History Main / Cockfight

* ''Film/PastEonsProductionsWalkingWithDinosaurs'': Male dinosaurs like ''Gigantspinosaurs'' would clash with one another in order to gain the loyalty of the females.

[[quoteright:277:[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cyclops_wolverien_jeangrey.png]]]]

** Happens between Batman and Robin in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' thanks to Poison Ivy's pheromones.

* ''Franchise/XMen'':
** A tragic version of this is seen when [[HealingHands Elixir]] and [[TouchOfDeath Wither]] compete over Wallflower. It didn't end well for anyone.
** Contrary to fandom's popular belief, ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} and ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} have seldom fought over ComicBook/JeanGrey; maybe twice in TheEighties, and never after Scott and Jean's marriage in the main continuity.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'', Nightcrawler got in a very violent fight with Captain Britain over Meggan. Captain Britain ''thought'' he was invoking this trope, but in reality, courtesy of grinding stress, a bout of alchoholism, a curse, and exceptionally poor phrasing on Nightcrawler's part, he overreacted and took a swing at his teammate. Nightcrawler, for his part, was strongly tempted by Meggan, but steadfastly refused to act on it in any fashion.
* Cutter vs. Rayek vying to woo Leetah in the ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' Trial of Head, Hand and Heart arc. Slightly subverted in that whoever wins, Leetah has the final say. Then re-subverted in that she's Recognized Cutter and ultimately can't fight it.

* ComicBook/{{Thanos}} and ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} are both in love with Mistress Death, but Death only shows attraction to the Merc with the Mouth, much to Thanos' frustration. It got to the point that Thanos curses Deadpool with [[CursedWithAwesome immortal life]]. As long as Deadpool lives, he wouldn't be able to interfere with Thanos.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Ronno the Merman and "Wingo" the male Harpy fight over Diana's affections pretty much any time they're in the same issue. While she befriended them both as a teenager in the ComicBook/WonderGirl Impossible Tales her affections ultimately lie with ComicBook/SteveTrevor rather than either of her constantly fighting childhood friends.
* Deconstructed in ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman''. In the ninety-thousandth century, three aliens named Naurons arrived in Earth and used their vast super-powers to help people. Unfortunately, the male Naurons started a jealousy-driven fight over their female teammate (completely oblivious to her shouting them to stop). Their war lasted two days, turned the Earth's surface into a poisonous wasteland, and prompted Metropolis to ban the use of any super-power for thirty thousand years.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' when Tobias challenges Gumball to a duel for Penny's affections... while Gumball and Penny were trying to study. Gumball initially refuses and only accepts because Tobias would not stop bothering them otherwise (and by that I mean Tobias slapping Gumball in the face continously with a glove.) After it starts, Penny flat-out tells Tobias that she won't like him even if he wins and Gumball asks if he'd given any thought to what Penny would think, all of which Tobias is [[SmallNameBigEgo too delusional]] to pay any mind. Penny does become annoyed for Gumball still not having won (though when she interferes, she nearly really gets run over by a car, but Gumball saves her. Instead, the car mirrior [[BrickJoke grazes Tobias]], which finally has him leave.

** The brothers-in-arms, Blandamour and Paridell, are goaded by Ate into battling each other as soon as they see the beautiful Florinell.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Richard and Beckett's ex-boyfriend Will Sorensen. Halfway through the episode, Beckett flat-out suggests they just drop their pants and get it over with.

** A season four episode had a one-sided scenario. Zack and Lisa fall for each other, but a jealous Screech tries to sabotage a fashion show she held and fight him over her, which ends in him refusing to do so and Screech accepting their mutual attraction.
** Yet another season four episode has Zack and Slater fighting ''again'' over a girl, only this time it's a new student named Joanna which culminates into an actual fistfight. In the end, she refuses to date either of them [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome since she was disgusted by both their immaturity and for ruining her experience at the school.]]

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture:'' Pretending to fight and lose to his potential father over his potential mother is time traveling Marty [=McFly=]'s plan to make sure his potential parents get together romantically so he and his siblings won't disappear due to never being born. Unfortunately, due to some bad luck the plan goes badly wrong and his potential father gets in a real fight with Biff, a strong and mean spirited bully, while Marty is trapped helplessly in the trunk of a car. [[spoiler: Biff loses.]]

* In ''Manga/AkazukinChaCha'', Shiine and Riiya are constantly squabbling over Chacha, who [[ObliviousToLove remains blithely oblivious]]. They even stomp on each others' toes (literally) in the {{Anime}} trailer!

