Talking in Bed

A couple, wearing pajamas (or not), discussing stuff with each other in bed, often right after sex.

Mainly a Sitcom trope nowadays, but serious instances have been around much longer; for example at the beginning of the medieval Irish war epic The Cattle Raid of Cooley.

Not to be confused with Talking in Your Sleep (which is exactly that). Expect a Modesty Bedsheet. For more badass characters, it's a good time for a Scar Survey.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In Hetalia: Axis Powers, in a strip series titled "Lithuania's Outsourcing" America and Lithuania do this. If that wasn't Ho Yay Ship Tease enough, they both talk about other guys they've slept with.
• In Berserk, after Casca and Guts had their first time in the woods, they talk about how they feel with each other and their love, but also how their bond has grown stronger. It doesn't last.
• Used for Ship Tease in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, where the two main characters perform this as the viewers are introduced to their sleeping arrangement. "What do you think of the new recruits?" "Everyone is very energetic; it feels good." And lo, did the Nanoha/Fate shippers Squee.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Asuka and Shinji get a fair amount of characterization in one such scene of the Rebuild, especially discussing Shinji's relationship with his father.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena: In the middle of a lot of the later episodes, Utena and Anthy would discuss the events around the duels.
• Sorta used in Rurouni Kenshin, as Tomoe explains a part of her past to Kenshin while they cuddle together right after what's strongly implied to have been Their First Time.

Comic Books

• Runaways features an in-bed conversation between Nico and Victor in the wake of Their First Time, with Nico saying that she regrets it, given that it's come so soon after Gert's death and she can't be certain that she wasn't just craving Sex for Solace.
• Supergirl story arc Many Happy Returns features the friends version when Kara Zor-El -the original Supergirl- and Linda Danvers -the then-current Girl of Steel- discuss the nature of heroism as lying on their beds at night.
• X-Factor (2006): Madrox and Layla have a post-coital heart-to-heart while laying in a morgue bed (Madrox just came Back from the Dead and they had some Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex).

