April recs

[spatz]

Mostly Nirvana in Fire this month, with a dash of Captive Prince (which is actually how I got sucked into watching NIF this time around - when presented with a story about court intrigue and princes rising to power, there’s a limited number of places that my mind goes).

NIRVANA IN FIRE

Arranged in roughly canon-chronological order, because why not.

Days in the Sun by circumference/@circumference-pie (gen)

Several days in the life of Prince Qi, the most perfect prince.

You know how something can be really lovely and sweet and that just makes it even more heartbreaking to know what comes next? Yeah, that’s this fic in a nutshell. A beautiful and bittersweet portrait of Jingyu and his extended friends-and-family, several years before the conspiracy case, with disaster just starting to whisper under the surface.

Come Back to Haunt Me by ZairaA (Lin Shu/Jingyan)

In the aftermath of the Chiyan massacre, Prince Jing is locked up at the Xuanjing Bureau, and no one dares to speak out against the Emperor in fear of being executed on the spot. When mysterious fires start to spring up throughout the city, rumours spread about a ghost who has come to seek vengeance, and the Ministry of Rites has to find a way to get rid of it.

Eerie and gutwrenching AU, with some great use of an obscure bit of Chinese culture that I can’t remember how I knew but was very delighted to encounter.

the mist that cloaks the river, the clouds that hide the stars by Sovin (gen)

Yan Yujin has mostly evaded the worst consequences of the Chiyan case, despite her standing betrothal to Lin Shu. So warned, she precariously balances freedom and evading attention, and stays quite far away from politics for a number of reasons. Politics don't seem quite so keen to stay away from her.

Long and subtle Yujin genderswap AU, taking off from that line from Prince Ji about how as a girl!Yujin would have been engaged to someone heavily implied to be Lin Shu. Everyone who recced this at me back on my last swing through the fandom was SO RIGHT. It’s a bit slow to start, sticking very tightly to canon until after Jingrui’s birthday, when the small changes start to spill over into major differences. Also, just chock full of amazing ladies (even MORE than the show has!) and Yan Clan feels.

If I have been untrue by @convenientalias (gen)

It's been weeks since Jingyan and Mei Changsu last talked when Jingyan shows up with two ministers in tow. Still, it's obvious that Jingyan wants to talk to Mei Changsu in private.Yes, Mei Changsu and Jingyan haven't spoken to each other since rescuing Wei Zheng. And Mei Changsu is feeling just a little nervous.

Wherein Jingyan makes a much-needed apology, and MCS would probably prefer to eat anoth Wujin pill than have to deal with any of his feelings. *sigh* A very satisfying missing scene that still retains MCS’s vast damage.

Return of the Cicada by ZairaA (Jingyan/MCS)

For thirteen years, Jingyan has locked his emotions deep in his heart and carried them with him like shards of a life broken beyond repair. But when Mei Changsu arrived in Liang, slowly but mercilessly, hope clawed its way back into his soul. Maybe Jingyan's crazy, but after the battle at Mount Jiu An is won, he's more certain than ever that his suspicions are true, and he realizes there's only one way to look behind Mei Changsu's mask: to rip it off.

Set between episodes 44 and 45.

SUCH a good Jingyan, SUCH a satisfying way to blow up MCS’s bullshit tower of lies, and SUCH a good sequel from MCS’s POV with devastating dream sequences. The author may add a third story, which I sincerely hope for, but each story so far is complete in itself.

CAPTIVE PRINCE

Sugar Cubes and Rubies by aldiara (Ancel/Berenger)

Horses are smelly and alarming and Ancel definitely doesn’t understand or like his, nor is he missing Berenger at all, what are you talking about.

In which Ancel welcomes Berenger home from a trip with some crazy hot kinky sex, and they don’t talk about their feelings but they definitely have a lot of them. Contains some D/s dynamics, symbolic gifts, and Ancel absolutely not making any romantic gestures, what are you talking about.

The Great Escape by @barbitone (Ancel/Berenger)

Everything was mostly going to plan, right up until the Regent ordered his pet to be executed and his severed head to be sent to Prince Laurent.

It happened at noon. The castle was so abuzz with the shocking news that even Berenger, who usually didn’t hear such gossip until late in the evening when Ancel helped him dress for dinner, had heard of the horrific event within the hour.

His heart sank as he thought of that poor boy, just a child-

And then his heart sank further, because he knew he and Ancel would be next.

HELL YES THIS IS SOME GOOD COMPETENCE PORN, in which Ancel and Berenger go on the run from the Regent. Mmm, loyalty and leveling power dynamics, mutual rescuing, and hurt/comfort, so many of my favorite things.