An Accidental Hand Hold occurs when Alice and Bob reach for the same item and find themselves holding hands instead. This can lead to Alice and Bob instantly letting go, pretending the incident never happened or letting go in disgust with A or B looking sad. Sometimes, Alice and Bob blush, knowing that they're holding hands, but don't act on their feelings. If they're lucky, Alice and Bob can turn to each other, before leaning in and kissing.
Subtrope of Holding Hands.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In Hayate the Combat Butler, this happens twice between Hayate and Hinagiku. Once when he is having dinner at her place and staying there for a few days and both are nervous (being alone as Yukiji is late) and try to make tea, winding up clasping hands over the tea pot. They both blush heavily and pause for a minute before Hayate jumps back and babbles about it being an "uncontrollable attraction". The second time happened when Hayate reached for the armrest between them and found himself holding Hina's hand instead at the movies on their first date.
- Kaiju Girl Caramelise: Kuroe invites Arata to her house to find a place where they can avoid the attention of the paparazzi. As Kuroe awkwardly reaches over to find the light switch, Arata sees it before her and reaches to turn it on himself, only for both their hands to touch as they flip the switch. While Kuroe is flustered by this, her bigger concern is that she might go through a Partial Transformation while being touched.
- Tamagotchi:
- In episode 114, Himespetchi imagines she drops her stuff by accident and Mametchi helps her pick it all back up. The two accidentally touch hands together while doing so.
- In episode 132, as Mamesaku and Mememi, Mametchi and Memetchi's Tamagotchi Village counterparts, are preparing food, Himespetchi accidentally grabs hold of Mamesaku's hand, complete with a couple of little hearts floating from the point of physical contact for a split-second, and Mamesaku notices. Himespetchi inches away awkwardly before panicking about it.
- It happens again in Yume Kira Dream episode 35, where after Mametchi and Himespetchi press the button on the contraption given to them by Yumemitchi and Kiraritchi to trigger a fireworks show, Himespetchi notices she is holding Mametchi's hand and shyly lifts her arm out of the way. However, Mametchi is too distracted by the aforementioned fireworks to notice.
- In SPY×FAMILY, when a drunken Yuri accidentally spills a glass of wine, Loid and Yor both try to clean it up at the same time and end up touching each other's hands. Their flustered reactions result in Yuri, who is highly suspicious of Loid and the marriage itself, finally Spotting the Thread after an episode of trying: if they really have been married for a year as they claim to have been, why would they react with such embarrassment?
- In Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Yamada at one point grabs Shiraishi by the hand to drag her out of the clubroom so that he can swap bodies with her in private. As he spends some time walking down the hall complaining, he discovers that he forgot to let go of her hand...
Asian Animation
- One episode of Lamput has Lamput shapeshift into the shape of a feminine long hairdo on Slim Doc's head as he's looking for him. Fat Doc mistakes him for a woman and falls in love with "her", with the two accidentally holding hands as they walk around a tree. They then roll onto the ground and stare at each other in admiration... and then Lamput runs off, much to the disappointment of Fat Doc.
- White Snake (2019): During the Flight of Romance sequence where Xuan and Blanca fly together across the cliffs, they have both accidentally hold hands when they both clutch the enchanted flying umbrella at the same time.
Comic Books
- Peter Parker and Mary Jane do this in Ultimate Spider-Man.
Fan Works
- The Power of the Equinox: This happens in the flashback of how Brutus Meadows first met his future wife Vibrant Glow. After Brutus enrolled in school and sat next to Vibrant, he attempted to move his seat closer to her just to have a better look at her textbook. While doing this, his hoof grasped ahold of hers while it was resting on the desk. They both blushed, and more so when their teacher told them to focus.
Film — Animated
- In Chicken Little, Chicken Little and Abby are watching the Movie Within a Movie when a romantic part comes up. In the background, you hear movie Little and movie Abby exclaiming things like, "Oh, Ace!" and "Oh, Abby!", while Chicken Little and Abby slowly scoot closer to the tub of popcorn. Eventually, they hold hands, with Chicken Little looking very satisfied and Abby sighing in content.
- This happens between Wallace and Wendolene in Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave.
- In Chicken Run, Rocky and Ginger are sitting together on the roof of a coop and their wings accidentally touch, which leads to awkward chuckling.
- On the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment of Fantasia 2000, Donald and Daisy, each of whom thought the other had died, reunite when they both reach for the same locket.
Film — Live-Action
- In the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione grabbed Ron's hand in a moment of panic when Harry was approaching the hippogriff Buckbeak. They both realized what they were doing and Hermione quickly let go while shooting him a "don't say a word" look while Ron looked embarrassed and awkward.
- Li Mu Bai touched Shu Lien's hand when she was passing him a cup of tea in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The two of them throughout the movie had been having Can't Spit It Out issues with everyone encouraging them to act on their feelings. This trope was subverted where after Shu Lien set down the tea, Mu Bai reached for her hand and pressed it gently against his cheek.
- A gross but funny version occurs in the film The Dictator when the title character and his love interest find themselves accidentally holding hands... while said hands are inside of a pregnant woman during an attempted delivery.
Live-Action TV
- In an early Doctor Who Story "The Tomb of the Cybermen (Part 1)", The Second Doctor and his companions, Jamie and Victoria make their way into a foreboding doorway. The Doctor and Jamie both reach back to take Victoria's hand, but instead grab each others by mistake.
- In the How I Met Your Mother episode "Oh Honey", Ted's passing a bottle of ketchup to Zoey but drops it when their hands touch, due to his previously unknown love for her.
- Six Feet Under: At the hospital cafeteria, Brenda and Billy reach for the same bread roll and touch hands. It's especially awkward since last time they saw eachother, Billy kissed her.
- In The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Zack and Max accidentally hold hands when they reach for the same slice of cake.
- In The Mindy Project, Mindy and Danny accidentally grab hands during some turbulence on their return flight after a business trip. When the turbulence is over, Mindy lets go, but Danny grabs her hand back.
Visual Novels
- Possible in Melody if MC and Melody go to the movies together. At one point, MC has the option of reaching for the popcorn. If he does, he'll suddenly find himself holding Melody's hand, as she was reaching for the popcorn at the same time.
Web Comics
- In Red String, Miharu and Makoto brush hands while reaching into the same snack bowl
. They then embark on a hot and heavy make-out session.
- Tellurion has this as the sign something might be going on between the guy and girl.
Western Animation
- In an episode of Jacob Two-Two, Jacob and Renée hide behind a wall and their hands accidentally brush. They look at their hands, then yank them apart in disgust.
- In an episode of Regular Show, Rigby reaches inside the popcorn bowl and picks up Eileen's hand by mistake. Eileen smiles slightly, but Rigby quickly lets go of it and turns away from her.
- Samurai Jack and Ashi accidentally held hands while fighting the tigers on a large desert creature.
- The Simpsons: When Homer gets the entire town together to form the world's largest human pyramid, it comes crashing down early because Jimbo notices that his and Kearney's hands are touching. They both instinctively pull away, causing the collapse.
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Second Contact", after Ensign Rutherford and Ensign Barnes flip their table in order to protect themselves from phaser fire, their hands accidentally touch. They immediately pull back, turning their heads away so that the other person can't see the blushing.
