History Main / NotStayingForBreakfast

A common subversion is to have the missing lover show up seconds later with coffee or breakfast for two.

Contrast with BedmateReveal.

** Averted later on with an impulsive casual sex scene: the sort you figure that the participants will probably regret immediately afterward, and would typically set-up NotStayingForBreakfast. Yet despite at least one of the lovers having a WhatHaveIDone moment [[BedmateReveal when they notice who they've woken up with]], the pair stick together for a cozy morning lay-in.

* Both subverted and played straight in ''Film/{{Hitch}}''. Sara wakes up, sees the other side of the bed empty, starts getting emotional about it... and Hitch walks in with breakfast. Earlier, though, her friend slept with sleazy Vance, who played it straight.

** In the same episode, [[Series/TheFlash2014 Barry Allen]] does a romantic version of this trope. After waking up in bed with Iris on the day of their wedding, he zips away using his super speed. When Iris wakes she finds a tray with breakfast, FlowersOfRomance and a note saying that it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding.

* At the start of ''VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry'', Dante has a threesome with two strippers in his trailer. They are gone in the morning and leave a "Hell of a night, call us!" lipstick note on his arm. This eventually leads to him having a NakedFirstImpression with Kat.
* Half of the initial love scenes in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'': [[CloudCuckoolander Merrill]] and [[WellIntentionedExtremist Anders]] will stick around, and eventually move in with [[TheHero Hawke]] (if s/he doesn't [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential choose to boot them out the door]] right after their LoveConfession), but [[PhlebotinumRebel Fenris]] and [[TheLadette Isabela]] leave immediately.
** In Isabela's case, this is because she refuses to participate in anything deeper than a FriendsWithBenefits relationship (at first), and in Fenris' case... Well, [[JerkassWoobie poor bastard]] has [[HatesBeingTouched issues]] [[NoSocialSkills he]] [[RevengeBeforeReason needs]] [[TroubledButCute to]] [[BrokenBird work]] [[ItsNotYouItsMe out]] first.

** [[AmicableExes Jeffrey Sinclair and Catherine Sakai]] are implied to have done this to each other repeatedly over the years: They meet up, start talking about the past, eat dinner, fool around, one of them leaves the next morning, a few months pass and the cycle continues. They finally made an attempt at averting it at the end of Season 1, with him even proposing marriage (which she accepted); unfortunately nothing came of it on the show as [[AbsenteeActor Sinclair's actor had to quit for health reasons]]. Their story ''is'' fairly neatly tied up with a bow in the declared-canon novel ''To Dream in the City of Sorrows'', though.

* Fujiko is shown doing it in the ending (Seine no Kaze ni... (Adieu)) of ''Anime/LupinIIIPart5''.

* Happens twice in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'': [[spoiler:after having sex with Shiki, Arcueid leaves to fight Roa alone to not endanger Shiki; similarly, Kohaku drugs him and leaves to confront Akiha on her own]]. The former scene also makes it to the anime adaptation [[note]]here the sex is implied though embracing and nakedness rather than being overt.[[/note]]

* ''Series/ConversationsWithFriends'': After having sex with a guy whom she met on a blind date, Frances sneaks out afterward, dissatisfied by the encounter.

* In 'The Only Exception' by Music/Paramore, the singer fully expects their lover to pull this trope and asks them to leave "some kind of proof it's not a dream". The music video starts with the vocalist Hayley Williams pulling this trope (although both her and the boyfriend are fully clothed and just sleeping on a couch), but in the end she joins him again.

* Standard etiquette among the nobility of the Heian Era (794-1185AD in Japan). It was much ''more'' embarrassing if your lover stuck around, forcing you to explain or hide his presence from your awakening and inevitably curious ladies-in-waiting. In fact, the great Heian lady poet and [[{{Diary}} ancient blogger]], Creator/SeiShonagon, even wrote an entry in ''Literature/ThePillowBook'' detailing the ideal technique for a young man slipping graciously away in the morning.

