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#and i STRUGGLED with the louis one cause i wanted to do it in watercolor first
naedsart · 2 years
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louis and lestat
oil on paper, 2022
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getalittleclosey · 4 years
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under 50k larry fic rec
hi! i’m becca and i read...so much fic. these rec lists are an accumulation of fic that i’ve read or reread and extra loved from 2016-now. there’s a wide range of stuff here and i think there’s definitely something for everyone!! i divided them up by length so you can check out all those categories below!
please make sure to read tags and warnings on all these fics!! the only things i think i can guarantee is that these are all larry, there’s no non-con, no age play, no eating disorders, no mentions of bg, they end happy, and they’re mostly aus. oh and they’re all on ao3 and some are locked so you’ll need an account! anyway i hope y’all enjoy!!!
under 5k
under 10k
under 25k
under 100k
100k+
☆ the beginning of everything by thedeathchamber 31k
“How do you take it?” Harry asked, pouring tea into a cup.
“Just a dash of milk, please,” Louis cast a look over the small table, filled to capacity. “They’re very fond of you.”
Harry ducked his head, grinning. “They’re trying to impress you.”
Louis smiled, shaking his head. “Why would they want to do that?” he asked as he took the cup Harry passed to him, their fingers brushing for an instant.
“Empathy,” Harry said under his breath.
--
A Belle Époque AU set (mostly) in Paris in which Harry is a struggling artist, in more ways than one, and Louis is a successful theatre critic and a failed writer, more or less.
☆ to kill the mess we’ve made by misandrogyny 43k
And when he's finally standing, Liam fussing over him, rubbing his hand at the red mark blooming on Harry's forehead, does Harry learn two things:
One, he wasn't actually hit that hard, and Tommo--or Louis, rather--is just as pretty when Harry is staring at him head-on and,
Two, Louis is the Adidas model he's going to be working with on today's photo shoot.
(or: AU where Harry and Louis are both models, and they decide being friends-with-benefits is a great idea. It isn't.)
☆ heart open, bloodstain on my sleeve by silkbombs (mulberrygrey) 36k
“I couldn’t help myself,” Harry admits, one hand coming to rub the back of his neck, “I stared at you for a good while before I finally got the guts to come up to you. You looked so pretty sitting there, with your little ankles and your pencil in your mouth, so enthralling… art in front of art.”
Louis’ not sure what to say, so he just kind of sits there, eyes bugging out as he stares at Harry.
“I mean, like you’re not an object!” Harry rushes out, babbling.
“I just, there’s something about you that’s so captivating, and maybe it’s the way your eyes are like a watercolor painting of the sea, or how delicate your hands look when you draw, but I just wanted to get to know you. It’s not like I pick up random boys at art museums usually, I swear. Not that I’m trying to pick you up! Unless you want to be…God, fuck I’m sorry this is so awkward now. I can go, um, if you want."
--- Or, the one where Harry's the long limbed, gangly, sweetheart who just happens be a high profile art thief who conducts heists for a living and Louis' the loud, pushy art student who just happens to steal his heart.
☆ a king beside you by stylinsoncity 26k
When the aliens invade, the last thing Louis expects is to fall in love.
☆ the boys of summer by afirethatcannotdie 45k
“I mean…we’re gonna have to sneak around anyway, yeah? Like, with that whole rules thing that I guess we’ve decided to ignore. Might make it a little more fun this way.”
AU. In which Louis is a reluctant sports coach, Harry's a fellow counselor who wears tiny yellow shorts, and camp rules say they're forbidden to date.
☆ don’t let the tide come and take me by kiwikero 29k
The aquarium in the lobby has been there as long as Louis can remember, and so has the merman inside. That is, until the day Louis loses his job and decides to set the creature free.
They set off on a road trip to the sea, learning to communicate more and more each day. Their destination is LA, but the closer they get and the more Louis gets to know the merman, the more he dreads having to say goodbye.
Or, the one where Louis decides to set a merman free and ends up finding his own freedom along the way.
☆ introduction to dynamics by juliusschmidt 29k
Louis Tomlinson is the outspoken omega in the 'Introduction to Dynamics' course Harry wishes he didn't have to take. He's nearly certain to present as a beta, after all. Things will be simple for him.
