Bodyguard Crush: Difference between revisions

* Sagara Sousuke is the militarily placed protector of modern schoolgirl [[Tsundere|Chidori Kaname]] in ''[[Full Metal Panic]]''. Raised by the KGB, he has [[No Social Skills]]. Nonetheless, he means well. ''Nothing'' on Earth had better threaten Chidori, be it a gang of [[Delinquents]], a [[Psycho for Hire]], or a majorly armed nation, ''[[Determinator|for he will take it down]]''.

* ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': Itsuki and Mikuru in the home-made movie. Interestingly subverted in that it's Mikuru who's supposed to be guarding Koizumi. Subverted in that Mikuru doesn't look like a believable body guard, being ten inches shorter than Itsuki. Subverted in that Mikuru also ISN'T an effective body guard, being a klutz who's scared of her own shadow.

** {{spoiler|It ends badly for both sisters--Kirara's crush is forever unrequited, and while Komachi's is ''possibly [[May-December Romance|requited]]'', the guy dies in the final episode.}}

* Inverted in ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', Fuu seemed to feel this way towards ''both'' her bodyguards Mugen and Jin.

** Although it's [[Ship Tease|debatable]], Mugen also seems to feel this way towards Fuu, given the number of times he's [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other|gone out of his way to rescue her]] when he could have easily abandoned her.

* Also the entire plot of comedy manga ''Sweet Ninja Girl Azuki''. [[Gender Inverted Trope|Gender flipped however]], and with Azuki developing the crush on him even before she becomes his bodyguard. Also notable that the feeling is definitely not reciprocated.

* [[Gender Inverted Trope|Genders are inverted]] on ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', where the female Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye acts as aide/right-hand woman/bodyguard to male Colonel Roy Mustang. It becomes progressively clearer throughout the manga and ''Brotherhood'' anime that their feelings for each other run much deeper than allowable by the military's anti-fraternization law (a fact that the bad guys gleefully exploit twice); it's eventually revealed that their relationship goes back to a long time before either of them joined the military. It's not an exaggeration to say that the most dangerous place in Amestris is between the two of them.

** Lan Fan, the female bodyguard of Prince Ling Yao of Xing, has a very similar relationship with her lord.

* Subverted brutally in ''Dragon's Reign'', where the [[Big Bad]] is revealed to be the princess, who has gone through a succession of Bodyguard Romances, each time convincing her new protector that the previous one was a villain who kept her imprisoned and took advantage of her. The hero even figures this out, but is still all but powerless against her [[Magnificent Bastard]] charms.

* The titular heroine of ''[[Madlax]]'' appears to have romantic feelings for her client, although she later has no problems to {{spoiler|hit the road with the woman who kills her}}.

* [[Gender Inverted Trope|Genderflipped]] in ''[[Gundam Wing]]'': [[Rebellious Princess]] Relena, the one being protected, ''is'' obviously in love with her bodyguard of sorts Heero Yuy. He shows only a couple of outward signs that he reciprocates, but it's very subtle.

** There's even an odd twist on it in the second episode, where Relena protects Heero in spite of the fact that he was about to shoot her; this might even mark the point where he starts feeling something for her. Making it odder still, the attacker is fellow Gundam Pilot Duo Maxwell, who shot Heero to save Relena and is greatly confused when she chews him out and bandages the guy who was about to shoot her: "Man, when did I become the bad guy in all this?"

*** Akira's family never said anything about protecting Takumi. Her gender was hidden so that no one would find out that she's a HiME. She actually almost killed Takumi when he found out, but actually saved his life in the end when he started having an attack. She protects Takumi because he's important to her, not because her family asked her to.

