History Main / FairWeatherFriend

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Due to the survival of the fittest environment in the WrongSideOfTheTracks they both grew up in, both Akira and Sheryl divide most of the world into two categories, enemies, and this. Something Akira gradually makes exceptions for as a DefrostingIceKing. Nonetheless, Sheryl's Gang they both run, full of StreetUrchin from the slums, has a cyclical exodus of members who are fair weather friends whenever Akira stirs up enough trouble, something that doesn't bother them too much since it fits their expectations.

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': Leon's group of fellow ImpoverishedPatrician nobles in the Royal Academy present themselves as TrueCompanions, only to look out for number one at the first sign of adversity, buckling under pressure to vandalize Leon's room (though at least Daniel and Raymond apologize). Leon works around this by using blackmail to push them to actually work together and help him, which results in their plight easing even if they complain.

* ''Comicstrip/{{Peanuts}}'':

* In ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' "Good" Angel Vashiel advises his [[OurAngelsAreDifferent semi-fallen brothe]]r to turn in one of his (Vashiel's) friends on suspicion of murder to win brownie points in heaven even though he (Vashiel) doesn't really think he is guilty. Fortunately his brother has ''some'' morals and points out that this makes Vashiel the ultimate in fair weather friends (and kinda a dick as well).

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': Leon's group of fellow ImpoverishedPatrician nobles in the Royal Academy present themselves as TrueCompanions, only to look out for number one at the first sign of adversity, buckling under pressure to vandalize Leon's room (though at least Daniel and Raymond apologize). Leon works around this by using BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord to push them to actually work together and help him, which results in their plight easing even if they complain.

* ''Anime/TenganToppaGurrenLagann'': Team Gurren starts out with composed of Kamina, Simon and a few other nameless teenage boys. The latter few end up surrendering to the village chief so they won't be withheld food like Kamina. Kamina quickly disowns them as his "blood brothers" after this, leaving Simon as the only other member.

* A literal example in Creator/OscarWilde's ''The Devoted Friend'': Hugh Miller visits Hans during the spring, summer, and autumn, but not during the winter when Hans is left to endure the cold weather. {{Lampshaded}} by Hugh:

* Alluded to in the novel ''[[Literature/DragonJousters Joust]]''. After a new Jouster screws up big time, Ari comments that the Jouster's noble friends won't be hanging around to console him.

* Gimli in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' expresses a dislike for these sorts of people during the Council of Elrond.

** In the Season 1 episode "10 Shades of Gray", when Valerie's father lost his job and her family become poor, Dash, Kwan, and Paulina are completely unfazed by the misfortune that befalls their friend and do not even pretend to care about what happen to her and just cut her out for being poor when she need her friends' support.

** In the Season 1 episode "Lucky in Love", when Danny temporarily becomes popular when he starts to date Paulina (who at the time was possessed by Kitty, who's using Danny to make Johnny jealous), Danny took Kwan's place in the group, with Dash kicking Kwan out despite it appearing they are close friends.

