Heterosexual Life Partners - Television Tropes & Idioms

Kei and Yuri in Dirty Pair. (Though considering that they not only work together and socialize together, but live together and spend long periods of time alone together in deep space, as well as a few comments by their original creators, the "hetero" aspect is somewhat suspect. Some point to their relentless guy-chasing, which is a good point... if you believe in no bisexuals.)
- As one might imagine, this trope was inspired by the Dirty Pair Discussion page.
- Their spiritual successors in that respect are Kiddy Grade's Éclair and Lumière.
Gundam Wing: Most everyone came with a strong pairing: Trowa and Quatre, Heero and Duo are particularly notable because Heero is Not Good With People.
Natsumi and Miyuki from Youre Under Arrest. (Again, the creators seem to enjoy casting suspicion on the "hetero" part through various contrivances, including official art.) Although the plot is pretty clear about the guys they get paired with.
Mihoshi and Kiyone in Tenchi Muyo! (yet again, the "hetero" is somewhat in question.) This trope is somewhat justified by the fact that the two are stranded on Earth and struggling to support themselves financially; sharing an apartment seems like a reasonable fiscal decision, if one doesn't factor in Mihoshi's klutziness.
- The variants in Magical Project S were a bit different. At one point, Kiyone was visualizing her future family with a handsome man, and one of the children was a dead ringer for Mihoshi! While Kiyone protests mightily, it looks more like a case of "She Protests Too Much".
  - Unless this is taken to imply Kiyone perceives a semi mother-daughter (or at least, older sister) relationship with Mihoshi, in that she has to take care of Mihoshi and watch out for her. Which would also fit.
Lupin and Jigen from Lupin III. Of all the gang members these two are together the most and are even suggested to live together in several specials and films. Probbably one of the oldest and greatest bromances in anime history.
A younger example would be Nagisa and Honoka of Futari Wa Pretty Cure...
- ...and Saki and Mai of Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash*Star.
- Do Nozomi/Rin, Komachi/Karen and Coco/Nuts in Yes Pretty Cure 5 count as well?
Rally Vincent and Minnie May in Gunsmith Cats. (Again, the hetero gets a little muddled, considering that in the first volume, May gropes Rally and comments on the firmness of her nipples after shooting a gun; at the end of the volume, Rally returns the favor, giving May a fairly extensive groping and going so far as to comment "they're like little pebbles".)
- Ummm... there is a trope that covers what they're doing. How Les Yay it is depends on how Les Yay the viewer wants it to be...
  - Also we later find out that May already had a lover that she's still holding a torch for.
Sven and Train in Black Cat, who travel around together as sweepers all the time, and even adopt a "kid" (although they're not really daddy figures to her). Their Heterosexual Life Partnership is so strong that Creed tries to turn Sven into a monster so Train will join up with him instead.
- Lampshaded in the anime, where a waitress notes that Sven is the father, Eve is the daughter, and... awkwardly skips over Train.
Ban and Ginji in Get Backers. "The S in Get Backers means we're never alone!"
- Kazuki and Juubei probably count, but, once again, the 'hetero' aspect of their relationship is suspect. There's Juubei's passionate declaration that he was born to protect Kazuki, a shot of them in a desperate half-embrace, half-serious-personal-space-violation in the third ending sequence, and Ginji even says they act like they're on their honeymoon.
- Get Backers loves this trope. There's also Emishi and Amon, who go from "strangers on a bus" to Boke And Tsukkomi Routine partners to this in what can NOT be more than three days. And since we're going in escalating order of heterosexual ambiguity—Ban and Ginji are suspect, Kazuki and Juubei spawn honeymoon jokes, and Emishi and Amon? They get a canonical mpreg joke. Yes.
Kirika and Mirielle in Noir. The "hetero" is a little suspect here, though. Not only do the two share the same bed, but in one episode, while staying in a hotel, they've apparently ''pushed the beds together''.
- Later in the series, Chloe makes it very clear she seeks a lesbian relationship with Kirika.
  - And Kirika doesn't seem averse to the idea. At least until Chloe goes after Mirielle.
Mai-HiME has (at least) two such pairs, Chie/Aoi and Haruka/Yukino being the most visible. Amusingly, both pairs eventually join Natsuki and Shizuru in the Mai-Otome Official Couple pantheon.
Dai-Chan and Den-Chan (as they call each other), Keiichi's seniors in the Auto Club in Ah My Goddess. (Considering the cutesy nicknames and an apparent willingness to dress up in drag, this is again debatable. ... Just not as pleasantly so. Yikes, they're huge!)
- Those two are so close that they even shared the same love interest (Chihiro).
Digimon Tamers has Kazu and Kenta. They're good for major Ho Yay. The dub-censored Accidental Kiss is practically superfluous.
Goten and Trunks in Dragonball Z have been very tight friends literally their entire lives and, as teenagers, quite often spill over into Ho Yay. Whether their being Fusion Dance partners (If You Know What I Mean) makes this better or worse is debatable.
- In the second Dragonball GT ending, it begins with all the various couples being shown together: Goku and Chi-Chi, Gohan and Videl, Vegeta and Bulma, Krillin and Eighteen... and then cuts right to Trunks and Goten walking along, in the same style. Apparently the creators consider them "life partners" after one fashion or another.
- It's made worse by the fact that Trunks shows no interest in women, and indeed his mother has gone to the extreme of putting him in a office building shaped like a penis and filled it with hot women. He seems outright intimidated by both.
- It's just been revealed that in the upcoming Dragon Ball Online, the two of them start a martial arts school together.
- In the same show (and in Dragonball), Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu, as brought up in the abridged series.
Nanoha and Fate in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. In the third series they share a bed, dedicate several hours before sleeping to "strategy planning and personal time" and adopt a Mysterious Waif together, having her call them both "mama". Yet they both refer to the other as nothing more than a "best friend" and are never seen doing anything explicitly ~~romantic~~ sexual. May be an extreme case of Hide Your Lesbians.
- Is most likely an extreme case of Hide your Lesbians.
- The three are now called the Takamachi Family, according to the last Soundstages released, take that in any way you will.
Kotetsu and Izumo from Naruto.
- The Akatsuki also seem to practically require this from their members. Each Akatsuki is partnered with another, whom it doesn't look like they are ever far away from, and in each pair (except for Sasori and Deidara - the former seemed pretty genuinely hostile toward the latter) each half seems to have at least a grudging affection toward the other.
- Shikamaru and Choji, surely? Insulting Shikamaru is one of Choji's Berserk Buttons.
- Let's not forget how many the title character has: Sasuke, Sai, Gaara, and Kakashi. Maybe Hinata didn't make a move on him until recently because she thought he was gay.
Johnny and Yosaku of One Piece, a bounty hunter pair who have the slightly hetero suspect position of following at Zoro's heels like lost puppies and idolizing him to a deeply heartfelt degree.
- Also Jango and Fullbody, who are significantly less suspect in their enthusiastic joint pursuit of attractive female superior officer Hina. Although they do have a knack for breaking out into off-the-cuff, perfectly coordinated dance numbers.
- How is Luffy and Zoro not mentioned here? Zoro was perfectly willing to give up his life to Kuma without a fight in exchange for Luffy's.
Ikkaku and Yumichika of Bleach have been together a very long time; a flashback from before their Soul Reaper days showed that they wandered around getting in fights. Yumi has even passed up significant promotions just to stay close to Ikkaku.
- This is another case of the "hetero" being a maybe. Yumichika is heavily implied to be in love with Ikkaku, though there's no real indication that Ikkaku's feelings are anything but platonic.
- Don't forget Ukitake and Kyoraku, the Soul Reaper captains who've been best buddies for more than three thousand years and who trust each other so completely that they'll even break the law together without asking any questions of each other, and understand how the other thinks even though they're total opposites.
Fay and Kurogane of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle fall under this trope if you don't interpret them as a yaoi couple. (Although if you don't, what are you doing reading CLAMP?) There's a slight twist in that they're contractually life partners: Fay's sustenance is Kurogane's blood.
Simon and Kamina of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann are pretty much the manliest form of this, to the point where Simon's ideal universe doesn't contain his fiance, and the only notable part of it is that Kamina is still alive.
Yukari and Minamo (Nyamo) from Azumanga Daioh. They both tease each other about still being single middle-aged women.
- Kaorin and Chihiro form another couple, and though there doesn't seem to be any romance between them, Kaorin definitely brings up the hetero question again.
Spike and Jet from Cowboy Bebop. Spike makes snarkacious comments about Jet's cooking in only the first episode and more than once they've argued Like An Old Married Couple ending in Spike storming off in his ship.
Of course there is Ouran High School Host Club with a lot of...boy friendships. Mori and Honey, Kaoru and Hikaru, Kyouya and Tamaki. (It's worth noting that Mori considers himself Honey's servant, and that Kaoru and Hikaru are twins.)
- Don't forget that Kyouya and Tamaki are "Mommy" and "Daddy". Tamaki's idea.
Badou Nails and Haine Rammsteiner from DOGS Bullets And Carnage work together quite often, and so too do they often say, "Don't group me together with that guy!" or (to the implication that it is a homosexual relationship) "It's not like that!"
Leon and Count D in Pet Shop Of Horrors. The "hetero" is in considerable dispute on D's part especially since he's not human to begin with, but Leon, at least, is determinedly straight. And takes D on vacation with him and his little brother. Just because.
Watanuki, the lead of XXXholic, often laments at great length that he spends far too much time with his not-friend Doumeki (against his will, due to being a Butt Monkey most of the time) that he'd rather spend with pretty but flighty Himawari-chan. And his boss Yuko often remarks that Himawari might not be the one for him. And this is CLAMP. Hmm...
- Well, yes, that is the implication behind Yuko's words, but if that's not your thing (again, though, who reads CLAMP for the het?), Kohane also seems like an ideal match for Watanuki, huh.
  - A lot of people accually.
- Well it was eventually revealed that Yuko's hints were infact not that Watanuki and Himawari were not a pair romantically but that Himawari mystically causes misfortune, pain and suffering and bad luck to everyone around her. And Watanuki announces that he loves Himawari inspite of that and makes it clear he's very much interested.
- In the end, of course, he rejects both of them, selling himself into permanent ownership of The Shop in order to wait for Yuko. Domeki still comes by on a regular basis to play the husband anyway, like some sort of ambiguously homosexual Determinator.
Poland and Lithuania in Axis Powers Hetalia, even if Poland pushes the definition of "heterosexual" a good deal. (And not like it stops the shipping, either.)
- It's worth mentioning that up until 1795, Poland and Lithuania were one nation. Make of that what you will.
- Greece and Japan would be like this, if not for the fact that they once slept together. Even when Japan says this didn't happen... right after he wakes up naked, or at least shirtless, next to an equally nude/half-nude Greece.