[[quoteright:278:[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cyclops_wolverien_jeangrey.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:278:Sometimes, {{Love Triangle}}s are just no fun.]]

* This is a subplot of Hayato and Randoll's rivalry in the latter half of the ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' TV series as they compete for Asuka's love in the Spanish GP, and at one point, Randoll even makes a bet with Asuka that if he wins that race, he gets her kiss. Both of these doesn’t come to fruition.

* In ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'', Kel breaks one up in her role as commander (/referee) of a refugee camp. She [[PutTheirHeadsTogether bangs the combatants’ heads together]] twice to settle them down, makes them grateful to be sent to a healer instead of a flogging, and gives the woman involved a public lecture and a week of [[PunishmentDetail latrine duty]] for encouraging two much-needed fighters to beat each other up for her own vanity instead of declaring her choice as tradition dictates.

[[quoteright:278:[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cyclops_wolverien_jeangrey.png]]]

[[quoteright:278:[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cyclops-Wolverien-JeanGrey_bis_5233.JPG]]]]

* WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}} and Faline's dance of love through the clouds is rudely interrupted by another stag, resulting in a savage fight.

* Cleaver and Darcy's hilarious WimpFight at the end of ''Literature/BridgetJones' Diary''.
* Inverted in ''Film/TheNextKarateKid''. Ned gets jealous of Julie and Eric hanging out and challenges Eric to a fight.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] for tragic irony in ''Film/{{Irreversible}}''; near the end of the film (which, due to the reverse chronology, happens before the other main events,) Alex's boyfriend playfully says that he "stole" her from a friend of his (with whom they both remain on good terms nonetheless) to which she says that he can't "steal" her because it's always the woman's choice and "(she is) not an object". This comes after the audience has watched her being used as exactly that and having her choice violated in the most brutal way possible during the film's notorious eight-minute rape scene.
* In the 2001 crime comedy ''Film/{{Bandits}}'', bank robbers [[Creator/BruceWillis Joe]] and [[Creator/BillyBobThornton Terry]] both fall in love with the [[ManicPixieDreamGirl slight odd]] but adorable [[Creator/CateBlanchett Kate]] and [[HilarityEnsues hilariously fight over her in scenes that involve dancing and plate glass windows]]. In a rather surprise twist, [[spoiler:Kate ends up [[OneTrueThreesome choosing both of them]], and they seem to be more than happy to share her.]]
-->'''[[SicklyNeuroticGeek Terry:]]''' Kate, you should choose. What's it gonna be? Mr. Action Figure Hero Guy? Or brains, and sensitivity, and a lot of other things I could name. So in other words: me or THAT guy?
-->'''[[ActionGenreHeroGuy Joe]]:''' Yeah. Good looking or ''ITCHY''?
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture:'' Pretending to fight and lose to his potential father over his potential mother is time traveling Marty [=McFly=]'s plan to make sure his potential parents get together romantically so he and his siblings won't disappear due to never being born. Unfortunately, due to some bad luck the plan goes badly wrong and his potential father gets in a real fight with Biff, a strong and mean spirited bully, while Marty is trapped helplessly in the trunk of a car. [[spoiler: Biff loses.]]
* In ''Film/Batman1989'' The Joker likes to think that he has this with Bruce Wayne/Batman over Vicki Vale, even lampshading: "Well, miss Vale... another rooster in the henhouse!" upon first seeing him in her apartment.
** Happens between Batman and Robin in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' thanks to Poison Ivy's pheromones.
* In the climax of the NewOldWest movie ''Film/ExtremePrejudice'', Texas Ranger Jack Benteen and his former friend turned drug kingpin Cash Bailey stage a pistol duel to see who gets to go home with Sarita, who openly states that they're both crazy. She's not entirely wrong, as Cash is implied to be doing this because he's bored and Jack because he's just too stubborn to back down.
* ''Film/{{Python}}'': John and his [[WeUsedToBeFriends former friend]] Greg (now a sheriff's deputy) are/were involved with the same girl. However, when the giant snake starts rampaging through town and John is inadvertently implicated in the strange deaths, Greg agrees to settle their dispute mano a mano rather than simply [[InspectorJavert abuse his power to be a dick]], and is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who believes that John is innocent.
* The main plot of ''Film/HighSchoolUSA'' involves an escalating war between J.J. and Beau as they fight for Beth's affections. It culminates in a CompeteForTheMaidensHand drag race.
* In ''Film/FaithfulHeart'', the hero Jean and the villain Petit Paul get into a fight over Marie. A gendarme tries to interfere and gets stabbed. [[FictionIsntFair Paul runs away and thus gets off scot-free while Jean is arrested and spends a year in prison.]]
* The opening trap of ''Film/Saw3D'' concerns Brad and Ryan, two friends who were dating the same woman (Dina) and are forced to choose between each other's lives or that of Dina. They spend a good minute trying to kill each other, [[SubvertedTrope until they realize]] that Dina was a two-timing, backstabbing adulterer who was playing them both, causing them to put BrosBeforeHoes and get her cut in half.
* ''Film/TheFastAndTheFuriousTokyoDrift'': The opening involves Sean starting a fight at his high school with [[JerkJock Clay]] over his girlfriend [[AlphaBitch Cindy]]. She then suggests they resolve their dispute with a street race, which ends with both their cars being totaled, and all three of them [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome bruised, battered, and arrested]].
* ''Film/PromWars'': Selby student Percy and Lancaster student Geoffrey make jerks of themselves fighting over A&C student Diana, who hates Geoffrey but gets mad at Percy and at boys in general as a result of the fight. She rallies the other A&C senior girls to remind the boys that they shouldn't take the girls for granted and make them sweat some. They issue a series of challenges for the two boys' schools to compete in, while saying that the girls will only go to the inter-school prom with boys from whichever school wins, with most of the boys eagerly participating.

