Crossovers
- In Child of the Storm, Harry and Carol insist, repeatedly, that they are not attracted to each other, it's merely a mutual case of Stupid Sexy Friend, they are nothing more than close friends, and that their Sleep Cute was totally platonic. They are utterly baffled about/irritated by the fact that everyone thinks that they have UST going on. Which they do. Lots of it. Admittedly, Harry has considered the idea once or twice, and Carol's eyed him up a couple of times, but given how many boys drool over Carol, he understandably doesn't want to push things. Plus, they're both young teenagers and not in a rush.
- By Ghosts of the Past, this has developed into a grudging acknowledgment that they are attracted to each other, with a tacit admittance that they love each other (platonically), but they're still Just Friends, Flirting Under Fire be damned. They hook up in chapter 46.
- Averted in Bravely Tangled Up with Dragons—Flynn asks Hiccup where his girlfriend went, referring to Merida, but Hiccup narrowly avoids saying this as Flynn takes a tree branch to the face, swung by none other than Merida.
- Doctor Whooves – The Series has the Doctor and Twilight, his companion. Or, shall we say, more than companion?The Doctor: No, Twilight and I are strictly... That is to say, she's a sweet girl but... No. While I do care about her well-being, I am not—
- Gohan and Mayu in the Elfen Lied/Dragon Ball Z crossover Elfen Lied: Children of Destruction so obviously have feelings for one another, to the point that one of the minor side characters points it out, with this trope as the result.
- In Equestrylvania, this is Twilight's reaction when her friends see Roaring Yawn's picture and tease her about him.
- Jonathan has the same reaction when people suggest this relationship between him and Charlotte.
- When Luna suggests Celestia has a crush on Julius Belmont, Celestia quickly changes the subject... but doesn't deny it.
- This is also Rainbow Dash's reaction whenever anyone points out the obvious Belligerent Sexual Tension between her and Shatterstorm.
- Stated quite emphatically in Fallout: Equestria by both Calamity and Velvet Remedy in Stable 29. Littlepip doesn't buy it.Littlepip: By the Goddesses, could they be any more obvious!
- Also an example of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, as part of the reason they hooked up is because Littlepip thought it was inevitable.
- In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/The DCU crossover series Justice League of Equestria, Rainbow insists that Thunderlane is not her boyfriend, despite him being cute, a good conversationalist, and cute.
- In The Many Dates of Danny Fenton, Danny tries to explain that Katie Kaboom is not his girlfriend when he's gifted a pass for all the rides at the carnival, but is interrupted by Katie herself.
- In the Muv-Luv Alternative/Armored Core crossover Project Ignition, this is common enough with Adler and Selene, seeing everyone sees them as a couple. However, pressing the issue is dangerous as it appears to be one of Adler's Berserk Buttons. Sort of, because usually pressing his Berserk Button actually causes violence—in this case, it's just yelling.
- Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku!, the proprietor of a local restaurant in Nagoya jokingly asks if Momo finally found a boyfriend when she and Izuku walk in the odor. The thought of being mistaken for a couple alone makes Izuku's brain do somersaults, while Momo flatly denies anything between them other than a mutual admiration for Princess Shazam. Izuku then feels like he should be a lot happier about that then he actually is.Jomu: Oh, and you got company, too. Little Momo finally manage to snag herself a boyfriend?
Izuku: H-Huh?! Y-Y-Y-Y-You've g-g-g-got-
Momo: Hardly. We met on the street, bonded over a shared love for Princess Shazam, and now we're getting lunch. That's all. - What Daichi says about Haruhi in the Rosario + Vampire/Kamen Rider Spirits crossover Showa & Vampire. Justified due to his girl problems.
- When Spike claims Amy is Sonic's girlfriend in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Sonic Generations crossover Sonic Generations: Friendship Is Timeless , Sonic quickly places his hands on his hips, telling him she is not (even though Amy thinks otherwise).
- And when Gilda claims Sonic is Rainbow Dash's boyfriend, Rainbow Dash quickly retaliates.
- Three More Things! has a Running Gag where Jade insists that Hsi Wu is not her boyfriend, even though Everyone Can See It. There's also a variant of saying "I'm not his Mistress" whenever someone makes a joke about her controlling him now that he's her familiar. Though the boyfriend one gets dropped after the Chosen One arc, when she stops denying her feelings for him.
