- Maybe the Last Archie Story: Before heading towards Mad Doctor Doom's base to stop him from messing up with the space-time continuum, the gang take a minute to talk about their close bonds.Veronica: "Before we do whatever we're going to do, I have to say something. Everyone, please listen."
Archie: "We're listening, Ronnie. Go ahead."
Veronica: "I just wanted to say that, if this is the...the last time we get to say something like this...that no matter what, I want us to know that we're all friends. No matter what happens, or what happened among us, between any of us. There's something that's...more than just boy and girl, you know? There's a...oh, nuts. I don't know how to put it."
Betty: "You've put it just fine, Ronnie. There's a bond. A bond we all have between us. Even with the differences...you rich, me middle-class, Reggie an ego-queen..."
Reggie: "Hey, just a minute!"
Betty: "...and Archie a klutz, we love each other. And I think we always will. Am I right on that, gang?"
Reggie: "You know it, Bets."
Archie: "Never thought I'd see you in a frame of mind like this, Mantle. But yeah, Betty, you're right. There is a bond between us. And there always will be."
- Embers (Vathara): A major theme in all of the author's works is that people need people: we're fundamentally a pack/tribe species, and if we don't have people we trust enough to be honest with even about our flaws, people we know would be willing to die to protect us, and vice versa, we subconsciously find that terrifying and start to go quietly insane. This is the reason for the huge disconnect in the fic between how Katara is described and shown in her inner monologue, a nice person who wants to help others and will do the honorable thing, and how she treats Zuko.
- The main group from The Calvinverse: though they're dysfunctional, they'll (mostly) always stick together.
- The members of the Mirage squadron from Ace Combat: The Equestrian War become those over the course of the story.
- In And All the Stars Burned Bright, Lynley explicitly calls the Dominion War-era crew of Providence his family.
- Team Free Will, in the Supernatural/Good Omens crossover Arrangements
, which includes Dean, Sam, Castiel, Gabriel, Bobby, Aziraphale, and Crowley. As time goes on, it becomes more and more clear just how much they mean to each other, even if they have to pound it into each other's heads sometimes. - Team Turner from Burning Black is well on its way to becoming a band of loyal brothers in arms, even with Vicky and the antis on board.
- The Chance Encounter crew. Strange, dysfunctional and prone to good-natured bickering, they have gone through hell for one of their friends.
- Child of the Storm has the Avengers as this, as well as Harry's friends: Harry himself, Carol, Uhtred, Jean-Paul, Diana, and Ron and Hermione, are all utterly loyal to one another (while the latter two get a little sidelined by Harry's overprotective habits, they're equally loyal). In the case of Carol, she's willing to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to save the others (thankfully, the Winter Soldier saves her life), and there is exactly one circumstance under which Harry would willingly cross his personal Godzilla Threshold and unleash the Dark Phoenix - if Carol died. He's similarly, and violently, protective of the others.
- Children of an Elder God: In spite of all their fights and arguments, Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Touji and Hikari are a team and fight together during the War. After the Final Battle they think of themselves as a family.
- Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron: More so than in canon - even after finding out Lelouch and Kallen's secrets, the rest of the team refuses to judge them.
- A Gem in the Rough: This One Piece/Steven Universe story, like several other One Piece stories, uses the terminology "nakama" to refer to how the other members of the Straw Hats view each other. The author has admitted that this choice was done so as a nod to the old fansubs of the early 2000's, which popularized the term and has been a constant source of discussion in the fandom for years, as mentioned on the main page. What this story does that others do not is actually ACKNOWLEDGE that the term is antiquated within the story itself in a logical way: older pirates from the times of Gold Roger were known to use the term "nakama" for the members of their crew. This practice seemingly stopped once the Great Pirate Era began after Roger's execution. Shanks, being a member of Roger's crew, picked up the phrase and it is from him that Luffy heard it used.
- How the Light Gets In:
- Dean, Sam, and Castiel all have a strong and effortless bond. The trust between them and Thea and Laurel is absolute as well, but they don't get the chance to work together as much.
- Largely deconstructed with Team Arrow. Laurel notes that for all the trust Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity have, they also bring out the worst in one another. As far as Dean's concerned, they never made Laurel a real part of the team. Laurel herself later tells Diggle that she, and in fact every member of the team not "OTA" felt like an outsider.Laurel: Imagine putting in 100%, giving it your all, working your ass off to be part of a team and then realizing that the team you joined won't have your back because you're not part of the inner circle.