☆ saved tonight by objectlesson 31k
Harry is the world's most persistent seduction-baker, a questionable dog-sitter, and Louis's biggest fan. Louis hasn't written in years, is trying to pass loneliness off as cynicism, and absolutely hates his fans. It's probably destiny.
☆ once upon a dream by objectlesson 27k
“M’not gonna half-ass our fake relationship,” Louis almost snaps, voice sharp with a defensive edge, like Harry wandered too close to a bruise with needy fingers. “Now kiss me again. We’re gonna make every shitty tourist here wish they had stayed in the Midwest. We’re gonna burn Disneyland down with our gay. ”
Harry shuts his eyes and opens his mouth, because he can’t fucking say no to Louis.
--
Or, a fake dating AU where everyone is lying and they happen to be at the Happiest Place on Earth.
☆ rivers ‘til i reach you by embodied 29k
Louis can’t begin to understand how he’s always this close and still can’t manage to make Harry his. He stands up and gets another beer. AU. Louis studies astronomy; Harry studies Louis. They spend their summers on the water and it shouldn't be complicated (spoiler: it is).
☆ life was a song, you came along by rainbowninja167 38k
It's embarrassing how long it takes Louis to recognize his own song. Niall had sung it as a bright, hopeful love song, and that’s honestly how Louis had always assumed it should sound. But this new voice, slow and rough, stripped of any backing instrument, has infused the lyrics with just the tumultuous mix of fear and defiance that Louis can remember so clearly from the night he wrote them. It’s not a comfortable thing, to feel like someone is singing all your secrets back to you.
Louis is a songwriter trapped in a lie that could ruin his best friend's career. Harry owns a record store, distrusts everyone in the music industry on principle, but loves Niall Horan's newest album. A modern retelling of Singin' in the Rain.
☆ learning to eat by photo41 29k
Celebrity chef Louis Tomlinson has a problem. He’s opening his first restaurant in 9 weeks, and he has yet to hire a pastry chef- apparently people think he’s ‘standoffish’ and ‘rude’ and ‘quick to temper’. Whatever. He ends up saddled with an annoying, happy-go lucky rookie who also happens to be obnoxiously good looking. His tv presenter and pop star best friends only add to the drama, and for fucks sake would everyone please stop quoting Julia Child?!
Kitchen AU where Harry helps Louis re-learn how to eat. (METAPHORICALLY)
note: just to clarify this is NOT an eating disorder fic don’t worry
☆ runner on third by kikikryslee 40k
As Harry stood there, the other man turned around, and he knew he was correct in who he thought it was. “Louis?” he asked, still not quite believing it. Louis blinked. “Harry? Wh– what are you doing here?” “I work here,” Harry said. “What are you doing here?” “Um, I’m picking up my brother. The nurse called and said he was sick.” Harry felt like he was going to be sick. “Wait, Ernest is your brother? Since when do you have a brother?” “Since about seven years ago, I guess. Wait, how do you know Ernest?” “I’m his teacher.” “You’re his what?” Louis exclaimed. Harry gulped. This was going to be a long year. --- Or, the AU where Louis and Harry were best friends growing up, but lost touch after Harry moved away. Ten years later, Harry has moved back to town, but he and Louis don't pick up where they left off.
note: there are four fics in this series that total to 60k
☆ roots by cherrystreet 43k
There aren’t many things that make Harry Styles nervous. He’s spent the past couple of years on and off various stages, filled with screaming fans, all chanting his name, loud and adoring. He’s done countless interviews, some even on live, national television, never faltering over his words, answers meticulously planned out, smooth and steady. He’s signed countless autographs, taken just as many photos, and even when he sat in his label’s studio, waiting to see how high up on the charts his single made it, he didn’t feel uneasy or uncomfortable. It’s all been unbelievably fun. No, there aren’t many things that make Harry Styles nervous.
Enter Louis Tomlinson.
☆ once upon a dream by thedeathchamber 33k
Louis is psychic and gets caught in the middle of a murder investigation led by FBI Special Agent Harry Styles.
aka. the Medium/Criminal Minds-inspired AU no one ever asked for.
note: there’s a 24k sequel for this!