* In ''Film/SanAndreas'', it's more of "Fair Geology Friends" where the protagonist's daughter and her boyfriend part ways as soon as an earthquake hits and debris is trapping the girl in a parking garage as while the boyfriend bolts for his own safety refusing to go through another near-death experience.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Motoko runs afoul of this in ''FanFic/AnAlternateKeitaroUrashima''. When she goes through a major HumiliationConga and is at her lowest, her GirlPosse decides she's not as strong as they thought she was and ditch her. Naru also turns on her because when Makoto [[spoiler:lost her duel]], she was mildly inconvenienced and took a slight blow to her ego.
* ''FanFic/BurningBridgesBuildingConfidence'' paints most of Marinette's classmates as these, as despite praising her as their 'Everyday Ladybug', they're quick to side with [[ManipulativeBitch Lila]] and her [[CelebrityLie exciting yarns]], believing her MaliciousSlander. This is especially true of Alya and Adrien. Alya is the loudest and most vicious about confronting Marinette with all of Lila's accusations, while Adrien is well aware of Lila's true nature, but chooses to blame ''Marinette'' and insist that she needs to stop trying to expose her, as her lies 'aren't hurting anyone'... aside from Marinette herself, who apparently doesn't count.
* ''Fanfic/ForHisOwnSake'' deals with everyone at the Hinata Inn facing serious consequences for their actions, and friendships fraying at the seams. When some of the girls start taking more responsibility for their own problems, the more stubborn and hard-headed among them prove that they're nothing more than fair-weather friends even while accusing the others of being 'traitors'.
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'': Goh several times over:
** While he claims that he's always been there for his ChildhoodFriend Chloe, in practice, the two of them [[TheFriendsWhoNeverHang never spend any time together]]. When she calls him out on this, he retorts that he's been busy [[GoalInLife chasing his dreams]] -- adding that she can't ''possibly'' understand what that's like because she doesn't ''have'' any (due to the fact that she's not allowed to as all her classmates are pressuring her to be into Pokémon and he's never at school, unless it's for tests, for him to see it for himself). This serves as the catalyst for Chloe running away and boarding the Train.
** Similarly, Goh didn't make any effort to find out ''why'' Tokio wasn't able to meet up with him like they'd planned -- Tokio fell ill -- leaping to the conclusion that he'd deliberately ditched him.
** Over time, Goh convinces himself that ''Chloe'' was a fair-weather friend to him, since she stopped trying to reach out to him and repair their fraying friendship. The fact that [[NeverMyFault HE didn't make any effort]] until ''after'' she boarded the Train, and has mainly concerned himself with 'saving' her [[StatusQuoIsGod so everything can go back to exactly how it was before]], is completely lost upon him.
** He also turns on Ash [[InternalReveal after learning that]] Ash has [[RelationshipUpgrade gotten together with Trip]], getting ''incredibly jealous'' of the notion that ''HIS'' friend could be close to anybody else. He even considers [[ForcedOutOfTheCloset outing Ash in hopes of hurting him]] and ruining his reputation.
* ''Fanfic/InASkyOfAMillionStars'': All of Bakugou Katsuki's lackeys prove to be this when he briefly returns Aldera Junior High after Izuku's suicide attempt. Despite him clearly not being alright and still trying to cope with the situation, they avoid him and instead join in on the growing rumor mill. Obviously, after Katsuki hits his RageBreakingPoint and blows up the cafeteria, it's not hard for him to skip out on school altogether and enroll in Aldera's CorrespondenceCourse a few months later. The situation ultimately feeds into Katsuki's GuiltComplex, as it proves an AwfulTruth: despite Katsuki treating him like shit, Izuku really was his OnlyFriend.
* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'':
** Most of Marinette's friends from class prove to be this, effectively abandoning their 'Everyday Ladybug' in favor of Lila's false promises. Notably, they expect Marinette to ''continue'' catering to their whims; even ''Lila'' notes that they're [[TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity taking Mari's help completely for granted]]. Out of the entire class, only [[spoiler:Juleka and Rose]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone recognize how they wronged her]]; the rest [[EntitledBastard expect to be]] [[EasilyForgiven instantly forgiven]].
** Adrien also proves himself to be one; despite knowing that Lila's a ConArtist, he lets her keep scamming his friends because it might ''inconvenience'' him to call her out. He claims that Marinette [[BecauseYouCanCope can easily handle being shunned]], despite how he himself [[{{Hypocrite}} doesn't want to deal with the others getting angry]] by telling them something they don't want to hear.
** Ironically, the class actually ''subverts'' this when it comes to [[spoiler:Adrien. They're willing to stick by and support him when the rest of Paris suspects him of aiding his terrorist father, tarnishing their own reputations by defending him. But once they learn how he let Lila manipulate them, they all turn on him for his BetrayalByInaction]].
* ''Fanfic/LeaveForMendeleiev'':
** Adrien takes an interest in Marinette and her friends when he starts suspecting that they might be connected to Ladybug, zeroing in on her in particular. After [[spoiler:seeing Future!Ladybug checking on Marinette during the Timebreaker incident]], he decides he must have been wrong and immediately starts ignoring her, Aurore, and the rest.
** Nino also shows shades of this. While he promises Marinette that [[RichBitch Chloé]] isn't involved in his movie-making project, he decides not to warn her when this changes, as he knows Marinette is trying to avoid her long-time bully and wouldn't want to come if she knew she was there. He [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming blames Marinette for this]], acting [[EntitledBastard entitled to her help]], and generally trampling over the boundaries of ''everyone'' involved with the project. The whole debacle leaves Marinette seriously questioning [[AllTakeAndNoGive the nature of their friendship]].
* At the beginning of ''Fanfic/PokemonStrangledRed'', Red's mom gushes to Steven about how her son looks up to him, but she won't talk to him at all after his Charizard dies, and he gives everything up out of grief.
* Heidi counts as this to [[WesternAnimation/{{Stoked}} Lo]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6331445/5/Hanging-Ten Hanging Ten]]''. While at first she seems nice enough, Heidi soon abandons Lo since she considers Lo a "surf nut". Lo then comes to the sad conclusion that all of her school friends are like that and that she never had any true friends before meeting the other surfers. {{Subverted}} in a sequel story, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12094997/1/Hanging-Ten-My-Cyber-Sweet-Sixteen Hanging Ten: My Cyber-Sweet Sixteen]]'', where another friend from Lo's school, Flor, shows up and immediately proves herself a true friend by making Heidi apologize for her behavior.
* [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] doesn't call his friends this, but the narrative implies they are after they abandon him in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/896232/chapters/1730901 Wanderlust]]'' after he loses his powers. It leads to Ichigo having to deal with the trauma of the Winter War by himself with no one to turn to.
* ''Fanfic/WhatItTakes'':
** Felicity proves to be this to the ''extreme'' at the start of the story. When she finds out about what's happening in Starling, her heart "goes out" to Laurel and the others but she immediately decides not to help them, and to make sure Oliver doesn't find out what's going on so he can't leave to help them either, so that way he won't get himself killed. While it's justified by her disillusionment with Starling City due to all the chaos and suffering the city has gone through in the past three years, at the end of the day she's still abandoning her friends in their time of need to maintain her "perfect life" with Oliver. [[spoiler:When they find out she abandoned them and kept Oliver away, they all implicitly end their friendships with her]].
** Dinah, Laurel and Sara's mother. She's lamenting Laurel's choices and blames herself for Laurel becoming a vigilante but doesn't actually do anything to help deal with the situation, like convincing Laurel to turn herself in peacefully. [[spoiler:Then, after Laurel saves the world and is pardoned, she's all up for returning to Starling and reuniting their family despite clear disinterest in previous years, even after Sara came back home]]. Naturally, Laurel isn't having any of it, [[spoiler:and disowns Dinah alongside Quentin]].

