History Main / UnresolvedSexualTension

TheyDo is when it gets resolved (LiterallyFallingInLove might help). ShippingBedDeath and StrangledByTheRedString are when it gets resolved badly.

* ''Film/InTheMoodForLove'' is entirely about UST.

** Quite a bit between Comicbook/{{Gambit}} and Comicbook/{{Storm}}, despite the former's romance with Rogue. Tellingly, their friendship soured a bit after the latter's marriage to Black Panther.
** Prior to the marriage, this was the basis of Comicbook/BlackPanther and Storm's relationship as well. The two had been very close friends as children and were obviously in love, but their responsibilities (ruling Wakanda and being a member of the Comicbook/XMen, respectively) made it impossible for them to start a relationship.

** Superman and Comicbook/LoisLane had a good 55 year run of this in the comics (although, their Earth 2 counterparts tied the knot decades ago, they got together in the movies, and they had even started dating in the comics current continuity about 6 years prior). Superman was either too Super for an earth woman or too alien or he had to stay dedicated to his mission. ComicBook/PostCrisis, it was more that he wanted Lois to love him as Clark since he considered that to be his TrueSelf.

** Post-Flashpoint, Clark and Lois were back again to be attracted to each other but not in a relationship, and Superman dated Wonder Woman for a while until that particular version of the character died at the end of ''Comicbook/TheFinalDaysOfSuperman'' and was replaced by the Post-Crisis Superman who is still happily married to Lois.

* Comicbook/SpiderMan and Comicbook/MsMarvel when written by Brian Reed (later picked up by other writers, including Kelly Sue [=DeConnick=] in an arc of ''Avenging Spider-Man''). The Web crawler's relationship with Silver Sable have shades of that too, especially in their first interactions.

* Comicbook/{{Empowered}} and Thugboy are the official couple, but there is mutual UST between [[OT3 both of them and Ninjette]]. And [[TheImp the Caged Demonwolf]] likes to [[LampShade point it out]].

* Scrooge [=McDuck=] and Glittering Goldie in ''Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck''.

* In the film ''IKnowWhereImGoing'' there's a bunch of UST between our main characters, Joan and Torquil. To add to it, Torquil recites a Scottish folk song to Joan.
-->'''Torquil''': That's a fine song: Ho ro my nut-brown maiden, Hee ree my nut-brown maiden,Ho ro ro maiden,''(looks directly at Joan)'' You're the maid for me.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': In the first movie, Star-Lord meets and is smitten by Gamora, evidenced by how he was willing to give his mask to keep her alive while exposed to the vacuum of space. In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', which is six months later in-universe, Peter keeps mentioning the "unspoken thing" between them, citing ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' and Sam & Diane as an example. Gamora, obviously, doesn't have any idea what ''Cheers'' is.

* ''WebComic/MagickChicks'':

-->'''Jaimie Alexander:''' (about Thor and Sif) But there is a reason that we sort of subtly hinted to it in the first film. Just so that there is a door. If we want to go through that door, we can. They like to cover all their bases at {{Creator/Marvel}}.

* Riddick and Fry in ''Film/PitchBlack'', overlapping with FoeYay.
** Riddick and Kyra in ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick''.

* ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'': There is possibly-unintended tension between Zexion and Namine. Namine was impressed when Zexion sold territory to Mexico for a new name, Zexion knew immediately who had swapped his cyanide pills with Mentos, he detoured from his booty call with Belle to brag to Namine, and Namine has developed a psychic "Zexion-sense" alerting her that he was in trouble ([[{{Tsundere}} though she didn't feel the need to DO anything about it]]). They [[FoeYay claim to hate each other but spend a lot of time together anyway]], and it's been noted that Zexion likes his women "blonde, dumb, and not totally dead inside"-- Namine fits two out of three (after Zexion, she's probably the smartest cast member, despite being introduced as a CloudCuckooLander). Eventually, Zexion threatens to have sex with everything Namine loves... and Namine retorts that she loves ''herself''. The next time we see them, they've... resolved their tension.

%% Image moved to Almost Holding Hands per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1642501635058188800

!!Examples

%% Image chosen by Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1297719748060000100

[[quoteright:300:[[Manga/WhisperedWords https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_sasameki_koto_hand_6531_290.jpg]]]]
%% Leave it captionless. Refer to the above thread for why.

-->'''Torquil''': That’s a fine song: Ho ro my nut-brown maiden, Hee ree my nut-brown maiden,Ho ro ro maiden,''(looks directly at Joan)'' You’re the maid for me.

--->'''Creator/ChrisHemsworth:''' In the comic books there’s obviously an attraction with Thor and Sif, or what have you. And there was little peppering of that, I think, in the first one. Little hints at it. There (in the sequel) may be… might be more indication…

* ''Film/UnresolvedSexualTension'': The entire movie up until the climax and prompt ending has this by Annabelle with Ms. Bradley.

