There Is Only One Bed - Television Tropes & Idioms

Jerry: Spent the night at James', did we?
Elaine: Yeah, but we reversed positions, so there was no funny business.
Jerry: Reversed positions?
Elaine: Yeah, you know, head to toe.
Jerry: So what? Your genitals are still lined up.
Elaine: No, because I slept with my back to him. (long pause)

—Seinfeld

Two characters have to share a room for the night. Just one problem — there is only one bed, and the characters aren't in a relationship.

A source of embarrassment, UST, or at the very least fuel for shippers everywhere, this is when two who aren't in a relationship (at the time) have to share a bed, for whatever reason.

It speaks to one's character if they insist on sleeping on the floor (or, in slightly more luxurious settings, the couch); often this will make the other upset that they then have to "owe" that person. It also speaks of their character if they demand the other person take the floor.

If one of the characters is a woman, then she will almost always end up with the bed due to one of two scenarios. The first is the woman forces the poor guy to sleep on the floor and the second is the Nice Guy volunteering to do so.

See also Innocent Cohabitation, Sleep Cute. Contrast with Sleeping Single. See: Exiled to the Couch for when married or romantic couples kick someone out as punishment, possibly for Blanket Tug O War (which also affects non-romantic couples as well).

Shows up in far too many fanfics to attempt documentation. Usually played for shipping purposes, but can occasionally be used for comedic value.

