History Main / GayGuySeeksPopularJock

LGBT representation in the media has grown in prominence the past few decades. As the visibility grew, a common romance trope was employed over and over again enough that it became cliché: A gay teenage boy (who is the AudienceSurrogate) with a [[CampGay campy]] or nerdy personality falls in love with with a popular, muscular and often-closeted jock.

#RuleOfDrama: The geeky gay and jock not only come from different "[[PopularityFoodChain classes]]" (so to speak) but also face different hurdles in a ComingOutStory: The geeky gay always is less conventionally masculine, so he doesn't have much to lose by being honest and open. The jock character, by contrast is a StraightGay, and by coming out may lose a lot more, especially dropping down the social ladder which can lead to tons of conflict and obstacles for the pair getting together.

In decades past where queer people had a much harder time finding partners, especially teenagers, the fact that these two boys were both gay and navigating their sexuality together would be romantic enough. But in more recent years, readers may note that, other than their sexuality, it's unlikely for them to actually have anything in common. The more thought-out stories may address this by giving the boys at least one shared interest on which they can build a relationship.

* ''Manga/BlueFlag'': [[spoiler:Completely inverted. The LovableJock BigManOnCampus Touma Mita is in love with his OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ChildhoodFriend Ichinose. The finale, however plays it straight, as Ichinose was revealed to have feelings for Touma that end in their marriage.]]

* The film adaptation of ''Literature/ThePerksOfBeingAWallflower'', this plays out just like in the novel (see below).

* ''Film/TheHalfOfIt'' Has a female version of this: Ellie is a nerdy lesbian seeking Aster, the popular girl. In an interesting twist, Paul - the male jock - befriends Ellie after [[PlayingCyrano hiring her to secretly write love letters]] because he ''also'' seeks Aster.

* Played with in ''Literature/TheGoldenFeather''. The main character is socially awkward and dorkish, but who also happens to be well-built. The love interest on the other hand is the classic jerkish, popular type but also happens to be short, thin and a closet literature snob.

* While Simon from ''Literature/SimonVsTheHomoSapiensAgenda'' isn't specifically seeking a jock, he doesn't mind staring at them. Then in the end [[spoiler: it turns out Blue is a jock, as Bram is on the soccer team]].

* On ''Series/TheHardTimesOfRJBerger'', Guillermo was having a secret relationship with [[JerkJock Max]], who more publicly dated girls like the cheerleaders Jenny and Robin.

* Kevin and Moose on ''Series/{{Riverdale}}''. Moose is a closeted bisexual/gay jock who is on the football team and has a girlfriend, while Kevin is an openly gay boy. They are mutually-attracted to one another, but have not hooked up due to Moose's girlfriend and their one attempt to do so being ruined by discovering the corpse of a murdered classmate.

* The music video for ''Shura'''s "What's It Gonna Be?" is modeled on 80s teen movies, with the twist that the nerd ends up with the LovableJock while, in a genderflip of this trope, the [[CoolLoser dorkish girl]] ends up with the [[LovableAlphaBitch popular girl]].

* ''WebComic/CheckPlease'' seems to avert this, as Bittle, a gay former figure skater and Hockey Player never seems to have interest in anyone through his whole freshman year. [[spoiler: Second year plays straight, as he falls for Jack, the team captain. By the end of Bitty's Sophmore year, they start to date.]]

LGBT representation in the media has grown in prominence the past few decades. As the visibility grew, a common romance trope was employed over and over again enough that it became cliché: A gay teenage boy (who is the AudienceSurrogate) with a [[CampGay campy]] or [[HollywoodNerd nerdy]] personality falls in love with with a popular, muscular and often-closeted jock.

LGBT media and LGBT characters featured in media have grown in prominence the past few decades. As the visibility grew, a common romance trope was employed over and over again enough that it became cliché: A gay teenage boy (who is the AudienceSurrogate) with a [[CampGay campy]] or [[HollywoodNerd nerdy]] personality falls in love with with a popular, muscular and often-closeted jock.

In decades past where queer people had a much harder time finding partners, especially teenagers, the fact that these two boys were both gay and navigating their sexuality together would be romantic enough. However, more modern readers may note that, other than their sexuality, it's unlikely for them to have anything in common to actually build a relationship on. This may be addressed by having the jock character reveal that he has secret nerdy or "gay" interests that he's normally embarrassed about but now has someone to share them with.