* [[spoiler:Eris]] of ''LightNovel/MushokuTensei'' leaves after her first night with Rudeus, leaving a vaguely-worded note that seems to imply he's inadequate. She actually left because she felt ''she'' was inadequate and needed to be stronger so she could stand by his side; she's bordering on illiterate at that point.

* Enforceable in ''VideoGame/Persona3Portable'', if the female main character [[spoiler:does Shinjiro's [[OptionalSexualEncounter special event]] on October 3rd...]]

** Oliver Queen and Helena Bertinelli realise they're NotSoDifferent as lonely vigilantes hiding behind a SecretIdentity and fall into bed with each other at the end of "Muse of Fire". In the next episode, Helena slips out of bed in the middle of the night to continue her RoaringRampageOfRevenge. It's played entirely like this trope with Oliver having to chase after Helena and coax her into continuing their relationship.

* [[spoiler:Eris]] of ''LightNovel/MushokuTensei'' leaves after her first night with Rudeus, leaving a vaguely-worded note that seems to imply he's inadequate. She actually left because she felt ''she'' was inadequate and needed to be stronger so she could stand by his side; she's bordering on illiterate at that point.

* Happens twice in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'': [[spoiler:after having sex with Shiki, Arcueid leaves to fight Roa alone to not endanger Shiki; similarly, Kohaku drugs him and leaves to confront Akiha on her own]]. The former scene also makes it to the anime adaptation [[note]]here the sex is implied though embracing and nakedness rather than being overt.[[/note]]

* [[Recap/ThePunisher2017S01E013AM The first episode of the second season]] of ''Series/ThePunisher2017'' has Frank trying to do this after spending the night with Beth, except downstairs he unexpectedly runs into her son, and he ends up taking them out for breakfast. And he even comes back to her bar the next night, but that doesn't end so well...

* Implied to happen between Millie and Wolfwood in the ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' anime. Wolfwood leaves the morning after.
* Arashi and Sorata from ''Manga/{{X1999}}'', with the woman leaving. Depending on which version of events you follow, this either leads to DeathBySex for either or both of them.
* Happens twice in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'': [[spoiler:after having sex with Shiki, Arcueid leaves to fight Roa alone to not endanger Shiki; similarly, Kohaku drugs him and leaves to confront Akiha on her own]]. The former scene also makes it to the anime adaptation [[note]]here the sex is implied though embracing and nakedness rather than being overt.[[/note]]

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', after having sex with Princess Charlotte, Griffith escapes her bedroom in the morning before she wakes up and only leaves a pendant he promised to return. Unfortunately for Griffith, [[spoiler:soldiers catch him immediatly and Charlotte's father has him tortured before attempting to rape his own daughter.]]
* Fujiko is shown doing it in the ending (Seine no Kaze ni... (Adieu)) of ''Anime/LupinIIIPart5''.

* Comicbook/{{Pondus}} has some interesting variations on this one, from the beginning with Jocke as the man leaving, and later with Eddie in similar situations. One of the funniest has Jocke waking up in a bed, not remembering much, but spotting a rather homely girl in the bed beside him. Cue Jocke getting fast out of bed, looking for his clothes and visually about to skidaddle, only to discover he is in ''his own bedroom''. Hilarity ensues.

