Line #7 Main/FakeRelationship


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4	[[quoteright:250:[[Webcomic/ToLoveYourEnemy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fr_fixed.png]]]]
5
6	Simply put, two characters who aren't in a romantic relationship pretend to be.
7
8	Naturally, there's a high likelihood of them BecomingTheMask, or at least one character claiming ItMeantSomethingToMe, in which case you have a RomanticFakeRealTurn. It is also a common trope in FanFic.
9
10	Supertrope of:
11	[[index]]
12	* TheBeard: When it's done to hide at least one party's sexuality.
13	* BoyfriendBluff: A usually temporary version done to stave off harassment and/or unwanted attention.
14	* CitizenshipMarriage: They get married so one party can legally immigrate.
15	* ItMeantSomethingToMe: A member of the ruse falls for the other.
16	* OperationJealousy: When the relationship is faked to get the attention of one party's actual object of interest and make them envious.
17	* PublicityStuntRelationship: When this is done to benefit a celebrity's public image and/or boost their career.
18	* RomanticFakeRealTurn: When they develop real feelings while pretending to be in a fake relationship.
19	* ShockValueRelationship: Declaring someone is a significant other just to shock other people.
20	* UndercoverAsLovers: When it's done as part of a disguise.
21	[[/index]]
22
23	'''Please only add examples that don't fit on these subtropes.'''
24
25	Compare TrialPeriodDating, when two characters date (with genuine romantic interest on the part of one of the two) on the condition that the relationship lasts for a finite period of time. Contrast SecretRelationship. See also FakeOutMakeOut, MarriageBeforeRomance (when the fake relationship becomes real) and MarriageOfConvenience. Compare the one-sided IntentionalHeartbreaker.
26
27	----
28	!!Examples:
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
31	* Seigi pretends to be Richard's boyfriend (against Richard's wishes!) in ''Literature/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'' so he can pretend to marry Richard and save him from a will. They don't actually get married.
32	* ''Manga/CrossplayLoveOtakuXPunk'': In Chapter 31, Mei pretends to be Hanae's girlfriend so he can buy something for his sister at a store for couples.
33	* ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'': Mizuki does this when her boyfriend, Shirai, dumps her only days before she was to going to introduce him to her middle-school friends and prove she wasn't [[GirlfriendInCanada just making him up]]. Desperate to save face, she decides to recruit the best-looking guy that will humor her request to pose as Shirai for the duration of the date. Unfortunately for her, the boy she ended up recruiting was [[NoSocialSkills Sousuke]], and things go very, very badly
34	* In ''Manga/KoiToUso'', there are severe social consequences for not going through with your BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage. Yajima and his arranged fiance feel no connection and haven't willingly spent time together in years (in large part because he still loves his ex-girlfriend), but both claim to be in love and ready to marry any day because otherwise their careers would be in jeopardy.
35	* In ''Literature/MagicalWarfare'', the protagonist Takeshi Nanase established a fake relationship with his childhood friend Kurumi Isoshima in order to ward off numerous men who pursue her, especially after a traumatic incident with a stalker.
36	* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
37	** One of these occurs after Ukyo mistakes Ranma's guilt induced kindness as affection, leading her to try getting closer to him and even start living with him. So in order to get Ukyo to leave, Ranma and Akane are forced to pretend to already be married, when they're actually just reluctantly engaged at that point. It doesn't fool Ukyo though who keeps making moves towards Ranma.
38	** This occurs during one of the most confusing love triangles ever to exist. Ukyo finds herself being [[StalkerWithACrush pursued by]] Tsubasa. So in order to try and get rid of Tsubasa, seemingly a girl who loves dressing up, Ukyo pretends to be in a full blooming relationship with Ranma (they are supposedly engaged, but haven't become serious). However, given Ranma is a SexShifter and Ukyo [[SweetPollyOliver dresses like a boy]], she told Tsubasa that she was with Ranma's girl form. Upon finally being rejected by Ukyo enough times, Tsubasa gives up and starts falling for girl Ranma. The kicker is that, Tsubasa is actually a boy crossdressing and always knew that Ukyo was secretly a girl, rather than a [[MistakenForGay girl attracted to girls]] as Ranma and Akane had initially thought. Meanwhile Ukyo always knew that (because they first met at a boys only school) Tsubasa was a boy. But [[YouDidntAsk they never asked]].
39	* In ''Manga/ScumsWish'', Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya are going out together, but they both love someone else -- their teachers.