  - America and Japan are a much better example. They're on opposing sides during the WWII storyline, but are depicted as having become close friends in the modern-day strips and have virtually no Ho Yay moments between them despite being featured together in a good number of strips, in contrast with their more ambiguous relationships with England and Greece, respectively. It's probably telling that America/England shippers never seem to view Japan as a threat - and if he is, it's more along the lines of England/Japan, two characters who interacted in much fewer strips than America and Japan did and yet received more subtext than the latter.
- Austria and Switzerland used to be this way as children. No matter how many times Switzerland denies it.
- Spain and Romano, who always seem to be shown together in the modern-day strips. Though there might also be some Ho Yay going on there, what with Spain being quite fond of Romano at the very least and Romano being quite Tsundere towards him.
Gon and Killua from Hunter X Hunter, although recent chapters have Killua heavily treading the line between this and Ho Yay.
- They're still twelve!
  - And when did that ever stop Togashi? Or the fans, for that matter?
Li Kouyu and Ran Shuei from Saiunkoku Monogatari. They are very rarely seen apart and even attend social functions together, despite one being a scholar and the other being a general.
Many of the doubles pairs in The Prince Of Tennis. (Some might be pushing it more towards Ho Yay: Koharu and Yuuji, maybe Ohtori towards Shishido and Eiji towards Ooishi. Your Mileage May Vary, of course)
Hakkai and Gojyo in Saiyuki. Word Of God is that, while he technically owned the place and stayed there occasionally, Gojyo's house wasn't a home until Hakkai moved in.
- Not to mention Sanzo and Goku.
- Plus they're all four of them all together all the time, with four-way attachments that mean they all feel unbalanced if they lose one.
Arguably, Youji and Ken in Weiss Kreuz, to the extent that Youji warns Ken about the dangers of getting serious with a girl he's falling for - and, several episodes later, Ken returns the favor.
- By the end of Weiss Kreuz: Gluhen, Ken appears to be well on his way to being Heterosexual Life Partners with Aya, to the point that he follows Aya to England in Weiss Side B. When Ken explains his reasons for doing so, Aya hangs a lampshade: "...really like a naggy wife."
Ash and Brock from Pokemon appear to be life partners; they've been spending their time together for years.
In Ranma 1/2 the most stable and enduring relationship of any of the cast is between Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome. Of course in that series that really isn't saying much.
- Plus those two are stable old guys, helping with the 'stable' part.
Asakura and Sayo of Mahou Sensei Negima, though for a change, it's the "life" aspect that's a bit questionable due to one of them being a ghost. The two have been practically inseparable after Sayo became visible to Asakura. They go on scoops together, get lost in the Magic World together, take baths together with Sayo's possessed voodoo doll resting between Asakura's breasts...
Mustang and Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist. Academy friends, met up again in the Hell of Ishbal, and Hughes signed on to 'support Roy from below.' Roy has recently gone on a psychotic rampage against Envy after learning he was responsible for Hughes' death.
In Full Metal Panic, an interesting example of this with a large age gap is Sousuke and Kalinin - though it was moreso in their past history than currently in the series. As Kalinin put it, "Sousuke and I being inseparable seems to be destiny."
Gil and Oz in Pandora hearts. In fact thier bonds are so strong that fans and characters in the series wonder if it's hetero at all. Especially on Gil's part. Word of God often plays up thier guy love to reel in more fangirls.
Helen and Deneve in Claymore, although the "heterosexual" part is up for debate. At any rate, theirs is the longest-lived friendship amongst the protagonists, and Helen was the one who snapped Deneve out of her suicidal depression in their early days together.
In D Gray Man Mahoja and Anita are definately this, as are Johnny and Tup (until THAT happens), and Reever and Komui.
Kimi Ni Todoke has two such pairings: Yano & Yoshida, and Hirano & Endo. In each duo, it's nearly impossible to think of a scene where one is not without the other.
Kudo Shinichi and Hattori Heiji in "Detective Conan" certainly seem to fit this trope, to the point where Hattori is willing to die for Kudo.
- Which gets a little creepy when you remember that Kudo spends most of his time in the series looking like a six year-old boy. Reign in the pedo-vibes there, Heiji.
In a weird way Yugi and Atem fulfill every requirement for this trope.

Cable and Deadpool in, well, Cable & Deadpool (although many fans percieve this as going straight into Ho Yay). They are extremely close despite Deadpool's personality being obnoxious even at the best of times, and Deadpool was the first person Cable pictured/made psychic contact with while trying to decide whether to blow himself up. To be fair, they were genetically commingled, so that "one phone call" would have happened even without intent....And Cable needed to make that contact to manipulate Deadool into Doing The Right Thing.
- Worst offender for this is a storyarc called "Bosom Buddies", where at one point Deadpool's darkest fantasy is exposed, which to his dismay involves himself, Cable and suntan lotion. And oil. For the arm. Ho Yay indeed. A few awkward follow-up jokes occur throughout the rest of the arc.
  - Deadpool and Weasel, and later Deadpool and Bob of HYDRA, could also fall under this trope.
  - Nah, Bob's more of a pet.
- Both C and D are well aware of their Life Partner status, especially evidenced when they both regularly called the time during a small falling out between them ("Small falling out" in this case being Deadpool's new membership in a mercenary group hired to destabilize Cable's fictional country Providence. Said membership was revealed when 'Pool shot Cable in the back of the head.) a "divorce".
Luke Cage and Danny Rand also of Marvel Comics, with Cage going so far as to name his daughter after him.
- Their close friends Misty Knight and Colleen Wing also are considered Heterosexual Life Partners, with Luke Cage going so far as to recommend the two get "gay married."
Batman and Robin have to be the ones to receive it the most; some incarnations have them sharing the same bed.
Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle (hereafter "Boostle") of Justice League International fame are probably the most prominent Heterosexual Life Partners in The DCU. A recent storyline in Booster's comic involves Booster time-travelling to keep Beetle from being killed; when he is told this has the potential to destabilize the entire multiverse, he decides Beetle is worth the risk.
- Booster's end of this might not be entirely heterosexual...
- When encountering former (dead) Flash Barry Allen while cruising through the time stream, this exchange occurs:
  Beetle You 'rear-ended' Barry Allen?
  Booster Oh grow up!
  - Also from Justice League International fame, Beatriz "Fire" DaCosta and Tora "Ice" Olafsdötter. Heck, it was even in-canon -mistaken- for gay when Tora was temporarily dead and her replacement, which (for some reason) looked a lot like her misunderstand Bea's mourning. Admittedly, Bea was really off the deep end but still...
Absolutely endemic in classic Franco-Belgian comics, whenever they followed the formula: a young, male hero, without any personality beyond some vague benevolence, going on adventures with an older, more emotional, sarcastic and morally flawed lifelong companion. The two would live in the same house; the young hero would never show or be shown any interest for/by the opposite sex, and, while the older one could sometime get involved in a romantic C-plot, the girl rarely reappeared in subsequent books and the romance would never go beyond a kiss on the cheek or the nose. The formula went out of fashion a while ago, and is now either lampshaded to death or exploited to its logical conclusion.
- Tintin, of course. The eponymous hero started his adventures alone, but was soon joined by the Captain Haddock, and it wasn't long before the two shacked together in Marlinspike Hall. The only romantic subplot was between La Castafiore and the captain, who mostly wanted to run away from her affections.
  - The detective duo Dupont and Dupond (Thomson and Thompson in English) probably count; though they look like twins, we're never given any indication they're related.
- Blake And Mortimer: together they fight pseudo-scientific crime... then go home to their house in London.
- In the American Civil War-set adventure comic The Bluecoats, patriotic and often naive Chesterfield tends to consider Corporal Blutch to be an defeatist coward while cynical and pragmatic Blutch considers Sergeant Chesterfield to be an obnoxious blowhard, but are virtually inseperable from the other.
- Spirou And Fantasio, in which the two eponymous intrepid reporters live together in some incarnations of the series. Recently, one of the (many) writers went out of his way to mention that Fantasio was obviously gay and pinning for Spirou.
- Asterix came a few decades after the previous examples and subverts the character types, but not the dynamics.
- If you get away from the older/younger dynamic, "Tif & Tondu", "Johan & Peewit", "Quick & Flupke"...
- Even, if you stretch it a little, Lucky Luke (with Jolly Jumper).
- Pol Pitron and Vic Video from Roger Leloup's Yoko Tsuno, who form a Power Trio with Action Girl Yoko. After some Time Travel, Pol gets together with Innocent Flower Girl Mieke, whereas Vic has quite the Will They Or Wont They with Yoko.
Sam & Max: Freelance Police - actually lampshaded in the adventure game Abe Lincoln Must Die!, where according to Sybil's "compatibility test", their soul mates are each other. In another game, Chariots of the Dogs, a woman develops a crush on Max, and when Sam objects (because the woman in question is Bosco's mother, and that would cause a Time Paradox), seems to assume he's gay, and "wants to keep [Max] all for himself".
Cutter and Skywise from Elf Quest (at least the earlier volumes). Although their relationship isn't entirely platonic.
Am I the only one who gets this vibe off of the Dead Boy Detectives? It helps that they're, y'know, dead, and also really, really young.
Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, especially as written by Mark Waid.
- And Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan - one Waid story had Barry jealous of the time Hal spent with Ollie.
- Heck, Hard Traveling Heroes was full of this. And it was Lampshaded by Kevin Smith in his early run by Roy Harper(Red Arrow/Arsenal), saying that it was "typical Ollie, get a kid ward, train them, get close to Dinah then leave them both to go hang out with Hal". This is AFTER Queen had come back from the dead, and was brought to the afterlife to talk with Hal Jordan/Spectre to see what was up.
Mortadelo Y Filemon. Definitely.
Spider-Man and The Human Torch definitely.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson (especially in the movie where Downney Jr. makes this inclination VERY clear)
Laurel and Hardy
- despite the former always getting the latter into "another a fine mess"
Harold And Kumar. And their jewish counterparts, Rosenburg and Goldstein.
Mark and Roger from RENT. In fact, fans seem to prefer pairing those two together rather than Roger and Mimi.
- If they aren't in one big happy OT3, that is.
The trope name comes from Jay and "hetero-life-mate" Silent Bob of The View Askewniverse.
- Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes may be real-life versions of this trope, as Jason lived for quite a while with Kevin and his wife.
- This can apply to Dante and Randall from The View Askewniverse as well.
- In fact, pretty much all of the main characters in said films come in pairs, most with the same dynamic. The most apparent being Holden and Banky in "Chasing Amy"...who's relationship gets to the point that Holden suggests a three-some just to see if they're really in love with each other.
The movie Stick It (A gymnastics star who walked out of a national-level event for very valid and personal reasons, takes it back up and discovers it's fun. Also much snarking and funny), the main character has two goofy male friends, one of him introduces the other as his 'hetero life partner'. And they manage to portray that, despite one of them trying on a dress when they take the gymnastics team out dress-shopping.
Romy and Michele from Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, if only for this scene:
Romy: Swear to God, sometimes I wish I was a lesbian.
Michele: Do you want to try, to see if we are?