* [[Gender Inverted Trope|Gender-flipped]] in ''[[Code Geass]]'', where [[Ace Pilot]] and [[Action Girl]] Kallen Kouzuki develops a crush on rebel leader Zero (who eventually does make her his bodyguard). {{spoiler|The second season plays with this as, now knowing Zero's real identity as her classmate Lelouch Lamperouge, Kallen has a hard time reconciling her feelings for him with the [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] image he's projected at school. It certainly doesn't help that she knows about his [[Evil Eye]], which lets him twist people's minds, emotions, and memories to suit his interests.}}

** Ironically, during that same season, Lelouch's own feelings for Kallen evolve to the point where he begins seeing Kallen as the one HE should be protecting rather than the other way around, after seeing her as little more than a pawn in season 1. This leads him to... {{spoiler|[[Honor Before Reason|abandon a mission]] that he himself says is the key to challenging [[The Empire]], and to [[Always Save the Girl|place his entire army in peril by attempting to rescue her]]; [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies|to push her away from the line of fire when she says she is willing to die with him after he is betrayed by the Black Knights]], and [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|excluding her from his final plan altogether in order to spare her the price she would have paid for taking part in it]].}}

* Played with in ''[[Ikki Tousen]] Great Guardians'', where Kan'u has become a sort-of [[Covert Pervert]] for Ryuubi. (To be fair, Kan'u already felt that way from quite a while). Also, Koukin feels similarly towards Hakufu, [[Kissing Cousins|his cousin]] (Funniest thing, Hakufu's mom Goei sorta ''encourages'' said crush). And yep, they sorta ''did'' bond in regards to their crushes in ''Dragon Destiny''.

* ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' gives us one truly [[Tear Jerker|heartwretching]] example. {{spoiler|The high-ranked sorcerer Zagato is chosen as the bodyguard of Princess Emeraude, the Pillar of Cephiro, and he falls for her. It turns out she loves him back... but a Pillar isn't allowed to care for ''anything'' except for Cephiro's well-being, or the whole world ''will'' collapse. So Emeraude tries to get the Magic Knights [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|to kill her so she can be free]] and pass the torch to a new Pillar; Zagato will have ''nothing'' of it, though, and in despair he kidnaps Emeraude so the Knights can't kill her, becoming the [[Big Bad]] that Hikaru, Umi and Fuu must beat...}}

* Maybe, Shinma [[Battle Butler]] Larva towards his vampire mistress Miyu in ''[[Vampire Princess Miyu]]''.

* In ''[[Turn a Gundam (Anime)|Turn a Gundam]]'', {{spoiler|Harry Ord}} feels like this towards {{spoiler|Kihel Heim, Queen Diana's [[Body Double]]}}.

* ''[[Basilisk]]'' has two characters behaving like this: Chikuma Koushirou for the Iga Tsubagakure, Kagerou for the Kouga Manjidani. Both of them have feelings for their leaders, Princess Iga-no-Oboro and Koga Gennosuke respectively.

{{quote| '''Austria''': ''Miss Hungary? Why are you here?''<br />

'''Hungary''': ''I have 100.000 soldiers! I'll fight alongside you! :D'' }}

** In the manga their relationship is a bit more defined. The only reason Dyta is not cuddling up with Zima is because persocoms cannot really feel emotions, so [[It Makes Sense in Context|they cannot love each other even if they're in love]].

* In ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'', {{spoiler|coach Kamogawa}} had a female friend named Yuki, {{spoiler|whom he and their common friend Nekota protected from the advances of stationed American soldiers.}} Yuki was hinted to be in love with him, {{spoiler|but as a survivor of the nuclear bombings, she died of radiation poisoning some time later.}}

* Himari and Yuuto in ''[[Omamori Himari]]''. What else would be expected of an female bodyguard in an [[Unwanted Harem]] story?

* [[The Atoner|Kakihito]] {{spoiler|the Hiiragi}} from the manga ''[[Basara]]'' cares a lot about Ginko.

* The dog Rino of ''[[Inumimi]]'' was taken in by Yuichiro's father before the events of the story. As an antisocial doberman, she served as the family security system for quite some time. It's implied throughout the series that after she became a [[Petting Zoo People|Petting Zoo Person]] she started having feelings for him.

* This is the basis of ''Shinobi Life''. Kagetora is a ninja assigned to protect the princess of feudal Japan, and falls in love with her. Then he gets warped to the future by accident and ends up falling in love with the princess' descendant. [[Honor Before Reason]] abounds.

* In Emura's manga ''Grand Sun'', Asahi becomes Kisaragi Sakuya's bodyguard. Guess what happens.

* ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' gives us the [[Highly-Visible Ninja]] Kasuga, who was sent to assassinate Uesugi Kenshin but ended up defecting and becoming Kenshin's devoted scout and bodyguard instead. And boy, [[Luminescent Blush|does]] [[Foot Popping|she]] [[Looks Like She Is Enjoying It|love]] [[Immodest Orgasm|him]]...