- J-WITCH Series: When the Season 1 chapter "Fright Night Fight" reveals that Jade and Paco became pen pals at some point, the Guardians and Yan Lin tease Jade by asking her if that's all the pair are.
- Colosseum of the Heart: Sora talks about his friendships with Riku and Kairi, making it clear to everyone that he's in love with the latter. When Bonnie teasingly asks if she's his girlfriend, he gets embarrassed and denies it. Note that this takes place after the Paopu fruit scene in Kingdom Hearts III, the closest thing they've had to a Relationship Upgrade.
- In Eleutherophobia, Jake gets annoyed when Tom says that Cassie is his girlfriend.
- Chloe says this about Bobby in Chapter 6 of Learning from Nightmares.
- Inverted in Cinderjuice; at one point, BJ explicitly refers to Lydia as his girlfriend, even though she isn't.
- In the BIONICLE fanfic series Xaterex Multiverse Storyline, Shardak has a moment of this with Nightwatcher in Eternal Darkness, regarding Valkyria. Of course, Nightwatcher was right.
- In Winter War, Kon claims that he and Mashiro are "just friends." Kensei is not convinced.
- On a much grimmer note, there's also this exchange, after Grimmjow, Kazeshini-controlling-Hisagi, and Hanatarou discover Nemu Prime:Grimmjow: You're in a mood to fight. Was she your woman, or something?
Hisaginote : No. Not her. It's just—some things are monstrous. Even by your standards, maybe.
- On a much grimmer note, there's also this exchange, after Grimmjow, Kazeshini-controlling-Hisagi, and Hanatarou discover Nemu Prime:
- In Slice of Souls!, Maria insists that she and Solaire are Just Friends after Gehrman starts to freak out at seeing them together. Gehrman doesn't buy it, which leads to Maria trolling him by saying she and Solaire already had "sessions" together. Maria's actually talking about piano and drums jam sessions, not sex.
- A Certain Droll Hivemind: Misaka-11111's flatmate Aino Sumiko is very insistent that she is not dating Yokouchi Toru. He's just a stupid pig who leers at girls, and she doesn't care about him at all! Misaka is rather confused by all this. Abe Eiko is not confused.Sumiko: Anyway! "Toru" equals "worthless pig." And...
Eiko: Aren't you still going out with him?
Sumiko: We are not going out! We never went out! We... we just went places together as two people who just happen to be male and female. And that was ages ago anyway.
Eiko: Last Friday?
Sumiko: Ignoring you.
- In All Things End, Computer teases Courage about a dog he met in which he responds with this. He gets his revenge on Computer when Nina comes into the picture, playing up the same thing.
- Ayame Ishikawa and Hikaru Nagai of Despair's Last Resort constantly make this claim in regards to each other. Everyone believes they're a couple, no matter how much they deny it, due to how close they are.
- In the Danny Phantom AU Resurrection, Danni and Sam until the Relationship Upgrade.
- In A Gun to Love's Head, despite the fact that Light and L insist that they aren't lovers, Mello refuses to believe them until it becomes true.
- A Running Gag in I Won't Say:Light: Hello, everyone, I'm Light, L's boyfr—
L: My co-worker! - In Point of Succession Light gets annoyed when L proclaims him to be "my boyfriend" after they slept together once.
- Almaz says this about Sapphire in Fail to the King!, leading Aria to amend her previous statement:Aria: His girlfriend without benefits.
- Natsuki and Yuri in the Doki Doki Literature Club Loops are both unwilling to engage in romance, primarily because of the nature of their baseline. This doesn't stop their friends from scheming to make them a couple. Once Yuri finds out Natsuki thinks of herself as impossible to love, she immediately counters by picking her up and kissing her—it helps that they were at a wedding at the time, and they have since started dating for real.
- Cullen says this more than once about his colleague Evvy in the first installment of Skyhold Academy Yearbook. As Varric accurately points out in response, "She would be if you'd quit sitting on your hands about it." He gets better.
- Gender flipped in the Twice Upon an Age side volume Across the Waking Sea, which takes the form of letters exchanged between Varric and Bethany. When Varric makes an insinuation along these lines about Bethany and Sebastian, she very firmly shuts it down; in this particular case, it's the absolute truth.
- In Fire Emblem: Awakening fanfic Pretender, Frederick has this reaction when Chrom tells him that he and Robin could adopt after Frederick complains that his mother pesters him for grandchildren. However, this is because Frederick wants neither to force Robin into a relationship nor to break off their friendship.
