Last-Minute Hookup

It finally happened. After all the Fan Wank and Shipping, after all the denial, after all the Will They or Won't They?, after all the fighting (by either the couple or the fans), and after all the heartless teasing, devoted fans and viewers alike are at last rewarded with the two characters (usually the main character and his/her close friend of opposite gender) everyone knows and/or demands should inevitably get together, finally doing just that. Too bad it can't be enjoyed, what with the show being over and all. Well, at least it will be, give it another two seconds.

With a Last Minute Hookup, even the most uncreative and hilariously unromantic of writers are enabled to enjoy all the benefits of rewarding incessant fans with an intimate relationship, without the hassle of actually having to do so. All they need to do is make sure the two have that one single kiss or exchange a single "I love you" at the very end, and it's all good. It's just that easy.

This is also a way writers get rid of inconvenient romantic competition by having said competition suddenly fall for someone else.

Though certainly not exclusive to them, the trope is especially frequent in premature crush-laden shows directed towards kids and tween audiences, where very few writers have the guts to take a jab at illustrating actual romance, but nonetheless, a vast majority still feel the overwhelming need to drop an innumerable amount of anything-but-subtle "hints" toward the prospect all throughout the series. For the few bold ones that do have the guts to at least give it a try, they are hampered by Media Watchdogs and the usually larger portion of the audience who, quite frankly, just aren't into that kind of stuff.

While actually seeing the couple together and having a relationship would have been nice, there can be potential problems that arise from that, which this trope removes, such as the new couple not having the same chemistry now that they're together, their romance taking over the story, or the characters becoming Sickeningly Sweethearts. It may result in another ship being sunk, but that couple's shippers are spared having to see their rival ship together. This sometimes overlaps with Strangled by the Red String when it's done especially badly, but it can also serve as damage control for that trope, though there is a risk of any of these happening in unexpected sequels.

See Hooked Up Afterwards for when this happens to side characters, and Maybe Ever After for when the hook up is hinted or implied rather than being certain.

Contrast with New Old Flame.

Important Note: Even though this is not a YMMV trope, and is usually pretty straight forward, (ie the couple hooks up at the last minute), that examples can get subjective due to Ship-to-Ship Combat, Shipping Goggles, or just plain disagreements. What one person considers to be the couple getting together, another person may not. For example, the couple may have confessed their feelings for each other earlier, at which point part of the audience now considers them to have hooked up, but the couple doesn't have their First Kiss until the very end, (or vice versa) and the other part of the audience doesn't consider them officially together until then. This can also apply to couples that hook up earlier but break up and don't get back together until the very end.