☆ the melody you never heard by bananasandboots 30k
It's one last adventure. One last chance to be young and carefree. One final weekend before they take up their internships, their corporate positions, before they enter the real world, fresh out of university. Niall's his best mate. Liam's been there for him since they were lost, little freshmen, trying to find their ways through an overwhelming first year. Harry can't disappoint them, even if it means enduring four days with Louis.
Louis, who he does share a history with, a history he's never told anyone about, not even Niall, a history he hasn't brought up in three years because it's stupid and embarrassing and confusing.
Or, the one where Harry gets roped into a four-day camping trip with the boy who kissed him and never called back.
☆ born to make you happy by objectlesson 26k
Harry makes a quiet vow to himself that he will be the very best girlfriend Louis has ever had, even if he never actually gets to be Louis’s girlfriend.
note: i literally had to take a break and reread this cause i love it so much
☆ close to nowhere by angelichl 35k
“I will kill you in your sleep,” Louis threatened as he quickly stepped out of his jeans.
“I don’t think that would work very well baby, seeing as you talk to dead people all the time.”
“I’ll kill you in your sleep and ignore your ghost. And don’t call me that.”
Louis and Harry are psychics who kind of hate each other. They go to Tennessee to investigate a haunting.
☆ adrenaline by reveries_passions 38k 
“Harry Styles,” Nameless Boy who now has a name says. Louis is too busy having an internal crisis to realize the boy has just introduced himself as Harry Styles. Harry Styles, only son of Des Styles, PhD, Dean of Harvard Medical School. Harry Styles, known by everyone and their grandmother. Harry Styles, star rower. Harry Styles, youngest enrolled student in graduate school at Harvard University. Oh my god, Louis thinks, mortified. I just slept with Harry Styles. As he reaches out tentatively to shake the boy’s hand, another thought hits him. Oh my god. Harry Styles is gay.
~
louis tomlinson, college dropout, up and coming dj, and gay activist, is the notorious owner of exclusive underground gay club, adrenaline.
harry styles, med student by day, partier by night, child prodigy and seemingly heterosexual son of harvard professors, is the youngest and arguably the smartest student at harvard medical school.
or: a one night stand wasn't supposed to become the greatest love story of the 21st century.
☆ bloodsport by tofiveohfive 40k
“You know how our next game is against the Cardinals, right? You remember how vicious those guys can get. I wanted us to come up with some plays, maybe work on a block from the left—”
Louis stops when he hears a chuckle.
He doesn’t think he’s said anything particularly funny, so he turns to Harry, waiting for an explanation.
“‘S funny, ‘s all.” Harry throws his finished bottle somewhere near the other discarded ones. “This is the first time you’re talking to me in eight months, and it’s still about football.”
☆ the haunting of louis tomlinson helloamhere 31k
“I'm not afraid of ghosts,” Louis said.
Every single magnet unstuck itself from the fridge and fell to the floor in a clattering cascade.
“I'm only a little afraid of ghosts,” Louis said.
*** OR: Louis is a plucky Gothic Heroine, Harry is a Mournful Spirit, and Big Country Houses are full of mystery and suspense, as Big Country Houses ever are!
☆ can i not like you for a while? by larryshares 43k
louis tomlinson is awful. harry is just as difficult, and they're both terrible to each other. it makes being in the same acapella group together quite complicated.
☆ delight in masques by kassio 28k
Popstar Louis Tomlinson has been pulling one over on the mortals for years. In the five years since he put on a human illusion and tried out for the X Factor, none of them have realised that he’s one of the Fair Folk – a cat shapeshifter, to be precise – and he’d like to keep it that way.
When he returns to the X Factor as a guest judge, the last thing he expects is for some half-Siren fool to use magic on the judges. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Harry Styles does. Now Louis has to track down some rogue changeling before he exposes them all. Even worse? Apparently, Harry doesn’t even know what he is.
(An urban fantasy adventure, set in the world of - but not crossing over with - the October Daye book series. No need to be familiar with those books; I just want to give credit where it's due on a lot of the worldbuilding.)
