MDZS fic recs

MDZS/CQL fic recommendations from @defractum TAG PAGE | MY FAVES | RANDOM REC Alternatively you can use the search function at the top!

[mdzs-fic]

Now this blog has taken off a little, I figured it might be helpful to have a pinned post as to how I do things!

1) Please look at the TAGS PAGE which will help you find recs depending on what you're in the mood for – specific pairings, genres, ratings, tropes, etc.

1a) Each fic is also tagged with the author, if you want to find other recs by them (they're not included in the tags page list because it would get unmanageable)

2) Asks – I get quite a few asks a day, and I'm not super timely in answering them. I try, but sometimes I just don't know and need to go find out or don't have the time to look into it, so please don't rely on this if you need something on a super quick turnaround!

2a) Themed searches aka if you're looking for something that's not covered in a tag, I will probably go and do an AO3 search on it. I will specify if I link you to something I haven't personally read (for example, if you're looking for a kink I don't really read)

2b) Fic search – I can try to find something specific but honestly I'm not a very good human library and am bad at remembering what specific details go in what fic so these might get outsourced to people who follow this blog, as the collective mind is much better! If you're submitting anonymously and want to track when I've answered it, the tag is fic search

3) I happily take recs! I have a... very long reading list so it might take me weeks to get around to it, but I do open all the links I get sent! The only thing I 100% don't read is cheating, so aside from that, send me any pairing or trope and I'll give it a shot

4) I rec things for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s beautiful writing, sometimes it’s characterisation, sometimes it’s an interesting concept, sometimes it just made me laugh on a bad day. I’m not out to rank or rate fic at all, and the only ‘criteria’ a fic or headcanon post has to ‘meet’ to be here is ‘I think other people might enjoy this’ - I hope that explains why the recs don’t have any personal comments or explanations as to why I’m reccing it on them!

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, Extremely Dubious Consent, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Humor, Additional Warnings In Author's Note

Word count: 51k

Summary:

"Hi, I'm Wei Wuxian. I'm a Career Omega and this is my fourth season on the show. I like spicy food, archery and alphas who are funny. Or maybe I don't, I haven't rolled over for one yet." On-screen, Wei Wuxian winks at the audience laughter.

Hot or Knot is the world's most popular reality TV show. Part dating show, part survival show, Hot or Knot is everyone's guilty pleasure - and Wei Wuxian is a fan favourite.

-

The Love Island/Hunger Games reality dating tv show A/B/O au

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, GENDER!!!, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Reunions, Forgiveness, Getting Together, Pedagogy, the dubious politics of the cultivation world, Knotting, Biting, Bonding, you know: omegaverse stuff, Alpha Lan Wangji, Omega wei wuxian, Family Dynamics, Scent Kink, Pining, Anal Sex, Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex, Intersex Wei Ying, more warnings in author's notes, Rut Sex, Nesting, Light Dom/sub, Spanking

Word count: 48k

Summary:

“Lan Zhan, they won’t be like your little Lans. They’ll — wiggle, and complain, and some of them can’t do handstands at all.”

“They cannot be worse than Wei Ying.”

//

Post-Sunshot Campaign, the cultivation world hears rumours of farmers with fledgling golden cores and peasant children who have learnt to draw talismans. They send Lan Wangji off to investigate.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

POV Outsider, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, (but only very slightly), set during episode 44

Word count: 2.5k

Summary:

Chen Wo isn’t worried when Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian disappear into the lower fields, following the growls of a fierce corpse.

Or rather, Qingyang isn’t worried, so there’s no reason he should be, either. Even after five years of marriage, Chen Wo still feels, most days, like he doesn’t know very much at all about Qingyang’s former world. But he knows his wife. She points the way, and he follows. It’s the simplest thing there is.

(Or: Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji make one more stop at Luo Qingyang's home before their journey to the Burial Mounds, and her husband reflects on the world she left behind.)

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Happy Ending, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Holding Hands, Blow Jobs, Hand Feeding, Cultivation in Space, Yearning, Reunions, Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Injuries, Grief/Mourning, Unconventional Time Travel, Burial Mounds (Módào Zǔshī)

Word count: 45k

Summary:

When he’s six years old, Lan Wangji loses his mother, and from that point on random objects begin to disappear around him. When he’s nineteen, he meets Wei Ying and falls in love. When he’s twenty-one, he—

Wei Ying’s fingers curl, and without thought Lan Wangji curls his as well, their hands held in the middle of the table. He can already tell this will be a moment that will change the course of their lives.