LGBT media and LGBT characters featured in media have grown in prominence the past few decades. As the visibility grew, a common romance trope was employed over and over again enough that it became cliché: A gay teenager (who is the AudienceSurrogate) ranging from CampGay to ShrinkingViolet falls in love with/actively pursues/crushes on/is paired up with a popular, muscular and (usually) closeted jock.

While a common fantasy, this trope is also TruthInTelevision as this kind of pairing does indeed happen in RealLife.

* On ''Series/TheHardTimesOfRJBerger'', Guillermo was having a secret relationship with [[JerkJock Max]], who more publicly dated girls like [[TheCheerleader Jenny and Robin]].

[[quoteright:221:[[Series/{{Glee}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gleefurt.png]]]]

* This is the entire premise of ‘The Football Song’ by Matt Fishel.

* [[http://www.omocat-blog.com/post/67079004346/a-project-i-literally-did-overnight-gonna-make-it This]] adorable webcomic kind of inverts this trope; the ''jock'' starts to fall in love with a [[PrettyBoy pretty]] little gay {{Otaku}} (and YaoiFanboy as one panel reveals). [[spoiler:They eventually get married]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Avialae}}'', Gannet is initially very keen on getting a chance to "wrestle" with Luke, the only member of the wrestling club who doesn't act homophobic towards him. He ultimately ends up with bird geek Bailey instead... though it should be noted that Bailey is also a member of the track team and [[HollywoodNerd has the build]] to show it.

** This is later inverted: [[ArmoredClosetGay bullying jock Kurofsky]] has a crush on Kurt.

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', as LovableJock GentleGiant Elliott [[ShrinkingViolet pines for]] and works up the courage to nervously court tiny nerd Clinton, and serves as ''his'' ClosetKey.

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', as GentleGiant Elliott pines for and works up the courage to nervously court tiny nerd Clinton, and serves as ''his'' ClosetKey.

#Most of these writers are gay and this trope could be construed as a form of WishFulfillment: The shy, awkward boy landing a popular handsome athlete is a pretty common fantasy amongst gay men, so it stands that this convention would be pretty prominent.

* ''Manga/AoNoFlag'': [[spoiler:Completely inverted. The LovableJock BigManOnCampus Touma Mita is in love with his OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ChildhoodFriend Ichinose. The finale, however plays it straight, as Ichinose was revealed to have feelings for Touma that end in their marriage.]]

LGBT media and LGBT characters featured in media have grown in prominence the past few decades. As the visibility grew, a common romance trope was employed over and over again enough that it became cliché: A gay teenager (who is the AudienceSurrogate) ranging from CampGay to {{Adorkable}} to ShrinkingViolet falls in love with/actively pursues/crushes on/is paired up with a popular, muscular and (usually) closeted jock.

* ''Literature/GeographyClub'' used this trope in ''1998''[[note]]Written in 1998 but not published until 2003 after many revisions[[/note]] with the geeky Rusty falling in love with Kevin, a closeted baseball player. GenderFlipped with his best friend, the [[BiTheWay bisexual]] AsianAndNerdy Min secretly dating soccer player Terese, and in a later book in the series, falling in love with a cheerleader.

* In ''ComicBook/GothamAcademy'' [[spoiler:Colton Rivera]] starts out crushing on school tennis star Kyle Mizoguchi and his attraction to him only becomes more pronounced over the series though he never outright admits it to Kyle and while Kyle almost puts it together during the second semester he gets distracted and is still in love with Olive anyway.

* ''Manga/AoNoFlag'': [[spoiler:Completely inverted. The LovableJock BigManOnCampus Touma Mita is in love with his OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ChildhoodFriend Ichinose.]]

