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Lap Pillow

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Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
Ophelia: No, my lord.
Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap?
Hamlet

A good way to show the physical intimacy and trust which a couple have is to rest one's head on the other's lap. Usually, the man does the resting while the woman provides the lap, not only because of anatomical reasons but because the lap-owner is typically of a nurturing nature more associated with femininity. Bonus points if she's stroking his hair.

In some cases this is done between people who are not necessarily lovers, to comfort someone who is weeping or injured.

In Japan, if they're really close, the sitter is cleaning out the layer's ears with a pick. This is something old married couples do.

Compare Holding Hands, Sleep Cute, and for tearful versions, Cry into Chest. Tummy Cushion is a variation where a much smaller character sleeps on top of a much larger one.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • In Chapter 56 of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, the girls notice how tired Rentarou is and briefly quarrel about whose lap he should use as a pillow, before deciding to let him try them all. When he is unable to pick the lap he likes the best, they all work together to make a lap bed for him.
  • Used with a twist in the AKIRA manga. Not only the girl (Kaori) is the one who rests her head on the guy (Tetsuo)'s left hip as she sleeps, but the environment isn't exactly idyllic and peaceful—they're in the middle of the ruined Neo Tokyo, and the guy's right arm is almost wholly mutated.
    • Which had just been reversed earlier, with a freaked-out Tetsuo first hugging Kaori to calm down and then laying and resting his head in her lap with her stroking his hair and comforting him.
  • Ch. 19 of Aki Sora has one page of this between Nami and Sora. The subtext gets a heavy and rather ironic lampshading.
  • Bleach:
    • Once, after losing against the Hollow Grandfisher, Ichigo falls unconscious and Rukia rests his head in her lap.
    • In the Soul Society arc, during a flashback, Yoruichi (Squad 2 captain at the time) rests her head on her bodyguard (and future captain) Suì-FÄ“ng's lap after a brief mentoring session with her. In the moonlight, no less.
    • After using Bankai to kill Lille Barro, Kyoraku rests on the lap of Katen Kyokotsu. Then Lille reveals he's Not Quite Dead yet by shooting Kyoraku through the chest.
    • In chapter 681, Rukia gathers a severely wounded Orihime on her lap after Yhwach completely curbstomps Ichigo and Orihime, then leaves as she and Renji are coming to help.
    • In a two-page color spread for chapter 686, Rukia is the one leaning her head on someone's lap. This someone is her husband Renji.
  • In episode 3 of Blend-S, Maika offers to let Dino lie on her lap, unaware of the implication. Unfortunately for Dino, the rest of the cafe's workers walk in on this scene and mistake it for sexual harassment, almost prompting them to call the police.
  • Kazuki gets to do this with Tokiko at the end of the Papillon arc of Buso Renkin. In the liner notes, Nobuhiro Watsuki specifically calls it his reward for his hard work.
  • Cardcaptor Sakura: In episode 60, Tomoyo comforts a heartbroken Meiling who is crying her heart out into Tomoyo's lap after she calls off her and Syaoran's Childhood Marriage Promise because Syaoran loves Sakura.
  • In CLANNAD, Yukine uses Tomoya's lap as a pillow during one of their visits to the library (she was just exhausted). The romantic implications are pointed out; in fact, Tomoya directly asks his girlfriend Nagisa if she's okay with this. Nagisa says she is but admits that she's a bit jealous.
  • D.Gray-Man: Occurs in chapter 168 with Johnny resting his head on Lenalee's lap.
  • DearS: Ren insists on serving as a "knee pillow" for Takaya, which is less than pleasant since she takes the term literally. When Takaya convinces her he's supposed to lay his head a bit higher up, Ren asks why it isn't called "thigh pillow".
  • In Digimon Frontier, when Takuya and Koji are preparing to fight Cherubimon, Izumi offers to go on a date with one of them if they win. During the fight, Takuya is knocked unconscious and has a dream sequence where he and Izumi are in a park on the promised date. Izumi is sitting back against a tree trunk, and Takuya is resting his head in her lap.
  • During one chapter in The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Ash and Pikachu are separated. At the end of the story, Misty is doing this to Ash after the poor guy has run himself ragged trying to find him. Unfortunately for her, when Pikachu returns Ash bolts up so fast that he ends up knocking her back.
  • A more violent version occurs in Fairy Tail due to Natsu's extreme motion sickness Erza punches him in the stomach causes him to fall in her lap.
  • In Fate/stay night, Saber makes Shirou rest on a park bench after she realizes that he's about to collapse due to fatigue from his injuries. Then she realizes that there is no pillow, and picking the idea up from another couple on another park bench, makes him rest his head on her lap. Then he falls asleep (he was really tired).
  • In the last episode of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, a container of bacteriological warfare agent is opened in the classroom. When the implications are explained to the teacher she promptly faints, and spends the rest of the episode in the lap of Ren Mikihara, the only one to remain calm and dignified while everyone else descends into Comedic Sociopathy.
  • Gintama:
    • After drinking her tea and making jabs at it, the worn-out Shigeshige gently rests his head on his little sister Princess Soyo's lap, and she strokes his shoulder and lets him sleep so he can forget about his shogun duties. She doesn't know at the time that he was poisoned just moments ago and has passed away in his sleep — it was his request that he spend his last moments with her.
    • In the Rakuyou arc after a big and brutal fight with Kamui, Kagura lays his head on her lap as they reach a peaceful end to their family feud. Kamui smiles as Kagura's tears fall onto him and a brief image of their mother Kouka is shown in her place.
