History Main / TheILoveYouStigma

* In ''FanFic/SpectacularSeven'', both Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle deal with this in different ways after they become an item. Sunset, because she's from another world, [[RealityEnsues can't apply to colleges with the rest of her friends]], and so can't go with Twilight when she graduates high school. As such, Sunset eventually confesses to herself that she's in love with Twilight, but keeps it to herself to [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy avoid breaking Twilight's heart]]. On the other hand, Twilight wonders if the things she feels for Sunset are genuine romantic love or teenage hormones, and is almost apoplectic at her inability to [[MeasuringTheMarigolds scientifically quantify how she feels]]. Cadance eventually has to tell Twilight that some things can't be explained with science or hard facts, and that Twilight will know for sure if it's love or passion soon enough.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland,'' [[BigFun Owen]] gets down on one knee and says "I think I'm in love with you" after [[CrazyAwesome Izzy]] eats 98 marshmallows and then [[{{Gasshole}} makes a small tidal wave with her burp]]. Izzy immediately throws up. Though to be fair, most people would in that situation, and Owen doesn't seem to take it as a sign of rejection.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', while Sylvester is able to tell Lillian he loves her, she has difficulty doing the same for him-not because of a lack of affection but because she's genuinely uncertain if she does and needs time to analyze the feeling.
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* ''Fanfic/TheManyDatesOfDannyFenton'' (''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', WesternAnimation, [[{{Series}} TV Series]], and ComicBooks.): [[spoiler: After Danny reluctantly kisses [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} Katie Kaboom]] to keep her from losing her temper and going on a rampage, Katie says she loves him after forcefully kisses him back for THREE MINUTES! It's no wonder Danny fainted after all of that.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' had Arnold trying to attract Lila and get upgraded from an "I like you" to an "I 'like you' like you." Still not quite using the term, but the implications behind it are the same.

* The Netflix English dub of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' changes [[MessianicArchetype Kaworu]] saying "I love you." to Shinji to "I like you." instead.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, [[FieryRedhead Mariella Smith-Rhodes]] spent seven years as a student Assassin actively despising her [[AmoralAfrikaner compatriot]] Horst Lensen and being barely civil to somebody she regarded as an utter asshole. [[Fanfic/GapYearAdventures A series of accidents after graduating]] has their crossing paths frequently. After they fight a battle or two side-by-side, she is forced to admit he might not be as bad as all that. Two sets of parents are also meddling to get them together. Fighting it all the way, five years and another long road trip later, she marries him. Her Witch niece notes that Aunt Mariella ''still'' cannot bring herself to say "I love you" in public to Uncle Horst. Mariella makes "YouBastard" do the job as a stand-in, however, and can make "jy bliksem!" sound like a profession of undying love.

** In season 10, after confusing the nature of vampiric lines, Buffy accidentally blurts out in surprise that she'd "fallen in love with the same guy twice?" (referring to Angel and Spike, who belong to the same line of vampires). When Spike tries to clarify if what she said was what it [[LoveConfession sounded like]], she grows awkward and drops the subject. Justified, as they'd only had their RelationshipUpgrade the night before.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E13ThePerfectPear "The Perfect Pear,"]] this gets a quick parody during the flashback to Applejack's parents. Buttercup sings a song she wrote for Bright Mac, which ends with "I love you," and she gets extremely embarrassed. Bright jokingly pretends to be angry since he had been planning a big romantic moment to say it first, and then she said it on accident.

* After Spike first confesses his love to ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', the group refuse to associate with him, and Buffy goes as far as revoking his invitation to enter her house. It's not like they don't have [[StalkerWithACrush good reasons]], though.
** After her disastrous affair with Angel (which involved him turning evil after TheirFirstTime) Buffy never again tells a boyfriend that she loves him until the final episode of the series, and even then the recipient doesn't believe her.

'''Boss Baby:''' I just threw up a noodle and swallowed it.

* Miles is hesitant to tell his father that he loves him despite his father's open affection toward him, establishing his immaturity in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse''.

* {{Parodied}} on ''WesternAnimation/DanVs,'' when [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Dan]] is pulling an OfCorpseHesAlive with [[ExtremeDoormat Chris]] (who's not dead, just extremely close) to make him "agree" to going along with his revenge plot. At one point he fakes Chris saying "I love you," then acts uncomfortable before hastily changing the subject. Note that this part happened when nobody else was even around to trick.

Note this is essentially an English-speaking world thing. In some languages a perfectly fine translation of "I love you" can be a ''much'' weaker sentence with much less powerful implications, as even in English the term can be used casually and in a wide variety of ways. A {{Woolseyism}} may be needed in translation to get the proper tone. [[note]]In [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench French]] "''aimer''" means "like" as much as "love". Spanish has "Te quiero" and "Te amo", which both mean I Love You, but the later is MUCH more serious. "Te quiero" implies a more general, platonic love than "Te amo", and is used more typically between friends and family. In German the literal translation of "I love you" - ''Ich liebe dich'' - implies a romantic meaning much more than in English, while the phrase ''Ich hab dich lieb'' stands for platonic love likely meaning love between parents and children. In English both translates to "I love you". [[/note]] And even within the English-speaking world, dating works differently in different cultures.

[[folder:FanWorks]]

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'':

** The Doctor famously never says this (with serious intent; see below) to any of their companions, not even the one they married (River Song) or those they have unambiguously fallen in love with (such as Rose Tyler). In the case of Rose, the Tenth Doctor attempts to avoid saying it (instead waffling with "Does it need saying?") and is ultimately cut off before he can utter it.
** It works the other way, too: Clara, Rose and River (and the TARDIS — [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife it's a long story]]) happen to be the only companions to directly say "I love you" to the Doctor. A side effect of this is that within ''Doctor Who'' fandom there is division between those who embrace the aspect of the Doctor having romantic feelings for his companions and those who say no such feelings exist and that the Doctor is simply expressing friendship, despite WordOfGod and even on-screen actions such as marriage and punching a diamond wall for ''4.5 billion years'' suggesting otherwise.

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[[folder: Web Comic]]

* Played with in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. Sarah saying "[[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=98 I love you]]" to Elliot is treated as a serious thing, and [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1579 colors the way he treats their resulting relationship.]] [[spoiler:As a result he never really noticed that he wasn't really attracted to her, and [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1596 saw her more]] [[LikeBrotherAndSister like a sister.]]]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Avialae}}'', Gannet's reaction to Bailey telling him he loves him is a harsh rebuke and a declaration that he doesn't do relationships or believe in love; he's fine with them having sex, but doesn't want dates or feelings to be part of it. [[TemptingFate Naturally]], dates and feelings ''do'' end up arising from their [[JustFriends totally-just-sex-friends]] relationship, and Gannet eventually admits that he does love Bailey after several chapters of being unable to get the words out.

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[[folder:Others]]

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'':