 Warning: This is an Ending Trope, so spoilers abound 

Anime and Manga

 * Aria: A variety of this trope occurs at the end of the series, when super-undine Alicia declares that she will retire and get married. Before that there was no indication whatsoever that she was even seeing someone, let alone that she was getting engaged. Throughout the series she appears to be mostly focused on Akari, so her announcement does come totally out of the blue. Worse, her fiancé doesn't even get the slightest bit of screen time, so it all feels like quite a cop-out.
 * Alicia receiving a ring for the Marriage to the Sea event was the only scene that implied that she had a boyfriend.
 * Captain Tsubasa: In the last two Volumes of the first manga series Tsubasa and Sanae realized the feelings they have for each other, Sanae finally became honest with herself and her feelings, but Tsubasa is a strange case, he showed no hints whatsoever that he liked Sanae or anyone else, so his love confession felt like a last minute plot. This is saved from its own awkwardness because that’s only the first manga series’ climax, the sequels does take its time to show Tsubasa showing affection towards Sanae, and consequently developing their relationship.
 * Clannad: The Kyo Ani adaptation had Nagisa and Tomoya hook up during the final episode of the first season. In the Visual Novel however, if you play through Nagisa's route, they end up hooking up much, much earlier (in the anime, it's a day after the Culture Festival, in the game, it's on April 24, and the game starts on April 14).
 * The Law of Ueki Plus: Ueki and Mori officially become a couple at the end.
 * Nodame Cantabile: It isn't until the very last scenes of the anime that Chiaki finally recognizes his feelings for Nodame and decides to study abroad together with her.
 * Alas, their relationship has for the second season, following the manga.
 * Ranma ½: Ryoga's getting together with Akari Unryuu could technically count as one of these. While Akari appears about four volumes before the final volume, she only makes appearances in four stories.
 * Samurai Pizza Cats: The original version sees protagonist Speedy frequently lusting after tea-girl Lucille; late in the series, he develops feelings for his teammate Polly, and they literally end up in each other's arms in the series finale. However, writers for the dubbed version weren't provided with scripts of the original episodes, forcing them to make up plotlines and dialogue as they went; as a result, Speedy's growing attraction to Polly is never mentioned at all until the final episode, making their embrace at the end seem very sudden.
 * Strawberry Panic: . Although romantic, this is also quite sudden since we have never actually seen them work out their issues.
 * Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Yoko kisses and establishes a relationship with right before he dies.  tries to sort his feelings for Yoko right before he dies.
 * Vandread: finally gets into the space ship with the male protagonist to fly home with him, after he calls her name.
 * In Vision of Escaflowne, Hitomi and Van, who confess their feelings for one another in the last half of the last episode and don't even get a kiss.
 * Magic Knight Rayearth: in the anime version, Hikaru and Lantis do this, with a full blown confession from both of them, right before
 * The Shaman King manga has whom never exchanged more than three lines in the entire series yet have a son in the epilogue.
 * Martian Successor Nadesico holds off on making the relationship between Akito and Yurika official until the very end. While Yurika was pushing for a reciprocated Childhood Friend Romance from the start, Akito avoided it at every turn. The fight leading UP to the romance began with 5 minutes left in the series and is established with about 2 minutes left.

Comic Books

 * Strangers in Paradise: The hookup of  in the last issue struck many readers as forced, given that they'd only been revealed even to have had an employer/employee relationship two issues previously; both were examples of Terry Moore's Kudzu Plot tendencies getting out of hand as the series drew to a close.
 * X-Men: Over 20 years (real time) after their initial relationship crashed and burned, Shadowcat and Colossus finally consummated in the pages of Astonishing X-Men,  But he was also dead for nearly a decade of that time.
 * Within a year of Harley Quinn crossed over into canon comics, writers flip-flopped & started showing that the Joker really would kill Harley & only kept her around because she was loyal & made him laugh. A good handful of writers even had Joker openly flirting with Batman & Lex Luthor to amp up his creepiness. But at the very last issue of Gotham City Sirens, when Harley wants Joker dead for good & believes he's luring her into a trap, right before the New 52 complete reboot of the DC Universe, Joker kisses Harley. Note that this particular writer had zero experience writing the Joker before this.

Film -- Animated

 * Aladdin ended with the titular hero and his romantic interest marrying and sailing off on a magic carpet together---but the sequel movies and TV series which follow press the Reset Button a little bit, making them only engaged (with Aladdin living in the palace to learn the ropes about being a Prince before the marriage takes place). While this may seem practical, it also allows the show to avoid the squicky-to-ten-year-olds portrayal of physical intimacy between the two romantically linked characters. (It also conveniently gives the hero a chance to demonstrate his manliness by becoming a desire magnet for every hot villainess and damsel-in-distress who comes to town.)
 * Shrek: For all of the fairy tale subversions, plays this straight by having Fiona and Shrek hook up at the end, but the subsequent sequels serve to illustrate the ups and downs of their abnormal marriage.
 * A Monster in Paris stretches this trope to its limits, with  only hooking up after the.

