History Main / AloneAmongTheCouples

* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'': In ''Bride of Lucky Luke'', upon arriving in Purgatory City, and while all the other women meet their fiancés and marry them almost immediately, Jenny O'Sullivan finds out her Irish fiancé has been put in jail for overreacting to being called a Scot (the saloon got destroyed as a result) and cries on Luke's shoulder. Then Luke accepts to serve as chaperone to her for the time being. This is also in the [[WesternAnimation/LuckyLuke1983 animated series]].

* In the 'Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/OlivineRomance'', protagonist Jasmine is made to feel this way amongst her friends. Notably, she's single by choice, but that doesn't stop her from feeling left out.

* In ''Fanfic/SaySomething'', [[Franchise/{{YuGiOh}} Tea]] reunites with her friends ahead of Yugi's wedding and finds they have all paired up. The story frequently highlights her feeling lonely or awkward when they start acting particularly couple-y, and this plays a big factor in her rushing into a relationship with Mokuba.

* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Parodied in ''New Testament Vol 12" when [[CluelessChickMagnet Touma Kamijou]] visits a building called the Dianoid and gets upset and jealous because it is full of couples. Except he is with Othinus, Index, Mikoto, and Misaki, who are all in love with him, [[ObliviousToLove not that he noticed]].

* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Nightcrawler was the only member of the group who did not have a significant love interest in some way or form, which was outright confirmed to be the reason for his kidnapping of Dazzler.

* For a significant portion of ''ComicBook/Robin1993'', Tim Drake's social group at school consists of himself and his girlfriend Ariana, Ives and Callie who are dating, and Hudson who isn't dating anyone.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/OlivineRomance'', protagonist Jasmine is made to feel this way amongst her friends. Notably, she's single by choice, but that doesn't stop her from feeling left out.

* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'': In ''Bride of Lucky Luke'', upon arriving in Purgatory City, and while all the other women meet their fiancés and marry them almost immediately, Jenny O'Sullivan finds out her Irish fiancé has been put in jail for overreacting to being called a Scot (the saloon got destroyed as a result) and cries on Luke's shoulder. Then Luke accepts to serve as chaperone to her for the time being.

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[[quoteright:278:[[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miss_sparrow.png]]]]

!!Examples

* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': Kensuke feels alone during his unit's deployment because his best friends - Shinji and Touji - have hooked up with their {{Love Interest}}s - Asuka and Hikari respectively - and even the commanders that hang around with them are in a relationship... and he remains single. Often he complains and whines he needs to get himself a girlfriend [[spoiler:and when finally several girls interested in him come along, he does not know how to handle the situation.]]
-->Kensuke looked between them with a confused look before he worked it out. His mouth dropped open when he did, and he shot a look at Shinji like he was about to say something. Shinji just gave him a ‘don’t ask’ look and shook his head. He closed his mouth with a snap and looked back and forth between Shinji, Touji, and Sergeant Bir. “Man, I have got to find me a girlfriend,” he eventually muttered.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/OlivineRomance'', protagonist Jasmine is made to feel this way amongst her friends. Notably, she's single by choice, but that doesn't stop her from feeling left out.
* In ''Fanfic/HotspringSouls'', [[VideoGame/{{DarkSouls}} Solaire]] is the only one in the gang who is single and without a love interest, but is perfectly fine with it since he's more interested in hooking up The Chosen Undead and Rhea of Thorolund, anyway. This does change in the sequel, though, where Solaire ends up with [[spoiler: Lady Maria.]]
* In ''Fanfic/SaySomething'', [[Franchise/{{YuGiOh}} Tea]] reunites with her friends ahead of Yugi's wedding and finds they have all paired up. The story frequently highlights her feeling lonely or awkward when they start acting particularly couple-y, and this plays a big factor in her rushing into a relationship with Mokuba.
* A sidestory of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' has [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Yancy]], while waiting for a meeting to get her Xtransceiver back, to feel self-conscious about her single status, due to seeing so many happy couples in the Nimbasa amusement park during Valentine's Day.
* ''FanFic/TheFlashSentryChronicles'':
** Flash Sentry and Twilight Sparkle become a couple in ''The Knight of Friendship'', Rainbow Dash and Soarin were in a SecretRelationship since season 3 and came out in season 4, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie hooked up with Iron Core and Wild Smile respectively in season 4, and Rarity has gone on a date with Lightning Blitz in season 5, before officially becoming a couple in season 6. Applejack was the only member of the Mane Six who didn't formed a relationship with anypony in that time, or even have a LoveInterest. This gets {{subverted}} in "The Quest for the Golden Apple Tree", when Applejack gets some ShipTease with Rogue, and they eventually become a couple in Season 8 after a mutual LoveConfession, with Applejack even lampshading she expected to be the only member of her group of friends to spend her whole life alone.
** At the start of ''Jakhowls Rising'', Springer now feels depressed due to having watched as each of his friends found someone special to love over the years and each one became even happier because of it, and as he walks through town he sees the various other happy couples being affectionate with each other, and feels hallow being unable to have that himself due to being TheLastOfHisKind, discounting his two young charges who are too young for him anyway. This is then subverted later in the story when he arrives in Aurarora and has some ShipTease moments with the female jakhowl Mirage, and the two officially get together in season 9.
* In ''Fanfic/FlowersDrenchedInVodka'', Kotori is the only former member of μ's who isn't in a relationship, and has UnrequitedLove for Hanayo. [[spoiler:By the end of the fic, Hanayo has broken up with Eli over the latter's alcoholism and domestic abuse, and gotten together with Kotori, leaving Eli as the odd girl out]].

