Merit Brush Recs

Title: Night Shift Fae Diner AU
Creator Link: moon_lovers_lover
Canon: Blended
Type: Fanfic
Category: M/M, F/F, Gen
Length: 7243
Characters/Ships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Li Qian/Zhu Hong, Lu Roumei
Rating: Teen and up audiences
Warnings: Chose Not to Warn
Themes: AU, Faeries, Ghosts (Mods, what do you say to a tag for theme:AU with no granulation? I would use it for this particular rec.)
Summary:

They’re the night customers, the night-dwellers, and Zhao Yunlan pays no mind to their oddities, just follows their direction when they ask for him leave their burgers raw, or not put salt in because it 'burns'; accepts the odd things that they give him along with their tips – like old coins from an age past that give him unprecedented good luck for a week, or sheaves of dry leaves that turn into winning lottery tickets overnight – and when they ask for him to give his name, with too many teeth in their perfect mouths, he winks and changes the subject.

Why I'm Reccing This:
This is a densely atmospheric AU, that blends elements of the drama and novel canon and populates the world with all manner of supernatural creatures. Set in a diner in some version of Haixing somewhere, it has a Zhao Yunlan who is kind and insightful and does things for others because they are right to do. Also it has a perfectly normal professor visiting in the middle of the night and the flirting - my goodness the flirting is just amazing.

I'm really impressed with how much worldbuilding moon_lovers_lover does in these two fairly short stories, and how much promise the relationship we see the beginnings of holds for Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan both. But most of all I'm reccing because this made me feel everything from this is so CUTE to a beautiful kind of sadness. (Because without tragedy there would be no ghosts.)

Fanwork Link: Night Shift Fae Diner AU