* Edward and Jacob over Bella in ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga''.
* Variation in ''Literature/FriedGreenTomatoesAtTheWhistleStopCafe'': In the book, Ruth's husband fights with Ruth's lesbian lover, Imogen (Idgie), when Ruth says she wants to escape her abusive marriage to live with her.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' there was a non-heroic example of this long before the events of the book. Though she eventually married Eddard Stark, as a child Catelyn was betrothed to his older brother Brandon (who died in an unrelated incident) but was loved by a young Petyr Baelish (who would grow up to become the series premiere MagnificentBastard Littlefinger). This rivalry over Catelyn eventually led Petyr to challenge Brandon to a duel for Catelyn, where he got utterly [[CurbStompBattle curb stomped]]. The [[StartOfDarkness resulting effect on his character]] causes no end of problems for the whole of Westeros.
** Also in the back story is the cock fight to end all cock fights. Robert was rather understandably furious when Rhaegar kidnapped/eloped with Lyanna, his betrothed, which then sparked a ''war''. When Rhaegar and Robert finally met at the end of said war, they had an epic battle that Rhaegar fatally lost. Unfortunately for pretty much everyone, Lyanna died anyway.
* ''Literature/AmeliaPeabody'' finds watching her husband Emerson fight the 'Master Criminal' Sethos for her quite an 'interesting and stimulating sensation.
* Played with in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' with [[spoiler: Lily Evans, James Potter and Severus Snape. What subverts it is that the resentment existed not ''just'' because of Lily; Snape hated James because of James' charmed life and popularity, and James hated Snape because he was a budding [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Death Eater]]. James couldn't understand why Lily would be friends with someone not only generally unpleasant, but who viewed people of her birth as inferior. Lily eventually cut all ties with Snape when he called her a Mudblood, and in their last talk made clear she could no longer justify or excuse him. Meanwhile, once James matured and became a bit more humble, she fell for him, even marrying him when they got out of school.]]
* According to Creator/DaveBarry, elk do this until the female leaves in boredom, at which point the winning male has taken so much brain damage he mates with the first thing he sees, including shrubbery.
--> This is the great irony of macho behavior: women never seemed impressed by it.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Siron of Esrah and Culmus of Stratos fight each over Princess Kasile. They're so intense about it that they are not allowed to joust each other for fear of "accidents". In the aftermath of a RescueArc, she has to plead with them not to fight each other and even then there's a close call with StabTheScorpion. When they make their DeclarationOfProtection to her, they glance sidelong at each other: "Your Highness is safe with ''me''." This state of affairs is even more depressing for Kasile than the typical version; she confides in Eric, [[LikeBrotherAndSister her surrogate big brother]] that she hoped they would become BashBrothers.
* In ''[[Literature/ApprenticeAdept Out of Phaze]]'' by Creator/PiersAnthony, Mach's lover encourages a rival to challenge him to a Game, puts herself up as a prize for the winner, and then betrays Mach. This is an unusual case, as the woman is actually manipulating the CockFight herself, and it's ultimately a way for her to dump her current boyfriend (who she's gotten bored with) without looking fickle (though everyone who sees it knows what's going on, except Mach).
* ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'':
** The brothers-in-arms, Blandamour and Paridell, are goaded by Ate into battling each other as soon as they see the beautiful Florinell.
** Canacee's suitors routinely battled each other for her hand, despite the fact she rejected all of them repeatedly. It got so bad her brother's friend had to make an example of the three strongest "warlike wooers" by beating them. The lovers left her alone soon after.