Romy: What? Yeah, right, Michele. Just the idea of having sex with another woman creeps me out. But if we're still single at 30, ask me again.
Michele: Okay.
Pintel and Ragetti in Pirates Of The Caribbean, too (although they bicker Like An Old Married Couple). Allegedly, they were uncle and nephew.
- Debatably, Jack Sparrow and Joshamee Gibbs, as Gibbs appears to be the only person who can stand Jack for more than three days without turning on him, and Jack seems quietly appreciative of it.
  - One might also include Murtogg and Mullroy - if they appeared more often.
Harpo and Chico Marx often played Heterosexual Life Partners. It helped that the actors were brothers.
Not forgetting Laurel and Hardy.
Simon Pegg's and Nick Frost's characters in both Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. And very much so in Real Life, and that friendship was simply translated onto the screen.
- Shaun and Ed in SOTD is a particularly interesting case, as the movie bills itself as a "romantic comedy with zombies", presumably the romance between Shaun and his girlfriend Liz. But it's really more about the friendship between Shaun and Ed as the movie ends with them, the idea being that not even being a zombie (and in a sense death) can prevent Ed from being with his best friend.
- In the Shaun Of The Dead commentary, Simon Pegg mentionned that Nick had actually lived on his couch for a while in Real Life exactly like Ed does in the movie. Art imitating life indeed!
- Again, in the Spaced tv series.
  - One of the commentaries on the USA DVD release of Spaced actually has Simon getting permission from Kevin Smith to use the expression to refer to his relationship to Nick Frost.
- Of course, early drafts for Hot Fuzz had a female love interest for Pegg's character; in the end they cut her out and gave the lines to Nick Frost.
- And again in the upcoming Tintin movie, as — of course — Detectives Thomson and Thompson.
Marwood and Withnail from Withnail And I. As Paul Mc Gann said on the commentary, 'it's like a marriage going wrong.'
Max and Jude from Across the Universe do this trope hardcore, though the heterosexuality is highly debatable.
Dan Cain and Herbert West in the first two Re-Animator movies. In the first, they start out mutually suspicious but grow closer as they work together; by the second, they are sharing a house and West is actively jealous of Dan's girlfriend.
Detectives Hughes and Costanzo in Running Scared (1986).
Two examples from Mean Girls: Janis and Regina are former Heterosexual Life Partners whose friendship ended very badly. Gretchen and Karen are still best friends and it is implied that Karen is Gretchen's only actual friend.
Valentine and Earl in Tremors.
Jesse and Chester in Dude, Where's My Car?. Though they have girlfriends in Wanda and Wilma, they live together and seem to be with each other more often.
Bill and Ted.
President Andrew Shepard and A.J. Mac Inerney in The American President. Granted, they were the original models for Jed and Leo of The West Wing.
Han Solo and Chewbacca. They live in the same ship and travel everywhere together, for god's sake. How much more life partner can you get?
- In the prequels and the Expanded Universe, Obi-Wan and Anakin were pretty much this. That is part of the reason their climactic fight was so tragic.
- R2-D2 and C-3PO, technically asexual life partners, being droids and all.
Chuck and Larry in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. After all, they did spend most of the movie pretending to be homosexual life partners.
Dale, Saul and Red in Pineapple Express, making up a rare trio example. It is Lampshaded. Notably, the end of the film does not see Dale tearfully reunited with his (presumably still in hiding) girlfriend Angie, but hanging out with Saul and Red instead.
- Then again Dale pretty much broke it off with Angie over the phone.
  - True (and he was right to do so), but it is still a pretty big subversion that we don't see them get back together at the end (with plenty of talk about they have gotten over their problems). It's actually almost unique there.
Abbott and Costello
The title characters in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who had been together for some time before the movie started.
Rick and Sam. At the end, we are to assume that Rick and Louis will be heterosexual life partners, as Sam is staying in Casablanca, and the other two are going to Brazzaville to fight Nazis.
Louis, I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
The Dude and Walter
(eventually) Lampshaded in Kangaroo Jack, with protagonists Charlie and Louis.
The titular rock band in the film Hard Core Logo is all about this until the Ho Yay boils over.
Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu in Red Cliff. Ironic, considering the two most likely never met historically, and in the book Zhou Yu was constantly trying to kill Zhuge Liang.
Danny and Rusty in ''Oceans 11, 12 and 13.
The entire plot of I Love You, Man revolves around the protagonist, Peter, trying to get his own heterosexual life partner. And then he meets Sydney...
Ira Kane and Harry Block from Evolution, though Ira does get the girl in the end.
Seth and Evan in Superbad. Remember this scene?
Tony Stark and Col. Rhodes from Iron Man, especially when reunited after Tony's capture.
Poppy and Zoe from Happy-Go-Lucky teach at the same elementary school, share a flat, are best friends, and have travelled the world together. They have have a regular very silly rapport all through the film, and it's implied that if they ever want to give up the flat, they'd buy a house together too. Throw in a few "jokey," Les Yay comments and another character thinking they actually are couple, and if Poppy hadn't started dating a social worker guy...
Billy Mack and his manager, Joe, from Love Actually. Subverted when it turns out that Billy is actually bisexual and into Joe and they start what looks like an open relationship.
Joe: Well, this is a surprise. Ten minutes at Elton John's and you're as gay as a maypole.
- Billy Mack isn't a bisexual. He came back from Elton Johns house because Joe was his only friend and like family to him and family is what Christmas is about.
Tahei and Matashichi in The Hidden Fortress.
Danny and Kenickie in Grease.
2 and 5 from 9 for the early part of the movie and from way before. When 2 is caught by the Beast and 5 goes with 9 to rescue him, the former muses about 2 and compares him to the latter - 9 does in fact seem to begin to become his new heterosexual life partner after 2's death - though 5 himself dies the next day tops.
- Actually, the nature of 5 and 2's relationship is up for debate. When 5 and 9 find 2, right when he realizes that 2 is alive, 5 gets out a soft partial 'My love!' (More like 'My lo—') before they're interrupted by the cat machine. And anytime you see 2 and 5 together, they have a tendency to touch each other, especially hands.
Wayne and Garth.
Jake and Elwood
Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) and Sgt White (Laurence Fishburne) in Mystic River. In an interview, Fishburne stated that: "This is a film about three men and their wives - I play Kevin Bacon's wife."

Joshua and Biff in Lamb The Gospel According To Biff
Sherlock Holmes and Dr John H. Watson.
- The fact that Holmes is famously a Celibate Hero does nothing to discourage speculation, despite Watson being something of a ladies' man and marrying at least twice over the course of the series.
  - Watson has a penchant for ignoring his wives' existences a month or two after marrying them, and living with Holmes.
  - The 1970 Billy Wilder film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes poked fun at this several times (turns out they both actually are straight - go figure).
- The 2009 movie really stresses the bromance between Holmes and Watson, despite what the executives who marketed would try and have you believe; they argue and bicker like an old married couple yet are utterly devoted to each other, Holmes doesn't bother to conceal his jealousy that Watson is leaving him to get married to a very nice woman, and Watson himself also seems more than a little jealous of Irene Adler.
In Josepha Sherman's A Strange And Ancient Name, the main character (a half-elven (half-fairy?) prince) rescues Alliar, a wind spirit trapped in mortal flesh, and teaches the suicidal wind spirit to enjoy life in the flesh. They become very close friends, and the prince is about the only mortal Alliar can stand. When the prince's love interest almost writes him off - since he obviously loves Alliar and vice versa - Alliar explains to her that "flesh games" (sex) is so foreign to him, it's like trying to smell colors. And that's hardly the only place this is brought up. Kinda sad that our culture so identifies intimacy with sex that intimacy without sex must be made Anvilicious in order to even work.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu (making this Older Than Dirt).
- What?! No. They were TOTALLY GAY.
Bertram Wilberforce Wooster and Jeeves.
Aziraphale and Crowley in Good Omens. Often Mistaken For Gay, even though they should be (im)mortal enemies as they're angel and demon, respectively. The other angels and demons are mostly busy trying to snare a soul here or there, or ignore creation completely, while Crowley and Aziraphale share a genuine interest in the world around them. They're just waiting for Armageddon. And humans, well, they're not around for as long, are they?
- A lot of the confusion — both in story and by fans — comes from the fact that Aziraphale calls Crowley 'my dear' (of course, he calls everybody 'my dear'), and Crowley calls Aziraphale 'angel' (of course, he is one).
Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad are probably an example of this, making it Older Than Dirt. Though ask a modern reader with a slashy bent whether it's a *heterosexual* life partnership, and you might get a different answer. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for one man to be longing for another man's... manhood. It meant something different. Back then. So Yeah.
- The homosexual interpretation is a product of Values Dissonance. The Greeks had a very different outlook on homosexuality. In fact, it was expected that every man be paired with a significantly older man, and the nature of the pairing was expected to be sexual in nature. In order for a man to be considered a homosexual, he must have a penetratively sexual relationship with another man. Since the Ancient Greeks considered such relationships to be perverse, it seems unlikely that a paragon of masculinity like Achilles would engage in such activity. This different outlook makes the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, which is both sexual and heterosexual in nature, to appear homosexual to modern readers. In short, Achilles and Patroclus were definitely Heterosexual Life Partners.
- There was a "no penetration" rule, at least as between citizens, because taking it up the anything was considered undignified - that was something a gentleman did to his slaves - but kissing and frottage were perfectly OK. A more important rule was that pederasty (teenage boy, adult man) was the only socially acceptable pairing; homosexuality between adults was considered ridiculous. Pederasty was an actual recognized social institution, for educational purposes; the erastes (elder partner) was expected to be patron, mentor and role model to the eramenos. Its existence is not surprising, considering that Classical Greek citizen women were kept in purdah like women in some Muslim cultures today; if you were a Greek citizen boy the only women you would typically see in a day would be slaves, prostitutes, foreigners, and your own close relatives. Meanwhile you're expected to spend as much time as possible with the other guys in the palaestra, working out stark naked. Do the math.
  - At least one line in the Iliad implies that Patroklos is much older than Akhilleus.
  - Surely you mean Achillevs?
  - That would be if it were Latin. In Greek, chi is an aspirated kappa (so kh) and upsilon (what is often translated as a y and would sound vaguely French) looks like a u.
Colon and Nobby from the Discworld Watch series.
- In Men At Arms, Cuddy and Detritus are well on their way to becoming this, at least until the villain throws Cuddy from the Tower of Art, killing him.
- Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg managed to evolve into Heterosexual Life Partners, as well.
The Artful Dodger and Charley Bates in Oliver Twist.
- Also, to a degree, Nancy and Bet. Though, in all fairness, Nancy's completely codependent on Bill Sykes, and Bet's got this thing with Toby Crackit.
- You could also look at Bill Sykes and Toby Crackit, then.
- Or, Bill and Fagin. Mind you, Bill kinda only is friends with Fagin when it suits him.
- Toby and Barney?
Shakespeare's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (in Hamlet).
- Hamlet and Horatio?