Film -- Live Action

 * Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Lois Fairchild and Mason Dixon, after having perhaps thirty seconds of screen-time together before this, fall passionately in love in the last sixty seconds and sing the beautiful romantic duet appropriately titled Love Theme from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes before literally Walking Off Into The Sunset Together.
 * Billy Madison: Practically every single character pairs up with someone right at the end, including a real person and a giant penguin that had previously only existed in Billy's mind.
 * Fool's Gold: Gemma Honeycutt and Alfonz. He at least had formerly expressed lust about in her in a fairly sleazy manner, but her attraction came out of absolutely nowhere (she had spent the film mooning over Finn).
 * James Bond: In most of the films, Bond will hook up with other women throughout the movie, but he almost always waits until the last few minutes to hook up with the main Bond Girl. Of course, Bond being Bond he's usually slept with them once, or at least kissed them, before that.
 * The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack and Sally.
 * Sky High: Will and Layla.
 * The Snake King, A Sci Fi Channel Original Film, ends with the male lead and female lead, who have shown no interest in each other at all up to this point, falling in love after the final battle. It is a prime example of this trope, complete with the one single kiss at the very end.
 * Strange Days: Mace and Lenny get together just seconds before the end credits roll.
 * Timelock ends with a spaceship pilot and a criminal in bed... despite the fact that she was a total bitch to him and he should be serving his sentence at Alpha One.
 * The Lord of the Rings: The pairing of Faramir and Eowyn at the end of the third film comes basically out of nowhere (though it's given much more attention in the books) after Eowyn has spent most of her time pining after Aragorn. Though you might argue realizing the crush is hopeless shows Character Development.

Literature

 * In the Darkest Powers series, Chloe and, only get together at the end. However given they may make an appearance at some point in the next YA trilogy (Darkness Rising), there might be the possibility of seeing them as a couple then.
 * The Da Vinci Code: The romantic subplot between Langford and Sophie was limited to this trope, more for the sake of the hero getting the girl than for any plot purpose.
 * Harry Potter: Hermione and Ron, anyone? After seven books of Will They or Won't They?, they make out in the hall while Voldemort and the Death Eaters are attacking the school and people are dying. The movies try to avert this by building them up as a couple earlier by giving more Ship Tease. Just look at the film version of Prisoner of Azkaban.
 * Half Blood Prince: A book specific example would be Harry and Ginny. They probably deserve to be the king and queen of this trope. Not only do they become a couple close to the end after Harry spends a good portion of the book crushing on her, but they still manage to break up before the end of the book! To make matters worse, they spend even less screen time together in the last book., leaving even those who took no sides in the shipping scratching their heads. Again, the film tries to avert this. Not only does Ginny get a fair more screen time and more scenes with Harry in the Half Blood Prince adaptation, but they don't break up at the end, either. Plus their interactions in Deathly Hallows, Part 1 count too. (Thank you Steve Kloves!) However, like Hermione and Ron, it still suffers on account of how much is left out.
 * also qualifies. The actual romance between the two was hardly ever seen from Harry's perspective. Those who didn't notice the hints were naturally shocked, and even after the two are explicitly stated to have married between the penultimate and the last book, the readers still don't see much evidence of romance between the two.
 * An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott. She spends the final paragraphs letting readers know that, the two main couples did indeed marry, and pairs off most of the other unmarried characters, not without a Take That to readers who objected to the end of Little Women.
 * Although the hookup is mentioned in the middle of the book, she does this again in Jack and Jill by explaining that all the assumed pairings would happen in a decade but they're just children now. She has to add the obligatory old maid, however, in Molly.
 * The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. (Taran and Eilonwy get married at the very end of the last chapter of the last book).
 * Sense and Sensibility: The main female characters finally get with their men during the last two chapters out of fifty. Jane Austen seems to prefer spending more time on the conflict arising from bad relationships than on the good relationships.
 * Right, this is because Austen specialized in courtship plots. The whole point of a courtship plot is that it follows a couple from the beginning of the relationship to a successful conclusion, which in Austen's time meant an engagement or wedding. You can't have the couple getting together in the middle of the novel, because then the plot would end.
 * War and Peace ends with . The epilogue shows them Happily Married.
 * Done surprisingly well in The Last Light of the Sun. At the start of the story, Bern Thorkellson is saved by witch-in-training Anrid. He then goes off to have numerous adventures, while she stays behind and eventually becomes the head witch on her island. Neither of them ever forgets the other though, and when Bern returns home at the end of the novel, Anrid is waiting for him. She explains that he has been pardoned and is allowed to come home to the family farm, while dropping some not-so-subtle hints that she would like to go with him. Bern—who at this point has watched his father die and is more or less disillusioned with life in general—decides that having some genuine warmth in his life would be a good thing, and they decide to get married and give it a shot.

