblr. ]

 

i take your hand in mine by jan

(li tianchen & qian jin; rated t; 0.9k)

summary: I could make you do anything, Tianchen thinks. I could take your hand here, now, and make you do anything.

notes: obsessed with literally anything by ao3 user jan thanks— mostly-genfic with impeccable characterization that sprawls across a variety of different characters in the cast and maintains their voices throughout it. this particular fic is a study of li tianchen and qian jin's canon relationship and has a fascinating interplay between them wrt power dynamics.

 

pay time's debt by yvesi

(li tianchen-centric; rated m; 5.0k)

summary: "Let's reconsider that, shall we?" Liu Xiao says, a gentle smile. "My friend. Let's reconsider everything."

notes: incredibly interesting and very comprehensive character study of tianchen that makes me literally vibrate. the dynamics between both tianchen & liu xiao and tianchen & tianxi & qian jin are fraught and complex in ways that fit with canon and are very well-executed; the grasp of each character as an individual is also excellent. it uses the form and structure in a way that makes me go !! as well.

 

blue and permanent by sunslants

(li tianxi-centric; rated g; 1.7k)

summary: Li Tianxi, at the opera.

notes: everything by this writer uses gorgeous, poetic language— this fic in particular is a single moment in time between qian jin & the twins pre-canon, and it executes it well as a lens to encapsulate the dynamic. it's written through li tianxi's pov and i think touches well on the ways in which she's so devastating to me.

 

blood and oil by Shadaras

(li tianchen & lu guang; rated t; 0.5k)

summary: Li Tianchen stared at Lu Guang in the flickering light of the subway tunnels. They were the only two people left alive. Bullet wounds dotted everyone else, and now the gun was out of bullets, and neither of them were well either but at least they were alive.

“You need to do it,” Li Tianchen said, holding on to the last thread of his sanity with both hands. Also his sister’s body, slowly growing cold in his arms, head resting on his shoulder like it so often had in life. “You must.”

notes: this fic is short enough that i normally would not place it on a reclist (and the writer has longer sgdlr fics i would also rec) but it's a favorite of mine forever— it takes an intriguing possibility wrt the time-travel and ltc's canon desire to use that power, and it plays very well with it. the last lines make me stop and stare each time.

 

a perfet slaugther of innocence by Lanster

(xiaochen; rated e; 0.8k)

summary: "Aren't you too old to be playing dress-up?" Liu Xiao asked with a note of a slight amusement, as he languidly leaned against the doorframe.

Li Tianchen took his eyes off of his own — Xixi's — reflection in the mirror and turned around to meet Liu Xiao's eyes instead. They stared at each other in heavy silence.

His mouth opened.

I just miss her, the words got stuck in his throat like a bone, digging into the soft walls of his esophagus.

notes: gorgeous writing in delightfully fucked-up liu xiao/li tianchen. sibling grief alongside the weird power dynamics between lx and ltc, as well as an exploration of ltc's canon dressing-up-as-xiaoxi and setting the twins being such a complicated dynamic next to the fact that liu xiao is sibling-issued in his own unique ways.

 

the seed of a gorgeous death by insideascarecrow

(li tianchen & liu xiao; rated t; 1.1k)

summary: a good hunter needs an important friend to tell them when the beast is about to swallow them whole.

and you can trust me, li tianchen. you are – you will be – a beautiful beast.

A guide to hunting, as narrated by one Liu Xiao.

notes: stylistically fascinating and intriguing; prose poetry-esque? character study that makes me go !! forever. it's as liu xiao addressing li tianchen, and the dynamic and the way it characterizes them both is so so good to me.

 

a contemplation by LadyCharity

(li tianchen-centric; rated g; 3.1k)

summary: The place where Li Tianchen hated most in his childhood home was the dinner table.

Or, to know your mother is to sit at her table.

notes: fascinating take on (1) food-as-love, (2) an alternate universe where the twins end up living with the photo studio trio post-s2. the writing is lovingly done, especially in the descriptions of the food, and it captures the internal conflict and the flinch away from kindness very well.

