Maybe Ever After

"You're asking me, will my love grow?
I don't know, I don't know.
You stick around now, it may show.
But I don't know, I don't know."

— The Beatles, "Something"

Normally, it's easy to recognize when a romance arc ends with a Relationship Upgrade or an outright Happily Ever After. The tale may end with True Love's Kiss, romantic Holding Hands, an embrace, a mutual Love Confession or proposal, or even a wedding. Babies Ever After may ensue, particularly in the credits.

What about those romance plots that end on an ambiguous note? What if both parties seem interested, and there's no definitive "no," but there's no kiss, no embrace, and no wedding? This can occur when a story ends with the tentative start of a new relationship, rather than with the culmination of the relationship. In some cases, separated characters are reunited, or a quarrel between two romantically interested characters is resolved, but it isn't entirely certain where the relationship is going to go. Instead of a "yes" or "no" answer to Will They or Won't They? we get "probably" or "kinda sorta maybe."

Unlike some other forms of No Romantic Resolution, a Maybe Ever After ending hints at or implies a successful conclusion to a romance arc. However, the degree of resolution can vary widely. At one extreme, a Maybe Ever After ending can strongly imply that the characters in question are entering into a long-term relationship, coming just short of explicitly indicating that. At the opposite extreme, there may be just a hint of something romantic developing between the characters.

When adding examples, don't forget that there must be a reasonable likelihood that the characters in question would end up together. Wishful thinking doesn't count: if you can't point to specific evidence of a potential romantic relationship, leave it out. Likewise, there must be at least some degree of ambiguity about the status of the relationship: if the ending leaves absolutely no doubt about the fact that the two characters are a long-term item now, the example belongs in Relationship Upgrade, Last-Minute Hookup, or Happily Ever After rather than this trope.

This is a common ending trope in anime adaptations of manga, where it may manifest as an alternative to a Gecko Ending. In Western literature, it may function as part of a Sequel Hook. Maybe Ever After is the subtrope of No Romantic Resolution, which may offer less resolution or may otherwise lack the hint-of-a-positive-ending that characterizes Maybe Ever After. This might also be the conclusion of an storyline involving an Implied Love Interest.

If your example involves secondary characters whose relationship involves little or no romance arc to speak of, it might be a case of Hooked Up Afterwards. See also Belated Happy Ending, where a sequel clears up the ambiguity of a Maybe Ever After, as well as Downtime Downgrade, where the resolution is unraveled in between the first work and the sequel. Contrast with Did Not Get the Girl, which may lead to a Bittersweet Ending.