** There's also hints that [[Ninja Maid|Fiore]] has strong feelings for her ward, Joshua, particularly in the manga.

** [[Brain Bleach]]-inducing version: Roberto seems to be far, far too attached [[Ho Yay|to his boss Johan.]]

** Shortly after meeting for the first time [[Generation Xerox|Kitano's parents]] try to pull this too. Turns out Kitano's dad [[The Juggernaut|does not really need the help]].

* At least one Seishi will fall in love with the Miko in the ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' verse. Rarely is it not reciprocated...

** And [[Star-Crossed Lovers|rarely can it be consummated]]. Damn [[Your Universe or Mine?]] and [[Virgin Power]]. {{spoiler|Poor, poor Suzuno/Byakko no Miko and Tatara, who had to wait for ''decades'' (and apparently ''centuries'', in Tatara's case) to be [[Together in Death]].}}

* Rin Asano from ''[[Blade of the Immortal]]'' shows signs of interest in her immortal bodyguard almost right away; [[Green-Eyed Monster|showing jealousy of his interest in a prostitute]], [[Letting Her Hair Down|later directly asking if he finds her appealing]], [[Luminescent Blush|turning red when she's suggested to be his lover]], and pretty much [[Always Save the Girl|willfully sacrificing the lives of strangers]] to save him. Later in the manga, she even kisses him while he sleeps, and apparently does so again offscreen, after they've been reunited after a looooooong separation. Even later, Rin flat out offers her body to Manji, so the "crush" at this point has become a full-blown declaration of love. In the same scene, Manji, who originally said that he [[Like Brother and Sister|thought Rin looked too much like his sister]] says that he's mostly forgotten what the latter looked like, and that his feelings for Rin have become something different, finally playing this trope straight.

* ''[[Hellsing]]'''s [[Heroic Sociopath|Alucard]] is intensely devoted to his Master and Countess [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask|Integra Hellsing]] to the point of any insult done towards her in his presence triggers a [[Berserk Button]]. He's referred as her lapdog and bodyguard a couple of times, so fits this role.

* Possibly Akise Aru from ''[[Mirai Nikki]]''. He's clearly stated himself that he's [[Ho Yay|in love with Yukiteru]] and in chapter 50 tells him that {{spoiler|he is no longer interested in changing the future and just wants to protect Yukiteru, especially since he suspects that Yuno, who's very much a [[Yandere]] for Yukiteru, is actually trying to kill Yukiteru. When she shows up Akise tries to kill Yuno and destroys her diary. However, she reveals that she had another diary and she stabs Akise}}. Also, Yuno for Yukiteru.

*** {{spoiler|Horrifyingly subverted when Claude cruelly kills Alois himself, giving the psychotic kiddo an [[Alas, Poor Villain]] demise.}}

* Diamond harbors feelings for Lady Berlitz/Platinum in ''[[Pokémon Special]]''.

* In ''Hime-sama Goyojin'', Adron, a hired assassin sent to steal Himeko's crown, masquerades as her bodyguard in order to get closer to her and kill her. Things get complicated when Adron develops a crush on her, and everytime he tries to murder her, he freezes up completely.

* Klaus from ''[[Hyakujitsu no Bara]]'' has a relationship with Taki can be seen as this. Klaus often bows down to Taki, and has expressed his desire to serve him and protect the country with him.

* The whole premise of ''[[Katanagatari]]'' is that Togame wants her bodyguard and human sword Shichika to fall in love with her so that he will develop [[Undying Loyalty]] for their quest. Shichika agrees, and the feeling eventually becomes mutual.

* [[Negima]]'s Setsuna's duty is to protect Konoka, who is only too glad for the excuse to be with her [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|not-girlfriend all the time]]. To her embarrasement [[Everyone Can See It]].

* Arguably, Gokudera to [[Ho Yay|Tsuna]] in ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]''.

** Also, Gamma to Uni.

* Done ''very'' obviously in ''[[Omamori Himari]]'', seeing as Himari climbs into her Master/Charge's bed within 24 hours of starting to protect him, and hasn't stopped trying to get into his pants since.

