LC's Link Click fic shout-outs

I worry I'm going to come off as nagging but I do feel strongly about it. Link Click has some INCREDIBLE fic, written by people who put a lot of time and energy and effort into writing, but they don't always get a ton of reader interaction. I feel like I often find a fic I enjoy, scroll down to comment, and find I'm maybe one of 2 or 3 people to comment on it.

Link Click is technically not a small fandom--on the contrary, it's so incredibly active! But it seems that unless a fic was published in the s1 era or happens to get lucky, this is the norm. Which strikes me as sad, because the fandom is popping and active on other platforms.

So here are a handful of fics (by no means exhaustive) of fics that I've thoroughly enjoyed that I had scrolled down and went, They deserve so much love! (again, not exhaustive!)

liminal by Anonymous

Qiao Ling and Lu Guang talk. Much is left unsaid.

It's such a subtle fic, but so effective in showing Lu Guang's emotions, Qiao Ling's worry, and the nature of their relationship in conjunction to Cheng Xiaoshi. It's truly just so soft and nice.

stain by HeavenlyDusk

The only way for Cheng Xiaoshi to be dead is for Qiao Ling to have died first.

I just love a Qiao Ling confronts Lu Guang about Cheng Xiaoshi's death fic, and this one really captures big sister Qiao Ling and how much she cares about both of her boys. I love it!

resolve and reverberations by macrauchenia

Lu Guang rarely fumbles, rarely cracks, and rarely steps up to the sparring mat first. Nevertheless, on a random day in the middle of September, he does all three. Alternatively, Qiao Ling and Cheng Xiaoshi can't figure out why their best friend seems so *wrong* for no explicable reason.

A slice of life fic that adds such a delicious sprinkle of angst at Lu Guang's expense hehe. But it makes me feel so sad for Lu Guang, who just is so traumatized of losing Cheng Xiaoshi, and then it gives him a soft encouragement at the end. It's so sweet.

Instinct (Part One) by JordannaMorgan

Hired to solve a wealthy client’s personal mystery, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang discover there are even darker powers in the world than they realized… and the damage left in the fallout will not be easily fixed for anyone.

Man, this fic is so CREATIVE. It is great at suspense, kept me on the edge of my seat from chapter to chapter, and the Cheng Xiaoshi angst is so delicious. And then the ENDING. gahhh, I cannot wait for Part Two and really hope that it will come!! I think about this fic so often

A Day Like Any Other by rane_ne

After three long years, for the very first time ever, Lu Guang finally gets to turn 20.

It's just ... gahhhh. Cheng Xiaoshi is my blorbo, yes, but Lu Guang being so relieved and emotional at the end because he's finally done it, and is turning another year older because he no longer has to dive back because his friend is alive??? GAHHHHH

Memoriam by JordannaMorgan

Even for those who have no powers, photographs are powerful things.

This is a lovely case fic that is so thoughtfully, emotionally, and tenderly told. I love the compassion that the story has for the characters, and it gives me the feelings that the Earthquake arc concluded with--finding joy and kindness even within the tragedy. I really love it.

sept, oct by Toothpaste_Fresh

The first time around, there are no rules, and Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi must learn all of their lessons the hard way. The first time around, Cheng Xiaoshi is the seventh of Liu Min’s victims. The second time around, there will be no seventh victim.

Gosh, this fic is so goooood. I love the speculation of what the first time round was like, and GOSH it's just such a gut punch of dramatic irony, of both CXS and LG being bold and idealistic and naive, and then how it tragically leads to CXS' death. It's EXCELLENT.

Golden Hour by StuckIn_aTimeLoop

The salty breeze feels nice. Cheng Xiaoshi smiles as he kneels down in the sand, happy they managed to make it in time for golden hour. Cheng Xiaoshi holds up the camera to capture his shot.

I LOVE ME SOME PARALLEL SCENES THAT ARE CONNECTED AND INTERTWINED BY AN EMOTIONAL MOTIF!! The juxtaposition of two types of golden hours is done so well, and both are so full of energy of opposite kinds in such a well balanced way. I was so excited when I heard this fic was being written and I was so happy reading it.

the shine in your eyes reminded me of the moon by StuckIn_aTimeloop

Cheng Xiaoshi was barely a child when his parents died. The king took him in, raised him as his own. Now he's older, it is time for him to choose his own knight.

Prince Cheng Xiaoshi and Knight Lu Guang. Need I say more??? It's so indulgent and I love it.