[[/folder]]

** While he claims that he's always been there for his ChildhoodFriend Chloe, in practice, the two of them [[TheFriendsWhoNeverHang never spend any time together]]. When she calls him out on this, he retorts that he's been busy [[GoalInLife chasing his dreams]] -- adding that she can't ''possibly'' understand what that's like because she doesn't ''have'' any. This serves as the catalyst for Chloe running away and boarding the Train.
** Similarly, Goh didn't make any effort to find out ''why'' Tokio wasn't able to meet up with him like they'd planned, leaping to the conclusion that he'd deliberately ditched him.

* ''Fanfic/WhatItTakes'': Felicity proves to be this to the ''extreme'' at the start of the story. When she finds out about what's happening in Starling, her heart "goes out" to Laurel and the others but she immediately decides not to help them, and to make sure Oliver doesn't find out what's going on so he can't leave to help them either, so that way he won't get himself killed. While it's justified by her disillusionment with Starling City due to all the chaos and suffering the city has gone through in the past three years, at the end of the day she's still abandoning her friends in their time of need to maintain her "perfect life" with Oliver. [[spoiler:When they find out she abandoned them and kept Oliver away, they all implicitly end their friendships with her]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[='=] RearWindowHomage, Bart asks Milhouse to sign his leg cast after he's forced to stay inside due to his leg injury while the other kids play in the family's swimming pool, but he just writes Mil..Pool and leaves for the pool.

