Roommates AU
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | Housemates AU, Flatmates AU, Apartment AU, New Girl AU, Friends AU, Living Together |
| Related tropes/genres | Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence AU |
| See also | Oh My God, They Were Roommates |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Roommates AU is a fanfic trope fairly common in various fandoms, where the stories are in a universe where a group of characters or at least two characters are roommates in an apartment or a house. This was probably influenced by the television shows Friends and New Girl. It's often mixed with another alternate universe tropes such as Modern AU and College AU. Roommates AU is often used as a way to get a pairing together.
Vine Meme
Oh my God, they were roommates is a meme inspired by a popular 2014 Vine in which a woman walking by the camera is saying into her cell phone, "...and they were roommates!" The man holding the camera then says, sotto voce, "Oh my god, they were roommates!"[1][2] Know Your Meme has a writeup here. This became a popular tumblr/meme format for spin-offs such as vampires in the same coffin (oh my god they were tombmates), etc. It is possible that the spread of the meme in fandom contributed to the popularity of Roommate AUs. A title search on AO3 shows that references to the meme have become popular fic titles.
This trope was especially popular in 2014-2015 One Direction and Larry Stylinson fandom, because Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson were indeed roommates in 2012-2013.
Fannish Examples
- AO3: text post by shorthalt, Archived version (26 May 2017)[3]
- Stranger Things: text post by finnwolflhard, Archived version (3 November 2017)[4]
- Welcome to Night Vale: text post by night-vale-community-radio, Archived version (23 November 2016)[5]
- Harry Potter: tumblr thread reblogged by niranhesr, Archived version (19 January 2017)[6]
- Fullmetal Alchemist: art post by shu-ni, Archived version (6 March 2018)[7]
Example Fanworks
- She by thefooliam, Clarke/Lexa, Her roommate looks at her sometimes and Clarke is never sure if they’re going to kill or kiss each other. When Clarke Griffin forgets to complete her sophomore year residency application, she returns to college to find that they’ve paired her with the last roommate she ever expected to get. (2016)
- to build a home by manycoloureddays, Bellamy/Clarke, Clarke was here doing these three boys a favour; the only person to answer their ad online asking for “someone with no criminal record, a steady paycheck, and some goddamn common sense”. She didn’t need to be judged by Bellamy Blake. New Girl/Roommates AU, Witch!Clarke. (2014-11-01)
- This Is How (our walls came down) by SapphireBlueJiyuu, Ward/Simmons, Boundaries are meant to be crossed... rules are meant to be broken. (started 2014-11-21, WIP)
- You Irritate Me by Nat. The band's female best friend shares an apartment with them; things get sexual. (2008-2009)
- catalyst to your own happiness by usoverlooked, Scott/Lydia, Scott wakes up to his doorbell and opens the door to find Lydia Martin perched on a large suitcase. Futurefic. (2014-03-12)
Various combinations of the 1D boys often live together in fics:
- Keep Holding Me This Way by mentalistecbm. College AU, Zayn and Harry are roommates. (2015-02-04)
- Red Brick Heart by hazmesentir). College AU, all of them live together. (2013-09-16)
- we're afire love by soleilouis. Harry moves in with single dad Louis. (2014-07-09)
Links
- Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates tag at AO3
- Living Together tag at AO3
- Roommates tag at FF.net
- Roommates AU tag at Tumblr
References
- ^ ig @mattsukkar , Oct 25, 2014
- ^ 2016 youtube copy
- ^ 104,851 notes as of 3 December 2018
- ^ 9,078 notes as of 3 December 2018
- ^ 1660 notes as of 3 December 2018
- ^ 93,952 notes as of 3 December 2018
- ^ 32,707 notes as of 3 December 2018