History Main / OperationJealousy

--> '''ButchLesbian to [=DiDi=]:''' Hey, blondie -- take your paws off my girl or I'll kick your ass!

* We get a double dose in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9858809/15/Pyrrha-c-victory Pyrrha(c) Victory]]'' in the aptly titled chapters "Jealousy I and II". At this point in the story, Pyrrha knows that Jaune likes her, but Jaune won't do anything because [[InsecureLoveInterest he believes that she can do better than him]], so she decides to ask [[spoiler:Sun]], who is in on the plan, to the [[HighSchoolDance Beacon Dance]] to make Jaune jealous. [[spoiler:Blake]], angry that the guy she was going to ask is being used like this, decides to ask Jaune to the the dance to both make [[spoiler:Sun]] jealous and give Pyrrha [[ATasteOftheirOwnMedicine A Taste Of Her Own Medicine]].
* Played with in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}''[=/=]''Series/DoctorWho'' crossover Fanfic/TheManWithNoName. Kaylee pretends to like the Doctor in order to make Simon jealous, but it's only to screw with his head. Well, that and she's quite happy to [[CovertPervert stare at his butt]] [[MrFanservice on general principles]].
* ''[[Fanfic/PoniesOfOlympus Atlas Strongest Tournament]]'': [[TheRival Ran Biao]] seduces Spike just to hurt Rarity [[spoiler: who she used to, and still-sorta-does, have feelings for]].
* Yahiko in ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'' tries to do this for Nagato and Konan. He fails because Nagato is willing to step out of the way for Yahiko, and Konan is too afraid of breaking up the group to reject Yahiko.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Legend of Korra}}'' fanfic ''Chaos Theories'', Ghazan and P'li try to do this to make Zaheer jealous. It works, eventually, but Zaheer is convinced that Ghazan is doing it to make Ming-Hua jealous.

* ''Fanfic/ChangeOfPlans,'' a ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' fanfic, begins with an AlternateUniverse take on "The Ex-Files" where Courtney tries this trope with Cody instead of Tyler. Ultimately this results in Cody and Courtney actually getting together.
* In the ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' fanfic ''Fanfic/LettersFromTomorrow'', Juliet mentions the same "cunning plan" she had in the game: Flirt with Logan to make her boyfriend Zach jealous after he sexted someone else. Unlike the game, she tells this plan to Chloe, who expresses doubt that it will work. Juliet just says "I know my man." After Chloe convinces Juliet that Logan is too much a sleaze for this operation and [[LesYay just helps her herself]], Juliet is proven right; she's back together with Zach less than ten minutes later.

* Alya accuses Marinette of this in ''FanFic/TheOneToMakeItStay'', claiming that she only started dating Luka in order to make Adrien jealous. She's completely wrong; she just wants to believe otherwise because [[ShipperOnDeck she's been pushing really hard to hook her up with Adrien]].
** Later, she attempts to invoke this herself. Convinced that Marinette only dislikes [[BitchInSheepsClothing Lila]] because [[YoureJustJealous she's secretly jealous]], Alya tries to arrange for Adrien and Lila to go out, believing this will get Mari to dump Luka and start pursuing her old crush again. Note that she doesn't clear this with Lila first, assuming that such a NiceGirl will be more than happy to help, and only has second thoughts when she misreads Adrien's hesitance and reluctance as a sign that he's got a crush on ''Lila''.
* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': Salem really wants Cinder to [[IWantGrandkids marry her son Jaune]]; at Watts' suggestion, she sends Cinder pictures of Jaune on a date with Yang in an effort to get her jealous and inflame her competitive spirit (note that Salem would prefer Jaune marry both of them; she ''really'' wants grandkids). Watts, of course, doesn't particularly care if this plan works, [[{{Troll}} he just thinks it's fun to needle Cinder]].