* Firesong complains about this at one point in the ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Mage Storms]]'' trilogy. Specifically, he's got this idea that being [[MindlinkMates lifebonded]] is the best of all possible relationships, he doesn't have a lifemate, but to him, Herald's Collegium is packed with life-bonded pairs. (He can only name a handful, though -- this is one of the signs that Firesong's mind is slipping.)

* In the ''Literature/DolphinTrilogy'', John is a human [[RaisedByWolves raised by dolphins]]. As an adolescent, he starts to feel lonely because all the other members of his pod are finding mates, while he's never met anyone of his own species since his infancy.

* A plot point in ''{{Series/Bones}}'' Valentine’s Day episode is that Brennan is the only one in the lab like this. Cam is pushing to get the case solved so she can go on a date, Hodgins and Angela are a couple and the week’s intern Clark is meeting his girlfriend. Booth is alone too, having just broke up with Hannah, and naturally he and Brennan end up on their own unique date shooting Tommy guns at the range.

* At the end of ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'' season 3, KT is the only person not paired off with anyone. She doesn't mind, though.

* ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' featured this theme in several episodes. When the four of them are some of the only single women at a wedding, Carrie says they look as if they're witches.

* "The Whole World's In Love When You're Lonely" by B. J. Thomas

* The entire point of Music/StephenSondheim's ''[[Theatre/CompanySondheim Company]]''. Bobby (or Bobbie) is always the third wheel to all his married friends, who try to get him to settle down, while unintentionally exemplifying the good and bad points of marriage. There is a telling moment in "Side By Side By Side," a number supposedly celebrating Bobby's single status. After the LastChorusSlowDown, couples take turns on the dance breaks, one spouse directly following the other, and Bobby's tap break leads to a sudden bar of silence because he has no partner.

* [[https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/870388 This comic]] does it to one poor bastard for whom being on [[spoiler:the Titanic]] wasn't bad enough.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' / ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':

** In the original series, [[LittleMissBadass Toph]] was the only of the main characters not paired off; also [[GenkiGirl Ty Lee]], among the major recurring [[HeelFaceTurn good]] guys. Neither seems to mind.
** [[PlayingWithFire Mako]] is the only member of the core group to be single at the end of ''Korra'''s {{Grand Finale}}, which ended with a wedding of two side characters [[spoiler:and his two ex-girlfriends getting together.]] When he learns about the latter in the comics, he spends a story arc unsure how to feel about the situation before settling on being happy for them.

* Pinkie Pie inverts this in the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' as she is the only one of the Mane 6 who ever married (her husband is her male counterpart Cheese Sandwich) and had a child. The closest Twilight came to romance was with Flash Sentry from ''Equestria Girls''. Rarity has had many crushes, but Rainbow Dash and Applejack are implied to be an LGBTQ couple and it is rumored that Fluttershy is now Discord's wife.

** In "Just Friends", during Love Sentence's concert, Star suddenly ends up in this situation, when numerous couples in the audience start kissing, including Marco and Jackie. [[MatchMakerCrush She's uncomfortable and has to leave.]]
** Marco has a moment like this near the end of "Lava Lake Beach", after Kelly's ex-boyfriend Tad points out he has a crush on Star (who [[UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo is now going out with Tom]]).

* ''Series/Charmed1998'': "The Fifth Halliwheel" sees Paige feeling awkward hanging out with Piper and Leo (who are celebrating their first anniversary) and Phoebe and Cole (who are newly married).

** At the start of ''Jakhowls Rising'', Springer now feels depressed due to having watched as each of his friends found someone special to love over the years and each one became even happier because of it, and as he walks through town he sees the various other happy couples being affectionate with each other, and feels hallow being unable to have that himself due to being TheLastOfHisKind, discounting his two young charges who are two young for him anyway. This is then subverted later in the story when he arrives in Aurarora and has some ShipTease moments with the female jakhowl Mirage.

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* In the ''Literature/DolphinTrilogy'', John is a human [[RaisedByWolves raised by dolphins]]. As an adolescent, he starts to feel lonely because all the other dolphins are finding mates, while he's never met anyone of his own species since his infancy.