* In the oneshot ''Kuroneko Guardian'' the protagonist falls for his bodyguard. In the ending he outright tells her he plans on making her fall in love with him, [[Amusing Injuries|which backfires.]]

== Comic Books ==

* Zauriel, from ''[[Justice League of America]]'', was a ''guardian angel'' who had a [[Bodyguard Crush]] on the woman he was watching over, causing him to to be exiled from the Heavenly Host.

* Given the size of [[Iron Man|Tony Stark's]] ego, we could count him and his "body guard".

* In ''[[King of New York]]'', the title character's relationship with his [[Bodyguard Babes]] goes well beyond the "crush" stage in the first five minutes.

* ''[[Princess Diaries]]'', surprisingly, has this trope. The Queen falls in love with the guy who is introduced as the chauffer, but nearer to the end of the movie, and especially in the sequel, it's obvious that he's also a bodyguard.

* Mathilda has one of these on Léon in ''[[The Professional]]''--in the uncut version, she even asks him to be her first lover, but he refuses.

* Anakin and Padme in ''[[Star Wars]] [[Attack of the Clones]]''.

** And then Nimashet was given a ''direct order'' (twice) by her superiors to ''reinstate'' the relationship and become the eventual Empress Nimashet. Even though they know it's a bad idea to fraternize inside the chain of command, they need Nimashet to steady Roger because he'd either deliberately let himself be deposed so he could be with Nimashet again or else try to rule the Empire alone and end up as Emperor Roger the Mad. (Nimashet is pretty much the only person around who can hold Roger back from massacre once his [[Berserk Button]] is pushed, and Roger on some level ''knows'' this.)

*** Bad idea? I'd say they wanted Roger to have at least some form of prosthetic conscience. Fraternization regs went out of the window looong ago, ain't it right, {{spoiler|Sergeant Kosutic, oh, and you, Julian}}?

* ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'': The Red Cross Knight and Princess Una in the first book; Red Cross is [[Easily Forgiven]] for abysmally failing the "bodyguard" part at first, abandoning his charge thanks to a [[Not What It Looks Like]] scenario courtesy of the [[Master of Illusion]].

* In the second book of the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Coruscant Nights]]'' trilogy, we find that Padme's eyepatched bodyguard Typho was in [[All Love Is Unrequited|love]] with her, and at her funeral, having seen the autopsy, comes to the conclusion that she was killed by use of the Force. Anakin Skywalker was supposed to be bodyguarding her in Typho's absence. Thus he decided to track down Skywalker; later he assumes that Vader killed them both, so he has to kill Vader. [[Foregone Conclusion|You can imagine how that went.]]

* In Moira Moore's ''Heroes'' series there are two kinds of magic users, Sources and Shields, who get permanently paired up. The Source deflects natural disasters while the Shield protects the Source from some kind of backlash that occurs. First person narrator and Shield Dunleavy really likes her Source Shintaro and protects him not only while working magic but tends to protectiveness also in more mundane situations. He in turn makes no attempt to hide that he lusts after her.

* In the ''[[Gemma Doyle]]'' trilogy apparently it was once pretty common for the Rakshana and the members of the Order they guarded to be lovers. Named examples include Gemma and Kartik (eventually), and Miss McCleethy and Hugo Fowlson. It may or may not be worth noting that neither pairing ends well, but then, what pairing in this series does?

* In the ''[[Quantum Gravity]]'' series, [[Action Girl|Lila]] [[Cyborg|Black]] has been hired to bodyguard/spy on [[Elvish Presley|Zal]], and the first thing that happens when they meet is a love match Game, which pushes them together, along with Zal's general open flirting. {{spoiler|They marry.}}

* Possibly Wil Ohmsford on Amberle in ''[[The Elfstones of Shannara]]''. Inverted by Rone Leah in [[The Wishsong of Shannara|Wishsong]]: he goes along to protect Brin specifically ''because'' he has a crush on her.

* Subtly done in ''[[The Godless World Trilogy]]''. It isn't obvious, but [[Action Girl|Anyara]]'s bodyguard [[Badass|Coinach]] seems to be developing a bit of a crush on her, which she may well reciprocate (she looks straight at him when someone tells her she should marry in order to make herself happy).

