#link click coded

[kugisakiss]

an unusual video is trending in japan right now...

[g1ngerbeer]

"wheres cheng xiaoshi" hes the croissant (insp)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

So, I started watching Link Click...

[chubphoe-linkclick]

I'm still not over how ridiculously intense Cheng Xiaoshi's words were when he first met Lu Guang. Like sweet Christ, was he having to bet a kidney on this amateur basketball match to make rent?

I get that he's like 16 here, and 16 year olds say the awkwardest of things because that's the age most of us haven't realised we're not the next great philosopher of our time. But Cheng Xiaoshi, boy, TONE IT DOWN HERE, YOU'RE COMING ON WAY TOO STRONG!!

What hole in Lu Guang's life caused him to hear this and go "...Yes." He heard this and then looked like a newborn baby deer staring in awe at something calmingly delightful like HOW DID THIS WORK???

Lu Guang later said what drew him to Cheng Xiaoshi the most was how sincere he was.

Was Lu Guang experience of trying to call Cheng Xiaoshi cringe, and Xiaoshi's response of "I am not cringe, but I am having fun because I got to hang out with you," so powerful that it just shattered some deep-rooted, jaded attitude Lu Guang had been fostering up until now?

Like was this Lu Guang's equivalent of Nagi's awakening in Blue Lock?!

PEOPLE PLEASE SCREAM WITH ME I'M GOING INSANE

[snorlaxlovesme]

lu guang is such a fucking bad person for the sake of saving cheng xiaoshi and i'll never be over it

cheng xiaoshi is witnessing a mother getting mercilessly beaten by her husband. a young boy was just hit in the head with a hammer and is now barely clinging to consciousness. he KNOWS even in Xixi's body he still has his adult strength. he knows someone gave them this photo clearly hoping that lu guang and cheng xiaoshi would help save these people.

but lu guang says no

like all cheng xiaoshi ever wants is to help people. all this family wants in this desperate, terrifying, heartwrenching scene is TO BE HELPED, and lu guang WON'T LET IT HAPPEN

because he finally DID IT. he really believes that there's a possibility that HIM getting stabbed instead of cheng xiaoshi means that cheng xiaoshi could finally live. they're not out of the water yet because they're still involved in this serial killer case, but this is the first time lu guang has made PROGRESS towards saving cheng xiaoshi

he's making cheng xiaoshi watch this family kill each other. he can see through cheng xiaoshi's eyes just how bad the situation is

but he tells cheng xiaoshi to grab the photo instead. he's willing to let this violence play out if it means not disturbing the razor's edge he's currently balancing on. he's been at this for so long. he's SO CLOSE to saving cheng xiaoshi from his fate. he's willing to let this entire family suffer and die to get what he wants

[chengfagshi]

How it feels remembering your last hyperfixation after hyperfixating on something else.

[dokjaism]

Link Click Appreciation Event @linkclicknet

Day 5 ⟡ Colors: pink

[broken-timemachine]

091305

[artilite]

cheng xiaoshi won the poll for most dog-coded on twt!!!! huzzah!!!!!

[just-a-little-kreature]

*Lu Guang is typing*

[g1ngerbeer]

lu guang shiguangdailiren is like What if the world was cruel and cold and unfeeling but you met a person who was kind and warm and so fucking emotional and he inspired you to look at that cold world differently and see hope where none was visible before. and then he died, because the world is cruel and cold and unfeeling. and it doesnt deserve him, you think, he doesnt deserve to die because his vision of the world was wrong and yours was right, if this is truly how this world works then it doesnt deserve him. and if you sacrifice all of it for his life then that would be a worthy trade. he has changed you and maybe it is not for the better but you will turn back time so he has the chance to do it again. and again and again and again and again

by god i hope its an endless loop i hope every time lu guang tries to decide that enough is enough that he cant stop himself from going to that basketball court one more time and looking into cheng xiaoshis eyes and seeing all the warmth of the sun in them. and then playing that match

[beanghostprincess]

Shiguang is codependent in the way that we’ve all had a accidental QPR

We've all accidentally had a codependent unhealthy queer platonic relationship with our best friend that made us realize we would fuck with space and time to try and change the past desperately so they don't die because losing them hurts more than literal death and so our morals are as blurry as the line between friendship and love

[chubphoe-linkclick]

I think my favourite thing about Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang's first conversation ever is the amount of Bevus and Butthead energy it inadvertently exerts.

"you're good at playing basketball, we could be partners for life."

"lmao it's just a game, chill dude."

"nuh, man, i trust you. every time i pass the ball to you, its like im trusting you with my life. what we had, out there, that's rare dude."

"woah, that's deep."

Like look at that face. Lu Guang's mind was fucking blown by that interaction.

