History Main / UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo

* In ''Theatre/LElisirDAmore'', Nemorino spends most of the play chasing after Adina, who refuses her, and wanting to use the elixir to get her. By the end of the play, Adina thinks ''she'' doesn't have a chance with Nemorino because of all his new suitors and consults the doctor for help in getting him.

* In ''Theatre/L'ElisirD'Amore'', Nemorino spends most of the play chasing after Adina, who refuses her, and wanting to use the elixir to get her. By the end of the play, Adina thinks ''she'' doesn't have a chance with Nemorino because of all his new suitors and consults the doctor for help in getting him.

* In ''Theatre/LElisirDAmore'', Nemorino spends most of the play chasing after Adina, who refuses her, and wanting to use the elixir to get her. By the end of the play, Adina thinks ''she'' doesn't have a chance with Nemorino because of all his new suitors and consults the doctor for help in getting him.

* In ''Theatre/L'elisirD'amore, Nemorino spends most of the play chasing after Adina, who refuses her, and wanting to use the elixir to get her. By the end of the play, Adina thinks ''she'' doesn't have a chance with Nemorino because of all his new suitors and consults the doctor for help in getting him.

[[folder:Opera]]

* ''Film/{{Flipped}}'': The main plot-setting. Juli loves Bryce first but then starts to fall out of love just as Bryce realizes that he is in love with her.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Happens in ''WebVideo/TheGuild'' after Codex breaks off her "fake relationship with a fictional version of [[spoiler: Fawkes]]," who normally only does one-night stands. However, to the latter's surprise, Codex proves "interesting," so he makes an attempt to pursue her further, only to be told off. Although nothing's certain until Season 5, this also seems to happen with [[spoiler: Codex and Zaboo, after Zaboo finally (mostly) gets over Codex at about the same time she concludes (privately) that he passes her "litmus test."]]

* ''Film/{{Flipped}}: The main plot-setting. Juli loves Bryce first but then starts to fall out of love just as Bryce realizes that he is in love with her.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', Keiichi gets turned down by Sayoko, the most popular girl at the college they attend. Once Belldandy shows up in his life, Sayoko starts to get jealous of him and tries to break them up in various ways, with no such luck. In Season 2 she starts to [[LoveEpiphany realize her own feelings]] for him.
* PlayedForDrama in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. Mikasa loved Eren [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest ever since they were children]] while he seemed to regard her as more [[LikeBrotherAndSister like a sibling]]. [[spoiler:He ends up manipulating her into killing him as part of his ThanatosGambit, but the final chapter has him lamenting to Armin that at some point he ''did'' end up loving her back, but his ZeroApprovalGambit made it impossible for him to reciprocate.]]
* In ''Manga/BokuGirl'', Mizuki starts out with an unrequited crush on Fujiwara, which was compounded by Mizuki [[GenderBender being turned female]]. Combined with his growing affection towards Takeru during the series, it caused him to seriously reconsider his feelings for the pair. By the end, Fujiwara confesses that [[IfItsYouItsOkay she'll love him no matter what gender he is]], but he's already [[JumpingTheGenderBarrier Jumped the Gender Barrier]] and decided to go with Takeru. Plus, as he realizes, he was confusing love for her with friendship and admiration of femininity.
* Shinomi and Eikichi's relationship in ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'', and the source of their BelligerentSexualTension. She liked him for years, but he only saw her as LikeBrotherAndSister. Then he was desperate to finally lose his virginity and tried to do it with her, but incurred a case of PervertRevengeMode and she lost respect for him. Then she had a GreenEyedEpiphany when he went out with another girl, and he did the same when she went out with another guy. And so on...
* The title character of ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'' first falls in love with HotTeacher Ritsuko, who switches between appreciating him for being a good person and despise how his side-job is dealing with the ghosts she hates so much. When she finally starts to return his feelings, he had already moved on to Yukime.
* ''Manga/IBelongToTheBaddestGirlAtSchool'' has an odd example where the characters in question have mutual feelings for each other, but thanks to [[SustainedMisunderstanding a series of miscommunications]], one of them assumes the other doesn't reciprocate. At the start of the series [[JapaneseDelinquents Toramaru]] starts dating [[BullyMagnet Unoki]], but because of the former's [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage terrible attempts at flirting]] and the latter's past trauma, he assumes she only wants him around as her personal errand boy. Come chapter 45, the shoe's on the other foot: [[spoiler: Toramaru realises that Unoki never saw her as his girlfriend and resolves to find a way to win his love... oblivious to the fact that Unoki has had feelings for her for a long time now, but is too shy to give her a proper LoveConfession]].
* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has a very mild, PlayedForLaughs example. Normally Karen and Erika are completely dismissive or oblivious in regards to Toyosaki and Kazamatsuri's advances, but when the guys decide to spend time with a different duo of girls during the class trip Karen is immediately pissed off.
* In ''LightNovel/MagiciansAcademy'', happens to George and Metallis. George at first is turned off by Metallis' attempts at confessing his love, then the latter falls in love with a girl, Suzuka, and begins aggressively pursuing her. George immediately starts to get jealous and tries to win Metallis' affections, or at least his attention, but ultimately fails at the end.
* This trope is played almost completely straight in ''Manga/MarmaladeBoy'', ''especially'' in the backstory: [[spoiler: Ginta had a crush on Miki, who slipped a love letter in his school book. Ginta just ''happened'' to find it when he's with some male friends who begin to tease him about it. Under pressure, he says that he doesn't love Miki that way... only to see that Miki and Meiko ''are right there''. Miki, understandably, is ''very'' hurt - even after Ginta [[ImportantHaircut shaves his head]] to show how sorry he is. And some time later, it turns out Ginta ''still'' loves Miki even when her feelings are more friendly than romantic [[FlirtyStepsiblings and is beginning to fall for her stepbrother Yuu]]...]]
* A {{downplayed}} example occurs in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', at the start of the series, Midoriya quickly gains a crush on Uraraka, though she remains [[ObliviousToLove unaware]], however this is dropped as the series progresses, and Uraraka gets [[OutOfFocus less attention in the story]]. When romantic elements are brought back into play a few arcs later, Uraraka has now developed a massive crush on Midoriya, who no longer seems to feel the same way, or at least doesn't show it.
* In ''Manga/MyLittleMonster'', Haru confesses his love to Shizuku but is rejected. Shizuku later begins to regret this and confesses her love to Haru however this time Haru rejects Shizuku.
* ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'': Before the series began, Asahi Kuromine had a crush on ClassRepresentative [[IceQueen Nagisa Aizawa]], only to get shot down '''pre-emptively'''. Over the course of the series they become friends, she plays ShipperOnDeck to help him win the love of Youko Shiragami...and she ends up falling for Asahi herself, after getting to witness all his good qualities. She tries to get over her feelings[[note]]Ironically, he notes that her rejecting him so flatly was what allowed him to get over his own feelings[[/note]] for the sake of her mutual friends, but of course that's easier said than done.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** Chapter 469 has Naruto's [[LovingAShadow long-time crush]] Sakura "[[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim confess]]" to him that she loves him now instead of Sasuke. She does this after [[JerkassHasAPoint Sai told her]] that [[BrutalHonesty both she and Sasuke cause Naruto a lot of pain]] in Chapter 458. After she spends the entire second half of the chapter trying to convince Naruto that [[BadLiar she really does love him now]], [[WhatTheHellHero he calls her out for lying]] and [[ShipSinking rejects her outright]] by telling her that he '''hates''' people who lie to themselves. This is {{Deconstructed|Trope}} because he rejects her ''after'' she claimed to love him ''now'' for ''the hero'' he's become upon defeating Pain, rather than "the mischievous, prankster loser" he ''always'' was and ''always'' will be, as well as him remembering all the times she openly displayed her love for [[SingleTargetSexuality Sasuke]]. It shows Naruto's CharacterDevelopment in that he has moved past the GreenEyedMonster state that he was in back in Part I, where he constantly felt inferior to Sasuke, especially since he has finally achieved his lifelong dream of being acknowledged by all of Konoha upon defeating Pain.
** In the {{canon}} movie ''[[Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie The Last]]'', Naruto has a LoveEpiphany towards [[OneTrueLove Hinata]] and, after two days, confesses to her. Hinata has been in love with him for nearly her whole life, so this makes her incredibly happy...for a moment. In reality, she has already made up her mind to [[BigSisterInstinct save her younger sister Hanabi]], so she chooses to "[[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim reject]]" him and leave with Toneri, the BigBad who's also in love with her. [[NotGoodWithRejection Naruto does not take it well]], has an AngstComa for three days, spends a whole day and night in a TroubledFetalPosition, and crosses the DespairEventHorizon so badly that he comes very close to ''giving up on everything''. Thankfully, [[ShipperOnDeck Sakura]] helps him realize that Hinata didn't actually reject him because Hinata has only ever loved him, similar to how she herself has only ever loved Sasuke, and that will ''never'' change.
* In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphire'', a Mawile falls in love with Brock's Lombre, who repeatedly spurns her advances. When Lombre evolves into a Ludicolo, he's ready to reciprocate Mawile's feelings, but Mawile has now fallen in love with a passing Psyduck.
* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', the one time Ranma is interested in Shampoo is during the "Reversal Jewel" Arc, when Shampoo showed disgust at the mere sight of him. It's a deconstruction though, because Ranma doesn't actually ''want'' Shampoo, his ego just won't let him accept the rejection.
* At the start of ''Manga/RentAGirlfriend'', Kazuya's first girlfriend Mami suddenly dumps him after only dating him for a month, having used him for her own purposes. Later on in the series, she starts trying to get between him and Chizuru, his apparent girlfriend, whether out of pettiness or because she has feelings for him. By this point, Kazuya has mostly moved on and fallen in love with Chizuru.
* This happens in ''Manga/SekaiichiHatsukoi''. In high school, Ritsu was chasing his Sempai, Saga Masamune. After reuniting a decade later, it's his Sempai turned boss, now named Takano Masamune, that is [[{{Determinator}} determined]] to win him back.
* In ''Manga/{{Suzuka}}'', Yamato falls in love with Suzuka and confesses to her, [[spoiler:but is rejected]]. Later, after his ChildhoodFriend Honoka [[spoiler:makes her feelings known by way of ForcefulKiss, he falls for her and they begin a relationship. After Yamato and Honoka start going out, Suzuka develops feelings for Yamato]].
* ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'' has a whole mess of these: Ryuuji and Taiga have unrequited crushes on Minori and Yuusaku, respectively, and team up to help each other. Yuusaku actually started the previous year by confessing to Taiga, but she rejected him without a second glance - now he seems ObliviousToLove. Minori seems the same way (or to simply be TheDitz), but occasionally shows flashes of [[ObfuscatingStupidity being anything but]]. [[spoiler:Yuusaku actually moved on to develop his own unrequited crush on his ''senpai'' in Student Council, and is too kind to hurt Taiga with an overt rejection. Minori actually shares Ryuuji's crush (sort of) but [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy wants her best friend to be happy.]] By the end, it turns out that it was really Ryuuji and Taiga who were ObliviousToLove all along.]]
* ''Manga/ATownWhereYouLive'': Haruto has been infatuated with Nanami all through middle school, and continues despite misconceptions that he's dating Yuzuki, a family friend who moved into his family's home to go to the same high school. He confesses, and [[spoiler:Nanami rejects him, because [[EveryoneCanSeeIt she sees that he's become hung up on Yuzuki]]. He eventually moves on to Yuzuki, and Nanami soon starts acting [[ClingyJealousGirl rather jealous]]...]]
* In ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', Ataru was actually attracted to Lum the first time he meets her, while Lum was indifferent to Ataru's shameless flirting. Lum falls for Ataru only after he defeats her in the game and, due to a misunderstanding, assumes he wants to marry her. From that point on, Lum is madly in love with him, while Ataru finds her annoying and only wants to avoid her.
* Played with in ''Manga/YonaOfTheDawn''. Hak doesn't move on from his feelings toward Yona ''per se'', but he seems to have thoroughly abandoned all hope of her ever returning them. Now [[spoiler:Yona]] is the one who's hopelessly crushing on ''him'', while he's become ObliviousToLove.
* Happens in ''Anime/YourName'', somewhat non-linearly. Taki initially has a crush on Okudera, an older woman he works with at a restaurant. When he starts [[FreakyFridayFlip swapping bodies]] with Mitsuha, the latter picks up on this and helps him get a date with Okudera. By the end of the date, she figures out that he used to like her, but has fallen for someone else [[spoiler:(Mitsuha, obviously)]]. Okudera never tells Taki directly, but she later mentions that she recently became attracted to him... [[AmbiguouslyBi specifically, the version with Mitsuha's mind in Taki's body]], though Okudera never learns about the body-swapping, she just thinks he had a personality shift.
* In elementary, Nitori from ''Manga/WanderingSon'' believes she has a crush on her best friend and confesses to him. Takatsuki rejects Nitori but their friendship doesn't falter, Nitori moves on, and she begins dating Anna instead. Cut to high school and after years of not seeing each other Takatsuki s attracted to Nitori. Nitori rejects Takatsuki and stay with Anna.