* ''Literature/DollangangerSeries'' book ''Literature/PetalsOnTheWind'' has an in-passing mention of this PlayedForLaughs. Cathy is a widowed single mom with a young son. Paul and Chris vie for her affections by acting like stepfathers to her son and buying him lots of stuffed animals.
-->''There were times when both Paul and Chris would rush home with the same toy. They'd look at each other, and both would force a smile to hide the embarrassment. Then I had to rush forward and exclaim, "Two men with the same idea." And one would have to be taken back… but never, never did I let either one know whose gift it was that I returned. […] Each day she saw Paul and Chris battling for my attention, each desiring me, each beginning to look at the other with enmity.''

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Amen}}'', Reuben and a doctor Thelma is dating engage in this. When the man introduces himself as "Dr, etc.", Reuben does so as well (like many ministers, he has a doctorate in divinity). They then chat about how both of their professions require them to make house calls:
--> '''Doctor''': "Of course, in ''my'' case, they call me to save someone's life."
--> '''Reuben''': "And when they call ''me'', it's because you ''didn't''."
* The ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS04E11Soulless Soulless]]" had Wes and Gunn get into a physical fight because they were both in love with Fred.

** Angel and Riley essentially do this on in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E20TheYokoFactor The Yoko Factor]]". Buffy threatened to hospitalize them if they kept it up.
** Angel and Spike do this over Buffy, just adding one more aspect to their competitive relationship. In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E22Chosen Chosen]]" they both show their petulant jealous sides, but Buffy is more amused than angry. She eventually tells Spike that one day she's just going to put the two of them in a room and let them wrestle it out. When Spike says that's fine with him, [[GuyOnGuyIsHot her eyes widen in excitement and she says "There could be oil of some kind involved..."]]
* ''Series/That70sShow'': Hyde and Kelso once spent an episode fighting for Jackie's attention. When they get fed up with her jerking them around and tell her to choose, she says she can't. [[TakeAThirdOption Then she chooses herself]].
* Andy and Dwight of ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' "duel" over Angela ([[spoiler:That is, Andy pins Dwight to a hedge with his car while his back is turned]]). In a later episode, when characters are musing over bad past breakups;

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': While Robin's dating Don, [[GreenEyedEpiphany Barney decides he wants her back]], leading Ted to the same revelation. They both get blindingly drunk and beat the crap out of each other, then try to drag Don into a three-way cock fight. He declines, because, unlike them, he's sober. And since she's with Don, they both lose. In the long run, [[spoiler:Ted wins.]]
* In ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Hal and Lois each set their babysitter up with, respectively, Abe and Craig, and she tries to date them both simultaneously until it leads to this. The two guys being {{Nerds}} with GeekPhysiques, though makes the fight end up as just a furious [[WimpFight slap fight]], and she chooses to dump both of them and "concentrate on her career" (despite having managed to lose the baby in all the excitement).

