History Main / LoverAndBeloved

* In Murdoch's ''The Bell'', 40-year-old Michael falls in love with 18-year-old Toby and thinks that "...it might be possible to watch over him and help him...in a way that Toby would never know, in humble services obscurely performed at future times." As a young teacher Michael also loved with a 15-year-old pupil of his, Nick.

* Noël Coward and Graham Payn, his protégé and boyfriend, 18 years younger. The relationship began when Payn was 27. Coward promoted Payn's stage career but later wrote, "I love him dearly and for ever, but this lack of drive in any direction is a bad augury for the future. I am willing and happy to look after him for the rest of my life, but he must do something."

** Also among the Pashtun of modern Afghanistan.

* Lover / beloved affairs are also the done thing in ''Lord Dismiss Us'', yet another boys' boarding school story, from England this time. Somewhat subverted in that sixteen-year-old Allen is more mature than eighteen-year-old Carleton, his lover.

* ''Voor een verloren soldaat'' (''For a Lost Soldier'') portrays the brief love affair between a twelve-year-old boy and a young Canadian soldier, with elements of this trope invoked.

* ''Voor een verloren soldaat'' (''For a Lost Soldier'') portrays the brief love affair between a twelve-year-old boy and a young Canadian soldier.
* ''Du er ikke alene'' (''You Are Not Alone''): another tale about an older and a younger boy at boarding school.
* Invoked and subverted in ''Il sapore del grano'' (''The Flavor of Corn''). Lorenzo, a university student doing a year's teaching develops a romantic friendship with Duilio, one of the boys in his class. Duilio teaches Lorenzo to drive a tractor and identify trees and offers him simple affection. When his girlfriend, seeing a postcard from Duilio, asks if he's one of Lorenzo's pupils, Lorenzo says, "No, he's the one who taught me everything I know."

* Subverted in Tony Duvert's ''Quand Mourut Jonathan'' (''When Jonathan Died''). An artist, Jonathan, has a four-year relationship with a boy, Serge, aged six to ten, twenty years younger than he is. Serge takes the lead in everything; Jonathan does whatever Serge wants.

* In 1961s ''Victim'', which uses elements of the plot of ''Different from the Others'', a lawyer nearing 40 gets to know a young man about half that, who hero-worships him and with whom he shares a mutual attraction, though the older guy breaks it off because "he was getting too fond of me" -- or, as his wife suggests, "you were getting too fond of him".

* In Michael Lowenthal's ''Avoidance'', the protagonist works as assistant director of a boys' summer camp where there is a strong emphasis on men mentoring boys. Turns out that some of the men are attracted to the boys and use the mentor role to force themselves on them.

* Sanzo and Goku from {{Saiyuki}} tends to fall into this, though it is strictly in the HoYay territoy.

* The ''{{Nightrunner}}'' series has Seregil in the mentor role and Alec as the student. Interestingly, it was the [[UnequalPairing inequality in this pairing]] that kept Seregil distant for sometime. After two books worth of [[HoYay subtext]], they finally received an [[RelationshipTextUpgrade upgrade]].

* In Marvel's ''TheIncredibleHercules'', most of the Greek gods assume Hercules and [[TeenGenius Amadeus Cho]] have this relationship. Amadeus always angrily corrects them.

-->''"The love that dare not speak its name" in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man...It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an older and a younger man, when the older man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him.''
---> -- '''OscarWilde''' is fond of this trope

This trope originates in ancient Greece, with their custom of homosexual pederasty. The Greek words for this trope are "Erastes" and "Eromenos." All but a ForgottenTrope nowadays, dur to potentially {{squick}}y AllGaysArePedophiles or ParentalIncest [[UnfortunateImplications vibes]]. It may, however, show up in TheTwink's ComingOutStory nowadays, and the social circle the older partner leads the younger into is likely to be [[WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame the gay community]].

-->--'''OscarWilde''' is fond of this trope

Say Bob and Charlie are not family, but are close to one another. ''[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean Really]]'' close. Bob is younger than Charlie, and Charlie is [[{{Mentors}} quite happy to take Bob under his wing.]] He guides Bob to his place, whether in the world or simply in one social circle. However, Bob and Charlie's affection for each other is [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean a bit]] [[HoYay more]] [[LoveInterest than fatherly]].

This trope originates in ancient Greece, with their custom of homosexual pederasty. The Greek words for this trope are "Erastes" and "Eromenos." All but a ForgottenTrope nowadays, dur to potentially {{squick}}y AllGaysArePedophiles or ParentalIncest [[UnfortunateImplications vibes.]] It may, however, show up in TheTwink's ComingOutStory nowadays, and the social circle the older partner leads the younger into is likely to be [[WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame the gay community.]]

* Achilles and Patroclus, arguably.
** Complicated/inverted by the fact that while Patroclus is older, Achilles is the leader and teacher in their relationship. They start [[{{AnachronismStew}} falling into this trope]] in the [[{{AncientGreece}} 5th century]] when ErastesEromenos was the social norm.