  - Oh, definitely.◊
- This is actually invoked in Twelfth Night, with Orsino feeling this way about the "male" Viola. When he finds out she's actually a woman, his feelings change quite suddenly...
- In The Merchant of Venice. Antonio and Bassonio. Oh, heavens.
- R & G even more so in the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead if only because they're the main characters in that.
- Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It. Even marriage doesn't likely break it up, since they marry brothers.
Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee.
- Although that's one of those 'master and servant' setups, and they only actually spend a couple of years especially close, between the journey and Frodo getting on the boat.
- Yes, and they got so close that their relationship almost reached Ho Yay, without the author's realization. Maybe.
- Merry and Pippin—when the two were separated, it was a big deal.
  - They were cousins, though. And both of them got married after the war.
  - Although they did buy a house together and presumably lived there until they had to move back to their family homes and run Buckland/Tuckburough. One can only pity Merry's wife who not only had to put up with his close relationship with Éowyn but also with his inability to separate himself from Pippin.
  - I'd think that Pippin's wife had more to worry about, Pippin having unusually close relationships with not only Merry but also Faramir (even naming their son after him)
  - Married men aren't allowed to have friends?
  - They are. But I would be pretty pissed if my husband ditched me for months at a time to go be with some pretty lady he has a special bond with. Even if his heterosexual life partner had his own special bond with said pretty lady's husband.
- Despite long-lasting hatred between Dwarves and Elves, Legolas and Gimli eventually become this trope, to the point of taking each other sightseeing through Middle-Earth and then leaving together on the last of the last ships. In fact, Gimli is the only dwarf ever to make the journey to the Undying Lands, and he does so specifically to be with Legolas (and for a chance to see Galadriel again).
  - In The Movie, it was more of a heterosexual three-way between Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn.
Kethry and Tarma, of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar story setting. Tarma's tribe is all but extinct, and Kethry is expected to restart it. Which she does. Fanfic is somewhat discouraged by the fact that Kethry is quite enthusiastically straight, and Tarma is asexual by divine directive. They're also sworn Blood Sisters, with that same divinity sealing the deal.
- Though that doesn't stop them from occasionally pretending to be lovers. And living alone together when Kethry's husband dies and all her children grow up. They do love one another, it's spelled out more than once - but they really aren't lovers.
Although their relationship is strictly divided by their rank and they never treat each other familiarly, Commisar Ciaphas Cain spends decades of his long life fighting by the side of his aide, Gunner Ferik Jurgen. Jurgen is unflinchingly loyal to Cain and Cain, by nature an intensely paranoid and self-obssesed man, describes Jurgen as the only man he ever fully trusts. Cain even gets quite annoyed on his aide's behalf that Jurgen is always left out of the stories that circulate about him and even goes into shock when he thinks Jurgen has died- and that's only 13 years into their association.
Bernard and Helmholtz in Brave New World. Bernard gets intensely jealous when John forms an instant bond with Helmholtz, and Helmholtz thinks to himself at one point that Bernard's self-centeredness distresses him because he likes Bernard. Not to mention that later on, Helmholtz manages to convince Bernard to agree to be exiled with him to a faraway island...off-page.
In the ruining-your-childhood-one-trope-at-a-time category, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman, who, after Ozma takes over as Ruler of Oz, decide never to be parted and live together in the Winkie Country. (In different houses, mind you.)
- The Cowardly Lion and Hungry Tiger would fall under this category as well, as well as Dorothy and Ozma in later books
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin in the Aubrey-Maturin series.
- Diana Villiers tells Stephen in the second book that "anyone would swear you were married to that man".
Kellanved and Dancer in Malazan Book Of The Fallen.
- Also Hedge and Fiddler.
- And Tehol and Bugg.
- And Kalam and Quick Ben.
David and Jonathan from The Bible. When Jonathan dies, David laments that he loved him more than any woman. Ho Yay ensures.
- Not quite Ho yay considering the different biblical definitions of "love".
Gafinilan and Mertil in Animorphs book #40. Also arguably Marco and Ax, briefly, after Marco fakes his death.
- Actually, it's established in Animorphs that Ax and Tobias are the Andalite version of Heterosexual Life Mates...except on his planet it's called "shorm" which translates to "tail blade"...meaning someone who you would trust to put their tail blade against your throat...and I'm the single nerdiest person in the world.
H.P. Lovecraft did this a few times. In The Hound, the two main characters retreat from the world to wallow in (chaste) decadence together. Poppy Z. Brite wrote a tribute to this in which the equivalent characters were gay.
Another Lovecraft example: in Herbert West - Reanimator, West and the narrator live and work together for many years; if memory serves, the narrator even joins the military to stay near West during World War One. (And see under Film, above.)
- Interestingly, following a failed marriage Lovecraft's considered the poster boy for abstinent asexuality.
Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook. Natty is even a sort of second father-figure to Chingachgook's son.
Jiaan and Fasal in Hilari Bell's Farsala trilogy.
- And Fisk and Micheal in her Knight and Rogue series.
Tom and Carl from Young Wizards (very possibly a gay couple, but that's never been stated outright by canon, so I put them here too). If they aren't a couple, they're still two successful thirty-something men who live together.
- Word Of God states that they are, in fact, a couple, and so are NOT heterosexual life partners.
  - Where did she say that? I didn't know it had been confirmed one way or the other.
Rivera and Cavuto from Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story — sort of, as Cavuto actually is gay.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms has Liu Bei somehow embody this trope with four different people — both of his fellow Peach Garden Oath Brothers (albeit their appearance combined with the brotherhood rules out Ho Yay), Zhao Yun in the novel and Zhuge Liang.
- Lampshaded in the 1991 anime, where Liu Bei's jealous oath brothers are quite snide about just how close Zhuge Liang seems to be. (They eat their words after he proves to be a frickin' genius.)
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, both shown as enthusiastic heterosexuals. In the last book Fritz Leiber wrote, the Mouser wonders why he and Fafhrd have never extended their relationship into the sexual, and whether this is a weakness.
Played with in Michael Chabon's novel Wonder Boys. Protaganist Grady admits that he hoped his best friend Crabtree would be his life partner, but this is complicated by the fact that Crabtree is gay. Ergo, the very straight Grady oftentimes finds himself jealous of Crabtree's boyfriends.
Warriors: Ravenpaw and Barley; Fireheart and Graystripe.
Jordan McKell and his partner Ixil from Timothy Zahn's sci-fi murder mystery The Icarus Hunt. Like Han Solo and Chewbacca they're both male, one human, one decidedly alien, and have spent many years flying a two-person ship. Apart from facilitating their murder investigation and flight from some particularly pissed alien highjackers, their partnership turns out to be a major plot point.
Also, arguably, Artemis Fowl and his manservant, Domovoi Butler. Admittedly, it's just Butler's job, but the point is, Artemis is heterosexual (Butler is married to his job), they're partners, and they will literally be together for life. It's in Butler's job description.
- Though it can also be seen as a Father-Son relationship, or even brotherly. Just ignore the Butler/Artemis slash...
Jim Pooley and John Omalley from Robert Rankin's Brentford Trilogy. In fact all of Rankin's heroes are straight maled and nearly all have a "bestest friend" whom they "love in a manly mannish way".
James Potter and Sirius Black in Harry Potter. The information of James' death was enough to make Sirius burst into crazy laughter, according to the Word Of God 'because he knew what he'd lost'. He continues to mourn James throughout the rest of his life (not helped by the Dementors of course), and it is clear that James was the person he loved most in the world, with no notable romantic interests at all and no other friends reaching the level that James held in his life. They're also referenced as being 'like brothers' (though with the way Sirius felt about his own brother I doubt it is an accurate comparison). Although, the way Sirius speaks about James is obsessive and seems bordering on infatuation, which might argue against the level of heterosexuality in this particular life partnership.
- It's actually not that hard to become obsessed with someone in a nonsexual way.
- What about Harry and Ron, who seem to become apathic, depressed and hostile toward everyone else, when they fight each other. Their break-ups resemble lovers' quarrels.
Horace Harkness and Scotty Tremaine from the Honor Harrington series - they are 'always' invariably assigned to the same ship. We later find out that this is because Harkness hacked the Navy's personnel files. They also have hugged several times throughout the series.
Arthur and Ford in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. Ford constantly saves Arthur's ass, even when it'd be more convienient for Ford to simply take off and leave Arthur behind—suprising, considering that Ford by nature is incredibly selfish and self-serving. Not to mention that having Arthur around only makes Ford's life more difficult—everything needs explaining (and Arthur takes a while to catch on), Arthur has almost zip self-preservation instincts (to the point that Ford has to drag him away from an army of killer robots), and (perhaps the most irritating thing for Ford) Arthur never seems to want to do anything ("We're popping off to a party and having a bit of fun. Is that an idea you can wrap your head around?") By Mostly Harmless, the two seem to be completely and totally sick to the teeth of each other (to the point where Arthur seems to want Ford to kill himself), and yet they support and rely on each other anyway. If that's not hetero-love, I don't know what is.
- Just ignore the fangirls...
Caesar and Brutus start off as such in Conn Iggulden's Emperor series.
Gilbert and Isak, the "Mice" of Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series.
Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse, of The Cricket in Times Square.
Lissa and Rose in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. The two are psychically bonded to each other for life. In the fourth book, Rose goes off to kill Dimitri, leaving Lissa behind. The separation leaves a toll on both, and at the end, when Rose comes back, Lissa tells her to not leave her behind again.
Lissa: I just wanted to say, after everything that's happened...well, I don't want us to ever have this kind of separation again. I mean, I know we can't be together every single second - and that's kind of creepy anyway - but we're bonded for a reason. We're meant to look out for each other and be there for each other.
Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon used to be, in A Song of Ice and Fire. This being a series very far down the sliding scale, they both move away, get married to people they do not love (not at the time, anyway) and speak only once over the next fourteen years. When they finally do start hanging around each other again, the consequences are fatal for both of them.
- Additionally, Ser Duncan the Tall and King Aegon V.
Sir Sparhawk and Sir Kalten in The Elenium by David Eddings.
- Tynian and Ulath grow to be this during the course of the series. In the second trilogy, someone explains their constant banter as a way of saying they love each other—and embarrasses all of them; men aren't too comfortable with the word 'love' when it's applied to other men (even if he IS your best friend).
Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. Granted, Nero was Archie's employer, but they had a hard time genereally without each other. Archie was a well-reputed ladies man throughout the 30+ years of novels, and Nero was a famed asexual, living only for fine food and his orchids.
Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley of Pride And Prejudice — seriously, is there anything these two don't do together?
- To be fair, Darcy's doing it for Bingley— he recognizes early on that Bingley is entirely too trusting and could easily get in with the wrong crowd if he's not careful. Thus, he starts the friendship with Bingley so that he can watch him and make sure he's making the right choices.
- Elizabeth Bennett and Charlotte Lucas were this for a long time... until Charlotte got married. To a smug, idiotic, pompous windbag.