Fan Works

• Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: There's an...interesting...example in this story.
  Italy: "It's a new way to cuddle like I said!" The addressed grinned as he wrapped his arms around them both. "In this way, all of us are touching!" He hummed happily. "To have such a strong frame beneath me and such a cozy one besides me...I'm in heaven." As limpid brown eyes closed, their possessor reached out, delivering a short and yet sweet peck to each of their lips. "Good night."
• A Crown of Stars: After arriving on Avalon, Shinji and Asuka have many talks in bed, discussing their latest experiences in that new world or analyzing everything that went wrong between them in the past.
• Advice and Trust: Shinji and Asuka do this a lot after starting sleeping together. Subjects include what might have happened if their First Kiss would have gone wrong, or Gendo's abhorrent treatment of Rei.
• The Child of Love: In chapter 9 Shinji and Asuka talk about their inminent parenthood and the future of their relationship. Asuka also tells Shinji she is at last sure she truly loves him.
• Children of an Elder God: In chapter 23 Asuka goes to Shinji's bedroom and while they lay together, they talk about the war, their fear of dying and their feelings for each other.
• Doing It Right This Time: At the beginning of chapter 2, Asuka and Rei have a short talk when the latter is sleeping in the former's room and she starts bleeding.
• Evangelion 303:
  • Shinji and Asuka do this a lot throughout the history, even before getting together:
    • In chapter 3 when she climbed into his bed alleging the couch was uncomfortable.
    • In chapter 4 Asuka tells Shinji he better come back from Nevada soon and keeps himself far from seedy establishments.
    • In chapter 5 she seduces him and afterwards they talk about Their First Time being a very awkward ordeal.
    • In chapter 6 they talk about Shinji's lack of self-preservation instinct and Asuka's need of him.
    • In chapter 13 Asuka warns Shinji against telling someone else of her attempted suicide.
    • In chapter 14 they argue about their renewed relationship's status and where they stand now that they're engaged.
    • In chapter 17 they have several pillow talks where they discuss their relationship's next step.
  • Kaworu and Saburo had a talk when Saburo was trying to convincing Kaworu into getting back together.
  • Kaworu and Rei in chapter 18 when she tells she does not want him holding his feelings back.
• Ghosts of Evangelion: Shinji and Asuka often argue about their troubles when they are lying together in their bed. Some examples:
  • Asuka explained Shinji why she moved to Kyoto temporarily.
  • Shinji is upset about Kaworu and Asuka suggests maybe Kaworu didn't know anything about humans and didn't realize that he was hurting Shinji.
  • Asuka and Shinji talk about their daughter after Asuka has a nightmare.
• In the beginning of the second arc of Supergirl fic Hellsister Trilogy, Scott Free wakes up at night. His wife Big Barda asks if he's having his run-on-the-mill nightmares, and Scott replies is having another kind of bad dreams... such like Darkseid watching them.
• HERZ: In chapter 2 Shinji and Asuka have pillow talk after Asuka wakes up from a nightmare. While Shinji is taking care of her wounds, she asks if he thinks she is ugly ("Of course not", he replies) and begs him not leaving her.
• Higher Learning: After Asuka got Mind Raped by Arael, Shinji and she talked about her feelings and their relationship while they lay on bed and Shinji tried to reassure her.
• Last Child of Krypton: In chapter nine of the redux, Shinji and Asuka open up to each other and Shinji tells Asuka she is better than she thinks she is while lying together on a bunk.
• In episode 10 of Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide, Shinji and Asuka sleep in the same bed. Before falling asleep they talk about their synch training. Asuka reveals that those were some of the best nights of her life because she slept so deeply that she didn't remember her nightmares.
• Superman story Superman of 2499: The Great Confrontation has several scenes where main characters Alan and Katherine as well as Alan's sister and her boyfriend talking in bed about their family's internal strife.
• Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: In chapter 19, while they are resting on her bed, Shinji and Asuka talk about the latter's mental state after her battle against Arael.
• Once More with Feeling: In chapter 16 Asuka noticed Shinji was having nightmares so she slept with him to try to help him to sleep better. Before falling asleep Shinji talked to her about his nightmares and told her he was terribly frightened of let her down or her dying because he was unable to avoid it or too coward to do anything.
• The One I Love Is...: Shinji has several talks with Asuka and Rei when he shares a bed with either of them. Asuka often opens up to him in those times.
• Pokémon Master: In chapter 11 Ash and Misty have a bitter argument after sleeping together.
• In chapter ten of Thousand Shinji, Shinji and Asuka talk about their fears while they lie together. Shinji tells her that he'll never allow anyone to hurt his family and Asuka reveals that she's frightened of losing him.
• Several examples in The Second Try:
  • In chapter 4 "Love", Shinji and Asuka talk several times while they share a bed, as their relationship grows stronger.
  • In chapter 6, Shinji and Asuka have a bed argument after Shinji finds out that Asuka is pregnant.
• The main characters from As Fate Would Have It, after having Their First Time, talk to one another for a bit before both of them eventually fall asleep.
• Kara of Rokyn: Kara and Van-Ol have several bedsheet talks during the production of the "Kal and Lyla" movie, usually discussing the male lead's mindset.
• Jodie from Eigengrau Zwei: Die Welt Ist Grau Geworden gladly exploits this when indulging her Warrior Therapist tendencies, fucking the inhibitions away before letting them lay their souls bare.
• In the fourth chapter of X-Men 1970, Scott Summers and Jean Grey have a post-sex talk regarding the possibility of being super-heroes again after leaving the X-Men.
• A few Empath: The Luckiest Smurf stories have Empath and Smurfette talking to each other in bed after they are married.
• In The Unfantastic Adventures of Bizarro No. 1, Bizarro and Bizarro Lois Lane' have post-sex talk where they discuss possible solutions to the Blue-Kryptonite Man Crisis.
• In Futures Freak Me Out''s penultimate scene, Shinji and Asuka talk about the latter's fears regarding their future baby while they cuddle together.