 

cross the line, be mine by streetlights

(shiguang; rated g; 7.1k)

summary: “I’m sorry. This isn’t fair, but I don’t know how I feel about you yet. I can’t make any promises. Can you wait for me?”

Cheng Xiaoshi throws him a languid smile. “Of course. Don’t you know? I’m pretty good at waiting for people.”

In the original timeline, Cheng Xiaoshi falls first. Many timelines later, he’s still waiting.

notes: shiguang + love confessions as a fic; i think it captures the way shiguang pine for each other and the impossibility (i.e. the certainty/solidity of that love as contrasted to lu guang's goal-of-saving-cxs rendering delivery upon it impossible) of it? excellently done pining/yearning in a way i think is well-fitting.

 

wanting it all by brekkerified (enhattps)

(shiguang; rated t; 1.1k)

summary: 7. Originally, Xia Fei squints between them and gives Lu Guang a look that he can’t parse. The same happens the second time, but there’s not much time to contemplate when they come face-to-face with Vein in mere hours.

8. Would trying to translate the sheer depth of everything that whirls through his head and heart into words back then, in the original timeline, have saved Cheng Xiaoshi at all?

A short, non-comprehensive list of things Lu Guang would like to do with Cheng Xiaoshi, if he weren’t actively trying and failing to save him from death’s jaws.

notes: makes me go !!! forever. feels very tender to read, and i think is a good picture of lu guang + yearning + the way it aches that he is time-looping to save cxs' life. the impossibility of breaching the gap between them feels very vivid in the fic, and the steadiness of the devotion between them underlays it.

 

play it ‘til the end and then reset by Moondal

(lu guang-centric; rated t; 1.1k)

summary: You are a hypocrite of the highest order. For Cheng Xiaoshi you break your own rules again and again, uncaring of the consequences of time and space, because you can’t even breathe at the very thought of him no longer being there.

He has to live. He must live.

So again and again you raise your hands and go back to the beginning. Because how can you do anything else?

-

Lu Guang’s self-imposed time loop.

notes: timeloop fic!! i think my favorite exploration of lu guang timelooping— this is a canon-compliant take on him having cxs die in his arms again and again, and repeatedly dive back in time. i think captures the desperate grief very well to me, the inherent selfishness of that refusal to let someone die.

 

can you see me this time? by aknightley

(shiguang; rated t; 9.4k)

summary: Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t think it’s a bad thing to trust your feelings.

Trust is all you have left, sometimes.

Lu Guang has never asked Cheng Xiaoshi to trust him, but he does.

Alternatively: Cheng Xiaoshi weighs his trust in Lu Guang against an increasing list of things that do not make sense.

notes: well-written and handles the inevitable confrontation re:lu guang's timelooping well (the way that lu guang steadies him, the way lu guang takes comfort in being able to tell him, all make me a little bit insane). handles the fact that the core of the bond between shiguang is trust well as well.

 

impermanence by FingerCracc

(shiguang; rated t; 7.0k)

summary: They're orange roses, six of them in a ring around a bit of baby’s breath, a piece of leather fern tucked in the back like an afterthought. Cheng Xiaoshi comes back from whatever errands he’d been running and sets the bouquet on the counter.

“What is this?” Lu Guang asks, eyeing the flowers.

“For you,” Cheng Xiaoshi says simply. .

Cheng Xiaoshi buys Lu Guang flowers. Lu Guang can't ignore whatever's between them anymore.

notes: the writing style is lovely, delicate kind of careful (would rec other works by the same user for similar reasons). the dynamic between shiguang feels steady and deliberate and i'm so, so fond of it, as well as the intimacy between them. the namesake theme of impermanence is well-delivered upon in lu guang's narration, and it feels fitting.

 

our bodies at the shoreline by velvet_ie 

(shiguang; rated m; 0.8k)

summary: —like this, Cheng Xiaoshi is obedient. He trusts in the safety Lu Guang provides, trusts Lu Guang to not burn him.