  • In Girls und Panzer, in "Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu" Nonna tries the Ear Cleaning variant with Katyusha, but finds that her breasts are in the way.
  • One episode of the Gravitation anime has Yuki letting Shuichi lay his head in his lap and tell him about his work-related worries.
  • In Great Teacher Onizuka, Anko accidentally smacks Noboru in the face with her purse thinking he's a perv, so she lets him rest his head in her lap until his nose stops bleeding.
  • Gundam:
    • A Mobile Suit Gundam Wing illustration has Relena sitting under a tree, with an apparently asleep Heero resting in her lap.
    • At the end of episode 12 of ∀ Gundam, Loran, exhausted after a long battle underground, ends up passing out while leaning on Dianna's shoulder, resulting in her laying his head on her lap.
  • Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • In Hidamari Sketch, when Hiro, Miyako, and Yuno walk in on Sae's room and find her asleep on the floor with a note on the progress of the story she's writing, Hiro kneels down and puts Sae's head on her lap. (Yuno, charmed at Hiro and Sae's intimacy, runs over and offers Hiro an ear pick, to Hiro's confusion.)
  • Hitomi-chan Is Shy with Strangers: Yuu is treated to one courtesy of Hitomi in Chapter 62.
  • If Her Flag Breaks:
    • In the sixth chapter of the manga, Souta finds himself laying on Kikuno's lap after he wakes up from a dream.
    • In chapter 16 of the manga, it's Mei's lap Souta finds himself lying on.
    • Kikuno gives him another one at the beginning of chapter 17. Mei offers in the same chapter but doesn't go through with it.
  • Iono the Fanatics: Iono often lets Eto use her lap for a pillow.
  • In Inuyasha, the first time we learn that Inuyasha is human once a month, his entire demeanor change from Jerkass to Jerk with a Heart of Gold is symbolised by his request to lie in Kagome's lap.
  • In Kodocha, Akito puts his head on Sana's lap and she cleans out his ears, except...she was pretending to be his mother and had to blackmail him to get him to do it.
  • Komi Can't Communicate has a familial version, when Komi, her parents and brother visit her grandmother's house. After asking some questions about how she's been doing, Komi's grandma prompts her to rest on her lap, which she immediately complies.
    • Komorebi gets one from her cousin Inaka in chapter 275 as she relates her meeting with Komi.
    • Komi gives Yamai one in Chapter 312 after Yamai has a minor meltdown over Komi and Tadano dating.
  • Ootani falls asleep on Komori's lap during the movie date that they were set up on in chapter 38 of Komori-san Can't Decline!.
  • KonoSuba:
  • In episode 17 of La Corda d'Oro, Shimizu uses Hino's lap as a pillow.
  • In the manga version of The Legend of Zelda, Link is lying on Princess Zelda's lap, although this turns out to be a dream.
  • Done by Minami for Yutaka in one episode of Lucky Star. Yutaka seems oblivious to the romantic implications but Konata and Hiyori are not.
  • In Madlax episode 24, Margaret sleeps with her head in Elenore's lap during a flashback. Also contains Ear Cleaning.
  • In the last episode of the first Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series, Fate rests her head on her familiar Arf's lap while sleeping in her cell.
  • In the second episode of Maoyu, the Demon Queen awkwardly asks the Hero to rest his head on her lap while they're in front of the fireplace. She apparently researched about human behavior and found that humans like to do this as a way of affection, so she wanted to try it herself. Unusually for this trope, the Hero immediately complies, and even remarks that the Demon Queen's thighs are rather soft and comfortable.
  • Mazinger Z: Two Humongous Mechas did this in chapter 38. Minerva-X —a female, sentient giant robot who was in love with the titular Humongous Mecha— let Mazinger-Z rest his head on her lap while Kouji talked with her about her nature and her emotions.
  • The Miko's Words and the Witch's Incantations: The goddess uses Isuzu's lap as a pillow on the very last page.
  • Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid:
    • The anime has a scene where Kanna is looking for a comfortable place to take a nap. She eventually decides on using Tohru's lap, who lovingly strokes her hair as she drifts off to sleep.
    • Tohru also rests on Kobayashi's lap during the train ride at the end of the hot spring chapter. Kobayashi appears neutral towards it at best and annoyed at worst.
  • In Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, there's a chapter where the gang is playing the King's Game and Kashima is ordered to use Hori as a lap pillow. The two stay like that for part of the game, not realizing that they only had to do it briefly. Once it's her turn, Kashima says she just wants to keep doing that (and Mikoshiba reminds her she can't actually do that).
  • Monster Musume: Tionishia does this to Kimihito, and later does it to Kii and Polt at the same time.
  • Haru does this for Shizuku in the second episode of My Little Monster.
  • Naruto: When Naruto meets his mother Kushina, she explains to him how she discovered that she was the Nine Tails' jinchuriki before him. In a flashback, her own predecessor, Mito Uzumaki, is shown comforting a young Kushina this way while reassuring her that she could still live a happy life even as if she was meant to be a jinchÅ«riki.
  • In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Negi does this a lot, falling asleep on his students' laps on numerous occasions. The romantic overtones are usually averted, due to his being ten years old. Such as when he falls asleep on Konoka's lap (pictured above), leading the cheerleaders (and Ayaka, who promptly freaks out) to believe that they're secretly dating, when in fact he's just exhausted. Naturally, Ayaka is overjoyed when Negi conks out on her lap later on, again due to fatigue.
