Basic Trope: Two friends of the same sex have a very close relationship.
- Straight:
- Exaggerated: Gabriel and Eddie are inseparable, live together, work together, go on holiday together and, except for the sex, are to all intents and purposes a married couple.
- Downplayed: Gabriel and Eddie are best friends and do many things together, but not everything.
- Justified:
- Gabriel and Eddie have known each other since childhood.
- Gabriel and Eddie have known each other since before then.
- Inverted:
- Gabriel and Eddie are a romantic couple who are never seen together.
- Gabriel and Eddie (or Alice and Barbara) are actually gay and are intensely close best friends who do everything together... but aren't dating.
- Gender Inverted: Hannah and Gabriel are Like Brother and Sister or Platonic Life-Partners.
- Subverted:
- Gabriel and Eddie are keeping up the pretense of their close friendship but in actuality can't stand each other.
- Gabriel and Eddie turn out to actually be in a romantic relationship.
- Doubly Subverted:
- Over the course of the story, however, they eventually build bridges and become close friends.
- But they decide it's just too weird and they're Better as Friends.
- Parodied:
- Everyone — including the woman that they would be interested in dating — assumes that Gabriel and Eddie are gay, much to their frustration.
- Just showing the fan reaction would be enough.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Gabriel and Eddie are a homoromantic couple.
- Gabriel and Eddie are friends, but not exceptionally close ones.
- Enforced: "Okay, so our two lead actors have really close chemistry, but we don't want anyone to think they're gay. We'll just call them really good friends."
- Lampshaded:Gabriel: You know, I honestly can't imagine my life without Eddie being around.
- Invoked: Eddie is subjected to a Stalker with a Crush and to get her to leave explains that he and Gabriel do everything together, including making him a third wheel on a date and never having him leave their company.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Gabriel and Eddie realize that the only reason they have remained close friends is because they don't spend all their time together.
- Discussed:
- "Oh, for Pete's sake, what is wrong with society today that you can't admit being childhood friends with anybody without everybody else imagining that you wish to fuck them?!"
- "You know, sometimes I wish we were as close friends as Bob and Andy are with each other."
- Conversed: "You know, I don't think there are closer friends in fiction than Bob and Andy."
- Deconstructed: Gabriel and Eddie's close friendship is horribly co-dependent and somewhat unhealthy, and has a deleterious effect on any other friendship or relationship they might hope to construct, particularly of a romantic nature.
- Reconstructed: Gabriel and Eddie's close friendship has been the one constant rock that either has had to rely on throughout the struggles, hardship and pain that has characterized their lives up to that point.
- Played For Laughs: A Running Gag involves Eddie and Gabriel constantly saying Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today? while remaining very close to each other.
- Played For Drama:
- Eddie is emotionally abusive towards Gabriel, but Gabriel remains his friend anyway, because they've been friends for so long Gabriel can't function without Eddie.
- Eddie's wife hates Gabriel, and Eddie leaves her rather than break off his friendship with Gabriel.
- Eddie and Gabriel have been on the wrong end of many a Heteronormative Crusader's spiels, and other dramatic consequences of being Mistaken for Gay, and quite frankly they are getting sick of it. Their friendship is still strong enough to decide to stick together, but the seed of doubt has begun to take root…
- Played For Horror: Eddie and Gabriel are on the way wrong, harmful to life and limb end of a Heteronormative Crusader's misconception, and no amount of "look, buddy, we are just friends!" talks and showcasing of evidence are going to make that bigot change his mind.
Back to Heterosexual Life-Partners.
