History Main / OfficialCoupleOrdealSyndrome

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' has Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, who, after surviving two Mortal Kombat tournaments and Outworld's invasion to Earthrealm, after all is said and done, hook up and even have a daughter, Cassie Cage. Some time during the 20-year TimeSkip between the Story Mode's first and second chapter, they divorce due to job issues, but over the course of the following chapters they gradually reconcile.

* Habaek and Soah from ''Manhwa/TheBrideOfTheWaterGod''. Anytime it seems their relationship is going farther, the universe brings some more problems to them; either of trust, with other gods or some LoveTriangle.

** Quackity has had [[LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces very terrible luck with love]] in the roleplay. Among his more serious relationships, [[spoiler:his past abusive relationship with Schlatt still traumatizes him to this day, and when he finally got into a somewhat stable relationship with Karl and Sapnap, in a convoluted deconstruction of PoorCommunicationKills (and [[LossOfIdentity memory problems]] on Karl's part), their unintentional abandonment of him to build a country of their own ends up being [[TraumaCongaLine the straw that broke the camel's back]], which finally caused him to [[DespairEventHorizon abandon his idealism]] and fully follow in [[WellIntentionedExtremist Wilbur's]] footsteps down a spiral. A couple of months after that, he's still ''very'' evidently heartbroken, and has unofficially decided that he was going to make his issues ''[[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds everyone's]]'' problem through a mixture of PsychologicalProjection and [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation]]. And that's not even going into the Fiancés' SecondActBreakup in the "Las Nevadas" Episode 4...]]

* The WebVideo/DreamSMP, being a CrapsackWorld, has been a major cause of trauma for ''[[DysfunctionJunction everyone on the server]]'', including and not limited to those in relationships. In fact, most of the canonical relationships have [[LoveHurts caused no shortage of pain and angst to those within it]]. This goes to the point that currently, the only (semi-)stable relationships on the server appear to be Puffy and Niki, and possibly Tubbo and Ranboo, and "[[LampshadeHanging love is dead]]" is a [[Memes/DreamSMP recurring meme]] within the fandom.
** In this universe, Philza allegedly fathered Wilbur with a Samsung Smart Refrigerator, which he claims to now be in a dump somewhere. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext It's best not to question how this happened.]] Although this is later {{subverted|Trope}} by Philza retconning this from the lore, it still doesn't take away whatever's going on from the ''other'' relationships on the server.
** Following in his father's footsteps, Wilbur had a son, Fundy, with Sally, a salmon. Sally is also apparently a MissingMom, with Wilbur misplacing her or, as some have claimed, eating her. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext It's best not to question how this one happened either.]]
** [[spoiler:In a HopeSpot during Tommy's [[TraumaCongaLine Exile]], Mexican Dream got killed by his girlfriend, Girl Dream/Mamacita's SpearCounterpart, Dream.]]
** Sam and Ponk were valentines and dated briefly, but saying that their relationship didn't end well is an {{understatement}} — Sam flirting with [[SmallRoleBigImpact Andrea Botez]] during her date with Jack prompted Ponk to join [[ReligionOfEvil the Eggpire]], blaming Sam for breaking his heart; and later in the series, [[spoiler:Ponk was caught stealing a key card to [[TheAltacraz Pandora's Vault]], which was SeriousBusiness to Sam... who proceeded to canonically kill him in retaliation, [[ColdBloodedTorture torture him]] to get the key cards back, and [[AnArmAndALeg cut Ponk's arm off]] for refusing to oblige. Yes, this relationship seriously ended with one of the members joining a {{cult}} and having a limb sliced off by his ex-boyfriend.]]
** Quackity has had [[LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces very terrible luck with love]] in the roleplay. Among his more serious relationships, [[spoiler:his past abusive relationship with Schlatt still traumatizes him to this day, and when he finally got into a somewhat stable relationship with Karl and Sapnap, in a convoluted deconstruction of PoorCommunicationKills (and [[LossOfIdentity memory problems]] on Karl's part), their unintentional abandonment of him to build a country of their own ends up being [[TraumaCongaLine the straw that broke the camel's back]], which finally caused him to [[DespairEventHorizon abandon his idealism]] and fully follow in [[WellIntentionedExtremist Wilbur's]] footsteps down a spiral. A couple of months after that, he's still ''very'' evidently heartbroken, and has unofficially decided that he was going to make his issues ''[[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds everyone's]]'' problem through a mixture of PsychologicalProjection and [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation]]. And that's not even going into the Fiancés' SecondActBreakup in the "Las Nevadas" finale...]]