[[folder:Comics]]
* In the first issue of ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'', "Pep Comics 28". Archie had just moved into the neighborhood; albeit a couple years younger than he was in later issues and with the nickname "Chic". He tries to impress his neighbor Betty Cooper to try to get her to date him through dangerous stunts which she believes make him look arrogant. After Veronica moves in during "Archie Comics 1", the whole dynamic was changed to a BettyAndVeronica format where Betty has a really big and sometimes obsessive crush on Archie.
* Early on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer,'' Xander had a crush on Buffy. In the comic book continuation of the series, however, she realizes she may have fallen for him, only to find out he's now dating her sister Dawn (who, ironically, had a PrecociousCrush on him as a teenager). In this case, though, years passed between the end of Xander's crush and the beginning of Buffy's, during which time they both dated (and in Xander's case, almost married) other people.
* [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] and [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon]] are often linked this way, with Dick (as Robin) first developing a crush on the slightly older Batgirl as teenagers. By the time Barbara became interested in a relationship, Dick had grown up, became Nightwing, and was dating an alien princess. Dick and Babs got married in the ''Convergence'' event, but when placed back in their normal universe, they fell victim to the Flashpoint reboot and are back to being on-and-off again. In the original stories, Barbara wasn't just slightly older nor still in her teens. She was in her early-mid 20's and a college graduate. Eventually, she was aged closer to Dick and given an eidetic memory to explain how she managed to complete school so quickly. Her term in the U.S. Congress (minimum age 25) was quietly retconned out.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
** At start of the story Peter has a crush for Liz Allan. However, she is Flash's girlfriend and initially considers Peter something of a loser, even taking part in the general ridicule that Peter endures on a daily basis. After, she hears an ailing Peter had donned a Spider-Man costume in order to save Betty Brant from Doctor Octopus and develops a crush on him. By this time, however, Peter's interest has waned considerably, as he notes that Liz never showed any real interest in him until he began dating Betty Brant and assumes that Liz's feelings are little more than a schoolgirl crush.
** After OMD, Peter and MJ were on the outs. She moved on and developed a relationship with others while Peter wasn't ready to move on. Peter eventually decided to start a relationship with Carlie Cooper, while MJ started to reevaluate her feelings for Peter and eventually came to the realization that she still loved him during ComicBook/SpiderIsland. The pair slowly tried getting back together, only for the events of ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan to drive them apart again. After Peter got his body back, MJ had already moved on and started a relationship with another man. After ''Secret Wars'' it was eventually revealed that MJ had broken up with the new man off-panel and relocated to run a new nightclub, which was soon destroyed, leading to her working for Tony Stark. She currently has no love life to speak of, where as Peter has had some rebounds since then with the likes of heroes like Cindy Moon, aka Silk, and Bobbi Morse, aka Mockingbird. MJ and Peter are currently trying to mend their friendship more than their romance these days. For fans who desire the two to be together however, Peter and MJ remain a married couple in the ASM Newspaper Strip and the ongoing series ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManRenewYourVows''.
* ComicBook/{{X 23}} had a crush on [[JerkJock Hellion]], who believed she was a mindless, apathetic robot and was not shy about saying so. This was the source of much painful confusion for X-23, and after getting some CharacterDevelopment, she left [[ComicBook/XMen the school]] so she could sort out her [[{{Tykebomb}} tra]][[DarkAndTroubledPast uma]]. Later on, Hellion (who was just beginning his ''own'' Journey Of Self Discovery) went through a TraumaCongaLine in which everything he had once believed about the world was turned upside down, and went off to find her. The comic makes it rather clear that he isn't interested in her out of genuine love, but rather a desperate need to no longer be alone- and once Hellion shows up, a ''far'' more confident X-23 rejects him. This probably counts as a {{Deconstruction}}.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/CatsInTheCradle'' has [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc Kyoko's relationship with Makoto]] play out similarly to the singer's relationship with his son in the Music/HarryChapin song. In the first half of the fic, Makoto is the one who initiates most of the conversations with Kyoko, who's a bit cynical about his confidence that they can be friends and preoccupied with her investigative work. In the second half, Kyoko is the one who initiates the conversations with Makoto, who has since fallen in love with Sayaka and started a SecretRelationship with her.
* ''FanFic/AGrowingAffection'' does this to Sakura; Naruto announces in the first chapter that he is no longer in love with her. By the end of the first book, she is in love with Naruto, but he and Hinata have started dating.
* In the ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/HerdingCats'', Karkat wrongly thinks this is what has happened between him and Nepeta.
** Tavros, who by this point has become incredibly WrongGenreSavvy, informs Aradia that this is what has happened between them (he used to be flushed for her, she used to be pale for him). Aradia informs him that actually, she was never in love with him, and what's actually happened is that he's now a complete dick.
* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'': After Marinette's SecretIdentity is exposed alongside Hawkmoth's in their final battle, Adrien approaches her and happily lets her know that the crush he'd mentioned before was on Ladybug, and that he's more than happy to start dating her. But Marinette fell out of love with him after he [[AccompliceByInaction refused to do anything about]] [[ManipulativeBitch Lila]], and rejects his selfish proposal, making clear that she no longer wants anything to do with him. Adrien completely fails to understand why she's angry and continues pursuing her.
* ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'' has this in a kind of strange way between Kyon and Sasaki; Kyon had a fairly obvious crush on Sasaki during middle school, but once they go to high school they drift apart and Kyon starts getting involved in, well, [[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya stuff]]. And then she starts being significant to the plot again (and having her own crush on Kyon) once he's gotten himself over his crush he didn't realize he had and was set up in an ArrangedMarriage with Tsuruya. [[spoiler:He's also involved in his really strange harem-situation with his fiancee.]]
* This trope is quite popular in the ''Kyou Kara Maoh!'' fandom, with Yuuri realizing that he's in love with Wolfram after Wolfram has already moved on.
* This trope is gaining in popularity for [[RebelLeader Enjolras]]×[[SarcasticDevotee Grantaire]] fics in the ''Franchise/LesMiserables'' fandom, where it goes under the label "Piningjolras". Levels of IC-ness and quality, as always [[SturgeonsLaw vary]].
* The popular [[Franchise/HarryPotter Marauders era]] fanfic ''Fanfic/TheLifeAndTimes'' has two examples:
** James and Lily. For the longest time, James has been hopelessly in love with Lily, and has pursued her [[{{Determinator}} relentlessly]] throughout their first five years at Hogwarts. While Lily, on the other hand, ''despised'' James for his immaturity, bullying tendencies (particularly toward Severus Snape, who is also in love with Lily), and arrogance, and bluntly rejected him every time he asked her to go out with him. Throughout sixth year, James begins to go through a decent amount of {{Character Development}} as he [[TookALevelInKindness drops his bullying ways and gradually becomes more heroic]] (though he still pretends and tries to convince others he really is a jerk). This makes Lily start to see James in a new light and she begins an on and off friendship with him that slowly develops into BelligerentSexualTension (despite her being in a relationship with [[NiceGuy Luke Harper]] at the time, who she is ''not'' in love with). At the beginning of their seventh and final year, [[LoveEpiphany Lily realizes she has feelings for James]], but by then he has finally given up and moved on to [[RomanticFalseLead Carlotta]], who seems perfect for him on paper. Lily [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it herself when she wonders if all her rejections of James hurt him as much as watching him and Carlotta together hurt ''her'', this makes her start to regret how coldly she used to treat him. This is an interesting example in that [[spoiler: [[ForegoneConclusion we already know]] [[TheyDo they end up together]], we just don't know how they get there]].
** Adam and Marlene. Adam has been in love with his best friend Marlene for several years, who has been in a turbulent long-term relationship with [[{{Jerkass}} Miles]], and [[ObliviousToLove is unaware of his feelings]]. When he finally gets up the nerve to tell her toward the end of sixth year, she is so overwhelmed by [[LoveConfession his confession]] (and by the fact that she ended her relationship with Miles only a few months previously) that she harshly rejects him, which [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she immediately regrets]]. Even though they eventually resume their friendship, Adam is hurt enough by the rejection that he decides to move forward with his love life and starts dating an Indian girl named Prudence Daly over the summer, making Marlene [[GreenEyedEpiphany realize she really is in love with him after all]].
* Many shippers of the Love Square in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' like to write stories where the crushes are reversed, like having Adrien fall in love with Marinette while she falls in love with Chat Noir.
* ''FanFic/OfPatienceAndPettiness'': After finally giving up on his unwanted pursuit of Ladybug, Adrien decides to switch targets to Marinette. Who ''used to'' have a crush on him, but let those feelings fade after seeing that he prioritized [[BitchInSheepsClothing Lila]] over her. Notably, Adrien is ''fully aware'' both that she used to have a crush on him and that that's no longer the case, but convinces himself that he can 'win her back'.
* This is a somewhat recurring element in the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' anthology fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11519407/1/Phantom-Hearts Phantom Hearts]]''. Some examples include:
** [[WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest Mary Test]], alongside her sister, was originally a StalkerWithACrush towards Gil Nexdor, but he only starts to take notice of her (and ''only'' her; sorry Susan) once she's finally over him and gotten together with Danny.
** When Animation/{{Pucca}} fell in love with Danny, Garu was initially [[AbhorrentAdmirer ecstatic]]... until he finds out that Pucca [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend was the only thing]] stopping Tobi and his minions from [[CurbStompBattle kicking his ass]].
* Whitney in the ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' ExpandedUniverse sidestories was shown having tough luck with dates, since Johto's guys have plenty of NoGuyWantsAnAmazon. Come the [[ChristmasEpisode Holiday Special]], she finds herself a boy who likes her and the two start dating, and by the next year, those who rejected her are now wondering WhatDoesSheSeeInHim.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{ResurrectedMemories}}'': In season 1 Danny had a big crush on Paulina, he moved on when he saw first hand her unpleasant personally and with her making it clear she saw him as a loser, now she's interested in him because she now knows he is a popular superhero.
* ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/522094/chapters/923022 Milk]]'' has [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Roy and Ed]] in a relationship where Ed is in love with the Colonel, but Roy is only using him for sex. By the end, Roy begins to realize that he's fallen in love with Ed after all, only to find that his former lover has had enough.
* In ''Fanfic/WelcomeToSilentHill'', Sherlock had accepted that Watson would never love him back. Guess what happens in the epilogue?

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* As [[WordOfGod Gutierrez]] states, Xibalba from ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'' courted La Noche (La Muerte's sister), but the moment she started to pay him attention, he had already fallen in love with La Muerte.
* In ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'', mangy chihuahua Tito develops a thing for the sophisticated Georgette, who is quite put off by Tito and his advances. That is until the movie's climax when Tito manages to save her and the gang from colliding with an oncoming subway train. Afterwards, the affection becomes briefly mutual, as Georgette forcefully starts pampering Tito, scaring him off.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* Anne Boleyn reflects on this during her time in the Tower of London in ''Anne of the Thousand Days'':
-->"For six years, this year, and this, and this, and this, I did not love him. And then I did. Then I was his. I can count the days I was his in hundreds... And of those thousand, one when we were both in love, only one, when our loves met and overlapped and were both mine and his. And when I no longer hated him, he began to hate me. Except for that one day."
* In ''Film/OfDiceAndMen,'' this happens to John Francis and Tara repeatedly. They are both interested in each other, but every few months, just as one of them is getting up the courage to make a LoveConfession, the other will announce excitedly that he/she has just met someone ''great...''
* ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart1'': [[spoiler:By the time Katniss Everdeen realizes she's in love with Peeta he's been brainwashed. So he tries to strangle her. Ouch. This leaves her... rather bitter, to say the least.]]
* Occurs in the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' movie. Peter crushes painfully on MJ the whole movie, when she finally starts to warm up to him at the end of the film he's decided that he can't be with her at the moment. Of course, that stops by the time the sequel rolls around.
* In ''Film/PlanB'', Bruno is initially determined to convince Laura to get back together with him even if he has to deceive her new boyfriend to do it, but she tells him that there's no way in hell they’re getting back together (she's fine with no-strings-attached sex, but nothing else). By the end of the film, she's changed her mind and is open to getting back with him but he no longer wants to do so after [[spoiler:falling in love with her (now ex-)boyfriend instead]].