- Played as straight as possible in the third chapter of the Full Metal Panic! AU fic Full Metal Panic! Bonds, when Tessa very vocally denies that she has feelings for Garon. That stance lasts about two minutes.
- In Boys und Sensha-dō!, Akio says this when his mother asks if Miho is his girlfriend.Akio: MOM! Miho-chan's not my girlfriend... she's my sensha-do team's captain.
- A subtler example happens after Akio ends up taking care of Miho while she's recovering from her injury in the match with Anzio, Senmonka comes to see him, and asks him what he and Miho did together. Akio says that he and Miho "spent some time working on some organizational stuff for the team," which is only part of what they did. Senmonka then decides to ask if they did anything else, making Akio want to hit him, but Akio inwardly concedes that the entire arrangement isn't so bad.
- Similarly, Tsubasa points out that Miho must be keeping Akio busy, but Akio points out that because of Miho's aforementioned injury, she has needed a lot of help. He then gets Tsubasa back by pointing out his relationship with Kazukonote , which Tsubasa can't deny.
- In Goosebumps Adventure, Courtney and Justin both insist this, even though Everyone Can See It.
- Draco towards Ebony in Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way vs. Canon. Justified since, well, she isn't. Good luck telling her that, though.
- In Family
Harry and Susan keep saying this about each other.David: Alright team, remember what we been practicing for the last few weeks. Harry, like we discussed, okay? Just fly around doing crazy stuff like you usually do. The 'Claws will be too distracted to pay attention to the quaffle, and if you get the chance, grab the snitch; oh, and please, for the love of Merlin don't go and kill yourself trying to grab the damn thing. It's just a game, after all. And I don't fancy your girlfriend beating me up 'cuz you got injured!
Harry: She's not my...
David: Yeah, right, keep telling yourself that kid. - Harry about Hermione in chapter 75 of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.Harry: And I. Am. Not. Her. Boyfriend!
- Hermione followed suit a few lines later.
- In Moratorium, Harry insists she isn't smitten with Tom. Neither Hermione nor Tom are fooled.
- In the Harry Potter Peggy Sue fic Oh God, Not Again!:Remus: Nymphadora is not my girlfriend!
Harry: She lets you call her Nymphadora. - When Hermione is forcing Draco to take back his insults in A Very Potter Musical, Ron chimes in with this:Ron: And that stuff about Hermione being my girlfriend, that's not even a little bit true!
- Sherry and Sadiq after England and France attempted to get them to hook up with each other in The Fanseries.
- When The New Adventures of Invader Zim begins to Ship Tease Dib and Viera, they keep finding themselves in situations where they're saying this about each other.
- In Queen of All Oni, Jackie really wishes people would stop calling Viper "his girl".
- In Reconciliation, a Katawa Shoujo fanfic that takes place after Hanako's bad ending, Hanako says this about Sho, her publicist and the closest thing she has to a friend as of the start of the fic. They eventually become a couple.
- Uttered insistently by both Dr Drakken and Shego to anyone that will listen toward the end of Maslow. No one believes them.
- In Runaway Wind Ventus and Naminé both have this simultaneous reaction when Yuffie teases them about planning some time to fly together and describes it as "your date". Justified in that neither of them have considered each other as romantic partners, just friends. A little more teasing has them both realize that they are falling in love with each other. Notably, when Ven does take her flying during a mission in Chapter 40, he has to clarify, "Just for the record. This isn't our date." And the next time Yuffie teases them about turning Naminé's Keyblade training into a date, neither of them deny it.
- In The Legend of Zelda: Paradise Calling, Malon tries to say this when a seamstress in Kakariko Village calls Link her boyfriend, but she's too embarrassed to get the sentence out.
- In A Far Green Country, chapter 12, when Surad mentions "your girlfriend," Elden says, "She's not my girlfriend." Surad still believes that Nellas is his girlfriend.
- In Lows and Highs (Of Adrien Agreste), Adrien and Marinette insist they aren't dating to anyone who asks, even though they've grown extremely close and Everyone Can See It. Unusually for the trope, neither of them is in denial about their feelings and they both are fully aware their feelings for the other are reciprocated, but they aren't officially dating because Adrien was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and he doesn't want to officially start dating Marinette until he has adjusted to his new normal, for fear of putting too much of a burden on her.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Assumptions, the first sentence out of Rainbow Dash's mouth when Caramel introduces her to his siblings is clarifying that they aren't an item. His family exchanges bemused expressions, but they drop it when they decide to let the two figure it out on their own.