Diggle: Is that really how you felt?
Laurel: I respect you. I respect all of you. I love all of you. But OTA isn't really a team anymore. It's a clique.
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail has Chloe, Lexi and Atticus very close with one another. Chloe's narration states that these two are her rocks and she'd be devastated if anything happens to them.
- The SOS Brigade has become this even more in Kyon: Big Damn Hero, so much so that Kyon referred to all seven of them as "nakama" whilst recovering from being shot.
- My Little Pony: Nakama Is Magic: The Straw Hats and the mane six to each other, due to the latter joining the crew. Funkfreed gets in on it later on. To a greater extent, Luffy and Twilight due to him, Ace, and Sabo accepting her as a sworn sibling.
- The Reactsverse has a few examples. In Weiss Reacts, teams RWBY and JNPR will stick up for each other no matter what, both within their team and for other teams.
- Shinji And Warhammer 40 K: Shinji, Rei, and Asuka in are this. They may have others that are close to them, they may view every human as someone to protect, but their role as Pilots has created a bond that no-one else shares. Mana even expresses frustration at how improbable it is that she will ever be a part of it, but is content that her role results in her being closer to them than anyone else.
- Where the Sunlight Ends: In Peter Two's new reality, MJ, Harry, and Harry's wife, Liz, all form a close-knit superhero team.
- In With Pearl and Ruby Glowing, Mei and her friends are described as going everywhere together and much like canon, stick together no matter what.
- Explored beautifully in Freaks Flock Together.
- From The Alliance (a cadre of military cadets from the long-running fic Legion of Lawndale Heroes) was intentionally created to be this, in keeping with the academy's efforts to provide familial connections for the cadets.
- The Malificent 11 from God Save The Esteem will beat each other on an hourly basis, but Heaven help you if you look at (or near) any of them even slightly askew.
- In Hellsister Trilogy, the members of the Legion of Super-Heroes are incredibly close to each other after fighting together while growing up.
- Kara of Rokyn has the Superman Family. When Superman and Lex Luthor go missing at the same time, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Supergirl come together to find them and save Superman, gathering as many allies as they can think of.
- Clan Gully from The Tainted Grimoire.
- Corrin Reacts: Corrin and his circle of friends are this, despite their dysfunctional natures, to the extent most of them team up to help Corrin hook up Flora and Jakob (thus kicking off the whole plot) simply because they're friends.
- In the Fire Emblem: Awakening story Golden Threads Tie Us, the children of the first generation of Shepherds are a tightknit group struggling together to avert the ongoing end of the world.
- The group that Grumman refers to as "the allies," in the Elemental Chess Trilogy, are a very tight-knit crew who will not tolerate any harm coming to its members.
- Hunting the Unicorn: The Warblers are Blaine's Crazy-Prepared, Serious Business-conducting companions. Among being Kurt/Blaine shippers, several of them drag Blaine to counseling. When they find out that Blaine has a Stalker with a Crush, they immediately tell a staff counselor and start a Hero Secret Service. Later on when said stalker tries to kidnap him, Wes and David force the stalker to kidnap them as well.
- The Dangerverse, in all its iterations, practically runs on this trope.
- Delenda Est has two groups: Ron, Hermione, and Sidra, and Leo, Rose, and Ginny. Harry considers them all family, to Leo's astonishment because, as far as he knows, he's the only actual relative among them.
- Dumbledore's Army, in Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness, are definitely true companions long before the end of the story.
- Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past has the Gryffindor Six, formed by Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna. There is very little any of them would not do for the others, and they work together like a well oiled machine. They are also a six-person conspiracy seeking to destroy Voldemort.
- Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: It was because of their immense trust in Italy that Germany and Japan even agreed to share him. It was because of their immense trust in Italy that neither tried to undermine the other while being in a relationship with Italy. This leads to a polyamorous among the three with all being in love with each other.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- The League (and Elizabeth) in The Private Diary of Elizabeth Quatermain.
- Blind Man's Bluff portrays the Survivors as this. If you hurt one of them, then you should be prepared to regret the day you were born.
- Holiday Vacation and Lucky Star: After Story portray Mariko Aratani and Chiyoko Sakamoto, two of the original characters, as this. They've actually been best friends since the day they started kindergarten back in April of 1996.
- A Prize for Three Empires has The Avengers who, regardless past lapses in judgement, scoured the galaxy to find the missing Carol Danvers.
- Inverted in X-Men 1970. The original X-Men are extremely close, but they decide they have outgrown the super-hero lifestyle and go their separate ways.
