Boy Girlfriend is a Boys' Love webcomic on written and illustrated by Pastaflavour (Nicole). The first issue was released on 21st June 2021.
Keane, an attractive yet idiotic high school student plans on confessing his feelings to his crush, Hailey. However, when he visits her school and she brings a male friend, Hailey refers to Keane as a "child". This saddens Keane and goes to his sarcastic best friend Onyx for support. He then gets the brilliant idea to have Onyx dress up and pretend to be his girlfriend.
It can be viewed on Webtoon.
Contains the following tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Keane playfully gives Onyx a plethora of nicknames such as "Onyx the Third" and "Nyxie" to symbolise their close bond.
- Ambiguously Bi: Played With for Keane. At first, it seems like he's definitely attracted to women given his obsession with Hailey while his attraction to men is kept ambiguous. As the comic goes on, we find out he's not truly attracted to Hailey and is more in love with his best friend Onyx. That said, his attraction to women isn't entirely out of the question since he still enjoys seeing Onyx crossdress (Even becoming aroused at the thought of him wearing a bra).
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Keane asks his friend Oynx to wear feminine clothing and a wig. The result is Lynx, a beautiful girl who ends up attracting a lot of boys, and even a few girls.
- Deadpan Snarker: Onyx is constantly spouting witty remarks, usually at Keane's idiocy.
- Innocently Insensitive: Keane makes Onyx do the most ridiculous things to win Hailey over, such as cross-dressing as his girlfriend, dragging him to loud, crowded places he's clearly uncomfortable at, suddenly kissing him in the closet and making him wear the Little Black Dress he bought, which angers the latter to no end. At the same time, Onyx began harboring a growing attraction towards Keane after the closet incident who remains blissfully unaware as evidenced by constantly rubbing in his face how he's one step closer to winning Hailey's heart, dismissing their make-out sessions as Practice Kissing and assuming Onyx's crush is a girl which adds on to his Gayngst. However, it becomes brutally deconstructed since his unintentional obliviousness and selfishness temporarily drove away Onyx who thinks it's best if they keep their distance for the time being at the exact moment Keane finally realises he's in love with him. As a result, Keane spent the next ten days isolated in his room having a full-blown depressive episode from hating himself for not being a better friend to Onyx and his unrelenting crush upon reflecting back on everything he did.
- Loving a Shadow: At first, Keane was head over heels for Hailey and had spent months unsuccessfully trying to confess to the point of making Onyx crossdressed as his girlfriend to win her over. After getting to know Hailey, however, it becomes apparent he is less in love with her as he is in love with the idea of someone unobtainable and out of his league like say your life-long best friend who is a guy. This is apparent when he keeps inviting Lynx to all his hangouts and dates with Hailey as a Third Wheel and constantly thinks of him when he can't.
- Love Epiphany: Keane and Onyx are Heterosexual Life-Partners since little until the girlfriend ploy led them to become each other's Closet Key after unknowingly and heavily repressing their feelings for so long. Most of the drama comes from the two realising this epiphany at vastly different times and circumstances preventing them from talking things out properly.Keane: "And that's when the moment sunk in. I realised what Lynx— no... what Onyx really meant for me. That's when everything started making sense... why my hands were unable to stop trembling ever since I left Onyx's house to find Hailey... why I didn't feel anything when I kissed her back in her place... why I kept thinking of him the whole time... Why I always wanted him along on every single date with her. Why I found "Lynx" so fascinating, and why kissing him was so f*cking mind-blowing. Why today I wanted to kiss him again. Why his words mattered so much. Why I'm always protective of him and why seeing him with Ethan always make me so furious. ...For how long? For how long have I had these feelings for him? Was it since then... or what if it goes way back? Was this why I even wanted him to dress up like a girl and pretend to be my girlfriend in the first place? ...Just how could I have been so blind?! ...I'm in love with him."
- Nocturnal Emission: Still reeling in from the Love Epiphany during his time of isolation, Keane keeps having increasingly erotic dreams of Onyx shirtless, kissing him deeply and grinding up against him which leads to the trope upon waking up. Keane is not happy having these dreams as it makes him believe Onyx is right about keeping their distance.
- Psychological Projection: It's heavily implied Keane's actions of making Onyx crossdress to win over his crush Hailey is the result of the innate desire for Onyx to be his (boy) girlfriend in a way that his wholly unaware and closeted self can only process. This comes into light in chapter 72 where Keane finally realises he has never loved Hailey in the first place and had mistaken it as such because he was subconsciously re-directing his feelings and sexual attraction for Onyx onto her.
- Satellite Character: Everlyn's only role in the story is to round out the friend group of Keane, Onyx, Hailey and Ethan and isn't in any way involved in the ongoing Love Triangle plot between the four.
- Straight Gay: Oynx was surprised when Ethan comes out to him as gay and had harbored a crush on him the whole time but doesn't exhibit any signs of this beforehand. This was how Ethan figured out Lynx's true identity since he never had any attraction towards girls.