Ton Phanan and Garik "Face" Loran. Described by Wraith One as "the best comedy team this side of the janitor's closet", they snarked off each other exceptionally well. All the Wraiths snarked off of each other, but these two took it to a new level. More seriously, Phanan confessed only to Face how much of his snark was an act and how he felt like his extensive cybernetics couldn't replace his lost future. After Phanan is shot down, Face follows despite leading a mission at the time, and after Phanan dies, Face talks about how they met in training and within days were finishing each others' sentences.
- For that matter, Wedge Antilles and nearly any of the Rogues who manage to survive. It's explicitly stated that as the head of a squadron with an alarmingly high mortality rate, Wedge stays a little distant from most of the pilots so he won't be as hurt when they die. But when they do prove themselves, he gets deeply attached. The three he's probably closest to are Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, Wes Janson, and Tycho Celchu, all of whom have been flying with him since Hoth or even before that. They're both a Badass Crew and Nakama. During Legacy Of The Force, when he and his daughter were on one side of the New Biggest Conflict Ever and Tycho was on the other, Wedge says that he's got family on both sides.
Bran Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzex from Alan Dean Foster's Flinx novels. Justified because they were once operators of a Humanx Commonwealth stingship, which required their minds to be linked so closely that their mutual understanding has never faded.
Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen, in Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series. Either one of them would die for the other. And until we see how Republic of Thieves plays out, it seems Locke may have done just that.

Cory and Shawn in Boy Meets World.
- And, oddly enough, so are their older brothers, Jack and Eric.
Van and Munter from the New Zealand TV show Outrageous Fortune.
Nico and Grady from Sonny with a Chance, even with their own 'breakup' episode where they try to replace one another with Sonny.
Crockett and Tubbs in Miami Vice.
The title characters of Starsky And Hutch.
- Owen Wilson (Hutch in the film) described it to anybody who would listen as "a love story between two men".
Bodie and Doyle from The Professionals.
Bert and Ernie, from Sesame Street, and many a joke has been made about this one.
- Word of God says that Bert & Ernie were originally conveived to be brothers, but the show's creators saw more storyline potential with them as an Odd Couple pairing.
Lewis and Oswald, from The Drew Carey Show, and many a joke was made on the show about it.
Oswald: "So I was drinkin' the other night, and I got to throwin' up and I got to thinkin'..." (long, rambling exposition about him wanting to move back in follows)
Lewis: "Hey. You had me at 'throwin' up'."
George and Jerry on Seinfeld.
- "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
J.D. and Turk on Scrubs: even after Turk gets married and J.D. moves out, Carla, Turk's wife, calls J.D. "Turk's boyfriend" and often jokes about it on the show. This culminated in a musical number that celebrated their "Guy Love". In some early episodes, however, Turk was paranoid they might be Mistaken For Gay.
- Heck, one of the series' oldest running gags is that the two are gay for each other.
- In a recent episode, J.D. mentions Turk being the love of his life, after expecting him to say Elliot.
Jed and Leo on The West Wing are practically the embodiment of the trope. Granted, Jed has a wife whom he loves very much, but the two of them have an extremely close friendship that goes very,very far back and are utterly devoted to each other. Leo is willingly subservient to the President, his faithful servant, if you will, while the President is heavily dependant on Leo, whom he considers much smarter than himself. The two of them also spend as much time as humanly possible in each other's company while at work.
- Sam and Josh as well. They were often portrayed as younger versions of Jed and Leo, though neither was subservient to the other, until Sam was written out and Josh got more focused on Donna.
- In a slight variation, CJ and Toby apparently go way, way, way back, without any implications of a sexual relationship even though they are of opposite genders. Their jobs dilute their duo to a foursome, however.
- Also, Ed and Larry, in later seasons.
House and Wilson on House. In the second and third seasons, the writers make light of the shipping.
Stacy: What is wrong with you?
House: I'm gay. (Stacy glares at him) Well, it makes sense. No girlfriend, always with Wilson, obsession with sneakers...
- The fourth season goes well beyond "making light of," as House ends up demanding visitation rights from Wilson's new girlfriend.
  - "My God! You're dating me!"
  - That season also implies that House tries to sabotage Wilson's relationships so that he won't lose him to a woman.
  - 5th season, Cuddy puts House and Wilson in "couples therapy" because Wilson doesn't want to be House's friend anymore.
  - On the 6th season, House moves in with Wilson, and it seems that they're actually going to stay together for a while.
- Well, House is based on Sherlock Holmes, and as you'll see above, this same trope applied there.
  - Yeah, but the lead of a TV show doesn't need a loyal biographer to connect him to the audience.
Hiro and Ando from Heroes. In one episode, Ando even commented "That is how we roll." It helps that he has a thing for Hiro's sister.
- Mohinder and Matt were shaping up to become this in season 2. They moved in together and even adopted a daughter that they were co-raising. Though, seeing as how Matt had a wife and may marry Daphne someday if the future holds true, this is either one way Ho Yay on Mohinder's part or just that they both care a lot for Molly. Of course, Matt was single at the time...
The titular characters from Drake And Josh.
JT and Toby from Degrassi The Next Generation.
Tigh and Adama from Battlestar Galactica. Made abundantly clear by Adama's breakdown over Tigh's revelation that he is a cylon, though it was obvious before.
- Well, Adama's breakdown might be be more to do with the fact that ALOT of the people in his life are Cylons, One surrogate daughter was revealed as one when she SHOT him, one surrogate daughter is suspected of being one, one surrogate daughter is one; His best friend has turned out to be a cylon, AND fron the Caprica spoilers his sister was turned into one of the first Cylons. Ever,
- It's official. William Adama is the one Saul Tigh loves most in the universe. So says Saul's own wife.
Steven Harper and Scott Guber from Boston Public.
Denny Crane and Alan Shore from Boston Legal. They discuss their relationship, as well as social opinion of such relationships, frequently. Alan even discussed the English word "love", and how it's a shame that people use it lightly and a further shame that you can't be precise about your meaning, and then firmly applied it to Denny: "I love you." (Or so this editor recalls.) All in a non-sexual way, and yet these two are more intimate than a good number of television married couples.
- That editor recalls correctly. This one cried.
  - And in the series finale, they do get married, making them literal heterosexual life partners.
- The two do end a lot of episodes with some pretty heavy duty male bonding moments—sitting on the balcony, drinking Scotch and...well, without more to go on we'll just have to assume that in this case, a cigar (or rather two cigars) is just a cigar. Probably.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine had Julian Bashir and Elim Garak; it is interesting to note that both actors remarked during interviews that they had deliberately played up the homoerotic undertones of the characters' relationship, and Andrew Robinson later wrote a novel A Stitch in Time about Garak's life in which he clearly depicted the alien Garak as bisexual. Later, when Paramount script writers had abruptly put an end to the Bashir and Garak subplots, Doctor Bashir and Chief O'Brien spent so much time together on various projects and on hobby activities that O'Brien's wife Keiko complained about it. They have an argument over it while dying inside a virtual world of a dying man (don't ask), where Bashir says he's wildly in love with Ezri (female, now) but he "likes [O'Brien] more", and O'Brien doesn't feel the same.
The Mystic Knights Of Tir Na Nog: Rohan and Angus, "friends for life."
Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg in The Sentinel; Blair actually moves in with Jim early in the series.
Howard Moon and Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh. They work together, live together, go on adventures together, throw satsumas (tangerines) at each other in the snow while wearing only underwear together... Vince is also often mistaken for Howard's girlfriend or wife (since Dude Looks Like A Lady). Lance Dior claims to have heard that Howard is Vince's wife, that he cooks his meals, cuts his hair, and bakes him "little cakes". The relationship remains strictly platonic, despite a few close calls. Once (infamously) in Party, and once in Boosh Live, when Howard's technique with the ladies is described by Vince as a rude invitation to get into his wheel barrel (he's from Leeds, you see). Howard protests, claiming he was drunk, and Vince laughs, "I know, so was I — I was in the wheel barrel."
Although Olaf Petersen only makes a handful of appearances in Red Dwarf, a strong impression is given that, before the accident, he and Lister were Heterosexual Life Partners. Lister apparently has a tattoo that says "I Love Petersen".
- Rimmer and Lister could be considered involuntary Heterosexual Life Partners; there's simply no-one else for them to talk to. They live (well, in Rimmer's case, exist) in a mile-long abandoned spaceship, but still sleep in their old crew bunks in the same room.
  - Even when Rimmer does get someone else to talk to in Me Squared, it all goes wrong and he comes crawling back to Lister.
  - Let's not even get started on Lister's Dream Sequence in Blue..
Mark and Jeremy on Peep Show definitely fall under this trope, possibly because they're both so appalling no-one else will put up with them for long. As Jeremy thinks at the end of one episode "I'm his one!"
- Not to mention the last episode of season 5 where Sophie is pregnant and it might be either Mark's or Jeremy's. Mark comments on Sophie's increasingly erratic behavior and says that if she continues like that, they can just adopt the baby "like those gay dads"
Dean and Sam Winchester of Supernatural can be seen as a literal case of this. Not only are they heterosexual life partners as adults, but they've spent their entire lives together, except for four years when Sam was at college.
- Although, since they're brothers, does it really count?
- Dean and Castiel have one of the oddest bromances on TV. Whether you see it as Ho Yay or not the two are protective of each other and at the very least care for the other. Misha Collins who plays Castiel is quoted as saying that "Castiel went against heaven because he didn't want to lose Dean's friendship". In 'Free To Be You and Me' there are many hints of bromance, ranging from Dean trying to get Castiel laid to Castiel using his trenchcoat as a method of protecting Dean from flying glass. In fact, the whole of 'Free To Be You and Me' is just one very funny, if awkward testament of the bromance between the two.
Shawn and Gus from Psych
Chandler and Joey from Friends
Vorenus and Pullo from Rome.
Carly and Sam from iCarly.
Chuck and Morgan from Chuck.
Max and OB from Hollyoaks.
Ray and Fraser from Due South.
- Which Ray? There were two, after all.
  - Both. But Ray Kowalski was the one Fraser went off with at the end of the series.
Morecambe And Wise make this older than a LOT of people think, apparently. As do Flanders and Swann.
- Morcambe and Wise were always shown as very close and as quarreling like an old married couple, but were reluctant for years to do their first sharing a bed skit, even though their relationship is clearly platonic.
Bam and Novak from Viva la Bam generally refer to each other as 'life partner' for the laughs, seeing as they were basically attached at the hip.
Christian and Sean from Nip/Tuck
From Keen Eddie, the professional friendship between Eddie Arlette and Monty Pippin is a prime example. Mark Valley: "You got to admit, whenever two guys have to spend an awful lot of time together, the question is going to come up. There's always that thing of, 'Oh my God, are we gay?' Like, not physically, but you're enjoying each other's company — you know what I mean? It could be read that way, and we joke about it, but they're just two regular guys hanging out, spending an awful lot of time together."