“If you’re interested in any anomaly—time, space, both, neither—then you should be interested in the Burial Mounds.”

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Sickfic, Caretaking, Bathing/Washing, Comfort Food, Good Uncle Lán Qǐrén, it's a mild cold, low stakes softness, Domestic Fluff

Word count: 5.5k

Summary:

Wei Wuxian sits down next to Lan Wangji, sliding until their thighs touch. Lan Wangji passes him his bowl of breakfast and spoon and Wei Wuxian digs in, humming after his first few bites. Lan Wangji appreciates how clearly Wei Wuxian allows Lan Wangji to perceive when he is pleased. Lan Wangji had worried, at first, that he would not know how best to be good to Wei Wuxian, that Wei Wuxian was used to accepting so little without complaint. He didn’t want things to be adequate. He wanted to make Wei Wuxian’s life everything he deserves. But Wei Wuxian does his best to leave Lan Wangji with no doubt. It is like the bunnies, in some ways; a happy Wei Wuxian will lie flat, will reveal his vulnerable underbelly.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Alternate Universe - Royalty, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Curses, Fluff, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fairy Tale Elements, Prince Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, rogue sorcerer wei wuxian

Word count: 24k

Summary:

"I mean, look at all this white!" the man says, gesturing at the banquet hall. "If I didn't know better, I'd think this was a funeral."

"A good thing, then, that you do know better," Lan Wangji says curtly. The funeral comment has hit a nerve. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

The man pouts. "So suspicious, dianxia. Can't I just be here to enjoy the festivities?"

Lan Wangji fixes him with an unimpressed glare.

The man holds up his hands. "Fine, fine," he sighs. "You've caught me. This humble one's name is Wei Wuxian, and I'm here to save your life."

-

For as long as he can remember, Lan Wangji has been cursed to die at the hands of someone who loves him. Enter Wei Wuxian, rogue sorcerer, who a desperate Lan Xichen has hired to save his brother.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Genderbend, wlw wangxian, Alternate Universe - Space, Martial Arts, Temporary Amnesia, Artificial Intelligence, Hologram WWX, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Temporary Character Death, (sort of but not really character death), Sickfic, Hospitals, First Time, Vaginal Fingering, affectionate biting, character with physical and mental injury, Explicit Sexual Content, Intergalactic War, Art in Fic

Word count: 11k

Summary:

For two months, the stolen ship's crew is just Lan Wangji and her helpful ship AI, Wei Wuxian.

(They fall in love.)

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

非诚勿扰 AU, (chinese dating show AU), Crack Treated Seriously, mix of pre-2018 and post-2018 show format, Romantic Comedy

Word count: 5.5k

Summary:

“You’re so great! I think you’re super neat,” continues Wei Wuxian.

“This is the worst confession ever,” mutters Lan Jingyi from Nie Huaisang’s right. He’s a bit inclined to agree.

“You are…really cool,” finishes Wei Wuxian weakly. “Please consider…hanging out with me.”

“Dating,” hisses Wen Qing, close enough to Wei Wuxian’s face that his mic picks it up. “What the fuck do you mean by hanging out?”

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Post-Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Character Study, Established Relationship, Intimacy, sex tears and non-sex tears, mention of wangxian's canonical kinks, gender play??, the yiling laozu to laopo pipeline, also the yiling laozu to wei-laoshi pipeline

Word count: 13k

Summary:

It was always about survival before.

He’s still not used to this, about time: how to exist in it, safe and warm and whole, no ragged edges.

(Or: what comes next.)

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Grief/Mourning, Minor Character Death, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, mortician!wwx, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Rough Sex, Tragicomedy, the lightest of consensual non-consent, soft kink, Daddy Kink

Word Count: 28.5k

Summary:

Death is banal. It’s boring. It happens every day. It happens to someone else, always, until it doesn’t.

One day, it’ll happen to you, too.

