History Main / ThreesomeSubtext

* Tarma and Kethry, of the ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Vows and Honor]]'' books, are [[BloodBrothers oath-sisters]] and exceedingly close HeterosexualLifePartners with a PseudoRomanticFriendship. Kethry vows to have children in Tarma's stead in order to repopulate her clan; she offers to do so with the contributions of [[ChosenConceptionPartner friends]] and one-night stands, but she wants to have someone she can ''love'', and Tarma supports her in that. But they have to find someone who's also fine with Tarma and Kethry being as close as they are and with having children who're [[ExtraParentConception also considered to be Tarma's]], which all makes things more complicated. In ''Oathbreakers'' they find such a person, archivist Jadrek, who ends the book saying he's come to love Tarma as well. Tarma, delighted, kisses him.

ThreeWaySex and {{Polyamory}} are the canonical version of this. TwinThreesomeFantasy is [[JustForPun related]]. Compare OneTrueThreesome, the ShippingGoggles-induced counterpart. For other socially unaccepted romance subtext, see HomoeroticSubtext and IncestSubtext.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' has Griffith +[[TroubledButCute Guts]]/[[ActionGirl Casca]], although that could be considered completely canon in some ways--Casca and Guts are the OfficialCouple, Casca was definitely in love with Griffith earlier in the series, and Griffith has been ''very'' strongly implied to be attracted to Guts, with slightly less (but still present) subtext with Casca. The feelings are there, it's just that canon never gives them a chance to sort them all out before things go ''really'' wrong.

* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'', Holly J starts dating a boy named Declan. Unfortunately, Declan's sister, Fiona, is very… possessive of him, and constantly tries to sabotage their relationship. One especially blatant attempt at this ends with Fiona kissing Declan. ''Voluntarily.'' This wouldn't count as an example of the trope, except for the part in the next season where Fiona goes through character development, realizes she is a '''lesbian,''' and kisses Holly J. Again, voluntarily. And Holly implies she is still in love with Declan, who, before their breakup, told both girls they had to make up because he wanted to spend the summer with both of them. Ahh, soap operas.

* Johnny + Lisa + Denny from ''Film/TheRoom''

** Sora + Riku + Kairi. Sora/Kairi is the OfficialCouple and the first game strongly implied that Riku also had a crush on Kairi (jury's out on whether he still feels this way about her, and if she has ever felt that way about him at all), while [[BashBrothers Sora/Riku]] spend a lot of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Dream Drop Distance]]'' being pretty darn {{Ho Yay}}tastic to each other. When it comes to the dynamics of the three of them together, Kairi comments to Riku in ''KHII'' that Sora is completely hopeless without them and holds Sora and Riku's hands between her own [[spoiler:in order to let Sora see that what looks like Ansem, Seeker of Darkness is, in fact, actually Riku]]. The opening FMV of ''KHII'' briefly shows a scene of the three of them lying on a beach together, [[IntertwinedFingers holding hands]].

-->'''Almaz:''' Mao HasTwoMommies?

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'' during the first arc: Misa-Light-L, and in the second arc: [[spoiler: Misa-Light-Takada / Light-Takada-Mikami]] and in the prequel novel ''LightNovel/AnotherNote'': Raye Penber-Naomi Misora-Ryuuzaki.
* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':

* In ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'' the Light Novel series decided not to give a set-in-stone romantic conclusion to The Hero, The Demon Queen, and Lady Knight’s ordeal; instead it decided to end with all three of them retiring and traveling to some faraway place, together in full realization that The Demon Queen and Lady Knight both love The Hero.

* In ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'', after Cuko warms up to Mahiro, she begins campaigning for a three-way relationship: "I bear Nyarko's child, [[MisterSeahorse the boy bears mine]]." Nyarko opposes this because she's straight and doesn't want to share Mahiro; Mahiro opposes it for obvious reasons (not the least of which is his fear that [[EldritchAbomination she could make it happen]]).

-->'''[[http://kamase-megane.tumblr.com/post/155246712822/whispers-of-love-message-cards-winter-ver Munakata:]]''' [[spoiler:[[Sakakura's]]] accompanied me out often enough with Yukizome as a group of three. Since he likes sweets, he’ll take us out to the popular cafes and such, and since he’s resilient against the cold, he’s taken us out to look at all the lights on display as well. He might have complained about it, but that doesn’t stop him from being casually considerate, so wouldn’t the same apply to a woman he was dating?

* In ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool: Despair'', Chisa and [[spoiler:Juzo]] are both motivated by their friendship with each other and their attraction to Kyosuke, so naturally the fans took this to its logical (?) conclusion. [[http://amulet-tanaka.tumblr.com/post/152943842628/from-otomedia Promotional]] [[http://komaesa.tumblr.com/post/153957796548/qwhat-kind-of-present-would-you-like-to-give-to materials]] shows the three having Christmas dinner together, and Chisa considering buying them matching rings.
-->'''[[http://kamase-megane.tumblr.com/post/155246712822/whispers-of-love-message-cards-winter-ver Kyosuke:]]''' [[spoiler:[Juzo's]]] accompanied me out often enough with Yukizome as a group of three. Since he likes sweets, he’ll take us out to the popular cafes and such, and since he’s resilient against the cold, he’s taken us out to look at all the lights on display as well. He might have complained about it, but that doesn’t stop him from being casually considerate, so wouldn’t the same apply to a woman he was dating?