Live Action TV

 * Alice: Hatter and Alice.
 * Angel has a variation, where  don't so much hook up at the last minute as they do hook up and then have EXACTLY ONE MINUTE to enjoy it before.
 * Ashes to Ashes: In a heartbreaking way . Not to mention.
 * Buffy: Faith and Principal Robin Wood. The two head off to the Cleveland Hellmouth to battle there.
 * Clueless Even though Dionne and Murray had sex in the movie, they do not hook up on the TV show until the last episode.
 * Crossing Jordan: In the should-have-been-a-season-finale series finale, we do get one final angst-free kiss between Woody and Jordan.
 * in the Doctor Who series 4 finale "Journey's End".
 * Firefly: Simon and Kaylee don't have a chance to get very far on the show itself, but in the Big Damn Movie, they finally share their feelings during the final showdown with the Reavers, and one of the last shots is them making out.
 * Friends: The final episode ended along similar lines: Ross and Rachel had already been together and broken up in various capacities, but only in the series finale did they get to hook up For Real, presumably to be together happily ever after.
 * And even within the finale, the Will They or Won't They? theme was dragged out to the very. Last. Moment.
 * Gilmore Girls: The very last scene of the finale has Lorelai running into Luke's arms and kissing him. A bit of a variation, as it wasn't a matter of Will They or Won't They?—they already had—but had broken up a season earlier: the real question was whether or not they'd get back together.
 * JAG: After nine seasons of UST, Harm and Mac get together in the last five minutes of the series finale.
 * Kamen Rider Double: Akiko and Ryu hook up six episodes (plus a movie) before the end of the season. Akiko started with a vague interest in each of the three male leads, though definitely leaning towards Ryu, who on the other hand, didn't seem interested in a relationship at all. Despite Akiko never overtly pursuing Ryu on-screen, they show they've for some reason hooked up via a prank on Shoutarou. Sadly, they barely advance the pairing at all within the confines of the last episodes beyond a handful of superficial lines and gestures, (one being concern when she accompanies the heroes on a raid at the enemy HQ, another being a hug Ryu doesn't return in the finale, and a small moment in The Movie.) but many fans rejoiced all the same. Publicity material reveals that by the time of the Crossover Movie with Kamen Rider OOO they are married.
 * Life On Mars: Sam and Annie.
 * Life With Derek has one of the Victorious Childhood Friend variety in the penultimate episode of the series between.
 * Lizzie McGuire: In the series finale movie Lizzie and Gordo have their kiss at the end complete with fireworks.
 * Mystery Science Theater 3000 mocked this concept when it occurred at the end of one movie: "I know our love wasn't part of the plot, but... let's be part of the loose-end festival anyhow."
 * The Office: Tim and Dawn in the UK Version.
 * Phil of the Future has the two main characters and best friends, Phil and Keely, starting their relationship just before Phil finds out that his family is returning home in the final episode of the series, and sharing their first kiss a few minutes before Phil leaves.
 * Sabrina the Teenage Witch had Sabrina when the network refused to allow an hour long finale.
 * Space Cases: In a love sucks version of this, Harlan and Catalina share their feelings for one another  and she is replaced by Suzee. However Harlan starts to hit on Suzee almost immediately at the start of Season 2.
 * Spaced: In an instance of this trope occuring long after the actual series is over, the last two minutes of the DVD documentary features a couple that look exactly like Tim and Daisy arguing over who should change their baby.
 * Stargate SG-1: In the final episode, Daniel and Vala finally get together, having been constantly bickering (and, in Vala's case, flirting) throughout season 10 and some of season 9. They spend many long, monogamous years together. Even then, the hookup is reversed when Teal'c goes back in time and changes the past, but, it's implied that they'll end up together eventually anyway.
 * Star Trek: Voyager: The out-of-nowhere Crack Pairing of Seven of Nine and Chakotay in the final season. This was largely a way to appease Robert Beltran, who had been complaining about the uselessness of his character, so they shut his mouth by slipping Jeri Ryan's tongue into it. It got one episode more than halfway through the final season suddenly establishing that Seven had a one-sided interest in Chakotay, despite a complete lack of chemistry or buildup prior to this (and both having far more Ship Tease with other characters). Then, in the very last episode, with no further explanation, they suddenly get together. Fans generally went "what".
 * Sugar Rush: Kim and her crush, the hedonistic Sugar, finally cop off after Sugar stabs a guy. Rather than letting them have any kind of relationship the second series fastforwards 18 months and nothing more has happened between them. Talk about a let down.
 * Super Sentai:
 * Choujin Sentai Jetman: After a series-long love triangle between Ryu, Kaori and Gai, with the attraction between Ryu and Kaori only implied, a Where Are They Now epilogue shows that they marry three years after the events of the show.
 * Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger: The Where Are They Now? Epilogue and Dekaranger Vs hint at Yukito and Emiri being in a relationship. Finally confirmed in Gokaiger that they got married.
 * Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger: Episode 46 is a massive Ship Tease between Sen and Umeko, but it's not till Magiranger Vs the following year that it is confirmed as canon.
 * Mahou Sentai Magiranger: Hikaru and Urara suddenly marry two episodes before the end of the show. Justified Trope since Hikaru had had a vision of his own forthcoming death so there wasn't really time to extend the courtship.
 * Juken Sentai Gekiranger: Mele's motivation throughout the whole of the series is her love for Rio, but he doesn't return her affections until right before at the end of the show.
 * Wonderfalls has
 * The X-Files didn't have Scully and Mulder become a couple until near the end of the seventh season, when they weren't sure there would be an eighth. And even then it was only implied.
 * Zoey 101: Zoey and Chase. After three seasons of Ship Tease and Everyone Can See It they confess their love to each other, but only after they're 6000 miles away from each other and can't do much about it. Chase is then Put on a Bus for the final season, only to come back in the finale, where they finally kiss and become a couple in the last five minutes.

