Star Trek TOS: K/S--The Enterprise lands on a spacefaring but not galactic-travel world where everyone is grouped into pairs or small groups of "best friends." These don't seem to be family units; child-rearing is done in community creches, and living arrangements are fluid. When the crew lands, everyone is asked who their best friend is; of course, Kirk & Spock identify each other. (Whether other crew members pair off or not is optional.) They're present for a few weeks before they find the reason for the groupings, which are separate from spouses... a combination of psychic-enhancing pollen and monthly tides causes a telepathic connection among the friends, which may have intense erotic overtones.
House: H/W--House's landlord is doing renovations for two weeks & House needs a place to stay; he could rent a hotel, but would rather mooch off Wilson. Wilson puts up with his food being stolen and even the porn DVDs in his living room, but draws the line when House calls a hooker. Wilson politely sends her away (tipping her handsomely for her trouble), and goes on to prove to House that they don't need a girl to have fun.
Vorkosigan series: Cordelia/Bothari--Cordelia goes shopping, with Bothari as her bodyguard. Miles is less than a year old, but has to be present at some official Imperial event. Cordelia has to get herself and both boys (Miles and Greg) ready, although Greg's mostly being dealt with by someone else. She's still pretty blurry on the details of culture that would let her pick the right outfits and gifts for other people involved, and has to keep asking Bothari for advice, and the truth behind the gossip so she can understand what's really expected, rather than what's in the hype reports. (Aral is too busy being regent, plus, he's not privy to servant-level gossip.) Bothari's embarassed to be asked, but can't not answer. He tries to be honest and respectful at the same time, and mostly winds up tripping on his words.
Dr. Who: Doctor/companion--The Doctor is locked into some kind of time loop... he keeps replaying a single script with three or four different companions. Their lines are different, appropriate to their situations; the Doctor's, while also appropriate, are the same words in all the settings. The Doctor has a growing awareness of the loop, and knows that to break out of it, he has to do something *different* in the different settings, but his attempts fail; he keeps saying the same things, with different emotions & different contexts, to each of the separate companions. He eventually figures out he's not actually bouncing between several settings... they're a figment, an illusion; only his words are really happening, and one of the companions is real (along with one of the dangerous situations he's stuck in), and he has to figure out which one before [the TARDIS explodes/Daleks invade Disneyland/a wormhole in space-time devours the universe/sentient blobs of jelly use him as a host for their eggs/whatever]. He'll have to figure out which of the several companions he's talking to is really his friend, and which are just psychic projections.
Sime-Gen: Klyd/Hugh--They have the task of writing up some crucial documents for the new Tecton, establishing rights for some gens and allowing certain tax breaks for those taking channel's transfer. Hugh has figured out how Klyd's moods tie into his need cycles... pre-turnover, Klyd's prone to agreeing to all sorts of rights for gens; post-turnover, he gets more concerned with their safety and wants harsher restrictions on simes who break the law. Hugh isn't sure how to "negotiate" terms with someone whose moods he can perceive so clearly, which gives him nice insights into how simes negotiate all the time... except that simes can't easily manipulate those moods, and Hugh can, until Klyd notices and the stomps off in a rage. They realize that they'll have to figure something out, because all sime-gen negotiations are going to be affected by the same problems.