PLSPLSPLSPLSPLSPLS I LOVE JAX SO MUCH OH MY GOD. the fact that he is supposed to get WORSE throughout the series has me fucking SCREAMING. i am SO excited. I hope he's absolutely DEPLORABLE by the end of this thing. I hope he's an outright unforgivable irredeemable piece of shit. I don't want him to get better. I don't want any sort of redemption arc. I want an asshole of a character that i feel bad even being a FAN of.

Like honestly, the only reason I dislike the idea of Jax being an NPC so much, is just because I want him to have been a real person so badly. I want him to have had a normal life before this, and I want him to have been a relatively good person before too. I want Jax to be a character who has been put into tragic circumstances and has become worse because of them. AND I DONT WANT HIM TO GET BETTER!! I don't want him to have some sort of redemption arc where all his behavior is explained away by him being a victim of the same godamn circumstances that everyone else has been going through as well who just reacted a little bit more “meanly” than the other characters.

((Not that I think that's going to happen, i have more faith in Gooseworx than that lmao 😭😭))

i LOVE the idea that Jax has been damned to this hell and is only going to make it worse for others just because he can. Just because it makes him feel better. I want Jax to be a sad character, but I don't want to feel bad for him. I want his reactions to all this shit to be understandable, but not forgivable. I want to see this mf ruin any possible good thing he still has left in the circus AND I WANT IT TO BE DESERVED!!!!! RAHHHHH I LOVE DEPLORABLE CHARACTERS IM SORRRYYYYYY 😭😭😭😭!!!!!!

More fanart coming soon.. i love this guy

I am Thou, Thou art I.

OH ARTHUR BENNETT.. such a gorgeous and intriguing character. terribly burdened by a GRUESOME set of crimes, his light suffocated by a HEAVY century of GUILT. so tragic, so dark and broody, and yet PAINFULLY awkward in any social setting ever

actually I love Tentoo and he is the Doctor and it was the only ending for Rose that worked and it is a huge gift to be able to have the man she loves grow old with her, they were always heading for that, y'all be quiet. I 100% understand the angst but it's okay, they're okay, good ending-

Spoilers: ending of House md

It's comforting to me to know that Hugh Laurie said House was not long for this world as well, and the director and others saying that season 8 would be the last.

Wilson is always there. He'll leave sometimes, or won't be there for a couple of episodes (months or a year in House timelime), but he comes back. It is clear throughout the story that there is no House without Wilson. House cannot exist without Wilson in the narrative, and it's beautiful that the show ends with the both of them riding off into the sunset. Season 9 cannot exist because if Wilson isn't there, then House won't be either.

Yesterday I was replaying Deltarune and I was going really insane about it picking up on things I missed on my first playthrough and something that fucked me up hard was this line here

The little ellipsis at the end, almost like you can hear the regret on their voice. Voice of an ad who is realizing maybe they fucked up on this one. But it also made me think of... The possibility of this being a reaction to Spamton's actions.

Because I don't think this was an automatic thing, I feel like their drifting off was gradual. Sure, their jealousy had won them over (I'd have killed the guy or myself if I was them so I don't even blame them) but Spamton was too getting busier and busier the more famous he got, and as they say, that never stopped. He only kept getting bigger, until it all came crashing down. And when it did it was one of them who tried to go find him, after all that.

But I digress, let's focus on the original quote from my favorite sigma enby themselves, Pink Addison. There's obviously not only the regret to it, but feeling like they were abandoned too. Both parties lost a lot and the real tragedy is just how easily it could've have been avoided! Or rather, how beyond their control it was...

But I'll get off topic if I keep speaking so I'll leave it at that. The sheer tragedy that there is to everyone involved just makes me insane. Like I said in a post previous to this; you cannot trace down a good guy or a bad guy in this tale, it's just desperate people taking awful decisions and living to regret their actions.

unironically one of the most fucked up endings to any manga ever i literally cried for like 30 minutes when I first reached the last few chapters of this

