豆腐

this post also contains many fics that I think about a lot! do check that one out; as well as the ones listed here that I am so genuinely obsessed with + would recommend exploring the authors’ profiles further because they all have such lovely pieces of writing to show for link click & other fandoms as well!

paifang by @yuudoufu・veinfei・7.04k・teen

“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: pov u have with my teeth sunshine imprinted on ur brain this is like, THE vein pov ever to me. the language used here is gorgeous — the violence of the imagery feels so very vein, as well as the way he’s at once fond of xia fei and considering him a little lamb, of sorts. his care for xia fei is so evident….xiao fakeass idgafer weiying forever.

the seed of a gorgeous death by @iridescentscarecrow・xiaochen・1.1k・teen

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: this fic makes me go holy shit what the fucking fuck what the FUCK forever. the format makes for such an interesting storytelling tool and the liu xiao character voice makes me go ?!?!? it’s genuinely a very good read in general. makes me think of both manipulator and prometheus tbh!

expected value by jan・liu xiao & vein・1.1k・teen

Vein knows how the game is played. But Xavier has his own rules.

notes: frankly quite an interesting take on the xiaovein dynamic! super fond of the sharpness here, two dangerous people in their own right placed across from each other on a chess board. very very fascinating to read tbh would recommend highly.

soft smoke, sharpened teeth by @veifei・veinfei・4.1k・mature

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 crash out fic! the grief and the vivacity of the emotions described here, the use of language to paint a picture of xia fei’s grief. just. yeah. I do need to comment on this one soon actually lol but this is a very melancholy and lovely read I enjoyed it sm.

honey, i've gone away by @blackwaves・li tianxi-centric・1.6k・mature

It’s not that you expected anyone to ask the dead girl what price she’d be willing to pay for her own resurrection. It’s not that—

Li Tianxi comes back to life.

notes: feeling a little insane every time I think about this fic, but — genuinely such a good look at tianxi and being a character so defined by her lack of agency and control over her own life. usually I don’t care much for cannibalism but the way it’s done here made me stare and go. wow.

everything i still want to have by jan・li tianchen & li tianxi・4.5k・gen

The twins find their way through the music industry. (Neo Aurora rock band AU)

notes: link click isn’t a fandom I feel compelled to read aus for very often but this particular take on neo aurora makes me so !!! it takes skill to transfer a character so defined by the various atrocities in his life to an entirely different and more fortunate setting, and still make him sound exactly like he does. I’m also just really fond of the study on artistic limitations and liberties.

modern day cain by @blackwaves・liu xiao & vein・2.2k・teen

There’s an altercation, violent and brawling, that breaks out over a game once. It ends with Vein kicking in someone’s face, brutal, blood splattered across his shoe and over the carpet. A gunshot, loud despite the silencer, and a skull cracked open by it. Something wicked and sharp fits over the shape of his mouth, something longing for brutality at ease with itself under his skin.

Liu Min and Liu Xiao are, he assumes, too accustomed to more polite kinds of violence to expect it.

Liu Min watches, leans forward slightly with interest, enraptured. Liu Xiao’s face shows something midway through the action, and it’s gone by the next time Vein looks.

Or: the first time Vein meets Liu Xiao, he's eighteen and Liu Xiao comes with his brother attached.

notes: the one time I feel anything like soft and fond when it comes to veinxiao I think. a compelling what-if that genuinely picks apart what they’d be like if they’d met earlier okay and maybe I’m biased because I was the wall they bounced ideas off of and feels so true to their characters. vein….his pov can be so so terrifyingly difficult to nail down and this does it well!

cross the line, be mine by @streetlights-was-taken・shiguang・7.1k・gen

“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: okay this fic just. makes me so so fond. shiguang are so defined by their love and care for each other that seeing all the different ways they fell for each other albeit the time frames matched up slightly wrong in the most wonderfully bittersweet way — just. makes sad cat noises.

city haunts by @blackwaves・lu guang & shao yuanyuan・1.2k・teen

The loops she sees Cheng Xiaoshi in are infrequent and scattershot, and, often, the time in his proximity is consumed by verifying her identity with increasingly embarrassing childhood stories. Lu Guang is occasionally at Cheng Xiaoshi’s side with his mouth in a taut line of silent, wary judgement, shoulder pressed to shoulder and her son’s head leaned against his white hair.

He came alone this time. She didn’t need to prove she is who she claims to be.

His eyes are different, and they’re like hers.