  • No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! has Asuka giving these regularly to Tomoko, namely whenever she gets sleepy. The former claims it's because she's never had any younger siblings to dote on, but her often flirtacious interactions with the latter leave it ambiguous if she really means it, especially since she's aware of what a Loveable Sex Maniac Tomoko is. Later on, Tomoko returns the favor when she lets Asuka rest her head on her lap after the taller girl gets a nosebleed, and it marks the point in their friendship where they become less formal with each other and start referring to each other by nicknames.
  • Happens a few times in One Piece, twice with Robin:
    • First, after the events of the battle with the New Fishman Pirates, Chopper rests on Robin's lap because he was paralysed due to the aftereffects of Monster Point. This prompts jealousy in Sanji.
    • Another case of this is in the Punk Hazard Arc, where the Straw Hats and allies find out that they've been captured in a cage by Caesar. Here, everyone is awake besides Franky, who is sleeping soundly in Robin's lap.
    • The third time a case such as this happens, is in the Dressrosa Arc, where Momonosuke rests his head in Nami's lap since they were playing "Samurai". This causes Brook to put his head onto Nami's lap since he thought they were having a "head-in-crotch" party. Nami's reacts to this by comically punching Brook.
    • Also in the Dressrosa arc, after Doflamingo is defeated, a tired Luffy rests his head on Rebecca's lap. She's profusely crying Tears of Joy all over him, but this doesn't bother his sleep.
  • There's also a rather cute example in Pokémon: The Series—during a flashback Meowth has, we see a brief shot of Jessie and James asleep, with her head on his lap.
  • Oriko and Kirika, of Puella Magi Oriko Magica are prone to this. Compared to the rest of their shared moments, it's almost subtle.
  • The Quintessential Quintuplets: At the end of the Fireworks Festival, Fuutarou ends up falling asleep with his eyes open while sitting on a bench. Ichika takes pity on him and lets him rest on her lap as reward for everything he did that night. A later chapter shows that she even snapped a photo of this, which she uses to blackmail him into getting her sisters' emails.
  • During the storyline in which Tatewaki Kuno is possessed by a cherry tree in Ranma ½, he lays on Ranma's lap.
  • Re:Zero: Emilia offers her lap to Subaru after she realizes that he's about to break down from everything he's been through so far.
  • Rurouni Kenshin: In a scene original to the anime, Yumi allows Soujirou to use her lap as a pillow after Kenshin defeats him for good. Soujirou promptly sticks his foot in his mouth and remarks that her thighs are soft.
  • One of Naoko Takeuchi's art books for Sailor Moon has a cute drawing of Usagi and Mamoru. "I love sleeping with my head on someone's lap. I also love having someone's head on my lap. Since both really put me at ease, I can be happy." she says of it.
    • In the old Sailor Moon series, Kunzite's first apparition has him allowing his boyfriend Zoicite to lean his head on his lap, comforting a tearful and angry Zoi after Queen Beryl chooses Nephrite over him to perform a very important mission.
    • Haruka rests her head in Michiru's lap in a spread from the manga.
  • In Saki Achiga-hen, Toki is frequently seen sleeping with her head in her best friend Ryuuka's lap.
  • Happens in Seven Days (2007). Yuzuru borrows his date-of-the-week Seryou's lap for a nap at school. Seryou is flustered but he doesn't really mind.
  • Shenmue: After defeating Master Baihu, Ryo is this for the kidnapped and unconscious Joy until she wakes up. It is the platonic variant where Ryo is comforting his injured friend.
  • In Skip Beat!, Ren uses Kyoko's lap as a pillow in one scene. They aren't a couple, but there's much romantic tension there. Specifically, Ren was overcome by his feelings and nearly either confessed or propositioned her, but realizing halfway through that this was already freaking her out and if he finished she'd probably be scared out of his life for good, he managed to turn it into the claim that he thought he might feel better if he napped and he couldn't sleep without a pillow. Both of them feel very awkward until Kyoko (thinking Ren is asleep) starts petting his hair.
  • In Snow White with the Red Hair prince Zen falls asleep next to his girlfriend Shirayuki with his head on his aide Obi's lap. Luckily despite Obi's constant teasing flirting with him and later admitting to liking both Zen and Shirayuki he also ships them and sets up a Sleep Cute by laying Zen right beside Shirayuki.
  • A villainous version occurs in Soul Eater with Big Bad Asura resting his head in the lap of Arachne while she comforts him, telling him he'll be safe with her, and that she will never leave him.
  • Squid Girl: One chapter has Ika try and find the best pillow in the world, so she asks Goro for his opinion; naturally, he thinks Chizuru's lap is the one. Chizuru does let Ika sleep on her lap, but unfortunately, Ika's too scared of her to keep it up.
  • In Stretch, Ran rests her head in Keiko's lap at one point when drunk. Keiko's reaction seems to indicate that it isn't unusual, and is one of several ways in which the trust and physical intimacy between them is expressed.
  • In an episode of Tokyo Mew Mew, Bu-Ling uses her little sister's teacher's lap as a pillow and starts crying as she remembers how much she misses her deceased mother.
  • In the Festival Episode of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, Sakurai wakes up to this after Uzaki accidentally knocks him out with her purse. He has some trouble seeing the fireworks through her large chest, but he doesn't mind.
  • Wedding Peach: In episode 14, when Momoko accidentally hits Yousuke on the head with her school bag until he's knocked unconscious, she treats him and lets him rests his head on her lap until he gets better.
  • In the Beach Episode of Whispered Words, Ushio offers her lap to Sumika, who is exhausted from her competition with Tomoe. Sumika certainly enjoys the view from her position.
  • The implied intimacy of the situation is the reason why Dolores and Mr. Raptor (both Humongous Mecha, mind you) end up going straight to seiza position when a bump during transportation puts them in this position in Zone of the Enders: Dolores, i. That, and the cockpit sticking out from between Dolores' legs...