Film

• The Big Lebowski: Maude and The Dude.
• The Blind Side. It... advances...
• Several of the Carry Ons, such as Carry On Henry, Carry On Cabby and Carry On Cleo. They never lead to anything though, and are usually arguments.
• Chinatown Kid has a male-to-male example when the titular kid — a Country Mouse bunking in his friend's place in San Francisco — tried discussing how they're going to make it big in Chinatown's rough streets.
• Emmanuelle: Bee actually dumps Emmanuelle while they're in bed together after sex.
• Hiroshima Mon Amour: The memorable opening sequence features the characters in bed, in close embrace, while they talk about the Hiroshima bombing of 1945. The film cuts back and forth between the lovers canoodling and newsreel footage, some quite graphic, of the damage and casualties from the bombing.
• In Juice, after sex, Q entertains the idea of spending the whole night with Yolanda, then making her Breakfast in Bed. Yolanda, however, would prefer to do the cooking. She leaves the bed to get ready for work at the hospital.
• Komaa: A platonic version: Hassan and Amir discuss their lives before meeting.
• Love Actually: A deleted scene shows the school teacher sitting in bed with her wife and telling her how one of her students, when asked to write a poem on his Christmas wish is, his wish was "that people's farts were visible". It's a scene that reveals a lot about the teacher: first, that she actually found the wish very funny and laughs about it (in an earlier scene (that did end up in the final movie), she was only shown sternly scolding the boy and his mother for it, but apparently those were not her real feelings about it); second, that she is in a gay relationship^note A common comment on the movie is that, despite all the characters it has and its premise to show all the myriad forms of love, is that gay love is about the only form of love never mentioned.; third, that her wife is terminally ill (this also makes an earlier comment a fellow teacher had made in her presence about "Another pupil's Christmas wish was for his very sick sister to get better" Harsher in Hindsight) and lastly, that behind her Stern Teacher facade she actually is a loving caretaker.
• On the Buses:
  • Arthur wakes up Olive at three in the morning to discuss the idea of her taking a job in the bus company's canteen.
  • Olive then wakes up Arthur a few weeks later to let him know she's got a craving for pickled onions.
• Pillow Talk: Rock Hudson and Doris Day.
• Run Lola Run: Between timelines, Lola and Manni talk to each other, in bed.
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Parodied: Scott sits up and we see his roommate Wallace sit up in the same bed in an attempt to comfort him. This is then followed by Wallace's boyfriend, giving further advice, then finally by a lover they had picked up for a threesome also chirping in to discuss the problem.
• Waking Life shows a philosophical discussion in bed between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reprising their roles from Before Sunrise.
• You've Got Mail: Averted. A scene in which Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are using their computers to chat was staged with them sitting on opposite sides of their beds, so that it could be shown in split screen as if they were on the same bed. The filmmakers opted to show them in alternating takes.

Literature

• There's a Victorian book, Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures, entirely on this subject.
• Arabian Nights: The whole framework is about Storytelling in Bed.
• In the longer version of the The Cattle Raid of Cooley, the entire war starts when the villainous king and queen of Connacht get into an argument doing this, making this at least Older Than Print.
• In A Song of Ice and Fire, Ned Stark and his wife Catelyn discuss whether he should become Hand of the King while in bed.
• There are several scenes of this in Belisarius Series.
• In Dragon Bones, Garranon tells king Jakoven that he's worried about his homeland, Oranstone, while they're in bed together. Jakoven tells him to go to sleep. It is no wonder Garranon secretly detests him.
• In Forbidden, the better part of a chapter is dedicated to Maya and Lochan have a long talk in bed. They discuss Lochan's recent Character Development, how their Dysfunctional Family may have contributed to them falling in love, the illegality of incest (they're a consensual Brother–Sister Incest couple), and how people think and feel about All Abusers Are Male and Double Standard Rape: Female on Male.