- Dusk and Tootsie Flute have some of these moments in Luna The Match Maker, until some pushing and manipulating by everyone around them convinced them to have a Relationship Upgrade.
- Twilight's reaction in Night's Favored Child when Nightmare Moon jokingly suggests this about her relationship with Orion.
- Applejack's reaction when Granny Smith calls Dusk AJ's boyfriend in the AU fic The Unexpected Love Life of Dusk Shine.
- In Within And Without, Rainbow Dash is too afraid to publicly admit her feelings for Pinkie Pie until she's called out on it.
- Deidara denies being in a relationship with Hidan in chapter ten of Gender Confusion. Guess what happens a few chapters later?
- In Konoha No Senkou Arashi, Sasuke claims this about Naruto when Inari points it out.
- Hatake about the blacksmith's daughter in Mission Accomplished, also Punctuated! For! Emphasis!.
- Naru-Hina Chronicles:
- Rokuro calls Yori and Sadako "lovers". In response, the latter two make Comical Angry Faces and yell at him that they're not lovers.
- In one of the Mini-sodes, when Naruto refers to Arekusu as Lee's girlfriend, Lee nervously denies it. Afterwards, Naruto is confused over whether Lee and Arekusu are dating or not, while Hinata tells him they just need time.
- In Son of the Sannin, aside from the canon example of Asuma and Kurenai, we've got two notable instances:
- Ino in Chapter 65 brings Sai as her date for Asuma and Kurenai's wedding. When asked if Sai is her boyfriend, her response is more along the lines of "not yet", making this a downplayed example. Later in Chapter 72, though, Shikamaru remarks Ino gets mad if anybody within earshot says it.
- Karui, who fights Choji in the Chunin Exams, becomes Pen Pals with him afterwards. In chapter 90, her teammates Omoi and T teasingly refer to Choji as her boyfriend, which she quickly denies. However, ten chapters later, she has a Freudian Slip by telling him that she's gonna break up with him if his performance during the 4th ninja war does not satisfy her. Upon realizing what she said, she reluctantly takes back what she said before and accepts him as her boyfriend.
- Used (sometimes word for word) by Naruto whenever Jiraiya teases him about his relationship with Hinata in Team 8.
- True Potential:
- In the Forest of Death during the Chūnin Exams, Shikamaru decides to make Hinata stop being upset by teasingly referring to Naruto as her boyfriend. She blushes and nervously says that they aren't dating yet, only for her friend to point out that the keyword in her sentence was "yet". This makes her blush even further.
- Prior to Naruto and Hinata becoming a couple, there are a few instances where Shikamaru would tease his two teammates after they just had a romantic moment, causing the latter two to blush and Naruto to tell the Nara boy to shut up.
- During the Chūnin Exams preliminaries, Kurotsuchi asks Shikamaru if Ino is a friend of his, but he replies that she's just an acquaintance. Naruto then tells Kurotsuchi that Shikamaru is all hers given that he and Ino aren't that close, causing Shikamaru and Kurotsuchi to ominously ask him what does he mean by that. The blond ninja then tries to nervously Change the Uncomfortable Subject by pointing out the next match is about to start.
- When Shikamaru invites Kurotsuchi for dinner, Shikaku tells him "Anybody that you actually have an interest in must be something special.", making his son widen his eyes as he realizes what his parents are thinking before telling his father that he and Kurotsuchi are just friends and nothing more. Shikaku replies "Not yet." with a snicker and a teasing grin, much to Shikamaru's annoyance.
- During the Kiri Civil War arc, Hotaru learns that Mei met Utakata several years ago. Mei then tells Hotaru that the former is not trying to steal the latter's man. Utakata chuckles at that while Hotaru blushes:Utakata: You misinterpreted our relationship, Mei.
Hotaru: [nodding in agreement while still blushing] Y-Yeah! You did!- A few chapters later, Mei once again misinterprets their relationship, causing Utakata to be annoyed this time.
- In the Forest of Death during the Chūnin Exams, Shikamaru decides to make Hinata stop being upset by teasingly referring to Naruto as her boyfriend. She blushes and nervously says that they aren't dating yet, only for her friend to point out that the keyword in her sentence was "yet". This makes her blush even further.
- In Taken Day by Day, Setsuna can't seem to convince 3-A that she and Tsukuyomi are not in a relationship.