    Art 
  • Lawrence Alma-Tadema's In a Rose Garden depicts two ladies relaxing in a blooming garden, with one sitting on a marble bench and the other resting her head on her lap, playfully shielding her face as her companion shakes petals from the bush above.

    Comic Books 
  • Runaways: During the "Home Schooling" arc, Klara Prast suffers a head injury, and thus spends much of the arc resting with her head in either Nico or Molly's lap. Later on, Both Klara and Molly are seen using Karolina's knees as pillows.
  • In Sin City: Family Values, Miho rests her head on Dwight's lap in a rare moment of affection.
  • Superman:
    • In Supergirl (Rebirth), Jeremiah Danvers rests his head on his wife Eliza's lap while they talk about their adoptive daughter Kara's troubles.
    • The Jungle Line provides a non-romantic example: After helping Superman defeat the Bloodmorel disease, Swamp Thing rests Superman's head on his lap as the Kryptonian hero falls asleep.
    • Let My People Grow!: After catching her fainted cousin, Supergirl lays Superman on a rocky ledge and rests his head on her lap. As she waits for him to come around, Kara strokes her cousin's hair.
  • X-Force: During the Milligan/Allred's run Edie Sawyer 'ports her new leader, Guy Smith, into mid-air in an attempt to scare him so that he'll let her take over the team. When he doesn't freak out, she 'ports both of them back to his place, then conks out (because her powers take a serious bite out of her stamina) and ends up resting with her head in Guy's lap.

    Fan Works 
  • Advice and Trust: In chapter 8, Asuka rests her head on Shinji's lap as she complains about them being forced to sleep in separate beds, and Shinji strokes through her hair as he reassures her.
    Shinji looked down at his girlfriend's face, her head pillowed in his lap. "Hmm? Usually you really like this." His hands kept stroking through her hair.
  • In this fanart Batgirl rests her head on Supergirl's lap after a battle.
  • Bridge to Terabithia 2: The Last Time: Jess allowing the injured Leslie to lie down on his lap after he apologized about losing his temper on her a few months prior.
  • In The Beast Of Gusu, Wei Wuxian has a habit of resting his head in Lan Wangji’s lap, particularly as a wolf, though he also does it as a human.
  • A slashfic example in The Matrix fanfic Bringing Me To Life with Smith having laid his head in Neo's lap 'off-screen' in chapter three before the moment's interrupted.
  • In A Certain Infinite Possibility, Touma considers lap pillows the ultimate form of trust between a boy and a girl, because the boy gives the girl power by relaxing in a vulnerable position while the girl trusts him in a position that a pervert would take advantage of.
  • Dead or Alive 4: The Devil Factor: A familial example between Ayane and her mother Ayame, complete with the latter stroking the former's hair. Ayame states that she had wanted to do so since the day Ayane was born.
  • Dungeon Keeper Ami: From Beryl's Plan: Ami, a.k.a Keeper Mercury, uses Jadeite's lap as one after she gets drunk:
    Jadeite couldn't have been more nervous if someone had dumped a ticking time bomb onto his lap. The comparison was uncharitable to the red-faced girl who was using his legs as a pillow, but he found it fitting.
  • In Ghost Roads, Jin Ling wakes up with his head in Lan Sizhui's lap after an After Action Patch Up.
  • In Gold Poisons, Nie Mingjue briefly rests a very sick Lan Xichen’s head in his lap while he’s teetering on the edge of consciousness.
  • In For What, For All But Myself, Wei Wuxian ends up curled up with his head in Jiang Cheng's lap as the latter sings to him to settle him down.
    • Jin Ling also sits with his head in Jiang Cheng's lap at one point after having an emotional conversation about not wanting to be alone.
  • During chapter 4 of Infinity Train: Boiling Point, Luz, who has just gone through an intense last minute studying session with Amity, collapses onto Skara's lap in exhaustion. When she tries to ask Skara if she could sleep there, however, Skara clarifies only Boscha can do that before helping the human get up.
  • In Meeting Papa Ketchum, Ash takes his father to visit Misty so they can meet one another, and sit to watch a movie together. Ash ends up falling asleep halfway through it and resting on Misty's lap while she chats with Mr. Ketchum.
  • Gender-inverted example in The Pirate's Soldier. In the aftermath of the second repository battle, a tired Ayeka wakes up to find herself resting on Quatre's lap.
  • In Robb Returns, a sign of the growing attraction between Tyrion Lannister and Dacey Surestone is when she lets him do this after he returns from the Wall.
  • A platonic version in Safe Anchorage where Jeyne falls asleep in Theon's lap after they make up from a fight. Theon notes his legs don't make a good pillow, but she doesn't seem bothered.
  • Triptych Continuum: Triptych's: chapter 30: It's how Gentle and Twilight are positioned, when he reads to her, as described by Rarity:
    "So when a friend reads to you," Rarity quietly continued, "your natural listening position is to lie down so that your head is resting on his forelegs?"
  • Twinkling in the Dark: Under the influence of Bad Energy, Ako seeks comfort from Ellen by laying her head in her lap.
  • You Are (Not) At Fault: In chapter 16, Asuka is letting Shinji rest his head on her lap after he has passed out.
    Both teens were on the couch with Shinji's head on Asuka's lap while she softly stroked his hair. The boy had his eyes closed, looking as if he was indeed asleep. If it hadn't been for what happened with Shinji earlier, Misato would have found it almost adorable.
  • In Where There's A Will, There's A Road, Jin Guangyao holds Nie Mingjue's head in his lap while trying to help him through a qi-deviation.