Live-Action TV

• Simon's parents in Beautiful People do this at least once an episode. Simon and his boyfriend had a short scene like that as well.
• Bob and Emily in nearly every (if not every) episode of The Bob Newhart Show, with a hilarious Shout-Out in the last episode to Newhart.
• Frequently happens between married couple Walt and Skyler on Breaking Bad.
• Happens several times in the later seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
  • Anya and Xander discuss death and life right after sex. In fact, it was the sex that prompted the conversation.
  • The morning after Willow and Tara get back together, they have a conversation that leads to Tara telling Willow that Buffy's been sleeping with Spike.
• The Comedy Company had a recurring sketch consisting entirely of this trope with Ian McFayden and Mary-Anne Fahey, a real life couple at the time.
• Rob and Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Now infamous for the fact that, due to Broadcast Standards of the time, the obviously loving couple slept in separate beds. No wonder they only had one kid.
• Dharma & Greg toyed with this. In one episode, we learn that they have an agreement not to "pollute the marriage bed" with arguments, so if one of them has a grievance, both have to stand up out of the bed while they talk about it.
• Mr. and Mrs. Washburn had this in an episode of Firefly. It was post-coital joking and a very sweet scene, though The Movie made it less funny as well.
• Santana and Brittany have at least three of these throughout the seasons of Glee, but the scenes are implied to be after the lovemaking. One even shows the two of them fixing the messy bed and each other's clothes and hair.
• Tony and Sid in Hancock's Half Hour.
• Inside George Webley: "I'll Get It in a Minute" revolves around George being unable to fall asleep as he is unable to remember the name of someone he knows. Unfortunately for Rosemary, he feels obligated to share this with her and so keeps her up with his efforts to remember.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022):
  • "Like Angels Put in Hell by God":
    • Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt do the vampire equivalent when they discuss Claudia's refusal to genuinely get along with Lestat (who had bashed Louis senseless in the preceding episode) as the couple settle in their coffin.
      Lestat: I am all sincerity and humility, I cannot wear it any longer.
      Louis: She's just stubborn.
      Lestat: She is a wall. The cliffs at Étretat.
      Louis: She's grown very protective of me. That's what this is. It's why it's hard.
      Lestat: She came back altered when she left us. There's a darkness in her that wasn't there before.
      Louis: Give her a little time.
    • In a Ponchatoula hotel room, Lestat and his mistress Antoinette Brown converse about their relationship while in bed.
      Lestat: That's why I need you. You fortify me against [Louis and Claudia]. You're like me. You like to laugh.
      Antoinette: You make me laugh all the time. (kisses Lestat) We should go away, Lestat. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles.
      Lestat: You want to be a movie star?
      Antoinette: Well, now that I'm dead, I can be whoever I want. I've been working on a new name. What do you think of Marie Lepère?
      Lestat: Don't be ridiculous. There's no place for me other than New Orleans.
      Antoinette: New Orleans? You got me stashed away here at Ponchatoula, how am I supposed to make a career here?
      Lestat: (grabs her throat) I seek refuge from complaints when I visit you, dear.
      Antoinette: I know that, but promises were made.
      Lestat: And promises will be kept. (releases her throat)
      Antoinette: I am withering here, Lestat. Who's gonna hire a singer who don't sing, who's a cripple? (removes her glove to show her maimed hand)
      Lestat: (turns his head away) No. That's what gloves are for.
      Antoinette: I know. I didn't mean to make you mad. I love you, Lestat.
      Lestat: I love you, too.
• At least a third of Kaamelott episodes in the early seasons start like this, usually Arthur reading parchments and his wife trying to talk, or Léodagan and Seli discussing their latest complaints about the way the kingdom is run.
• Legion: In "Chapter 22", at the psychiatric hospital, Gabrielle sneaks into her boyfriend's bed at night, and while lying next to Charles Xavier under the covers, she recounts to him about a marvelous dream that she had where they were free from the asylum, living together as husband and wife. He tells her that if this is truly her wish, then he'll make her dream come true, to which she replies that she wants to begin the next chapter of their relationship right away.
  Gabrielle: I had the most wonderful dream.
  Charles: Tell me.
  Gabrielle: We lived far away from here. You and me, together. And the stars... they belonged to us.
  Charles: Sounds nice.
  Gabrielle: Just a dream.
  Charles: Doesn't have to be.
  Gabrielle: We're in the madhouse.
  Charles: Until we're not. Say the word. There's something I can do.
  Gabrielle: A trick? Well, in that case what are we waiting for?
• Medium: Alison and Joe frequently talk in bed, particularly when Alison has just woken up from a dream. Joe often gets up and starts pacing during the discussion, though.
• Eric and Ernie did this frequently in Morecambe and Wise. No, they weren't supposed to be gay, they just shared a bed. It made sense in the seventies.
  • They initially refused to do the original sketch, until writer Eddie Braben let Eric smoke his pipe "to emphasize his masculinity◊."
  • They were, in fact, continuing the "tradition" of comic duos sharing beds, such as seen with Laurel and Hardy.
• Since so much of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024) is about the relationship between John and Jane, this trope happens several times with them.
• Happens Once an Episode with brothers Earl and Randy on My Name Is Earl.
• In one arc of Night Court, Dan was running for District Attorney, and fell in love with his opponent. The two were doing this after sex while watching the election returns.
• One Foot in the Grave did a Bottle Episode that consisted entirely of this trope, never once leaving the Meldrews' bedroom.
• The Punisher (2017): At the start of Season 2, this is intercut with a Sex Montage of Frank Castle having sex with Beth. Frank finds himself so at ease he reveals his real name (though only the first name) because he wants to be honest with her.
• Although not a couple per se (yeah, right), Ernie and Bert do this frequently on Sesame Street.
• A scene in The Tudors involved Jane trying to talk with Henry in bed about political issues, only for Henry to remind her what happened to his last two wives...
• In Two and a Half Men Allen states that "I need to communicate after lovemaking. I need to share!" after a chat with his girlfriend Kandi proves to be rather ... silly.
  Charlie: Well maybe you should've thought of that before you started boinking a girl with the IQ of Tickle Me Elmo.