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/The39Clues'': Ian didn't seem to care much about [[ShrinkingViolet Amy]] as he was [[IWasOnlyPretendingToLikeYou faking feelings for her so he could run off with her clue]], but as soon as she started getting over him- or, as soon as she had convinced herself that she had- he seemed to realize his genuine feelings for her. Too bad about [[FeudingFamilies life]] [[MyBelovedSmother getting]] [[AncientConspiracy in the way]]....
* In the ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series, Anne's childhood friend Gilbert Blythe has a crush on her for about two and a half books. When he finally proposes to her, she rejects him because she isn't in love with him. Near the end of that book, Anne realizes she actually ''is'' in love with Gilbert, but she is convinced he is engaged to another woman. Luckily, the engagement turns out to be just a false rumor.
* Occurs in the High School books from the ''Literature/BetsyTacy'' series. In her Freshman year, Betsy becomes infatuated with [[TallDarkAndSnarky Tony]] and is heartbroken that he falls for someone else, [[OneOfTheGuys with him only seeing her as a friend]]. She gets over it at the end and realizes that they are better that way. At the beginning of their Senior year, Tony begins to show that he's falling for her but Betsy is no longer interested and is more excited about her elusive crush, [[CuteBookworm Joe]], [[LoveTriangle finally becoming interested in her]].
* ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia'' has this, in a sense. Leslie loves Jess, but he has a [[PrecociousCrush crush on Ms. Edmunds (his teacher)]], and only realises his feelings for Leslie (and her feelings for him), [[spoiler:after she dies]].
* Suggested in ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}''. Bertram pined after Candayce even when they both were in dinosaur bodies. When after a separation she kissed him - or [[AlternateAnimalAffection tried, they both had beaks]] - he happily said he was cured and stopped mooning over her. From Candayce's reaction this wasn't what she wanted to hear. When they were both human again she tried again, and this time had the desired result.
* Onegin/Tatiana in the Russian novel/opera/film ''Literature/EugeneOnegin''. [[spoiler:Though Tatiana still loves him, but she's married to someone else now, and he treats her better than Onegin ever did or will.]]
* This is the plot of ''Felise'' by Creator/AlgernonCharlesSwinburne. The poem's narrator is turned down by the woman he loves. A year later she comes back to him, having realised that she loved him all along. Unfortunately, though he's by no means over her, her first rejection was sufficient to irredeemably wreck their relationship and the poem is his way of [[TearJerker saying goodbye forever]].
* Central to the plot of Wendelin Van Draanen's novel ''Literature/{{Flipped}}'', which starts with Juli's crush on her new neighbor Bryce (who finds her to be a really annoying know-it-all), shows her feelings changing from said crush to disillusionment as they grow up, and ends with Bryce's own growing feelings for Juli going as far as ruining his own social rep among his peers to show how much said feelings have grown.
* In ''Literature/GestaDanorum'', Ladgerda is initially uninterested in Ragnar Lothbrog and sets a bear and a dog on him when he comes to ask her in marriage. Ragnar kills the animals and gets his will. Years later, when Ladgerda has already borne him three children, it occurs to Ragnar he cannot trust her because she sicced the beasts on him, so he divorces her and marries Thora instead. But Ladgerda still loves him and when Ragnar is hard-pressed by the usurper Harald, she comes to his aid with a fleet and once more saves him from defeat.
* In ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'' Rhett doesn't fall for someone else, but he loses interest in Scarlett over a period of some years, as her indifference, mistreatment, and obsessive pursuit of Wilkes wore away at his feelings for her. By the time their daughter Bonnie died, it was mostly over before Scarlett even fully grasped that it had started.
* The title character in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books has a crush on Cho but is fully aware that Ginny has a crush on him. After things don't work out with Cho, and Ginny has already moved on, Harry develops a crush on Ginny after dealing with a bout of jealousy -- a GreenEyedEpiphany -- over Ginny's new love interest. This is somewhat subverted though, as Ginny later admits that she'd never gotten over her feelings for Harry, and was dating other boys while waiting for him to come around.
** It's also implied that Cho develops feelings for Harry, [[ShipSinking but it's pretty much too late by that point]].
* While not played entirely straight this trope appears in ''Literature/TheHungerGames''. By the time Katniss realizes she's in love with [[spoiler:Peeta, he has been captured by the Capitol. They manage to save him and she expects a very happy reunion. Instead he tries to strangle her because he's been brainwashed into thinking she's a mutation who wants him dead.]] Ouch.
* ''Literature/InAWorldJustRight'' has Johnathan Aubrey, a teen who can create worlds on a whim and give them whatever parameters he wants. To soothe his aching loneliness, he creates a world where he can date his dream girl, Kylie Simms, and splits his time between it and the real world. However, when he accidentally tries to kiss the ''real'' Kylie, she starts becoming more and more infatuated with him, while the Kylie he created to love him becomes cold and distant. He's not happy with the change. [[spoiler: Eventually he finds out that the real world momentarily intersected with his fake one, causing the two Kylies to begin to merge. He has to help facilitate this merger, lest the Kylies destroy each other.]]
* A Russian book called ''Militia Sergeant'' features this in a classic variant. Nikolaj Zacharow, a young militia officer, and Natasha, a daughter of a factory director, meet, but Natasha wants him to make a career, and not be stuck in militia, so she abandons him. Years later they meet, he is already a captain, her love for him comes back, only for him to reveal that he is already happily married and only agreed to meet her to say goodbye.
* ''Literature/RuslanAndLudmila'': Finn spent fifty years desperately pining after the gorgeous Naina, until, after finally casting a love spell over her, he discovered that she is no longer gorgeous.
* The Russian adaptation of ''The Shadow'' by E. Schwartz features this. First, the writer and the princess fall in love, but then the shallow princess abandons him for his shadow. In this variant, the writer [[SparedByAdaptation survives and defeats his shadow]], the princess is once again in love with him, [[spoiler: but now he is only interested in Annuncuiata, another girl]].
* A Polish children poem ''Żuraw i czapla'' {end: A Crane and a Heron) by Jan Brzechwa plays this for humor, with one of the titular birds falling for the other and being rejected only for the other bird to come around now that the first one wants nothing to do with them. The switch happens multiple times and the narrator notes [[AnAesop love cannot happen unless both parties are willing at the same time]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/YediYuz'': At the beginning of "Prosedür", Banu is hung up on her ex and co-worker Rıdvan, whom she still pines after; he has since moved on and dated other people. By the end of the episode, their positions have flipped: Banu is no longer plagued by feelings for her old flame, while Rıdvan is left frustrated that she's moved forward with her life — all because of the procedure he himself encouraged her to get.
* It was practically a RunningGag between Big Pete and Ellen in ''Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete''. In the initial shorts, Ellen would occasionally introduce herself as Pete's girlfriend, causing him [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend to promptly correct her]] saying [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs "You're a girl, you're a friend, but you're not a girlfriend."]] In the series, very frequently, when one would be interested in the other, the other would be trying to pursue, or be pursued by someone else, causing the initial party to get jealous. Their relationship never went past a kiss in the episode "Day of the Dot".
* There have been two so far in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', both unusual variations on the trope:
** For most of Season 1, Skye has a rather obvious crush on Ward, her aloof and enigmatic supervising officer who's quite the {{Tsundere}} towards her, and even ignores her advances to begin a casual relationship with May due to her being less emotionally complicated. Though he does eventually admit his feelings for Skye and the two briefly get together, [[spoiler:the ''very same episode'' reveals that he's been EvilAllAlong]]. Once Skye learns this she is, naturally, no longer keen on continuing their relationship, but Ward insists that his feelings for her were genuine, and continues to pursue her throughout Season 2, despite Skye now claiming that he makes her physically sick and [[spoiler:making no secret of her wish to see him die, even going so far as to (non-fatally) shoot him herself in the mid-season finale.]]
** A weirder example occurs with Fitz-Simmons: for the first few episodes of Season 1, it seems as though Simmons has an unrequited crush on her long-time best friend, while Fitz is too preoccupied with his crush on their new teammate Skye to pay her much attention. ''But'' a few episodes in Fitz begins to experience a LoveEpiphany towards Simmons, who herself suddenly becomes ObliviousToLove at around the same time, and seems about to begin a relationship with someone else. When Fitz eventually admits his feelings towards Simmons at the end of the first season, she rejects him utterly, claiming that she never thought of him that way; which leaves the question of whether Simmons's apparent attraction to Fitz was the result of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, or whether she's deliberately denying her feelings for him - even at the cost of their previously extremely close relationship - for other reasons yet to be explained.
*** [[spoiler:They get together in Season 3.]]
* ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'':
** Dylan and Brenda. S2: Dylan --> Brenda then Brenda --> Dylan. S3/4: Brenda --> Dylan.
** For the first two seasons, Andrea has an enourmous crush on Brandon, who (for the most part) only sees her as a good friend. In season 3, Brandon begins to develop feelings for Andrea, but by then she has given up on him and began dating someone else.
** David and Donna in later seasons. S5: David --> Donna. S6/7: They swap per episode. S8 and S9: David --> Donna. S10: Donna --> David.
** Brandon and Kelly also occasionally switch who is pining after who, specifically during their break-up periods. S1 and S4: Kelly --> Brandon. S5: Brandon --> Kelly. S6: They swap per episode. S7: Kelly --> Brandon. S8: Brandon --> Kelly.
** Kelly pined over Dylan a bit in the early seasons, after their on-again off-again relationship throughout seasons 3 and 4, it was usually the other way around.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
** Leonard was arguably never really into Leslie or Dr. Stephanie as much as he was with them just for the rebound, but when Penny [[spoiler: breaks up with Leonard]] and he [[spoiler: gets together with Priya]], she re-develops feelings for him [[note]]Admittedly, this is after considerable brainwashing from Amy, who convinces Penny that Leonard was a perfect boyfriend, who dumped ''her'', not the other way around[[/note]]. In season 5, after [[spoiler: Leonard breaks up with Priya,]] he and Penny [[spoiler: get back together]]. But by the beginning of season 6, Penny is already [[spoiler: questioning the future of their relationship.]] That said, [[spoiler:they eventually become a married couple as of [[LongRunner season 10]].]]
** There's also the on-and-off romance with Bernadette and Howard, which shouldn't be going anywhere considering that [[spoiler: they're now married]].
* The main theme of Season 6 of ''Series/{{Bones}}''. [[spoiler:Booth tells Bones he loves and wants a relationship with her in the 100th episode, Bones turns him down, they part for seven months, Bones realizes her feelings for him, Booth has a new beautiful Blonde girlfriend, Hannah.]] Lampshaded in "[[Recap/BonesS6E9TheDoctorInThePhoto The Doctor In The Photo]]" where [[spoiler: Bones tells Booth her feelings for him and he informs her that he has moved on with Hannah now]]. Then Bones prompts Booth to [[spoiler:propose to Hannah, but Hannah is not ready to settle down]]. Booth ends up [[spoiler:breaking up with her on the spot and then tells Bones that he doesn't want to be in another relationship anytime soon. They still get together a few episodes later, though]].
* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' has a fairly classic example: in Season 1 Jake has a thing for Amy, which he mainly expresses through the adult equivalent of pigtail pulling, so by the time he gets around to admitting his feelings properly, Amy has begun a relationship with her old friend Teddy that seems to be getting pretty serious, and she kindly but decisively turns him down. Jake then spends the first few episodes of Season 2 completely hung up on Amy, but then dates Sophia - who, despite being a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Amy, actually gets him to the point of being able to declare himself over his old crush. This happy state lasts for all of about two episodes - then Jake's plans for a surprise DoubleDate go horrendously awry, with Amy revealing that she'd been trying to find a way to break up with Teddy, and Teddy countering her sudden outburst at dinner by claiming that her feelings for Jake are the reason their relationship failed. Ultimately, Jake and Sophia stay together despite this revelation, while Amy and Teddy break up, leaving Amy in more or less the same position as Jake was in the previous season (though handling it far more maturely, naturally).
* Early on in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Cordelia has a crush on Angel, who is in love with Buffy. In season 3 of the SpinOff series ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Angel develops a crush on Cordelia, but by then she seems to have moved on from him and has fallen for the Groosalugg. Like Xander and Buffy, several years passed between the end of Cordelia's crush and the beginning of Angel's.
** Also, Wesley seems to finally get over his feelings for Fred just in time for her to realize her feelings for him.
* The title character in ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has feelings for Beckett, but she has on-and-off romances with other characters. He attempts to get together with her at the end of season one, only for [[RomanticFalseLead her current boyfriend]] to walk up behind them, and for Castle to chicken out.
** Season two finale: ''Beckett'' attempts to ask ''Castle'' out, only for his ex-wife to show up. The two then head for the islands.
** Season three ends with them relatively evening the score, as Castle calls Beckett out on not talking about [[spoiler:their FakeOutMakeOut and telling her that he loves her as she blacks out after being shot]].
** At the start of season four, she tells Castle she doesn't remember anything about the events of the Season 3 finale. [[spoiler:She's lying.]]
** At the end of season four, [[spoiler:they start a relationship]].
* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Sam and Diane have done this plenty of times throughout the first five seasons. S1: Sam --> Diane. S3: They swap per episode. S4: Sam --> Diane then Diane --> Sam. S5: Diane --> Sam.
* Subverted on ''Series/Chef1993'' when Savannah made up an imaginary boyfriend [[OperationJealousy in the hopes of making this happen]]. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work, partially because her imaginary romance was too SickeninglySweet.
* Britta rejects Jeff in ''Series/{{Community}}'' from the very first episode. But when she develops feelings for him (at last), he's with Michelle. Troy also starts to like Annie when she's finally into someone else (Vaughn in this case). The season finale brings a surprise (or not so much) resolution to both cases by finding a common link.
* ''Series/{{Dallas}}'': Bobby and Pam a few times during their divorce period. S6: Bobby --> Pam. S7: They swap per episode. S8: Pam --> Bobby.
** Also Cliff and Afton, sort off.
* Shawn/Belle/Mimi in ''Series/DaysOfOurLives''.
* ''Franchise/{{Degrassi}}'': Joey and Caitlin flip who is pining after who in all three shows of the franchise they appear in. ''Series/{{Degrassi Junior High}}'': Caitlin --> Joey. ''Series/{{Degrassi High}}'': Joey --> Caitlin. ''Series/{{Degrassi}} the Next Generation'': Caitlin --> Joey.
* Dwayne/Whitley/Kinu on ''Series/ADifferentWorld'', in that Dwayne pursues Whitley for an entire season, while she is at times uninterested, and at other times in a relationship with Julian. Between seasons, they spend the summer apart, wherein Dwayne writes Whitley passionate letters and Whitley's feelings for Dwayne change, but [[PlayingHardtoGet she doesn't answer any of his letters in order to keep the passion flowing]]. When they arrive back at Hillman for the beginning of the school year, Whitley is ready to confess her feelings. Dwayne shows up with [[RomanticFalseLead new girlfriend Kinu]], who he met over the summer, instead.
* Done interestingly on ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' - Paul Ballard is in love with Echo while Melly is in love with him. Then Echo falls in love with Paul, though they don't consummate the relationship. [[spoiler:Then Alpha kills Paul's mind and it's re-made without his love for Echo]], though she still loves him anyway. Then [[spoiler:in the next ten years they spend together]] he falls for her yet again and they're implied to have a relationship, but she won't say she loves him. [[spoiler:Then he dies.]] Joss Whedon, you make puppies cry.
* Lady Mary and Matthew in ''Series/DowntonAbbey''; at first they have [[BelligerentSexualTension Belligerent Sexual Tension]], which evolves into Matthew's unrequited love for Mary. Mary begins to reciprocate these feelings, but changes her mind when it becomes possible that Matthew may be usurped as heir. Matthew stops liking Mary because of this, only for Mary to change her mind and fall back in love with him. She spends the whole of Season two pining after Matthew, who is engaged to a hypotenuse.
* Many times with Ed/Carol on ''Series/{{Ed}}.'' "Carols" go from Nick Stanton to Bonnie Hane to Dennis Martino to Frankie Hector.
* ''Series/{{ER}}'':
** John's got a major crush on Abby, but she's with Luka; when they break up, she makes it understood that she wants to be with John, but he's already with Susan. There's also a bit of that with Ray and Neela later on.
** The uber-example would be with Doug and Carol, the show's signature couple. Doug spent the first half of the first season pining for Carol, who rebuffed him, as she'd moved on and gotten engaged. By the second half of the season, he'd begrudgingly accepted this and moved on into a new relationship himself, only for ''Carol'' to be the one to be jealous every time she saw them together.
* Ephram and Amy on ''Series/{{Everwood}}'' count as he's with Madison when Amy finally decides to be with him.
* Steve and Laura on ''Series/FamilyMatters''.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Iris starts a relationship with Eddie when Barry is in his nine-month-long coma. He decides that [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy he can accept Eddie as Iris' boyfriend]] and starts seeing Linda Park. Iris is visibly surprised at this, eventually causing Linda to break up with Barry by mentioning his unrequited feelings for her. When the two make up, Iris is seen looking at them with a forlorn expression before walking away.
* Becca and Tucker in ''Series/FlashForward1996''. They'd each had crushes on each other throughout their childhood, but never at the same time...until the final episode of the series.
* Mal and Inara from ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' have an extremely complicated version of this trope. It starts with Mal, and then Inara starts to reciprocate somewhat, culminating in her giving him a kiss out of relief when she had been afraid he died, but of course, Mal was unconscious at the time and didn't figure out it happened. Just when it seems like the two might address the rapidly growing UnresolvedSexualTension between them, Mal sleeps with Nandi, which causes Inara to completely breakdown and realize she's in love with him but can't do anything about it since she's a Companion, and further motivates her to [[spoiler:leave Serenity. In the BigDamnMovie, she returns and it's implied that she might stick around to be with Mal]].
* On ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', Hillary begins to get jealous when her AbhorrentAdmirer, Jazz, is about to marry somebody else. Leads to a hilarious SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace moment:
-->'''Hillary:''' I'm in love with him!\\
''(Everyone gasps)''\\
'''Hillary:''' ...Oh, my gosh, what am I saying? I'm gonna go lie down.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
** Ross and Rachel do this so many times it's unbelievable. S1: Ross --> Rachel. S2: Rachel --> Ross. S3: Ross --> Rachel then Rachel --> Ross. S4/5: Rachel --> Ross. S6: Ross --> Rachel. S8/9: They swap per episode. S10: Ross --> Rachel.
** Later in the series it happens with Joey/Rachel. In season 8 Joey falls in love with Rachel, falls out of it, and in season 9 she's the one who has a crush on him. Phoebe even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] Rachel's tendency to do this.
** Flashbacks in a Thanksgiving episode even show this happened with [[BetaCouple Monica and Chandler]] at one point, though in this case it's more of an unrequited ''infatuation'' switcheroo. When Monica and Chandler first meet one Thanksgiving, she immediately has a crush on him, but he doesn't like her because she's fat, she accidentally overhears him saying this to Ross, leading to the end of her crush. Then the next Thanksgiving, Chandler becomes attracted to Monica when he sees that she has lost the weight and is now thin, but she is still mad about him calling her fat and wants revenge. Her attempt at this results in her accidentally cutting off Chandler's toe, leading to the end of his crush. Years later, Monica and Chandler eventually fall in love and end up HappilyMarried, though even before then there are a few subtle hints (particularly in the episodes "The One At The Beach"/"The One With The Jellyfish") that Chandler has redeveloped a crush on her.
* Niles and Daphne go through a version of this in the first seven seasons of ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. Niles is instantly attracted to Daphne, and falls deeper in love with her over the years, but Daphne is [[ObliviousToLove completely unaware of his affections]]. Eventually, she is [[EverybodyKnewAlready the only one who has no idea Niles is in love with her]]. By the time she finds out how Niles feels and finds out that she feels the same way toward him, Niles has moved on with [[RomanticFalseLead Mel]], who seems like a perfect match for him, leaving Daphne as the one with unresolved feelings.
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'':
** Emma is in love with Will Schuster. Later, Will finds out that he loves her too. But Emma's already dating this dentist who drives a sweet ride. Then Will tries to woo her by being cool like the dentist.
** Also works with the whole Finn/Rachel/Jesse situation; Rachel pines over Finn for half of season one. Finn seems to return her feelings, but is dating Quinn. Then when he finds out [[spoiler: Quinn cheated on him with Puck]], he breaks up with her, and Rachel assumes that she can automatically jump into the place of his girlfriend. He rejects her so he can go out with Brittany and Santana. Rachel quickly moves onto Jesse, just in time for Finn to decide that he has feelings for Rachel. Rachel then rejects him, and he spends the rest of the season trying to get back together with her. They get together in season two, but he breaks up with Rachel when he finds out [[spoiler: that she kissed Puck out of spite]]. She spends most of the rest of season two trying to get back together with Finn, but he's moved onto Quinn, who is dating Sam. Sam breaks up with Quinn when he finds out [[spoiler: Quinn kissed Finn]]. Quinn and Finn start going back out, but Quinn can tell that Finn still has leftover feelings for Rachel. Finn breaks up with Quinn when he realizes that he's really in love with Rachel, who in the mean time has had an episode-long crush on Blaine, who ''also'' has an episode-long interest in her (Kurt, of course, [[spoiler: has a crush on Blaine]]), and expressed an interest in Sam. She winds up sort of getting back together with Jesse, only for [[spoiler: Finn to kiss her in the season finale, leaving Jesse in the lurch]]. Taking the meaning of the word Switcheroo to a whole new level.
* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' flip-flops this like crazy. Rory and Dean get together in the first season. Then he breaks up with her when she falls for Jess. He pines after her while she's dating Jess, then he gives up and marries someone else, and she becomes jealous. After she and Jess break up, she has an affair with Dean, he gets divorced and starts dating her again, and she falls for yet another guy, leaving Dean to the side. By the reunion show, ten years later, it's implied that she's over Jess, but he's back to pining over her.
* ''Series/{{The Goldbergs}}'': The adorkable Geoff Swartz spends seasons 2 & 3 trying to woo his buddy Barry’s older sis Erica, who is one of those cool kids who is not interested in anything—especially not lovesick Geoff. In the season 3 finale, she shuts their non-existent romance for good, and Geoff finally starts to accept that she doesn’t like him back. But that night, she listens to a tape he made that he was saving for their future kids, and with a little nudge from bro Barry and BFF Lainey, finally realizes she loves him back—only to find out the next day that he’s started dating another girl. She then spends half of season 4 having to deal with her broken heart and seeing him with Evie. [[spoiler: Luckily for fans, they come together before the end of the season, and become a couple. In fact, in the spinoff series ''Series/{{Schooled}}'', which takes places ten years afterwards, it’s shown in a high school reunion episode that Erica and Geoff are still going strong.]]
* Jake/Dylan/Penny on ''Good Morning, Miami''.
* ''Series/HannahMontana'': Miley's at first annoyed by Jake's attempts to woo her, but then she falls for him and he's already moved on.
* Amber and Alfie from ''Series/HouseOfAnubis''. Alfie was well known for [[DoggedNiceGuy following Amber around like a lost puppy]] for all of season one and part of season two. They did date, but Alfie was still pulling most of the weight and they eventually broke up. Then, as Alfie fell for another girl...Amber grew feelings for him and was now the one chasing after Alfie.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** Ted and Robin do this a few times throughout the series. S1: Ted --> Robin then Robin --> Ted then Ted --> Robin. S4: Robin --> Ted. S5 and S7/8/9: Ted --> Robin.
** Barney and Robin have been doing this many times. S4: Barney --> Robin then in the season finale [[ItMakesSenseInContext they swap per scene]]. Late S5 and parts of S6: Barney --> Robin. S7: They swap per episode. S8: Barney --> Robin then Robin --> Barney, [[spoiler: [[MagnificentBastard it turns out to all be part of Barney's final play]] [[OperationJealousy ''The Robin'']]]].
** In the finale [[spoiler:Barney and Robin divorce after three years. Robin confesses to Lily that she should have married Ted instead; unfortunately, the latter is happily married to Tracy. In 2030, the mother died six years ago which allows Ted to go back to Robin]].
* ''Series/ICarly'':
** A Christmas [[ItsAWonderfulPlot Wonderful Life]] episode where Carly wishes her brother was normal. As part of the changes caused by her wish, Freddie, who has at the very least a strong crush on Carly in the series, has given up on Carly romantically, dating a whiny brat. He also gives her an extreme cold shoulder which indicates their friendship is now non-existent. Carly finds out she is now dating Nevel. Carly pretty much breaks down at the idea that Freddie doesn't love her and that he isn't her friend.
** This also briefly happens in Season 4, when Freddie begins dating Sam, Carly seems to have feelings for Freddie. After the Seddie breakup though, it seems to switch back again. (Or at least, Freddie thinks so.)
* In ''Series/KimsConvenience'', Jung's boss Shannon harbours a big crush on him in Season 1 and makes some attempts to woo him, something that he either doesn't notice or chooses to ignore. When he finally starts to realize his feelings for her, she's already moved on and started dating Alejandro. The finale of Season 2 reveals she still has feelings for him, but she refuses to act on them because she's happy with her relationship with Alejandro.
* This is done a few times with Gary and Valene in ''Series/KnotsLanding'' during the 8 seasons they were separated.
* ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'': Throughout the series, Gordo has a crush on Lizzie and [[ObliviousToLove she has no idea.]] One episode reveals that back in the fourth grade, she had a crush on him.
* Randy and Catalina on ''Series/MyNameIsEarl''. Originally, Randy was in love with Catalina who constantly turned him down, and when Catalina needed a CitizenshipMarriage, Randy eagerly volunteered. She felt somewhat obligated to sleep with him as thanks, but to make sure he'd never want to do it again, she tried to be as unappealing as possible by rubbing dead fish over her body beforehand and invoking ParentalSexualitySquick in her dirty talk. It worked like a charm, and Randy no longer wants anything to do with Catalina romantically. However, Randy turned out to be the most sensitive lover that Catalina ever had, so now she's the one pining after him.
* In ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'', Lisa Zemo spent the first two seasons chasing after Cookie. He didn’t express an interest in her because of her nerdy appearance, but that changes once she goes through a big makeover in the third season. Unfortunately for him, she’s really popular with her male classmates and he’s lucky to get only one date with her. [[spoiler:They do end as the BetaCouple in the series finale, thankfully.]]
* ''Series/NeverHaveIEver'': Just as Devi seems to be moving on with Ben, Paxton has a LoveEpiphany towards her.
* Most of the major couples not involving Michael Scott in ''Series/TheOfficeUS''.
** Jim pines for Pam in Seasons 1 and 2 as she’s engaged to Roy. Pam breaks up with Roy and pines for Jim as he starts seeing Karen in Season 3. They finally get together in Season 4 and remain so for the rest of the series.
** Several times with Dwight and Angela in later seasons. S4/5: Dwight --> Angela. S6/7: Angela --> Dwight. S9: Dwight --> Angela then Angela --> Dwight. They finally click again at the very end, and get married in the series finale.
** In early seasons, Kelly is obsessed with Ryan, who mostly seems standoffish and annoyed by her. In later seasons, Ryan is the one who is pursuing Kelly and is jealous of her other relationships more often than not. But after leaving in Season 9, they come back for the finale and leave off together (with Ryan abandoning his son to do so).
** Andy and Erin also take turns being infatuated with one another. They do get together, but it ultimately does not last. Erin ends up with a guy named Pete at the end of the series.
* This was the premise of the final season of ''Series/TheParkers''. Nikki spent the whole series chasing Professor Oglevee, who saw her as an AbhorrentAdmirer. In the last season, however, she met someone new and became engaged. That was when the Professor realized he loved her after all. After some wedding-day hijinks, the series ended with Nikki and Oglevee finally getting married.
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'':
** In Season 2, April develops a crush on Andy, who at the time is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend Ann and [[ObliviousToLove is unaware of April's feelings]] throughout most of the season. However, he eventually catches on and begins to reciprocate her affection despite having been previously weirded out by their [[MayDecemberRomance age difference]]. In the season finale, Andy asks April out, but she turns him down because she believes he still has feelings for Ann. Andy breaks his arm, and Ann, who meanwhile is going through a romantic mess of her own, kisses him while taking care of him in the hospital. April learns of Andy's broken arm, causing her to realize that life is short and to agree to go out with Andy. Andy ruins his chances when he decides to tell her about his kiss with Ann. In the third season premiere, April returns from vacation with a new boyfriend, and Andy spends the next few episodes trying to win her back. [[spoiler: He eventually succeeds, and despite a few more minor bumps in the road, they are married within 3 episodes of coming together]].
** This happens between Chris and Ann a few times. When first appearing toward the end of season 2, Chris quickly falls for Ann, who has just broken up with Mark [[spoiler: (and has lingering feelings toward her other ex-boyfriend Andy)]] and is not interested. After pursuing her for some time, she eventually reciprocates and they date for a while in season 3. When they break up, Ann spends the next several episodes trying to get over Chris while he has already moved on. Later on around the middle of season 4, Chris begins to have feelings for Ann again and spends the rest of the season depressed over her on and off relationship with [[spoiler: Tom]]. Then in season 5, Chris starts dating news reporter [[RomanticFalseLead Shana Malwae-Tweep]] and Ann [[spoiler: (who has broken up with Tom for good by that point)]] becomes jealous.
* ''Series/ThePartridgeFamily'': In "The Eleven-Year-Itch," Danny meets a {{fangirl}} with a crush on him. After he spends a while trying to avoid her, she gets over her crush, and they agree to be friends. Afterwards, Danny almost immediately develops a crush on her.
* Theresa/Ethan/Jared in ''Series/{{Passions}}''.
** And Kay/Miguel/Fox.
* ITV's ''Series/{{Primeval}}'', in classic scifi fashion, turns this trope on its head with the relationship between Nick Cutter and Claudia/Jenny. Nick and Claudia fall in love by the end of season one. Then Nick goes back in time and [[spoiler:accidentally changes time so that Claudia is erased from history. She is replaced by Jenny who looks just like her but has a different background and personality]] Nick and Jenny start to show feeling for each other, but [[spoiler:Nick dies right before Jenny finds a picture of Claudia that convinces her that Nick was telling the truth]].
** Conner and Abbey's story also has a more traditional switcheroo. Abby rejects all of Conners awkward advances. But when Conner starts going out with Caroline she tries to sabotage their relationship.
** Then Conner figures out that Caroline was working for Leek and wasn't really interested in him. He realizes she played him for a fool and turns to leave... Of course, Caroline is suddenly interested in him for real.
* The main character in ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Shawn Spencer, spends most of the early seasons trying to go out with Detective Juliet O'Hara, who keeps rejecting him. She finally comes around and admits she like him too, when he's on a date with his [[HighSchoolSweethearts high school sweetheart]]. Then he breaks up with said girl, but Juliet has moved on to a rich guy they met on a case.
* This nearly happened in ''Series/PushingDaisies''. When Olive Snook finally gets over Ned and moves on he begins to doubt that his feeling for her were truly those you would feel for "just a friend".
* Sam/Andi/Cady in ''{{Series/Reaper}}''. While dating Cady, Sam beings to suspect that she is TheDevil's daughter (e.g. flowers and animals die in her presence). He doesn't know he's TheDevil's son yet, though, which could indicate that all those things happen because of ''him''.
* ''Series/SchittsCreek'' has Season 1 Alexis torn between Mutt and Ted, eventually choosing Mutt. When she breaks up with Mutt in Season 2 and Mutt is PutOnABus, Ted returns from what was supposed to be their honeymoon having worked out the whole time. Eventually, Alexis realizes she has feelings for Ted, but by that time he's dating Heather.
* ''Series/SchoolOfRock'' with Summer and Freddy. Throughout the series, it has been shown that Summer has had a huge crush on Freddy, who [[ObliviousToLove never notices even though it is VERY OBVIOUS at times]]. Come "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Summer FINALLY gets over Freddy, to the point she even tears down her picture of him in her locker. Freddy then realises that he and Kale have nothing in common so they break up, but not without Kale encouraging him to find someone who likes the same things he does. He then goes to Summer, only to find her with another guy.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' can also be mentioned, in the first season that is: at first JD likes Elliot but it's not reciprocated; after they sleep together, she still likes him but he's moved on; on the third season it's done again: first he likes her again but she's with another guy, then she dumps such guy but JD's not interested any longer. Then, on fourth, she's with his brother and that annoys him and so on...
* Iconic AmicableExes though they were, ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'''s Jerry and Elaine ''did'' show attraction to each other on rare occasions...just never at the same time (the ending of "The Deal" perhaps excepted). A complete switcheroo occurs over "The Serenity Now," when Jerry, after [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness getting in touch with his emotions]], has a LoveEpiphany that causes him to propose to Elaine. She's [[WeWantOurJerkBack highly alarmed]] and can't get out of the building fast enough, but later thinks it over and happily goes back to cash in on the offer, only to find that StatusQuoIsGod has kicked in, to her immense irritation.
-->'''George:''' You know, all these years...I've always wanted to see the two of you get back together.\\
'''Elaine:''' ...Well, that's because you're an idiot.
* Toyed with in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Adam", in which Toshiko stops hopelessly pining after Owen and gets a boyfriend, while Owen suddenly starts pining after her. But in reality, [[spoiler: their personalities were changed by an alien who gave them FakeMemories and made himself Tosh's boyfriend.]] Interestingly, despite [[spoiler: having their memories wiped]], their relationship did seem to change after this episode, with Tosh going so far as to ask for a date and Owen accepting it. [[spoiler:[[AnyoneCanDie Then]] [[KillTheCutie events]] [[TearJerker intervened]].]]
* Hyde and Jackie do this a few times in ''Series/That70sShow''. S3: Jackie --> Hyde then Hyde --> Jackie. S5: Hyde --> Jackie. S6: Jackie --> Hyde.
* Todd/Jenny/Nikki in ''Series/ToddAndTheBookOfPureEvil''.
* In the first season of ''Series/TrueBlood'', Sookie was involved in a love triangle between vampire Bill and shapeshifter Sam. She chose Bill and Sam moved on. Come Season 6, Sookie was in a rough spot and made a pass at Sam, only for him to reject her due to his relationship with his pregnant girlfriend.
-->'''Sam:''' Goddammit Sookie! You know how I always felt about you!
* A GirlOfTheWeek tried to pull this one on both Charlie and Alan in ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen''. Back in high school they had both snubbed her: Charlie because she wasn't pretty enough and Alan because he was just clueless. She went through extensive dieting cosmetic surgery to make herself attractive and attempted to seduce them both just so she could then reject them and rub their noses in it. Of course, after seeing how crazy she had become, they didn't count it as much of a loss.
* Josh and Donna from ''Series/TheWestWing'' were ''constantly'' on this trope. Josh gets jealous of Donna's random dates in season 2. Then Josh moves on enough to get a crush on Joey Lucas, and Donna gets jealous. Then Donna moves on enough to get involved with Cliff Caley, and Josh gets jealous. Then Josh starts dating Amy Gardner, and Donna gets jealous. Then Donna starts dating Jack Reese, and Josh gets jealous. Then Josh starts dating Amy Gardner again, and Donna gets jealous. And this is all ''before'' either of them ever said anything to make their [[UnresolvedSexualTension romantic tension]] anything other than an ambiguous ShipTease.
* ''Series/{{Wings}}'': Joe and Helen have done this a few times before [[TheyDo they got together for good]]. Pre-series (off-screen): Helen --> Joe. S1/2: Joe --> Helen. S3: Helen --> Joe. S5/6: Joe --> Helen.