Examples

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Anime & Manga

Koyuki and Maho (LOTS of UST there) of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad share a single bed in an episode where she crashes at his house, but nothing ends up happening between them.
Amnesiac Makoto in Kanon insists on sleeping with Yuuichi because Pirozhki the cat is sleeping with him one night. It turns out there's another reason, and then we all get really, really sad.
Conan and Ran in Detective Conan. Ran doesn't think anything of sleeping in the same bed as her little friend during one dangerous night; Conan is distracted enough by it to not be able to focus on the case. And in a subversion, this saves Ran's life, as she had been targeted by the killer of the case and he attacks them right after they go to bed; since he was still awake, Conan manages to push Ran aside so she won't be hit by said killer's axe.
Since Nanoha and Fate's large room with large fluffy bed in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha was specifically built with them in mind, Nanoha/Yuuno and Nanoha/Fate fans argue whether they should fall under this trope or Shipping Bed Death.
Futari wa Pretty Cure, to the delight of yuri shippers everywhere.
- Yes! Precure 5 took it further with its expanded cast (five members). Much further. Further enough that shippers of all kinds decided it was probably best not to read any meaning into it.
- In Doki Doki Pretty Cure, when Rikka spends nights with Mana, they sleep in two futons next to each other. The very close futons can be considered as one bed. Makoto spends a night with Mana, too. Also Alice spent some nights with Mana.
Lina and Gourry from The Slayers have to share a room in a tavern. Lina insists that Gourry takes the bed, but at the end they both sleep on the floor, since Gourry thinks it's not chivalrous to sleep comfortably while she's not.
Subverted two ways in Code Geass. When C.C. shows up unexpectedly and enters Pretty Freeloaders mode, she immediately takes over Lelouch's bed, remarking "A gentleman would sleep on the floor." A few episodes later they're sharing the bed, but there's absolutely no sexual tension because Lelouch doesn't even treat C.C. like a human being (let alone a woman), and C.C.'s too jaded to really care. And it's a big bed, so they don't exactly have to spoon.
In Patlabor Gotoh and Shinobu get stuck in a major storm on their way back from a conference. The only place they find to stay is a love hotel, which naturally only has a single bed. He offers to sleep on the couch, of course. The situation is complicated by Gotoh's blatant crush on Shinobu.
In Fatal Fury: the Motion Picture, Shiranui Mai is all a-twitter that the hotel room she and her boyfriend Andy Bogard are staying in only has one bed. Andy is often more focused on staying fit and prepared in case he finds himself having to fight someone more than indulging in his flirtatious girlfriend. Andy sleeps on the couch just to spite her advances.
Ran and Midori from Telepathy Shoujo Ran share a bed on several occasions.
Parodied in Candy Boy, when Sakuya imagines a king sized bed for what what would happen in Spring if she and Kanade shared a room, in which Sakuya custom designed. Kanade replies, to herself, with "Wait, why is there only one bed?" with an obviously annoyed look on her face.
In one arc of Shugo Chara!, Ikuto lives in Amu's room for while. Amu tries to make him sleep on the floor but Ikuto, being Ikuto, just crawls back in the bed.
In Ranma �, for reasons that make sense in context, Ranma and Akane have to pretend to be married. Which means to keep up the ruse, they have to share Akane's room for the night. The trope isn't played out, as Ranma sleeps on the floor.
By a third party's intervention in Dual, Kazuki and Mitsuki are not only forced to spend a night together, but also nude. It doesn't help that of the Harem, she's the least active in looking for his affection.
Fushigi Yuugi has this happen twice in the manga. In the first instance, Miaka and Tamahome are fresh into the relationship but were placed unconsciously in a single bed to get some battle injuries healed (it's not that kind of healing, but they still get bonus points for having been deprived entirely of clothes by Taiitsukun); the next time, Tamahome ends up on the floor due to Virgin Power and all that, but after a tender little conversation, he goes up to Miaka's bed and promptly falls asleep before they get to ~~first~~ ~~second~~ third base. The anime only has the first instance.
Ghost in the Shell provides us with an episode in 2nd Gig where the Motoko goes to Taiwan to investigate a lead in the Individual Eleven case. She helps a young pickpocket get away from a local Triad gang and even lets him bunk in her hotel room for the night. The bed itself was large enough that both of them could spread eagle and not touch each other or the sides of the bed. Subverted in that when the kid asks if cyborgs can have sex, Motoko half-jokingly offers, and he refuses. Stupid kid...
In the manga version of Vision of Escaflowne, Van and Hitomi are in a room with only one bed. Van says to her that he can't stand brats like her, but he won't mind sharing the bed. Hitomi punches him and demands that he sleeps on the floor.
In Asobi Ni Iku Yo after Kio's house becomes the Catian Embassy and Aoi and Manami get drafted as its security detail, they end up sharing Kio's bed, having ejected Kio himself to the couch.
In Spice and Wolf, Holo teases Lawrence about saving money by taking a room with a single bed. It doesn't really matter, since they usually sleep together in a not-particularly spacious cart while traveling anyway.
In Axis Powers Hetalia, whether or not there is an extra bed at Germany's house we will never know, because Italy insists on sleeping in the same bed as him — naked.
Goes from awful to absolute worst in the Midori Days manga. The class goes to a ski resort, and Seiji and Ayase get lost in a snowstorm. Freezing cold, they decide to spend the night in an awkwardly-placed love hotel, with one bed. Ayase divides the bed with a blanket - that doesn't stop things when they accidentally start up some of the... kinkier mechanics of the bed. And then the entire class finds them.
Neon Genesis Evangelion's only episode with Kaworu shows him sharing his bedroom with Shinji. However, Shinji insists on sleeping on the floor since he asked Kaworu to let him spend the night there in the first place.
No. 6: In the novels, it is expressly stated that Nezumi and Sion share a bed at night.
Creo The Crimson Crisis has Creo use this as her excuse as to why she climbed into bed with Suou when she was asleep. Suou and her sister Akane don't buy it, and it probably wasn't helped by the fact that Creo was naked when she slept with Suou.
One episode of Trigun has resident Chivalrous Pervert Vash offering his services as a bodyguard to a pretty girl. She thinks that someone might be out to kill her, and he jumps at the opportunity to have a little fun. She books two hotel rooms for the night, one for each of them, but she secretly switches her room with Vash's just to play it safe. While Vash is laying on his bed, a grenade flies in through the window and blows the whole room apart, launching Vash and his bed outside into the street. Vash asks if he could then sleep in the same room as her, not caring if this trope is put into effect or not, but she denies his request by saying that he already has a bed...

Comicbooks

In one of the Superman Batman annuals, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, both ignorant of the other's secret identity, are forced to share a room with a single bed. They weren't very happy about it◊.
Scott Pilgrim and his gay roommate Wallace have to share a futon because their apartment is apparently too small for another bed. Or Scott being a total freeloader who doesn't want to spring for a bed of his own.
In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Quatermain and Murray visit a school, posing as a married couple, with Nemo as their servant. They are shown to their rooms: a big one with a huge luxurious bed for the "married couple", and a small one the size of a closet with a tiny cot for the "servant". Nemo imperiously informs Mina that "you will, of course, take the single room"... Cut to Quatermain and Nemo both squeezed into the servant's room, and Quatermain's sardonic comment of "Women" and Nemo's admission that women are "hardly my strong point."
Zizaged in French comic "Les d�mons d'Alexia" (Alexia's demons). Alexia is actually surprised her assistant Berenice rented a room with two beds. Then the local correspondent enters the room, and fall on one bed, exhausted. Berenice asks how they will deal with this, and the answer is off-panel. Notice that Alexia and Berenice are Ambiguously Gay, but Berenice is much more extrovert (she's the one who invited Alexia to go sunbathing naked).

