Basic Trope: The more masculine of a Yaoi couple will be the one on "top".
- Straight: Bill is taller than and more stoic than his partner Andy, and is usually the "top" during sex.
- Exaggerated: Bill is the manliest man in the world and won't ever take a submissive role in bed.
- Downplayed: Bill is more masculine than Andy, but still takes on a submissive role every now and again.
- Justified:
- Bill is naturally a masculine guy who takes little to no pleasure in being on the bottom.
- Bill is a BDSM dom.
- Inverted: Uke
- Subverted: Bill is tall, masculine, and stoic... But is still the "catcher".
- Double Subverted: ...But mainly because his partner is even more masculine.
- Parodied: Bill is constantly in baseball gear, and always has a glove on his non-dominant hand. He's the greatest pitcher in the country.
- Zig Zagged: Bill is a blatantly stereoytpical seme who plays pitcher to Andy... but only the first time they have sex. The next time, he's on the bottom. After that, he's on top again.
- Averted:
- You can't tell who's the Uke and who's the Seme if you skip the sex scenes.
- Alternatively, Andy and Bob do "things" that don't require a seme or an uke. (Mutual masturbation, for example.)
- There is no sex scene at all.
- Enforced: "Women are going to be reading Boys' Love 99 percent of the time. We need a manly character who is dominant in bed, because the ladies need a guy like this and they like to see the pretty uke get "swept away"."
- Lampshaded: "Of course I'm on top. A real man never takes it up the ass."
- Invoked: Bill knows Andy is attracted to Semes, so he purposely acts more like one.
- Exploited: Bill uses his dominant appearance and mannerism to avoid being raped by pretend to rape the rapists instead and scared them away.
- Defied: Both Andy and Bill are developed believably as rounded male characters, and their sex scenes aren't shown in the work at all.
- Discussed: "Hey, Carol, do you think Bill is Andy's seme?"
- Conversed: "Of course Bill's the seme. He's the tall, manly one."
- Deconstructed:
- Bill doesn't want to only be on top, but Andy won't sleep with him unless Bill tops. This drives a rift into their relationship and they break up.
- Alternately, Bill and Andy's relationship is based on If It's You, It's Okay and Bill still sees himself as straight, so he only sleeps with feminine Ukes. His issues accepting his relationship with Andy drives them apart.
- Reconstructed:
- Bill realizes being with Andy is worth never being on the bottom and they get back together.
- Bill realizes he is attracted to Andy not because he's just a hole, but for his whole person.
Back to Seme