[[folder:Music]]
* Conway Twitty's "Don't Cry Joni" fits this trope very well.
* Anberlin's song "A Day Late" is a song where the singer is giving a JustFriends speech after a Love Confession that came after he had moved on to somebody else.
* The Miyuki Nakajima song "Milk 32." "Milk," a guy who works at the bar of the same name that, well, serves milk, is in love with the narrator; however, the narrator only goes to see him when she's just been dumped. One day after being dumped, she comes to visit "Milk," who avoids talking to her and gives her glass after glass of milk to distract her, until finally he leaves. The singer is then left calling for Milk and for her receipt, when she realizes that she actually kind of liked him.
* "Sunday Morning" by No Doubt is all about a Bob gloating over how an Alice gets a taste of their own medicine.
-->You're trying my shoes on for a change.\\
They look so good but fit so strange.
* The Backstreet Boys song "Bye Bye Love" is arguably this trope.
* German pop group Die Prinzen's song "Gabi und Klaus" is all about this. Gabi loves Klaus but he doesn't want her anymore. Klaus realizes he makes a mistake, Gabi tells him to get lost.
* "Too Little Too Late" by [=JoJo=] is about a girl telling off a fickle ex-boyfriend who, never having loved her as much as she loved him, only wants her back after she's moved on.
-->So let me go now\\
'Cause time has made me strong\\
I'm starting to move on\\
I'm gonna say this now\\
Your chance has come and gone
* "Perfect Timing" by Pretty Balanced
-->She can ignore you as much as she likes, she doesn't like you anymore.\\
She's fucking gorgeous you can't help but blush. Why didn't you notice her before?
* The Doc Walker song "She Hasn't Always Been This Way," couples this trope with SheIsAllGrownUp, with the guy in the song realising that his friend's little sister--who had crushed on him when she was much younger--is now very attractive and, in the words of the song, "outta my life, outta my reach..."
* The point of Stevie Wonder's song "Don't Wonder Why".
* "I Want You Back" by the Jackson Five
--> When I had you to myself/I didn't want you around/Those pretty faces always made you/Stand out in a crowd/But someone picked you from the bunch/One glance was all it took/Now it's much too late for me/To take a second look
* "Taken" by One Direction:
-->I slept on your doorstep/Begging for one chance/Now that I've finally moved on/You say that you've missed me all along
* Avril Lavigne's "Sk8ter Boy" is about how a skateboarder was in love with a girl he was friends with. However, the girl thought she was too good for him and turned him down. The skateboarder later became a rock star, and now the girl realized what a mistake she made. But it's too late, as the skateboarder is now with Lavigne.
* A tragic example in the Oak Ridge Boys classic, "I'll Be True To You." She has loved and waited for him for years while he has played around and ignored her. By the time he realizes she truly is the love of his life, it's too late. In her loneliness, she drank herself to death. Now she ''can't'' love him back.
* In "Make You Cry" by Music/JonathanCoulton, the supposed DoggedNiceGuy singer is trying to invoke this trope in order to hurt the woman he has unrequited feelings for.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Opera]]
* Tchaikovsky's ''Literature/EugeneOnegin''. The young Tatyana writes a love letter to Eugene, who does not return her affections. It is only after she marries Prince Gremin that he realizes his true feelings for her. She admits that she still loves him, but decides to stay with her husband because he treats her better than Onegin ever would.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has [[ChildhoodFriends Cloud and Tifa]]. [[GirlNextDoor Tifa]] has a crush on [[TheHero Cloud]]. Whether Cloud [[WillTheyOrWontThey notices or not]] [[RomanceSidequest depends on the]] [[LoveInterests players' actions]]. [[spoiler: Although, if you choose Tifa it turns into ChildhoodFriendsRomance.]] Back when Cloud and Tifa were still kids, Cloud had a crush on Tifa and [[StalkerWithACrush always watched her from a distance]] because he was too shy to talk to her (which Tifa didn't notice). Tifa only develops feelings for Cloud after he leaves to join SOLDIER. Along with Tifa make Cloud a [[ThePromise promise]] to her.
* This trope appears with a StalkerWithACrush twist between two [=NPCs=] in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}''.
* In ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' LovableAlphaBitch bachelorette Haley is shown to have a crush on LovableJock bachelor Alex, [[ObliviousToLove which he seems oblivious of]]. If you romance and marry Haley, Alex will admit to you that he felt a little jealous for it and that it helped him to know himself better.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/BigEthelEnergy'': Just like in the [[Franchise/ArchieComics comics]], Betty had a SingleTargetSexuality towards Archie, even settling for going to Homecoming alone when he instead asked Veronica, whom he often preferred to Betty. Ten years later, Betty and Archie have not only broken up, Betty barely talks to him anymore, and even actively rebuffs his attempts to reach out, while he seems to really miss her company.
* Lucy of ''Webcomic/BittersweetCandyBowl'' is the queen of this; not only does Mike pursue her for years only for her to keep pushing him away until she accidentally helps get him back with his other love interest [[LongDistanceRelationship Sandy]], she also manages to convince him that she doesn't actually like him.
* Dave/Margaret/Blue from ''Webcomic/CollegeRoomiesFromHell''. For the first few years of the comic's run, Dave pines intensely for Margaret, who is almost completely uninterested in reciprocating, while he sees Blue as an AbhorrentAdmirer when she falls in lust at first sight with him. Eventually his attitude toward Blue shifts, and they become a couple... just as Margaret begins acknowledging to herself that she is pushing Dave away primarily as a defense mechanism and that she does feel something for him.
* ''Webcomic/EerieCuties'': Initially, Layla [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/supportive_mother had no interest in Dio]], whom her parents had [[ArrangedMarriage arranged for her to marry]], and chose to remain with her boyfriend, Kade. But seeing Dio get [[spoiler: beat up, [[WebComic/MagickChicks by Ash]]]], made her realize she had feelings for him after all. Except Dio had been [[spoiler: zapped by Mel's wand, causing him and Ash to fall in love with each other]]! Which has left her in the humiliating position of [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/some_fiance_you_are having to compete with another guy]] for Dio's affections.
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Initially Moloch has a crush on Sanaa but she seems to think he's rather useless. However, after he TakesALevelInBadass and becomes Agatha's chief minion Sanaa seems to be attracted to him and he seems to be over his crush. And unfortunately for her, there could end up being some [[CluelessChickMagnet competition]].
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', this is [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=144 briefly shown]] as one of the effects of a "swish" of a magic wand. No one in-universe is aware of any of the effects of the wand because that is how it works. While that example is not canon, there is one canon example. Justin is in love with Elliot, who is straight. However, when Elliot develops magical powers that mostly revolve around him [[GenderBender turning into a girl]], one of his female alter-egos is [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1170 clearly attracted to Justin]], making this a case of IncompatibleOrientation twice between the same two people.
* At first, Annie seemed indifferent to Jack's attempt to flirt with her in chapter 31 of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt.'' Then, by the end of chapter 34, [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=944 this happens]].
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Kanaya has a crush on Vriska, who's in love with Tavros. Long after Kanaya "Discard[s] The Preposterous Infatuation" Vriska is punched across the room by Kanaya and [[InLoveWithYourCarnage promptly swoons over her]].
* Briefly in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': after [[TheHero Roy's]] spent time [[GenderBender as a woman]], he apologizes to [[KnightTemplar Miko]] for having treated her as a sex object; she expresses interest in him now that he's learned his lesson, but [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0250.html he shuts her down]], having realized that she's an arrogant, destructive fanatic and he was only interested in her because he was thinking with [[ICallHimMisterHappy the Trouser Titan]].
* Jeri Keene in ''Webcomic/PreTeena'' is disdainful of Johnson Pinecone's devoted pursuit of her. Until he stops. Then she begins to pursue ''him''.
* Leslie and Robin of ''WebComic/{{Shortpacked}}'' keep switching who wants to have a relationship between them. At first, Robin only has her around in a convoluted plot to get her StraightGay friend and Leslie actually liked her. Eventually, Robin reciprocated her feelings but Robin cheats on her [[ItMakesSenseInContext when on a massive sugar high]]. Robin wants to get back together, but Leslie doesn't want to despite still having feelings for her. Then Robin mellows into someone Leslie could have a relationship with, only to get together with her old friend Joe ''just'' before Leslie could broach the subject. Leslie ends up visiting a ''parallel universe'' to rescue ''Joe's'' old flame, pretty much resolving the issue.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Happens in ''WebVideo/TheGuild'' after Codex breaks off her "fake relationship with a fictional version of [[spoiler: Fawkes]]," who normally only does one-night stands. However, to the latter's surprise, Codex proves "interesting," so he makes an attempt to pursue her further, only to be told off. Although nothing's certain until Season 5, this also seems to happen with [[spoiler: Codex and Zaboo, after Zaboo finally (mostly) gets over Codex at about the same time she concludes (privately) that he passes her "litmus test."]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' [[KidHero Finn]] and [[OlderSidekick Jake]] both ''[[ImaginaryLoveTriangle think]]'' this is going on when Finn's old crush, [[ScienceHero Princess Bubblegum]], objects to him being involved with [[EvilIsBurningHot Flame Princess]]. It's actually [[ApocalypseMaiden something else entirely]]. Although the ending makes it ambiguous as to whether PB gets a GreenEyedEpiphany as a result or not.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': For many years, Steve's friend Snot had a crush on Hayley, who made it clear that she did not reciprocate. In "The Missing Kink", Snot finally convinces Hayley to go out with him. Hayley ends up falling for Snot, [[WantingIsBetterThanHaving while Snot completely loses interest in Hayley]].
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' started off with Sam giving off most of the romantic vibe towards Danny who remained clueless for the most part. When Sam started dating someone else, Danny starts to realize by the end that he likes her. They eventually get a RelationshipUpgrade.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera'', Manny [[DatingCatwoman falls for]] villainess Black Cuervo, aka Zoe Aves. When he figures out she's manipulating him, he loses interest, only for her to immediately develop a crush on him. Turns out this exact situation is ''generational'' between their families.
* Teebo and Latara in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ewoks}}''. Throughout the first season, Latara seems to be talking only about Teebo when alone with Kneesaa (who teases her for it), calling him "honeydrop" and claiming that she "does not have it that bad". In the second season, when their characters are exaggerated; Teebo is doing everything for Latara's attention, while she's playing hard to get. Finally, [[spoiler:she kisses him in ''The Tragic Flute'' and while the series ends with no further romantic interaction implied, they're indeed together in the ''Shadows of Endor'' comic [[http://roqoodepot.com/2013/09/29/ewok-of-the-day-teebo/ seen here]].]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': ''8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter'': Meg becomes interested in Neil (who had been obsessed with Meg) only after she realizes he has a girlfriend.
* PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' episode "Fanboyfriend". Lupe, a HugeSchoolgirl falls for Fanboy after he... er... saves her from a spider. For most of the episode, Fanboy tries to make Lupe understand that he is not interested - but at the end of the episode, after Lupe gets radioactive superpowers, the feelings are flipped.
* ''WesternAnimation/GetAce'': In "Greener Tina", Tina, who normally barely registers Ace's existence, becomes a ClingyJealousGirl for him when she sees Ace going out with another girl. When she realizes that the girl was just using Ace and wasn't actually in love with him, [[StatusQuoIsGod she goes back to normal in an instant]].
* On ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls,'' twelve-year-old Dipper has a PrecociousCrush on teenage Wendy. When he goes back in time ten years, she has a PrecociousCrush on him, [[HypocriticalHumor which he comments is "super weird"]] because of the age difference. Mabel promptly points out that now Dipper knows how Wendy feels about ''his'' crush. Which makes this...an {{Inversion}} by way of time travel or something?
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': In "Crushed", Mandy develops a crush on Billy's new friend, who's even more cool and haughty than she is (so much so [[TheQuietOne he doesn't deign to speak when asked his name]], so Billy just gives him the nickname "Piff"). Mandy is [[WhatIsThisFeeling horrified to feel that way about anyone]], and is ready to ask Grim to literally cut her heart out. Grim instead convinces Mandy to [[SheCleansUpNicely turn up the charm]], which causes Piff to fall for Mandy... and lose his composure in the process, causing Mandy to get over her crush.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** Largely the plot of the "Arnold Loves Lila" episode. When Lila believes Arnold has a crush on her (thanks to Helga's hastily re-written "Arnold loves Lila" graffiti), she starts to like him too, but he [[JustFriends "likes her, but doesn't LIKE-like her"]]. Once she gets the message, he really does start to "LIKE-like her," but too late; now ''she'd'' rather be friends.
** There's also the "Arnold Visits Arnie" episode where Arnold meets [[BizarroUniverse bizarro]] equivalents to characters in his own neighborhood, including "Hilda," a seemingly well-adjusted Helga he is immediately attracted to... who has a thing for Arnie. Meanwhile Arnie's girlfriend "Lulu" seems more interested in Arnold than her real boyfriend...
* WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}} and Mr. Cat have this happen rather frequently. Who's crushing on whom depends on the episode.
* Mako and Korra in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Korra starts crushing on Mako, but he rejects her when she asks him out since he's dating Asami. Then, he gets jealous when he sees her with his brother Bolin and the two let the issue drop until later on in the season when Asami finds out Korra had a crush on Mako and then she starts seeing that there are still sparks between the two. [[spoiler:By the season finale, Mako breaks up with Asami and confesses that he's in love with Korra, who reciprocates it. Though in later seasons they break up, and in the series finale Korra gets together with ''Asami''.]]
* A case from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' has a [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle Two-Person Love Square]]. Marinette has a crush on Adrien, who (initially) [[ObliviousToLove doesn't really notice her much]], though later befriends her. However, in their superhero identities, it's Adrien (Cat Noir) who has a crush on Marinette (Ladybug), but she continually rebuffs him. The [[ClarkKenting weakness of their disguises]] just makes it more ridiculous.
* Done three times with WesternAnimation/PepeLePew:
** In ''WesternAnimation/ForScentimentalReasons'', Pepe is chasing Penelope, as usual. He winds up plunging into a blue paint bucket, which masks his smell. Penelope falls in the neighboring rain bucket, rendering her ragged and soaked and not so pretty. The switcheroo follows, as she chases him.
** In ''Little Beau Pepe'', Penelope is attracted to Pepe after he uses [[AllOfThem all the deodorants]]. In this case, there's no particular reason why he stops being interested in her ''except'' the fact she's now chasing him.
** And in ''WesternAnimation/ReallyScent'' (a bit of an oddity, as Fabrette ''is'' interested in Pepe apart from the smell) Pepe again uses deodorant to be more appealing to her, but at the same time, she's doused herself in Limburger cheese to be more skunk-like.
* PlayedForLaughs on ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn:'' Milo and Gwen Mezzrow do this a lot. One episode had a RunningGag where every time a day passed, it switched which one was the AbhorrentAdmirer and which was the prey.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** The DistantFinale episode "Act Your Age" reveals that Phineas developed a crush on Isabella around the time that they entered high school, which was also right around the time that she gave up hope of him [[ObliviousToLove ever noticing her feelings for him]]. He doesn't even realize this until, right before college, he casually mentions his crush to his friends, who promptly fill him in.
** This also happens towards [[FieryRedhead Candace]] and [[NiceGuy Jeremy]]. We keep seeing Candace's crush on Jeremy and we found out in "Knot My Problem" that Jeremy also likes Candace when they're were grade-schoolers. Jeremy remembers that in grade school, a pretty girl loaned him that pencil and he kept it. That pretty girl turns out to be Candace, which Candace didn't realize after Jeremy told her.
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', Star Butterfly has an obvious crush on supporting character [[DreadfulMusician Oskar Greason]], getting incredibly flustered whenever she sees him. But by the end of Season 2, she's completely lost interest in him [[spoiler: due to having developed a crush on Marco]], with Oskar now getting a crush on Star.
** In Season 3, this happens to [[spoiler:Marco. Jackie breaks up with him after [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy seeing how much he misses Mewni and Star]], but when he returns, Star and Tom are dating again, [[CharacterDevelopment having gotten over some of the issues that caused their breakup in the past]]. It takes Marco a while to realise his feelings for Star, but it appears that she is trying to move on from her crush on him]]. Ends up subverted, though, as [[spoiler:Star still has feelings for him regardless. Tom eventually accepts all the warning signs and breaks up with Star in the final season, leaving her open to pursue Marco again]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' has Devin and Carrie, a.k.a the Best Friends. Carrie has been crushing on Devin since they were young kids but he has [[ObliviousToLove stayed oblivious to her feelings.]] Eventually, Carrie decides to try and give up on him and focus on the race...just in time for him to realize he's actually in love with her. So most of the series involves Carrie trying to confess her feelings to Devin with the last third reversing this and having ''him'' trying to confess to ''her''. [[spoiler: In the end he does and TheyDo.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Undergrads}}'', Nitz develops feelings for Jessie after seeing her naked... for exactly one episode. Prior to this episode and in every episode following, she loves him but he has no interest in her. Which makes her blowup at Nitz in the finale about not noticing her feelings rather silly since he openly said he had feelings for her... In the one episode where he showed interest in her, she rejected him because his approach to her was ''completely'' wrong, mostly by just acting like they're ''already'' a couple.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* TruthInTelevision, the French have an expression for this situation: Suis-moi je te fuis, fuis-moi je te suis (literally : "[[NoGuyWantsToBeChased Follow me and I'll flee]], flee me and I'll follow").
[[/folder]]

