Move Over “Golden Retriever” Boyfriend — It’s Black Cat Boyfriend Season 🖤🐈‍⬛

For years, the internet has been obsessed with the “golden retriever” boyfriend — the sweet, eager-to-please, golden-eyed (and sometimes golden-haired) romantic who makes you feel like you’re the only person in the room.

But lately? The girls are trading in their happy-go-lucky puppy boys for something moodier. Enter: the Black Cat Boyfriend.

What’s a Black Cat BF?

Think quiet, mysterious, brooding, complicated… the guy who won’t write you a cheesy poem, but will show up at your door when it really matters. He may look a little aloof, but underneath? Deep emotions. He feels everything.

They’re the ones who don’t do grand gestures, but when they look at you? You feel like you’re the only one who really sees them.

As one expert put it:

“Gen Z values emotional realism over idealism. The Black Cat BF complicates the traditional romantic arc. He’s not perfect, but he’s real.”

RELATED: “Golden Retriever Man” New Dating Term

Pop Culture’s Full of Them 🎬

You’ve met these men before — binge-watch enough shows and you’ll recognize the type:

• Jess Mariano (Gilmore Girls)
• Chuck Bass (Gossip Girl)
• Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
• Lucas Scott (One Tree Hill)
• Carmy (The Bear)

More recent examples? Pretty much every dark-haired, brooding male lead in The Summer I Turned Pretty, Lena Dunham’s Too Much, and Ginny & Georgia.

So if the Golden Retriever BF is the boy you bring home to your parents… the Black Cat BF is the one you bring home and hope your parents never ask too many questions about. And maybe that’s the point. 🖤