* Lucky the Fox and his boss, The Right Man, from Anne Rice's ''Angel Time'' have something going on, although it's implied that it doesn't involve sex.

* In Andy McDermott's ''Nina Wilde'' series, the titular [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] and her ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase slowly fell in love and married over the course of their adventures. The romance is subtle and only made in passing mentions since their main focus is trying not to die preserving rare artifacts.

* There are some very strong hints that [[Kris Longknife|Kris']] bodyguard Jack is in love with her.

* The Rakshana and the Order in the ''[[Gemma Doyle]]'' trilogy often are lovers. Named examples in the books include {{spoiler|1=Gemma and Kartik and McCleethy and Fowlson}}.

== Live Action TV ==

** The fact that the actors portraying the two got involved surely contributed to the shipping and tension. Hayden's young age (relatively) added some risque' spice, as well.

** And even with Piper's mom and Sam, another whitelighter, having an affair and ended up with Paige.

* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', while there isn't anything romantic going on ''yet'' between John and Cameron, a lot of John's growing attachment and protectiveness of her is stemming from her own protectiveness of him.

** And then there's the second season finale, in which {{spoiler|John, against the advice of both his mother and Agent Ellison, travels into the future to retrieve Cameron's chip}}. Cue Fangirl [[Squee]].

* ''[[Chuck]]'' and his bodyguard, Sarah. Chuck has a massive crush on Sarah. Sarah seems to entertain the idea of a relationship with Chuck, but there's the whole CIA thing getting in the way, and it's causing a few problems. Especially considering that they have to play the roles of [[The Beard|boyfriend and girlfriend]] and occasionally a [[Undercover As Lovers|married couple]] on certain missions. Less overtly (this is a family show after all), the other bodyguard in Chuck's life...John Casey, played by [[Adam Baldwin]]. Scroll up this page a tad...

* In an episode of ''[[The Equalizer]]'' Robert McCall chews out Mickey Kostmeyer for sleeping with a Swedish foreign student he was supposed to be guarding, pointing out that if the killers had chosen to strike at that moment they both would have been killed.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]''. G'Kar may have been trying to invoke this trope when he insisted that the rogue telepaths leaving B5 have Narn bodyguards. Given G'Kar's attempt in the premiere episode to get telepathic genetic material for the Narm race via the old-fashioned mating method, one wonders if he wasn't trying to set up a few [[Interspecies Romance|Interspecies Romances]].

* As Echo's {{spoiler|fourth}} official handler in ''[[Dollhouse]]'', love interest Paul Ballard has one of these. To be fair the crush began long before he actually started work as a bodyguard.

** Done much squickier with {{spoiler|Sierra}} and her original handler.

* Because [[Stalking Is Love]], the ''[[Smallville]]'' episode "Trespass".

** She then used this to catch him off guard in order to stage her own abduction, and the episode leaves open whether or not she was acting the entire time, making this a potential subversion.

* [[Starsky and Hutch|Hutch]] gets into one of these with a visiting Russian ballerina who's received death threats.

*** Lucretia's own preferences, at least, seem to match up, as Cathari mentions that she and Lucretia were once "more than friends." Lucretia's relationship with Lelei is made rather less ambiguous (or, alternately, given a [[Relationship Reveal]]) when, on the night before a big battle, Lucretia suggests that she and Lelei get some rest, and Lelei asks if Lucretia wouldn't mind staying up just a little longer - after which the screen fades to black. After the war, {{spoiler|the two of them vanish, presumably together}}. On a side note, if you have Oboro dig into Lelei's past, he comes up with the following:

{{quote| '''Oboro:''' "Lelei used to be a guard at Agate Prison, but she fell for Lucretia's pretty -- I MEAN, she was concerned about Lucretia, as she came with her. Now she's kind of Lucretia's...assistant."}}

* Sothe and Micaiah in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Radiant Dawn''. The creepy part is that they refer to each other as family (and [[Like Brother and Sister|Brother/Sister]]) regularly.

** Furthermore, Geoffrey's rather unrequited crush on Elincia, as seen in his support conversations and other dialogue. Seemingly doomed given Elincia's not-exactly-subtle crush on Ike, {{spoiler|it surprisingly is requited, leading to their marriage in certain endings}}.