* In the first season of ''Series/TrueBlood'', Sookie was involved in a love triangle between vampire Bill and shapeshifter Sam. She chose Bill and Sam moved on. Come Season 6, Sookie was in a rough spot and made a pass at Sam, only for him to reject her due to his relationship with his pregnant girlfriend.
-->'''Sam:''' Goddammit Sookie! You know how I always felt about you!
* There have been two so far in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', both unusual variations on the trope:
** For most of Season 1, Skye has a rather obvious crush on Ward, her aloof and enigmatic supervising officer who's quite the {{Tsundere}} towards her, and even ignores her advances to begin a casual relationship with May due to her being less emotionally complicated. Though he does eventually admit his feelings for Skye and the two briefly get together, [[spoiler:the ''very same episode'' reveals that he's been EvilAllAlong]]. Once Skye learns this she is, naturally, no longer keen on continuing their relationship, but Ward insists that his feelings for her were genuine, and continues to pursue her throughout Season 2, despite Skye now claiming that he makes her physically sick and [[spoiler:making no secret of her wish to see him die, even going so far as to (non-fatally) shoot him herself in the mid-season finale.]]
** A weirder example occurs with Fitz-Simmons: for the first few episodes of Season 1, it seems as though Simmons has an unrequited crush on her long-time best friend, while Fitz is too preoccupied with his crush on their new teammate Skye to pay her much attention. ''But'' a few episodes in Fitz begins to experience a LoveEpiphany towards Simmons, who herself suddenly becomes ObliviousToLove at around the same time, and seems about to begin a relationship with someone else. When Fitz eventually admits his feelings towards Simmons at the end of the first season, she rejects him utterly, claiming that she never thought of him that way; which leaves the question of whether Simmons's apparent attraction to Fitz was the result of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, or whether she's deliberately denying her feelings for him - even at the cost of their previously extremely close relationship - for other reasons yet to be explained.
*** [[spoiler:They get together in Season 3.]]