Or: conversations with your (not) mother-in-law in defunct timelines.

notes: I am neverrr joking when I say this is the only fic that get shao yuanyuan right. I mean they also wrote the only other fic on the syy tag but. throwing lu guang and syy into a room together and having them talk is so fascinating forever given they’re both crazy time looping bitches + the care and depth given to syy that’s often absent in the way the rest of the fandom perceives her…

a moment which is passing, and which is true by jan・shiguang・4.3k・teen

Five times Cheng Xiaoshi entered a photograph and wasn’t prepared for what he found there.

notes: one of the first fics I’ve ever read and genuinely one of my absolute absolute favorites to this day. the warmth and care and the easy trust between them is so aptly captured in just four thousand words and then some change, and the general feeling of it is just…so very fond and warm forever. it’s like watching canon shiguang interact in written form.

i'll give you every first (the very first and very last love) by @romanqynch・shiguang・4.1k・explicit

I love you.

It is a truth he has held onto for years. Does it matter what sort of love it is? To define it is to confine it, and Lu Guang’s feelings for him are all-consuming— encompassing anything and everything all at once.

His feelings are more than platonic, more than romantic, and it would be reductive to section them off into categories they were never made for.

Lu Guang is his as long as Xiaoshi wishes him to be, and Xiaoshi is his as long as he allows him to be.

To pick it apart is a fruitless endeavor. So, does it matter what sort of love it is?

Lu Guang doesn’t think so.

This endless, boundless love that will go on till the end of time.

Or, Lu Guang contemplates what it means to love.

notes: so so so lovely and all-consuming in the way lu guang’s emotions towards cheng xiaoshi tend to be. the dialogue had me giggling and making noises like I’m petting a cat alternately. it so clearly shows the depth of their love for each other alongside lu guang’s desperation and insistence on saving cheng xiaoshi no matter what.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 时光代理人 | Link Click (Cartoon) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Vein/Xia Fei (Link Click) Characters: Xia Fei (Link Click), Vein (Link Click) Additional Tags: Xia Fei Needs a Hug (Link Click), POV Xia Fei, Hurt No Comfort, Post-Link Click Bridon Arc | Yingdu Chapter, Grief/Mourning, Non-Linear Narrative, The XF crash out fic, Flashbacks, Domestic, Implied Sexual Content, like if you squint (not that hard) they’re a little freaky Series: Part 2 of 捅破窗户纸 - piercing the window paper Summary:

*serious promo post here

“Am I going fucking insane,” Xia Fei bursts out, and this time he does sound hysterical to his own ears. Vein blinks. He doesn’t quite mean to say it, but: “And I really didn’t want to know what Xavier’s dick looks like. By the way.”

Liu Xiao smiles up at him, a sharp thing he’d call dangerously calm if not for the broken mirror of a person wearing it. “I was thinking the same thing.” His breaths are not quite regular.

“Now, now,” Vein cuts in, like mediating between two angry kittens, “play nice.”

Or: the consequences of non-negotiated polyamory.

🪐 veinxiao, veinfei, rated M, 8.7k

🪐 undernegotiated polyamory, friends with benefits, antagonism. how do u tag this

Rules: you will be given a word. Then you share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of your word.

thank you for the tag @lesbiansanemi ! my word is BODY

B:

“But, sensei—”

“If I’m your sensei, then listen to me as your sensei if you won’t listen to me as my kouhai,” he snaps. He’s tired and he’s said exactly what he’s been meaning to. He hopes Suguru hears it and loses the bet to nerves. “That’s enough. I don’t care. Okay?”

O:

Oh, he liked Xia Fei’s behavior well enough, giving him all the head pats and sometimes let him climb into his lap. Maybe a kiss if he was feeling indulgent enough and Xia Fei wasn’t clearheaded enough to panic about it.

D:

Doesn’t know the first thing about tracking anyone down, not without serious help, and for that, he’d need Liu Xiao, because he has nobody else left. And isn’t that a sobering thought, that his only way forward is Liu Xiao.

Y:

“Yeah, yeah,” Megumi groans, but there’s a determined glint to his eyes. He’s been quizzing Satoru endlessly on the Ten Shadows all fucking week, and yes it’s normal for a kid to be excited about what is essentially magic powers to them, but holy shit is Satoru tired. At this point, he’s beginning to understand Ten Shadows better than Limitless (obviously not, but it’s the principle).

Rules: you will be given a word. Then you share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of your word.

thank you to @marichild for the tag 🫶 my word was MILE!