40	* In ''Manga/SpyXFamily'' Loid and Yor start a fake relationship for their own reasons: Loid wants to get his daughter Anya into an elite school and will look more legitimate with a wife, and Yor wants to escape the scrutiny cast on unwed women in the ultra-paranoid UsefulNotes/ColdWar-esque climate of their country. The twist is Loid - aka the elite spy <Twilight> - wants to get his "daughter" (who he recently adopted for the mission) into the school to get close to his mark, while Yor - aka the deadly assassin <Thorn Princess> - wants to avoid suspicion so as not to interfere with her job. Further complicating things are the fact that Anya is a telepath (who knows her "parents'" real jobs), and she and the dog they later obtain(who can predict the future) both do what they can to uphold the charade because they want to keep their family.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:ComicBooks]]
44	* In ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' Tim wakes up after being treated for injuries in the Batcave to have Damian shove a newspaper in his face declaring to a shocked Tim that Tim is engaged to Tam Fox. Tam had panicked while being questioned by Vicky Vale and blurted out that they were engaged to redirect her line of questioning. They keep the charade going for a week or so because they're trying to distract Vicky from her attempt to uncover the Batfamily's secret identities.
45	* The whole plot of ''[[{{ComicBook/RoadqueenEternalRoadtripToLove}} Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip To Love]]'' revolves around Leo and Vega "fake-dating" for a week in order for Leo to prove she can be a great girlfriend and "decent lesbian" so Vega will return her beloved motorcycle.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Fan Works]]
49	* Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn has a '''[[https://archiveofourown.org/tags/FakesPretend%20Relationship/works lot]]''' of fics with the tag "Fake/Pretend Relationship".
50	* A one-sided example occurs in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27742294 Convenient Amnesia]]'' - upon learning that [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers Optimus Prime]] has amnesia, Starscream pretends that they are Conjunx Endura in order to manipulate Prime into attacking Megatron.
51	* ''Fanfic/GuysBeingDudes'': This was Arlo's original plan in seducing Spark. His plan is that getting with her coworker will prompt Candela to try to win him back as part of an OperationJealousy. Suffice to say, it [[SlashFic didn't go as planned]].
52	* ''Fanfic/InnocentMarauderLover7'': After [[spoiler:Rita Skeeter accuses Remus of having an affair with Fleur Delacour]], Harry persuades Fleur into a pretense that they're dating, both to distract the public and provide an alibi for her presence. She's not thrilled by the idea, but agrees to it long enough to achieve their goals before publicly breaking up.
53	* In ''Fanfic/LostInCamelot'', after Lancelot breaks things off with Gwen when he realises that she has come to develop deeper feelings for Arthur, Kenzi suggests that he fake being in a relationship with ''her'' so that Arthur and Gwen don't feel awkward about being happy while he's miserable. [[spoiler:Naturally Kenzi soon finds herself falling for Lancelot for real]].
54	* ''[[https://justcourttee.tumblr.com/post/626655444245643264/the-price-of-fame The Price of Fame]]'' has [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Adrien]] forced by his father to date Lila, since she knows how to drum up attention and play to the cameras.
55	-->'''Gabriel:''' Date her for the sake of the business, son. It doesn't matter if you're in love when you're like us.
56	* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/26033377 Slip Knot]]'' is a FiveThingsFic that involves [[WebVideo/CriticalRole Caleb and Beauregard]] pretending to be married for various reasons. HilarityEnsues.
57	* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': Weiss claims Jaune is her boyfriend to throw her sister Winter off the scent when Winter comes too close to discovering the illegal events they were recently involved in (they botched a police sting operation). Funnily enough, Weiss is one of the only named female characters who [[UnwantedHarem isn't secretly in love with Jaune]]. The ones who are, however, are surprisingly okay with the fake relationship, since Jaune is too honest to take advantage. Besides, they're also on the hook for the illegal stuff if Winter investigates too closely.
58	* ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'': Due to the cast of the original ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' going missing and the Ark luring people with a fake second season campaign, Chris [=McLean=]'s reputation was damaged, so he pretended to be gay and in a relationship with one of his interns. When his "boyfriend" assaulted him for not giving him a raise, it came out that Chris lied and the public took the intern's side over his.
59	* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': Beautia Sivana asks Paul to come to her annual family get-together as her fake boyfriend, because her family is difficult to get along with, and her choice of companions to keep it bearable is down to him and [[INeedADrink Jack Daniels]]. They're able to string along her mother fairly easily with [[ExactWords vague phrasing]] like "we met back in February", but her father is more incisive and figures out that it's not a long-term relationship.