* ''Series/SchoolOfRock'' with Summer and Freddy. Throughout the series, it has been shown that Summer has had a huge crush on Freddy, who [[ObliviousToLove never notices even though it is VERY OBVIOUS at times]]. Come "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Summer FINALLY gets over Freddy, to the point she even tears down her picture of him in her locker. Freddy then realises that he and Kale have nothing in common so they break up, but not without Kale encouraging him to find someone who likes the same things he does. He then goes to Summer, only to find her with another guy.

* ''Series/SchittsCreek'' has Season 1 Alexis torn between Mutt and Ted, eventually choosing Mutt. When she breaks up with Mutt in Season 2 and Mutt is PutOnABus, Ted returns from what was supposed to be their honeymoon having worked out the whole time. Eventually, Alexis realizes she has feelings for Ted, but by that time he's dating Heather.
* ''Series/ThePartridgeFamily'': In "The Eleven-Year-Itch," Danny meets a {{fangirl}} with a crush on him. After he spends a while trying to avoid her, she gets over her crush, and they agree to be friends. Afterwards, Danny almost immediately develops a crush on her.
* Iconic AmicableExes though they were, ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'''s Jerry and Elaine ''did'' show attraction to each other on rare occasions...just never at the same time (the ending of "The Deal" perhaps excepted). A complete switcheroo occurs over "The Serenity Now," when Jerry, after [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness getting in touch with his emotions]], has a LoveEpiphany that causes him to propose to Elaine. She's [[WeWantOurJerkBack highly alarmed]] and can't get out of the building fast enough, but later thinks it over and happily goes back to cash in on the offer, only to find that StatusQuoIsGod has kicked in, to her immense irritation.
-->'''George:''' You know, all these years...I've always wanted to see the two of you get back together.\\
'''Elaine:''' ...Well, that's because you're an idiot.

-->You're trying my shoes on for a change.
-->They look so good but fit so strange.

-->So let me go now
-->'Cause time has made me strong
-->I'm starting to move on
-->I'm gonna say this now
-->Your chance has come and gone

-->She can ignore you as much as she likes, she doesn't like you anymore.
-->She's fucking gorgeous you can't help but blush. Why didn't you notice her before?

* "Taken" by One Direction
--> I slept on your doorstep/Begging for one chance/Now that I've finally moved on/You say that you've missed me all along

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has [[ChildhoodFriends Cloud and Tifa]]. [[GirlNextDoor Tifa]] has a crush on [[TheHero Cloud]]. Whether Cloud [[WillTheyOrWontThey notices or not]] [[RomanceSidequest depends on the]] [[LoveInterests players' actions]]. [[spoiler: Although, if you choose Tifa it turns into ChildhoodFriendsRomance.]] Back when Cloud and Tifa were still kids, Cloud had a crush on Tifa and [[StalkerWithACrush always watched her from a distance]] because he was too shy to talk to her (which Tifa didn't notice). Tifa only develops feelings for Cloud after he leaves to join SOLDIER. Along with Tifa make Cloud a [[ThePromise promise]] to her.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Kanaya has a crush on Vriska, who's in love with Tavros. Long after Kanaya "Discard[s] The Preposterous Infatuation" Vriska is punched across the room by Kanaya and [[InLoveWithYourCarnage promptly swoons over her]].
* At first, Annie seemed indifferent to Jack's attempt to flirt with her in chapter 31 of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt.'' Then, by the end of chapter 34, [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=944 this happens]].
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', this is [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=144 briefly shown]] as one of the effects of a "swish" of a magic wand. No one in-universe is aware of any of the effects of the wand because that is how it works. While that example is not canon, there is one canon example. Justin is in love with Elliot, who is straight. However, when Elliot develops magical powers that mostly revolve around him [[GenderBender turning into a girl]], one of his female alter-egos is [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1170 clearly attracted to Justin]], making this a case of IncompatibleOrientation twice between the same two people.
* Lucy of ''Webcomic/BittersweetCandyBowl'' is the queen of this; not only does Mike pursue her for years only for her to keep pushing him away until she accidentally helps get him back with his other love interest [[LongDistanceRelationship Sandy]], she also manages to convince him that she doesn't actually like him.
* ''Webcomic/EerieCuties'': Initially, Layla [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/supportive_mother had no interest in Dio]], whom her parents had [[ArrangedMarriage arranged for her to marry]], and chose to remain with her boyfriend, Kade. But seeing Dio get [[spoiler: beat up, [[WebComic/MagickChicks by Ash]]]], made her realize she had feelings for him after all. Except Dio had been [[spoiler: zapped by Mel's wand, causing him and Ash to fall in love with each other]]! Which has left her in the humiliating position of [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/some_fiance_you_are having to compete with another guy]] for Dio's affections.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Initially Moloch has a crush on Sanaa but she seems to think he's rather useless. However, after he TakesALevelInBadass and becomes Agatha's chief minion Sanaa seems to be attracted to him and he seems to be over his crush. And unfortunately for her, there could end up being some [[CluelessChickMagnet competition]].
* Jeri Keene in ''Webcomic/PreTeena'' is disdainful of Johnson Pinecone's devoted pursuit of her. Until he stops. Then she begins to pursue ''him''.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** Largely the plot of the "Arnold Loves Lila" episode. When Lila believes Arnold has a crush on her (thanks to Helga's hastily re-written "Arnold loves Lila" graffiti), she starts to like him too, but he [[JustFriends "likes her, but doesn't LIKE-like her"]]. Once she gets the message, he really does start to "LIKE-like her," but too late; now ''she'd'' rather be friends.
** There's also the "Arnold Visits Arnie" episode where Arnold meets [[BizarroUniverse bizarro]] equivalents to characters in his own neighborhood, including "Hilda," a seemingly well-adjusted Helga he is immediately attracted to... who has a thing for Arnie. Meanwhile Arnie's girlfriend "Lulu" seems more interested in Arnold than her real boyfriend...

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Undergrads}}'', Nitz develops feelings for Jessie after seeing her naked... for exactly one episode. Prior to this episode and in every episode following, she loves him but he has no interest in her. Which makes her blowup at Nitz in the finale about not noticing her feelings rather silly since he openly said he had feelings for her... In the one episode where he showed interest in her, she rejected him because his approach to her was ''completely'' wrong, mostly by just acting like they're ''already'' a couple.
* PlayedForLaughs on ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn:'' Milo and Gwen Mezzrow do this a lot. One episode had a RunningGag where every time a day passed, it switched which one was the AbhorrentAdmirer and which was the prey.
* PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' episode "Fanboyfriend". Lupe, a HugeSchoolgirl falls for Fanboy after he... er... saves her from a spider. For most of the episode, Fanboy tries to make Lupe understand that he is not interested - but at the end of the episode, after Lupe gets radioactive superpowers, the feelings are flipped.
* WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}} and Mr. Cat have this happen rather frequently. Who's crushing on whom depends on the episode.
* On ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' [[KidHero Finn]] and [[OlderSidekick Jake]] both ''[[ImaginaryLoveTriangle think]]'' this is going on when Finn's old crush, [[ScienceHero Princess Bubblegum]], objects to him being involved with [[EvilIsBurningHot Flame Princess]]. It's actually [[ApocalypseMaiden something else entirely]]. Although the ending makes it ambiguous as to whether PB gets a GreenEyedEpiphany as a result or not.
* Mako and Korra in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Korra starts crushing on Mako, but he rejects her when she asks him out since he's dating Asami. Then, he gets jealous when he sees her with his brother Bolin and the two let the issue drop until later on in the season when Asami finds out Korra had a crush on Mako and then she starts seeing that there are still sparks between the two. [[spoiler: By the season finale, Mako breaks up with Asami and confesses that he's in love with Korra, who reciprocates it. Though in later seasons they break up, and in the series finale Korra gets together with ''Asami''.]]
* Teebo and Latara in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ewoks}}''. Throughout the first season, Latara seems to be talking only about Teebo when alone with Kneesaa (who teases her for it), calling him "honeydrop" and claiming that she "does not have it that bad". In the second season, when their characters are exaggerated; Teebo is doing everything for Latara's attention, while she's playing hard to get. Finally, [[spoiler: she kisses him in ''The Tragic Flute'' and while the series ends with no further romantic interaction implied, they're indeed together in the ''Shadows of Endor'' comic. [[http://roqoodepot.com/2013/09/29/ewok-of-the-day-teebo/ link]] ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': the DistantFinale episode "Act Your Age" reveals that Phineas developed a crush on Isabella around the time that they entered high school, which was also right around the time that she gave up hope of him [[ObliviousToLove ever noticing her feelings for him]]. He doesn't even realize this until, right before college, he casually mentions his crush to his friends, who promptly fill him in.
** This also happens towards [[FieryRedhead Candace]] and [[NiceGuy Jeremy]]. We keep seeing Candace's crush on Jeremy and we found out in "Knot My Problem" that Jeremy also likes Candace when they're were grade-schoolers. Jeremy remembers that in grade school, a pretty girl loaned him that pencil and he kept it. That pretty girl turns out to be Candace, which Candace didn't realize after Jeremy told her.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' has Devin and Carrie, a.k.a the Best Friends. Carrie has been crushing on Devin since they were young kids but he has [[ObliviousToLove stayed oblivious to her feelings.]] Eventually, Carrie decides to try and give up on him and focus on the race...just in time for him to realize he's actually in love with her. So most of the series involves Carrie trying to confess her feelings to Devin with the last third reversing this and having ''him'' trying to confess to ''her''. [[spoiler: In the end he does and TheyDo.]]

** In Season 3, this happens to [[spoiler: Marco. Jackie breaks up with him after [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy seeing how much he misses Mewni and Star]], but when he returns, Star and Tom are dating again, [[CharacterDevelopment having gotten over some of the issues that caused their breakup in the past]]. It takes Marco a while to realise his feelings for Star, but it appears that she is trying to move on from her crush on him]]. Ends up subverted, though, as [[spoiler: Star still has feelings for him regardless. Tom eventually accepts all the warning signs and breaks up with Star in the final season, leaving her open to pursue Marco again.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera'', Manny [[DatingCatwoman falls for]] villainess Black Cuervo, aka Zoe Aves. When he figures out she's manipulating him, he loses interest, only for her to immediately develop a crush on him. Turns out this exact situation is ''generational'' between their families.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': For many years, Steve's friend Snot had a crush on Hayley, who made it clear that she did not reciprocate. In "The Missing Kink", Snot finally convinces Hayley to go out with him. Hayley ends up falling for Snot, [[WantingIsBetterThanHaving while Snot completely loses interest in Hayley]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': In "Crushed", Mandy develops a crush on Billy's new friend, who's even more cool and haughty than she is (so much so [[TheQuietOne he doesn't deign to speak when asked his name]], so Billy just gives him the nickname "Piff"). Mandy is [[WhatIsThisFeeling horrified to feel that way about anyone]], and is ready to ask Grim to literally cut her heart out. Grim instead convinces Mandy to [[SheCleansUpNicely turn up the charm]], which causes Piff to fall for Mandy... and lose his composure in the process, causing Mandy to get over her crush.

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* PlayedForDrama in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. Mikasa loved Eren [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest ever since they were children]] while he seemed to regard her as more [[LikeBrotherAndSister like a sibling]]. [[spoiler: He ends up manipulating her into killing him as part of his ThanatosGambit, but the final chapter has him lamenting to Armin that at some point he ''did'' end up loving her back, but his ZeroApprovalGambit made it impossible for him to reciprocate.]]

* Anne Boleyn reflects on this during her time in the Tower of London in ''Anne of the Thousand Days'':
--> "For six years, this year, and this, and this, and this, I did not love him. And then I did. Then I was his. I can count the days I was his in hundreds... And of those thousand, one when we were both in love, only one, when our loves met and overlapped and were both mine and his. And when I no longer hated him, he began to hate me. Except for that one day."

* ''Literature/InAWorldJustRight'' has Johnathan Aubrey, a teen who can create worlds on a whim and give them whatever parameters he wants. To soothe his aching loneliness, he creates a world where he can date his dream girl, Kylie Simms, and splits his time between it and the real world. However, when he accidentally tries to kiss the ''real'' Kylie, she starts becoming more and more infatuated with him, while the Kylie he created to love him becomes cold and distant. He's not happy with the change. [[spoiler: Eventually he finds out that the real world momentarily intersected with his fake one, causing the two Kylies to begin to merge. He has to help facilitate this merger, lest the Kylies destroy each other.]]
* The title character in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books has a crush on Cho but is fully aware that Ginny has a crush on him. After things don't work out with Cho, and Ginny has already moved on, Harry develops a crush on Ginny after dealing with a bout of jealousy -- a GreenEyedEpiphany -- over Ginny's new love interest. This is somewhat subverted though, as Ginny later admits that she'd never gotten over her feelings for Harry, and was dating other boys while waiting for him to come around.
** It's also implied that Cho develops feelings for Harry, [[ShipSinking but it's pretty much too late by that point.]]
* Onegin/Tatiana in the Russian novel/opera/film ''Literature/EugeneOnegin''. [[spoiler: Though Tatiana still loves him, but she's married to someone else now, and he treats her better than Onegin ever did or will.]]

* ''Literature/The39Clues'': Ian didn't seem to care much about [[ShrinkingViolet Amy]] as he was [[IWasOnlyPretendingToLikeYou faking feelings for her so he could run off with her clue]], but as soon as she started getting over him- or, as soon as she had convinced herself that she had- he seemed to realize his genuine feelings for her. Too bad about [[FeudingFamilies life]] [[MyBelovedSmother getting]] [[AncientConspiracy in the way]]....
* In the ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series, Anne's childhood friend Gilbert Blythe has a crush on her for about two and a half books. When he finally proposes to her, she rejects him because she isn't in love with him. Near the end of that book, Anne realizes she actually ''is'' in love with Gilbert, but she is convinced he is engaged to another woman. Luckily, the engagement turns out to be just a false rumor.
* ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia'' has this, in a sense. Leslie loves Jess, but he has a [[PrecociousCrush crush on Ms. Edmunds (his teacher)]], and only realises his feelings for Leslie (and her feelings for him), [[spoiler: after she dies]].
* The Russian adaptation of ''The Shadow'' by E. Schwartz features this. First, the writer and the princess fall in love, but then the shallow princess abandons him for his shadow. In this variant, the writer [[SparedByAdaptation survives and defeats his shadow]], the princess is once again in love with him, [[spoiler: but now he is only interested in Annuncuiata, another girl]].
* Another Russian Book called ''Militia Sergeant'' features this in a classic variant. Nikolaj Zacharow, a young militia officer, and Natasha, a daughter of a factory director, meet, but Natasha wants him to make a career, and not be stuck in militia, so she abandons him. Years later they meet, he is already a captain, her love for him comes back, only for him to reveal that he is already happily married and only agreed to meet her to say goodbye.

* Suggested in ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}''. Bertram pined after Candayce even when they both were in dinosaur bodies. When after a separation she kissed him - or [[AlternateAnimalAffection tried, they both had beaks]] - he happily said he was cured and stopped mooning over her. From Candayce's reaction this wasn't what she wanted to hear. When they were both human again she tried again, and this time had the desired result.
* In ''Literature/GestaDanorum'', Ladgerda is initially uninterested in Ragnar Lothbrog and sets a bear and a dog on him when he comes to ask her in marriage. Ragnar kills the animals and gets his will. Years later, when Ladgerda has already borne him three children, it occurs to Ragnar he cannot trust her because she sicced the beasts on him, so he divorces her and marries Thora instead. But Ladgerda still loves him and when Ragnar is hard-pressed by the usurper Harald, she comes to his aid with a fleet and once more saves him from defeat.
* Occurs in the High School books from the ''{{Literature/BetsyTacy}}'' series. In her Freshman year, Betsy becomes infatuated with [[TallDarkAndSnarky Tony]] and is heartbroken that he falls for someone else, [[OneOfTheGuys with him only seeing her as a friend]]. She gets over it at the end and realizes that they are better that way. At the beginning of their Senior year, Tony begins to show that he's falling for her but Betsy is no longer interested and is more excited about her elusive crush, [[CuteBookworm Joe]], [[LoveTriangle finally becoming interested in her]].
* A Polish children poem ''Żuraw i czapla'' {end: A Crane and a Heron) by Jan Brzechwa plays this for humor, with one of the titular birds falling for the other and being rejected only for the other bird to come around now that the first one wants nothing to do with them. The switch happens multiple times and the narrator notes [[AnAesop love cannot happen unless both parties are willing at the same time]].

