Aliens Made Them Do It — Tag Meaning
A classic science-fiction fandom scenario in which an outside force — alien captors, observation rituals, cultural requirements — compels two characters into intimacy. Dating back to early media fandom zines, it provided plausible deniability for pairings the era wouldn't otherwise depict; contemporary versions tend to foreground the consent dynamics the original trope sidestepped.
What to Expect From "Aliens Made Them Do It" Fics
Coerced-situation intimacy with an external scapegoat; the emotional reckoning afterward is usually the actual story.
How to find Aliens Made Them Do It fics on AO3
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Browse "Aliens Made Them Do It" works on AO3Popular Fics Tagged "Aliens Made Them Do It"
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Related Tags
Sex Pollen
A long-standing fandom trope in which exposure to a substance — alien flora, magical contamination — induces overwhelming arousal that must be addressed, typically endangering the affected character otherwise. Originating in Star Trek-era fan writing, it persists as a vehicle for forced-intimacy scenarios; consent under compulsion is the genre's central, much-discussed problem, and many modern fics engage it directly.
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Fuck Or Die
The bluntest of the dubious-consent premise tags: circumstances make intimacy a survival requirement — poison with one antidote, a curse with one exit. The tag's frankness is a courtesy, letting readers opt in or out of the consent problem at a glance; authors range from playing the scenario for heat to interrogating its coercion seriously.
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Undercover as a Couple
The procedural fandom's gift to romance: partners must pose as a couple for a mission, and professionalism wages a losing war against chemistry. The trope thrives in cop, spy, and agent fandoms, where the cover story licenses touches and endearments the characters would never otherwise risk.
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Forced Proximity
The structural trope underneath half of fandom's favorites: circumstances compel two people to share space they would never have chosen — stuck, snowed in, assigned together, handcuffed, quarantined. Proximity does what neither character will: it makes avoidance impossible, and fanfic trusts no force more reliably to convert tension into honesty.
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