    Film — Animation 
  • Up has Russell laying on Carl's lap during their first night out in Venezuela.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Close: Remi and Leo are 13-year-old schoolboys. Remi thinks nothing of laying his head on Leo's stomach when the boys are laying out in the schoolyard during recess. Leo, who is growing uncomfortable with the attention they are getting from classmates—and possibly, uncomfortable with either Remi's touching or his own feelings about it—pulls away from Remi and flips over onto his stomach. Remi, who doesn't get it, then tries to rest his head on the small of Leo's back before Leo pulls away again.
  • Highlander: Connor does this with Brenda at the end of the original movie.
  • The Hucksters: The rapidly developing closeness between Victor and Kay is shown when they are sitting on a park bench by the ocean, talking, with his head in her lap.
  • Last Christmas: While sitting on the floor of his apartment, Tom holds Kate and lets her head rest in his lap to comfort her while she finally tells him about her past.
  • In Les Misérables (2012), little Cosette sleeps with her head in Jean Valjean's lap during their carriage ride to Paris, as Valjean sings the Parental Love Song "Suddenly."
  • The Muppets Take Manhattan: At the end of Miss Piggy's fantasy of herself and the other Muppets as babies, Baby Piggy lies with her head in Baby Kermit's lap, sucking her thumb. Cutting Back to Reality, the adult Piggy is revealed to be Acting Out a Daydream with her head in Kermit's lap during their carriage ride, also sucking her thumb.
  • Notting Hill, in a gender reversal: Pregnant Julia Roberts with her head in Hugh Grant's lap, sitting on a park bench.
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: After Cliff rebuffs Pussycat's advances due to his suspicion that she may be a minor, she instead settles for resting her head on his lap.
  • Rebel Without a Cause: Jim (James Dean) and Judy (Natalie Wood) rest in the planetarium.
  • She Will: Done to show how Veronica and Desi's relationship has changed from patient-caretaker to a genuine friendship with some hints of Parental Substitute. Desi, who's spent the whole film trying to help Veronica and look after her, finally falls asleep on the train home in the last scene, her head resting on Veronica's lap. Veronica lets her sleep, smilles, and wraps her arm around her, looking very maternal.
  • Mary Jane holds Harry's head on her lap in Spider-Man 3 after he's been brutally injured.
  • Star Trek: Insurrection. Will Riker goes round to Troi's office for some counselling, or so he claims. Troi realises otherwise when instead of lying down on the Freudian Couch he lies down with his head in her lap, which is much more comfortable. We next see them taking a bath together.