* The main theme of Season 6 of ''Series/{{Bones}}''. [[spoiler:Booth tells Bones he loves and wants a relationship with her in the 100th episode, Bones turns him down, they part for seven months, Bones realizes her feelings for him, Booth has a new beautiful Blonde girlfriend, Hannah.]] Lampshaded in "[[Recap/BonesS6E9TheDoctorInThePhoto The Doctor In The Photo]]" where [[spoiler: Bones tells Booth her feelings for him and he informs her that he has moved on with Hannah now]]. Then Bones prompts Booth to [[spoiler:propose to Hannah, but Hannah is not ready to settle down]]. Booth ends up [[spoiler:breaking up with her on the spot and then tells Bones that he doesn't want to be in another relationship anytime soon. They still get together a few episodes later, though.]].
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'':
** Emma is in love with Will Schuster. Later, Will finds out that he loves her too. But Emma's already dating this dentist who drives a sweet ride. Then Will tries to woo her by being cool like the dentist.
** Also works with the whole Finn/Rachel/Jesse situation; Rachel pines over Finn for half of season one. Finn seems to return her feelings, but is dating Quinn. Then when he finds out [[spoiler: Quinn cheated on him with Puck]], he breaks up with her, and Rachel assumes that she can automatically jump into the place of his girlfriend. He rejects her so he can go out with Brittany and Santana. Rachel quickly moves onto Jesse, just in time for Finn to decide that he has feelings for Rachel. Rachel then rejects him, and he spends the rest of the season trying to get back together with her. They get together in season two, but he breaks up with Rachel when he finds out [[spoiler: that she kissed Puck out of spite]]. She spends most of the rest of season two trying to get back together with Finn, but he's moved onto Quinn, who is dating Sam. Sam breaks up with Quinn when he finds out [[spoiler: Quinn kissed Finn]]. Quinn and Finn start going back out, but Quinn can tell that Finn still has leftover feelings for Rachel. Finn breaks up with Quinn when he realizes that he's really in love with Rachel, who in the mean time has had an episode-long crush on Blaine, who ''also'' has an episode-long interest in her (Kurt, of course, [[spoiler: has a crush on Blaine]]), and expressed an interest in Sam. She winds up sort of getting back together with Jesse, only for [[spoiler: Finn to kiss her in the season finale, leaving Jesse in the lurch]]. Taking the meaning of the word Switcheroo to a whole new level.
* Lady Mary and Matthew in ''Series/DowntonAbbey''; at first they have [[BelligerentSexualTension Belligerent Sexual Tension]], which evolves into Matthew's unrequited love for Mary. Mary begins to reciprocate these feelings, but changes her mind when it becomes possible that Matthew may be usurped as heir. Matthew stops liking Mary because of this, only for Mary to change her mind and fall back in love with him. She spends the whole of Season two pining after Matthew, who is engaged to a hypotenuse.
* Dwayne/Whitley/Kinu on ''Series/ADifferentWorld'', in that Dwayne pursues Whitley for an entire season, while she is at times uninterested, and at other times in a relationship with Julian. Between seasons, they spend the summer apart, wherein Dwayne writes Whitley passionate letters and Whitley's feelings for Dwayne change, but [[PlayingHardtoGet she doesn't answer any of his letters in order to keep the passion flowing]]. When they arrive back at Hillman for the beginning of the school year, Whitley is ready to confess her feelings. Dwayne shows up with [[RomanticFalseLead new girlfriend Kinu]], who he met over the summer, instead.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Iris starts a relationship with Eddie when Barry is in his nine-month-long coma. He decides that [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy he can accept Eddie as Iris' boyfriend]] and starts seeing Linda Park. Iris is visibly surprised at this, eventually causing Linda to break up with Barry by mentioning his unrequited feelings for her. When the two make up, Iris is seen looking at them with a forlorn expression before walking away.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
** Ross and Rachel do this so many times it's unbelievable. S1: Ross --> Rachel. S2: Rachel --> Ross. S3: Ross --> Rachel then Rachel --> Ross. S4/5: Rachel --> Ross. S6: Ross --> Rachel. S8/9: They swap per episode. S10: Ross --> Rachel.
** Later in the series it happens with Joey/Rachel. In season 8 Joey falls in love with Rachel, falls out of it, and in season 9 she's the one who has a crush on him. Phoebe even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] Rachel's tendency to do this.
** Flashbacks in a Thanksgiving episode even show this happened with [[BetaCouple Monica and Chandler]] at one point, though in this case it's more of an unrequited ''infatuation'' switcheroo. When Monica and Chandler first meet one Thanksgiving, she immediately has a crush on him, but he doesn't like her because she's fat, she accidentally overhears him saying this to Ross, leading to the end of her crush. Then the next Thanksgiving, Chandler becomes attracted to Monica when he sees that she has lost the weight and is now thin, but she is still mad about him calling her fat and wants revenge. Her attempt at this results in her accidentally cutting off Chandler's toe, leading to the end of his crush. Years later, Monica and Chandler eventually fall in love and end up HappilyMarried, though even before then there are a few subtle hints (particularly in the episodes "The One At The Beach"/"The One With The Jellyfish") that Chandler has redeveloped a crush on her.
* Niles and Daphne go through a version of this in the first seven seasons of ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. Niles is instantly attracted to Daphne, and falls deeper in love with her over the years, but Daphne is [[ObliviousToLove completely unaware of his affections]]. Eventually, she is [[EverybodyKnewAlready the only one who has no idea Niles is in love with her]]. By the time she finds out how Niles feels and finds out that she feels the same way toward him, Niles has moved on with [[RomanticFalseLead Mel]], who seems like a perfect match for him, leaving Daphne as the one with unresolved feelings.
* Jake/Dylan/Penny on ''Good Morning, Miami.''
* Ephram and Amy on ''Series/{{Everwood}}'' count as he's with Madison when Amy finally decides to be with him.
* ''Series/HannahMontana'' : Miley's at first annoyed by Jake's attempts to woo her, but then she falls for him and he's already moved on.
* Done interestingly on ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' - Paul Ballard is in love with Echo while Melly is in love with him. Then Echo falls in love with Paul, though they don't consummate the relationship. [[spoiler:Then Alpha kills Paul's mind and it's re-made without his love for Echo]], though she still loves him anyway. Then [[spoiler: in the next ten years they spend together]] he falls for her yet again and they're implied to have a relationship, but she won't say she loves him. [[spoiler: Then he dies]]. Joss Whedon, you make puppies cry.
* Britta rejects Jeff in ''Series/{{Community}}'' from the very first episode. But when she develops feelings for him (at last), he's with Michelle. Troy also starts to like Annie when she's finally into someone else (Vaughn in this case). The season finale brings a surprise (or not so much) resolution to both cases by finding a common link.
* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' flip-flops this like crazy. Rory and Dean get together in the first season. Then he breaks up with her when she falls for Jess. He pines after her while she's dating Jess, then he gives up and marries someone else, and she becomes jealous. After she and Jess break up, she has an affair with Dean, he gets divorced and starts dating her again, and she falls for yet another guy, leaving Dean to the side. By the reunion show, ten years later, it's implied that she's over Jess, but he's back to pining over her.
* ''Series/{{The Goldbergs}}'': The adorkable Geoff Swartz spends seasons 2 & 3 trying to woo his buddy Barry’s older sis Erica, who is one of those cool kids who is not interested in anything—especially not lovesick Geoff. In the season 3 finale, she shuts their non-existent romance for good, and Geoff finally starts to accept that she doesn’t like him back. But that night, she listens to a tape he made that he was saving for their future kids, and with a little nudge from bro Barry and BFF Lainey, finally realizes she loves him back—only to find out the next day that he’s started dating another girl. She then spends half of season 4 having to deal with her broken heart and seeing him with Evie. [[spoiler: Luckily for fans, they come together before the end of the season, and become a couple. In fact, in the spinoff series ''Series/{{Schooled}}'', which takes places ten years afterwards, it’s shown in a high school reunion episode that Erica and Geoff are still going strong.]]
* ''Series/NeverHaveIEver'': Just as Devi seems to be moving on with Ben, Paxton has a LoveEpiphany towards her.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' can also be mentioned, in the first season that is: at first JD likes Elliot but it's not reciprocated; after they sleep together, she still likes him but he's moved on; on the third season it's done again: first he likes her again but she's with another guy, then she dumps such guy but JD's not interested any longer. Then, on fourth, she's with his brother and that annoys him and so on...

* ''Series/{{ER}}'': John's got a major crush on Abby, but she's with Luka; when they break up, she makes it understood that she wants to be with John, but he's already with Susan. There's also a bit of that with Ray and Neela later on.
** The uber-example would be with Doug and Carol, the show's signature couple. Doug spent the first half of the first season pining for Carol, who rebuffed him, as she'd moved on and gotten engaged. By the second half of the season, he'd begrudgingly accepted this and moved on into a new relationship himself, only for ''Carol'' to be the one to be jealous every time she saw them together.
* Steve and Laura on ''Series/FamilyMatters.''
* Most of the major couples not involving Michael Scott in ''Series/TheOfficeUS''.
** Jim pines for Pam in Seasons 1 and 2 as she’s engaged to Roy. Pam breaks up with Roy and pines for Jim as he starts seeing Karen in Season 3. They finally get together in Season 4 and remain so for the rest of the series.
** Several times with Dwight and Angela in later seasons. S4/5: Dwight --> Angela. S6/7: Angela --> Dwight. S9: Dwight --> Angela then Angela --> Dwight. They finally click again at the very end, and get married in the series finale.
** In early seasons, Kelly is obsessed with Ryan, who mostly seems standoffish and annoyed by her. In later seasons, Ryan is the one who is pursuing Kelly and is jealous of her other relationships more often than not. But after leaving in Season 9, they come back for the finale and leave off together (with Ryan abandoning his son to do so).
** Andy and Erin also take turns being infatuated with one another. They do get together, but it ultimately does not last. Erin ends up with a guy named Pete at the end of the series.
* Randy and Catalina on ''Series/MyNameIsEarl''. Originally, Randy was in love with Catalina who constantly turned him down, and when Catalina needed a CitizenshipMarriage, Randy eagerly volunteered. She felt somewhat obligated to sleep with him as thanks, but to make sure he'd never want to do it again, she tried to be as unappealing as possible by rubbing dead fish over her body beforehand and invoking ParentalSexualitySquick in her dirty talk. It worked like a charm, and Randy no longer wants anything to do with Catalina romantically. However, Randy turned out to be the most sensitive lover that Catalina ever had, so now she's the one pining after him.
* Many times with Ed/Carol on ''Series/{{Ed}}.'' "Carols" go from Nick Stanton to Bonnie Hane to Dennis Martino to Frankie Hector.
* Bright/Hannah/Topher and Ephram/Amy/Madison on ''Series/{{Everwood}}''.

* ''Series/ICarly'':
** A Christmas [[ItsAWonderfulPlot Wonderful Life]] episode where Carly wishes her brother was normal. As part of the changes caused by her wish, Freddie, who has at the very least a strong crush on Carly in the series, has given up on Carly romantically, dating a whiny brat. He also gives her an extreme cold shoulder which indicates their friendship is now non-existent. Carly finds out she is now dating Nevel. Carly pretty much breaks down at the idea that Freddie doesn't love her and that he isn't her friend.
** This also briefly happens in Season 4, when Freddie begins dating Sam, Carly seems to have feelings for Freddie. After the Seddie breakup though, it seems to switch back again. (Or at least, Freddie thinks so.)
* Becca and Tucker in ''Series/FlashForward1996''. They'd each had crushes on each other throughout their childhood, but never at the same time...until the final episode of the series.
* Toyed with in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Adam", in which Toshiko stops hopelessly pining after Owen and gets a boyfriend, while Owen suddenly starts pining after her. But in reality, [[spoiler: their personalities were changed by an alien who gave them FakeMemories and made himself Tosh's boyfriend.]] Interestingly, despite [[spoiler: having their memories wiped]], their relationship did seem to change after this episode, with Tosh going so far as to ask for a date and Owen accepting it. [[spoiler: [[AnyoneCanDie Then]] [[KillTheCutie events]] [[TearJerker intervened]].]]
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** Ted and Robin do this a few times throughout the series. S1: Ted --> Robin then Robin --> Ted then Ted --> Robin. S4: Robin --> Ted. S5 and S7/8/9: Ted --> Robin.
** Barney and Robin have been doing this many times. S4: Barney --> Robin then in the season finale [[ItMakesSenseInContext they swap per scene]]. Late S5 and parts of S6: Barney --> Robin. S7: They swap per episode. S8: Barney --> Robin then Robin --> Barney, [[spoiler: [[MagnificentBastard it turns out to all be part of Barney's final play]] [[OperationJealousy ''The Robin'']]]].
** In the finale [[spoiler: Barney and Robin divorce after three years. Robin confesses to Lily that she should have married Ted instead; unfortunately, the latter is happily married to Tracy. In 2030, the mother died six years ago which allows Ted to go back to Robin.]]
* Shawn/Belle/Mimi in ''Series/DaysOfOurLives''.

* This is done a few times with Gary and Valene in ''Series/KnotsLanding'' during the 8 seasons they were separated.
* ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'':
** Dylan and Brenda. S2: Dylan --> Brenda then Brenda --> Dylan. S3/4: Brenda --> Dylan.
** For the first two seasons, Andrea has an enourmous crush on Brandon, who (for the most part) only sees her as a good friend. In season 3, Brandon begins to develop feelings for Andrea, but by then she has given up on him and began dating someone else.
** David and Donna in later seasons. S5: David --> Donna. S6/7: They swap per episode. S8 and S9: David --> Donna. S10: Donna --> David.
** Brandon and Kelly also occasionally switch who is pining after who, specifically during their break-up periods. S1 and S4: Kelly --> Brandon. S5: Brandon --> Kelly. S6: They swap per episode. S7: Kelly --> Brandon. S8: Brandon --> Kelly.
** Kelly pined over Dylan a bit in the early seasons, after their on-again off-again relationship throughout seasons 3 and 4, it was usually the other way around.
* Early on in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Cordelia has a crush on Angel, who is in love with Buffy. In season 3 of the SpinOff series ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Angel develops a crush on Cordelia, but by then she seems to have moved on from him and has fallen for the Groosalugg. Like Xander and Buffy, several years passed between the end of Cordelia's crush and the beginning of Angel's.
** Also, Wesley seems to finally get over his feelings for Fred just in time for her to realize her feelings for him.
* Hyde and Jackie do this a few times in ''Series/That70sShow''. S3: Jackie --> Hyde then Hyde --> Jackie. S5: Hyde --> Jackie. S6: Jackie --> Hyde.
* Theresa/Ethan/Jared in ''Series/{{Passions}}''.
** And Kay/Miguel/Fox.