-

Wei Ying, PhD candidate, licensed mortician, and world's second best boyfriend, after Lan Zhan, of course, thinks he knows all there is to know about grief until the sudden deaths of his adoptive parents upend the lives of everyone in their orbit. A study in grief, mourning, and semi-intentional child acquisition.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Case Fic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Getting Together, London, trapped together, there is only one bed - and it is magic, Light Bondage, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Emotional Baggage, Ghosts

Word count: 18.5k

Summary:

Set in modern day London. As a member of the Gusu Institute, Lan Zhan plays his part on keeping the spiritual peace in the metropolis. Wei Ying left the Institute a long time ago, but from time to time they still work together and Lan Zhan mourns the closeness they once had.

Lan Zhan calls Wei Ying in on a strange case at the British Museum. Events conspire to shatter the careful barriers they have erected. So much pining. Some case fic. Emotional rollercoaster with a happy ending. Some critique of the museum as an imperialist institution.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, dance horror au, gudianwu AU, Body Horror, angst with hopeful ending, Additional warnings in A/N

Word count: 9k

Summary:

“I just—I could be better,” Wei Ying says finally, face cast in dusky half-shadow. “I just feel so stuck sometimes, y’know? If I could just—shed this body—”

He cuts himself off. After a beat of silence, he twists his neck sharply, easing the tension, and the sound it makes is like that of the fried gristle he had ordered for lunch the day before, tendon and cartilage crunching wetly beneath his teeth. “You know what I mean, Lan Zhan.”

Or: after one too many late-night dance practices, Lan Wangji realizes that something is very wrong with Wei Wuxian.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Cultivation in Space, Science Fantasy, Lighthouses

Word count: 20k

Summary:

Wei Wuxian has been left largely to his own devices on his planet's lighthouse, with only his trusty android friend W3N Qing for help. But a "surprise" site inspector is coming, probably to check if he's been breaking any intergalactic statutes in his work. And so he's preparing for the inspector's arrival.

What he's not prepared for is Lan Wangji.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, modern cultivation au, Case Fic, Amnesia, Sharing a Bed, Dual Cultivation, Dubious Consent, Female Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Female Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn

Word count: 25k

Summary:

"Have you heard of Wei Wuxian?" someone bellows. It's a teenager with a microphone, the speakers loud and obnoxious above his head. "Come join the Yiling Wei sect and earn the opportunity for her to teach you personally!"

He has a stall and everything. There's another teenage boy with him, handing out leaflets. Wei Ying pulls her hair down to cover the sides of her face and walks up.

"Hey! Are you interested in demonic cultivation?" asks the kid brightly. He grabs a leaflet off the stall and thrusts it at her.

"Uh, I don't really know a lot about it," Wei Ying says, "but you said Wei Wuxian could personally teach me?"

-

Aka the casefic where someone is impersonating Wei Wuxian and has founded a sect, or possibly a cult, or possibly a multi-level marketing scheme, in her name.

Aka the wlw mlm fic.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Alternate Setting - Modern with cultivation, there is also implied mpreg, this is a Mamma Mia AU, please do not blame me, wedding fic, Reunion Fic, Fluff, Ridiculousness

Word count: 14k

Summary:

Sizhui wakes early and stretches, smiling at the rising sun. It's the day of his wedding, and he looks over at Jin Ling, still sleeping, and feels an overwhelming sort of rush of love at knowing that soon, they will be legally wed, three bows and all. 

With any luck, he will also get to meet his other father. Fathers. Potential fathers.

This is a Mamma Mia AU.

[mdzs-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Additional Tags: 

Mixed Media, Academia, Getting Together, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic

Word count: 4k

Summary:

In his recent article in Contemporary Theories of Cultivation, Lan (2019) sets out to study the correlation between instrument choice and outcomes in the liberation of spirits. While his main thesis appears sound, his decision to limit the study to the qin, dizi, xiao and pipa undermines his conclusions.

This decision falls prey to the fallacy that tradition cannot be questioned. It ignores, too, the fact that many practising cultivators will encounter spirits that will have no exposure to such “expectations.” In a small study comparing the use of a dizi with a theremin—undoubtedly a non-traditional choice—the theremin produced optimal outcomes in liberating spirits where: time since death was less than 6 months; spirit was younger than 25 and older than 17 at time of death; or spirit motivation included aspects of revenge. The conclusions reached in Lan (2019), while providing a foundation for future study, are therefore as yet incomplete.

Mo Xuanyu Cultivation Studies, Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University

Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, and musical cultivation: a love story, told through academic articles, emails, texts, and videos.