The Naked Trucker and T-Bones, in both their live stage show and short-lived television show.
Richard Sharpe and Patrick Harper. After brief enmity and beating the crap out of each other, they settle into a friendship that leads them to walk into combat zones for each other after they each leave the army, and the exchange "Are you with me, Patrick?" "Yes, always." Not to mention the strong implication that when Sharpe is should-be-mortally wounded, he only lives because of Harper's determination that he will.
Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May are all long-time friends off-camera — which helps explain how horrific they can be to each other on the show.
- Clarkson and May were among the first to visit Hammond when he wound up in the hospital after crashing in a rocket car doing 288 mph.
Greys Anatomy has a Patient of the Week and her best friend, who are both runaways from a small religious group, and have basically pledged to be together "cradle to grave." Too bad one of 'em's dying.
- It also has, well, a good portion of the doctors. Yang and Meredith seem to fit this trope best, even though it's actually Izzie (and George, for that matter) that shares an apartment with Meredith.
And just so nobody has to go looking for it elsewhere in the article... Tim and Mike in Spaced.
Moss and Roy seem this way in The IT Crowd, even though Roy tries to deny it and Moss seems oblivious when it is mentioned:
Moss: "I do like Roy, I'm just not "curious""
Roy: "We are not a married couple..........and I'm the husband!!!""
Patsy and Edina in Absolutely Fabulous, although given Eddie's epic inability to relate to anyone else and Patsy's... well, Patsy... there've been a few joking suggestions that the "heterosexual" part of the description might not always have been entirely accurate.
- Patsy sabotaged at least one of Eddie's potential relationships (Saffy called her on it but couldn't stop her) and it's been implied that she was the main reason both of Eddie's marriages broke down.
PJ and Duncan of Byker Grove fame, played by Real Life Heterosexual Life Partners Ant & Dec.
Jason and Tommy in Power Rangers. Several seasons had the Red Ranger have this relationship with the Sixth Ranger.
- Interestingly, the source material for the original Power Rangers, Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger, had their counterparts as long-lost brothers.
- Power Rangers in Space had Andros and Zhane. Zhane was injured and placed in cryogenic freeze, Andros' looking at his tube had a "lost love" look to it.
Wendy and Lacey of The Middleman
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry from Alias Smith And Jones are a prime example of this trope.
Draconical and Weslmeister embody this trope well.
The MTV reality show Bromance follows... some guy from one of their other shows as he tries to find one of these. The show, unsurprisingly, plays up the gay subtext for all its worth.
Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg. It made for a bit of awkwardness when Willow came out as gay, partially because they had grown apart quite a bit during that season and Buffy had no clue until then.
- Angelus and Spike were this at one point. When Angelus got a soul and became Angel they didn't see each other much for about a hundred years. Their mutual hatred of each other (and subsequent Ho Yay) was only escalated because they used to be this trope.
  - Their respective girlfriends Darla and Drusilla are an even better example, as seen on Angel Season 2. That actually hung over the precipice of Ho Yay, really, despite the Grandmother-Granddaughter/Daughter-Mother thing going on simultaneously...
In flashbacks shown in Dollhouse, Caroline (the future Echo) and Bennett (Echo's future foil) became fast friends in college and were heading in this direction - until a certain bomb went off...
Serena and Blair from Gossip Girl. Would rather spend their prom with each other than their boyfriends/love interests.
Lts. Provenza and Flynn of the LAPD in the crime drama The Closer. In fact, it is not uncommon to hear Chief Johnson bellowing, "Provenza and Flynn!!" when she hears about their wacky hijinx (one of which involved a dead body, Provenza's garage, skybox tickets to a Dodgers game, and Johnson more furious than anyone's seen her), and when they're not assigned to work alone, she virtually always pairs them up.
The title characters on Kate & Allie.
Harold and Lou on Neighbours. They actually started off as fierce love rivals but now they're like an old married couple.
Tommy Dawkins and Merton Dingle on Big Wolf on Campus.
The A-Team on... well, The A Team. Given a Lampshade Hanging when they buy a house as part of a scheme, and the head of the neighborhood watch asks if they're gay. The team has to physically restrain B.A..
Merlin and Arthur... according to the writers, anyway. Some would disagree.
Kirk and Spock of Star Trek The Original Series are the epitome of this trope.
- Their counterparts from the J.J. Abrams movie were set upon by the plot that they must end up like this. (Except less slashable, if J.J. has anything to say about it.)
- To be fair to the other Hetero-Life mate pairing of the show; Whereas the Kirk/Spock relationship grew exponentially over the course of the series. Kirk and Bones were established to have been VERY close from the first episode, their relationship reaching farther back than Kirk/Spock.
Numb3rs: Colby and David fit the trope to a "T", even displaying jealousy at each other's outside friendships and acting heartbroken when one or the other is removed from the group.
Josh and Sugardaddy of Popular. In one episode, Sugardaddy is jealous of all the time Josh spends with his girlfriend.
Life On Mars / Ashes To Ashes: Ray Carling and Chris Skelton, although as of the most recent season the hints have been flying thick and fast that there might be a little more than that going on with Ray's chronic resentment of Chris's girlfriend. (And then, of course, there's the scene at the end of the latest episode where Alex has written letters for the entire team to be opened in the event of her departure; of course, everyone opens theirs right away, and all we hear about Ray's is that it contains the word "repressed.")
Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin. Napoleon's steady stream of girlfriends (and Illya's occasional fling) does nothing to deter shippers, naturally.
Perceval and Karadoc in the French show Kaamelott spend so much time with eachother, they end up founding their own clan together.
Gary and Wyatt in the 90s Weird Science series television show.
Busmalis and Rebadow from Oz. Despite Rebadow once trying to kill Busmalis, they've got the "old married couple" thing down pat.
In Black Books, Bernard and Manny appear to be Heterosexual Life Partners perpetually teetering on the verge of divorce, between the bitter arguments and put-downs, the Ho Yay and the living together thing.
Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords live together, even sharing a bedroom if not a bed. Jemaine in particular tends to get jealous of Bret's girlfriends, and they will often accompany each other on dates. The lyrics to "Bret You've Got it Goin' On", which is supposedly an entirely platonic attempt to make Bret feel better about his looks, reveal that sometimes when Bret is sleeping Jemaine puts a wig on him and spoons him.
Chuck and Olive become this in Pushing Daisies. Yes, Chuck's a woman.
Howard and Raj from The Big Bang Theory. They've had their moments before, but half of the episode "The Cornhusker Vortex" is basically about them being like husband and wife, respectively.
- Lampshaded in "The Maternal Congruence".
  - Lampshaded even earlier in "The Maternal Capacitance."
Callan and Sam on NCIS Los Angeles are this trope, written that way intentionally, even to the point other characters make comments about them being a married couple.
Barney, Marshall and Ted from How I Met Your Mother
Frasier and Niles Crane fit this trope perfectly. Granted, they are brothers, but they are also best friends and constant companions, quite beyond what you'd normally expect from siblings. The fact that they act very much like a married couple gets lampshaded more than once, and even after Niles marries Daphne, he spends as much time with his brother as he does with his wife.
Mac and Dennis on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Malcolm Reynolds and Zoe Washbourne of Firefly. Though deeply devoted to each other there is not a particle of sexual tension there - whatever Wash might think - as even Jayne recognizes; "That is so wrong!"
- Er, Malcolm and Zoe are opposite-sex friends. I think this needs to be moved to The Straight Will And Grace.
Michael Weston and Sam Axe on "Burn Notice", arguably
Winters and Nix on "Band of Brothers" and in real life, starting in WWII till Nix's death

Pretty much any tag team that stays together for a while and isn't related ends up being Heterosexual Life Partners. That is, unless they're something more...
WWE's Shawn Michaels and Triple H are probably wrestling's longest-running Heterosexual Life Partners. Not that they haven't made us wonder about that first word.
Matt and Jeff Hardy are like the Winchester example above: yes, they're brothers, but they're also a hell of a lot closer than most brothers their age would be...living within line of sight of each other, doing a webshow together, going out together, etc. They've built up a pretty substantial Nakama around themselves as well, with the rest of the OMEGA crew in close proximity.
And from TNA, we have the Motor City Machine Guns, who have used this exact phrase (specifically, Alex Shelly in regards to Chris Sabin) to describe each other.

Ursarker E. Creed, Lord Castellan of Cadia, and Colour Sergeant Jarran Kell of the Warhammer 40000 universe.

Brick and Skipper in the backstory of Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - that is, if you believe Brick when he vehemently denies they did "sodomy" together:
Brick: Why can't exceptional friendship, real, real, deep, deep friendship! between two men be respected as something clean and decent without being thought of as—
Big Daddy: It can, it is, for God's sake.
Brick: -Fairies...
A Year With Frog And Toad: Frog and Toad were always good friends in the original kids' books, but The Musical elevates them comfortably to life partners at the very least. They even invade each others dreams to sing about how much they like each other. Twice. ("That's funny, you've been in all my dreams too...")
Estragon and Vladimir from Waiting For Godot. They even have pet names for each other and put off killing themselves because of the slight possibility that one of them would live and be left alone.
- Don't forget that they were going to hang themselves so they could get erections. There is so much Ho Yay in this play, Wikipedia even has it's own entry on it.
"We live together, as close as people can get / We've been the best of buddies ever since the day we met!" Which segues, just a song later, into "If you were gay / That'd be okay / I mean, 'cause hey / I like you anyway / Because you see / If it were me / I would feel free to say / That I was gay / But I'm not gay."
- Subverted, slightly, given that while Nicky fits the trope perfectly, Rod only qualifies for the "Life Partner" aspect.
Voldemort and Quirrell are at least this by the end of A Very Potter Musical.

X & Zero in the Mega Man X games, who were originally created to kill each other. By X5, the Ho Yay was waist-deep. It doesn't help that Zero looks like a girl.
- The Battle Network series give us Lan and Megaman.EXE and Geo and Omega, though it's somewhat padded by them having other friends as well.
  - Then again, in Lan's and Megaman.EXE's case, they've been pulling each others' asses outta frying pans for as long as the series has run. Not to mention that Megaman is Lan's dead little brother Hub, resurrected as a digitized Replacement Goldfish by their father. So their bond is pretty justified.
Sanger Zonvolt and Elzam Branstein in Super Robot Wars. The jokes only get worse when Elzam gets a Humongous Mecha that transforms into a horse to be ridden by Sanger's mech.
Xenosaga Shion and Mary Magdalene
If you really feel that you absolutely have to, you could treat Snake and Otacon in Metal Gear Solid as Heterosexual Lifepartners. But you would still know, that you are just lying to yourself.
Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago from the Gears Of War franchise, to the point where Dom will break into an abandoned prison filled with subterranean mutants in order to free Marcus. And sure, Dom's got a long-lost wife, but she conveniently dies during the second game.
- During a podcast from before Gears 2 was released, the staff of Giant Bomb commented that they wanted to see the game end with a passionate kiss between Dom and Marcus, if for no other reason than to annoy the legions of foul mouthed 12-year-olds who play Gears on Xbox Live.