60	* ''Fanfic/WrongRoadToTheRightPlace:'' Once Laurel starts working with Team Arrow, she and Oliver 'pretend' to start dating again to justify the time they're spending together. It becomes increasingly difficult to tell if they're faking it or actually dating, [[spoiler:until they admit that they still love each other in Chapter 15]].
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
64	* In ''Film/VictorVictoria'', when Victoria starts masquerading as the female impersonator Victor, she and Toddy pretend to be lovers.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Literature]]
68	* There’s a ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' arc where Lando Calrissian and Mara Jade pretend to be in a relationship while working undercover on a smuggling job.
69	* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book ''Bluestar's Prophecy'', Bluefur became pregnant as the result of a ForbiddenRomance with a cat from another Clan. Her Clanmate Thrushpelt - who she was friends with and who had unrequited feelings for her - offered to pretend that he was the father in order to help her out. Bluefur decided to not outright ''tell'' everyone that he was, Thrushpelt still loved the kits as if they were his own and behaved as if they were, and both of them were fine with everyone assuming that they were mates.
70	* In ''Literature/{{Dark Olympus}}'', Hades and Persephone fake being in a relationship after her fake abduction, to deter Zeus from his plans to marry her, since he only marries virgins.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
74	* ''Series/TheBarrier'': Hugo, who was secretly recently widowed, really needs a job. The opening he gets via an old friend of his mother-in-law expects a married couple to show up. It just so happens that Hugo's wife had a twin sister who is still alive. One of the side effects of the deception is that they need to pretend to be married. Fortunately, this is relatively easy to fake because Hugo's sister-in-law cares deeply about him and his daughter.
75	* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory:'' Penny coaxes Leonard into pretending to be her boyfriend when her father is in town (they used to date, but broke up). Penny's dad is quite upset when the ruse is revealed -- partly because he doesn't like that his daughter lied to him, but mostly because he ''likes'' Leonard and desperately wants Penny to end up with an intelligent guy and not one of the morons she had previously dated. The whole thing ends with Penny's dad literally ''begging'' Leonard not to give up on getting her back, then "giving him a head start" by pretending to be furious with Leonard and yelling at him to never talk to his daughter again (counting on the fact that Penny often dates guys her dad hates).
76	* Booth and Brennan did this several times on ''Series/{{Bones}}'' before getting together for real. They went [[UndercoverAsLovers undercover as "Buck and Wanda"]] a couple of times, and once they did it at Brennan's school reunion.
77	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': When Carla's ex-husband invites her to his wedding Diane suggests Carla take a fake boyfriend with her to make it look like she's moved on. Carla asks Sam to do it as he's the only decent-looking guy in the bar. Diane, who's actually dating Sam, is wary until she meets the ex-husband and sees just how big a jerk he is.
78	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Time of the Doctor", Clara accidentally told her relatives that she had a boyfriend, leading her to call the Doctor in a blind panic.
79	-->'''Clara:''' Emergency: you're my boyfriend.\
80	'''The Doctor:''' Ding dong, okay, ''brilliant!'' I may be a bit rusty in some areas but I will glance at a manual!\
81	'''Clara:''' No no, you're not actually my boyfriend.\
82	'''The Doctor:''' ''(disappointed)'' Oh, that was quick. It's a rollercoaster, this phone call.\
83	'''Clara:''' But I need a boyfriend really quickly!\
84	'''The Doctor:''' Well, I hope you're nicer to the next one.
85	* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'':
86	** Frasier pretends to be Roz's date at a family reunion when she's recently been dumped and can't face her competitive, passive-aggressive sisters.
87	** Martin pretends to date the mother of Frasier's SitcomArchNemesis as a prank on the pair of them.
88	* ''Series/GetSmart'': Two KAOS agents once pretended to be in love, sharing a public kiss to escape detection by CONTROL. Max and 99 likewise often masqueraded as a married couple on missions before [[RelationshipUpgrade they got hitched for real]].
89	* ''Series/{{Ghosts\|US}}'' Pete pretends to date one of the furnace stokers to avoid facing eternal humiliation from Alberta's rejection.
90	* ''Series/{{Hacks}}'': Kayla lied that she and Jimmy were married so they could get a luxury honeymoon suite in Vegas.