M:

Maybe Vein passed him a contract for an upcoming shoot to look over, maybe he'd been careless and done it right before coming to the office. He exclaimed when a bead of blood formed — “Oh…how did that happen?” “You've hurt yourself?” Vein leaned forwards, crowding him as he looked on at the cut with interest. Xia Fei frowned, turning his gaze away with how close Vein was. “It stings a bit, but it's not so bad, Laoban…”

I:

I'll miss you, I love you, I'll see you soon. He mouths the words in his not-sleep, holding fistfuls of his linen sheets, trying not to tremble as his vision blurs, rendering the darkened silhouettes into misshapen creatures of the night, tears wetting his pillow case and trailing down his cheeks and salting his lips. He would give up just about anything to be sentimental now...

L:

“Let me have a look.” Without thinking, he complied with the request, only to stiffen up from head to toe as Vein took the cut between his lips, licked the drop of blood, taking the tip of Xia Fei's finger in his mouth as if it were the most natural thing in the world with the ghost of a smile gracing his occupied lips. “Laoban!”

E:

Embarrassingly, his breath hitched, and Xia Fei reasoned it must be the hangover making his vulnerabilities bubble up in his throat like last night's Chardonnay— “You didn't answer my calls…I thought maybe something had happened…”

...........

"Oho? What's this?" Vein grins; the joking tone is still the same as if he doesn't take anything seriously. It was as if Xia Fei's fangs were centimeters away from his nape. "Are you so excited to see me that you forego manners?"

"Do you seriously have nothing to say to me?" Xia Fei tightens his grip, his eyes scanning Vein over. His hair, face, and smile were the same as if they were back in those peaceful days. "Do you..." He swallows, feeling his eyes burn. "Do you really have nothing to say? I thought about you every night. I thought about your gaze, taste, and scent every night until it drove me crazy!"

"Felix..."

"I thought you were dead!" Xia Fei buried his face against Vein's neck. His fingers curl around his throat, trying to pick the scent blocker patch off. "Laoban, do you have nothing to say to me? You thought of me, right? You didn't embrace anyone else while hiding from me, right?"

Vein's chest heaves heavily as he sighs, patting Xia Fei's head. "It seems you've gotten more clingy over the years."

"And whose fault is that-" Xia Fei's complaint gets cut off when Vein swoops in for a kiss, letting the younger man lick into his mouth.

"Hush now," Vein commands, tilting his head for better access. "I'll apologize properly later. This should be an adequate reunion gift, yes?"

Xia Fei frowns, tightening his grip around the man. "I'm not letting you go, Laoban. Not again."

"Yes, yes~" Vein coos, not taking him seriously. He's probably still thinking of him as that naive college student of the past.

It matters not. Xia Fei finally has his Ying'er in his arms; he will not escape.

But first, a definition from Baidu:

Green tea bitch (绿茶婊, lǜ chá biǎo) = internet slang that initially referred to young models who appear pure and innocent but are actually materialistic and would use their looks to climb the social ladder. Over time, it evolved to also describe those who put on a no-makeup makeup look but claiming it’s natural. Their defining trait is pretending to be harmless, to appear as if they’re broken inside but no one can tell, and looking sickly but serene—all the while actually harboring ambitions greater than anyone else.

WAIT! Stay with me—I’m not saying Xia Fei slept his way to the top. Green tea is more of a vibe. I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s just something you’ll naturally understand after encountering them several times in media. I’ll just show several examples of Xia Fei being green tea to show my point.

My belief in green tea!Xia Fei started from this:

Xia Fei once again acted as an interpreter for Vein. The first time this happened was in YE4, when he was about to explain something to CXS after Vein said he looked tasty.

At first, I just found it really cute that Xia Fei knows his laoban so well that he can act as his interpreter, but then it hit me—

In the finale, how exactly did he know that Vein intended ShiGuang to be his substitute partners in the photoshoot? ShiGuang’s visit was sudden, and their request was even more unexpected. He and Vein weren’t really given the time to discuss it and come to an agreement with what to do.

Sure, XF could’ve inferred that Vein’s “serve me” and “pay with your body” translate to “work as a model.” But where he did get the translation “work as a model with Xia Fei”? Why is he including himself in the translation? Vein never mentioned his name once during the conversation.

We know Xia Fei is brazen with Vein, but he’s still an employee after all, a part-timer even. Can he just manage other people’s work arrangements like this? Not to mention, he’s making ShiGuang work with him. A part-timer saying that two guys are being recruited as models still sounds normal… but automatically assuming (and declaring) that those new guys are going to help him in his job before the boss even says anything? No matter how close Xia Fei is with Vein, considering the boss-employee relationship between them, it doesn’t sound right.

So, I thought… Is Xia Fei really relaying Vein’s meaning? Or is he actually enforcing his own meanings on Vein’s words?

And Vein…just lets him. (“Felix always does whatever he wants.”)