* Richard Series/{{Castle}} and Beckett's ex-boyfriend Will Sorensen. Halfway through the episode, Beckett flat-out suggests they just drop their pants and get it over with.
* Parodied in an episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''; when the gang can't agree who gets to ask out Sheldon's sister Missy, they decide to fight over her "[[LetsFightLikeGentlemen the right way -- the honourable way]]"... Wii Boxing. Leonard wins, triumphantly walks over to her door and asks her out... and she flatly turns him down. Leonard muses that that was an outcome they hadn't anticipated.
* The ''Series/TenaciousD'' series features this between Jack and Kyle, and it swiftly turns into a cartoonish kung-fu battle.
* In ''Series/GilmoreGirls'': At a party where Lane's band is performing, Dean attacks Jess for making Rory cry and they get into a massive fight completely destroying the party in the process. However, at this point, Rory and Dean are broken up and both moved on with other people (Rory is now dating Jess and Dean is now dating Lindsay) so it wasn't Dean's business to get involved anyway.
** Subverted in season 6, when Logan keeps throwing passive-aggressive insults at Jess, but he won't take the bait. Jess opts to verbally cut him off at the knees, instead, and it's ''glorious.''
* In ''Series/Supergirl2015'', Mon-El challenges Mr. Mxyzptlk to a duel (cue Mxyzptlk transporting them to a theater stage dressed as [[Theatre/{{Hamilton}} Hamilton and Burr]]), using an artifact to rob the imp of his power, though Mxyzptlk still has enough SuperStrength to put up a good fight. Kara is not amused.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
** " The One with The Football" sees Joey and Chandler competing for the attention of a Dutch girl who happens to be in the park while the gang are playing touch football. When their competition starts to get out of hand Ross decides to put an end to it by asking her who she'd rather go out with. She chooses Chandler...only to be put off by his gloating and decides she doesn't want either of them. Chandler is briefly disappointed but happily points out that "the Dutch girl picked me!"
** In "The One With The Male Nanny", David and Mike have a mild fight over Phoebe which involves [[ItMakesSenseInContext wrestling with their index fingers.]]
* Late in ''Series/Charmed1998,'' a fellow half-witch half-whitelighter approaches Paige stating that their love is foretold by several fortune tellers. Only two problems: He's a condescending asshole she wouldn't be interested in anyway, and she already has a boyfriend. He only considers the latter to be an actual problem, and one he can solve via challenging said boyfriend (Henry) to a duel. Henry fights (only because he has no choice, his rival is literally assaulting him with a floating sword), but then also chews him out for assuming he belongs with Paige when he knows literally nothing about her. The duel is interrupted, and Paige settles matters [[spoiler: by accepting Henry's marriage proposal]].
* ''Series/CrashingUK'' has an interesting {{Gender Inverted|Trope}} example. Sam and Will are two masculine men, competing over a [[MasculineFeminineGayCouple somewhat less masculine man]], Fred. Will is Fred's boyfriend; Sam is Fred's best friend who has a crush on him. After the three spend a day together, with Sam and Will increasingly disliking each other all the while, the two go to the bathroom together and have an argument [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything while pissing into side-by-side urinals]]. This pissing match leads to a shoving match. And then... the energy shifts. Because these are two men with homoerotic tendencies, the implications of them {{shirtless|Scene}}, covered in [[QueerColors rainbow paint]], [[SexIsViolence laying hands on each other]] suddenly occurs to them. Sam and Will don't like each other -- in fact, they can't stand each other -- but they do seem vaguely horny for each other. They AlmostKiss, before pulling back and waking away without another word.
* In the ''Series/HereComeTheBrides'' episode "A Man's Errand," Jeremy punches Ward, who he thinks was [[NotWhatItLooksLike moving in on Candy]]. The two fight until they crash into Lottie's saloon, when Joshua and Jason separate them.
* In ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' in "War Stories", Mal and Zoe are officer and subordinate with zero romantic interest, but Wash gets jealous and starts trying to pick a fight anyway. Then Mal goads Wash into thinking he is interested in Zoe so that Wash won't break when they're being tortured. Later, Wash gets annoyed by Zoe and Mal mocking it.
-->'''Mal:''' Your husband has demanded that we get it on.
-->'''Zoe:''' ''(flatly)'' I understand. We have no choice. Take me, sir. Take me hard.
--> ''(they gear up to kiss, very awkwardly)''
-->'''Wash''' ''(grabs Zoe before Mal can kiss her)'' We'll be in our bunk.
* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'': Plenty of times and usually involving Zack:
** The [[RunningGag staple]] of the first season had him and Slater fighting over Kelly. By the beginning of season two, she ultimately chose Zack, [[ForegoneConclusion but you knew this already.]]
** A season four episode had a one-sided scenario. Zack and Lisa fall for each other, but a jealous Screech tries to sabotage a fashion show she held and fight him over her, which ends in him refusing to do so and Screech accepting their mutual attraction.
** Yet another season four episode has Zack and Slater fighting ''again'' over a girl, only this time it's a new student named Joanna which culminates into an actual fistfight. In the end, she refuses to date either of them [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome since she was disgusted by both their immaturity and for ruining her experience at the school.]]