    Literature 
  • At the end of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice wakes up from her dream with her head in her sister's lap.
  • A rare example with two male characters appears in Armor. Felix suffers a mental breakdown while on the Death World Banshee and attempts to commit suicide by unsealing his armor, and Allie forcibly holds him still to stop him. Felix eventually falls asleep and they end up like this.
  • Ascendance of a Bookworm: The protagonist, upon noticing her Workaholic attendant is overtired, asks him to rest and offers him two options on where to do so. She more or less threatens to have him sleep on the piece of furniture on which she's currently sitting while using her lap as a pillow if he refuses the initial options.
  • In A Certain Magical Index, Mikoto gives Touma one during the Sisters Arc after nearly killing him with her Shock and Awe power when he wouldn't step aside when she was about to fight Accelerator.
  • The Dresden Files:
  • Failure Frame: Seras gives one to Mimori after he wears himself out fighting an army of extremely dangerous monsters to protect her.
  • In the The Familiar of Zero official art, Cattleya lets her little sister Louise use her lap as a pillow.
  • A not-even-remotely romantic variant in Fuzzy Bones, William Tuning's continuation of H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy series: a small group of Marines get the word that they've about forty minutes to chill before raiding a criminal stronghold, so they lie down in a rough circle, each man using another's stomach as a pillow.
  • In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Draco lays his head on Pansy Parkinson's lap while she strokes his hair. Harry finds this rather disgusting.
  • How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Liscia offers Kazuya one during their first date in volume 1 (episode 6 of the anime), while they discuss their betrothal. They're eventually interrupted by Third Wheel Aisha asking how much longer she has to pretend to be asleep while they're being lovey-dovey.
  • In The Hunger Games trilogy Katniss does this with Gale on occasion. She does it even more often with Peeta, who sometimes uses her lap as a pillow as well.
  • In I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, Iris holds Rekka on her lap after transporting him to her ship makes him unconscious.
  • Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? has Aiz doing this for Bell after she finds him passed out (he had exhausted himself by overusing a magic spell he had just gotten), at Reveria's suggestion, saying anyone would feel honored to get this from her, when Bell wakes up he freaks out due to his crush and inferiority complex directed at her and runs off, surprising Riveria and Aiz. It's played for laughs.
  • Happened in Kämpfer during a date, where Shizuku gives one to Natsuru who fell asleep after eating lunch. It is implied that she also kissed him at that moment.
  • In Les Misérables, Éponine dies with her head in Marius's lap.
  • Little Women: During Jo and Beth's trip to the seaside, the sick Beth spends many hours lying on the beach with her head in Jo's lap. It's during one such moment that she finally confesses to Jo that she knows she's dying.
  • In The Two Towers from The Lord of the Rings:
    "In his lap lay Frodo’s head, drowned deep in sleep; upon his white forehead lay one of Sam’s brown hands, and the other lay softly upon his master’s breast. Peace was in both their faces."
  • Mayoi Neko Overrun! has it between Kaho and Takumi in episode four. Both of them are naked, after a series of circumstances involving hot springs, a forest trek and Kaho not having any shame.
  • In the Night Huntress books, when Cat is extremely drunk, her love interest Bones tells her to rest her head on his thigh. She thinks he's asking for something else, but he laughs and tells her to get her mind out of the gutter.
  • The Pet Girl of Sakurasou: Mashiro, being an Innocent Fanservice Girl who spent most of her childhood in the UK, thinks nothing of putting knocked-out Sorata in her lap.
  • In The Raven Boys from The Raven Cycle, after a severe emotionally and physically traumatic experience, Adam comes to sit with Blue in her garden, then lays his head in her lap. She likens the experience to being approached by a hurt animal; she doesn't want to make him bolt but at the same time wants to help him.
  • Claire Madras's Historical Fiction novel Sissi in Ireland takes a moment like this and makes it a plot point. Jerry Brannigan and Molly O'Brien are supposed to hate each other due to their Feuding Families, but in reality are starting to fall into Belligerent Sexual Tension. When Jerry falls off his horse in the middle of a hunting outing, he's knocked out and Molly places his bloody head on her lap almost by instinct, which leads her to realise her growing feelings for him. She heavily denies it when Sissi almost walks on her and Jerry like this, but Sissi sees her skirt is blood-stained and begins putting two and two together...
  • The Son Of The Ironworker: Martín and Itxicol's first meeting ends with him sitting on the grass in front of a hut and her resting her head on Martín's lap. They remain in that position until the dawn.
  • The Wheel of Time: Some guy does this with his Aes Sedai girlfriend after the battle to cleanse saidin.
  • In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Kit's cousin Mercy is in love with John Holbrook. Kit eventually discovers that despite previous confusion, John returns Mercy's feelings, and debates whether to tell Mercy the truth after they believe him dead. Before she gets the chance, however, the door opens to reveal John — who wordlessly stumbles across the room to drop to his knees and put his head in Mercy's lap.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Batwoman (2019). A darker version occurs in "O'Mouse". Alice poisons her only friend Mouse, and cradles his head in her lap as he's dying.
  • The Boys (2019). Homelander does this with Madelyn Stillwell on several occasions. She is both his Parental Substitute (having been raised in a laboratory without parents) and lover, so there's an oedipus complex vibe to this trope.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • The Crown (2016). In "Mystery Man", Queen Elizabeth accuses Prince Philip of cheating on her. The conversation ends with Philip insisting that he's devoted to her, taking the knee before Elizabeth and laying his head on her lap. Elizabeth in turn rests her head on his own.
  • On Dexter, when Lila and Dexter share a hotel room, he ends up falling asleep with his head in her lap after a breakdown following a confrontation with his mother's murderer.
  • A Deleted Scene in Dollhouse has Echo programmed to secretly counsel a woman whose mother is dying of cancer, appearing as a sympathetic stranger who befriends her at a nightclub. By the end of the engagement, she's lying with her head in Echo's lap, as Echo strokes her hair. "You're my best friend and I love you."
  • Farscape. In "The Hidden Memory", John Crichton's cellmate Stark comforts him this way after Crichton has been tortured in the Aurora Chair, showing a different side to Stark's manic and paranoid personality.
  • Friends: Early on Chandler and Monica are seen close to this position several times. (Draping across each other, curling up on the couch, etc). It doesn't mean anything except that they're best friends with No Sense of Personal Space. It does provide nice foreshadowing for their Relationship Upgrade though...
  • In the 2009 adaptation of Emma, Frank puts his head on Emma's lap during their Boxhill picnic. It's a great sign of intimacy (and actually very inaccurate to the period; people wouldn't have behaved like that, not even as a joke, especially a lady and a gentleman who are not engaged, nor married — Frank wouldn't have done that and Emma wouldn't have let him). Probably done to emphasise how embarrassing Emma and Frank are at the picnic and how improper their flirting is.
  • Euphoria: Rue ends up curled up in Jules' lap in the second episode after getting high on fentanyl.
  • In Healer Jung Hoo lays his head in Young Shin's lap and falls asleep while trying to recover from being drugged by the Elder.
  • House: Lampshaded in "Recession Proof" from season seven, when the titular character flops, drunk and soaking wet, on to a couch with Cuddy, head in her lap.
    House: Heh heh, my head is on your vagina.
    Cuddy: Go to sleep, House.
  • House of the Dragon: In the first episode, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen is seen laying her head on Lady Alicent Hightower's lap. It serves to highlight their close friendship, and how tragic their later falling out is.
  • In Kamen Rider Kiva, this is how Otoya Kurenai spends his final moments. Dying from using the power of Dark Kiva a grand total of three timesnote , after getting his affairs in order, Otoya passed away peacefully, his head cradled in the lap of his lover Maya.
  • In a flashback scene at the end of an episode of Monk, it is revealed that Trudy Monk would put her feet up on the coffee table note  so Adrian could put his head in her lap.
  • In Mork & Mindy third season, an Orkan elder (Bliifbt [Razberry Sound]) came to Earth to put the Ork back in Mork. When he failed, he takes solace with Mindy, exhaustedly lying across her lap. After finding out that not having Mork 100% Orkan would actually be better, he calls Mindy the "soft-lapped one." In a return episode, he and Mork try cloning her but keep getting it wrong. When the real Mindy returns, he thinks she's just another clone, until he slumps across her lap again, and realizes she's the real Mindy.
  • NUMB3RS: Gender-Inverted in some episodes with a few scenes showing Charlie and Amita on the couch together with Amita resting with her head on Charlie's lap while he strokes her hair and talks with her.
  • Penny Dreadful: In "The Day Tennyson Died," Mr. Lyle visits Vanessa at home and finds her in the middle of a Heroic BSoD. She doesn't say much, but right before he leaves she kneels next to him and puts her head in his lap. In "A Blade of Grass," Vanessa lies down with her head in Dr. Seward's lap after Seward appears while Vanessa is in an unbreakable hypnotic trance reliving a traumatic memory.
  • Quantico: During the Christmas episode, Alex, Shelby, Nimah, and Nathalie end up staying at Quantico over the break and decide to get wasted and commiserate about their family problems, and Alex ends up lying with her head in Shelby's lap.
  • In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Visitor", Dax holds Jake Sisko's head in her lap to comfort him after he loses his dad.
  • In The X-Files episode "Detour", Mulder sleeps with his head on Scully's lap when they're forced to camp out in the woods overnight. She sings him a song.

