Basic Trope: A platonic couple that is sexually involved with one another, but not an Official Couple.
- Straight: Alice and Bob have sex, and are good platonic friends with one another, but not boyfriend and girlfriend.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice and Bob do nothing else together except have sex.
- Alice and Bob have a Marriage of Convenience.
- Alice and Bob are Platonic Life-Partners that have the most bed breaking, neighborhood waking sex.
- Alice and Bob have had sex with all their friends.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob flirt, and have made out on occasion, but they don't have sex, and they aren't together.
- Justified:
- One or both are aromantic and not interested in a relationship.
- Alice and/or Bob are involved with other people
- Alice and Bob want sex, but not necessarily to be tied down.
- Alice and Bob are going for a Relationship Upgrade. (YMMV as to whether they're going about it the right way or not.)
- Alice and Bob are in the mood, and trust each other.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob are an Official Couple but don't have sex.
- Alice and Bob are Like Brother and Sister.
- Alice and Bob are enemies with benefits. Like Dating Catwoman, only not dating, per se...
- Subverted:
- Alice and Bob are attracted to one another, but the attraction is where it stops.
- Alice and Bob decide to become an Official Couple after an accidental pregnancy.
- Double Subverted:
- Until they have a little too much to drink at a party and end up in bed together.
- However they just don't love each other enough to marry, so they keep being Friends with Benefits even if that means they have an odd kid or two in the process.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig Zagged Alice and Bob are attracted to one another, but the attraction is where it stops... Until they have a little too much to drink at a party and end up in bed together... Except that in a bizarre turn of events that somehow involves Bob's old T-Bird, a flamethrower, and an industrial-size crate of bran muffins, they had not, in fact, done the dirty deed.
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob do not have sex.
- Alice and Bob are an Official Couple.
- Enforced: They're teasing the shippers.
- Lampshaded: "Wait, they're not dating, but they still, like, do it?" "Yeah, like that one Ashton Kutcher movie."
- Invoked: Alice, unhappy in her relationship with Charles, is comforted (and ultimately seduced) by her friend Bob.
- Exploited: Bob and Alice stay friends with each other for the sex.
- Defied: Alice and Bob agree not to let raging hormones lead them to risk ruining their friendship.
- Discussed: "You know, I always wondered if you'd be interested in-" "Not gonna happen."
- Conversed: "Oh come on. We all know that you'd have to be a friggin' sociopath to not get attached to your partner."
- Implied:
- Alice and Bob, both known as very good friends who don't date, frequently disappear together before reappearing with slightly messed up clothing.
- The one time Bob comes on to Alice she turns him down, but in a calm "not this time" manner.
- Deconstructed: It can lead to all sorts of awkwardness, especially if one is falling in love with the other, who isn't interested.
- Reconstructed: Everyone is on the same page, and does not have any unrealistic expectations as to where this is (or may be) going. And who knows? It might become a real relationship with time anyway.
- Played For Laughs:
- What Did I Do Last Night?
- Bob and Alice are Like Brother and Sister — who have Brother-Sister Sex.
- Played For Drama:
- Though Alice and Bob only view each other as friends, things become more complicated when Alice ends up pregnant. Their conflicting ideas on how to deal with that fact ends up damaging their friendship.
- Bob becomes jealous once Alice gets an actual boyfriend.
- Alice and Bob have a lot of pent up sexual frustration stemming from growing up in a society where masturbation is considered a sin and everyone they actually are interested in getting married to someone else. They mostly decide to become friends with benefits to stave off their frustration using the lesser of two evils but are still shown feeling immense guilt over it.
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