- Advice and Trust: Asuka constantly denied that Shinji was her boyfriend before getting together. Ironically, she hates having to put up this act all the time in order to keep her relationship secret after she and Shinji became a couple.
- In chapter 5 Touji called them "husband and wife". Cue red faces and denial in unison.
- Rei does this in chapter 11 regarding her relationship with Kaworu. Asuka just rolls her eyes and comments "Boy, those reflexes you learned off me are a bitch". Given Asuka's own experience, she's able to get Rei to admit that Kaworu is her boyfriend less than a minute after this exchange.
- The Child of Love:
- Asuka several times insisted there was nothing between her and Shinji, he was just a friend and she was not his girlfriend and will definitely not be his wife. Nobody was convinced.
- In chapter 4:Kaji: (in front of Asuka) And why not talk about the future, Asuka? Or should I say Ikari Asuka Langley?
Asuka turns a vivid shade of red while Shinji tries to hide himself under the table.
Asuka: Kaji-san, please understand that there's nothing between me and stupid Shinji, okay?
Everyone is grinning and staring at them, not really convinced by Asuka's words.
- Children of an Elder God: In chapter 6 Asuka claimed she wrapped her arm around Shinji's earlier because she was trying to make Kaji jealous and she did not like her fellow pilot. Of course, everyone disregarded her claims.
- A Crown of Stars: At the beginning of the story, Asuka denied Shinji was her boyfriend and vice versa. One of the reasons is they did not know where they stood with each other and the only thing they were certain about is they did not want to remain apart (and also because they were in denial). They got together later on—after a fashion—but Asuka was unsure about her own feelings for a while, so she denied it until her doubts disappeared.
- In chapter 30:Ching: No, I didn't peek in the window and see you making out with your boyfriend
Asuka: He is not my boyfriend! I mean... we haven't talked about it... I don't know
- In chapter 30:
- Evangelion 303: In chapter 5, Asuka spent a looong time berating Shinji, complaining about that idiot not calling her, not noticing that she was worried about him and making excuses for staying in his house and sleeping in his bed. Jessika asked her if "idiot" was German for "boyfriend". Asuka’s answer was as angry as predictable:Asuka: WOULD YOU SHUT UP?
- The Ikaris: In this story where Shinji and Asuka get drunk and wake up married, it's "He is not my spouse".
- Subverted in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide. When Asuka asks Shinji if he's dating Rei, he denies it, knowing that the relationship he has with Rei is both something else and more than a little complicated by the fact that she died and came back to life as another person. He also realizes that these reasons are far too complicated to explain to Asuka, so he settles for telling her that Rei simply isn't interested.
- Once More With Feeling (Crazy-88): A girl asks Asuka if Shinji is her boyfriend. When Asuka claims that they're Just Friends, the girl suggests that maybe she'll get him all for herself, then. Asuka chews her head off.
- The Second Try provides the next examples:
- In order to keep the Masquerade, Asuka is forced to protest that Shinji isn't her boyfriend whenever someone suggests that she likes him, even though they got married several years ago -from their perspective-.note
- According to Misato, she and Kaji haven't got back together. And they are NOT dating. They are merely hanging out together. And having sex. But he's not her boyfriend.
- Full Circle: Olympia, one of the resident Shippers on Deck, is a firm believer in Olive and Otto being in a relationship with each other, and when she lets it slip in front of Otto while planning to play matchmaker for Olive and Oscar, he's quick to assert that he and Olive aren't going out — which is justified, considering he's going out with Opal while Olive is Amicable Exes with Oscar.Otto: WHAT?! What do you mean, "we started going out"?!
Olympia: Y-you know, you, uh, became boyfriend and girlfriend...?
Otto: Me and Olive? NO! Ew, no! Goodness, she's like my sister! Eugh! No, this is about Olive and Oscar.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
- When Heimdall implies that Ayra is tied romantically to Nico in Aska, Nico answers like this for her, while laughing at the ridiculous idea.
- Aigis says this about Minato in Persona 3/Persona 4 fanfic The Fools Turmoil.
- When Raijin asks Haruto if Arisu is his girlfriend in Persona Ultraviolet, Haruto quickly denies it.
- In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon fanfic Brave New World, Ash and Misty vocally claim not to be a couple, in spite of three Pokémon who consider them in specific terms to be their parents.
- Pikachu and the ninja Buneary get this a lot too.
