I’ve been in the fandom for only a few years and, well, I might’ve found it through the music but I've stayed for the fics. I am in awe of the incredible talent – from 100-word drabbles to multi-volume novel-length fics shared for free! – by our amazing writers. Since July, I’ve been posting recs to highlight my favorite fics of the month – check them out here.
These are the fics from 2025 that I (still) cannot stop thinking about.
Habits by dead_tobeginwith / @deadtobeginwith (1751)
Sex, food, friends, and growing things—vignettes of a simple little monastic life, because our bodies are ours to enjoy, now and always.
Tonight is the Night (When 3 Become 1) by SomeDovesFly / @somedovesfly (11985)
Married Harry and Zayn are regular members of a kink club. Only problem is, they are both subs. Out of desperation for a true sub experience together, they hire a Dom for a scene. Not just any Dom. The owner of the club, Louis.
Tailspin by kiwiwatermelongrapejuice / @kiwiwatermelongrapejuice (14564)
In a world where performance is power and sex is both currency and craft, The Pink Pony Club sits at the top of the hierarchy—exclusive, untouchable, and run with precision by the famously discerning Harry Styles.
New workers enter at the bottom.
Louis knows the rules.
He’s seen what happens to those who don’t rise fast enough.
But he didn’t come here to blend in.
He came to be seen.
This is a story about ambition, submission, control, and the slow, relentless climb to the top of the only ladder that matters: the wearer of the longest tail.
At the Pink Pony Club, status isn't worn on your sleeve.
It's worn between your legs.
please remain on the line by fckingfreakshow / @fckingfreakshow (24428)
harry’s looking for love, or at the very least a date that doesn’t make him want to walk off the brooklyn bridge. his friends call him a serial dater, but he prefers romantically persistent. he believes in the process and sometimes, you gotta kiss a few toads and pay sketchy astrology sites for the answers.
what he really wants is simple. someone fun, who keeps him on his toes, who doesn’t take themselves too seriously. someone who’ll flirt shamelessly, make him laugh, maybe even whisper sweet nothings into his ear…
he just didn’t expect the last part to be so…literal.
All I’ve Ever Known by haztobegood / @haztobegood (34821)
The disruption was small, but mighty. It came hitched to the back of a black Dodge Ram pickup truck one sunny spring afternoon. With its shiny metal siding and sparkling windows, it stood out like a sore thumb. It was a Tiny House.
The brand new tiny house was delivered to the empty lot at 28 Longbourn Lane, drawing a small crowd around the mailboxes. Gossip was a hot commodity in Princess Park and it had been ages since the neighbors had seen something so novel.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that anybody that wants to live in a tiny home must be lacking in both taste and sense.”
The Island of Misfit Boys by bananaheathen / @bananaheathen (43250)
3 years before Of Mates and Men begins... this is also a love story.
The one where Zayn is a starving artist and Liam is a sheltered rich kid with a gallery.
Or, the one where Zayn's art changes Liam's life (and consequently, everyone else's lives too).
Or, the one where it all begins.
Full of Terraced Dreams by insightfulinsomniac / @insightfulinsomniac (47287)
In the midst of parenting a teenager on the precipice of presenting as an alpha, the new neighbors moving in next door are the least of Louis' concerns. That is, until said neighbor turns out to be entirely too lovely and also a young single parent.
The only problem about this flourishing, flirtatious friendship is that Louis hasn't dated since his daughter was born thirteen years ago, and he has no idea how to navigate adult relationships as a thirty-six-year-old single dad.
Although Harry seems to balance the idea of dating and parenting with more ease, he still wrestles with his own insecurities and the protectiveness of the life he's built with his son. That doesn’t stop him from falling hard and fast for his next-door-neighbor.
A story of two single parents who come together as a blended family after an unexpected circumstance changes their lives forever.
a tidal wave of question marks by petitommo / @petitommo (52250)
Right there, less than an arms length away, stands his Louis; tan and gorgeous with his hair sticking up in every direction and the faint stench of weed like a cloud around him. A pillow crease is running down his cheek, and Harry’s heart clenches with something he has no adequate name for.
“What are you doing here?”
Louis’ voice jolts Harry out of his frozen state, shocked alive by the reminder of why he is here. His nerves soars abruptly when he remembers he’s standing at Louis’ door with love in his heart and anger in his veins. He exhales roughly through his nose, inhaling so deep his lungs burn before he gets the words out in a faint whoosh. “I listened to your album,” he starts.
or, Louis and Harry run into each other at the GRAMMYs, and there's more than just awards taken home that night.
Forever at Your Feet by larry_hiatus / @emilarry (52562)
“Don’t fight it, darling,” Louis breathed, thumb stroking over Harry’s cheekbone. “You’re so very special. I can see it, and God can see it. He wants you to have this opportunity, he wants you to be ultimately purified. He wants you, cherub.”
Or the one where Harry’s in a sex cult, and he’s the leader’s favorite.
gambled our souls to the summer by staybeautiful / @hazzalou (60000)
“Harry Styles,” Louis said with a bored tone. “Aren’t you meant to be getting married today?”
“Fuck off,” Harry retorted, finally leaning up off the hood of his car. He looked around the parking lot, which was full of cars, but free of any other people. “Can I have a ride?”
“To your wedding?” Louis teased just to see Harry roll his eyes.