* ''Fanfic/MaybeTheLastArchieStory'': Doble subversion. [[ComicBook/ArchieComics Jason Blossom]] tries to persuade Betty Cooper to date with him, arguing that maybe Archie will get jealous and dump Veronica for Betty if he sees them together. Betty replies she does not do that kind of schemes anymore... but she is free tonight, so he can take her out for dinner.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10411917/1/Kissing-Starfire Kissing Starfire]]'', Starfire and Beast Boy attempt one involving Robin walking on them kissing for allegedly language assimilation purposes. The attempt fails, after which Raven decides to help Star instead, and also make Beast Boy jealous as well. The result is the boys seeing "[[GirlOnGirlIsHot a sight that left two with nosebleeds on the floor, and one stuck in a software freeze]]".

Subtrope to FakeRelationship. Compare with TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction, IntentionalHeartbreaker or BeAWhoreToGetYourMan.

* Part of Creator/BioWare's trimming of [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Amy's]] [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] [[ClingyJealousGirl desire for Sonic]] involves this. In ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'', Dexter is an imaginary boyfriend she invented to inspire jealousy in Sonic, but deep down she still cares about the Blue Blur - if Sonic is nice to her throughout the game, she tells all before the Nocturne invasion. If you're paying a fair amount of attention (and selecting the right conversation options), you can see this coming from fairly early on.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': Numerous people, ranging from Jimmy's fan club to ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} herself, pulled this trick on Lucy Lane in "Superman's Pal, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen". Lucy, being a dog-in-the-manger, would fall for it... and then go directly back to resenting Jimmy's attentions as soon as the story was over.

* {{ComicBook/Asterix}}: A complicated non-romantic version in Recap/AsterixTheRomanAgent. After the titular Roman agent is dealt with (who has an inherent ability to make people turn on each other, leading to almost every male Gaul declaring himlf the ''real'' chief of the village), Asterix decides to make sure the others have learned their lesson and starts going around being carried on a shield by Asterix. When Vitalstatistix venomously asks what he thinks he's doing, Asterix cheerfully replies he's testing out the shield he intends to give Vitalstatistix for his birthday.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Firra suggests that Renno pay more attention to her than ComicBook/WonderGirl at a dance to make Wonder Girl jealous, but the mermaid had rather underestimated how much her friend had already annoyed Wonder Girl.

Subtrope to FakeRelationship. Compare TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction and IntentionalHeartbreaker.

BeAWhoreToGetYourMan is related.

* In ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' Betty Brant originally started dating Ned Leeds to make Peter jealous, but he was too busy to notice and eventually she fell in love with Ned for real.
* Played with in ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl''. May's best friend, Davida, started to date Wess, because [[EveryoneCanSeeIt May was the only person in the school unaware that Wess was in love with her]] and Davida wanted to give him a chance to get her attention.
* Numerous people, ranging from Jimmy's fan club to Supergirl herself, pulled this trick on Lucy Lane in "Superman's Pal, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen". Lucy, being a dog-in-the-manger, would fall for it... and then go directly back to resenting Jimmy's attentions as soon as the story was over.
* In one [=DiDi=] Glitz comic, a lesbian is doing this with the main character, successfully.

* ''[[FanFic/PoniesOfOlympus Atlas Strongest Tournament]]'': [[TheRival Ran Biao]] seduces Spike just to hurt Rarity [[spoiler: who she used to, and still-sorta-does, have feelings for]].
* Yahiko in FanFic/AGrowingAffection tries to do this for Nagato and Konan. He fails because Nagato is willing to step out of the way for Yahiko, and Konan is too afraid of breaking up the group to reject Yahiko.

* [[https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1287092499740327936 This twitter thread]] (saved [[https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1284534352840466438.html here]] explains how a fictional character helped start a romance and then showed up at the couple's wedding.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13141582/12/Sora-and-the-Princess-of-Power Sora and the Princess of Power]]'': After seeing how much fun Bow and Perfuma are having together while at the Princess Prom, Glimmer forcibly makes Sora her date and tries to make the both of them the LifeOfTheParty to make Bow jealous.