[5hehzada]

was talking w ree about lelouch's casual outfit and was like hold up but the cropped red jacket paired with a black tank is reminding me of something. and so,

[shimmeringweedsart]

SGFW D5: Kiss|Cuddles|Hair (+ Day 6: Plushie)

If you have spent any amount of time around large hyper dogs, you've probably received a toy shoved in your face as a grab for attention. You can’t be mad at that ( ｡ •̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ ) Give that pooch a smooch and get playing.

Disclaimer: most dogs do not, in fact, like head smooches. A good relationship with the dog and respect for their body language is advised before attempting.

[izartn]

So, about how I see Link Click's Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi relationship:

As it stands in canon? Queerplatonic partners. And it's convenient for the plot that they're like this.

Because of Chinese censorship it can't be explicitly romantic, yes I know it. Let me tell why it's queerplatonic for me. The way these two have intertwined their lives and futures together?!

Owning a business and living together, that hint in ep2 (comparing them to the subtextually older lesbian couple who also came across as queerplatonic bc censure) where Xiaoshi wonders/fears if years down the line he and Lu Guang will separate/break up implying their partnership is for life as far as he's concerned (the parallel can be taken as a subtext romance too but follow me we're talking text), the way they were already going also on vacancies together three years prev in canon, etc...

Without entering on their complimentary powers and the way the dives need both of them if they want security in not screwing the past, and the inmense trust and vulnerability the dives themselves require?

They're not simply best friends either.

Those aren't the actions of normal, totally not queer friends. Cheng Xiaoshi checks out women on the dives, sure, (and men too when the host is feeling it which I love bc they can't address it directly bc censorship and then it comes across as Xiaoshi being super confident in his own relationship to sexuality/gender) but I don't think he would ever date bc Lu Guang is already there, filling that place in his life minus sex and romance but all that same companionship and intensity of feeling.

These two meet in what, the last year/s of High School and then proceeded to latch onto each other with a commitment reserved for romantic partners.

And I know you want to say, "it's the censorship! they'd be romantic and canon if not for the censorship!"

Are you sure? Are you sure the story would work if there were explicit romance in it? (I mean, if they could I'm pretty sure they would have nailed it anyways but allow me my a-spec delusions) Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang feel so much like an already established pair, they work like one, and Link Click is not about them coming together like many other stories. Are you sure this would work as BL?

There's a distinct difference on the way they start the show already like six years at least since they're best friends and three or two since they live together. That's not usually how it goes. I'm talking not just romances but every buddy or nakama anime/show, where the protag has to learn to work with who will be his best friend or rival. These stories usually have the same kind of plot progression as a romance which is why they work so well when you make the subtext text.

But a story where the main romance is already established and we're following a plot that has nothing to do with it? Much more rare, even stranger to find them well done although there are some very good ones and with the friendships instead of romo they're more common. For example, Soul Eater, which is all about the trials of it and how they hace to truly come to understand each other. That's Link Click a bit, but not even then.

Link Click juggling a budding romance between Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi with all the other stuff is going on?? Messier for sure. I don't know if people would have liked it as much or if the donghua would have been as well done.

As it is, Link Click has the exact level of emotional connection between our protags it needs to have incredibly high stakes emotionally and at the same time not need a detour by romantic scenes/fanservice that would derail the plot or the other charas importance. That it happens to be pretty queer anyways in a platonic way?

Nice for the aroace-spec folks watching the show xD

Btw, I'm pretty sure in season 3 we're going to get more of Lu Guang's PoV, the origins of their powers and the past between him and Xiaoshi. It'll probably dig more into the aspect of "testing their bond and coming stronger bc of it" which is were the romantic subtext usually comes through...

—unless you're very very good at writing like Arakawa in FMA, who nailed the brotherly relationship without tipping into incest subtext which I've seen more than a few writers fumble. or the latest D&D film for the platonic childrearing and partnership for a no familial example between a man and a woman also very very difficult to get right for writers dunno why—

... but until then, for now I'm incredibly satisfied by the canon.

The other read of course it that they're already a couple since well before the start of season 1, and to mentally edit what we saw in canon with that lens (it wouldn't be very difficult honestly) but reading only the text? Queerplatonic partners!

There also how Xiaoshi and Lu Guang don't have that anxiety/insecurity of their bond that makes it so easy to read the want for something, like a romance for shipping purposes. Despite the disagreements on the Dives or the trials of season 2 or Lu Guang keeping secret Cheng Xiaoshi future/past death they read very steady which is fun. I love some good established relationship, you can go to deeper places when the base is already secure and the risk is higher for the characters. Plus I love domesticity! Yes, I do my angsty/Gothic leanings notwithstanding. Don't you know you need a home for the Gothic to be effective?