** And this cuts both ways; when not friends with Milhouse, Bart is usually ignoring or outright bullying him. He once somehow [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext got him set up as America's Most Wanted and turned him into a fugitive]], seemingly all just [[ItAmusedMe for a cruel prank]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Theatre/HenryIV'':

Compare this to WithFriendsLikeThese and IFightForTheStrongestSide, which often overlap with this trope.

* Obsidian and Strika from ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' say that they’re loyal to Cybertron and it’s ideals above any one person. In practice, this means they devoutly serve Cybertron’s current ruler, [[MyMasterRightOrWrong no matter who they are]], only to ditch them the second things go south. When Megatron is seemingly defeated, they don’t even last a day before trying to join the Maximals instead of trying to hold his empire together. Thrust calls them out on this, asking if they can really be loyal to anybody if they’re loyal to ''everybody''. [[spoiler:His words strike a nerve and the two ultimately decide that he’s right, [[VillainousValour standing with Megatron in the face of defeat]].]]

* Heidi counts as this to [[WesternAnimation/{{Stoked}} Lo]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6331445/5/Hanging-Ten Hanging Ten]]''. While at first she seems nice enough, Heidi soon abandons Lo since she considers Lo a "surf nut". Lo then comes to the sad conclusion that all of her school friends are like that and that she never had any true friends before meeting the other surfers. {{Subverted}} in a sequel story, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12094997/1/Hanging-Ten-My-Cyber-Sweet-Sixteen Hanging Ten: My Cyber-Sweet Sixteen]]'', where another friend from Lo's school, Flor, shows up and immediately proves herself a true friend by making Heidi apologize for her behavior.

** The majority of Marinette, Adrien, Chloe and Lila's classmates prove to be this. After everything [[NiceGirl Marinette]] has done to help them as their 'Everyday Ladybug', they instantly abandon her once Lila presents herself as an even better version of her, [[CelebrityLie claiming to have]] [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections better connections]]. It's very telling that out of all of them, only [[spoiler:Juleka]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizes their mistakes]] and ''doesn't'' [[EntitledBastard act entitled]] to Marinette [[EasilyForgiven forgiving them]] for their abandoning and isolating her.
** Adrien himself also proves to this; despite knowing about Lila's true nature, he sees nothing wrong with letting her continue to scam his friends so long as ''he's'' not personally affected. He claims that Marinette [[BecauseYouCanCope can easily handle being shunned]], even though one of the main reasons he's not exposing Lila is because [[{{Hypocrite}} he doesn't want his friends to get angry at him]] for telling them something they don't want to hear.

* The protagonist was previously a fair weather boyfriend to Rachel when they previously dated. He bonded with her over their shared love of skiing, but broke up with her when she was upset about her family troubles. Somewhat deconstructed, with the protagonist exploring the reasons for his behavior and working to be a better person. And Rachel notices.

* In ''Manga/ASilentVoice'' when Shouya Ishida [[TheScapegoat is scapegoated]] for all the horrible bullying of Shouko Nishimiya (he ''was'' the ringleader and the worst of them, but ''all'' the blame is placed on him) ''all'' of his friends abandon him, even Ueno, the girl who [[ClingyJealousGirl had a crush on him and largely bullied Shouko out of jealousy for the attention Shouya paid to her]]. His supposed best friends Shimada and Hirose even join the rest of the class in bullying Shouya in turn, suggesting they never really liked him in the first place and mainly hung around with him because he was cool.

* In ''Manga/ASilentVoice'' when Shouya Ishida [[TheScapegoat is scapegoated]] for all the horrible bullying of Shouko Nishimiya (he ''was'' the ringleader and the worst of them, but ''all'' the blame is placed on him) ''all'' of his friends abandon him, even Ueno, the girl who [[ClingyJealousGirl had a crush on him and largely bullied Shouko out of jealousy of the attention Shouya paid to her]]. His supposed best friends Shimada and Hirose even join the rest of the class in bullying Shouya in turn, suggesting they never really liked him in the first place and mainly hung around with him because he was cool.