#i feel like a tangled au is something that crops up in every fandom. personally this is my third (had a clingyduo one and also inside job).

[faebriel]

kai faebriel pretty please tell anon number i don’t even know anymore and the audience abt the tangled au thoughts..

okay i wouldn't say i have a perfect list of coherent thoughts happening like i do with some other aus but here are the main points i think. keeping in mind we have magical long haired wilbur and mildly swashbuckling rogue niki.

there's a magical flower in a field somewhere.

the antarctic empire rules over the land with a fist that is unjust only when it is extremely funny. lifetime buddies techno and phil are co-rulers; phil also has his son, wilbur. for the kid of an emperor wilbur is allowed to run around a lot, and he makes a lot of friends - from street urchins to bakers' daughters. stick a pin in that thought

unfortunately, one day pre-teen wilbur gets very sick. distraught, phil orders that the empire is turned upside down to find a cure, and they find it - the flower. it is infused into a tea, which wilbur drinks. his sickness disappears, and his hair turns white-gold.

double unfortunately, this pisses some people off

dream, noted Some Guy of the forest, had been using this magical flower to stay young and exert his power and authority over the forest for almost a century. needless to say, when the flower was taken by the empire, he was pissed. he swears revenge, and when restoring his youth through song doesn't work, he kidnaps wilbur. and teams up with some friends to overthrow the empire (pulled to pieces over the loss of its favourite son) and send the royal family into hiding. oh and he bullies some street urchins which mysteriously disappear and are replaced by a loud fucking chicken in the middle of the forest but like don't worry about it. in the chaos of kidnapping wilbur soot is struck in the head and loses his memories

the relationship between dream and soot is more of a patronage than a parenthood - dream provides protection and manpower while soot provides "strategy" (this started as internal knowledge on the kingdom but now dream just kind of keeps him busy) and of course, magic rejuvenating hair. over the years dream tells soot all sorts of lies about the outside world, and about how they would treat a "cursed" man like him, and soot is mostly more than happy to stay inside, even if something doesn't feel quite right.

and every year he sees a massive show of flame and fireworks from his tower window.

on the other side of the coin - when the empire falls, a young niki loses everything. she loses her parents, her family's bakery, and her home. first she's locked out of the castle, abandoned by her childhood friend, then she's locked out of everything - she ends up fleeing to an orphanage that her letter-friend lives in a kingdom over, carrying a dark, angry bitterness in her small heart that grows as she does. the kids whisper about the anarchist syndicate, remains of the old empire, who name themselves after gods - with a harsh tongue and nothing but memories drenched in perceived betrayal, niki calls herself nemesis.

as an adult, she teams up with fellow orphan and loser jack to generally swashbuckle. they don't trust each other (even if they're both awfully lonely), but they have the same goals. most of the time. like stealing old, relic crowns from decade-dead empires.

nemesis runs into the forest, the manberg guard hot on her tail, and finds a tower. and a man with the longest hair she has ever seen in her life.

soot's life is kind of pathetic. he literally cannot remember the last time he has been outside, his only friend is a chicken he has to hide from dream, he's cursed and would be hated for it if he dared step outside his tower, and everything he could possibly care about exists within four tiny walls. dream has truly managed to convince him that he deserves nothing. but, he's still an opportunist, and he's curious - dream is gone for three days, so if nemesis takes him to investigate the reason for these explosions every year, he'll give her back her dumb tiara. and nemesis does not really trust people as a rule but unfortunately she does silently long for company even though she doesn't realise it (c!niki moment) but also quite frankly wants her satchel back so she agrees.

cue road trip!

this post is already getting so long so here are some miscellaneous thoughts:

i haven't figured out who the snuggly duckling folks are but i know that instead of singing abt money niki is singing about exacting bloody revenge on all people who have hurt her Ever actually

after almost drowning in a mineshaft nemesis reveals that her real name is niki, which throws soot for a loop - he knows that name, which is impossible, but he does. from where? i wrote a bit of this scene actually

they also have a bit of a heart-to-heart afterwards where soot heals niki's hand and manages to wheedle her into talking a little bit more about her history. she had a friend when she was very young, you see, a prince who left her in the fucking dust when times got bad. and she never really got over it, even as the evidence increasingly started to suggest that something worse than abandonment happened to him.