It’s almost too much trust.

notes: the writing feels incredibly soft/tender/intimate, and i'm so fond of it— i think it examines the trust that cheng xiaoshi puts in lu guang in a non-dive setting in a way that makes me so so. soft about shiguang.

 

you know how it is by honorarybimbo

(xia fei-centric; rated t; 2.2k)

summary: He cracks at the edges and occasionally unwinds at the seams. And there’s a dissatisfaction buried deep in the pits of his stomach that hollows him out from the inside, that collapses like a caving accident right above a pocket of air no one knew someone was stuck in. He’s pressed in a space the size of an artery deep within the earth, and can only breathe when he exhales.

Sure.

But that only if he isn’t fed.

notes: an exploration of xia fei and the hints of something sharper/meaner that we get out of him, via a canon-compliant (pre-bridon arc) moment in time of him switching into something colder to retaliate against another model. i'm fond of the writing style, and i'm fond of the ruthlessness of the xf voice.

 

soft smoke, sharpened teeth by bloomingsite

(xia fei-centric; rated m; 4.1k)

summary: Xia Fei once thought proper goodbyes were too sentimental: to linger was to give what they had too much focus and too much weight, so earnest he might trip up over the formalities. But he would give up just about anything to be sentimental now. That must be part of why he turns the key in the lock of the door and slips in, right as the sun sets, and it's like he's tumbled into a picture from the past. Nothing much has changed — Xia Fei's invaded Vein's place plenty of times and then been left to his own devices — the silence is the same. But knowing it's not, not truthfully, is a steady, painful revelation. In search of clues and comfort, a grieving, sleep deprived Xia Fei breaks into Vein's penthouse.

notes: xia fei grief fic that i love— the framing device wrt the flashbacks is fun to me, and i'm fond of the way the ache of the loss resonates through the writing. i think it's a fun exploration of xia fei left in the wreckage afterwards, trying to figure out what to do at the same time that he's falling apart from his own grief.

 

They All Fall Down by NbZo

(xia fei-centric; rated t; 28.4k; 6/? chapters)

summary: To uncover Vein’s mysterious death, Xia Fei investigates the Yingdu underworld, the disappearance of one Wang Qing, and the Bahati fire from his past he had long repressed from memory. However, other agents are at play, and it may make his mission impossible.

notes: reviving the ancient and half-forgotten art of plot-centric fics via something that you can solidly sink your teeth in; i'm so, so fond of this fic. i'm being flippant, but i genuinely adore fanfiction that puts so much of itself into the meat of logistical workings (the writer of this has an insanely long plotting/research document, notably to me) and which weaves a convoluted plot via it. there are so many fascinating theories in this, i think.

 

paifang by yuudoufu

(veinfei; rated t; 7.0k)

summary: “Felix, do you want to know how I became the leader of Chinatown?”

Xia Fei lolls his head over the back of the couch, bangs flipping over his forehead to reveal the Badtz-Maru themed bandaid Vein had stuck on him earlier. He silently gnaws at the lollipop in his mouth as he stares at Vein from upside down. For someone lounging in the maw of a beast, he always looks more relaxed here than he does in the studio, drunk or not. “Umm. Democracy?”

Vein barks out a laugh that comes out sharper and more genuine than he expects. Oh, sweet, naive Xia Fei. Kid’s smarter than he lets on, but not always when it comes to Vein. Then again, it’s partially this that makes him all so amusing. Vein bares his teeth into a large grin, tongue and incisors and all, and relishes in how Xia Fei stops chewing on the candy after a straight half hour to gawk. “With my teeth, sunshine.”

// or: life lessons with vein except they're not so applicable to college students whose biggest trouble is the lack of financial aid and applied physics exams

notes: engrave with my teeth, sunshine into the urn that will eventually hold my ashes, etc. the style of the writing is so unique (again, would rec the writer's works as a whole for that) and i think the vein pov + the characterization literally solved an equation in my head for how he works, it's excellent and i'm so fond of it and the character voices in it.