Basic Trope: A character has one or more geeky interests, but is ashamed to admit it.
- Straight: Alice likes to watch sci-fi movies and collect model spaceships, but she keeps these hobbies a secret and considers them embarrassing.
- Exaggerated: Alice is the biggest sci-fi nerd ever, copsplaying, buying all the merchandise from many different sci-fi movies, etc. However, she keeps all her merchandise and costumes hidden in a vault and awkwardly changes the subject at every mention of sci-fi.
- Downplayed: Alice is normally fine with liking sci-fi, but is embarrassed to admit she likes it to her crush Bob.
- Justified:
- Alice goes to a school where there are many bullies who make fun of geeks, so Alice fears being made fun of.
- Alice lives in a sexist society where women aren't expected to be geeky.
- Alice is very shy and insecure.
- Alice has faced ridicule for her interest in sci-fi before.
- Alice (feels that she) has a reputation to uphold.
- Inverted: Alice is Proud to Be a Geek.
- Subverted: Alice awkwardly turns off the TV when Bob sees her watching a sci-fi movie and he assumes she's embarrassed to admit she likes sci-fi. Alice, however, explains that she was banned from watching movies.
- Double Subverted: She's still embarrassed about her model spaceship collection, though.
- Parodied:
- Zigzagged: Alice is embarrassed about her geeky interests around some people, but totally fine with them around others.
- Averted:
- Alice is not a geek.
- Alice does watch sci-fi but doesn't make a big deal out of it.
- Enforced:
- Lampshaded:
- Invoked: Charlie tells Alice to keep her geeky hobbies secret to impress Bob.
- Exploited:
- Defied: Alice decides to shed her insecurities and display her geeky side proudly.
- Discussed: "Some geeks are more open about their interests than others."
- Conversed: "My favourite character is Alice since we're both sci-fi geeks. I wish she'd be more confident about it, though."
- Implied: Whenever the Jerk Jock is making fun of geeks, Alice is visibly uncomfortable.
- Deconstructed: Alice's secret eventually slips out and she loses the friends she has since they don't want to be associated with someone who, in their eyes, is so uncool. Her lack of friends drives her to depression and she considers getting rid of her model spaceship collection since it's impairing her ability to make friends.
- Reconstructed: Alice's makes new friends via her model spaceship collection. And all those new friends are equally as geeky as she is.
- Played for Laughs: Alice reads National Geographic, but hides it under a porn magazine.
- Played for Drama: Alice has severe self-esteem issues.
- Played for Horror:
Back to Closet Geek. But hide your model spaceship collection first!