- Miraculous: The Phoenix Rises: Morgan, Kiku, Leon, and Max eventually all gain their Miraculous and form the team. Crosses over with Badass Crew and Fire-Forged Friends.
- God Help the Outcasts: The monsters. They all have different appearances, abilities, and personalities, but they'll do anything for each other.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- The Pony POV Series naturally has the Mane Cast (which grows to include Trixie and Fluttercruel), but also has the Cutie Mark Crusaders (which ends up including Spike and Silver Spoon) and Misfit Actual (Shining Armor's squad).
- In a very odd way, Alpha Brass and Twilight Sparkle from This Platinum Crown. He is legitimately incapable of feeling any emotions because he was so royally screwed up by Chrysalis, but during the Equestria's Strongest Couple duel it's shown that he does seem to care for her, if in a less romantic way than normal for this trope.
- In Dreaming of Sunshine, Team 7's bonds are stronger than in canon thanks to Shikako establishing the traditions of post-fight discussions to critique one another on each other's abilities, and post-mission dinner celebrations at the Nara Residence. To a lesser extent, the Rookie Nine are all fairly close friends and acquaintances. Their bonds are strong enough to convince Sasuke not to defect from Konoha, unlike in canon.
- Subverted in Glory. Though they try to stick it out, Team 11 eventually falls apart without Yoshiya to hold it together.
- A Growing Affection: A different group from canon. Hinata is at the core, and Temari and Sasame Fuma are added to the periphery members.
- Hakumei:
- The group that gives the fic its name. Tsunade calls them the "assorted mudpuppies" when she's not calling them "Hakumei."
- The Legendary Sannin used to be this. One of the first things Tsunade does once she takes the kids in is tell them the history of her "family" and warn them not to make the same mistakes.
- Zabuza muses that Hakumei's bond with each other is similar to the bond the Seven Swordsmen once had.
- A Leaf of the Tree: Team 24 is this as a whole. Being friends since their Academy days, the three have absolute faith in each other. Suro and Totagi don't let their failures over their own performances at the Chunin Exams stop them from cheering on Takeo as he continues forward. Takeo himself chooses to remain a member of Team 24 after his promotion, wanting at least one other to become a chunin before the team is disbanded. Kakashi notes that the three would have crushed the bell test due to their friendship, before their team was even formed.
- The Somewhat Cracked Mind Of Uchiha Itachi:
- Itachi's circle of friends are all very close and willing to help each other out, even when the favor in question is well outside the norms.
- Thanks to the summer camp, the Konoha 12 effectively grew up together and become this (though it takes Neji a while to accept it).
- Team 8: One of the core elements of the story is seeing the members of the eponymous team turn into this as time goes on. Especially in the case of Naruto and Hinata, as the team eventually becomes their main solace, due to their horrible childhoods and the team being the closest thing they have to a real family.
- True Potential: Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru were already close friends before they were put on Team 3. In fact, it's the friendship and teamwork they displayed while dealing with Mizuki that ultimately convinced the Sandaime Hokage to put them on the same team. After Anko becomes their sensei, the four of them develop a strong bond that keeps growing over time.
- The Uzumaki Tales: Return Of The Whirlpool: The Konoha 13 are showing signs of this. By the time the Time Skip rolls around, the strength of their bond easily surpasses the strength of the one in canon.
- White Eyes: Team 7 eventually becomes this, after starting out as Fire-Forged Friends, while still having a few vitriolic moments here and there. It's cemented during the Third Hokage's funeral, after Naruto confides that, for the longest time, Sarutobi was the only one in the village who gave any care about him.Naruto: Well, I've still got you guys, right?
Sasuke: Whatever you need.
Hinata: Whenever you need it. - Yet again, with a little extra help: The bond between the Konoha 12 is even stronger than it is in canon, thanks to the cross-team training that is done in the beginning. Their bonds are so strong that not once does betraying the village ever cross Sasuke's mind. Exemplified when Neji, despite being on the verge of death and now lacking one eye, asserts to Han (the man who put him in that state) that they will never betray their friends.
- While NCIS pretty much covers this already in canon, the Doorstopper fanfic Shards to a Whole takes the trope up to eleven. While the emphasis remains on the developing relationship and marriage between Tim and Abby, much of the fic centers around how the team bonds into a true family. At one point, Abby designs a Team Gibbs Coat of Arms, while in more recent chapters Ducky and his new wife Penny (Tim's grandmother) sell the newly-retired Gibbs on their idea of purchasing a run-down estate to serve as a second home for the whole NCIS team, once the team get together to restore the mansion.