* Part of the premise of first person shooter ''[[Red Steel]]'', between the protagonist and the (quickly kidnapped) girl in distress. The relationship had progressed to the point where the two had gotten engaged, and the kidnapped happens when introducing the future husband to her father to ask permission to marry.

* In ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'', it's [[Implied Love Interest|implied]] that this is the case between Anise and Ion, as well as Arietta and Ion.

** Taro also feels this way about Rozalin, to the point that he practically became Rozalin's servant just so he could fit this trope.

** The kiss isn't really indicative of anything, though; he was just tremendously giddy because they'd just won the hovercraft racing championships, a sport over which he gets far too excited. The fact that Jade only laughs and says, "Hey, knock it off!" might say something about how ''she'' feels though.

** Especially considering the prequel ''[[Crisis Core]]'' recreates their relationship, with added depth, except with Zack instead of Cloud.

* And subverted at the same time hilariously by the fact that during the course of the game, one of the girl he pledges to protect is the mightiest soldier of [[The Empire]]'s army, and the other is a [[Person of Mass Destruction|walking nuke]] and [[Tear Jerker|very sadly]] by the fact that Locke's pledges are the product of the guilt he feels from failing to protect his first love, twice.

* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' has a few teasing here and there. There's Firion teasing the Onion Knight over his protectiveness of Terra, a slight ship tease between Vaan protecting Terra, and the closeness between the Warrior of Light and the goddess Cosmos, {{spoiler|especially as the former is revealed to be a Manikin of Cid of the Lufaine and the former is revealed to be a Manikin of Cid's wife.}}

* [[Neverwinter Nights|Nathyrra and Valen]] are totally there as combat support. Totally. *insincere smile*

** And on the other end of things, Atton Rand remains protective of the Exile and consistently anxious for the Exile's approval, to the point that {{spoiler|Kreia}} is able to blackmail him with it, whether the Exile is Light Side ''or'' a crazed dog-kicking Sith bastard. It's most apparent with a female Exile, but [[Ho Yay|it's there with a male Exile too]].

* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' and Mask of the Betrayer, both of the romance options for male characters that made the final cut began watching over the hero to keep him safe.

** It's certanly an inversion, as Ciel quite clearly has a crush on Zero, and he doesn't show any feelings for her or at least recognition of her feelings. It's even directly addressed in the 4th game where Neige and Craft were once in a relationship, and she seems to show that she can relate to Ciel in the ending, as both Zero and Craft were reploids and thus the situation is similar.

* Touka in ''[[Utawarerumono]]''. Apparently, when her clan becomes someone's bodyguard, they're supposed to bear their child (assuming they're female) which makes her... eagerness... to be his bodyguard make a little more sense, no?

* Played straight and flipped a few times in ''[[Half Life]] 2'' and Episodes. Alyx Vance is sometimes escorted by Gordon, and when Gordon loses his weapons, she becomes the bodyguard. And she has an obvious hero worship and geekette attraction to Gordon. Which her father openly encourages.

* ''[[Legend of Mana]]'': Jumi always come in pairs as a Guardian and a Knight, and they are expected to be devoted to one another in ways that blur the boundaries between duty and love. And gender doesn't matter, either.

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In [[Dubious Company]], [[Church Militant|Leeroy]] starts as [[The Chosen One|Sal]]'s rival and [[Childhood Friend Romance|friend]]. He is later appointed as her bodyguard.

** All other bodyguards in this series avert this trope just by being the same gender as the one they protect. Actually, Gil and Agatha have their bodyguards paired ''together''.

== Western Animation ==

** This is to say nothing of the people who misinterpret [[Ho Yay|current bodyguard Brock Samson and Dr. Venture's relationship.]] Referenced in the pilot episode, "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay," when Pete White argues to Billy Quizboy that "you can't tell me there's nothing going on there." Also played with in the season 1 finale, "Return to Spider-Skull Island;" when Brock {{spoiler|isn't allowed to go with Dr. Venture to the operation room and argues, the doctor}} assumes they're "partners."

{{quote| '''Brock:''' Not really, it's more like I work for him--''wait a minute, no!''}}

'''Brock:''' I can't help it, it's stiff, Doc, maybe I should lube this thing up before we take it down there.<br />

''' Doc:''' It'll be fine, it's not built for speed, it's built for deep penetration! }}