* In ''Film/{{Inception}}'', Arthur asks Ariadne to kiss him so that Fischer's dream projections don't detect them. Although she doesn't seem to mind being tricked, the kiss is not mentioned again.
--> '''Arthur''': Quick, give me a kiss.
-->''(Ariadne kisses him, then looks around.)''
-->'''Ariadne''': They're still looking at us.
--> '''Arthur''': Yeah, it was worth a shot.

* There is a lot of it between Newland and Ellen throughout most of the 1993 film of ''Literature/TheAgeOfInnocence'', particularly when they Newland unlaces Ellen's glove and kisses her hand while they are in May's carriage on the way to Ellen's grandmother, and when Ellen taps Newland's knee with her fan.

* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and ''[[ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} Brainiac 5]]'''s "will they or won't they?" lasted 24 years. Then, when it looked like they were finally right for getting together officially, Kara Zor-El was killed off in the ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. [[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Post-Crisis versions of both characters]] have this kind of relationship, too.

* This has been simmering awkwardly between Bob and Voluptua since the beginning of ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' despite his relationship with Jean. Eventually ends up in the open, though it caused a big LoveTriangle [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100213.html mess.]]

[[folder:Culture]]
* The Yaghan people of South America actually had a ''word'' for this trope. It's 'Mamihlapinatapai' and roughly translated, it means, "A [[LongingLook look]] [[HeldGaze shared by two people]] with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start."
[[/folder]]

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/TheHeroesOfCrash'' when Belt Boy and Titanium Maiden [http://theheroesofcrash.com/2008Strip07-24.htm start dating].

[[quoteright:300:[[Manga/SasamekiKoto https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_sasameki_koto_hand_6531_290.jpg]]]]

* There was a lot of lesbian sexual tension in the film ''Black Widow'' between Alex and Catherine.

%%** And between Gil and Tarvek, [[HoYay if you ask the right people]].

* [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Team JNPR]], having two sets of [[WillTheyOrWontThey potential]] couples, gets a lot of this. Fans have actually nicknamed them 'the double date team.' (One side's got [[{{Adorkable}} Jaune]] and [[TheAce Pyrrha]], the other has [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest Nora]] and [[CloudcuckoolandersMinder Ren]].) [[RuleOfDrama Oh, and the four share a room.]]
** [[spoiler: Sadly Arkos has been [[ShipSinking sunk]] with the death of Pyrrha]] but [[spoiler: Sloth is [[RelationshipUpgrade going strong]].]]

--->'''Torquil''': That’s a fine song: Ho ro my nut-brown maiden, Hee ree my nut-brown maiden,Ho ro ro maiden,''(looks directly at Joan)'' You’re the maid for me.

* Quite blatant in two of the three routes in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', especially the second. The third route avoids this for Sakura as they resolve it rather early on. [[spoiler:However, it does apply in the epilogue between Rin and Shirou, wherein it has apparently been going on for years; Sakura gently teases the two about not being honest with each other about it.]]

* Likewise in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}''; every heroine (that hasn't been DemotedToExtra) has a sex scene somewhere on their route.

** ''Film/SpiderMan:FarFromHome'': When Peter has to go to Berlin to tell Nick Fury about Mysterio, he changes into his suit in front of MJ. Embarrassed, he tells her to turn around but she can't resist turning back to look at him shirtless.

** There's plenty between Tiffany and Faith, who's [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/official_girlfriend repeatedly]] [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/enjoying_the_perks made her feelings clear]] on the subject. Tiff has [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/omigawd shown signs]] of [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/forces_of_darkness possibly reciprocating]], but still thinks of Faith [[FoeRomanceSubtext as]] [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/clandestine_meeting her enemy.]] Only time will tell [[WillTheyOrWontThey if anything comes of it, or not.]]
** '''Update''': The comic was cut short, leaving several plot points either unresolved. That includes Tiff and Faith's tentative relationship. They're last seen jogging together, but the official status of their relationship is [[MaybeEverAfter left ambiguous.]]

* ''WebComic/MagickChicks'': There's plenty between Tiffany and Faith, who's [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/official_girlfriend repeatedly]] [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/enjoying_the_perks made her feelings clear]] on the subject. Tiff has [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/omigawd shown signs]] of [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/forces_of_darkness possibly reciprocating]], but still thinks of Faith [[FoeRomanceSubtext as]] [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/clandestine_meeting her enemy.]] Only time will tell [[WillTheyOrWontThey if anything comes of it, or not.]]

** [[spoiler: Sadly Arkos has been [[ShipSinking sunk]] with the death of Pyrrha]] but [[spoiler: Sloth is going [[ShipTease strong]].]]