* In the ''ComicBook/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' story "Double Dummy", Sabrina's boyfriend Harvey refuses to pay to see a movie with her, so Sabrina goes out with [[Franchise/ArchieComics Reggie Mantle]] instead. Harvey gets upset, saying, "I'll bet she wouldn't act that way if I told her I was going with another girl to a drive-in!" This inspires him to buy an inflatable doll and dress it up in his mother's clothes and wig. At the drive-in, Sabrina sees Harvey with the doll and gets upset. She slings her purse at him, but hits the doll instead, causing its head to explode. As Harvey's punishment for deceiving her, Sabrina brings the doll to life and makes it chase after him.

* Numerous people, ranging from Jimmy's fan club to Supergirl herself, pulled this trick on Lucy Lane in "Superman's Pal, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen". Lucy, being a DogInTheManger, would fall for it... and then go directly back to resenting Jimmy's attentions as soon as the story was over.

* Non-romantic example, but quite infamously done in ''ComicBook/{{Robin}}'' when after Tim Drake resigns from the role, Batman instead gives the mantle to Stephanie Brown, Tim's girlfriend and the vigilante known as Spoiler. Steph herself is in-part taking the mantle because she thought Tim was cheating on her and wanted to make him jealous, but Batman was ''explicitly'' and ''only'' taking her on to annoy Tim. Batman's treatment of Steph was ''bad'' and rife with emotional abuse, holding her to a much higher standard than any other Robin beforehand while not trusting her even to a fraction of what he did the others, which ultimately lead her to become so desperate for his approval she instigated a back-up plan of his that (thanks to him never informing her of key information that even his enemies knew) resulted in starting a gang war that ultimately lead to her apparent death.

Subtrope to FakeRelationship. Compare TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction.

Hopefully, the operation succeeds. Hopefully, Charlie isn't ''too'' insufferable or bland and doesn't drive Alice insane first. Hopefully, he won't be [[WomanScorned heartbroken and furious]] when he finds out Alice was just using him. Hopefully, Bob doesn't take this as a sign that he doesn't have a chance with Alice. Hopefully, Bob doesn't [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy just want his beloved to be happy]]. Hopefully, Bob doesn't fail to notice because he has [[ObliviousToLove the awareness of a brick]]. Hopefully, Bob doesn't fall for it so thoroughly that he pulls a CounterZany that Alice thoroughly falls for! And hopefully, Alice doesn't [[BecomingTheMask actually fall for Charlie…]]

[[HilarityEnsues Yeah, right…]]

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

[[folder: Web Comics]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

--> Well, I don't wear Doc Martens and I don't wear flannel\\

Subtrope to FakeRelationship.

* Part of Creator/BioWare's trimming of [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Amy's]] [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] [[ClingyJealousGirl desire for Sonic]] involves this. In ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'', Dexter is an imaginary boyfriend she invented to inspire jealousy in Sonic, but deep down she still cares about the Blue Blur - if Sonic is nice to her throughout the game, she tells all before the Nocturne invasion. If you're paying a fair amount of attention (and selecting the right conversation options), you can see this coming from fairly early on.

* We get a double dose in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9858809/15/Pyrrha-c-victory Pyrrha(c) Victory]]'' in the aptly titled chapters "Jealousy I and II". At this point in the story, Pyrrha knows that Jaune likes her, but Jaune won't do anything because [[InsecureLoveInterest he believes that she can do better than him]], so she decides to ask [[spoiler:Sun]], who is in on the plan, to the [[HighSchoolDance Beacon Dance]] to make Jaune jealous. [[spoiler:Blake]], angry that the guy she was going to ask is being used like this, decides to ask Jaune to the the dance to both make [[spoiler:Sun]] jealous and give Pyrrha a taste of her own medicine.