Films

In It Happened One Night (1934), the couple, (who barely know each other) have to share a room with twin beds. They hang a sheet between the two beds and call it "The Wall of Jericho." This is probably where anything similar comes from.
In Bandits they did the sheet thing on a double bed, but it didn't last very long.
The new Pink Panther movie. There's no actual UST, but Clouseau keeps saying exactly the wrong thing.
Happened in Alex and Emma. Well, initially. They ended up having sex, but originally they were just going to share the bed.
It initially shows up in Mouse Hunt. We don't know about the brothers' sleeping arrangements afterwards.
In Anger Management, it's highlighted with a funny exchange:
Buddy: You know, in Europe, it's not considered unusual for three or four men to share a bed.
Dave: That's why I'm proud to be an American.
In Mel Brooks' Life Stinks, the protagonist and the love interest, being both homeless, share... a cardboard box. A knife is used as wall between the two.
Subverted in The Bourne Identity, where the eponymous Jason Bourne doesn't hesitate at all before preparing a space on the floor. Blink and you'll miss it.
In the first Austin Powers movie, before Ms. Kensington showed any attraction to Austin. She made him sleep on the couch.
The Sure Thing, Rob Reiner's 1980's underrated update of It Happened One N Ight, uses this bit three times. Only once, though, do both characters make it through the night in the bed.
Played straight (so to speak) in Mulholland Drive, when Betty suggests to Rita that she needn't sleep on the couch, as the bed is big enough for two. As Rita disrobes and get into bed naked, Betty realizes she feels sexually attracted to her — and as it soon appears, the feeling is mutual.
In Idiocracy, Joe and Rita have to share the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House. Joe, naturally, takes the floor, even after Rita invites him into the bed. To add to the humor, Rita is a former prostitute.
This happened in No Holds Barred, a 1989 Hulk Hogan vehicle.
French movie Le Bossu (released in the U.S. as On Guard) has a hilarious sequence when the Duc de Nevers is traveling to marry the woman he loves and needs to share a bed with his new friend Lagard�re. As they get into bed, the Duc comments that his marriage will surprise a relative who "thinks I only like boys. Ever dabbled in sodomy?" The unnerved look on Lagard�re's face is priceless. So is the way he clutches at the blankets.
In Outsourced, a movie about an American guy training a call center in India, the main character and his romantic interest are forced to share a room at a Kama Sutra hotel since it's the last room / last hotel available and it's the honeymoon suite. They somehow end up consummating their romantic tension due to the circumstances. The movie is a bit of a cliche storm, albeit a cute one.
In The Illusionist, by Sylvain Chomet, there's only one bed in the room that Tatischeff and Alice stay in. Tatischeff opts to sleep on the sofa.
The Professional (International Cut). After L�on turns down the Fille Fatale Mathilda's offer to sleep with him, Mathilda insists that at the very least he share the bed with her and not sleep on the couch.
In Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Neal and Del have to stay in a hotel room with only one bed. Hilarity Ensues when they wake up.
Neal: Del... Why did you kiss my ear?
Del: Why are you holding my hand?
Neal: Where's your other hand?
Del: Between two pillows...
Neal: Those aren't pillows!
The movie Leap Year has one of these scenes, although it makes sense as the pair are staying in a religious bed and breakfast and are pretending to be married in order to wait out a storm there. Funny because at first Declan gets the bed (after tricking Anna in a coin toss) and then Anna gets the bed (after realizing she's been tricked like ten minutes later) and then Anna takes pity on Declan for having to sleep in the shower. They wake up to realize they've been snuggling.
The Proposal: Because the family thinks that they're engaged, they are given a room with only one bed. It goes without saying, in-universe, that Andrew takes the floor.
In Far and Away, when Shannon loses everything, Joseph and Shannon have to take up rent in a whorehouse for a long time. There's only one bed, which she gets, of course. However, after an arguement their first day there, he uses her pillow for the night and fluffs it up a little just to annoy her.
Shannon: Give me back my pillow.
Joseph: Not in a hundred years.
In Superman II when Lois and Clark are trying to bust a honeymoon racket in Niagra Falls, Clark points out various "complimentary" things in their room (complimentary champagne, complimentary corsage) before trying to be suave (and failing spectacularly) and asking Lois about the "sleeping arrangements".
Lois: Mr. Smith...The complimentary couch.
Clark: Right!
In Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, at one point Harmony takes Harry's bed (naked no less) and says that Harry can sleep in it too but it would only be sleeping, as long as that isn't too frustrating for him. He decides to find out. It is.
Played for Laughs in classic comedies such as Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges.
Happens in Gozu. The hero leaves the hotel bed to his love interest, but not without getting a good look at her in her undies.
North By Northwest - Roger hides out in Eve's room on a train ride to Chicago. As they make out passionately he observes there's only one bed, asking if she knows what that means. She knows - he's sleeping on the floor.