91	* In a season one episode of ''Series/HannahMontana'', Miley tells Jake that she's dating a graduate student named Will, who has agreed to pose as her boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, Will is [[YoungerThanTheyLook 11 years old]], graduated from ''elementary'' school, and only agreed to the pretend relationship when dared to by his friends.
92	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': While Lily is broken up from Marshall, she is looking for a place to live and persuades [[TheCasanova Barney]] to let her stay with him for a few days. He is at first reluctant, but after one of his one-night stands refuses to leave, Lily manages to scare her away after the girl sees her and assumes she's Barney's wife. They spend the next few weeks pretending to be married. Their arrangement falls apart once Barney realizes even pretending to be married is too close to actually being married and he kicks Lily out.
93	-->'''Lily:''' Hi, Barney. ''(sees girl)'' Oh...\
94	'''Girl:''' Oh my God, are you married? Is this your wife?\
95	'''Barney:''' No...yes!
96	* In the ''[[Series/ICarly2021 iCarly revival]]'''s season 2 premiere, Carly and Freddie pretend to be a couple to avoid a genderflipped GirlfriendInCanada situation when Carly blurts out she has a boyfriend due to her ex-boyfriend ragging on her being an "Ice Queen". They go on a few fake dates, but it crashes down when Freddie 'cheats' on Carly with another woman, in public, at his new app's opening event.
97	* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'': When Lucifer breaks up with Eve, Eve begs Maze to pretend to be her girlfriend in order to make Lucifer jealous.
98	* The 1966-67 Creator/{{NBC}} {{sitcom}} ''Occasional Wife''. Peter is an unmarried man working for a baby food company. He wants a big promotion but knows that his boss Max won't give it to a bachelor (because it wouldn't fit the image of the company, and because Max is a big believer in traditional family values). His friend Greta suggests he get a woman to pose as his wife, and he asks her to do it, even getting her an apartment in his building so she can use the fire escape to sneak in whenever Max visits. He also tries to convince his nosy mom that Greta is married to him. The series was canceled after one season, leaving the UnresolvedSexualTension between Peter and Greta permanently unresolved, though the show's stars Creator/MichaelCallan and Patricia Harty were [[RomanceOnTheSet briefly married]] in RealLife after the series ended.
99	* ''Series/RisingDamp'': Rigsby gets Miss Jones to pretend to be his wife when it turns out he can only receive an inheritance if he is happily married. Problems arise when his estranged real wife shows up.
100	* The premise of the {{britcom}} ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' is that the main characters believe they have a SingleIssueLandlord who will only rent the flat to a couple. It eventually turns out this was all based on a misprinted advertisement.
101	* ''Series/TheWire'': Cedric Daniels actually was in a relationship with his wife Marla (obviously), but they have secretly broken up just when her career in politics is about to take off. Daniels is actually involved with Pearlman at that point, but for public appearance's sake, he still shows up to a dinner his wife is hosting for several important guests before going upstairs to wait until they're gone.
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:ProfessionalWrestling]]
105	* Discussed by Wrestling/TripleH, he mentioned the fake romance angle he and Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon did during the Attitude Era as the [=McMahon-Helmsley=] regime[[note]]Which began when Trips, in kayfabe, kidnapped Steph prior to her marriage to Wrestling/{{Test}}, and ended with Steph [[MoreThanMindControl being on it all the time]], and the families being fused into an empire[[/note]] as the "dry run" that allowed them to have [[HeartwarmingInHindsight a happy marriage in real life]], several years later.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:VideoGames]]
109	* In ''VideoGame/RidgesideVillage'', during Faye's 6 heart event she is given a surprise visit by her parents who start pressuring her to come back home and study to become a doctor; if the player chooses not to intervene, Bryle (with [[BelligerentSexualTension whom she constantly bickers]]) who's passing nearby, will, and when Faye's parents question him on who he is, Faye blurts out that he's her boyfriend. Afterwards when her parent leave, Faye says that they must continue with the charade otherwise her parents will be suspicious. Later, in her 8 heart event after Bryle helps her set up her fashion show and it's a resounding success, he asks her if she would like to end the charade now, after which she becomes sad, and says that no, she wants to continue with it, since now he can be her bodyguard, while she giggles.
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
113	* In ''VisualNovel/SablesGrimoire'' the titular Sable can pretend to be dating the [[PlantPerson mandragora]] Eth in order to allow their mutual friend, the [[{{Youkai}} rokurokubi]] Rei, to get over her one-sided crush on Sable. It's left ambiguous whether Sable and Eth may transition into a real relationship later.