Black Noir's backstory in S3 of The Boys just makes me sad. The poor guy had it rough. He had to hide behind the mask he hated all because his face was scarred beyond repair. His mental growth stunted because his brain was blown off. Unable to speak. He wanted to make a name for himself but Soldier Boy sabotaged his chances and abused him because he didn't want anyone to steal his spotlight and he hated anyone who was below him. People don't want to know the real Noir because they just assume he's a cold, heartless killer with no redeeming qualities. Someone to be feared. But deep down, he's just Earving, that same scared, sensitive boy from 1984. Buster Beaver and the cartoon animals are his only friends because he has no one else and no one cares to get to know the man behind the mask. He feels so lonely underneath his persona and he clings onto childhood fantasies as a way of clinging on to his lost innocence. For him to be killed by the only person he considered his real friend (Homelander) was tragic because Black Noir was about to face his fears, all these secrets spilling out because he has to kill Soldier Boy and it is cut short. He spent so long running away from his past, so when he was about to face his fears, Homelander took that chance from him because he was angry that Noir never told him Soldier Boy was his dad and he needed a punching bag to take it out on. Something Noir's always been and this time, it's fatal. Homelander took his only chance away so he could get to know his father who left him to be the subject of experimentation in a lab. His animal friends comforting him minutes before his death just shows how alone he truly is. Black Noir had always been a background character in the first two seasons, so to see his backstory get explored here just hits so hard. It'll not be the same with the new Noir in season four, no matter what crazy concept they come up with.

can we just talk about how kenji has one of the Most tragic abilities in bungou stray dogs??? like. the more i think about it, the more heartbreaking it is.

he's fourteen years old and has an ability people would die/kill for. in s3, chuuya called kenji the ada's "trump card", so it's safe to assume the rest of the port mafia thinks the same way. he is immune to literal bullets, to being whacked in the head by hard metal or pretty much anything, he can easily lift cars above his head as if they were nothing,,,

but only if he's hungry.

if you ignore that last bit, kenji has one of the best powers in the show. and like he still does, but my God. he's fourteen years old. he doesn't think his ability is all that impressive. he doesn't see the issues.

since he has a job, he probably doesn't Really eat lunch, and if he does, it's snacks. but also his job is a part of the armed detective agency. therefore, things happen all the time. who knows how long cases will run, who knows when someone will try to destroy yokohama or the agency or whatever. there's been many times when it's been clear that they've had to work into the night. then we have to ask: does kenji eat dinner? no. probably not. and if he does, he probably just eats a piece of fruit or something small. that way, he doesn't lose his ability. he is the agency's trump card, after all. and he knows how important his power is. i mean, that's one of the reasons he joined ranpo and the others when they went against fukuzawa's orders in s3. it's not explicitly stated, but i'd argue that it's implied. anyways. does kenji eat breakfast? well, i don't think so. why? he sleeps when he eats. why sleep so soon after he just woke up? he has to go to work, anyways. so he can't fall asleep.

so, we've basically established that kenji probably has an extremely unhealthy eating schedule due to his ability. but also,,, what about his sleeping schedule? what kind of relationship does he have with sleep? so, let's say he eats a full meal three times a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. let's say how long he sleeps depends on how much he ate... so let's say that a small snack is no sleep since it's barely anything, just maybe makes him a little physically weaker. and a normal meal is at least an hour. that's at least three hours of sporadic sleep during the day - one of them shortly after he wakes up. but you know what makes that even sadder? what if kenji doesn't sleep at night because of his ability. or, sleep consistently or well? we can assume the agency actually really wants kenji to eat, even if he falls asleep, so on days when he can't get away with not really eating, he sleeps during the day for an unspecified amount of time. his sleep schedule would get so thrown off. also, he was raised on a farm, so we can assume he wakes up really early anyways. maybe early enough to say that there isn't any reason to sleep because he would wake up soon normally anyways.

and... what if kenji can't sleep without eating? what if kenji has to eat to sleep? maybe it wasn't that way when he was younger, but the older he got, the more his body grew to rely on his ability's exception. like... that's just... really sad. this kid is fourteen.

and think about it. the agency is best friends because they are. they'd probably like to go out to lunch or dinner together. i bet half the time at least, kenji wouldn't eat. why? because he'd fall asleep. wouldn't want to ruin the fun. because then they'd have to watch their volume around him or try to wake him up (and i hc that it's really hard to wake him up for like... the first ten minutes after a meal at least - it gets easier the longer he's been asleep or the less he eats). and what if they can't wake him up? then someone would have to carry him back and that's so kind of them but, well, they didn't have to and now kenji feels like a liability or a burden. like he ruined all the fun.

and he works with the armed detective agency. they've got a lot of enemies. he is the trump card. the physically strongest on the team. also the most naive and, objectively, the kindest. oh and one of the two youngest. can you imagine how vulnerable he is when he sleeps? i would imagine the agency wouldn't want him to eat by himself in public for, you know, safety reasons. and that even includes the cafe downstairs. who knows what could happen if kenji fell asleep on his own? and that's probably why he went to eat with atsushi in s1 ep11: he was with atsushi so he could eat out. one of those rare chances. and if an enemy did get to him while he was asleep, he'd be pretty easy to keep out of it: just keep forcing him to eat. shove food in his mouth, force him to swallow. and there you are: you have the armed detective agency's trump card. and kenji knows this.

