Intertwined Fingers

Intertwined Fingers is a particular way of Holding Hands that indicates a more than close relationship between two people. This is commonly done by lovers, or whenever a creator wants to indicate a pair are more than friends without going out and saying it.

This is in particular, a staple of lesbian related works and scenes. Intertwined fingers can often indicate lesbian relationships without getting explicit (e.g. by kissing). In fact, see the Girls Love and Schoolgirl Lesbians articles for two other good illustrations of this trope.

Boys Love comics and other forms of Yaoi will also occasionally use this trope, often as a subtle Ho Yay or Discretion Shot to turn their relationship up a notch.

Has absolutely nothing to do with Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive or Fingore—probably.

Examples of Intertwined Fingers include:

Anime and Manga

Rose and Ryuuji in Dragon Crisis do this fairly often, since it's used to kick off their Engage abilities.
Used as Ship Tease in So Ra No Wo To between Filicia and Rio shortly before Filicia sacrifices herself... in an alcohol-fueled watergun war.
Aimi and Kaoruko of Akahori Gedou Hour Rabuge do this as part of their In the Name of the Moon-speech.
Najimi and Yell do this in episode 7 of Akikan. This may be part of the summoning process which also includes kissing.
Hansel and Gretel do a very delicate and sensual version of this in Black Lagoon. It's a bit unnerving. Then It Gets Worse.
When Mari and Hagino from Blue Drop start holding hands in this fashion it's quite obvious what happened between them.
Kanade and Yukino from Candy Boy do this a lot. Yes, they are sisters—but it is hinted that there's more to it.
In the last episode of Chrono Crusade, Chrono and Rosette intertwine their fingers right before they breathe their last. *sob*
Ryou and Nagisa in Clannad do this when the latter "confesses" to the former, much to Sunohara's excitement.
Occurs between C.C. and Lelouch near the end of Code Geass R2 while they sit back-to-back. Notable due to the two characters' mutual asexual behavior and/or untrusting natures toward each other and everyone throughout the series, but completely understandable when you consider all the crap they've been through together at this point.
Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. Xia Yu Fang and Xia Yu Lan do this after one of them gets a Pistol-Whipping from Bad Boss Gates. It hints at their Twincest relationship, as if the earlier Les Yay Shower Scene wasn't evidence enough.
This happens once in Gundam Seed with two Gundams. Considering the context, it likely wasn't meant to show anything more than friendship.
Haru wo Daiteita: When Iwaki declares his love, he entwined his fingers with Katou and held them to his heart - awwwwwww.
Sae and Hiro in the OP for Hidamari Sketch x365 come to mind. Sae quickly pulls away with a blush.
The second season of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (Kai) has Hanyuu and Rika do this in the ending credits.
- In Umineko no Naku Koro ni Lambda and Bern do this once.
Taki and Klaus do this before kissing in Maiden Rose, as least, when their relationship is going smoothly.
Junjou Romantica: Usagi and Misaki on occasion.
- Pretty much all three couples are eventually shown this way (plus the opening theme has them Holding Hands as well).
In Kannazuki no Miko, Chikane and Himeko do this after confessing their feelings for each other.
Intertwined hands are part of the Discretion Shot in Kare Kano during their love scene.
Sachiko and Yumi hold each others' hands this way in the second season finale of Mariasama ga Miteru.
- As do Yumi and Touko in the finale of season 4.
This trope pops up even in older Girls Love works like Maya's Funeral Procession.
Setsuko and Yukino do this in Octave.
The first three seasons of Pretty Cure. That is all.
Ayato and Haruka of RahXephon are a heterosexual example, which occurs once during the series and twice in the movie.
In the manga version of R.O.D the TV, Anita and Hisami do this ever so often, clearly showing the intensity of their friendship.
In Saki, Saki and Nodoka hold hands like this quite a bit.
Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus do this quite a few times throughout the series.
- Most notably during the "I like your hands" scene, on the morning that they go to the Marine Cathedral expecting to have to kill an innocent person and again while they're dying/fading out of existence at the end of Stars.
Sumika and Ushio do this in the first chapter of Sasameki Koto. They are Just Friends, even though both are identified as Schoolgirl Lesbians early on—and Sumiko has a major crush on Ushio. The fact that Ushio heavily favors cute, petite girls causes Sumika enormous angst over Ushio's obliviousness to her feelings.
Done rather overtly in the ending credits of Strawberry Panic.
- Also done by Shizuma and Nagisa before and during their Underwater Kiss.
In The Five Star Stories, Amaterasu & Lechesis hold hands this way after defeating Juba and his goons with the Knight Of Gold. Not exactly Yuri, as this Amaterasu isn't a Shinto goddess, but rather the hermaphroditic god-king of an entire planet. Yeah, it's that kind of manga.
This happens between Makoto and her younger sister Miyuki in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, when Miyuki thinks that her sister wants to jump out of the window because she ate Makoto's pudding.
In King of Thorn, twin sisters Kasumi and Shizuku intertwine their fingers during a flashback Furo Scene. Kasumi was a Shrinking Violet and very dependent on emotional support from Shizuku.
It's used between Hikari and Akari in the opening of This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, though that doesn't really have romantic overtones (unless you choose to interpret it like that...)
Actually a valid piloting input in Vandread. Done only by Hibiki and Dita though.
Lucia and Sumire from Venus Versus Virus do this a lot in the anime, perhaps as a hint that there might be more going on between than just friendship.
Revolutionary Girl Utena has this between Utena and Anthy at times.
- Also Akio and Utena do this during their sex scene.
Shown between the eponymous pair of Sumi and Kina in the first chapter of the Slice of Life manga series, Wife and Wife (aka Fu~fu.)
Haku and Chihiro in Spirited Away do this as they are free-falling from the sky after Haku transforms back from his dragon form into his human form.
At the end of Immortal Grand Prix Takeshi and Liz are seen holding hands and, when Liz gets flustered and tries to pull away, Takeshi re-grabs her hand and entwines her fingers.
Female!Yuki and Luka do this in Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru.
In the second new chapter of Morinaga Milk's Yuri Genre manga Kisses, Sighs, And Cherry Blossoms Pink, Nana and Hitomi hold hands on the bus like this. When more people come on, Nana gets embarrassed and suggests they stop, which Hitomi agrees to...only to covertly kiss her.
In No. 6 chapter 13 Sion is nervous about going to rescue Safu and Nezumi calms him down by grabbing his hand and intertwining his fingers with Sion's.
Pre-eclipse Guts and Casca did this occasionally, most notably during their love scene. Unusual in that they were now an Official Couple, so the Ship Tease aspect was not present.
Sharon intertwines her fingers with Alice's in one scene in Pandora Hearts.

