Ho Yay / Animal Crossing

Even with Animal Crossing's rule of No Hugging, No Kissing, there's still plenty of moments where NPCs seem really affectionate to those of the same gender.

General:

• The characters with the Lazy personality and the characters with the Jock personality usually end up as friends. Really. Close. Friends. In New Leaf, the Lazy villager blushes while asking you to deliver something to a Jock, and upon being asked why they don't just deliver it themselves, they become very flustered. In Wild World, they sometimes end up having a conversation with the lazy character complimenting the jock character with such compliments as "And those dimples you get when you smile are dreamy too". The conversation ends with both of them skipping away. Very. Happily.
  • A possible conversation between a jock villager and a lazy villager in New Horizons has the lazy villager asking the jock "Man, [jock], how are you so charming all the time?"
  • Another of the possible conversations between a lazy villager and a jock villager in New Horizons consists in the former insisting that the latter shows him his abs.
  • This happens with the "cranky" and "lazy" personalities as well. Specifically a conversation with the "lazy" requesting the "cranky" to breathe on him...
  • Speaking of Cranky villagers, if they're about to move away and you're male, and you refuse, they'll say "Well, if YOU'RE the one that says so," while blushing.
• Smug villagers have been known to wax poetically about romantic themes and deliberately flirt with the player, even if they're male. As a result many players think of them as Ambiguously Bi.
  • Some examples of their flirting (with a male player, mind you): If you're good friends with them and don't show up when they'd asked to visit you, they'll only be sad for a moment, but then comment on how "seeing your smile immediately made them forget all their worries", if they're wearing another players design, they comment on how they want to be your model so you could design something for them, and they offer to protect you in casual dialogue as well as when you're chased by bees. And there's this dialogue, paraphrased:
    Smug villager: When I listen to pop music, I always notice that they use the word "baby" all the time. [name], do you have any idea who they might mean by that?
    (one dialogue option is "a lover")
    Smug villager: You might be right about that, [name]. Kind of weird what kind of names people give each other when they like each other. ... Right, baby?
  • They aren't just campy in their interactions, but they outright state flamboyant campy names for themselves in their letters calling themselves "X of the Red Rose" for example. They write letters about how they had poetic dreams about you, they randomly give you gifts in letters, basically anything that just screams "Take me out on a date".
  • For added fun, listen in on a Smug villager interacting with another Smug villager. You'll get conversations from them smelling each other and complimenting each other's scent to them worrying about public gossip about their relationship with each other.
• If a female player talks to a sisterly villager frequently in a short period of time, they'll comment on how they're "even popular with the girls today" and that they're not used to that.
• Snooty villagers got nice over time, but maybe a little more than nice. After all, occasionally you'll hear one talking about how much they love attention regardless of gender, and have a genuine connection with the player character often calling them "my dear X" or ending "with Love, X".
  • Snooty villagers in New Leaf have a tendency to do the "love" emotion, also regardless of the gender. In the original games, they will say they have a boyfriend, but by New Leaf, this detail is seemingly missing. Take that if you will.
• And then we get to Peppy Villagers which are basically Snooty villagers but more touchy-feely. They'll often put hearts at the end of their letter to you regardless of gender and love being flirted with. They even say (again regardless of gender) they want to be your roomie!
• Back to the Lazy Villagers who are pretty much Het Life Partners with the male player, although the jury is out on their romantic preference, as many of their comments can be either interpreted as romantic, or as a reflection of their child-like nature and innocent happiness. For example, they will often comment on wanting to share the same bed as the player or say you have arms perfectly for shaking trees, and that you're stealthy, like a ninja with a heart above their head, regardless of gender. Also their friendship seems a little TOO ambiguous with the player as they will always cry in front of you about what an amazing friend you are, and say they "always have time for you" while flustered.
• Conversely, Jock villagers only seem to be interested in male villagers and will often compliment the physique of the male player or other villagers. They will even be envious of Pete's walking style and dreamily respond that Cyrus is manly with a dreamy heart to the point it's barely subtext. The fact they show no real interest in females notwithstanding and choose to make the male PC their rival, is hilarious.
• If you call a Normal villager's outfit cute they will respond "Oh X, you're too kind!" while blushing regardless of gender. Of course this works with Celeste, Blather's sister in City Folk where if you're female and you call her cute she will call you adorable.
• This letter from a Cranky villager:
  Cranky: I carefully read that letter you wrote. It made me both happy and embarrassed. My face turned bright red!

Animal Crossing: Wild World

• One of the passwords to enter Redd's shop is, "Someone to wed - No way, Nook"

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

• Isabelle has a crush on the mayor, regardless of their gender, and will send you special mail for Valentine's day.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer

• Francine appears to really like Chrissy, as she requests her home to be a shrine for her. It doubles as Incest Yay Shipping as according to the Japanese City Folk website, the two are sisters.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

• C.J. and Flick both mention having a partner. If you talk to C.J. when he is on your island, he reveals his partner is an artist who likes making sculptures of bugs, strongly suggesting that his partner is Flick. Whether or not they are simply business partners or are actually a couple is left ambiguous, though C.J.'s dialogue might suggest something more than a business partnership.
  • The official game guide would later reveal that they're business partners... while at the same time confirming that they're roommates (not to mention that C.J. refers to him and Flick as "best buds" if you talk to him at one point in the Happy Home Paradise add-on), which just adds to the shipping.
  • In the letter C.J. writes when sending the player a fish statue, he comes across as very moonstruck about Flick's handiwork:
  You shoulda seen my partner work on this. Sometimes he just...flows. It's fintastic.'
  • In the Happy Home Paradise add-on, inviting either C.J. or Flick will automatically result in them both moving in together. If you invite Flick via amiibo, he seems unsure about having a vacation home but quickly agrees when he learns that C.J. can live in the house with him. Trying to ask Flick to be roommates with another person will result in him immediately refusing, only wanting C.J. as his roommate. Other conversations will have C.J. mention wanting to throw a huge party, but quickly discarding the idea because Flick isn't big on them, C.J. talking about how great it is to be roommates with Flick and gushing about how amazing his talent is, C.J. talking about how great it is to share a house with Flick, and Flick saying how he can be himself when he's with C.J. because he "gets" Flick.
• If you get into a conversation about comics with a peppy villager and tell her you like romantic comedies, she'll reply that her current favorite is a story about the Princess of Rocketboarding and her true love, the Princess of Explosions.
• One of the possible conversations with a snooty villager if spoken near the Resident Services Building has them talking about Isabelle in a way that makes it look like they have a crush on her, which is not helped by the fact that they make the "love" emotion when they talk about her.
• Peppy villagers (who are all female) can send the player a card talking about how they got caught passing a note claiming they hate pop music and were made to read it aloud, but the villager explains they were lying to impress a girl named Debbie who liked prog rock.
• One possible conversation between peppy and snooty villagers shows the peppy villager expressing disgust toward "the whole Prince Charming thing", and when she then describes her type, she uses gender-neutral pronouns.
• Rooming a smug villager up with another villager in the Happy Home Paradise add-on may cause the smug one to mention how living with their roommate has been "eye-opening", before saying that they won't elaborate on it for the moment. Dialogue is not separated by the roommate's gender, so this can happen with anyone.

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