☆ no love like your love by rearviewdreamer 43k
When it comes to saving the world from itself and convincing rich CEOs of environmentally harmful companies to go green, there's nobody better than Harry Styles. That is, until Louis Tomlinson, his ex and former Alpha, is involved.  
note: i love vegan harry styles
☆ for neither never nor ever by fairytalelights 29k
Then Harry looked down. A newspaper was on the steps in front of him, looking new, like it had only just gotten delivered but no one had bothered to carry it inside yet. That, in itself, wasn't unusual. The unusual thing was the headline, Chernobyl - Half a Year Later, and the date in the corner. 5th November 1986. He looked up to stare at the girl in the doorway one last time, before he did the only logical thing his body knew how to do in this situation. He bolted.
or, the one where Harry travels through time and has to come to terms with losing everything he's ever known. Louis might be the only thing that feels real.
☆ worth dying for by whoknows 45k
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Louis says, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. In the center of the table, a set of three glossy photos stares up at him, mocking him.
“A security detail is non-negotiable, Louis, you know this,” his mum reminds him, tapping the middle photo with two fingers.
Louis doesn’t look back down at the pictures, gesturing towards them wildly, over-dramatically. “This is not a security detail!” he protests. “This is a lanky college student. In what world do you hire someone like this kid to protect me?”
☆ listen to your heart by lovelarry10 35k
Are you kidding me right now?
I… No? Louis frowned, feeling angry now. It wasn’t fair, he knew that, but at the same time, he couldn’t help his feelings. It felt like this had been brewing for weeks, and this was it. Give it a rest, Harry.
Why are you such a brat? Why can’t you just be happy for me for once?
You think I want to hear about you kissing James? Really, H? There’s things I just don’t need to know, okay? I’m your best mate, not your fucking relationship advisor…
*****
Louis has always been comfortable being Harry’s one and only. When Harry starts to branch out, Louis has a hard time letting him go.
Harry is very lucky to have someone who listens to what he has to say, despite the fact that he’s deaf. He’s finally feeling like he’s coming into himself, but Louis seems bothered by his newfound confidence.
☆ another day gettin’ into trouble by whoknows 26k
Harry’s drunk when the idea occurs to him. He’s also a pop star, so sometimes his drunk ideas turn into actual things instead of just ideas. The clone-a-willy kit is one of them.
In Harry’s defense, when he first thinks about it his intention is just to buy the kit and give it to Louis to make his own dildo with, because that’s what he wants anyway, right? To have a penis filling him up?
Then he realizes that it would be weird if Louis made a copy of his own dick to fuck himself with. It’d be super weird. Louis fucking himself? That’s a weird idea. Harry’s pretty sure Louis wouldn’t like that.
Clearly the only solution here is to use his own dick for the mold.
☆ all the right moves by cherrystreet 32k
This is the third game in a row that Harry has been distracted by the noisy boy in the stands, five rows back.
There’s really no reason that he should feel compelled to stare into the audience as frequently as he is, but he can’t help it. This boy is a nuisance. And he’s loud. Even from basketball court with nine other players running by him, shoes squeaking on the shiny hardwood floor, and thousands of cheering college students, Harry can hear this boy nearly shrieking, his laugh more like a cackle than anything.
It’s seriously obnoxious.
☆ play the odds by alivingfire 26k
Harry and Louis are best friends since childhood who, after a night of drinking, find themselves locked in a bet: first one to kiss the other a thousand times wins. Wins what? They don't know. Glory, Harry supposes. Bragging rights, though those don't do much in this economy. All Harry knows is that this is one bet he can finally win. What he doesn't expect, though, is what happens when he starts kissing his best friend on a daily basis.
Namely, he doesn't expect falling head over heels in love with his best friend.
Now all he has to do is make sure the bet never ends, so he never has to stop kissing Louis.
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nathanhsantos · 5 years
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The Demarcation Line: Before and After Bitches Brew
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On August 19th, 1969, the day after Jimi Hendrix’s legendary performance at Woodstock, Miles Davis entered Columbia Records Studio B and over 3 days recorded what would be named Bitches Brew. These sessions were mostly experimental—merely governed by occasional audio gestures, finger snaps, and a few rehearsed musical signals. The bulk of the music representing the project was spontaneously invented by carefully chosen musicians who were afforded complete liberty to react in the moment.  Some participants now admit that there were moments that they were unaware they were even being recorded.  