Fan Works

Some Shipping fics in the Star Trek fandom do this, not only because it's romantic, but also because Vulcans have very sensitive fingers
Enoby and Draco do this in My Immortal, while simultaneously sticking their middle fingers up.
RE-TAKE: This is last image of the End of Evangelion Shinji and Asuka in volume 4.

Film

Corky and Violet's final scene together in Bound—an especially nice touch considering what other things happened to fingers in that movie.
Mathesar sees Laliari and Fred doing this towards the end of Galaxy Quest, and realizes she intends to return to Earth with the humans.
In High School Musical, this can be interpreted as the moment of the Relationship Upgrade between Troy and Gabriella.
Used in the scene where Eli crawls into Oskar's bed in Let the Right One In. It's probably for the best that that's where the focus is, as Eli's naked and bloody, Oskar sleeps in his underwear, and both are 12 years old. Nevertheless, the scene is painfully sweet.
The first part of Hou Hsiao-hsien's art-house movie Three Times ends on a close-up of the boy and the girl holding hands that way. It's a very heartwarming moment.
In the trailer for Satan's Alley, it showed Kirk and Tobey Maguire's characters standing there with their fingers intertwine showing their commitment towards each others.
In En kärlekshistoria (A Swedish Love Story), young teenage lovers Per and Annika walk through the woods holding hands with their fingers interlinked, swinging their hands between them. It's very natural and touching, like the rest of their love scenes.

Literature

Anne and Diana do this when making their vow of friendship in Anne of Green Gables.
In #8 of the Animorphs series, Ax makes a point of noting Cassie and Jake doing this in his observations of human culture.
Tavi and Kitai do this on occasion in Codex Alera.