Literature

Moby Dick has Ishmael and Queequeg forced to share a bed at the beginning, which starts the Ho Yay between them. It should be remembered, though, that it was common practice for guests to share beds in inns at the time. Queequeg got to sleep alone because he frightened everyone.
Similar to the above is the scene in Book Of The New Sun where Severian manages to get a free bed in an inn on the condition that he share it with the two men who are currently staying there. (They haven't paid their bill for a couple of days, and Severian is a torturer by profession; he is by no means the sharpest knife in the box, but even he can figure out that he's serving as a human eviction notice.)
C.J. Cherryh's Morgaine Cycle has Morgaine and Vanye given a room with a single bed in the first book, Gate of Ivrel. Vanye offers to sleep on the floor, but Morgaine tells him not to be an idiot and waste the first comfortable bed they've had in ages. She puts the demon sword Changeling down the middle and tells him to deal with it.
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. Tatiana and her sister Dasha share the same bed due to the restrictions on space in a Soviet family home of the 1940's. This causes problems whenever Dasha's Love Interest stays overnight, as Tatiana is secretly in love with him and vice versa.
In the Night Huntress novels, Cat wakes up in Bones' bed with him after she passes out. In an inversion, she ends up sleeping on the floor, since Bones doesn't see why he should have to give up his bed just because she's being silly.
On Wings of Eagles, the non-fiction novel by Ken Follet. Two of Ross Perot's men are flying back to the States after escaping from Iran. There's a huge bed in the luxury airliner, and figuring there's room enough to two, the black member of the team flakes out next to his companion who's already on it.
(alarmed) "What are you doing in bed with me?"
"Relax. Now you can tell all your friends you've slept with a nigger."
Happened in Lolita, just before the couple first had sex in a hotel at the beginning of their infamous road trip.
In Beachwalker, the female protagonist spends much of the book hiding a severely injured fugitive in the aftermath of an earthquake. There is only one bed, and there are some nights when it's too cold for her to sleep on the floor. Made even more awkward for her by the fact that he is wearing nothing but bandages and his underwear, since he's injured to the point of being barely able to move, and repeatedly dressing and undressing him would shift the bandages and aggravate his wounds.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, there's a famous legend about a knight who ran into this problem while escorting a lady and solved it by putting his sword down the middle of the bed. Jaime tries to talk Brienne into a similar arrangement while they're traveling, but it's clear that he's just making fun of her and/or hitting on her.
- Brienne however has no problem sharing a bed with her squire Podrick Payne, and it's not played for sexual tension at all. Averted however when Danys shares a bed with her handmaiden Irri, and eventually ends up having sex with her.
The French novel Le P�re Goriot: Our social-climbing hero is invited by his very rich girlfriend to the apartment she intends to keep him in (he's currently staying in an extremely run-down hotel) and notes that there's only one bed. She starts blushing.
Harry Potter: Ron and Hermione see that there is only one couch in the room, but Ron takes the floor "in a fit of chivalry". When Harry sees them sleeping, they're still holding hands.