Mythology and Folklore

 * Numerous fairy tales leave off with the Star-Crossed Lovers overcoming the problem at hand, having a kiss and proceeding to "live Happily Ever After." With the state of modern marriage, it would've been nice for the storytellers to have left some notes and guidelines as to how a man and a woman could come to achieve this. Maybe even a study guide.
 * This is turned right on its ear with the Fables comicbook series, where it's revealed that the "Prince Charming" from the various tales is all the same guy, working through a series of failed marriages.
 * Older Than Steam: One of the most obvious examples is "Snow White and Rose Red", where not only does Snow White get the prince (formerly bear), but her sister Rose Red marries his brother, who had not even been mentioned so far.

Video Games

 * Aveyond: The Darkthrop Prophecy has a Playable Epilogue that's just choosing and wooing a bride for male lead Edward. It's also an in-universe Last-Minute Hookup; he has until the end of the day to choose his bride, or his mother will choose one for him. Earlier games in the series tended to play this straight for the main couple and avert it with side couples, who could get married at any point in the quest as long as the conditions were met.
 * Fire Emblem: You can make this happen if you put off getting an A support between two characters until the final battle.
 * Mass Effect: Just before heading through the Mu Mass Relay in pursuit of . In Mass Effect 2, during the hours leading up to the suicide mission through the Omega-4 Mass Relay. In both games, this trope applies only if you sufficiently nurtured a relationship with a romanceable character throughout the course of the game. Something about uncharted Mass Relays seems to heighten hormone levels in organic species...
 * Neverwinter Nights: You can, if you want, try and develop a relationship with Aribeth --.
 * And as we find out in the expansion pack,.
 * Shining Force 2: There are a couple last minute hookups.
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: All three potential romances do not reach their resolutions until the end of the game. The lesbian relationship with Juhani occurs after you decide to stay on the good side once and for all, the relationship with Carth occurs when you return to the ship, and the relationship with Bastila begins not long before the final boss battle.
 * Xenosaga: Allen and Shion get together at the end.
 * Typical romance theme in Riviera: The Promised Land between the Ein and the girls isn't really obvious other than a Relationship Values untill the very end of the game,  Rose's good ending is not better either,

