History Main / InLoveWithTheMark

%%* ''Fanfic/HoursVerse'': [[spoiler:Goro Akechi]] falls in love with the P5 protagonist.

* On ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'', a con artist is murdered because he falls in love with his rich fiance and his partner in the con kills him to try to earn the money.

* In the infamous ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' fanfic ''Fanfic/LoveCanBloom'' the [[ColdSniper Vindicare Assassin]] LIIVI, despatched to finish off the defeated Eldar Farseer Taldeer, hesitated when he watched her take off her Ghosthelm to reveal her face through the scope of his rifle and [[LoveAtFirstSight fell in love with her]] (despite [[WhatIsThisFeeling not knowing why]]). He goes rogue to try and save her, despite the history of enmity between their races and the FantasticRacism that heavily pervades both Elder and Human culture.

* On ''Series/{{Castle}}'', a con artist is murdered because he falls in love with his rich fiance and his partner in the con kills him to try to earn the money.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'', this was added to ComicBook/{{Mera}}'s backstory in ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'', which eventually bled over into the New 52. Here, she was the princess of the former penal colony of Atlantis, Xebel, and was originally sent to kill Arthur. However, she fell in love with him and opted to stay with him and marry him, keeping her past hidden until the events of ''Brightest Day''.
* The necromancer in the first issue of ''ComicBook/DeathVigil'' genuinely fell in love with Clara at some point before he tried to sacrifice her to evil entities that want to eat reality.
* Played for laughs in a non-canonical ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' strip. A woman introduces her ex to her new beau, who happens to be the undead superfiend Judge Death. Apparently they met while he was busy massacring a club full of hundreds of people before a MeetCute.
* Probably the case with Yith, a snake-woman assassin hired to kill Curt Connors in the mini-series ''ComicBook/SpiderMan, Quality of Life''. Yith had been paid by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Clifton Arliss]] to get rid of Connors (who had discovered the dangerous health risks of his agricultural projects), but started feeling sympathy for him after hearing about the death of his wife. Eventually, during a fight between Spider-Man and Curt (who had become the Lizard) she did little but watch, and after passing up several easy shots at Curt, she pointed her gun at her employer and asked if he'd ever been in love before - then let him have it. (And then left without an explanation.)

* In ''Film/TheLoft'', HighClassCallGirl Anne is initially hired by [[spoiler:Vincent]] to seduce Chris in order to manipulate him into accepting a key to the loft. However, after this initial encounter, she falls in love with Chris and continues the relationship with him.

* A minor example from the ''[[Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse BattleTech]]'' novel ''Close Quarters'': Protagonist Cassie Suthorn isn't exactly sent to ''kill'' the Honorable Percival Fillington, Earl of Hachiman. Merely gather incriminating evidence of a conspiracy against her employer in which he is involved, which ''could'' easily lead to his death if it fell into the wrong hands. In the course of her mission, she doesn't precisely fall in love with him, either, but he does inadvertantly get past her own defenses enough for her to realize that he's after all an imperfect but fairly decent man whom the other sides in said conspiracy are using mainly as a [[EliteMook highly-placed convenient pawn]] and with whom she could be friends if it wasn't for his being on the other side (and for her own deep-seated psychological issues). It motivates her enough that after her recovery she argues with her employer in favor of sparing him, and since her "impertinence" amuses Chandrasekhar Kurita, Percy does in fact get to live and even keep his position as though nothing happened. [[spoiler:[[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome Until the next book, anyway...]]]]

* A variation of this appears in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'': [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed at the end of the game that 2B is actually 2''E'', which stands for Executioner: a special class of androids made to kill any other [=YoRHa=] units that go rogue in some way. Specifically, she's the personal executioner of 9S, who as a Scanner type has a tendency to [[HeKnowsTooMuch look too deep and find out things he shouldn't]], but who [=YoRHa=] still wants to keep because his skills in reconnaissance are invaluble. Any time 9S probes too far, 2E is ordered to kill 9S and wipe his memories. What makes things bad for her is that 9S really, really tries to get close each and every single time they get on a mission together, and as a result 2E started to gain genuine affection for him, causing her to eventually hate every single time she has to kill him even if she does it anyway. This single bit of knowledge [[TheEndingChangesEverything brings new light on every single line of dialogue 2B and 9S have earlier in the game.]]]]

The former target LoveInterest will of course be ''really'' freaked out [[ThirdActMisunderstanding once she finds out]] the man she loves wanted to kill her not days ago, but usually rolls with it surprisingly well and trusts the hitman with her life implicitly. A weird sort of StockholmSyndrome can be said to affect both: though their love is genuine, the situation is eerily similar. The old assassin's maxim "Don't get involved with the mark, it can get messy" is putting it mildly.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'', Joshua meets Natasha and attempts to flirt with her; she runs off, keenly aware of the bounty on her head as a DefectorFromDecadence. When they meet up later, he flips a coin and tells her to call it in order to determine whether he kills her or not. Note that she is a cleric who is bound by oath not to indulge in vices such as gambling (though this ''is'' an understandable excuse). They get married if they achieve an A support.

%%* ''Fanfic/LoveCanBloom'':

* Barbara Stanwyck does this in both ''Film/TheLadyEve'' (where she's a cruise ship card shark falling in love with mark Henry Fonda) and ''Film/BallOfFire'' (where she's a stripper pretending to be in love with Gary Cooper so she can hide out from the cops, until she isn't pretending).