Live-Action TV

In Doctor Who, "The Shakespeare Code", the Doctor and Martha end up in a room with only a double bed, which they have to share. The Doctor doesn't see anything risque about this, but Martha finds it an excuse to flirt...which the Doctor in obliviousness promptly ruins by lamenting about Rose.
In lonelygirl15, "Sleepover", Jonas and Bree wind up in a hotel with only a double bed. Jonas builds a "Great Wall of Jonas" out of pillows and sheets to separate the two of them, to reassure Daniel.
Bree: Are you uncomfortable?
Jonas: I wasn't, but now I am, 'cause you're not.
iCarly: During iTake On Dingo, the trio+ Spencer share a 2 bed, tiny hotel room. The floor recently had a dead body on it, so I doubt anyone was sleeping on the floor. No matter who slept in what bed with who (although it's a good chance it was probably Sam+ Carly and Freddie+ Spencer), it would get shippers excited.
Morecambe and Wise in many of their sketches, only without a trace of embarrassment. They treated it as something perfectly normal, and as a result so did the audience.
- Apparently Eric and Ernie objected to the original bed sketch precisely because of the Unfortunate Implications, but writer Eddie Braben convinced them on the grounds that their heroes Laurel and Hardy had done the same. Eric did, however, insist on smoking his pipe as a symbol of masculinity.
- Referenced in a sketch on Goodness Gracious Me where a young man tries to explain to his parents that he is gay and a friend he brought home is actually his boyfriend. The parents are too oblivious to understand, and when he says he and his friend are sleeping together, his mother replies "Morecambe and Wise slept together!"
In addition to the aforementioned Seinfeld example, there was another episode where Kramer couldn't sleep in his apartment so he stays over at Jerry's. After lamenting that he can't fit on Jerry's couch, he, much to Jerry's annoyance, sleeps in Jerry's bed with him.
Scrubs: When Carla got pissed off at Turk in the second season premiere, he and JD had to share a bed. This leads to a conversation quite similar to the Seinfeld page quote. JD insists that they sleep head to toe. Turk claims it doesn't matter, as their genitals still line up, but JD says it makes it impossible for them to accidentally "lock in".
- JD is so uncomfortable in this position, that he goes to sleep in his work clothes.
Family Matters saw Urkel and Laura having to spend a night in a motel. Laura takes the bed, while Urkel tries to keep a roll-away folding bed to stay in place so he can sleep peacefully (it turns out the bed hates him with a passion). Laura, who spent the entire time making rude and sarcastic jabs at him, suggests he go sleep in the bathtub. After being in the bathroom about a second, he runs back out and unloads on Laura for essentially being a total bitch to him.
Steve: NO! (thunderclap) I will NOT sleep in the bathtub. YOU'RE gonna sleep in the bathtub!
- They compromise, though; she sleeps under the covers, he sleeps on top of the covers. This is followed by a hilarious moment wherein Steve, trying to prove that his intentions are pure, says "If I've had one single impure thought, may God strike me dead." Immediately there is a loud thunderclap, after which he concedes, "Well, maybe one."
Happened in the The 4400 episode "Life Interrupted" (the Happy Place episode) where Tom wakes up in an alternate reality where the 4400 were never abducted. The only person who is also aware of the change is a woman named Alana, who does not know him yet everyone claims they are married. When they turn in for the night, Tom suggests a number of alternate places for him to sleep yet Alana suggests they share the bed to keep up appearances and because "it's a large bed. We can maintain our sectors."
In one episode of The O.C. Seth, Summer, Ryan and Marissa stay in a hotel where there is only one bed. Seth and Summer wind up sharing the bed (the usual Double Standard of this trope being subverted when Summer demands Seth take the floor, but he refuses) and Ryan and Marissa share the couch. Marissa and Ryan wake up to discover they're spooning.
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- In the first season episode "Angel," Buffy and Angel face this problem when Angel spends a night in Buffy's room. Buffy offers Angel her bed (because he's wounded) but he declines. Their first kiss occurs about 24 hours later.
- In the seventh season episode "Showtime," Kennedy tries to engineer this in order to seduce Willow.
Hilariously averted in Angel "Rm w/a Vu" when Cordy turns up at the apartment of a shirtless, dripping wet Angel desperate for a place to stay — she talks right over Angel's objections and states he'll be the one sleeping on the sofa. The next day Angel is so desperate to get her out he agrees to fight a demon loan shark stalking Doyle if he finds Cordy a new apartment.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
- While being secretly ferreted behind enemy lines in the episode "Unification", Picard and Data are shacked up in a shared quarters with a single bunk, setting up this trope, but since Data is an android (and therefore doesn't need sleep), it never comes to pass. The awkwardness of the situation is still in effect, however, with Data creepily watching Picard sleep...
- There's also the two times that Q decided to hop into bed with Picard. The first time, he does it to taunt and annoy Picard, but in the second, he pretends to be the woman Picard went to bed with the night before. There's no reason for him to do it, he just does, and after Picard gets over the shock of finding Q there, they have a civil conversation.
In one episode of Designing Women, Suzanne and Anthony share a motel room with only one bed. Initially, Anthony tries to sleep in the car (at Suzanne's insistence), but she relents after the temperature outside drops well below freezing.
