When characters A and B are facing some danger and character A puts out an arm to protect character B
Good variations:
-Character B doesn’t realize the danger until character A puts out his or her arm -Character A isn’t the larger or stronger character but still takes responsibility for character B’s safety -Character A doesn’t stand a chance against the danger -Character A continues talking like there isn’t anything wrong while standing between character B and the threat -Character A doesn’t get along with character B and/or vice versa -The danger is comically minor -Character A has seemed helpless or bumbling but is now revealing inner depths and hidden strength
other good variations:
-character B is injured
-character A is injured but trying to be protective anyway
-character B gets annoyed when they realize what character A is doing
you know a joke that never EVER gets old is when a character says smth like “I will NOT go to [place] and that is FINAL” and then it cuts to them in that place I eat that shit up every single time
Equally good variant: when the character says smth like “what’s the worse that could happen?” and it cuts to a scene where it’s so much worse than what they imagined