Parents Walk in At the Worst Time

When your parents catch you and girlfriend in smash... bros ultimate, but you pick sonic...

An older teenager, or young adolescent goes to his or her room with a friend, generally of the opposite gender. At some point, their parent will find some reason to barge in.

This plays out in two ways:

• Type 1: Kids are making out, or about to. Parent will bring contraceptives if this was expected, or a very shocked look if it wasn't. (Warnings and snacks could be brought in either circumstance). If unexpected, Hilarity Ensues, though we usually don't see it. Awkwardness between parent and child will also ensue.
• Type 2: Kids are doing something innocent, like studying or playing board games, and the parent walked in expecting that they were making out.

Related to Moment Killer. A subtrope of Interrupted Intimacy. For children walking in on their parents, see Primal Scene.

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Comics

• Web of Spider-Man #50: After Peter and Mary Jane (still newlyweds at this point) settle in for the night (and some quality time), Aunt May barges in on them with a tray of hot cocoa to "warm their bones."

Peter: ...We appreciate the thought -- but we were already warming our bones. MJ: Next time, could you knock? Aunt May: Knock? Oh dear! Oh my! I'm so sorry! I keep forgetting you two are married... [from behind the just-closed door] Oh dear!

Film

• In Mean Girls, while Regina is getting hot and heavy with her new boyfriend, her mother (or rather stepmother, played by Amy Poehler as a nymphomaniac bimbo trophy wife) comes in asking them if they want anything, whether it's snacks or condoms.

Literature

• In the Doctor Who Eighth Doctor Adventures, Fitz's mum mentions that when she had out of body experiences in her sleep and looked through his window she saw him doing something which she considered too embarrassing to specify. So it could be this or another trope. Sometimes, even if you lock the door and wait for everyone else to go to sleep, you still just can't win...

Live Action TV

• In one episode of Home Improvement, Jill walks in on her son Brad and his girlfriend making out in his bedroom. This gets Brad in trouble because Brad wasn't allowed to have girls in his room.
• One episode of Full House has DJ fall asleep on Steve's couch at his apartment while they're watching a movie. She's fully clothed, but Danny peeks in and assumes the worst, grounding her and forbidding her to see Steve. (Granted, she also did break curfew, but still.)

Web Comics

• In Sabrina Online, when Amy and Thomas have sex on her bed, her mother is outside asking if they need anything. Amy's father tells the mother to leave them alone.
• In Questionable Content, Faye's sister Mandy came out as lesbian to her mother because of this trope.
• In Red String, Hanae's mother finds out her daughter is a lesbian this way. She doesn't take it well.
  

Advertising

• On an advert for insurance (perhaps Norwich Union?). A teenager's grandmother approaches his room with a cup of tea and is greeted by cries of 'Yes! I love you!' from the room. Of course, he's actually just been informed how cheap his insurance quote is.

Anime and Manga

• Rosario Plus Vampire has a variation. When Tsukune goes back home for a few days, the harem follows him. Moka shows up as the girlfriend. However, the rest of the harem managed to get into his room without his mother noticing. When his mother shows up bringing tea for the two, she ends up seeing a Lover Tug of War.

Comics

• One strip of Zits had Jeremy and his girlfriend studying in the kitchen, so of course Jeremy's parents come in every five minutes, getting "good, clear water!", taking out laundry, changing light bulbs, dusting the top of the fridge...
• Robin (Tim Drake) from the Batman series had one particularly amusing experience. His girlfriend Arianna tried to seduce him in lingerie but he turned down the opportunity, saying that they weren't ready for it. They ended up talking all night but when her relatives walked in on them (with Arianna still in her lingerie), they got the wrong idea and chased out Tim in rage.

Live Action Television

• Played with in Dharma and Greg: Dharma's ultra-hippy mother would bring a teenage Dharma and her various boyfriends post-coitus snacks and drinks.
  • While Greg (Dharma's husband) was uncomfortable, she was delighted.
• Implied in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When Anya goes to Xander's house, we see the two of them quickly heading to the basement, Xander saying, "Thanks for the snacks, Mom!" Anya remarks that she enjoyed said snacks.
• In one episode of Roseanne, Darlene and David are chilling out in the basement, aka David's room when Roseanne bursts in:

Roseanne: Aha! You two are having sex! Darlene: [looking up from her reading] We are? David, why didn't you tell me? I'd have put my book down.

Film

• Transformers, Sam Witwicky tries to find a small chip placed on his treasure glasses belonged to his grandfather, which he forgets where he left them in his room, and get Mikaela to help him. It gets too noisy that Sam's parents go up to check him out. His mother gets completely wrong ideas both before and after she finds the girl in his room.

Advertising

• There is a series of commercials for Pocky that involve this trope.

Anime and Manga

• In the first Higurashi no Naku Koro ni arc Keiichi's dad comes to bring Rena and Keiichi tea and snacks. In the manga it would have been a moment killer if Rena hadn't left and if she had talked to Keiichi. The fact Keiichi was talking on the phone about something secretive and he was suspicious of Rena makes him even more paranoid. However Rena probably never even went near his room, and if she did she heard he was on the phone and left.

Live Action Television

• In a season two episode of Glee, before Kurt and Blaine get together, Blaine is too drunk to drive after a party, so they bring him back to Kurt and Finn's house. In the morning, Kurt's dad walks in to find Blaine in Kurt's bed and is quite shocked, even though they are both fully dressed.

Western Animation

• A later episode of Daria combines both examples. Daria and her boyfriend Tom are in her room talking about Daria's writing. Her mother Helen starts assuming the pair is going to get up to sexy times and starts practicing running into the room to offer them snacks. At the end of the episode, the pair does actually share a quick kiss on the lips, which Helen is legitimately shocked by.