- Another episode ("Julia and Suzanne's Big Adventure") cranked the discomfort up further. The Sugarbaker sisters were stuck sharing a Japanese capsule hotel room (think very tiny, the entire floor being the size of a single bed) with a man they had only recently met. Suzanne complains about a hand resting against her breast, and the guy reflexively apologizes. Julia stops him, says it's her hand and she has literally nowhere else to place it, so Suzanne's just going to have to put up with it.
One episode of Genius has Dave Gorman and guest Johnny Vegas testing a "conveyor duvet" designed to prevent duvet hogging. The test of course leads to them both sharing a bed, and Hilarity Ensues. Link
There is an amusing example of this in Nobuta Wo Produce, when Akira unexpectedly arrives at Shuji's house for a sleepover. Despite Shuji's protest, Akira happily climbs into his bed, which is a single. Ho Yay Galore.
In an episode of General Hospital, Lucky and Elizabeth have to share a hotel room that only has one bed. As usual, Lucky decides to sleep on the floor, but then Elizabeth decides to sleep next to him...on the floor.
Silent Witness "Finding Rachel". A young female Australian backpacker with no cash convinces a reluctant Dr Cunningham to let her stay the night in his hotel room. The next day Professor Dalton turns up and draws the obvious conclusion. Cunningham replies that he slept on the floor and took a cold shower. A very cold shower.
In Reaper, this is used as an excuse for Sock to have sex with his (step) sister. Of course, as it turned out, there WAS another bed provided by the time they got to the room, which Sock hastily tossed out of the window.
An episode of The Bob Newhart Show has Bob and Jerry spending the weekend in Peoria to watch a blacked-out football game, and discovering this in their motel room.
NCIS
- In one episode, Tony and Ziva spend a few days in Paris and their room only has one bed. Tony tells a witness Ziva took the couch. Ziva tells McGee that Tony took the couch. By the end of the episode it is revealed they shared the bed.
- Another example is when McGee and Abby are in Mexico and have to share a one-bed hotel room. The woman getting the bed is subverted when Abby sleeps in the room she is given for her class on solving cold cases after McGee uses tap water to brush his teeth.
The infamous "Ghost" episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has the fact that There Is Only One Bed in the safe room Alex is staying in, while Olivia is sleeping in the same room, ostensibly to protect her, has become a Fandom Specific Plot for the folks who ship them. This scene was deliberately written to Ship Tease, as the producers are very much aware of the Les Yay. As are the actresses, who, luckily, are friends in real life.
In an episode of The War At Home, Dave, Larry and Kenny stays in a motel room with only two beds. Dave ends up sleeping on the floor because he doesn't want Pet Homosexual Kenny sleeping with neither Larry nor himself.
Never actually shown on The Amazing Race, but frequently talked about, especially when teams spend the night in a remote location.
An episode of That Girl featured the lead, a young Marlo Thomas, and her boyfriend having to share a hotel room.
In The X-Files episode "Arcadia", Mulder and Scully go undercover as a married couple and have to deal with this. Mulder, of course, goes into innuendo overdrive, but it's more played for laughs than anything else and he ends up sleeping on the couch anyway.
- "Rain King": Mulder and Scully investigate a series of weird weather conditions. A tornado happens to crash a cow into Mulder's motel room. All the motel rooms are booked and since everybody assumes the agents are boyfriend and girlfriend, the motel manager just informs Scully that they moved Mulder's stuff into her room. Scully insists that they are partners and prefer separate rooms but she didn't have much of a choice apparently. However, there was no scene of them being in Scully's room together.
In Chuck, Chuck and Sarah go on the run at the end of season two, they end up staying in a motel with only one bed, which they share after Sarah refuses to let him sleep on the floor. This very nearly leads to them consummating their relationship. Lampshaded when they are discussing how they're going to be locked up together because they broke the law, and Chuck mentions them sharing a two-bedroom cell. Sarah points they'll only need one bed.
In My Name Is Earl the reason Earl and Randy share a bed is because the motel rooms with twin beds don't have a pool view (and are above a meth lab) so it's either not have a pool view (and deal with the occasional bullet coming through the floor) or share a bed.
Happens in Lois and Clark when the two are pretending to be married (in a hotel for honeymooners, no less!) in order to get a scoop. Lois forces Clark to take the couch.
The episode of Frasier where owing to overbooking, Frasier and Ros end up sharing a hotel room with only one bed. Just as they are reconciling themselves to sharing the bed, their boss turns up, also roomless... Ros gets the bed, Frasier the couch, snoring boss gets a nest of cushions on the floor.
A varient in The Big Bang Theory. The arrangements are Amy and Penny in a double, Bernadette and Howard (a couple) in a single, Raj in a single, and Leonard and Sheldon in a double. Which works until Bernadette and Howard have a fight leading Bernadette to take Penny's bed and Penny to have no choice but to climb into Amy's bed. Amy suffers from extreme night terrors (and bites), leading Penny to enter Leonard, her ex's, room. She can't climb into bed with Sheldon because with all of his quirks he'd end up killing her, so Leonard and Penny akwardly share a bed. Sheldon leaves for Raj's room because "Penny and Leonard may or may not be having coutis". After Sheldon leaves Penny gets his bed to herself, but after talking with Leonard they decide they actually DO want to share a bed and be intimate with each other for the night. Except Sheldon's quirks drive Raj out of his room, leading to Raj hopping into the adjacent bed and Leonard and Penny sharing a bed being plantonic (much to Leonard's chargin).