Because they are the most famous Uber pairing in the game, the Medic and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2 can be described as hetero life partners.
The Heavy: I love this doctor!
Sora and Riku from Kingdom Hearts. Sora reacts with such heartfelt gladness over Riku's return in the second game that it somewhat overshadowed his reunion with his nominal love interest Kairi. It was obvious enough that one webcomic artist did a parody of the scene.
- Perhaps seeing as Sora pulled off a Heroic Sacrifice during he and Kairi's reunion in the original game, the developers didn't want to make anything as big of it this time around.
  - To be fair, Kairi was the one who had to show Sora it was Riku in the first place.
  - Also, the creator of the game has stated he doesn't intend for any of the characters to enter into romantic relationships.
- What about Roxas and Axel? Whatever the fangirls say, they were written to have a deep bond of platonic friendship. There are also several different Organization pairings fangirls like to make up, but are unlikely as A) Roxas and Axel are the only ones who seem to show true emotion, and B) Since Nobodies are kind of etherial beings.
  - Well, it was more like Axel having a one-sided obsession with hanging out with Roxas. In his mind, they were definitely Heterosexual Life Partners (or something more, all depending on the person). Roxas didn't seem to feel the same way about Axel nearly as much, considering that he was very quick and willing to abandon Axel so he could go off and find those "friends" from his memories (which he admitted he desired). Not to mention the whole "No one would miss me" thing, with him completely disregarding Axel. Even in 358/2 Days, Roxas' level of friendship toward Axel and Axel's level of friendship toward Roxas are different from one another, with Axel's level being none too good.
Reno and Rude of Final Fantasy VII and its spin-offs fit the bill.
Well, more this one involves than two perhaps, as Star Wolf is a trio of male mercenaries who have shared their lives together, being Wolf, Leon and Panther. Also, it is hinted that Wolf and Leon have been together longer, going way before the events of Star Fox 64... though well... Leon seems to be enjoying his partner for sadomasochism.
Sonic and Tails.
- The Team Chaotix members, especially Vector and Espio. Considering that this couple is also arguably the most popular homosexual couple amongst the minor characters (that is, outside of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow and Eggman), this definitely overlaps into Ho Yay territory, for the fans.
Shinon and Gatrie from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Played for laughs, as Gatrie is forever Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places, and Shinon regularly points out that the girls are either only interested whatever little money he may have or wholly unattanaible.
Gatrie: Don't mock me, Shinon! This is serious. I feel it. It's destiny! That girl and I are fated to be together!
Shinon: You're chasing after a laguz now? Gatrie, I swear you'd hit on a tree if I dressed it in a skirt. Tell me I'm wrong!
- Most Fire Emblems have a pairing like this. Sword of Flame, for example, has Kent and Sain.
  - The pairing of two Cavaliers, such as this one, is especially common, as we also have Forde and Kyle in Sacred Stones and Lance and Allen in Binding Blade. Binding Blade has a non-Cavalier example, too, with the Fighter pair, Ward and Lott (probably the better example from Binding Blade, actually).
  - How about Ike and Soren, or Ike and Ranulf? Though IMO Ike's heterosexuality is debatable.
  - Especially considering that Mia flirts with him relentlessly, and he ignores her.
  - It should be pointed out that Ike generally ignores flirtation of any sort. Ike is generally a fighter, not a lover. Simply put, he's probably utterly disinterested in romance of any sort from either sex.
World Of Warcraft has Asric and Jadaar, two perpetually bickering ex-cops who have moved from Shattrath City, to the Cantrips and Crows tavern under Dalaran, to their current post at the Argent Tournament grounds since their first introduction. Speculation abounds about them.
The main character and Yosuke in Persona 4 definitely have shades of this if you develop Yosuke's social link. In point of fact, a Fan Nickname for Yosuke is Brosuke.
Yosuke: There's still nothing here, but I have family and friends...and you.
Touka and Karura after the final boss fight in Utawarerumono. Unfortunately for any yuri fanboys out there, they're basically confirmed to still be hetero, as their mutual berserk button is disrespecting their relationship with Hakuoro.
Guile and Nash/Charlie from the Street Fighter Alpha series. Probably Ryu and Ken too.
- If by "probably" you mean "definately."
Jak And Daxter fit this trope to a tee, including the unwarranted Shipping. Never mind Daxter's form.
Ratchet and Clank are also this. In fact, the "life" part is very literal, having been together for nearly the same amount of time that Clank has been conscious. Also within the series are Qwark/Skrunch, Rusty Pete/Captain Slag (although, being pirates, they may not be heterosexual life partners), and Cronk/Zephyr.
Captains Price and Mac Tavish have fitten into this one in the Call Of Duty Modern Warfare series.

Bumper and Stunt of Dominic Deegan - this has been noted by other characters in the series, often to tease Stunt, a staunch homophobe.
Ben and Eric from Loserz sometimes come close.
Arthur and Lancelot in Arthur King Of Time And Space. Which is... kind of awkward, in the circumstances.
Elliot and Tedd in El Goonish Shive, driven home by the fact that, in an alternate universe where Elliot was born a girl, they're dating.
- Later revealed by Word Of God to be true in nearly every alternate continuity where they are both alive and sexually compatible. Which is probably why Lord Tedd is such a grumpy gus - no Elliot and no relief (his "Grace" is an extremely large (and male) squirrel hybrid by the name of General Shade Tail).
MegaTokyo's Piro and Largo. Also, Kimiko and Erika. All are canonly strait, but the fact that each pair lives together, and have done so at least since college, doesn't help matters on the Ho Yay front.
Pretty much any Two Gamers On A Couch, when they're not trying to murder each other.
Ethan and Lucas in Ctrl Alt Delete.
Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade, though several strips have shown that Gabe is only gay for Spiderman.
Robin and Jason in The Wotch.
Gamma and Zimmy's relationship in Gunnerkrigg Court is simultaneously sweet and toxic: On the one hand, Zimmy would gladly die if Gamma asked her to; on the other hand, she poisons other people's friendships with Gamma to insure she never leaves. It really doesn't help that Gamma is about the only thing that keeps Zimmy from freaking out and bad shit happening.
- Don't forget Annie and Kat.
  - Of course, the heterosexuality of those examples is in dispute
- Donald Donlan and James Eglamore are a healthier example. Surma even noted in one flashback that when Jim was away for training, Donnie seemed to miss Jim more than she did. Surma was Jim's girlfriend at the time.
Gertrude & Brunhilda in The KAMics.
The titular Sam and Fuzzy.
Rayne and Noel of Least I Could Do have confirmed this status themselves.
Somewhat blasphemously, Jesus and Mo
Terinu and Matt. They spent half their young lives together as the abused slaves as a pirate warlord, with Matt stealing food to keep Teri healthy and at one point he actually cuddled in bed with him after Terinu's powers were traumatically activated. Wordof God has stated "Both of them would rather be dead than see the other hurt."
Torg and Riff from Sluggy Freelance. Though even after being best friends for decades, they're still not that comfortable with hugs.
- Zoe and Gwynn, for that matter.
So... Fighter McWarrior and Blackmage Evilwizardington have been travelling together for probably years. No matter what made BM do that, it definitely qualifies them for the trope and if Fighter knew what heterosexual meant he'd probably describe their friendship like that.
- FIGHTER would. Black Mage would stab Fighter a few dozen hundred times to illustrate his point as he said no. He would then probably Hadoken or evilstab the questioner.
Subverted in Coming Up Violet with the school bullies.
Emergency Exit has quite a few relationships like this, the most obvious being the main characters and roommates Bob and Eddie as well as Karl and Jason even though Jason technically expressed romantic interest in Karl but since Karl's straight they are meerly very close friends.
Axel and Zexion in Ansem Retort. They're so close that Zexion was able to hit on Axel's wife-during their wedding-and not suffer a horrific death.

Raimi and Oran of Broken Saints, although it takes them a while to bond.
Agents Five of Six and Tadkeeta Penguin in Protectors of the Plot Continuum.
- In fact, a lot of Agent partnerships go under this heading.
Kazamaru and Kebano, apparently.

Toy Story: Buzz and Woody.
Lenny and Carl on The Simpsons. There have been a few jokes about this, of course.
- Makes a different sense since it was revealed that the two are really half-brothers.
- Recent seasons have done the same for Wiggum and Lou. Wiggum is usually the overly emotional wife/girlfriend.
  Wiggum Lou, you can't leave the force! I can change!
  Lou I just think there's more money in private security.
  Wiggum What I'm hearing is I'm too fat! [Eats a sundae between sobs]
- While Smithers would obviously prefer his relationship with Mr. Burns to be something different, Mr. Burns himself seems to view their relationship this way. Smithers seems to be one of the very few people Burns regards with something more than disdain or outright hatred, to the point where he's "rewarded" Smithers' devotion with the "honor" of being buried alive with him after he dies.
Pinky And The Brain, though in all fairness, they're forced to live in a cage.
- Break out a lot, though.
Mr. Small and Mr. Nosey in The Mr Men Show, also Mr. Persnickety and Mr. Messy.
Darkwing Duck and Launchpad McQuack. Darkwing called Launchpad his "sidekick", but the dynamic was different. There's even less explanation for his living in DW's civilian house, plus Launchpad didn't even bother with a Secret Identity.
Andy and Jim in Mission Hill.
Following the series return, Stewie in Family Guy seems to have abandoned his plans for world domination just to have more time to hang out with Brian, formerly his arch rival. The series has been known to play with their growing relationship:
[Stewie and Brian kiss to hide their faces]
Brian: [breaks the kiss] Come on, we gotta follow them. Stewie?
Stewie: Huh? Oh, oh, uh...
Brian: Everything all right?
Stewie: Uh, yeah, uh...hey, listen, freakin' shot in the dark: You wanna do something sometime?
Mac and Bloo from Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends. Never mind the fact that Bloo is a figment of Mac's imagination...
Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King, particularly in their eponymous Recycled The Series.
Spongebob and Patrick of Spongebob Squarepants.
- Technically, Spongebob is Asexual, but Heteroromantic.
  - They may have meant biologically.
Walter and Perry in Home Movies. They seem really intimate with each other; wearing matching clothes, holding hands, and just being inseparable.
Jumba and Pleakley of Lilo And Stitch, especially in the sequel movies and series. The fact that Pleakley is a Wholesome Crossdresser doesn't help the Ho Yay any.
Sully and Mike in Monsters INC. They even live in the same apartment! Though, Mike does have a girlfriend, lessening the Ho Yay somewhat. And then their theme song turns it right back around...
You and me together,
That's how it always should be,
One without the other
Don't mean nothin' to me...
Miguel and Tulio, partners in crime and fortune-seeking in The Road to El Dorado.
Despite the former feeling little more than contempt for the latter, Ren And Stimpy are a textbook example of the trope. In the ill-fated revival series that briefly ran on Spike TV, Ren and Stimpy were actually a gay couple.