- In Cindy's Story, during their Cyndaquil and Quilava years, this was the case with Cindy and Ty. In their Typhlosion forms, they are basically… er… Happily Married?
- Amber has denied that she has a crush on Sombra.
- In Pokémon Adventures fanfic series The Forever Trilogy, this occurs nearly every chapter with Goldy and Sapph.
- Sapph is trying to change this, but with Goldy, well…
- Congrats, you have succeeded, Sapph! Goldy/Sapph is now canon!
- Crimson has to say this sometimes about Indigo.
- Crim even said this to Navy when Navy called Crim Indi's boyfriend.Crimson: "SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"
- Crim even said this to Navy when Navy called Crim Indi's boyfriend.
- Sapph is trying to change this, but with Goldy, well…
- Guys Being Dudes: Said by both halves of the main couple about each other. Lampshaded in its nature as denial by Candela."Arlo, remember when you used to take me to watch rom-coms because it made you feel like the ultimate cishet guy? ...I'd like you to name one of those rom-coms in which someone said someone wasn't their boyfriend and/or girlfriend and wasn't wrong."
- Happens with Ruby and Sapphire in the Pokémon Adventures High School AU A Miscellaneous Tale of Night and Day:Gold: Ah, you two are Like an Old Married Couple
Ruby and Sapphire: Stop saying that!- This also happened with Red and Yellow once, but in a much more perverted sense.
- Almost every couple in Overcoming The Clashing Tides.
- Jay and Ashley have admitted they do have feelings for each other but whenever an outsider points this out... Cue, death glares and denials.
- It doesn't happen often with Bronze and Lizzie, but it's there.
- A sidestory of Pokémon Reset Bloodlines has Misty explicitly state about Ash: "He's a boy, and he's my friend, but he's not my boyfriend." At this point, however, it's pretty clear that she's attracted to him, and by the time of the Indigo League, while she does get flustered (like Marina referring to them as "lovers"), she no longer denies it.
- Missy denies having any feelings for Dan in the early couple of chapters of Pokémon: Storm Clouds. She's not fooling anyone.
- In the AU fanfiction series The Road You Choose, the first part, The Mystery of Aura, has Kidd Summers ask if Misty is Ash's girlfriend, cue a rapid denial from both. Then fast-forward to the end of the second story, The Master of Mirage, set a couple weeks later chronologically; Misty refers to herself as Ash's girlfriend.
- In Sword and Shield there's a two-way version between Mewtwo and Brenda, who have been growing closer and closer over the series but refuse to acknowledge it.
- In the Power Rangers fic Of Love and Bunnies, Tommy and Kim frequently do this.
- Subverted when a dream-interpreting fortuneteller assumes Adam is Kira's boyfriend (mostly because Kira was sitting on Adam's lap at the time). Since they aren't even remotely a couple (dating other people, vast age difference, barely know each other), they're rather confused by the assumption.
- Shouted word-for-word by Sean after being asked about Maria in Power Rangers GPX.
- The More Things Change: Ukyou and Ryouga repeat over and over they're not a couple. Nobody believes them.Yuka: And given all things equal, I'll bet on Ranma.
Ukyou: You guys really don't think Ryouga has a chance?
Nabiki: Defending your boyfriend, Ukyou?
Ukyou: He is NOT my boyfriend!
- In Thawing Permafrost, this is played straight by Dan and Mizore in the Maid Cafe.
- Arc Corp: Jaune and Blake are regularly assumed to be romantically involved at first glance by several characters, prompting Blake to shoot down the notion whenever it comes up; be it with her mother, Jaune's family members, Ruby, etc. When pressed on the matter, Blake admits that she isn't necessarily adverse to a relationship with Jaune, though she does think they have too much collective baggage to make it work. No, the real problem is that she eventually wants kids, and the idea of having his family anywhere near her future offspring is the worst thing she could ever imagine.Blake: You'd have to be either madly in love or deeply disturbed to want to bring a child into the world under that name. I've seen what they do to their children, Ruby, and I'll die before one of my own is put through that.
- White Sheep (RWBY): Weiss' sister Winter comes in on the tail end of a conversation that makes it sound like Weiss and Jaune are dating. Weiss tells Winter that Jaune is her partner, but not her partner partner, then realizes that sounds fake and tries to recover. Winter is amused, but believes her. Unfortunately, the thing they were actually talking about an illegal incident their teams were involved in the previous night, which Winter is in charge of investigating. So Weiss then has to backtrack and claim Jaune is her boyfriend as a cover. Ironically, while Jaune does have an Unwanted Harem, Weiss isn't a member.