Theatre

Cabaret, "Perfectly Marvelous":
Cliff: Besides, I've only got one narrow bed.
Sally: We'll think of something.
A throwaway line in Shakespeare's King Henry V mentions that Lord Scrope had shared a bed with the King when they were boyhood friends. (Evidently, in fifteenth-century England, it was the boys rather than the girls that had sleepover parties.) This makes it all the more shocking that Scrope has taken bribes from the French to assassinate the King.
A plot point in Othello: for a while, Iago shares a bed with Cassio. He lies to Othello, claiming that Cassio fondled him in his sleep while calling him "Desdemona".
Peter Pan: In the Lost Boy's "Home Under the Ground", all the boys share a bed except for Michael, who has his own cradle. That's eight boys sleeping in the same bed. This detail appears in the book as well, but it was probably originally added for the purpose of comic stage business: stage directions indicate that Wendy won't let them turn over in bed unless a signal is given, at which point they all turn over at once.

Videogames

Grim Grimoire has Lillet Blan more or less kidnapping/adopting/eloping with Amoretta Virgine the Homunculus, not least because she's grown quite fond of Amoretta, but more immediately to make sure she's safe. (This is a very real concern, considering what happened to her in previous time-loops, sometimes of her own choice.) However, Lillet has only one bed. Neither of them mind, however — Amoretta has only existed for 106 days, and has not had physical affection of any kind. She thus really enjoys snuggling, and is apparently so vigorous about it that, in her sleep, she knocks Lillet out of bed more than once. Lillet doesn't mind that either, but she does (in an amusing inversion) threaten to exile herself to the couch and leave Amoretta in the bed alone if Amoretta doesn't keep safe.
Happens in Tales of Phantasia when Cless and Mint first arrive in the past. They're both embarrassed by the situation, and it ends with Cless sleeping on the floor.
Happens in Shenmue II, when Ryo is invited to stay with Master Tao (Xiuying). He's quick to point out that she has only one bed, and she's even quicker in pointing out that he'll be taking the couch.
Happens in Legaia 2 Duel Sage, due to one of the inn's rooms having a broken door, forcing Maya and Laang to sleep together. The player can have Laang either be bashful about sleeping with Maya, or have him jump at the chance.
Happens in the Neverwinter Nights 2 parody mod The Sinister Series, where an initial sign that Cordelia is warming up to the player is her insistence that he take the bed because she had been cold, rude, and standoffish since the two first met.

Webcomics

In El Goonish Shive, Tedd and Grace discuss Tedd's glasses whilst lying in the same bed for non-sexual reasons, although Tedd finds this disappointing, and his father seems suspicious.
- At a hotel room with two beds and three people, Grace cuts short discussion on who shares with whom by reminding Sarah and Susan that she can turn into a squirrel.
Mild subversion in Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures : Cubi don't need to sleep to begin with.
In the LoadingReadyRun videos, Graham and Paul often sleep in the same bed as a light parody of children's cartoons characters that do so.
Early on in It's Walky!, there were two beds...and four people.
This Questionable Content strip.
A Namir Deiter storyline puts Tipper and Charles into this predicament, even though they've gone to a couples resort, engaged and in the midst of wedding preparations.
In Misfile, guy-turned-girl Ash insists on giving up his bed for Emily to prove he is a chivalrous guy. She finds his Porn Stash under the bed, also gender swapped. Emily returns the favor a few strips later by inviting Ash for a sleep over and insisting Ash take the bed, since he's the guest.
- This kind of leads to a bit of Fridge Logic when you remember Ash's dad is out of town at the time and so Emily could've very well slept in his room. Though between the Porn Stash and the sheets thing, this can be excused by Rule of Funny.
- Much later, Emily again stays over at Ash's house. They share the bed. Squee.
- The situation comes up again in the fanfic Misfiled Dreams, where a blizzard knocks out Ash's power and Ash and Rumi are more or less forced to spend the night at Emily's. Em gives Rumi her sleeping bag, and since it's too cold for anyone to sleep on the floor, she and Ash share her bed. The above-mentioned Fridge Logic is circumvented by Emily saying that her mom (away at the time) would kill her if anyone slept in the master bedroom. Yes, it does go somewhere, but if you want to know where, you'll have to read the story.
In Sluggy Freelance, this is played for Fanservice when the gang all share a tiny apartment, and Zoe and Gwynn have to "snuggle" in the only bed. Parodied when a later strip reveals Zoe was actually sleeping on the couch; Zoe and Gwynn sharing a bed was just how Torg liked to picture it.
Happens in this 8-Bit Theater episode, creating some rules for when this happens and isn't gay.
In Sabrina Online, Zig Zag deliberately sets up this scenario during a trip to a convention with Sabrina.
In General Protection Fault, Nick and Ki are forced to stay at a motel after a science fiction convention when Fooker leaves with their car. The only room available has only one bed, and Nick sleeps on the chair and Ki sleeps on the bed. It is implied that Fooker reserved the room in an attempt to get Nick and Ki together.
Penny Arcade offers a solution to the "who gets it" dilemma.
Used here in Wapsi Square with two characters who have known each other since grade school.
During the "trip to E3" story arc in Full Frontal Nerdity, the hotel room had two beds ... but three occupants (not counting Shawn the webcam). Nelson solved the problem by scamming three large bags of promotional stress balls and piling them into a "bed" for Lewis.
Subverted every which way in Girly. At first, Winter doesn't need a bed, since she's willing to sleep standing up in Girly's front yard (yep). But on the second night, its raining, so Winter agrees to come inside and take the couch...but an elephant wanders into the scene and eats the couch, leaving only the one bed.
Dangerously Chloe skips right to the result, on the chapter page under the technically true title "Demon In Bed". Of course. Because she was summoned and obviously had no other place to stop.
The Fox Sister: Alex insists on Yun Hee taking the bed while he sleeps on the floor when he invites her to stay at his place after the Kumiho turned her home into a crime scene.

