Alternate Universe - Gang — Tag Meaning
Organizes characters into street gangs — turf wars, initiation loyalty, leather jackets and territory lines — with a register grittier and younger than mob AUs' organized hierarchies. Especially prolific in K-pop and anime fandoms, it often pairs a gang member with a civilian who should run and doesn't.
What to Expect From "Alternate Universe - Gang" Fics
Street-level danger and fierce us-against-the-world bonds; expect violence, protectiveness, and divided loyalties.
How to find Alternate Universe - Gang fics on AO3
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Browse "Alternate Universe - Gang" works on AO3Related Tags
Alternate Universe - Mob
Reorganizes the cast into organized crime: dons and capos, enforcers and accountants, loyalty oaths and territory wars. The canonical tag covers mafia AUs broadly, and the genre splits between glamorous danger-romance — falling for the boss — and grimmer studies of violence, debt, and the impossibility of getting out.
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Alternate Universe - Criminals
The general-purpose crime AU for thieves, con artists, getaway drivers, and heist crews who don't fit the mob or assassin molds. Found-family heist teams are the genre's sweetheart configuration — Leverage proved a crew pulling jobs together is just an ensemble romance with lockpicks — though grittier takes exist alongside the capers.
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Alternate Universe - 1950s
Stages the cast in the decade of diners, drive-ins, and aggressively enforced normalcy. Writers split between affectionate pastiche — milkshakes, greasers, sock hops — and stories that press on the era's repression, where queer or otherwise nonconforming characters build hidden lives behind picket fences.
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