And in public, too!
"Two people gotta stick together
And love one another, save it for a rainy day
Some people gotta stay whatever
And give one another shelter on a rainy day"
And love one another, save it for a rainy day
Some people gotta stay whatever
And give one another shelter on a rainy day"
— Tina Turner, “Two People”
Romantic relationships come in many kinds. Here's a list of tropes concerning the various types of romantic couples.
A sub-index for Love Tropes and Duo Tropes. See also Dating Tropes, Love Interests, and Marriage Tropes. Contrast This Index Is Not My Girlfriend for an index of platonic couples.
Tropes:
- Age-Down Romance: A character is magically aged-down and begins a romance with a person who is the 'same' age.
- Age-Gap Romance: A romantic couple with a significant age gap between them.
- Amicable Exes: Two people are no longer in a committed relationship but still get along; applies here if they're still intimate and they may get back together.
- Awful Wedded Life: A married couple is miserable together.
- Battle Couple: A couple fights battles side-by-side.
- Beast and Beauty: A monster (or equivalent being) is romantically paired with a kind and attractive person who brings out the best in them.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Two people who are secretly attracted to each other are constantly bickering and snarking.
- Beta Couple: A romantic couple have a secondary role in the story to the Official Couple.
- Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple: A couple who frequently argue are contrasted with a couple who get along well.
- Birds of a Feather: Two people are attracted to each other because they're so similar.
- Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Tension arises from black women being in romantic relationships with white men.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: When applied to romances; a moody, ruminating boy is involved with a kind and gentle girl.
- Brother–Sister Incest: A brother and sister are in an intimate relationship with each other.
- Cast Incest: Related in the works, but romantically involved in real life.
- Chastity Couple: A romantic couple is never depicted or implied to have sex for some reason, yet are happy together regardless.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Two people who were best friends as children fall in love as adults.
- Chubby Mama, Skinny Papa: A couple consists of a plump woman and a skinny man.
- Common Law Marriage: A romantic pair have not formally/legally married for whatever reason, but are as committed to each other as if they were.
- Coupled Couples: The plot largely concerned itself with the relationship between two sets of romantic couples.
- Dating Catwoman: The hero has a romantic relationship with a villain.
- December–December Romance: Relationships between the elderly.
- Destructive Romance: A romantic couple whose relationship is unhealthy and negatively affects them, sometimes crossing into Domestic Abuse territory.
- Divine Date: A romantic relationship between a mortal and a god.
- Fake Relationship: A couple pretends to be in a romantic relationship.
- Faux Interracial Relationship: A couple appears to be in an interracial relationship, but it later turns out they're actually the same race.
- Flirty Stepsiblings: Stepsiblings are romantically involved with each other.
- Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: The wife in the couple is more mature than her husband.
- Forever Fling: A short-lived, youthful, passionate romance is the yardstick by which all the couple's subsequent romances are measured and fail.
- God Couple: Two deities are romantically involved.
- Happily Married: A married couple have a genuinely loving relationship.
- Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: A man considered attractive is married to a woman considered unattractive.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: When applied to a romance; a large man is paired with a small woman.
- Incest Is Relative: Blood relatives are romantically/sexually involved with each other.
- Incestuous Casting: Romantically involved in the works, but related in real life.
- Interspecies Romance: Two people from differing sapient species have a romantic relationship.
- Kissing Cousins: Cousins are in a romantic relationship with each other.
- Lady and Knight: The brave, chivalrous knight defends and falls in love with the fair lady.
- Like an Old Married Couple: A couple argues a lot, but are very loyal to each other.
- Like Goes with Like: A person involved in a love triangle tends to pick the love interest who is the same race/ethnicity as them.
- Lookalike Lovers: A couple physically resemble each other (and it's not usually because they're actually related).
- Lover and Beloved: An older mentor and younger pupil of the same sex (usually both men) have a romantic relationship, or at least it's strongly implied they do.
- Make-Out Kids: A couple that can't go more than a few seconds without getting physically affectionate.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: A same-sex couple has one person who is more traditionally masculine and one who is more traditionally feminine.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: When applied to romantic relationships. A girl who is more traditionally masculine is paired with a boy who is more traditionally feminine.
- The Masochism Tango: A married couple frequently alternates between arguing and being affectionate.
- May–December Romance: A romantic relationship where there is a vast age gap; one lover is in the 'winter' of their life (usually 50+) while the other is in the 'spring' of their life (usually less than 35).
- Mayfly–December Romance: A romantic relationship where the age gap is fantastically large, due to one lover being immortal, Long-Lived, etc.
- Merlin and Nimue: A male magic user has an intimate relationship with his younger female apprentice.
- Mistress and Servant Boy: An older, more worldly woman is in a relationship with her younger male assistant.
- Monster/Slayer Romance: A romance between a Hunter of Monsters and the monster they're supposed to hunt.
- More Experienced Chases the Innocent: A person with a lot of experience in romance and/or sex pursues someone who is very inexperienced in these matters.
- Muggle–Mage Romance: Romance between a magic user and a regular person.
- Not Blood Siblings: A romantic couple appears to be engaged in sibling incest at first glance, but they're actually not biologically related.
- Odd Couple: Sometimes applies to romances; two people become a couple when most people wouldn't expect they would because they appear mismatched or an otherwise strange combination.
- Official Couple: The main canonical romantic couple in a story.
- Opposites Attract: A couple are attracted to each other in spite of, or perhaps because of, their differing personalities.
- Outlaw Couple: A romantic couple commits crimes together.
- Pair the Dumb Ones: The two stupidest characters become a couple.
- Pair the Smart Ones: The two smartest characters become a couple.
- Pair the Spares: Characters involved in love triangles who lost out become romantically involved with each other.
- Parental Incest: A parent and their child have an intimate relationship with each other (almost always depicted as abuse due to not only the incest but unequal power dynamic).
- Pitbull Dates Puppy: A tough and aggressive character is romantically involved with a sweet and gentle character.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendshipnote : Two girls have such a close friendship with each other that they could easily be seen as lesbians.
- Ruling Couple: A romantic couple rules a country together.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Can be applied to romances; a smart and practical man is paired with an exuberant woman.
- Secret Relationship: A couple keeps their romantic relationship a secret from others for some reason.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: A couple constantly expresses how much they love each other in a sickeningly over-the-top manner.
- Sleuth Dates Cop: A relationship between a detective and a police officer.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: A romantic couple seems to figuratively and/or literally have everything in the world keeping them apart.
- Strong Girl, Smart Guy: When applied to romances; a physically strong woman is paired with a highly intelligent man.
- Surprise Incest: Two characters being romantically involved leads to Squick when they find out they are related.
- Teacher/Student Romance: A teacher is romantically involved with their student.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: When applied to a romance; a small man is paired with a large woman.
- Token Minority Couple: The Token Minority in a group gets a love interest who is also a minority.
- Twincest: Twins are romantically/sexually involved with each other.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: A man considered unattractive is married to a woman considered attractive.
- Unequal Pairing: A romantic couple has a vast power difference between the two.
- Unholy Matrimony: Two villains are in a romantic relationship with each other.
- Uptight Loves Wild: A serious and reserved person falls in love with a carefree and impulsive person.
- Uptown Girl: A rich woman and a poor man fall in love with each other.
- Where da White Women At?: Romantic relationships between black men and white women.
