History Main / BoyfriendBluff

Subtrope of FakeRelationship. Compare TheBeard, FakeOutMakeOut, RomanticFakeRealTurn. Not to be confused with GirlfriendInCanada, which is someone bluffing that they have a lover elsewhere. The unwanted suitor may rouse the girl's ire by making a BetterPartnerAssertion, pushing her to defend her "boyfriend".

* ''Manga/TheDangersInMyHeart'': Yamada's friends (and [[LoveInterest Ichikawa]]) visit her house to bake chocolate. Moeko bluffs Yamada's mom into thinking Ichikawa is her boyfriend when it appears she has suspicions about a boy coming over. This only succeeds in causing awkward tension amongst the party and '''really''' [[ClingyJealousGirl pissing Yamada off]], especially when [[AllForNothing it turns out Yamada's mom already had an idea of who Ichikawa was.]]

* ''Series/ExtraordinaryAttorneyWoo'': In a flashback to Young-woo's high school days, we see the day she met her best friend Geu-ra-mi. Young-woo was being ruthlessly bullied for being autistic, and Gue-ra-mi, incensed, stood up and slapped the ringleader. A boy in the class mockingly asked if Gue-ra-mi was standing up for her girlfriend, which backfired pretty badly when Gue-ra-mi said, yep, she was... [[YouLeaveHimAlone and she was more than willing to throw a chair at anyone who messed with her girlfriend]]. It's unclear if they bothered to keep up the ruse that they were dating, but she and Young-woo were besties from that moment forward.

* ''Manga/TheDangersInMyHeart'': Yamada's friends (and [[LoveInterest Ichikawa]]) visit her house to bake chocolate. Moeko bluffs Yamada's mom into thinking Ichikawa is her boyfriend when it appears she has suspicions about a boy coming over. This only succeeds in causing awkward tension amongst the party and '''really''' [[ClingyJealousGirl pissing Yamada off]], especially when [[AllForNothing it turns out Yamada's mom already knew about Ichikawa.]]

* ''Manga/DontToyWithMeMissNagatoro'': Sakura asks Senpai to pretend that he's her boyfriend to drive away a StalkerWithACrush who's been following her around. [[ClingyJealousGirl Nagatoro]] ends up going after the guy so he apologizes to Sakura and end their date right then and there.

* In ''Manga/RecoveryOfAnMMOJunkie'', Lily used to get a lot of unwanted attention from male players, to the point that it almost ruined her enjoyment of the game. Eventually her guild master Kanbe suggested that she tell people they were partners, which caused the harassment to die down. In Episode 3, she asks Hayashi to become her new partner and he accepts, with Kanbe's approval (though it's also subverted, since Hayashi and Lily are slowly developing into an actual couple -- or at least their players are).

* 18th/early 19th century con men in France. The bait was an [[{{Bishonen}} attractive teenage boy]], and as soon as bait and mark were in a compromising position another accomplice would come by to barge in on the two. He would declare himself to be the unlucky younger party's older brother, or father (or simply a policeman) and threaten the mark into paying up to keep him from going to the police about this horrible affront to the young boy's decency.

* In ''Film/Rye Lane'', Yas surprises Dom by showing up to the lunch uninvited and pretending to be his girlfriend in front of his ex-girlfriend and the man she cheated on him with--his childhood best friend.
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* In ''Film/Man Up'', Jack asks his first date Nancy to pretends to be his girlfriend in front of his ex-wife and the man she cheated on him with.
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** Similarly, in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'', if you head back to the base on Aeos, Commander Graft will think Edge and Reimi are a couple. Like in ''Till the End of Time'', pretending this is true is the more favorable response. Amusingly enough, [[spoiler:it's very heavily implied the two hook up in the ending.]]