* In ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', Prince Blueblood mentions that he has had several one night stands over the years, but he always wakes up to find the mares gone. He later realizes it was because they were turned off by his PrinceCharmless behavior. When he TookALevelInKindness, he finally gets a steady girlfriend in Arcane Spell.
* ''Fanfic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': Subverted in the sequel ''Picking Up the Pieces'' - Gentle Step wakes up with a hangover and finds her best friend Memorizing Gaze, whom she's just undergone a RelationshipUpgrade with, is ''not'' in bed with her. She considers, for just a moment, that he was only using her... and that's when he walks in with a tray of breakfast and something for her headache, asking if she's okay, which makes her very happy.
* In ''FanFic/RivalsSeries'': this happens twice:
** After their first sexual encounter, Yuuri wakes up alone and assumes that Viktor wants him gone now that they have had hate sex. [[SubvertedTrope Only for Viktor to come in with hot tea for Yuuri.]] Only for Yuuri to refuse to humor Viktor's attempts at small talk and [[DoubleSubversion leaves Viktor alone with barely a goodbye.]] Yuuri's rejection deeply wounds Viktor.
** It happens again at their second time, but this time Yuuri leaves immediately after they're finished.
* The [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/199588/where-did-daddy-go Hooves]]-[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/214973/where-is-my-love Platinum-verse]]: In the first story, Derpy explains to her daughter how, after a date with a stallion, she had gone to bed with him in a hotel room, but woke up the next morning to find he was gone, leaving her alone and pregnant with Dinky. Then the chapter transitions to the stallion in question, who's also thinking about her and how she'd been gone by the time he got back with the engagement ring he'd gone out to buy. Furthermore, since they'd never gotten one another's names, neither has any idea where to find the other and clear up the misunderstanding. Until the second story, that is.
* This is discussed non-sexually in ''[[Fanfic/SurprisingButterflies denouement]]''. When Mion sleeps over at her not-quite-girlfriend Rena's house, she sometimes has to leave in the morning for family reasons. Rena hates this and, during one sleepover, begs Mion not to be gone in the morning.
* Double subverted in Fanfic/CabinFeverPartingShot: First of all, Paul does (reluctantly) stay for the extremely awkward breakfast; but he hightails it out of there the instant he is finished, curtly dismissing a request from his beloved for him to wait so that she can come with him. Secondly, he wasn't actually the one who slept with the girl; he stumbled upon another guy bedding his unrequited love and now he just wants to run away from both of them.
** Averted later on with an impulsive casual sex scene: the sort you figure that the participants will probably regret immediately afterward, and would typically set-up NotStayingForBreakfast. Yet despite at least one of the lovers having a WhatHaveIDone moment [[BedmateReveal when they notice who they've woken up with]], the pair stick together for a cozy morning lay-in.

* ''Film/JamesBond'': James is a veteran lover and leaver, but this is done to ''him'' in at least two films--''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' and ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' (possibly referencing the former film and even if not, fitting, as the woman doing is a DistaffCounterpart)
* In the film ''Film/{{Heat}}'', Neil [=McCauley=] is shown leaving Eady in the night, after making love. Neil is a professional thief, and has vowed to have no attachments as to be able to walk out of his life in thirty seconds if the heat turns up. And then subverted when he gets back together with her a day or two later.
* In the film version of ''Film/{{Stardust}}'', Tristan leaves Yvaine after they make love. He fully intends to come back that same day, leaving only to disillusion his former not-so-true love in swashbuckling-hero fashion, but upon waking up alone Yvaine mistakenly believes he has abandoned her (thanks to PoorCommunicationKills, Tristan asked a hotel employee to tell Yvaine where he went, but the man bungled the message).

* ''Film/TheSaint1997'' had Simon romance Emma so he could steal her formula and then left her next morning with a bunch of notes saying "I'm sorry" because he'd genuinely formed an emotional response to her. Emma, however, subverted the trope because she wanted her cards back and went after him.
* Professor Harold Hill loves and leaves in ''Film/TheMusicMan''. [[spoiler:At least until he finally gets his "foot stuck in the door" with Marian.]]

* Subverted in ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005''. The morning after meeting each other, Jane wakes up and doesn't find her partner in bed. John promptly enters the room carrying breakfast.

* In ''Film/AmericanPie'', Jim and Michelle sleep together at the after-prom party. Jim wakes up alone. He realized he was used. After a moment's reflection he's psyched about it.
* Elektra does this to Matt in ''Film/{{Daredevil}}''
* ''Film/WhenHarryMetSally'' has a variation. [[spoiler:He stays but rushes away in the morning.]]
* Done in ''Film/OutOfSight''. Subverted in that she completely expected it--after all, he's a fugitive bank robber, while she's the US Marshal trying catch him. Amusingly, as a memento, instead of a rose, Jack has left Karen's gun on her pillow (he stole it from her earlier).
* Subverted in ''Film/SingleWhiteFemale''. The female protagonist reaches out for her boyfriend. She wakes up in a panic upon not finding him -- only to find him sleeping right there. They only recently reconciled following his infidelity, and it's implied that she was having a nightmare in which he ''did'' leave, hence her panicky reaction.

