History Main / MutualMasquerade

* A short lived series I can't recall the name of was built around this trope. The superhero and his arch-enemy were, unbeknownst to each other, roommates in their civilian identities.
** The Disney Adventures strip Gorilla Gorilla played that plot for laughs.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'': Timmy Turner has been classmates with a rich kid named Remy. After a series of suspicious events, Timmy has decided to spy on Remy and discovered that he also had a fairy godparent. When Timmy asked his godparents why he was never told, the fairies replied that it was against Da Rules for faeries to tell their godchildren about other children with faeries. They have to figure it out on their own.

* There's a GoldenAge DCComics story about the first meeting between [[{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] and [[{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] - neither of whom have any idea the other one is also a superhero. (They find out before the end of the story, when they both see the other changing into costume.)

* ''TheFairlyOddparents'': Timmy Turner has been classmates with a rich kid named Remy. After a series of suspicious events, Timmy has decided to spy on Remy and discovered that he also had a fairy godparent. When Timmy asked his godparents why he was never told, the fairies replied that it was against Da Rules for faeries to tell their godchildren about other children with faeries. They have to figure it out on their own.

* ''MrAndMrsSmith'', the movie where husband and wife discovered each other's secrets: They were both assassins for hire, working for rival organizations. They find this out when they both get hired for the same job ''on opposite sides.''

* ''MrAndMrsSmith'', the movie where husband and wife discovered each other's secrets: They were both assassins for hire.

* In ''Durarara!!'', a great deal of the conflict in the latter bit of the series is the various factions of Ikebukuro butting heads (sometimes very very violently) and maintaining secrets from each other and the public. As such, many, many, many characters that interact with each other don't know that these people are actually part of the Dollars, or Saika's army, or Nebula, or the Yellow Scarves, or the yakuza, or...

* In ''{{Durarara!!}}'', a great deal of the conflict in the latter bit of the series is the various factions of Ikebukuro butting heads (sometimes very very violently) and maintaining secrets from each other and the public. As such, many, many, many characters that interact with each other don't know that these people are actually part of the Dollars, or Saika's army, or Nebula, or the Yellow Scarves, or the yakuza, or...

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'' series has the Black Ajah working in this fashion. In order to prevent any Black Sister from having the knowledge needed to betray the entire organization all Black Sisters except the top few are normally only ever given the identity of three other members. Most members do not even know who the next person up the chain of command is, much less who is at the head.
* In the novel {{Twelve}}, vampires have to hide themselves from human society. The protagonist discovers that the "mercenaries" his friend hired are in fact vampires. [[spoiler: Later, he is shocked to find out one of the vampires ''ISN'T!'' So the villain could move about in the daylight ... OhCrap. Furthermore, said character had fooled the other vampires into thinking he's one of them. It helped that the vampires weren't particularly strong.]]

* The ''Series/{{Batman}}'' series from the 1960s included a pair of cross-over episodes with the ''GreenHornet'' series. Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid originally met and socialized (they are both millionaire playboys, after all), with neither aware of the other's identity as a masked crimefighter. The villain of the episode actually figures out that the two billionaires are also the two heroes but mixes up the secret identities (thinking Wayne is Green Hornet and Reid is Batman). When Batman proves this wrong the idea is completely dismissed and the truth never occurs to anyone, including the heroes.

* In '{{'Sekirei}}'', both Minato Sahashi and his sister Yukari are Ashikabi in the Sekirei Plan. Since one of the major rules of the Sekirei Plan is [[FightClub "You do not talk about the Sekirei Plan"]], neither of them knows that the other is involved. It gets particularly frustrating because Yukari's Sekirei is an older brother to one of Minato's, and is devoted to finding her.

* In ''Sekirei'', both Minato Sahashi and his sister Yukari are Ashikabi in the Sekirei Plan. Since one of the major rules of the Sekirei Plan is [[FightClub "You do not talk about the Sekirei Plan"]], neither of them knows that the other is involved. It gets particularly frustrating because Yukari's Sekirei is an older brother to one of Minato's, and is devoted to finding her.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'': As in ''Forever'', Bruce and Selina are attracted to each other in and out of costume.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Despite having known about wizards and himself being a wizard for years, he was still surprised to find that Mrs. Figg, one of his Privet Drive neighbors that he's known his entire life, has been in on the Masquerade the whole time and has also been tasked by Dumbledore to keep him safe. He tries to hide his wizardry (he had his wand out to cast his Patronus against the Dementors that attacked him and Dudley), and she urges him not to put his wand away.

* In the film ''BatmanReturns'', Bruce Wayne is dating Selina Kyle; he doesn't know she is Catwoman, and she doesn't know he is Batman.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', quoth one high-ranked member of {{MIB}}, "[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-05-09 the accessibility of magic has always been the real secret]]". So there's a lot of magic users who have no clue about each other and lose time in otherwise trivial cases. Such as when a wizard's apprentice Noah was trying for days to investigate a magical incident, and since he couldn't tell what it's about and had zero diplomatic skills, he was forced to [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-02-16 go the roundabout way through Elliot]] without telling him anything. Elliot himself being a full-fledged magic-user and knowing about the wizard but not Noah and working with another investigator connected to {{MIB}}. By the time he got to his witness (yet another magic user who by this time had a good idea what's going on, but wasn't going to tell Noah anyway), the delay allowed [[spoiler:the follow-up incident, which loudly finished off already damaged {{Masquerade}}]].

* Common occurrence in TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness campaigns, due in part to the sheer number of masquerades that know next to nothing about each other.

* Common occurrence in TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness campaigns, due in part to the sheer number of masquerades that know next to nothing about each other.
** Varies. When you're a vampire, werewolf, mage or fairy, you can expect to be inducted to your respective secret society, in which, generally, everyone knows who is who. Thus it's a rare occurence that a vampire is in town without the other vampires knowing (and this is the way things should be-- masquerade breach is deadly for the vampires as a whole).

* TheWheelOfTime series has the Black Ajah working in this fashion. In order to prevent any Black Sister from having the knowledge needed to betray the entire organization all Black Sisters except the top few are normally only ever given the identity of three other members. Most members do not even know who the next person up the chain of command is, much less who is at the head.

[[AC:Tabletop Game]]
* Common occurrence in WorldOfDarkness campaigns, due in part to the sheer number of masquerades that know next to nothing about each other.

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season 4- The Initiative are vaguely aware of the Slayer, but have no idea she a) really exists and b) is Buffy, while Buffy has no idea that her new boyfriend and college professor are part of a military operation to do what destiny has decided is supposed to be her job.

* In ''ElGoonishShive'', quoth one high-ranked member of {{MIB}}, "[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-05-09 the accessibility of magic has always been the real secret]]". So there's a lot of magic users who have no clue about each other and lose time in otherwise trivial cases. Such as when a wizard's apprentice Noah was trying for days to investigate a magical incident, and since he couldn't tell what it's about and had zero diplomatic skills, he was forced to [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-02-16 go the roundabout way through Elliot]] without telling him anything. Elliot himself being a full-fledged magic-user and knowing about the wizard but not Noah and working with another investigator connected to {{MIB}}. By the time he got to his witness (yet another magic user who by this time had a good idea what's going on, but wasn't going to tell Noah anyway), the delay allowed [[spoiler:the follow-up incident, which loudly finished off already damaged {{Masquerade}}]].

* TheBatman: As in ''Forever'', Bruce and Selina are attracted to each other in and out of costume.