Live Action TV

This is a well-used trope in most Korean Drama, as a showing of romantic feelings.
- Seung Jo and Han Ni in Playful Kiss when he announces the engagement to both their parents.
- Han Kyul and Eun Jo do this while he's driving in The First Shop of Coffee Prince.
Willow and Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer hold hands this way as part of Les Yay Subtext before their Relationship Reveal.
- Brutally subverted in "Tough Love". Tara has had a fight with Willow and is sitting alone on a bench when a women entwines fingers with hers. Tara turns with a big smile...only to find herself facing Glory who proceeds to torture her for information by crushing Tara's fingers until they bleed.
- Buffy and Spike do this in Chosen, right before the Hellmouth collapses and Spike is killed.
Ditto for Brittany and Santana, though they prefer linking pinkies. Though, they do intertwine fingers in "Hold On To Sixteen".
In Doctor Who, the Doctor and Rose do this all. the. time.
A heartbreaking one in an episode of Farscape, where John and Aeryn do this across one of Moya's grates as they're about to be separated from each other.
Heroes: Claire recently told Gretchen she wants to hold her hand.
The L Word uses this all the time, even focusing directly on it during lovemaking scenes. Of course, one would speculate that hands are of larger significance in lesbian sex, given that women tend to be much more tactile than men and have slightly fewer useful appendages. Plus, it gives the camera something to look at that might get past the radar.
Torchwood has Captain Jack Harkness and the real Captain Jack Harkness intertwine fingers in "Captain Jack Harkness".
A very sweet one in Voyager, when Janeway and Chakotay realise that they have no choice but to spend the rest of their lives together. Chakotay gets there quicker than Janeway, and tells her an "ancient legend" about an angry warrior who only ever finds peace after being forced to work with a wise and beautiful female warrior. Janeway finally gets it, and the resulting hand grasp is just about the most heartwarming thing ever.

Janeway: Is that really an ancient legend?
Chakotay: No...but that made it easier to say.

Music

Lady Gaga and Beyoncé do this at the end of the music video of "Telephone". It goes with the fact that in the video, they're heavily implied to be a Les Yay version of Bonnie and Clyde.
The picture made for the Vocaloid song "magnet" speaks for itself

Theatre

This is an important moment in We Will Rock You when Scaramouche and Galileo end up holding hands like this during 'Who Wants To Live Forever' and they realise that actually they've been falling in love since they first met.

Video Game

Used as part of the Yukari and Yuyuko's fairly Les Yay combination save in Touhou Soccer. Similarly used with the guys Rinnosuke and Ehrlich with their combination attack which is made even more homoerotic.
In Super Robot Wars, Princess Shine and Latooni also do this as the finale to the Royal Heart Breaker, in the same way as the above.
Used in Xenosaga between Shion and KOS-MOS before they are forced to separate by the plot, most likely for thousands of years.
Fang and Vanille do this at the end of the game, when both of them are in crystal stasis.

Visual Novels

The Girls Love series of Visual Novels A Kiss for the Petals loves to use this trope often with its various couplings.
- Referenced in the seventh game between Runa and Takako:

Takako: Wawawah, o-our fingers...our fingers are intertwined!
Runa: This is how lovers are supposed to hold hands.

Used in Shizune's route in Katawa Shoujo to help show the relationship between three characters. In one picture Hisao holds hands with both Shizune and Misha. He's very close to both, but the difference between the relationships is made apparent by how his fingers are intertwined with the former, but not with the latter.

Western Animation

Mentioned in the As Told by Ginger episode "Stealing First", as the popular girls ask Ginger how far she has gone with a boy. She held hands once, but since it was "hands cupped" rather than "fingers interlocked", it counts for less.
WALL-E, as a plot point, no less.

Web Comics

Happens between Jordi and Jeremy in this page of Cuanta Vida, right before Jeremy confesses to Jordi that he's in love with him.

Web Original

Seems to be a regular occurrence in Under the Van Gogh, at least in the early acts.
Mille and Iriana in Ilivais X do this all the time. They have a joined scar/ Red String of Fate on their pinkies, so they keep those joined while all the rest intertwine. It's notable that this particular hold is a symbol for their relationship as a whole- it wants to fit, and it should fit, but it's definitely strained and it takes a bit of awkward fidgeting to get it right. Go on. Try it.