- Advice and Trust: Hoping getting her sync rates up, Gendo commands Rei spending more time with Shinji and Asuka. As a result of it, their bonds strengthened and they became true friends and siblings-in-arms. Hurt one of them and the remainder two will ensure that you REGRET it. Bardiel and Zeruel learnt this the hard way.
- A Crown of Stars: The Avaloni troops left stranded on Earth quickly became this: Shinji, Asuka, Hikari, Touji, Kensuke, Misato, Kaji, Ching, Bir, TJ... develop this kind of comradeship throughout the war campaign.
- Doing It Right This Time: After surviving the Angel War, dying before being fifteen, outliving the end of the world and going back to the past Shinji, Asuka and Rei are trying to save their future. As a result of this they are bonding and their relationship becoming stronger.
- Evangelion 303: The members of the "Evangelion" Squadron are slowly developing into a tight-knit group of soldiers who fight together and value each other through of love, friendship or rivalry.
- In chapter 9 of Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide Asuka admits unintentionally that, despite everything, the Eva pilots are a team and they watch each other:We may hate things about each other, but in combat we know we can trust each other with our lives.
- Luffy's Renewed Adventure:
- As in canon, we have Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, and Robin thus far, but in an effort to avoid having his crew overpowered by Marines again in the future, Luffy has actively tried to make his crew bigger this time.
- Gin is the first new addition, after Luffy thrashes Krieg…and giving implications beforehand that his captain wasn’t all he claimed to be. Gin realizes this after he loses to Sanji, and at the end, when his resolve to return to the Grand Line is finalized, Luffy extends the invitation. He accepts.
- Nojiko also decides to come along to see Nami see her dream through. Well, that and to make sure she’s safe after catching Luffy and Nami in a Lemon.
- Yosaku and Johnny are given an invitation when the crew is en route to Arlong Park. They accept in the end.
- Crosses over with Enemy Mine; after a couple of brutally effective Curb-Stomp Battles, as well as learning that Baroque Works’ true intentions do not aspire towards an ideal nation, three of the officer agents join the crew: Miss Valentine in Whiskey Peak and Mr. 5 and Miss Goldenweek in Little Garden. At the end of the Alabasta arc, Mr. 5 reluctantly leaves the crew to seek his own dreams, but the other two become permanent members.
- Vivi also elects to remain with the crew after hearing about Luffy's past and the World Government’s atrocities towards everywhere that he had visited, understanding that her country is still in danger and she can’t do anything about it by staying behind.
- Once Upon a Studio: Version 2.0. takes this trope even further than the original, showing virtually every single Disney character to be an extended family, having been friends forever:
- One small but notable example is Mickey's interaction with Cinderella, as he shoots her a very casual "hiya", rather than a more graceful and formal "hello".
- Cinderella's short but uplifting speech to lift everyone's spirits, reminding them that there is always hope even in these difficult moments. She shows not a trace of disdain for any of the villains, not even her own stepmother, or even Frollo, for that matter.
- Just moments before, Rapunzel and Eugene are sure to check up on Goofy to make sure he's still in one piece. Thankfully, Eugene finds that he's only sustained a few minor bruises.
- And just like Raya abbreviating Mickey's name to 'Mick' earlier on, Cinderella quite happily does the same for Rapunzel as she offers up the guitar Fairy Godmother has created, calling her "Raps", similar to Cassandra in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.
- Mickey and Cinderella inviting all the characters (as well as the audience) to sing the final verse of "When You Wish Upon a Star" together one last time also cements the status of the Disney characters as an extended family, along with them all singing the verse together.
- All the characters in the epilogue scene being so casual and laid-back in each others' presence is also a testament to the closeness of the extended Disney family.
- The entire point of "circles" in In the Circle of Elemental Arms.
- The Ancienverse provides a villainous example with IDEAL, who are a close knit group.
- The Ash Connection: The group Ash met became this, even Paul and Gary. Best known for being called The Ash Connection.
- A New Chance Series: So very much - in particular, Phanpy considers the Pokémon he's closest to among Ash's team (and a few others, as well) as his family.
- Latias and Latios consider some of the Legendaries such as Ho-Oh, Mew, a Shiny Legendary Beast trio, and many more as this in the past.