* ''Series/CrashingUK'' has an interesting {{Gender Inverted|Trope}} example. Sam and Will are two masculine men, competing over a [[MasculineFeminineGayCouple slightly more feminine man]], Fred. Will is Fred's boyfriend; Sam is Fred's best friend who has a crush on him. After the three spend a day together, with Sam and Will increasingly disliking each other all the while, the two go to the bathroom together and have an argument [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything while pissing into side-by-side urinals]]. This leads to a shoving match. And then... the energy shifts. Because these are two men with homoerotic tendencies, the implications of them laying hands on each other suddenly occurs to them. They're incidentally shirtless during this scene as well. Sam and Will don't like each other -- in fact, they can't stand each other -- but they do seem vaguely horny for each other. They almost kiss, before pulling back and waking away without another word.

* This is a subplot of Hayato and Randoll's rivalry in the latter half of the ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' TV series as they competed for Asuka's love in the Spanish GP, and at one point, Randoll even made a bet with Asuka that if he wins that race, he gets her kiss (that never came to be).

* Edward and Jacob over Bella in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''.

Contrast CourtlyLove, IfICantHaveYou, and StalkerWithACrush. See also BetterPartnerAssertion, the nonviolent version of this, OppositesAttractRevenge for what this might lead to, and LoverTugOfWar, a rough DistaffCounterpart that is usually more light-hearted.

* Ash's Oshawott and Dawn's Piplup over Meloetta, during the Dawn arc of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' 'Best Wishes'.
** A Phione tried to challenge Ash's Pikachu to a fight over Dawn's Buneary, only for Buneary herself to defeat the Phione. Pikachu was confused about the whole thing.

This is a subtrope of the LoveTriangle and related to TriangRelations. Highly probable in a TwoGuysAndAGirl setting. Often happens after a GreenEyedEpiphany.

* A gender-flipped, downplayed, and ultimately averted example occurs in ''[[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion Rebuild 2.0]]''. [[ChickMagnet Shinji Ikari]], for a small portion of the middle of the second act, has [[UnisexTrope both Asuka and possibly Rei gunning for his affections]] (though Asuka is ''[[GreenEyedEpiphany certain]]'' that Rei is and that [[EveryoneCanSeeIt she simply doesn't realize it]]). The battle ground is... [[DownplayedTrope Shinji's]] [[ThroughHisStomach palate]]. [[spoiler: Asuka convinces herself that she's giving her all, but, during the climax of the ''fight'']] [[spoiler: ([[CallBack in a re-do of]] [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion the original]] and [[UncomfortableElevatorMoment awkward]] [[LeaveTheCameraRunning elevator scene]], [[LighterAndSofter though far shorter and with much lower stakes]])]] [[spoiler: Rei, sporting considerably more cuts on her fingers than Asuka, unintentionally reveals that she is the one who's been working harder to please him. [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy After seeing this, and confirming that Rei does in fact like Shinji, Asuka surrenders]].]] The outcome is averted [[TimeSkip by]] ''3.0.'' [[spoiler: The Rei of ''2.0'' is either dead or simply absent,]][[spoiler: [[CallBack and Asuka all but states that]] [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion she'd rather die than do]] ''[[DoubleEntendre it]]'' [[UnresolvedSexualTension with]] ''[[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds him]]''.]]

* On ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'', Mason [[GreenEyedMonster is insanely jealous when beast tamer Chase Riprock starts flirting with Alex]] [[ThirdActMisunderstanding and refuses to believe Alex that there is nothing between her and Chase.]] Mason shows up late to Alex's award show to apologize for standing her up, but when he sees Chase sitting at the Russo table he immediately turns into a werewolf and attacks Chase causing a lot of damage to the banquet. Alex breaks up the fight and ends her relationship with Mason not wanting to be with either of them for their violent behavior.

* Played for [[RuleOfCute aww-ness]] in the backstory of ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', Sora and Riku always compete for Kairi's affection (she supports the friendly rivalry, oblivious to the reason). [[WhamEpisode But things]] [[RivalTurnedEvil don't go]] [[TheUnchosenOne that smooth]] [[KudzuPlot later]]... [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy at first]].

* Happens between Batman and Robin in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' thanks to Poison Ivy's pheromones.

* In ''Anime/AkazukinChacha'', Shiine and Riiya are constantly squabbling over Chacha, who [[ObliviousToLove remains blithely oblivious]].

* Shinji and Riiya in ''Manga/AkazukinChaCha''. They even stomp on each others' toes (literally) in the {{Anime}} trailer!

-->''There were times when both Paul and Chris would rush home with the same toy. They'd look at each other, and both would force a smile to hide the embarrassment. Then I had to rush forward and exclaim, "Two men with the same idea." And one would have to be taken back… but never, never did I let either one know whose gift it was that I returned.''