Web Comics/Web Original
"I can’t have been the only one who’s spent some time staring at such a page and thinking, “What the shit is this?” Sometimes, it really is not going to work. If you have two people whom you’ve built up in bright, vibrant colors, and they’re real, and they’re breathing, and they’re both true characters, without one being a shadow of each other, I admire you. And if you then realize that one of them is in love with the other, and convey that realistically, I adore you. And if you then destroy the other character, reducing him or her to a shadow just so that the protagonist’s love can be requited, I loathe you, and I will never buy any of your books again."
 * Fans had a few examples in the strip's fifth book (which was meant to be the series' last arc, until T. Campbell and Jason Waltrip decided to return to the strip a year or so later). Will and Shanna, after dancing around each other finally hook up. After Tim's tech business goes bust, Tim and Julia get together. And in one of the more bizarre variations on this trope, Alysin (who had at the beginning of the arc decided to leave her husband Rikk because she felt she didn't deserve him) not only reconciled with Rikk, but resolved the Rikk/Aly/Rumi triangle...by inviting Rumi to join their marriage. As of two or so years of the revival, all three relationships are still doing well(although Will and Shanna have had some stumbling blocks).
 * Kid Radd At the end of the title character's "game", he always leans in to kiss his girlfriend Sheena ... at which point he's interrupted by the credits.
 * Agents of Cracked:
 * Limyaael's Fantasy Rants:

Western Animation
"Cyborg: Well, it's about time."
 * Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Official Couple, Aang and Katara, who had something special between them for most of the series properly hooked up literally in the final scene of the final episode.
 * Danny Phantom is quite an obvious example: after three seasons of flirting and UST, Danny and Sam finally get together at the end of the series finale.
 * Doug: Providing an animated equivalent to the JAG example, after seven seasons of Will They or Won't They?, Doug and Patti finally become a couple in the last few minutes of the final episode.
 * Futurama: A little unclear, but appears to happen when Leela may have fallen for Fry after the big Faustian showdown at the opera in the last episode, but if so, this was unintentional as it wasn't meant to be the last episode, but rather the series got Screwed by the Network and cancelled. Complicated by the later revival of the series, which hit the Reset Button, and any such relationship no longer survives.
 * Then another last minute hookup happened at the end of Into The Wild Green Yonder, which was supposed to be the series finale. Now the show has been revived a second time, and the writers are actually acknowledging the hookup.
 * Jackie Chan Adventures: The last minute of the finale rushes giving all of the good guys a happy ending. This includes randomly having Jackie and Viper hook up out of almost nowhere, though Jade had been their Shipper on Deck from Viper's first appearance.
 * Ka Blam!: The supposedly final episode had June reveal her crush on Henry by giving him a kiss, which he accepted, considering their hookup to be the end to the finale. One week after the episode premiered, came a brand-new episode, continuing for another season.
 * Kim Possible: A special case, in that it would've without-a-doubt fulfilled the trope with Kim and Ron's Disney kiss in the intended Grand Finale movie (lampshaded a few episodes beforehand). However, grassroots operations orchestrated by fans brought the show back. The creators have repeatedly stressed within interviews how hard they had to work to avoid Jumping the Shark or "gross[ing] out the 10-year-olds watching."
 * Done again, although more quietly, with Drakken and Shego in the new Grand Finale.
 * My Dad the Rock Star: In the final episode, Willy, the male lead, and his female friend Alyssa start dating.
 * ReBoot had Bob and Dot finally kiss during the last couple minutes of the series finale. The series was Uncancelled three years later, and the Reset Button was pushed to a degree - they spend the first few episodes of the season back in Just Friends territory and are still not really officially together by the new finale.
 * The Replacements: In the final episode, it is revealed that Jacobo and Tasumi are a couple. Considering that the idea of them as a couple had only been hinted at once previously, Todd and Riley's surprise at that reveal is pretty justified.
 * Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! In the show's defence, SRMTHG was meant to go another season, but it's possible the pairing was added to tie up loose ends once they realized it was getting cancelled and would have been held off more if the show continued.
 * Teen Titans: The series ended without any of the couples hooking up. Then, even in the OVA, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, Robin and Starfire have their Big Damn Kiss in the last few minutes of the movie.


 * The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius did this with Jimmy and Cindy in LITERALLY the last minute of the last episode, "The Lady Sings the News". Even though the episode itself was Libby-centered...