Idiots in Love

:See failboatsinlove for the Brendon/Spencer Livejournal community.
Idiots in Love is a popular trope in fanworks. Alternative iterations of the trope include Failboats in Love, Dorks in Love, Idiots to Lovers (a play on the Friends to Lovers and Enemies to Lovers tropes), and more. 
This umbrella term covers diverse setups, including characters who are too blind to their own emotions to realize they are in love with each other or who Didn't Know They Were Dating, angsty stories of characters pining for each other, or fluffy fics about established relationships where the characters' love for each other is so all-consuming that it obliterates their ability to function. 
The malleability of the term is illustrated by the fact that the most commonly associated tags on AO3 include both Fluff and Angst, First Kiss and Established Relationship, etc. 
Typically, the idiots are surrounded by long-suffering secondary characters who have to put up with their idiocy and sometimes have to act as matchmaker.
==History==
The idea is presumably as old as fanfiction itself, and many fanworks probably depict these trope dynamics without using any of these terms. 
As of 02/09/2021, 52k works used the tag on AO3. The most common tags used in conjunction with Idiots in Love included: Fluff, Mutual Pining, Love Confessions, Angst and Friends to Lovers. 
233 works used "Idiots in love" in their titles.
===Failboats in Love===
The term "failboat" in particular originated in macros on 4chan in 2006, as a subcategory of "fail" memes featuring actual boats in various precarious positions.Know Your Meme page about Failboat, accessed 02/09/2021. 
In 2008, popular Bandom author sunsetmog used the term in the summary of her story If Music Be The Food Of Love (I'll Have The Veggie Burger), and by 2009, "Failboats in Love" had become a common enough term in that corner of fandom that a Livejournal community dedicated to Brendon/Spencer of Panic at the Disco was named failboatsinlove.failboatsinlove Livejournal community, accessed 02/09/2021.
On AO3, Sunsetmog's story is the first occurrence of the tag.Failboats in Love in chronological order of use, accessed 2/09/2021. The term is still used for fanworks in a variety of fandoms, but wildly out-numbered by the "Idiots" alternative, with only 142 uses as of 02/09/2021. 
==Discussion==
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfic===
*If Music Be The Food Of Love (I'll Have The Veggie Burger) (Bandom, 2008)
*Mutually satisfying weirdness by sirona (MCU Steve/Bucky, 2014)
*Right There All the Time by devje (Once Upon a Time, Emma Swan/Regina Mills, 2015)
*Give Me Nothing, Give Me You by dls (The Witcher Geralt/Jaskier Modern AU, 2020)
*Waiting for an Answer by KinomiAkai (Naruto, Sasuke/Naruto Roommates AU)
===Podfic===
*crust and sugar over (PODFIC) by Opalsong (Yuri on Ice, 2018)
*A Good Few Verses by reena_jenkins (The Witcher, Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer OT3, 2020)
*Crown of Thorns Pod'rama, 2020/2021
*[Podfic] Any Other Name by triedunture (Good Omens, Aziraphale/Crowley)
*[podfic] You Can't Handle The Tooth by mellowzukodeer (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zukka Post-canon AU)
===Fanart===
*I think I just "fell" for you, a Miraculous Ladybug digital drawing by sweetjupiter (selected tags: #dorks, #idiots in love, #idiots to lovers) (2021)
*ways of flirting -with shindrift-, a digital drawing meme by heavenlyeros (selected tags: #oh to be an idiot in denial who can't resist falling in love with the same paranoid idiot who can't refuse, #as you both parade as different people, #over and over and over again) (2021)
*First Kiss, a digital comic by zaccrimart (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) (2021)
===Vids===
==Resources==
*Idiots in Love AO3 tag
*Idiots in Love Tumblr tag
*Failboats in Love AO3 tag
*Dorks in Love AO3 tag
*Idiots to Lovers AO3 tag 
==References==
Category:Romance Tropes