Stan and Kyle from South Park.
Stan: I don't wanna hang out in the kids' room. I won't know anybody.
Randy: Well, it would be good for you to make new friends. You can't just hang out with your buddy Kyle all the time. People will think you guys are, you know, funny.
- Especially in the Guitar Hero episode.
Kyle: Don't you get it? I don't need you anymore!
Stan: I know. I need you.
- While not seen on the show much, anymore, Ned and Jimbo qualify.
- Terrance and Phillip, while we're at it. They were once Mistaken For Gay. By Phillip.
Terrance: Wow, Scott really hates us Phillip.
Phillip: Yes, perhaps he's homophobic.
Terrance: ...But we're not gay, Phillip.
Phillip: We're not?!
- In many episodes we can see Clyde and Token spending too much time together, or sitting near each other. This has been available for Craig and Tweek, too, since they fought each other. Not to mention the great amount of fanfics about them.
And then there's Ace and Gary, the Ambiguously Gay Duo.
- An audio commentary from the actors said that they thought the funniest outcome would be to have one of the Duo be gay, but couldn't agree on which one.
Norbert and Daggett of The Angry Beavers. Being brothers helps.
Daria: While there's never even any subtext of romantic involvement (Jane's sexual questioning in Is It Fall Yet? notwithstanding), Daria and Jane otherwise fit this trope, especially the way Daria gets intensely jealous of Jane's boyfriends.
SWAT Kats: Jake Clawson and Chance Furlong spend nearly all their time together, even at the salvage yard garage where they live.
Futurama had Fry and Bender. Bender is also extremely possessive and jealous, and gets angry/weepy when he can't live with Fry, or when spends more time with his girlfriend than Bender in The Movie. Sometimes expanded to Fry, Bender and Leela.
The Canadian cartoon Kevin Spencer features the characters of Porn Man and Afro Man, who not only co-star in the adult films they act in, but also share a swinging bachelor pad. There's no Ho Yay between them, though, since they get more than enough action both in their day jobs and at the wild parties they host in their free time.
The Platypus Brothers in Taz-Mania. To a lesser extent, Taz and Digeri Dingo since they've known each other since birth and Taz always goes along with Digeri's schemes.
Beavis And Butthead (though in This Book Sucks, it's explained that they're half brothers.)
Ami and Yumi in Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi are like this. They live in the same dwelling... but it's a tour bus, which they travel the world in, along with their manager Kaz. Though there are times at which they appear to be a little too close not to be doing each other, they have both shown strong interest in men and even fought over a male nerd, labeling them as bona-fide Heterosexual Life Partners.
- No Such Thing As Bisexual?
Stan and Koji in Oban Star Racers.
Diadoro and Gomez in Combo Ninos.
Toot and Puddle, two animated pigs starring in a program by the same name, based on a series of picture books, by the same name. Live together in a small home in the burg of Woodcock Pocket / Pocket Hollow and often travel together.
Badger and Mole of Animals of Farthing Wood are inseparable and they often worry about each other when one of them goes missing with Mole being the most emotional about it often bursting into tears, in fact after Mole dies Badger just can't accept the fact he mistakes Mole's son Mossy for him as they look alike and he goes along with it because he was told it would break his heart he remains his companion until Badger passes away of old age.
- It was different in the books however. Badger never died, but Mossy did. Badger found the body and as such, it's pretty clear that he can't go into denial a second time.
Virgil and Richie from Static Shock. Helped along with the fact that it's been admitted that Richie is gay by the animators and in the original comic Rick, who Richie is based on, is gay and there is even an arc where Virgil deals with his feelings on the matter.
Barbie And The Diamond Castle is either about this or a subtexual Lipstick Lesbian romance.
"Ch— Ch— Ch— Chip and Dale!"
- Rescue Rangers!
Rocko and Heffer.
Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble are a popular example of this.
The Venture Brothers has Henchmen 21 and 24. 21 even lampshades this in a third-season episode, when The Monarch doesn't know who 24 is.
- "You know whenever you're talking to me, there's another guy with me? That's 24!"
- Don't forget the "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" conversation.
Mac and Tosh otherwise known as the Goofy Gophers from LooneyTunes they are super polite to each other and agree with what the other says, many people have mistaken them for gay but in several cartoons they have fallen in love with female gopher disguises.

It has been argued that this form of relationship or "Romantic Friendship" was actually quite common until the beginning of the 20th century (at which time any expression of love contracted a sexual overtone).
Oprah and her friend Gayle. At least according to Kathy Griffin.
Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.
Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
One biography states that The Beatles were closer to one another than each was to his respective girlfriend or wife during their career together (at least before things started falling apart).
- It's pretty much assumed by everyone now that that was the case at least for John and Paul.
- The other members of the band have pretty much all-but-admitted that when Yoko entered the scene, they felt threatened by John's intensely close relationship with her and by the fact that, unlike previous girlfriends, she was invading 'their' space (by coming along to studio recordings and such).
- This would also explain why, when the 'break-up' did eventually come, it was so filled with bitterness.
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are like the JD and Turk of the Real Life world.
- Which one is Chocolate Bear?
- You forgot that they've both read Wincest fanfics.
Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato
Fall Out Boy's lead singer and bass player have literally been called Heterosexual Life Partners.
- Which is probably going to be dampened by the fact that said bass player is now married with a kid.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (as mentioned above) are indeed best friends in real life. It was through their friendship that Frost got his big break, as Pegg was somehow able to get him a supporting role in Spaced (which grew in importance as the series went on) despite him having no professional training or experience. The pair, while they are both developing separate acting careers, still turn up together in plenty of TV shows and movies. The suggested Ho Yay is often acknowledged and played up by them in behind the scenes material (such as the Hot Fuzz video blogs) and even in the characters they play.
Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, as mentioned above.
- And to a lesser extent, Smith and Scott Mosier, who was the producer of most of his movies.
Michael Cera and Clark Duke.
The poet Dylan Thomas had this relationship with his friend Vernon Watkins. Somewhat of an unusual situation in that Thomas actually believed Watkins was gay and was surprised when he eventually married.
James Buchanan, the only US President who never married, and William King, the only US Vice President who never married (although King died before Buchanan became president). When they were senators in the 1830s and 40s they lived together and were apparently inseparable. Many people have speculated that they were gay lovers, but Buchanan also (unsuccessfully) courted women at the same time, and earlier in his life he was engaged to wealthy heiress (they broke up after a disagreement and shortly thereafter she committed suicide). As pointed out above, this type of arrangement between men was very common at the time and wasn't necessarily perceived as Ho Yay.
- Actually, regardless of Buchanan's actual sexual orientation, it was percieved as Ho Yay at the time, as evidenced by phrases like "Buchanan and his wife" or "Aunt Fancy" for King.
Penn and Teller.
- Averted. Penn Jillette told once in an interview with Larry King that even though he enjoys working with Teller, they were never close friends, and that that's the secret for a long working relationship like theirs, that it's JUST work.
  - Actually, Penn has said before that Teller is probably his best friend, but they rarely spend time together outside of work since they spend so much time together for it.
- Also, that isn't the first Teller.
Similary averted with Mythbusters hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. Because of their good on-screen chemistry, many people assume they're Heterosexual Life Partners. But in reality, it really is JUST work.
Jack Black and Kyle Gass.
Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari, who were top stars together and have continued to work together since retiring from the Takarazuka. The 'hetero-' is up for debate here...
Ant & Dec have been HL Ps since they got together on the set of Byker Grove and are so famously together that they have one combined page on the other wiki.
- They have one combined page on this wiki too.
- They're releasing a joint biography. Pretty much all of the other pairings have done some things apart from each other. Ant And Dec haven't.
Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia
Montaigne and Etienne de La Boétie.
George Clooney and Brad Pitt
Matthew McConaughey and Lance Armstrong
Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen
Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles.
Pete Doherty and Carl Barât.
In both Real Life and Professional Wrestling circles there is Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin (aka the Murder City Machine Guns) who have actually refered to each other by the trope name.
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are arguably HL Life Partners, even though one of them is gay. Both of them have other "sexual" partners, but they are totally two peas in a pod.
Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick (creators of the Venture Bros) definitely count. Seriously, listen to the commentaries.
- They're basically the same person, they've said so themselves. Their taste in everything is almost suspiciously similar. They seem to agree on almost everything about the show and write almost identically, despite the fact that they seem completely different and didn't start hanging out until not long before creating the show.
David Mitchell and Robert Webb.
- Although both have acknowledged that they consciously attempt to spend less time in each other's company outside of work these days, in order to prevent their working relationship (and friendship) becoming poisoned by too much enforced proximity.
Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick.
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton.
- Arguably, Danny Elfman could also fit with Tim Burton. He scored, in whole or in part, almost all of Tim's movies.
James Corden and Mathew Horne.
Henry Rollins and the late Joe Cole.
Henry Rollins and Adam Rifkin.
Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna
British comedy duo Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson also fit this trope to some extent; having been close friends and working as partners since their University days.
Ben and Jerry?
Abraham Lincoln and his good friend Joshua Speed, to the point of them even sharing a bed together at one point.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and his protege Clyde Tolson. They drove to work together every morning, dined together every evening and even vacationed together. When Hoover died, he left his entire estate to Clyde, who even accepted the flag off of his coffin (usually reserved for widows). Rumors abound that Hoover's soft stance on organized crime was due to the Mafia having a picture of the two that would strike the heterosexual from heterosexual life partners, though no photograph has ever come to light.
Quinton Flynn and Jeff Nimoy (both voice actors who work in anime/video games) are constantly with each other. And constantly mistaken for gay. They've been mistaken for gay so many times that they wrote a song about it and played it at a panel they were doing [1] after accidentally walking into a screening room showing yaoi and having the entire room think they were together.
Method Man and Redman
Christian Web entertainers Rhett & Link
University of Texas quarterback Colt Mc Coy and his wide receiver/roommate Jordan Shipley.
The Google Guys - Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte?
Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.
Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA.
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
- More like Penn & Teller, they were not really friends outside of the job.
Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. (for certain values of "heterosexual")
Jonny Lee Miller and Jude Law.
Hunter S Thompson and Oscar Z Acosta, that is until the latter disappeared somewhere on the Gulf of Mexico.
Seth MacFarlane and Seth Green.
The Firesign Theatre briefly broke up for a year or so in the early seventies. David Ossman and Phil Austin both did solo albums, but Peter Bergman and Phil Proctor did a couple of albums together as Proctor and Bergman.
Andrew Andrew, two men named Andrew (last names unknown) who basically try to act as one person with two bodies.
Robert Pattinson and Tom Sturridge: It seems they even share clothes.
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have said that they don't really socialise outside work (Stephen: "In theory, I think Jon would be excellent company, I just have nothing to back it up") but that hasn't stopped fanfic writers from portraying them as this. Bill O'Reilly of all people stoked the fire when he said to Jon on the Daily Show that he "saw you guys in a bar"...

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