("why don't they recognise each other?" 1. the magical power of aus working when i need them to 2. wilbur's magical dye job also niki's less magical dye job 3. puberty! puberty. has happened to friends of mine. potentially combined with mutual mild faceblindness)

they finally make it to the city and have a wonderful day braiding soot's hair and encouraging people to partake in graffiti and they turn the city upside down until they find someone with old newspapers from the empire (they had to convince them by holding nemesis' wanted poster up to niki's face. even though she had plain blonde hair two dye jobs ago, ugh) and soot does his best to memorise this information while trying not to throw up looking at crude renders of flags belonging to the small territories that cropped up beneath the empire.

betrayal moment so sad, schlatt almost executes niki for being an annoying dormouse, wilbur realises he is wilbur actually and dream has been longcon fucking with him for the last several years, niki gets stabbed and manages to only put together that soot is wilbur about three seconds from dying, she gives him the big chop, fortunately wilbur cries so so hard that his tears are magical too

CHICKEN TOMMY MURDERS DREAM

oh yeah and as it turns out the fireworks/fires are a bit of theatrical terrorism emduo put on in wilbur's name on his birthday every year. after dream dies wilbur and niki manage to track them down to reunite wilbur with his family and also get niki some cool friends :]

there's still some holes here but do you See the vision. do you see these losers sneaking around and reading books and painting with chalk as kingdom dance plays. Do You See Niki Being Harassed By A Chicken

[blouisparadise]

An anon requested that we compile some of our favorite fics from 2017, and so here that list is. There were SO MANY amazing fics this year that we enjoyed and we sadly couldn’t include them all on this list, but we hope every writer feels appreciated because your works mean so much to this fandom.

As always, these fics are listed in order of length (shortest to longest).

Happy reading, and we wish you a happy New Year!

1) Call Me Shallow But I'm Only Getting Deeper | Explicit | 7367 words

The one where Louis is a brat so Harry spanks him with a riding crop.

2) Night Out | Explicit | 9741 words | WIP Sequel

Symphony hall was the first place Louis had felt at home in this city, and he always had the box to himself. Until tonight.

3) Just Let Me | Mature | 14714 words

The party was going well. So well, Niall had already sworn undying love to one multi-tiered chocolate cake, two friendly corgi-poodle mixes, Zayn’s hair, and the entire population of Los Angeles. So well, Zayn had only laughed and ruffled Niall’s hair and not even twitched towards a cigarette. So well, nearly everyone had spilled far past the boundaries of the night’s original plans, extracting bottles of vodka from the cabinets and losing a lot of clothes. Harry had proclaimed that he was finally going to throw a small and very grownup dinner party and of course here they were three hours later, fifty people half-naked in the pool. Soon to be full-naked, if Louis had to guess. Everybody in LA loved a heated pool. Everybody loved Harry.

4) No Place Without You | Explicit | 19089 words

Harry's in love with life and he's in love with the world.

Louis' in love with Harry and he doesn't think there's any way he can possibly compete.

5) Dance Like Warriors On A Battlefield | Explicit | 20048 words

Down in the arena, the triumphant gladiator places his foot on the back of the loser, holding him there as he waits for instruction on his next move. Kill or let live. It’s barbaric, really, the bloodlust involved in this sport. Louis is pretty sure that if it wasn’t for his distaste for the killing there would be a lot more blood soaking that sand.

As it is, his father rarely gives the kill order anymore. He gives the order to let the loser live. Louis rolls his eyes, turning away. He doesn’t miss the way the gladiator’s eyes linger on him.

6) Then We Talk Slow | Explicit | 20493 words

A famous/non-famous AU in which Louis banters back and forth with his new record company on Twitter, only to find out that Harry is the man behind the tweets.

7) Some Flowers In Your Hair | Explicit | 23015 words

A magical camping AU in which Louis is jealous of Harry's magic, Liam's a little too enthusiastic about surviving in the wilderness, and Niall might have misunderstood the rules.

8) Kiwi | Not Rated | 24110 words

AU. Harry plays on Saturday nights at The Motley. Louis bartends on Saturday nights at The Motley. It’s a thing.              

9) Can't Fool Me | Explicit | 30162 words

AU where Louis hates fraternities and would never be into a frat boy. And one of these things is definitely not a lie.

10) What This World Is About | Explicit | 34472 words

An eighties American high school AU; there are first times, football games, and feelings.

Alternatively titled: the beginning.

11) The Sweetest Incantation | Explicit | 40600 words

Harry is a witch who's still working on developing his powers and Louis is a werecat who falls into his life and turns it upside down.

12) Ever Fixed | Explicit | 41521 words

Three years ago, Harry was happily married, successfully heading the largest technology company in the world, and raising his young daughter. After he loses nearly everything in the aftermath of his daughter’s lost battle with a rare brain tumor, it may take three strange and yet very familiar visitors – and a man from the therapy group Harry keeps refusing to go to – to get him back on track.