-->'''Hillary:''' I'm in love with him!
-->(''Everyone gasps'')
-->'''Hillary:''' ...Oh, my gosh, what am I saying? I'm gonna go lie down.
* The main character in ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Shawn Spencer, spends most of the early seasons trying to go out with Detective Juliet O'Hara, who keeps rejecting him. She finally comes around and admits she like him too, when he's on a date with his [[HighSchoolSweethearts high school sweetheart]]. Then he breaks up with said girl, but Juliet has moved on to a rich guy they met on a case.
* Josh and Donna from ''Series/TheWestWing'' were ''constantly'' on this trope. Josh gets jealous of Donna's random dates in season 2. Then Josh moves on enough to get a crush on Joey Lucas, and Donna gets jealous. Then Donna moves on enough to get involved with Cliff Caley, and Josh gets jealous. Then Josh starts dating Amy Gardner, and Donna gets jealous. Then Donna starts dating Jack Reese, and Josh gets jealous. Then Josh starts dating Amy Gardner again, and Donna gets jealous. And this is all ''before'' either of them ever said anything to make their [[UnresolvedSexualTension romantic tension]] anything other than an ambiguous ShipTease.
* ITV's ''Series/{{Primeval}}'', in classic scifi fashion, turns this trope on its head with the relationship between Nick Cutter and Claudia/Jenny. Nick and Claudia fall in love by the end of season one. Then Nick goes back in time and [[spoiler:accidentally changes time so that Claudia is erased from history. She is replaced by Jenny who looks just like her but has a different background and personality]] Nick and Jenny start to show feeling for each other, but [[spoiler:Nick dies right before Jenny finds a picture of Claudia that convinces her that Nick was telling the truth]].
** Conner and Abbey's story also has a more traditional switcheroo. Abby rejects all of Conners awkward advances. But when Conner starts going out with Caroline she tries to sabotage their relationship.
** Then Conner figures out that Caroline was working for Leek and wasn't really interested in him. He realizes she played him for a fool and turns to leave... Of course, Caroline is suddenly interested in him for real.
* This nearly happened in ''Series/PushingDaisies''. When Olive Snook finally gets over Ned and moves on he begins to doubt that his feeling for her were truly those you would feel for "just a friend".
* The title character in ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has feelings for Beckett, but she has on-and-off romances with other characters. He attempts to get together with her at the end of season one, only for [[RomanticFalseLead her current boyfriend]] to walk up behind them, and for Castle to chicken out.
** Season two finale: ''Beckett'' attempts to ask ''Castle'' out, only for his ex-wife to show up. The two then head for the islands.
** Season three ends with them relatively evening the score, as Castle calls Beckett out on not talking about [[spoiler: their FakeOutMakeOut and telling her that he loves her as she blacks out after being shot]].
** At the start of season four, she tells Castle she doesn't remember anything about the events of the Season 3 finale. [[spoiler:She's lying.]]
** At the end of season four, [[spoiler: they start a relationship.]]
* ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'': Throughout the series, Gordo has a crush on Lizzie and [[ObliviousToLove she has no idea.]] One episode reveals that back in the fourth grade, she had a crush on him.
* Sam/Andi/Cady in ''{{Series/Reaper}}''. While dating Cady, Sam beings to suspect that she is TheDevil's daughter (e.g. flowers and animals die in her presence). He doesn't know he's TheDevil's son yet, though, which could indicate that all those things happen because of ''him''.
* Mal and Inara from ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' have an extremely complicated version of this trope. It starts with Mal, and then Inara starts to reciprocate somewhat, culminating in her giving him a kiss out of relief when she had been afraid he died, but of course, Mal was unconscious at the time and didn't figure out it happened. Just when it seems like the two might address the rapidly growing UnresolvedSexualTension between them, Mal sleeps with Nandi, which causes Inara to completely breakdown and realize she's in love with him but can't do anything about it since she's a Companion, and further motivates her to [[spoiler: leave Serenity. In the BigDamnMovie, she returns and it's implied that she might stick around to be with Mal.]]

* A GirlOfTheWeek tried to pull this one on both Charlie and Alan in ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen''. Back in high school they had both snubbed her: Charlie because she wasn't pretty enough and Alan because he was just clueless. She went through extensive dieting cosmetic surgery to make herself attractive and attempted to seduce them both just so she could then reject them and rub their noses in it. Of course, after seeing how crazy she had become, they didn't count it as much of a loss.
* This was the premise of the final season of ''Series/TheParkers''. Nikki spent the whole series chasing Professor Oglevee, who saw her as an AbhorrentAdmirer. In the last season, however, she met someone new and became engaged. That was when the Professor realized he loved her after all. After some wedding-day hijinks, the series ended with Nikki and Oglevee finally getting married.
* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Sam and Diane have done this plenty of times throughout the first five seasons. S1: Sam --> Diane. S3: They swap per episode. S4: Sam --> Diane then Diane --> Sam. S5: Diane --> Sam.
* ''Franchise/{{Degrassi}}'': Joey and Caitlin flip who is pining after who in all three shows of the franchise they appear in. ''Series/{{Degrassi Junior High}}'': Caitlin --> Joey. ''Series/{{Degrassi High}}'': Joey --> Caitlin. ''Series/{{Degrassi}} the Next Generation'': Caitlin --> Joey.
* ''Series/{{Wings}}'': Joe and Helen have done this a few times before [[TheyDo they got together for good]]. Pre-series (off-screen): Helen --> Joe. S1/2: Joe --> Helen. S3: Helen --> Joe. S5/6: Joe --> Helen.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': In Season 2, April develops a crush on Andy, who at the time is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend Ann and [[ObliviousToLove is unaware of April's feelings]] throughout most of the season. However, he eventually catches on and begins to reciprocate her affection despite having been previously weirded out by their [[MayDecemberRomance age difference]]. In the season finale, Andy asks April out, but she turns him down because she believes he still has feelings for Ann. Andy breaks his arm, and Ann, who meanwhile is going through a romantic mess of her own, kisses him while taking care of him in the hospital. April learns of Andy's broken arm, causing her to realize that life is short and to agree to go out with Andy. Andy ruins his chances when he decides to tell her about his kiss with Ann. In the third season premiere, April returns from vacation with a new boyfriend, and Andy spends the next few episodes trying to win her back. [[spoiler: He eventually succeeds, and despite a few more minor bumps in the road, they are married within 3 episodes of coming together]].

* It was practically a RunningGag between Big Pete and Ellen in ''Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete''. In the initial shorts, Ellen would occasionally introduce herself as Pete's girlfriend, causing him [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend to promptly correct her]] saying [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs "You're a girl, you're a friend, but you're not a girlfriend."]] In the series, very frequently, when one would be interested in the other, the other would be trying to pursue, or be pursued by someone else, causing the initial party to get jealous. Their relationship never went past a kiss in the episode "Day of the Dot".

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' has a fairly classic example: in Season 1 Jake has a thing for Amy, which he mainly expresses through the adult equivalent of pigtail pulling, so by the time he gets around to admitting his feelings properly, Amy has begun a relationship with her old friend Teddy that seems to be getting pretty serious, and she kindly but decisively turns him down. Jake then spends the first few episodes of Season 2 completely hung up on Amy, but then dates Sophia - who, despite being a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Amy, actually gets him to the point of being able to declare himself over his old crush. This happy state lasts for all of about two episodes - then Jake's plans for a surprise DoubleDate go horrendously awry, with Amy revealing that she'd been trying to find a way to break up with Teddy, and Teddy countering her sudden outburst at dinner by claiming that her feelings for Jake are the reason their relationship failed. Ultimately, Jake and Sophia stay together despite this revelation, while Amy and Teddy break up, leaving Amy in more or less the same position as Jake was in the previous season (though handling it far more maturely, naturally).

* In ''Series/KimsConvenience'', Jung's boss Shannon harbours a big crush on him in Season 1 and makes some attempts to woo him, something that he either doesn't notice or chooses to ignore. When he finally starts to realize his feelings for her, she's already moved on and started dating Alejandro. The finale of Season 2 reveals she still has feelings for him, but she refuses to act on them because she's happy with her relationship with Alejandro.

-->'''George:''' You know, all these years...I've always wanted to see the two of you get back together.
-->'''Elaine:''' ...Well, that's because you're an idiot.

* Subverted on ''Series/{{Chef}}'' when Savannah made up an imaginary boyfriend [[OperationJealousy in the hopes of making this happen]]. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work, partially because her imaginary romance was too SickeninglySweet.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Chapter 469 has Naruto's [[LovingAShadow long-time crush]] Sakura tells him that [[FalseConfession she's no longer interested in Sasuke]] and wants to be with him instead. This is because in chapter 458, Sai told her even he, an emotionally compromised person, could tell Naruto was in love with her, and the reason Naruto was going to such extremes for Sasuke was because of the promise Naruto made to Sakura out of love for her, placing the blame of Naruto's suffering for Sasuke on her because she did not return his feelings and used them to make him promise to save Sasuke. Sakura makes the fake confession because he's 'the fool who fell for [her]' to try dissuade Naruto from his continued attempts to save their teammate, not actually returning the crush. After she spends the entire second half of the chapter trying to convince Naruto that [[BlatantLies she really does love him now]], [[WhatTheHellHero he calls her out for lying]] and then [[ShipSinking rejects her outright]] by telling her that he '''hates''' people who lie to themselves, because he knows [[SingleTargetSexuality she still loves Sasuke]]--making it clear that this was {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. It shows Naruto's CharacterDevelopment in that he's not as starved for attention as he once was and has moved past the GreenEyedMonster state that he was in back in Part I, where he constantly felt inferior to [[RivalTurnedEvil Sasuke]], especially since he has finally achieved his lifelong dream of being acknowledged by all of Konoha after he defeated Pain.
** In ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'', [[spoiler:[[LoveRevelationEpiphany Naruto realizes his love for Hinata]] and confesses his love to her. Hinata has been in love with him for nearly her whole life, so this makes her incredibly happy...for a moment. In reality, she had already made up her mind to [[BigSisterInstinct save her younger sister Hanabi]], so she chooses to [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim "reject"]] him and leave with [[BigBad Toneri]]. [[NotGoodWithRejection Naruto does not take it well]], [[AngstComa passes out for three days]], and comes very close to ''[[HeroicBSOD giving up on everything]]''. It's ultimately thanks to [[ShipperOnDeck Sakura]] who helps Naruto realize that Hinata didn't actually reject him because [[SingleTargetSexuality Hinata has only ever loved him]], similar to how she herself has only ever loved Sasuke, and that will ''never'' change]].

** And then [[spoiler:Yuzuki moves away, breaks up with him because she can't handle a long-distance relationship, and gets a new boyfriend. Haruto follows her and spends a good while trying to rekindle their relationship, until Yuzuki's new boyfriend dies of complications from a degenerative illness... At which point Yuzuki, who turns out to have still carried a torch for Haruto after all, finds out that Haruto has started to develop feelings for Akira instead.]]

** A weirder example occurs with Fitz-Simmons: for the first few episodes of Season 1, it seems as though Simmons has an unrequited crush on her long-time best friend, while Fitz is too preoccupied with his crush on their new teammate Skye to pay her much attention. ''But'' a few episodes in Fitz begins to experience a LoveEpiphany towards Simmons, who herself suddenly becomes ObliviousToLove at around the same time, and seems about to begin a relationship with someone else. When Fitz eventually admits his feelings towards Simmons at the end of the first season, she rejects him utterly, claiming that she never thought of him that way; which leaves the question of whether Simmons's apparent attraction to Fitz was the result of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness[=/=]RelationshipWritingFumble, or whether she's deliberately denying her feelings for him - even at the cost of their previously extremely close relationship - for other reasons yet to be explained.

** This also happens towards [[FieryRedhead Candace]] and [[NiceGuy Jeremy]]. We keep seeing Candace's crush on Jeremy and we found out in ''Knot My Problem'' that Jeremy also likes Candace when they're were grade-schoolers. Jeremy remembers that in grade school, a pretty girl loaned him that pencil and he kept it. That pretty girl turns out to be Candace, which Candace didn't realize after Jeremy told her.

* Shinomi and Eikichi's relationship in ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'', and the source of their BelligerentSexualTension. She liked him for years, but he only saw her as LikeBrotherAndSister. Then he was desperate to finally lose his virginity and tried to do it with her, but incurred a case of PervertRevengeMode and she lost respect for him. Then she had a GreenEyedEpiphany when he went out with another girl, and he did the same when she went out with another guy. And so on...

** After OMD, Peter and MJ were on the outs. She moved on and developed a relationship with others while Peter wasn't ready to move on. Peter eventually decided to start a relationship with Carlie Cooper, while MJ started to reevaluate her feelings for Peter and eventually came to the realization that she still loved him during ComicBook/SpiderIsland. The pair slowly tried getting back together, only for the events of ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan to drive them apart again. After Peter got his body back, MJ had already moved on and started a relationship with another man. After ''Secret Wars'' it was eventually revealed that MJ had broken up with the new man off-panel and relocated to run a new nightclub, which was soon destroyed, leading to her working for Tony Stark. She currently has no love life to speak of, where as Peter has had some rebounds since then with the likes of heroes like Cindy Moon, aka Silk, and Bobbi Morse, aka Mockingbird. MJ and Peter are currently trying to mend their friendship more than their romance these days. For fans who desire the two to be together however, Peter and MJ remain a married couple in the ASM Newspaper Strip and the ongoing series ''ComicBook/RenewYourVows''

* ''Manga/KimiNoIruMachi'': Haruto has been infatuated with Nanami all through middle school, and continues despite misconceptions that he's dating Yuzuki, a family friend who moved into his family's home to go to the same high school. He confesses, and [[spoiler:Nanami rejects him, because [[EveryoneCanSeeIt she sees that he's become hung up on Yuzuki]]. He eventually moves on to Yuzuki, and Nanami soon starts acting [[ClingyJealousGirl rather jealous]]...]]

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', a Mawile falls in love with Brock's Lombre, who repeatedly spurns her advances. When Lombre evolves into a Ludicolo, he's ready to reciprocate Mawile's feelings, but Mawile has now fallen in love with a passing Psyduck.

* In ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'', mangy chihuahua Tito develops a thing for the sophisticated Georgette, who is quite put off by Tito and his advances. That is until the movies climax when Tito manages to save her and the gang from colliding with an oncoming subway train. Afterwards, the affection becomes briefly mutual, briefly as Georgette forcefully starts pampering Tito, scaring him off.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Chapter 469 has Naruto's [[LovingAShadow long-time crush]] Sakura tells him that [[FalseConfession she's no longer interested in Sasuke and wants to be with him instead.]] This is because in chapter 458, Sai told her [[even he, an emotionally compromised person, could tell Naruto was in love with her, and the reason Naruto was going to such extremes for Sasuke was because of the promise Naruto made to Sakura out of love for her, placing the blame of Naruto's suffering for Sasuke on her because she did not return his feelings and used them to make him promise to save Sasuke. Sakura makes the FalseConfession because he's 'the fool who fell for [her]' to try dissuade Naruto from his continued attempts to save their teammate, not actually returning the crush.]] After she spends the entire second half of the chapter trying to convince Naruto that [[BlatantLies she really does love him now]], [[WhatTheHellHero he calls her out for lying]] and then [[ShipSinking rejects her outright]] by telling her that he '''hates''' people who lie to themselves, because he knows [[SingleTargetSexuality she still loves Sasuke]]--making it clear that this was {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. It shows Naruto's CharacterDevelopment in that he's not as starved for attention as he once was and has moved past the GreenEyedMonster state that he was in back in Part I, where he constantly felt inferior to [[RivalTurnedEvil Sasuke]], especially since he has finally achieved his lifelong dream of being acknowledged by all of Konoha after he defeated Pain.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Chapter 469 has Naruto's [[LovingAShadow long-time crush]] Sakura tell him that [[FalseConfession she's no longer interested in Sasuke and wants to be with him instead]]. After she spends the entire second half of the chapter trying to convince Naruto that [[BlatantLies she really does love him now]], [[WhatTheHellHero he calls her out for lying]] and then [[ShipSinking rejects her outright]] by telling her that he '''hates''' people who lie to themselves, because he ''knows'' [[SingleTargetSexuality she still loves Sasuke]] and he realized that she ''only now'' claimed to love him for '''the hero''' he became ''after'' he defeated Pain, rather than '''the person''' he ''always'' was and ''always'' will be--making it clear that this was {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. It shows Naruto's CharacterDevelopment in that he's not as starved for attention as he once was and has moved past the GreenEyedMonster state that he was in back in Part I, where he constantly felt inferior to [[RivalTurnedEvil Sasuke]], especially since he has finally achieved his lifelong dream of being acknowledged by all of Konoha after he defeated Pain.

* Jim/Pam/Karen in ''Series/TheOfficeUS.''
** Andy/Erin as of the end of season 7.
** Several times with Dwight and Angela in later seasons. S4/5: Dwight --> Angela. S6/7: Angela --> Dwight. S9: Dwight --> Angela then Angela --> Dwight.
** In early seasons, Kelly is obsessed with Ryan, who mostly seems standoffish and annoyed by her. In later seasons, Ryan is the one who is pursuing Kelly and is jealous of her other relationships more often than not.