#RuleOfDrama: The geeky gay and jock not only come from different "classes" (so to speak) but also face different hurdles in a ComingOutStory: The geeky gay always is less conventionally masculine, so he doesn't have much to lose by being honest and open. The jock character, by contrast is a StraightGay, and by coming out may lose a lot more, especially dropping down the social ladder which can lead to tons of conflict and obstacles for the pair getting together.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

* More a case of CampStraight Guy Seeks Popular Jock, but it fits. On ''[[Wrestling/{{WWESmackDown}} WWE [=SmackDown!=]]]'' in 2003, Wrestling/{{Rico|Constantino}}, a GorgeousGeorge character, was, initially, much more enthusiastic about teaming with [[Wrestling/TheWorldsGreatestTagTeam Charlie Haas]] than Haas was.[[note]]RealitySubtext: Rico's valet, [[Characters/WWEDivas Miss Jackie (Gayda)]], was dating Haas in real life and they later married.[[/note]] They actually made a pretty good team and had a brief run with the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-t.html WWE ([=SmackDown!=]) Tag Team Titles]].

%%Image chosen via crowner in the Image Suggestions thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions92

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Comicbooks]]

[[folder: Film]]

[[folder: Literature]]

* ''Caught Running'', a gay romance novel, has this--only this time, it's ten years after high school; the gay guy is a biology teacher, and the popular jock is the baseball coach. Given that it's a romance novel, it ends happily.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder: Music]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling]]
* More a case of CampStraight Guy Seeks Popular Jock, but it fits. On ''[[Wrestling/{{WWESmackDown}} WWE [=SmackDown!=]]]'' in 2003, Wrestling/{{Rico|Constantino}}, a GorgeousGeorge character, was, initially, much more enthusiastic about teaming with [[Wrestling/TheWorldsGreatestTagTeam Charlie Haas]] than Haas was.[[note]]RealitySubtext: Rico's valet, [[Characters/WWEDivas Miss Jackie (Gayda)]], was dating Haas in real life and they later married.[[/note]] They actually made a pretty good team and had a brief run with the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-t.html WWE ([=SmackDown!=]) Tag Team Titles]].

[[folder: Theatre]]
* Appears in ''Theatre/ZannaDont'', though due to the gay AlternateUniverse of the musical, the LovableJock is actually closeted ''straight'', and Chess is cooler than Football in any case.

[[folder: Visual Novel]]
* VisualNovel/ComingOutOnTop: Brad, the star quarterback for his college's top football team, is a romance interest for Mark, if you play your cards right.

[[folder: Web Comics]]
* [[http://www.omocat-blog.com/post/67079004346/a-project-i-literally-did-overnight-gonna-make-it This]] adorable webcomic kind of inverts this trope; the ''jock'' starts to fall in love with a [[PrettyBoy pretty]] little gay {{Otaku}} (and YaoiFanboy as one panel reveals). [[spoiler:They eventually get married]].
* {{WebComic/CheckPlease}} seems to avert this, as Bittle, a gay former figure skater and Hockey Player never seems to have interest in anyone through his whole freshman year. [[spoiler: Second year plays straight, as he falls for Jack, the team captain. By the end of Bitty's Sophmore year, they start to date.]]
* Happens with the possibly bisexual Teddy in ''WebComic/BestFriendsForever'', where he has some unspoken feelings for his best friend and star quarterback Vincent. [[spoiler: Interestingly, it's inverted as well, since a lot of the conflict for Vincent in the story is [[{{Gayngst}} dealing with the fact that he's in love with Teddy]] and discovering that he's gay.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Avialae}}'', Gannet is initially very keen on getting a chance to "wrestle" with Luke, the only member of the wrestling club who doesn't act homophobic towards him. He ultimately ends up with bird geek Bailey instead... though it should be noted that Bailey is also a member of the track team and [[HollywoodNerd has the build]] to show it.

[[folder: Web Original]]
* Podcast/TheBrightSessions: One of Dr Bright's patients, [[LovableJock Caleb]], [[TheEmpath an empath]], befriends lonely classmate Adam on her recommendation after having difficulty shutting out Adam's [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer powerful negative emotions.]] As they start to genuinely become friends, Caleb begins describing how he feels [[WhatIsThisFeeling butterflies]] from Adam. [[spoiler: Caleb realises the butterflies he's feeling are also coming from his own emotions and they get together.]]
* WebAnimation/InAHeartbeat plays with this. Sherwin has a huge crush on the popular boy Jonathan, but he isn't a jock, and Sherwin is afraid of being outed. Plus, they're both in middle school.