    Manhua 

    Theatre 
  • Dinner with Friends: Gabe lays his head on Karen's lap, demonstrating the easy intimacy in their own marriage—as they reel over the news that their best friends Tom and Beth are getting divorced.
  • Hamlet lays his head in Ophelia's lap — and proceeds with a string of Double Entendres about what else he might lay in her lap, including the trope namer for Country Matters.

    Video Games 
  • In ANNO: Mutationem, after the Freeway 42 visit, Ann takes a moment to rest while laying on Ayane's lap. During that time, Ann talks to Ayane about the circumstances on how she's been aware of an other self within her, that along with Ryan's disappearance has made her admittedly worried.
  • In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Noel and Ragna have a moment like this at the end of the game after Ragna sacrifices his left arm to save her life.
  • In Duel Savior Destiny after everyone gets totally definitely not drunk on something that is not alcohol at all, a woozy Rico does this Taiga.
  • In Final Fantasy X, Tidus has a moment like this with Yuna early on. While it does show Yuna's sympathy for him, it's less romantic as Tidus is having an inner freakout at that point, having just seen the destruction of Kilika.
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses gives a rather disturbing one in Chapter 10. When Byleth had merged with Sothis in the battle during that chapter, they had collapsed from exhaustion and were carried back to the monastery to rest. The scene then changes to an image of Rhea giving Byleth a lap pillow and sings a song as if she’s comforting them... However, it's later revealed that Rhea, who turns out to be Lady Seiros, had created Byleth to be the vessel of her mother’s soul, Sothis. And if Byleth sides with Edelgard in the Black Eagles route, Rhea completely loses it, calls Byleth yet another failure, and vows to rip their heart out of their chest.
  • Galaxy Angel: Forte's route in Eternal Lovers has a GC of Tact sleeping with his head on her lap. Vanilla also has one in Moonlit Lovers, complete with the ear-cleaning.
  • Gender-inverted in Haven (2020), with Kay offering his lap for Yu to lay down on whenever they choose to relax this way in the Nest.
  • In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, Rean gets one from Emma after retaking Bareahard and apprehending Duke Albarea after Rean falls asleep on the bench. Emma then makes him sleep on her lap without him knowing till he wakes up, admitting it was the best sleep in his life, then feels embarrassed about it.
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: After Raiden has his breakdown in the Act 4 mission briefing and collapses, Sunny immediately goes to him and puts his head in her lap. Despite the circumstances, it actually is pretty cute.
  • Persona:
    • During the ending of Persona 3, the protagonist rests his head in Aigis's lap and falls asleep. Except that he never wakes up.
    • The Persona 4 protagonist can order one of his party members to lay their head on his lap during the King's Game. It'll always be Rise Kujikawa, who happily does so due to her major crush on the hero.
    • In Persona 5, if the protagonist romances Sadayo Kawakami, the latter's max-rank Confidant scene will end with the hero laying his head on her lap.
  • In The Prince of Tennis dating sims, some of the boys may end up resting their heads on the laps of the player characters at one moment or another in their routes. i.e, if Genichirou Sanada is successfully romanced in Sanroku no Mystic, this will happen in his ending.
  • The player can get some lap action in Steambot Chronicles while dating either the female lead, her best friend, or the ship captain.
  • The Fushigi Yuugi Dating Sim Suzaku Ibun has a rather sad subversion. If the player doesn't manage to gather the requirements needed to prevent Chiriko's death, he will pass away with his head on the Player Character Madoka's lap.
  • The cover of Touhou Gensokyo ~ Lotus Land Story involves Marisa sleeping in Reimu's lap this way.
  • In Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, the cutscene Drake Returns, Nathan Drake put his head on Elena Fisher's lap.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2: After crashing early in the game, Rex wakes up with his head in Pyra's lap (the scene emphasizing Pyra's gentle and motherly nature). Much later, Mythra (an alternate personality of Pyra) wakes up after a fall to find her head resting in Rex's lap, which embarrasses her. Rex notes that it's a reverse of the situation from earlier in the game.