114	* ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'':
115	** To distract the guard at the Urashima Lake, Seiji and Kaoru pretend to be lovers in the middle of an argument. To Seiji's surprise, and the player's [[HilarityEnsues amusement]], Kaoru ad-libs that she's pregnant and goes off on a rant against the hapless guard.
116	** To lure out a spirit that supposedly only attacks couples, Kaoru brings along Akira (whom she's already had ShipTease with) and pretends that they're together.
117	* ''VisualNovel/PiofioreFatedMemories'':
118	** In Nicola's route, he tells [[spoiler: Roberto]] that he and Lili are in a relationship and that is why she is staying at the Falzone Mafia manor with him, when the truth is a bit different. However, [[spoiler: Roberto]] becomes increasingly jealous and would later attempt to kill Nicola partly because of it.
119	** In his route, Yang indicates to his gang that Lili is his woman and even tells Dante and Gilbert that it was love at first sight. He only said this so people wouldn't act too many questions as Lili was actually kidnapped to be used as a bargaining chip against the Falzone Family and the Church.
120	* ''VisualNovel/CollarXMalice'':
121	** In Sasazuka's route, early on he pretends to be Ichika's boyfriend as an excuse for him to come to her house during dinner so he could meet Kazuki's friend Akito, who is suspected to be part of the terrorist group Adonis.
122	** In Shiraishi's route, to stop Mukai from seeing the collar on a drunk and passed out Ichika, he tells Mukai that she wouldn't want to see the hickey he left on Ichika's neck. Ichika's hesitation to show Mukai and Sakuragawa her neck later only "proved" she was dating Shiraishi.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Webcomics]]
126	* ''Webcomic/MissAbbottAndTheDoctor'': Cati and Andreas pretended to be a couple the first time they met a year before the strip's events, so Cati could avoid the farm lady she stole a goat from.
127	* ''Webcomic/ToLoveYourEnemy'':
128	** Zigzagged with Yikyung and Yeonhee. She initially spreads rumors that she and Yikyung are a thing to get him to talk to her, then tries to call it off. But then Yikyung's father tries to drag him into an arranged marriage, he tells her that since everyone thinks they are dating anyway, he may as well use it to try and get out of said arranged marriage.
129	** Discussed when Yikyung proposes more formally fake dating her: she derides contract relationships as a fantasy.
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Western Animation]]
133	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}},'' [[TheConscience Elfo]] makes up a [[GirlfriendInCanada Girlfriend in a Faraway Land]] to try to distract from his obvious feelings for [[RebelliousPrincess Bean]]. Unfortunately, Bean wants to "reunite" them, and her knights bring back [[GentleGiant Tess]], a [[OurGiantsAreBigger giantess]] who happens to fit the description Elfo gave. Elfo begs Tess to maintain the lie through the upcoming royal ball.
134	* Fry on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' gets himself into a fake relationship ''[[LoveTriangle triangle]]''. First he pretends to be Amy's boyfriend so that her parents would stop trying to set her up with men. Later he pretends to be Leela's boyfriend so that Zapp Brannigan will stop hitting on her. This becomes awkward when all of them are having dinner at the captain's table in front of both Amy's parents and Zapp.
135	* In ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop,'' Max convinced his attractive older cousin, Debbie, to pretend to be his girlfriend in an attempt to impress the cooler kids. It worked, though with the added complication of one of them trying to "steal" her from Max.
136	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', Penny and Sticky get into one of these because the former (begrudgingly) wanted to assist the latter in gaining back Dijonay's affections for him.
137	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In the episode "About Last Night", it is revealed that Barack Obama and Michelle Obama aren't actually married, but it is all a ruse for getting Obama into office so he and [=McCain=] can steal an expensive diamond. At the end of the episode, Barack decides to be president after all and asks Michelle to stay with him.
138	** In the episode "Tweek x Craig," Tweek and Craig pretend to date to satisfy the school's Yaoi artists. They stage a fake breakup, making the entire town fall into depression. They get back together and realize they have feelings for each other. After this episode, Tweek and Craig stay together the rest of the series.
139	* In ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'', Cassandra is revealed to have been courting a mysterious man named Andrew. It is revealed, however that it was fake on both ends-- he was doing it to steal an important artifact and she was aware, playing along in the efforts to catch him and expose him, in an attempt to prove her worth as a guard.
140	[[/folder]]

Context Main / FakeRelationship