* Colonel Hal Moore has to leave in the middle of the night to deploy with his men to Vietnam in ''Film/WeWereSoldiers''. Julia wakes up in the middle of the night, but only after he has gone. With the subversion that he hasn't left because he doesn't love her, but because he knows that her watching him leave to go into combat will be very painful for her. He also doesn't look back, and doesn't give her a thought until he finally returns home from his deployment.
* ''Film/CabinFever'': Paul and Marcy go from being platonic friends to casual lovers in a matter of minutes. As soon as the deed is done, Paul is almost as fast to rinse Marcy's love juices off his wang with listerine and tell her curtly that he's gonna run off into the forest to look for Marcy's boyfriend Jeff, because ''"[He] just can't stay there any longer ''[with her]''"''. Despite Marcy's anxious protests, Paul leaves her all alone in the Cabin. Of course, he left with a parting gift from Marcy: [[spoiler:the flesh-eating disease she passed to him because they didn't use a condom]].

* Dom does this to Letty in the fourth ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' film when the increasing heat forces them to split up. Not surprisingly, he comes to regret this decision.
* In ''[[Film/ThreeColorsTrilogy White]]'', Karol does this to Dominique the morning after he finally gives her a night of passionate, satisfying sex [[spoiler:as part of an elaborate scheme to get her thrown into jail for his murder and hence get revenge on her for divorcing him with his inability to consummate their marriage as her given reason.]]
* After Crash and Annie finally sleep together in ''Film/BullDurham'', she wakes up to a note from Crash explaining that he was headed out to Asheville for an opening as a catcher. Annie is mildly disappointed but understands: baseball may be where she finds metaphysical meaning in the world, "but it's also a job." [[spoiler:He comes back at the end of the baseball season after breaking the minor league home run record and quitting.]]

* Played with in ''Film/TheEigerSanction'' (1975). Government assassin Dr Hemlock meets a beautiful black stewardess on the aircraft taking him to Switzerland and spends the night with her, only to find she's gone the next day. Then to his delight she rings him on the phone...[[HoneyTrap only to tell him to get in contact with his spymaster boss]].
* In ''Film/GangOfRoses'', Johnny attempts to pull this on Chas. He also attempts to rob her in the process. Both decisions prove very unwise on his part.
* ''Film/SixtyEightKill'': This is what Chip thinks has happened when he wakes up the motel and Violet gone, along with the money, the guns and car. [[spoiler:Then he finds her body in the bathroom.]]
* ''Film/TheNakedWitch'': After being seduced by the witch and spending the night in the cave with her, the student wakes to find himself alone: the witch having departed to murder Kirska.
* In ''Film/DeathRing'', Lauren and Matt spend the night together after he wins the 'Survival of the Fittest' race. When she wakes up, he is gone, leaving behind a note that just reads 'SORRY!'. She immediately sets out to find him.
* Subverted in ''Film/IfYouCouldSayItInWords''. Sadie wakes up in Nelson's apartment, thinking she's alone until he suddenly walks into the room. He tells her that he bought her coffee and a sweet bun, and that they did not have sex.
* In ''Film/FortyCarats'', Ann and Peter meet on vacation in Greece and have a one-night stand on the beach. The next morning, Ann sneaks away from the campsite, flags down a boat, and takes off while Peter sleeps.
* in ''Film/TopGun'', Charlie wakes up to find Maverick gone. Turns out it's a subversion in that he's left a note that she smiles while reading. Considering that the movie's title refers to what is basically a school (it's proper title at the time was Fighter Weapons School), he likely has to go to class (an earlier scene has a line of dialog indicating this - class in the morning, flight training in the afternoon).

* Rand and Elayne in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', with Rand leaving (for the perfectly understandable reason that he still has to go out and save the world). He leaves behind a flower as an apology/expression of love (which she accepts). [[spoiler:He also leaves her pregnant, but he doesn't actually know that yet.]]

