History Main / OnlyFriend

** Ed Nygma/the Riddler, before his FaceHeelTurn, is a textbook NoSocialSkills and TheFriendNobodyLikes on the GCPD, with the other cops routinely belittling him and taking his forensics work for granted. Once he properly meets Oswald Cobblepot/the Penguin, after a brief rough patch, the two hit it off almost immediately. Given the hell they put each other through in their descents to villainy, it's a damning sign of how alone they really are; despite the hatred they temporarily held for each other during their fallout, they were both shown to be depressed and lonely without each other. Though by the end of the series, they reconcile into a much more mutually beneficial and affectionate relationship as true partners in crime and a VillainousFriendship. Even though Riddler forms alliances with various other characters throughout the series, Cobblepot remains the only one shown to consistently and genuinely care about Nygma.

* The ''Big Bang Theory'' SpinOff ''Series/YoungSheldon'' has Tam Nguyen as Sheldon's only friend during his childhood and vice-versa. And Sheldon outright admits that even he can't stand Tam half the time, only befriending him in the first place to get his mother off his back (she was pushing him to make friends at his new school). Their friendship ends after Tam stays in Texas with a girl he's dating instead of moving with Sheldon to California.

* ''VideoGame/PurgatoryRPGMaker'': Emma is the only one who the ShrinkingViolet Enri will hang out with. Unfortunately, she is a PoisonousFriend who manipulates Enri for her own ends.

* In ''Timekeeper'' by Tara Sim, [[TimeMaster clock mechanic]] Danny Hart has only one friend, Cassie, whom he's known since childhood. Not only is he bullied for this (among [[ChildProdigy other things]]) by his colleagues, it's also a plot point when he investigates the site of a suspicious event and, encountering another mechanic, extemporizes that he's there to visit a friend--an excuse considered implausible by the other mechanic and everyone else who hears the story, even allies.

* In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', [[BadassInANiceSuit Reese]] admits that [[MissionControl Finch]] is his only friend while trying to save him from a kidnapper. However this is averted as the series progresses and the rest of "Team Machine" join up.

* In ''Timekeeper'' by Tara Sim, clock mechanic Danny Hart has only one friend, Cassie, whom he's known since childhood. Not only is he bullied for this by the other mechanics, it's also a plot point when he investigates the site of a suspicious event and, encountering another mechanic, extemporizes that he's there to visit a friend--an excuse considered implausible by the other mechanic and everyone else who hears the story, even allies.

* ''Fanfic/LimpetAU'': In "Meet the Skywalkers", Mara claims that Vader only has one friend in the whole galaxy, in reference to Admiral Piett, who had served as his second-in-command for twenty-eight years. That being said, Piett sees himself as merely Vader's subordinate, until they get to a point where Piett can't in good conscience remain remain a YesMan, which leads Piett to defy Vader's orders, but concludes that he still cares for the man.

** When the series starts, Harvey Bullock has been on the police force for a long time, but he's such a hard-boiled jerkass that he doesn't have any real friends. Jim Gordon is a new transfer, and his idealistic campaign against dirty cops earns him enemies on the force, so naturally he and Bullock are each other's only friend once when they warm up to each other. While they eventually both become friends with characters like Lucius Fox and Alfred Pennyworth, they remain each other's closest and most trusted companion.

* In ''Fanfic/AllMixedUp'', Carlos, the sentient paper fortune teller that resides in the Language Room, served as Mariana Mag's only friend while she was employed with Odd Squad as Agent Ocean. They shared a love of language, which is how they bonded. Mariana would go and visit Carlos often up until Oprah scolded her for it, and Mariana eventually rebelled against her for this reason. Even as a villainess, she is still shown to harbor a love for Carlos, as when he tries to convince her to stop attacking Otto, she [[HopeSpot considers it for a moment]] before going right back to what she was doing.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Asylum}}'', Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are each others' only friends [[spoiler:until Twilight begins befriending them]]. Fluttershy has extreme social anxiety and shuts down around most ponies, while Dash is very aggressive and keeps everyone at arm's length. The two go back years [[spoiler:because they were foster siblings]].

* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', we have Xenilla and Destroyah. While they don't use the term "friend" to describe each other initially, Destroyah is the only Mutation faction member genuinely loyal to Xenilla and backed him up against multiple attempted overthrows. After some time in Equestria however, they softened considerably. Freeing her of any duty owed to him, Xenilla awknowledged the Oxygen Destroyer mutation truthfully had always been his friend and the feeling is mutual.
* In ''Fanfic/ACharmedLife'', Light feels this way about Ryuk.
* Princess and Bubbles become this to each other in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' fanfic ''[[Fanfic/{{Ladder}} Crimson and White]]''. Princess is too untrustworthy of others to have friends and Bubbles isn't close to the other children. When they start becoming friends Princess at first tries to act like they're just spending time together, not acting like friends, but she later accepts Bubbles as her best friend. [[spoiler:This only makes Bubbles murdering her later all the more tragic.]]
* In ''Fanfic/DespairsLastResort'', it's made clear that Chiyo is Kumiko's only friend since they were kids. [[spoiler:After Chiyo dies, Kumiko begins to make friends with the others.]]

* In ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/7505931/1/Don-t-Touch-that-Remote Don't Touch That Remote!]]'', Handy is this for Nutty, as implied in Chapter 3.

* ''Fanfic/LimpetAU'': In "Meet the Skywalker", Mara claims that Vader only has one friend in the whole galaxy, in reference to Admiral Piett, who had served as his second-in-command for 28 years. That being said, Piett sees himself as merely Vader's subordinate, until they get to a point where Piett can't in good conscience remain remain a YesMan, during which Piett defies Vader's orders, but concludes that he still cares for the man.

[[folder: Films - Animated]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'': Timothy Q. Mouse is the only one besides Dumbo's mother who never made fun of Dumbo and instead tried to help him become successful the whole time.

[[folder:Films]]

* In ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', it can be assumed that this trope applies to Reinhard and Reuenthal, with Kircheis and Mittermeier respectively. The latter two are sociable enough to at least be ''able'' to have friends aside from them, but Reinhard is far too busy realizing his ambition to befriend anyone ''but'' Kircheis, and Reuenthal's trainwreck of a psyche doesn't let him get close to anyone aside of Mittermeier, who becomes his LivingEmotionalCrutch. Reinhard does open up a bit to others as the story goes on, most notably Hilda, Mittermeier, and Emil.

* In ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', Fezzik and Inigo are each other's only friend (at least until they team up with Westley and Buttercup). However, as these things go they both seem fairly easy to get along with, so it probably has more to do with that they're busy doing Vizzini's bidding, Inigo is obsessed with avenging his father, Fezzik is used to being an outcast, and it emphasizes their HeterosexualLifePartners relationship.

* ''Literature/YouLookDifferentInRealLife'': Justine used to be Rory's only friend before Justine ditched her after ''Five at Eleven'' finished filming. Rory was eventually able to meet other friend through her interest in UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfTudor.

* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', Keito was this for Eichi when they were kids. He had no other friends for a few reasons: as the heir, many people kept their distance out of respect, while many ''more'' only interacted with him to get something out of him; he was a [[IllBoy very sickly child]] who wasn't expected to live beyond childhood, which made most people very careful with him; and as a result of the former two points, he turned into a major brat who bossed people around because nobody would ever say no to him. Keito was the first child his own age who was around often, as he's the son of the owner of a Buddhist temple who was called over a lot to conduct funeral arrangements for other Tenshouin relatives who were as prone to sickness as Eichi. And while Keito is also rather overprotective, he is ''very'' willing to tell him when he's acting selfish, allowing them to actually become close as friends.

* From ''Manga/HanaNoNamae'', Mizushima Kei's only friend is his editor and biggest fan, Akiyama Shinichi, [[BlatantLies though Kei tries to claim that he hates Shinichi]].