13) Boiling Blood Will Circulate | Explicit | 42420 words

The wait isn’t long before something starts rustling in the bushes. Harry takes aim, squeezes the trigger, body moving unconsciously. They’re motions he’s done a thousand times before, and his body knows how to do it without the input of his brain now. It’s what makes him such a good shot.

He misses. The shot misses.

Something howls in the woods, a pretty clear indication that Harry hit it, but there’s no telltale sounds of a big body dropping, no animal charging out at him to take him out before he can finish the job.

Something does turn and run, though. “Fuck,” Harry spits out, scrambling to his feet and slinging the rifle back over his shoulder, giving chase. He’s not going to lose this hunt.

The trail of blood goes on longer than Harry thought it would. He doesn’t know how long he runs for, but his muscles are burning, chest heaving with exertion, until the trail just - goes dead. No more blood, just like that.

“Fuck,” Harry says.

14) Tangled Up In You | Explicit | 45412 words

Harry blinks once. And blinks again. And says, his voice dangerous: “Niall, did you get me a mail-order bride?”

Because what the actual fuck. It kind of looks like Niall’s just purchased a person. For Harry.

Niall blinks back at him for a few moments, before throwing his head back and howling with laughter. Harry throws a pillow at him. Hard. “No, what the fuck, Harry.”

“A prostitute then?” Harry also doesn't want a prostitute.

“Of course not!”

“A stripper?”

“No!”

Damn, he’s running out of ideas. He settles for launching another pillow at Niall’s head. Niall bats it away easily, still laughing. “Stop!”

“What did you get me, then?!” Niall must hear the tinge of hysteria in his voice, because he’s pulling himself together, trying to stop himself from laughing.

There’s still a big grin on his face, though, when he says, “I got you a professional cuddler.”

A professional…what. “What?”

15) Love's Truest Language | Explicit | 48195 words

The first part was meant as a joke. He didn't really expect Harry to buy anything. It was just Louis’ way of softening the ‘get the fuck out’ blow.

“Where's your order forms, then?”

“I don't want your flowers.” Louis chided before directing all of his attention to the arrangement in front of him.

Harry laughed under his breath as he stood to his full height, “Who said anything about them being for you, love?”

16) I Carry Your Heart With Me (I Carry It In My Heart) | Explicit | 55854 words

Harry thinks he has good reasons for avoiding relationships. Meeting Louis puts those reasons to the test.

17) Apples Always Fall (As I Do For You) | Mature | 64635 words | Sequel

Louis is staying at his Aunt's farm in a small town in Minnesota for four months. To deal with the boredom that sets in a week into his stay, he starts working at the local apple orchard, owned by twenty six year old Harry Styles.

Louis quickly finds himself falling in love with the orchard, and he finds a family in Harry's friends Niall, Liam, and Zayn.

He also starts to fall in love with Harry.

Falling in love with him turns out to be the easy part.

18) Such Good Luck | Explicit | 66205 words

An Edwardian AU where Harry is a young aristocratic lord and Louis is a working class dairy farmer. Secrets are a necessary part of their relationship, but Louis has one that could topple their whole world.

19) Waiting On You | Explicit | 76577 words

“Vampires,” Louis says with disgust, glaring over at the vampire who is noisily slurping from the woman’s neck nearby.

 Zayn gives the neat fang marks on Louis’ neck a meaningful look.

“Can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” Louis finishes, ignoring Zayn when he rolls his eyes.

Louis takes a long sip of his milkshake, presses his fingers against the marks on his neck, and definitely doesn’t think about the vampire who left them there.

20) Through Struggles, To The Stars | Explicit | 80582 words

Louis is a Starfleet captain trying to find his place in the universe. Harry is a prince just trying to do what's right.

21) I Want You So Much (But I Hate Your Guts) | Mature | 83648 words

AU in which Louis gets accepted to play for the Manchester University Alpha-Beta Football Team. The only problem: Louis is actually an Omega. He is determined to make it big in the football world, though, and he can't do that bound to an Omega team. With the help of a faked doctor's certificate and some pretty strong suppressants he is ready to fight for his dream.

That Harry Styles (Alpha, second year and youngest football captain of the A-B team in ages) doesn't seem to like him complicates matters, though.

22) Among the Humans | Explicit | 129435 words

A gothic, modern day vampire romance between a young human named Louis Tomlinson, and Harry Styles, ancient vampire and gentleman.

Creatures of the night come with more trouble than they wish to make it seem.

23) Cold Little Heart | Explicit | 194584 words

Louis is a soft omega with an abusive past and an alpha child. A few months after getting a divorce, Louis meets Harry, an ex-military alpha wolf that offers him something - odd.

In exchange for teaching him how to cook, Harry will babysit his son, Abraham. Louis really could use the help.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.