* ''Literature/BabylonBabies''. The protagonist takes home a woman he met in a bar, but as he has to get back to bodyguarding the LivingMacGuffin, tries to sneak out without even waiting for morning. She gives a YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe reaction when she catches him doing so.
* Invoked in ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar By The Sword]]'' when the mercenary Kerowyn and Herald Eldan were fleeing the Karsites she [[RescueRomance rescued him from]]. She realized that A) the priestess hunting them was tracking her enchanted sword, B) the only way Eldan could escape to Valdemar was if she drew off pursuit, & C) he would try to talk her out of it (and her feelings for him were such that she might let him). So she basically shagged him senseless, left a note, and fled into the night; not seeing him again face-to-face for a decade. Eldan forgave her for it... eventually.

* ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' doesn't have sex (well, untill the last volume), but the main couple ''do'' get married. Then Saito drugs Louise so he can face the 70,000 strong MagicKnight army and she doesn't.
* The protagonist of ''Literature/Airframe'' has a casual sexual relationship with a pilot, and he never stays after sex, though she wishes he would. Contrasted with the antagonist, a shallow television news reporter who has sex with a stuntman she knows in the area, and is ''annoyed'' that he doesn't leave afterwards.

* In ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear Solid 3]]'', [[spoiler:Eva does this to Naked Snake, leaving behind a note that tells of TheReveal.]]
* If you decide to go through with the OptionalSexualEncounter between [[spoiler:Ethan and Madison]] in ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'', [[spoiler:the next scene will consist of you controlling Ethan as he tries to pull this maneuver off, that is, of course, until he comes across Madison's wallet and finds out she is a journalist]].

* [[SmugSnake Benny]] doesn't bother sticking around after sleeping with a female character in VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas. He ''does'' leave a note, however, that is simultaneously hilarious, sweet, and completely infuriating.

* Enforceable in ''[[VideoGame/Persona3 Persona 3 Portable]]'', if the female main character [[spoiler:does Shinjiro's [[OptionalSexualEncounter special event]] on October 3rd...]]
* Neera the [[WildMagic Wild Mage]] from the UpdatedRerelease for ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' warns you on her romance route that she's never been very good at sticking around after sex with her previous lovers. Even after she finally admits she does love you, her romance epilogue notes that, one day, she just vanished after a passionate night together. Subverted in that the player character is stated to have known exactly where she went and just tracked her down afterwards, it being implied to end up becoming a little game that the ChaoticNeutral half-elf enjoys playing with her boyfriend.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad!'', episode ''Stan of Arabia'', Hayley the liberal moves to Saudi Arabia and jumps into bed with a member of Al-Qaeda. She wakes up and says, "Hmm, now I know how a kebab feels." She rolls over and finds him gone, in his place is a note explaining that he's gone away to bomb the American embassy. When she arrives at the embassy, she finds him working a fast food kiosk nearby. Two American girls walk up and explain, "He tricked you into thinking he was a terrorist so you'd have sex with him. He does that with all the American girls."

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' with [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything the Shake-Weight (tm).]] After spraying "water" on the user, it spits out cab money and promises to call.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' episode "Couples Retreat", it is [[DidTheyOrDidntThey heavily implied]] that Charmcaster and Darkstar had sex, because Charmcaster wakes up in bed and wonders where he went.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' turned the Film/JamesBond example on its head, where James presents ''himself'' this way, but it was actually the women he hooked up with getting sick of his constant puns [[PunnyName about their name]].

* Inverted in Music/{{Hooverphonic}}'s "The Wrong Place" -- Belgium's EurovisionSongContest 2021 entry --; the singer regrets the one-night stand and is annoyed that the man insists in staying for breakfast while she just wants him to go away.

* Subverted in ''Film/IfYouCouldSayItInWords'': Sadie wakes up in Nelson's apartment, thinking she's alone until he suddenly walks into the room. He tells her that he bought her coffee and a sweet bun, and that they did not have sex.