Romance readers on TikTok, or "BookTok," more specifically, are turning on tired tropes in fanfiction by joking about the typical "tiny, sheltered girl" and "powerful, possessive man" pairing in romance writing.

In a series of viral memes spreading across TikTok and Instagram Reels lately, girls on the internet are portraying what it must be like for a side character to see the romance between Y/N and her hot CEO lover unfold, all while they are burdened with all the work that gets left by the wayside.

Here's what you need to know about the trend, from how it started to how it's evolved on social media.

What Does Y/N Mean, and Where Did Jokes About "Y/N and the CEO" Originate?

Y/N stands for "your name," and it's the standard self-insert placeholder fanfiction writers use so readers can picture themselves as the protagonist. Writers have used it across Archive of Our Own, Wattpad and other fanfic hubs for years, and the shorthand later migrated to TikTok in even shorter "imagine if" style videos in the 2020s.

As for the "possessive CEO" trope, one where an ultra-rich, controlling love interest who grows fixated with a mousey, unassuming woman, that's just a theme that's blown up in the world of romance publishing over the past decade, thanks to media franchises such as Fifty Shades of Grey.

The "Y/N and CEO Side Character POV" meme took off in November 2025, with Instagram user @i_ambooked posting an early notable example in a video that showed her shuffling through papers and typing on a laptop. The caption read, "Me on a Sunday working because Y/N didn't deliver anything this week because she was busy working on a ‘private project’ with the CEO in his office," and the clip pulled more than 55,000 likes in two weeks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Faiza B. Daudo (@i_ambooked)

A week later, TikToker @dahlwithsomerice posted a side-character POV on November 22nd that read, "Me watching Y/N get off work early every day and getting all her work dumped on me because she has 'more important business' with the CEO." That video gathered over 4 million plays and 800,000 likes in a week, and other creators immediately riffed on the setup.

@dahlwithsomerice If I was any other character I’d hate her guts too #fyp #girlie #trend ♬ som original – Bergamini

What Are Some More Y/N and CEO Side-character Memes?

The meme took off in a big way in late November 2025, with TikToker @luh_pov posting a clip pretending not to see "Y/N below the table while I tried to make the CEO sign the paperwork." That video reached about 10 million plays and 1.5 million likes in six days.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7576350848897404180

That same day, TikTok user @moonzi127 went viral after posting a mafia variant of the meme, writing "me and the rest of the mafia members trying not to laugh when our boss calls Y/N 'kitten' cuz we'll get executed." The clip hit roughly 6 million plays and 1 million likes in five days.

@moonzi127 #fanfic #yn #ynslander #fyp #speed ♬ som original – Bergamini

Another really viral version of the meme was one posted by TikToker @josukexme, who gathered over 20 million plays after joking about how Y/N's CEO lover is the type to rip off her own hijab to cover up Y/N if he thinks her outfit is too immodest.

@josukexme y/n is NOT me bro BTW @Faiza Daudo 🍉 is so funny i can’t #yn #anime #booktok #ao3 #fyp ♬ som original – Bergamini

The popularity of the Y/N CEO memes eventually went cross-platform, with X / Twitter user @hiscoraline tweeting, "me liking and reposting all the y/n and the ceo mafia boss videos on tiktok coz it’s literally the funniest trend ever," gathering over 98,000 likes in two days.

me liking and reposting all the y/n and the ceo mafia boss videos on tiktok coz it’s literally the funniest trend ever
pic.twitter.com/wHvqcZUG2I

— Nora❦ (@hiscoraline) November 28, 2025

---

For the full history of Y/N and CEO Side Character POVs, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.