- In Power Rangers Mythos, even when he’s only met Fae, Z and Flynn a short while ago, Tommy reflects that he considers them his brothers in arms just as much as his team back in his home time, recognising that the bond they share as Rangers transcends the distance between their times of origin.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness: Even after they find their own boyfriends and move on from him, the various members of Tsukune's Unwanted Harem, as well as said boyfriends, remain close friends with Tsukune to the extent that, in Act III chapter 52, he openly states that he would gladly die for them and can't imagine living without them.
- Mortality has a veritable clan of True Companions, people who are drawn to Sherlock Holmes for friendship and for his own protection. Brother Mycroft, landlady Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson (naturally), his wife Mary, Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars, Inspector Lestrade and his own family... And this is only the core of the group — there are many more unnamed Irregulars and Yarders who would do anything for the Great Detective.
- And Holmes is willing to go through a lot for Watson.
- We can all assume that messing with Holmes is bound to get Watson pissed. Doesn't help he goes from gentle, unassuming to down-right murderous. As in, he goes from "friendly" to "wanting to kill someone". Uh-oh. Don't do that if you value your life!
- Another Sherlockian example is A Study in Regret, which has Inspector Lestrade, Mary Watson, Sherlock Holmes, and Marcel Bernier. Lestrade, Mary, and Marcel go through a lot to rescue Holmes, and Holmes, in return, is willing to go through a lot to protect Mary and her unborn child.
- Nightblade: The main cast develop into this. Nick especially relies on this because these are the only people in the world he trusts and cares about.
- A Boy, a Girl and a Dog: The Leithian Script: In this The Silmarillion fanfic, Beren, Finrod and his ten companions are loyals unto death... literally. Even after dead, they still look after each other. They would -and did- give up their lives to save each other and they would never think of betraying or abandoning one of them.
- Total Trauma: Alejandro and Heather are portrayed as such, with Heather recovering from her self-loathing in order to help him, and Alejandro thinking of her as his family. Word of God describes them as in love, but not necessarily romantically so, especially since Heather in this comic is a lesbian.
- Twinning With a Twist: Waneyihtam Maskwak becomes this (once they oust Leonard and Dave, anyway), to the point that when they lose the gold coin challenge and they have to vote out one of their own, they feel intense guilt and regret over it. Beardo volunteers himself for elimination to let them stay as true companions.
- Unbreakable Red Silken Thread: Cody and Heather, also Jasmine and Sammy, Brick and Jo, Dawn and Zoey and Cameron and Shawn. Be it couples or just roommates it's easy to tell just how strong the bonds of friendship between these characters are. Cody and Noah as well, Kitty even calls Noah Cody's best friend.
- It's not just the military Autobots and NEST in Things We Don't Tell Humans, but the non-combatants, children, and a small community of trusted human allies, too.
- Vocaloid fanon tends to portray the Vocaloids themselves as this. The Crypton Future Media ones (Meiko, Kaito, Miku Hatsune, Rin and Len Kagamine and Luka Megurine) are depicted as this the most, though.
- Better Bones AU: The forget-me-nots, consisting of the cross-Clan friendship of Bluestar, Oakheart, Lizardstripe, Ashfoot, Deadfoot and Barley Sr, are very close to each other.
- Chaos Effect sees the Self-Insert Edwin Chaos be friends with the main gang of Yugi, Tea, Tristan, and Joey, but his True Companions are Renard Volpe (a noble Eliminator from Duelist Kingdom), Yuri Gardner (Tea's half sister and a former cop), and his girlfriend Mai Valentine, with the four making it clear when Battle City begins that no matter what they have each other's backs.
Unsorted
- The pack in the Canisp series. None of them are related (except for a pair of sisters), but Meya and Canisp consistently refer to each other as "sisters". When one of the group makes a mistake that nearly kills them all and lands one of them with a broken leg and a concussion, they all stand up for him against the rest of the Wolves, insisting that it was an honest mistake and he learned from it—this in spite of the fact that one of the group spends most of her time glaring at him.
- Going from their forums, the guys of Turnabout Musical are this, sticking together since 2007 in their efforts to make the musical.
- The four in With Strings Attached, and also in real life, at least for a while. In Strings, they have to stick together, since they cannot trust anyone else.
- Despite being Actual Pacifists, all of them have Berserk Buttons if one of the others is threatened, and will attack immediately, albeit nonlethally.
- This bond becomes incredibly important in The Keys Stand Alone, because (at least initially) outsiders don't quite grasp just how tight the four are and how much they will protect one another. Also, and again, they know they can trust one another, as opposed to, oh, everyone else.