* Leonard and Penny from ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. The romance starts with Leonard's infatuation with Penny followed by her appreciation of his loyalty, kindness and what a great guy he is. Being cute and smart also turns her on. They break up after Leonard tells Penny he loves her and she can't say it back due to her insecurity over her intelligence. They both date other people however, they clearly still love each other and eventually get back together and Penny even says I Love You to him. The romance eventually concludes in marriage and settling down together although they still face some challenges. By the end of Season 12 they're finally secure and expecting a child.

* The LetsPlay/DreamSMP, being a CrapsackWorld, has been a major cause of trauma for ''[[DysfunctionJunction everyone on the server]]'', including and not limited to those in relationships. In fact, most of the canonical relationships have [[LoveHurts caused no shortage of pain and angst to those within it]]. This goes to the point that currently, the only (semi-)stable relationships on the server appear to be Puffy and Niki, and possibly Tubbo and Ranboo, and "[[LampshadeHanging love is dead]]" is a [[Memes/DreamSMP recurring meme]] within the fandom.

* Once ''Series/{{Castle}}'' and Beckett upgrade their relationship, this takes a pretty big turn. It goes like this, per season ender:

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Spidey and Mary Jane. Dating a superhero makes you a target of hundreds of supervillains. Marrying him [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay means the writers want to break it up as much as possible]]. And yet, because this is [[IronWoobie the web-slinger]] we're talking about, things could be even [[ILetGwenStacyDie worse]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'': Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown. Their relationship's first snags are due to Bruce refusing to allow Tim to tell Stephanie his secret identity. Then Bruce nonchalantly tells Steph his id without first discussing it with Tim, Tim is forcefully kissed by a classmate in front of her, and Bruce hires her as Tim's replacement Robin without either of them talking to Tim. The largest blow to their relationship though was when Stephanie's death was faked with Tim left thinking her dead for years. It takes him a long time to trust her again.
* ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} and ComicBook/{{Mera}}:

* ComicBook/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} fall into this any time their relationship begins to become more serious. When they're just flirting, nothing seems to stop them other than being on opposite sides of the law. However, the few times they've made a real go at it mostly have something happen to cause them drama:
** "ComicBook/BatmanHush": Bruce reveals his real identity to Selina during their hunt for the mysterious villain behind using Poison Ivy to brainwash her and trying to kill him. While Bruce's friends and family are fairly accepting of it, things get heated as the hunt continues, as it becomes clear that the mysterious villain is using all of Batman's rogues to get at him, including recruiting one of Bruce's former friends and turning him into the villain "Hush". In the final scene, Selina tells Bruce to "hush" and he freaks out at her, and she realises that he doesn't trust her, and they go their separate ways.

** [[spoiler:Graystripe and Silverstream]] are from different Clans, and it's very difficult to meet and even see each other, since [[StarcrossedLovers their relationship is forbidden by Clan law]]. [[spoiler:They're thrilled when Silverstream's expecting kits, but then she suffers DeathByChildbirth]].

* This also occurs in ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'', climaxing in [[spoiler: Othello murdering Desdemona and killing himself]]. Even worse, the entire plot was [[spoiler: being carefully choreographed by [[{{ManipulativeBastard}} Iago]].]]

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'', after a very long series of confrontations and problems of all kinds which even involved one giving a death threat to the other as vengeance for killing a friend, Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan finally get the OfficialCouple status, [[spoiler:despite the fact that it doesn't last as much]]. ''VideoGame/StarcraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'' puts them through even more before [[spoiler:an ambiguous {{Stinger}} that seems to finally let them have their happy ending]].

* [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Spidey and Mary Jane]]. Dating a superhero makes you a target of hundreds of supervillains. Marrying him [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay means the writers want to break it up as much as possible]]. And yet, because this is [[IronWoobie the web-slinger]] we're talking about, things could be even [[ILetGwenStacyDie worse]].
* [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown]]. Their relationship's first snags are due to Bruce refusing to allow Tim to tell Stephanie his secret identity. Then Bruce nonchalantly tells Steph his id without first discussing it with Tim, Tim is forcefully kissed by a classmate in front of her, and Bruce hires her as Tim's replacement Robin without either of them talking to Tim. The largest blow to their relationship though was when Stephanie's death was faked with Tim left thinking her dead for years. It takes him a long time to trust her again.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} fall into this any time their relationship begins to become more serious. When they're just flirting, nothing seems to stop them other than being on opposite sides of the law. However, the few times they've made a real go at it mostly have something happen to cause them drama:

* In ''FanFic/JusPrimaeNoctis'' this is downplayed but present. [[LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero Louise and Saito]] keep suffering interruptions to getting around to TheirFirstTime, but nothing too horrible to cope with.