    Visual Novels 
  • This happens very early on in 11eyes for a Yuka/Kakeru bonding scene.
  • Amnesia: Later lets this happen in Ikki's After Story. He asks the heroine if he 'can be sweet' on her, then puts his head on her lap when she agrees. Though he notes that both have to be aware, since he's rather drunk at this point, and his self-control may not be as good as when sober.
  • This is part of Minori's good end in Brass Restoration. Ryo breaks down crying and then falls asleep with his head in her lap. Because he cried himself to sleep, he doesn't realize what happened until Tsubomi tells him, leading Kouri to ask what a lap pillow is. He says it's a new type of pillow.
  • In the cover and the menu for Crescendo (JP), Kaho lets Kyouko nap with her head on her lap. Miyu can do this to main chara Ryo... while naked, right after their sex scene in the music room.
  • Happens in Daughter for Dessert when the protagonist and Amanda are watching a movie together. Amanda falls asleep, and her head falls into his lap. He gets out as gently and discreetly as he can manage.
  • In Double Homework, Tamara falls asleep while watching TV with the protagonist, and her head falls into his lap.
  • This happens between the PC and Chiemi in True Love Junai Monogatari, if she saves him from drowning during their swimming race.
  • In World End Economica, the idea of getting a lap pillow from Cool Big Sis Risa is so tempting that Haru thinks he'd give almost anything for it. She obliges to repay him when he helps her, finding his obsession with the idea quite cute.

    Webcomics 
  • In this El Goonish Shive strip, Grace cuddles with Tedd in his lap.
    • And again here, this time with Tedd resting her head on Elliot's lap.
  • Kyle Kendricks plays the role of pillow against his will in Forestdale when Izabell falls asleep on top of his lap and he doesn't know how to get her off. He begs his mother for help but she only takes the opportunity to snap an embarrassing photo of the duo.
  • The Order of the Stick had Roy's mom offer to let him do this while she reads him his favorite bedtime story from when he was a kid after he meets her in Celestia. Due to his mother's appearance having reverted to her teenage years, he doesn't take up the offer.
  • Questionable Content has had this happen a few times. If you count passing out, that is. The puking is usually optional.
  • In Sequential Art, Kat finds that she's been sleeping with her head in Art's lap... with her mouth in a particular spot. She's initially angry at him, thinking he was aware until Pip lets it slip that he wasn't. But before that, she's off to go brush.
  • On this page of Think Before You Think, Julia starts out lying with her head in Brian's lap.
    • Later on, Isaac comes over to interrogate Sarah, and she ends up crying on his lap.

    Web Original 
  • Deviant: The main protagonist, Cassandra Jansen, is knocked out during a fight and wakes up with her head in her crush's lap.

    Western Animation 
  • Batman: The Animated Series: Joker and Harley during the Joker Jury episode, to the disgust of the attorney defending Batman.
    Janet van Dorn: I object to this witness! She's obviously trying to influence the judge.
    Joker: (sounding genuinely confused) What makes you say that?
  • Captain Planet and the Planeteers: The episode "Heat Wave" provides a platonic, quasi-mother/son example; when Gaia becomes too sick and weak to not only stand, but even sit on her own due to Dr. Blight's latest scheme, Wheeler goes to one knee and uses his leg to cushion and support her head and upper body.
  • As the Team Mom from the Dungeons & Dragons (1983) TV series, Sheila sometimes lets younger children take naps on her like this. She did it for Terry in "The Girl who Dreamed Tomorrow", and then for Presto in "The Last Illusion".
  • Near the end of the Family Guy episode "Brian and Stewie" has Stewie rests his head on Brian's lap while he reads David Copperfield to him.
  • In the Justice League episode "Only A Dream", Hawkgirl and Flash are sleeping, Flash's head resting on Hawkgirl's lap. Unfortunately, that's when Dr. Destiny strikes and ruins the cute mood.
  • The Owl House: As their last action after saving Eda from the Draining Spell, Raine lies down and places their head onto Eda's lap.
  • In the Samurai Jack episode "The Four Seasons of Death", Jack lays his head momentarily on Spring's lap and closes his eyes when she successfully tempts him into resting for a little while.
  • Steven Universe: In "Escapism", Steven rests his head on Connie's lap so he can sleep and use his psychic powers.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) episode "Monkey Brains", April lets Donatello rest his head on her lap after he gets beaten up.
  • In an early episode of X-Men: Evolution: Rogue accidentally touches Kurt/Nightcrawler, activating her powers and draining him and rendering him unconscious. Kitty/Shadowcat is with him, and after sending a mental distress signal to the Professor, rests his unconscious head in her lap while waiting for help to arrive.

    Real Life 
  • This is an actual real-life pillow in Japan. The one meant for women is a male torso with an arm extended in a way that the woman would sleep under that arm.
  • Reportedly Douglas Spedden slept in his Nanny's lap like this while in the lifeboats of the Titanic.
  • After Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot during a performance of the play Our American Cousin, lead actress Laura Keene went to the presidential box and cradled Lincoln's head in her lap.
  • This is recommended if someone has a seizure to keep them from injuring themselves.


Alternative Title(s): Apply Head Directly To Lap

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