Web Original

On The Ricky Gervais Show, Karl talks about having to sleep "tops and tails" with his longtime girlfriend Suzanne. Why? Because the relatives they were staying with had hacksawed a mattress in half to fit in into the tiny space where they were sleeping.

Western Animation

Sonic and Tails in Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog often sleep within close proximity of each other, and at one point do share a bed.
Only noticeable in the background but in Batman The Animated Series when Harley and Ivy where hiding out in a small one room apartment there was only one bed.
- Though this is justified, as it was to show that they had absolutely no money and could barely afford this empty room with a bed.
- And given the amount of Les Yay in that partnership (more that you could ever expect from a children's show in the 90s), very deliberate.
Somewhat adverted in The Flintstones, with the Rubbles staying at Fred's house for a few nights. The women sleep in the double bed without comment, but Fred and Barney keep quibbling over who gets the couch and who has to struggle lying across two side chairs.
In an episode of Liberty's Kids, John Adams and Ben Franklin share a bed in an inn.
- Truth in Television, on one Congressional trip (and not particularly unusual for men travelling together in that era). Led to an argument about whether the window should be opened or closed. (And this scene was supposed to appear in the musical 1776, but got cut for time and pacing issues)
Several Looney Tunes cartoons did this with Porky and Daffy as a comedic setup. In one, they were business partners who roomed together, and in another, they were strangers at a packed hotel.
Rarity and Applejack are forced to share a bed in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode Look Before You Sleep. It's not ten seconds before they're kicking each other out of bed, stealing the sheets and engaging in hilariously childish bickering.
In the episode "Haunted House" of The Alvin Show, Dave and the Chipmunks have to share a bed since "Chesley Estate" only had one bed.
In episode 19 of Sym-Bionic Titan, in the second motel that Lance and Ilana stay in, the room only appears to have one bed. However Word Of God says that the most they see each other is Brother and Sister.
In an early King of the Hill episode, Luanne angrily leaves the Hill home and stays at Boomhauer's. Knowing his reputation she nervously, haltingly lays down some ground rules, but as she's talking, he quietly gets some pillows and blankets, drops them on the couch, walks into his bedroom and shuts the door behind him.

Real Life

Happens frequently at conventions due to how expensive hotel rooms can be.
The tradition of bundling. Sometimes it'd get really cold, and the couples would get together all warm and cozy, and sometimes there were ...babies!
- "And sometimes there were... uncomfortable things to talk about in Confession on Sunday!"
This scenario is often encountered in real life, in general. Some people choose to sleep on the floor rather than share a bed, though. Also, back in the old days, entire families would often sleep in the same bed, because beds and the soft stuff that goes on them were expensive and rare but also for the sake of not freezing to death in the night.
- Similarly some kings managed to get beds large enough to allow over a hundred people to sleep together. And apparently put them to use that way. To sleep, you know, not just...
- It was general practice in inns and such for quite a long time, too. Again, expense of beds and linens, and also of building and maintaining an inn large enough for everyone to have his own room.
This was (and is) also common practice among Eskimo tribes, being that the alternative to cuddling up with a family member was freezing to death. Having two separate beds in an igloo would be impractical, and having two igloos for two people would be even more impractical.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, during their pre-fame days.
- Referenced in Paul, where Graeme and Clive share a hotel room with one bed when they go to Comicon.
Rhett & Link talked about sharing hotel rooms and occasionally having to share the bed in an episode of Good Mythical Morning.