History Main / CoupledCouples

* ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'' begins on the basis that Ryuji and Taiga both like the other's best friend, and thus want to go out with them.

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* The four principal characters of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' are the titular Flintstones, Fred and Wilma, and their BetaCouple best friend next door neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble.
** According to the prequel movie ''Film/TheFlintstonesInVivaRockVegas'', Fred originally asked Betty out, and she set her friend Wilma up with Barney for a double date. [[ForegoneConclusion We knew how that would end up.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AzurAndAsmarThePrincesQuest'', Azur and [[spoiler:the Djinn Fairy]] / Asmar and [[spoiler:the Elf Fairy]] form CoupledCouples at the end.

FourTemperamentEnsemble and FourPhilosophyEnsemble may be applicable to this arrangement. Compare DoubleDate.

* Early chapters of ''Webcomic/{{Boyfriends}}'' focused on Nerd with Goth and Prep with Jock, before they all [[{{Polyamory}} coalesced]].

* The {{yuri}} manga ''Manga/HaruNatsuAkiFuyu'' centers on two pairs of SchoolgirlLesbians, who are introduced after each other but become equally important in the course of the series. There is also a third BetaCouple consisting of their teachers.

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* ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'' begins on the basis that Ryuji and Taiga both like the other's best friend, and thus want to go out with them. Averted in that it doesn't happen in the end.

* The episode "Who's Who?" of ''Series/TheAvengers'' involves a pair of enemy agent lovers who swap bodies with Steed and Emma via a GrandTheftMe. The contrast between the heroes' UST-laden platonic relationship and the villains' overtly sexual one is played for laughs.

* The novel ''Elective Affinities'' by [[UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] has the aristocratic couple of Eduard and Charlotte, who like their landscape garden. Eduard invites his impoverished friend, the Captain, to help with the landscaping, and Charlotte her orphaned niece Ottilie to live with them. Soon attractions arise between Eduard and Ottilie and between Charlotte and the Captain. The novel does not have a happy end, but a novella-within-the-novel, which deals with a similar situation, does.

* The episode "Who's Who?" of ''Series/TheAvengers'' involves a pair of enemy agent lovers who swap bodies with Steed and Emma via a FreakyFridayFlip. The contrast between the heroes' UST-laden platonic relationship and the villains' overtly sexual one is played for laughs.

* The opera ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' has Mimi, Rodolfo, Marcello and Musetta. The two couples' romantic arcs take different directions. Despite Rodolfo [[JerkassFacade repulsing the terminally ill Mimi under false pretenses]] [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim so that she can seek a wealthier lover to care for her]], she dies peacefully surrounded by the other three.

* This trope is invoked by the traditional cultural customs of Planet O in the eponymous story from UrsulaKLeGuin's short story collection, ''A Fisherman of the Inland Sea'', where marriage is between four rather than two people: a man and a woman from each of two "moieties". Each same-moiety pairing is treated as a platonic sibling relationship, but all opposite-moiety pairings within the marriage, including the same-gender ones, are sexual.

** According to the prequel movie ''TheFlintstonesInVivaRockVegas'', Fred originally asked Betty out, and she set her friend Wilma up with Barney for a double date. [[ForegoneConclusion We knew how that would end up.]]

** ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' involves Samantha & Darren and Larry & Louise. Although both couples remain devoted, the four of them are subject to supernaturally-induced mishaps in some episodes, such as "Mixed Doubles" from Season 7.

** ''Series/Bewitched'' involves Samantha & Darren and Larry & Louise. Although both couples remain devoted, the four of them are subject to supernaturally-induced mishaps in some episodes, such as "Mixed Doubles" from Season 7.