and the sad thing is? kenji probably doesn't even realize he's having problems. he probably thinks this is normal. something he just has to deal with - and i don't say that in a negative or self-loathing kind of way. a genuine "it's always been like this; i know nothing else" kind of way. he wants to help people: that's why he came to the agency. he couldn't handle not being able to help everyone back home. he needs to be useful, to help. he grew up on a farm: he values hard work a lot - that much is obvious. he feels like he can't help if he eats consistently. he's probably (albeit subconsciously, unknowingly) scared of what would happen if he did eat and sleep consistently. that means he's not useful, right? that means someone will get hurt because of him. he'd rather starve than someone else get hurt. he was given this ability, he has to use it to help people.

tldr: kenji's ability is so interesting and underutilized in the the manga/anime and in the fandom and is so overlooked in angst potential. his ability most likely has ruined his eating and sleeping schedule to the point where he doesn't know anything different and genuinely thinks it's healthy because it's what he's always done, it's what he was blessed with, right? kenji deserves more love in canon and by the fandom <3

the most canon ending of fable 2 having sparrow wishing for the needs of the many will never not be bittersweet to me. sparrow's whole life has been preparing to defeat lucien and avenging rose. they've never once had a choice in the matter because that's their destiny. whether they're happy about it or not, they have to be the one to save the world.

and at the end, when it's all over, they get a choice to bring back their family. their sister, who was the most important person to them, their beloved dog who's been with them through most of the journey, and any possible family they had.

but in the end they choose to sacrifice nearly everything they've ever loved just so everyone else in the world could have a chance at that kind of happiness. to lose everything their whole life and live with this grief, only to throw their only chance at happiness away for the rest of the world no doubt hurts.

i'm sure sparrow felt like it was the best option, but they'll still grieve AGAIN. and after that, the other heroes all leave sparrow alone, even hammer who became sparrow's best friend. they're left alone in this grief, but the world is safe and everyone else is happy.

i could not care less about yotsuyu right now I liked her awful messy end ……

It absolutely kills me that all this time - all. this. time. - c!Dream was just trying to SAVE the entire server! All of them! Every single member! Even the ones he hated! He knew that if they kept on this path, everyone would die! Everyone would spend who knows how long just rotting in their own limbos, alone, forever, and he refused to accept that. There had to be another way; he needed to fix it, fix the server, make everyone immortal, reset the server so that everyone would be friends again, something, ANYTHING, because nothing else compared to that utter, crushing loneliness, not people seeing him as a villain, not torture, not death itself, nothing. It didn't matter what he suffered so long as they could all find peace and happiness and health again together in the future. No more death, no more pain. Just existing together in simpler times where they could be friends again and stop dividing themselves and stop fighting (oh, so much fighting).

And he was willing to utterly destroy himself if that's what it took to save them. To not be alone. To have the time to try and fix things. So he would play the part of the villain they all thought he was. They'd thank him later, when they finally understood. He would give them forever, and they’d see. Someday. And surely, surely, with time...with time... he could be someone who isn't the villain of everyone's story. He could just be himself again. That Dream who was lost and who so desperately wanted to be found.

" arthur is so bad at flirting " yeah well could a man who's bad at flirtin do THIS

I’m having emotions about a very stupid character

I have to apologize for the recent inactivity first because guilt but

I’m not sure if anyone has done this idea yet but

Fuck me I’ve been thinking extensively on a Sasha pmv set to killing me softly with his song because it h u r t s

As much as I don’t usually love the romance in the books the tragedy of Sasha loving someone she never truly knew but whom she had felt known her is so cruel. It’s so cruel and she’s so underrated. I love her so much. And to be clear, not tigersasha because she deserves better, but it just goes so well with her still struggling with her feelings over tigerstar even after what she learns about him, after coming to terms with the fact he was terrible and manipulating her she still seemed to carry love for him, or at least the version of him that he made for her, and knowing you’ve fallen in love with a lie? That is tragic, coming to terms with the fact that someone you had fallen so deeply for was never real, that it was all just an illusion and there’s no telling what the other actually felt, but for you? All of it felt real, all of it felt true? That’s a deep as shit conflict. It’s disappointing we don’t get more of Sasha after the beginning bits of tnp.