* ''LightNovel/GoldenTime'': when Mitsuo is having a hard time getting rid of a pushy girl who isn't taking no for an answer, Banri shows up and [[FauxYay pretends to be Mitsuo's boyfriend]]. Mitsuo swiftly catches on, and the two put on such an over-the-top act that the girl gets creeped out and runs away.
* In ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'', this was how Sophie first met Howl, with him pretending to be her boyfriend to rescue her from a couple of harassing soldiers. While it managed to get the soldiers off Sophie's back, it also had the unintended effect of making the Witch of the Waste jealous of Sophie.

* Inverted in ''LightNovel/{{Oreshura}}''. Masuzu, the most popular girl at the school, gives a very public LoveConfession to Eita, partly because she finds his lack of interest in love fascinating, and partly to stop having so many boys ask her out everyday. She [[BlackMail forces him]] to continue pretending that they're dating by managing to get a copy of a journal he wrote fantasy stories in, and telling him that if he doesn't pretend to be her boyfriend, or he [[SecretKeeper tells anyone]] about the fake relationship, she would release the contents of the journal on the internet. Since he considers the journal to be an embarrassing OldShame, he's forced to comply with her demands. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with his ChildhoodFriend, [[ClingyJealousGirl Chiwa]], who then keeps close tabs on them.

* In the film version of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'', Howl gets Sophie away from some soldiers who are trying to pick her up by coming over and pretending to be her boyfriend, before using his magic to send them literally marching off.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'': When she visits her grandmother Gondul, Rossweisse asks Issei to pose as her boyfriend, since she lied to her about being in a relationship. A lot of things happen and, after Issei promises to keep her safe from Euclid and later saves her from him, she ends up falling for him for real and joins his harem.

** Chronologically later, in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Mikoto uses Touma to fend off the attention of someone she can't afford to offend or electrocute.

* Creator/PattiSmith did this once as a girl in New York, to ward off said unwanted advance. She saw a man she knew slightly and ran to him saying "Pretend you're my boyfriend!" He did. He was Creator/RobertMapplethorpe. They moved in together, did art together, and remained devoted friends for the rest of their lives.

* ''Manga/SPYxFamily:'' When they first meet, Yor asks Lloyd to pose as her boyfriend at a party. He agrees, as he conveniently needs to find a woman to pose as his wife as part of his mission. Unfortunately, he only makes it to the party after a grueling mission, and accidentally slips up by saying he's Yor's husband rather than her boyfriend. After they leave, she asks that they be married to help escape suspicion from gossips and the country's paranoid government as a couple, since unmarried women are often suspected of being spies.

** Similarly, in VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope, if you head back to the base on Aeos, Commander Graft will think Edge and Reimi are a couple. Like the above example, pretending this is true is the more favorable response. Amusingly enough, [[spoiler:it's very heavily implied the two hook up in the ending.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad,'' Hayley is in Saudia Arabia without a male escort when the Police of Vice and Virtue find her, only for a random guy named Kazi to come up and pretend to be her brother. [[GuyOfTheWeek Short-term romance ensues]].
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' parodying ''Film/Titanic1997'', Fry is simultaneously pretending to be Amy's boyfriend so her parents will stop harassing her about [[IWantGrandkids giving them grandchildren]] and pretending to be Leela's boyfriend to keep her from being harassed by [[AbhorrentAdmirer Zap Brannigan]].
* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra.'' In "A Leaf in the Wind", Korra tries to sneak into the Pro-Bending Arena in order to watch a match, but is caught by the gym supervisor. Bolin, who is a member of the Fire Ferrets team playing that night, witnesses everything and walks up to explain to the supervisor that she is with him. Korra, confirms the story, [[PlayingWithATrope but also says that she is just "with him", not]] "''[[PlayingWithATrope with]]'' [[PlayingWithATrope him"]].

When a guy (and it's almost [[AlwaysMale always a guy]]) saves a girl on the street from being harrassed by some undesirables by coming over and pretending to be her boyfriend or brother, or something similar. The girl is usually not aware that the guy is about to do this, and often doesn't even know the guy in question. This doesn't stop them from [[RomanticFakeRealTurn turning into real lovers]] at some point, making it a popular MeetCute technique.

