January 2021 Fanfic Recs

[forestsofpine]

I'm still working my way through the MDZS fandom's sizeable back catalog. Here are some of the fics I liked best this month:

MDZS Fanfic Recs

anyway, here's wuji, Lan Jingyi/Lan Sizhui, 18k, teen

The melody gets a little clearer when he breaks out of the trees, and Jingyi changes course with certainty, barreling down the back hill and through the Cloud Recesses, dodging scandalized disciples left and right. He throws open the doors to the Receiving Hall without announcement and bows nearly double, eyes on the floor instead of on the shocked faces of the Mei delegation and the impenetrable gaze of the Chief Cultivator.

"Forgive this disciple," Jingyi shouts, because he's going to get punished for rule breaking regardless. "From the back hill, Hanguang-jun, there is a song in the wind!"

Lan Jingyi comes of age.

best friends forever, Lan Jingyi/Jin Ling, 16k, teen

It happened like this: Jin Ling was a sect leader now, which was, and Jingyi really meant this, fucking hilarious. There were few things funnier, in his honest opinion.

Because he was young, and inexperienced, and also — it had to be said — a real shithead, there was apparently some belief amongst his advisors that the best way forward, to promote the picture of a stable, mature sect leader who absolutely did not cry at the drop of a hat, was for Jin Ling to get married.
-
OR: Jin Ling and Jingyi get engaged.

Things spiral from there.

The Fire Lapping Up the Creek, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, 66k, explicit

Wei Wuxian travels to Lanling for his nephew’s one-month celebration alone, without Wen Ning.

Lan Wangji lives with the consequences.

swear to be, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, 5k, explicit

“Oh my god,” Wei Ying says, a sudden and potent realization hitting him. He puts his face wash back down. At least he brushed his teeth before calling Lan Zhan, right. “It’s a sex thing! Your text is a sex thing!”

“Will that be all for the order?”

“You texted on work time for a sex thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“All requested items and services will be available by the end of the week,” Lan Zhan says. “Pick up or delivery?”

this river runs to you, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, 53k, teen

Framed by the soft morning light, sleek hair swept back and pale blue robes not even slightly rumpled, he looks almost inhuman.

He looks like the last person who should be knocking on Wei Wuxian’s door.

In which Wei Wuxian is a curse worker secretly searching for a lost dragon, Lan Wangji is his new assistant, and the two things may not be entirely unrelated.

watch the slow door, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, 2k, teen

Lan Wangji woke shuddering. There was a hand on his shoulder, a face bent over his. It took him several moments to understand where he was, to know that the face was Mo Xuanyu’s.

“Hey,” said Mo Xuanyu. “You — I think you were having a bad dream.”

Lan Wangji closed his eyes, shuddering again. His cheeks were wet. His chest ached. It had been years since he’d had one of these dreams, and he’d always been alone. To be seen like this was unbearable.

With Absolute Splendor, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, 43k, teen

“If you’re going to get married,” Jiang Cheng ground out, “then you’re going to damn well get married at Lotus Pier.”

Wei Wuxian blinked once. Again. Then: “what?”

Or: the one with sibling reconciliation, brother-in-laws from hell, and Jiang Cheng trying to sort through his feelings while acknowledging them as little as possible.

Marriage Principles series:

1. seldom all they seem, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, 24k, explicit

or, one hundred and thirty-three principles of the Gusu Lan, pertaining to the state of marriage
***
He bows to Wei Wuxian, sword in hand, sleeves falling properly. Wei Wuxian bows in return, and the sect leaders begin the opening courtesies, and for all of ten minutes Lan Wangji is under the impression that he is betrothed to a boy who is perfectly normal and acceptable apart from an unfortunate tendency to fidget with his clothes.

That impression does not last.

2. half cloak & half dagger, Lan Xichen/Jin Guangyao, 13k, explicit

Jin Guangyao lifts his head and smiles. "I'm considering a problem."

"Can I be of any assistance with it?"

He drops a kiss on Lan Xichen's chest. With the nail of one finger he lightly traces the characters for irony on Lan Xichen's side. "Not this one, er-ge."

In addition to the fics listed above, this month I also read a bunch of fics set during the timeskip after Wei Wuxian's death and before his resurrection, focusing on Lan Wangji and Lan Sizhui. Several of them were good enough to be recced above, but they've all blended together so much in my mind that instead of trying to figure out which ones were my favorites, I may do a themed rec post in the future.

The Borgias Fanfic Recs

In the Bleak Midwinter, Cesare Borgia/Lucrezia Borgia, 1k, teen

"It would be easier, I think," she says. "If I could hate you."

(Escorting Lucrezia to her post as the new Regent of Naples, Cesare takes a detour.)

Happy reading!