It's the summer of '99 and, after helping Harry run away from his wedding, Louis has one week on a secluded Maine island to get the second chance he's always wanted.
Untethered by HoldingOnToChaos / @holdingontochaos (73174)
The foundation of Louis’ predictable, quiet life is shattered when his alpha demands they open their marriage out of the blue.
His reluctance and denial of his new reality shackle him until he finally allows himself to give in and experiment with some long-forgotten desires.
It’s with chance and luck that he meets Harry, a charming, sexy alpha who shows him what actual unconditional love can really feel like.
The only trouble is, Louis' still married, and his open marriage is meant to be temporary.
Or: Louis is forced to open his marriage, which inevitably leads him to falling in love with the alpha that changes his life.
The Sun Must Set to Rise by sunflouwerhabit and therogueskimo / @sunflouwerhabit @bravetemptation (97206)
Influencer Louis Tomlinson’s life is blown apart when his wife is caught cheating on him on the jumbotron at a Harry Styles concert.
It might very well be the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
Bloodstain by violetlilachyacinth (98643)
“Are you alright?” He hears Harry ask again, maybe even sounding alarmed now. But all Louis can see is red.
“I’m just,” He gasps, his voice breaking, incapable of even blinking away from the target. “So thirsty.”
A Southern Baptist community in 1982 rural North Carolina isn't the most conducive environment for vampirism.
wildflower by blueskiesrry / @blueskiesrry (112732)
“You look like a wildflower,” Louis comments, shielding his eyes from the sun, the crinkles near them even more prominent in this light.
“What?” Harry’s words stumble over a surprised laugh.
“With your hair all fluffy like that.”
Harry’s fingers automatically find their way into his hair as he silently curses the humidity out on the water.
“He kind of does, doesn’t he?” Elizabeth adds.
Louis tilts his head to the side, smile softening and blurred around the edges. “Our very own long-stemmed wildflower.”
or: a 1950s hollywood story spanning half a decade where harry and louis are constantly growing towards, away from, & around each other and everything harry wants are things he can’t have.
It Was Just Red by Niallinjapan2013 (127638)
"A body was found in a room inside the Swissotel in Chicago. Police have confirmed foul play is suspected"
"The desperate manhunt going nation wide tonight."
"A car has flown off I-25 and landed in the river."
"Deaths caused by the drug chromadone continue to skyrocket."
"The FBI is still on the hunt for suspects Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson."
"We got one in custody."
"Copy one in custody"
Harry and Louis are on the run.
(Again)
Desire Paths by hazel_tea_dreams / @hazelteadreams (149376)
“Hello,” Harry says, trying to sound cool but soft and not like an absolute knob. “What are you doing in my meadow?”
“Your meadow?” Louis quips back, quick as lightning.
“Yes,” he says with a little chuckle.
“Hm,” Louis says, rising to his feet and dusting off the back of his shorts. He tries to sound very serious but can’t help but smile when he says, “I thought it belonged to the bees.”
On the Cheshire Plain, in a small, queer town called Whylom Green, a peculiar old manor house and its adjoining meadow are teeming with magic. When charming newcomer Louis Tomlinson spots the unusual place from the road, he has no way of predicting how the home and its caretaker, Dr. Harry Styles, will alter the course of his life. Can Louis, heart unmoored, put down an anchor? Can Harry, lost at sea, accept a helping hand? Can their collective friends and family, a motley crew of farmers and artists and lovers and witches, give them a reason to hope again?
Tornado Warnings by satelliterrry / @satelliterrrry (171488)
Louis knows his place: serving at The KettlePot, nodding along to Mina's plans for his future, and never questioning why none of this feels quite right. Then he meets her insufferable, arrogant, mate Harry. He should hate him. He does hate him. But hatred isn't supposed to feel like this. As Louis finds himself drawn deeper into Harry's chaos, he learns some lies are easier to maintain than others, especially the ones he's telling himself.
Swansong by shaylea (181479)
What do you after all your dreams have come true?
And you're discovering just how much they've cost you?
Twenty years ago, Louis, Harry, Zayn, Liam and Niall were the first actors to play Billy in the musical Billy Elliot in the West End. Their dreams of stardom led them down different roads, but now the Billys have been reunited on tour in Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. Each of them is at a crossroads in their life and it's time to figure out what comes next.
For Harry and Louis, it's the first time they've seen each other since they broke up a decade ago after starring in this same show together. Liam and Zayn have some decisions to make about balancing their careers with their long-term relationship. And Niall wants to find out if he made the right decision when he turned his back on dance.
come home to me by aquietlarrie / @aquietlarrie (261563)
set over a decade and between differing countries, harry and louis are childhood best mates where by the life choices they'd made in their youth, inevitably end up separated from one another. harry travels the world, whilst louis stays home at uni. as ever, life has it's ways of bringing them back together, but it's never the right time for them no matter how entangled with each other they become. unconditional, and at times, frustratingly blind through sheer stubborn will, the two of them navigate their early to late twenties together until they can no longer carry on and a decision needs to be made.
or an exploration into how the ages of seventeen to your late twenties can feel anything but stable. a realistic, and sometimes confrontational deep dive into healing yourself as a whole away from the one you love the most, sprinkle in a relationship dynamic where boundaries of said friendship are blurred with codependency and jealousy, and the complexities of such emotions are explored.