Music

• Horslips reworking of Irish war epic The Cattle Raid of Cooley:
  Her words were sharp, they cut him deep/In the war between the sheets

Newspaper Comics

• FoxTrot: Roger and Andy are often seen engaging in this.
• The titular characters of Calvin and Hobbes, who are a six-year-old boy and his possibly living stuffed tiger.
  • There's at least one notable example of this happening with Calvin's parents.

Theater

• Fiddler on the Roof has a song in bed when Tevye explains his dream to his wife.

Video Games

• This will happen after you first bed your love interest in Dragon Age II.
• The tradition continues for a few love interests in Dragon Age: Inquisition. The Inquisitor and Cullen, Iron Bull, or Dorian engage in serious and/or heartfelt discussions about their relationship in a literal bed, between love-making.

Webcomics

• Karate Bears talk to their girlfriends in bed
• There are a number of such conversations in The Dragon Doctors, such as when after their first time, Mori and Sarin discuss how serious their relationship might become.
• In El Goonish Shive, Tedd and Grace discuss Tedd's glasses whilst lying in the same bed for non-sexual reasons, although Tedd finds this disappointing, and his father seems suspicious.

Western Animation

• In the Arthur episode "D.W.'s Very Bad Mood", Arthur enlists the help of his friends hoping to find out why D.W. is experiencing her negative mood. While D.W. is in bed, she starts mumbling about something being wrong, then sits up in bed and calls Arthur a "dodo brain".
• Family Guy. Well, Lois wants to talk, but Peter sometimes is too interested in sleeping or watching TV.
• The Simpsons did this all the time in the early episodes.
• King of the Hill. Hank and Peggy do this when they're not reading—or when it's not a case of Peggy talking and Hank trying to sleep.
• Heckle and Jeckle do this at the start of the short "The Power of Thought."
  Jeckle: We cartoon characters could have a wonderful life if we only take advantage of it.

Real Life

• That delightful custom called Pillow Talk.
• There is Truth in Television here; given two working parents or one working parent and one houseparent, the moments a couple have in bed together before sleep may be the only time they have for any serious conversation.
• A curious and mostly out of fashion variation was the custom of "bundling" in which an engaged couple will be placed in the same bed after having proper restraints (like a board placed between the two or well-tied blankets or what not) put there to prevent improprieties.
  • This bears some comparison to the Minbari "three nights" custom, in Babylon 5 in the sense that it is a way for an engaged couple to "test the waters" without going beyond convention.

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