* ''Manga/SPYxFamily:'' When they first meet, Yor asks Lloyd to pose as her boyfriend at a party. He agrees, as he conveniently needs to find a woman to pose as his wife as part of his mission. Unfortunately, he only makes it to the party after a grueling mission, and accidentally slips up by saying he's Yor's husband rather than her boyfriend. After they leave, she asks that they be married to help escape suspicion from gossips and the country's paranoid government as a couple.

* GenderFlipped in ''{{Literature/Everworld}}''--the group encounters the Amazons, who seem prepared to take any unclaimed man for themselves. [[TokenEvilTeammate Senna]] claims that [[HeroicWannabe David]] is hers, which is [[MoreThanMindControl kind of true]], while [[TheSmartGuy Jalil]] is claimed by [[TheChick April]], to his surprise. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Christopher]] is claimed by no one and willingly taken away by the Amazon queen. He claims they just cuddled.

* Literature/TheBible: Inverted in The book of Genesis, where Abraham pretends that his beautiful wife Sarah is his sister whenever he travels to a foreign country so that other men [[MurderTheHypotenuse won't try to kill him to have her]]. He actually did this ''twice''. Then [[GenerationXerox his son Isaac tried to do the same thing about his wife Rebecca]].

* Done in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', though in this case Al pretends Jasmine is his {{Cloudcuckoolander}} sister. Points to Jasmine for immediately getting it and playing along.

Subtrope of FakeRelationship. Compare TheBeard, FakeOutMakeOut, RomanticFakeRealTurn. Not to be confused with GirlfriendInCanada, which is someone bluffing that they have a lover elsewhere.

* ''Manga/SpyXFamily:'' When they first meet, Yor asks Lloyd to pose as her boyfriend at a party. He agrees, as he conveniently needs to find a woman to pose as his wife as part of his mission. Unfortunately, he only makes it to the party after a grueling mission, and accidentally slips up by saying he's Yor's husband rather than her boyfriend. After they leave, she asks that they be married to help escape suspicion from gossips and the country's paranoid government as a couple.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13695718/5/I-m-Nobody I'm Nobody]]'' has a "Sister Bluff" variant by having an angry Ashley getting a pair of flirtatious asari with NoSenseOfPersonalSpace away from [[ChasteHero (the rather naive)]] Roxas by claiming to be his [[BigBrotherInstinct over protective big sister]].

* ''Film/ThisMeansWar2012'': Lauren [[{{FakeoutMakeout}} makes out with FDR]] in which to convince her ex, Steve, that she is perfectly happy without him. FDR builds on her [[{{BlatantLies}} story of her surgeon boyfriend]] by adding that he is a [[{{UptoEleven}} neurosurgeon, head of department at a children's hospital.]] He puts the crowning touch on by calling Steve the wrong name--repeatedly. [[spoiler: The payoff comes when Steve's new fiancée clasps Lauren's hand and tells her she's "so lucky", while Steve looks ''verrry'' uncomfortable.]]

* Literature/TheBible: Inverted in The book of Genesis, where Abraham pretends that his beautiful wife Sarah is his sister whenever he travels to a foreign country so that other men [[MurderTheHypotenuse won't try to kill him to have her]].

He actually did this ''twice''. Then [[GenerationXerox his son Isaac tried to do the same thing about his wife Rebecca]].

* ''Literature/HalfPrince'': Prince has girls fawning and throwing themselves at him left and right. He described it as them being wolves looking at a piece of meat. Luckily, he meets Lolidragon who is enamored by his good looks but not as crazy and calls herself his wife to get the women to leave Prince alone. It works.

* ''Manga/SpyXFamily:'' When they first meet, Yoru asks Lloyd to pose as her boyfriend at a party. He agrees, as he conveniently needs to find a woman to pose as his wife as part of his mission. Unfortunately, he only makes it to the party after a grueling mission, and accidentally slips up by saying he's Yoru's husband rather than her boyfriend. After they leave, she asks that they be married to help escape suspicion from gossips and the country's paranoid government as a couple.