History HeterosexualLifePartners / Literature

* Kethry and Tarma, of Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Vows and Honor'' trilogy in the Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar series. Tarma's tribe is all but extinct, and Kethry is expected to restart it. Which she does. Fanfic is somewhat discouraged by the fact that Kethry is quite enthusiastically straight, and Tarma is asexual by divine directive. They're also sworn [[BloodBrothers Blood Sisters]], with that same divinity sealing the deal. That doesn't stop them from occasionally pretending to be lovers, or raising children together with Kethry's husband Jadrek, or living alone together when Jadrek dies and all of the children grow up. They do love one another, it's spelled out more than once--but they really aren't lovers.

* [[BloodBrothers David and Jonathan]] from ''Literature/TheBible''. When Jonathan dies, David laments that he loved him more than any woman. It could just be David's way of simply saying his relationship with Jonathan is BetterThanSex. David looked up to Jonathan; Jonathan was of legal age and killing Philistines before a young David was anointed, and Jonathan, knowing God's will, vowed to serve David loyally once David became king.[[labelnote:*]]Jonathan's father was ''King'' Saul[[/labelnote]]

* Percy and Jason, in ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', once they get past their initial antagonism, snark at each other all the time, but clearly care deeply for the other. Annabeth even calls it a "bromance."
* Arthur and Ford in ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. Ford constantly saves Arthur's butt, even when it'd be more convenient for Ford to simply take off and leave Arthur behind--surprising, considering that Ford by nature is incredibly selfish and self-serving. Having Arthur around only makes Ford's life more difficult--everything needs explaining (and Arthur takes a while to catch on), Arthur has almost zip self-preservation instincts (to the point that Ford has to ''drag him away'' from an army of killer robots), and (perhaps the most irritating thing for Ford) Arthur never seems to want to ''do'' anything ("We're popping off to a party and having a bit of fun. Is that an idea you can wrap your head around?") By ''Mostly Harmless'', the two seem to be completely sick to the teeth of each other (to the point where Arthur seems to want Ford to kill himself), and yet they support and rely on each other anyway.

* Creator/HPLovecraft:
** In "The Hound", the two main characters retreat from the world to wallow in (chaste) decadence together. Poppy Z. Brite wrote a tribute to this in which the [[{{Expy}} equivalent characters]] ''were'' gay.
** In ''Literature/HerbertWestReanimator'', West and the narrator live and work together for many years; if memory serves, the narrator even joins the military to stay near West during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. (And see under Film, above.)
** Interestingly, following a failed marriage Lovecraft's considered the poster boy for abstinent asexuality.

** Túrin and Beleg in Tolkien's ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin''/''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. They forego the comfortable Elven halls of Doriath to live together in isolation for years; then, when Túrin is unjustly exiled, Beleg spends over a year searching for him in the wilderness, only to be captured and tortured to the point of death, rendering it necessary for Túrin to swoop in and rescue him; and that's just the beginning. Indeed, due to women being fairly marginalized throughout most of the volume, Tolkien rather unsubtlely uses Beleg as the DistressedDamsel of the narrative...the amount of times he is captured, imprisoned, and rescued at the last moment would make any number of female Mary-Sues jealous.

* In the glass thorns series by Melanie Rawn,Cayden Silversun and Meika Windthistle. Throughout the series both Cade and Meika are closer to each other than the other members of their theater troupe, at inns they share a room, and at multiple points we find them sleeping in the same bed when one or the other has a nightmare. They have both said more than once that they love each other, despite their vitriolic relationship, although that hasn't stopped them from frequently seeking congenial female company, especially after Meika's doomed marriage, which failed in part due to his wife's jealously of his relationship with Cade. They even end up buying and living in the same house.

* [[BloodBrothers David and Jonathan]] from ''Literature/TheBible''. When Jonathan dies, David laments that he loved him more than any woman. HoYay ensues. It could just be David's way of simply saying his relationship with Jonathan is BetterThanSex. David looked up to Jonathan; Jonathan was of legal age and killing Philistines before a young David was anointed, and Jonathan, knowing God's will, vowed to serve David loyally once David became king.[[labelnote:*]]Jonathan's father was ''King'' Saul[[/labelnote]]

* [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Tom Sawyer]] and [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn Huckleberry Finn.]] In the first book Tom had a "bosom friend" named Joe Harper, but once Huck came in they became a trio, and then Joe was dropped altogether, probably because Huck was so much more interesting. At one point Tom hinted to Huck that he liked a girl and wanted to marry her, and Huck tried to talk him out of it, finally saying, "Only if you get married I'll be more lonesomer than ever." Tom's response? "No you won't, you'll come and live with me."

--->''Neither Henree nor [Conway] had ever married, and for neither were there any girls to compete with Barbara in memory.'' -- narration, ''Literature/DavidStarrSpaceRanger''

* Percy and Jason in ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus,'' once they get past their initial antagonism, snark at each other all the time, but clearly care deeply for the other. Annabeth even calls it a "bromance."

*** Dr Hector Conway, Augustus Henree, and Lawrence Starr were a three-man team working for the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Council of Science]]. All three fell in love with the same woman, but Hector and Augustus gracefully accepted it when she married Lawrence. The [[HasTwoMommies two men]] decided to [[ParentalSubstitute adopt their son]] after the couple died.

* Kethry and Tarma, of Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Vows and Honor'' trilogy in the Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar series. Tarma's tribe is all but extinct, and Kethry is expected to restart it. Which she does. Fanfic is somewhat discouraged by the fact that Kethry is quite enthusiastically straight, and Tarma is asexual by divine directive. They're also sworn [[BloodBrothers Blood Sisters]], with that same divinity sealing the deal. That doesn't stop them from occasionally pretending to be lovers, or [[HasTwoMommies raising children together]] with Kethry's husband Jadrek, or living alone together when Jadrek dies and all of the children grow up. They do love one another, it's spelled out more than once--but they really aren't lovers.