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After these three days had ended and the musicians exited the studio, producer Teo Macero waded through all of the amorphous material and demonstrated his own creative virtuosity with a pioneering use of the studio effects and editing techniques by assembling it into the final product.  Once released on March 30th, 1970, it spread like wildfire becoming Davis’s first gold record, selling more than half a million copies.
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But this financial success often is used to upstage the Pandora’s Box that it opened.  From the vantage point of fifty years later, we can plainly see the demarcation line that is represented by this bold project.  On one side are those who contend that progress must be embraced—technological advances allow vocabulary to expand, but at what cost? Does progress also mean that perhaps that which is then rendered obsolete ought to be discarded from conversation altogether? What of those who prefer to strive for preservation and precise, authentic emulation of past masters, do they deserve scorn for defending what may be outside of conventional definitions of their craft?   
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This is the vigorous debate that continues to take place evidenced by the spirited conversation in 2009 by Davis sideman James Mtume and critic Stanley Crouch in a criticism of Ken Burns’s 2000 documentary series, Jazz (accused of giving post-1959 developments short shrift in favor of detailing the end of Louis Armstrong’s and Duke Ellington’s lives), and even the separation of the music into two separate channels on satellite radio: Real Jazz (and doesn’t that moniker clearly expose the controversy?) vs. Watercolors (a channel featuring music given the pejorative label, Smooth Jazz).  
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Fortunately for Miles, unlike his fallen peers, he lived long beyond 1970 and provided his own commentary on the events of this revolutionary time in cultural history.  Embellished with a tone of narcissistic self-importance, Davis, in his 1990 autobiography appropriately titled Miles, The Autobiography, is not shy about details of his life, both laudable and reprehensible.  
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He adamantly defends his race and his freedom at any cost, and enthusiastically acknowledges those figures enduring similar struggle without compromise of their integrity. He was born in 1924 and raised in East St. Louis as Miles Dewey Davis III, son of Miles Dewey Davis, Jr., a respected dentist who raised his son to view the world with Marcus Garvey–like suspicion. 
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Dr. Davis would forever support his second of three children as his son ventured to New York to enroll then quit Juilliard School of Music to pursue an insecure gigging career with Bebop groups, acquire a debilitating heroin habit, and even endure the misadventures with women—Davis (the son) was already responsible for two children who, unlike their father, were never financially supported even after his successful life ended in 1991.
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Miles describes the dynamic of the mid-1950s Civil Rights Era as a time that he also was finding his stride and becoming recognized along with others in his generation:
“When this group was getting all this critical acclaim, it seemed that there was a new mood coming into the country; a new feeling was growing among people, black and white.  Martin Luther King was leading that bus boycott down in Montgomery, Alabama, and all the black people were supporting him.  Marian Anderson became the first black person to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. Arthur Mitchell became the first black to dance with a major white dance company, the New York City Ballet.  Marlon Brando and James Dean were the new movie stars and they had this rebellious young image of the “angry young man” going for them.  Rebel Without a Cause was a big movie then. Black and white people were starting to get together and in the music world Uncle Tom images were on their way out. All of a sudden, everybody seemed to want anger, coolness, hipness, and real clean, mean sophistication. Now the “rebel” was in and with me being one at that time, I guess that helped make me a media star. Not to mention that I was young and good looking and dressed well too.” (Davis, 197-198)
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The group that was drawing celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Marlon Brando was his first remarkable Quintet featuring the tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. This group, just three years following King’s Montgomery Bus Boycott, recorded the album Kind of Blue, a masterpiece remaining the most important Jazz recording in history. This project was among the first to explore Modal composition:  the idea of improvising melody above an accompaniment of a static harmonic foundation.  The compositional approach was introduced to Davis and codified by theoretician George Russell in his Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization in 1953. When turntablism emerged in the 1970s as a means of maintaining a static accompaniment to support the emcees and breakdancing, it was merely updating the textures created by Miles Davis and his contemporaries in 1959 whose experiments began paving the way for Hip-Hop.
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