- Sonic in The CRONIES:Sonic: WHAT?! Amy's... NOT... MY FLOOZY!!!
- When Kira first gets a crush on Kid in Black And Gold, he immediately lets her down easy by informing her he's engaged (something L.J. avoided doing until the last minute). L.J. then claims she wouldn't care if Kira did pursue a relationship with Kid, citing the trope name.
- In the trollfic One Less Lonely Gurl, SpongeBob had to explain that C'ren wasn't his girlfriend even though he had her stay over at his house for the night.
- The Legend of Spyro: A New Dawn: Pyrus and Delilah do this at the same time when one of Kaze's Quirky Mini Boss Squad say that Delilah is Pyrus' girlfriend. In this case, they're telling the truth, Delilah has already said she can tell someone else is meant for Pyrus and that she is about 200 years older than he is anyway.
- The Star Trek (2009) fanfic Written in the Stars revolves around this trope for the first part of the story. Fem!Kirk discovers from Spock Prime that he and her own Prime counterpart were married... and then the spirit of that counterpart gets stuck inside her head, and makes hints about the alternate pair's relationship whenever she gets the chance.
- Invoked in Eros Turannos when Padme has to discuss the nature of her relationship with Vader with a Senator she doesn’t like that much, Padme simply stating that she and Vader were brought together due to other issues and decided to attend social occasions together to save themselves the bother.
- In Star Wars Paranormalities Trilogy, Zolph tends to have this reaction when Grein assumes he and Dynn were in a relationship. At least, that was the case before Dynn's death.
- In the Super Robot Wars High series, Yzak Joule and Shiho Hanhenfuss keep claiming to anyone who will listen they are not a couple or have any feelings for each other aside from disdain. No one believes them.
- In Super Smash Brothers: Guardians Arise!, Link keeps saying Zelda is not his girlfriend, while Zelda keeps refusing to admit she has feelings for Link at the beginning of the story.
- Beast Boy's reaction when Robotman refers to Jinx as his girlfriend in Jewel of Darkness.
- Averil says this about Zack in Freefall. No one believes him. Caleb has this regarding Finn later on, and eventually stops denying it since it's easier than trying to explain.
- X-Men: The Early Years: In "Chemical Imbalances, Kissing, and Other Sappy Things", Scott reiterates Jean Grey is not his girlfriend.Someone must have picked up on the other side of the line Jade had dialed. "Shelly, Scott's here to see Katy. Can I send him up? He brought a..." — Jade winked at her and Jean decided right there she was going to like this woman — "... a female friend with him today. Can I send her up too? Yes, it appears Slim, does indeed have a girlfriend. Some of the older girls around here are going to be heart-broken."
"She is not my girlfriend," Scott protested loudly, blushing a little, "She's a close friend, I go to school with."
Jade covered the mouthpiece of the telephone and replied, "Shelly said she heard that and you are protesting way too much for her not to be your girlfriend. 'Bout time you got yourself a life." Scott groaned and blushed a little redder. Jade chuckled at that display and took her hand off the mouthpiece. "I'll send them both right up." She hung up the phone, gave Jean a wide grin and offered a hand. "Hi, I'm Jade and regardless of what Shelly might tell you later, I run this nut house."
"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Jean," she responded, shaking the older woman's hand. "Otherwise known as 'not-Scott's-girlfriend.'" That response pulled another groan from Scott. - In House of Summers, sixteen-year-old Rachel Summers swears she isn't interested in Franklin Richards. Her taking Advanced Chemistry is because she wanted a challenge. Definitely it isn't because she wanted to be in the same class as Franklin.Scott Summers: "Franklin? The new student? Sue and Reed Richards' son?"
Rachel Summers: "Yes, dad... But Nate's just being annoying, I don't care about Franklin."
Scott Summers: "Wait… Is that why you took Advanced Chemistry, Rach?"
Rachel Summers: "Umm…"
Scott Summers: "I knew something was up! You hate chemistry. You just wanted to be in the same class as that boy."
Rachel Summers: "That's not why I took it! I wanted a challenge."
- In the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds fanfic Shadowchasers (Cyber Commander), Gears repeatedly denies that Mistle is his girlfriend. Of course, none of his teammates (and Jalal) believe him.