This is an ending trope, and not all spoilers will be marked.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Rihoko's arc in Amagami SS ends with Junichi and her apparently closer, but still in his "friend zone". SS+ solves this problem.
• Some kind of attraction is implied between Zessica and Kagura at the end of Aquarion Evol.
• Assassination Classroom ends with Kaede Kayano implying she is pregnant via her corporal language, but when asked by a classmate about Nagisa Shiota (with whom she has had heavy Ship Tease during the story) she averts the question.
• Annie Leonhart and Armin Arlert end up like this in Attack on Titan. While it's clear they both have feelings for each other, whether or not they hook up is left in the air.
• The B Gata H Kei manga ends pretty clearly for the main couple, but the anime, which ends somewhat abruptly halfway through the manga, stops on a more ambiguous note. The ending certainly strongly suggests that Yamada and Kosuda are going to make things work, but at this point in the series Yamada still hasn't fully admitted her feelings even to herself, nor has she completely given up on her explicit goal of only using Kosuda to lose her virginity before moving on to sleep with 99 other guys, and no resolution has been given for ether of her romantic rivals.
• The leads in Bitter Virgin end the manga on this note. They pretty much agree to start dating, but know that Hinako's issues and past are a huge hurdle that might take years to overcome and Daisuke admits to himself he's not sure if he can really help her with that, while Hinako thinks that Daisuke may well be better off with a girl that doesn't have these issues. Even the two leads themselves don't think they'll stay together forever or know what exactly will happen, even in the near future for them. That said, both have implied their desire to stay until the other finds someone who is better able to bring happiness to the other, and it could be argued that the devotion they show makes it difficult to imagine that ever happening.
• Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi: Satoru is demonstrated developing some romantic connections with two different girls, Kayo and (especially in the manga) Airi. While one does naturally fall through, the last scene has him in his new timeline having a new first meeting with the other, concluding with him remarking how there's no telling what the future may hold and suggesting that something may happen there.
• Bokura no Hentai features this in its Distant Finale: Ryousuke and Hacchi haven't seen each other in years. They broke up in middle school due to Ryousuke falling for Marika. They meet several years later at a mixer and seem to have romantic hangovers, however the ending is ambiguous if they'll become a couple again. They at least mended the loose ends from their falling out.
• Brigadoon: Marin and Melan is an unusual example. Normally, if a series ends with a kiss, you assume that the couple lived Happily Ever After, but in context since the ending doesn't say whether Marin goes to Brigadoon with Melan, as opposed to staying on Earth, it's quite possible that this is a goodbye kiss. The new ending theme for the episode may hint at a happy ending, but not in a conclusive way.
• Ergo Proxy fits this: Vincent/Ergo Proxy chooses Re-l over Monad, and they both escape from Romdeau unscathed, but they're separated and it's unclear what Re-l thinks of his new self-appointed duty to kill off the human founders of Romdeau.
• Much of the final chapter of Fairy Tail is spent with Lucy addressing pretty much every major romantic subplot in the series, and then making an inconclusive comment on each. The only explicit confirmation of a relationship we get is a passing mention that Erik (a.k.a. Cobra) has hooked up with minor character Kinana, which is only ever explored in Filler material of the anime. Beyond that, let us count the ways:
  • Gajeel and Levy. As soon as Lucy says that they have become "super close", she overhears Levy whispering something about a baby into Gajeel's ear that makes him crap his pants, though it's left up in the air whether they're expecting or Levy is simply asking for one. However, the official sequel reveals that they have a baby after all.
  • Gray and Juvia. Lucy says she's "worried" about them, since their interactions throughout the series have been mostly one-sided on Juvia's part. But when Gray pulls her aside for stripping naked in public (while he himself is naked), he becomes flustered and tells her that she is "his", a strong indicator that the feeling is mutual. The sequel has him finally admit to his friends that he does love Juvia back, but is a bit insecure about it.
  • Erza and Jellal. Lucy is the most concerned for this particular pairing because, after all of the Unresolved Sexual Tension between them, the major thing keeping them from being a couple was the fact that Jellal was constantly on the run from the law, and Jellal himself always put some difficult between him and Erza instead of being more resolved for some reason. When he and his allies are officially pardoned for their crimes, however, Lucy notes that she has seen Erza brushing her hair every day,^note Erza's surname, "Scarlet", was given to her by Jellal as a compliment to her "pretty red hair". which is another strong indicator.
  • Other minor couples are mentioned, such as Elfman and Evergreen, and Laxus with a surprising number of girls such as Mirajane, Lisanna, and Cana.
  • Finally, there's Natsu and Lucy, whose final scene together adheres to Hiro Mashima's final statement that he views them as "more than friends but less than lovers". It happens when Lucy becomes nostalgic over all the adventures they spent together, and tearfully thanks him with a hug for helping her get where she is in life now. When Natsu is about to tell her something important, Lucy looks like she's expecting a kiss...only for him to say, "Who cares? We've got a job to do!" and bolts out with her in tow, while also saying that they still have each other. The sequel however, considerably increases the Ship Tease between these two with Lucy almost stating verbally that she likes him in one chapter, and their Edolas counterparts already did it.
• Food Wars!: While there's no confirmation of a Relationship Upgrade between them, the final chapter of Le Dessert reveals the inner monologues of Soma and Erina. The former muses that Erina has become his special someone he wants to cook for with all his heart, while the latter privately admits that she greatly enjoys Soma's cooking and always looks forward to see him again whenever she can. Word of God says concluding their love story was the hardest of all the plot threads to resolve, and he rewrote the scenario over and over again but wasn't satisfied with any of them until he arrived at the one described above. Making the two an Official Couple at the end of Le Dessert didn't feel natural enough. It will happen eventually.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye. Fans can debate forever on whether or not they love each other, but even in the manga epilogue, where there's Babies Ever After for other characters, there is no almost hint of what happens between them since the end of the series. It is confirmed by their last photo that she's still working alongside him. The third art book has commentary from the author that the military regulations prevent them from getting married, if Riza wants to remain working under Roy.
  • Alphonse Elric and May Chang. They had some Ship Tease and the epilogue shows May and Al in the Elric family photo, but never clarifies exactly what their relationship is. The anime muddies the waters further by adding Paninya and Garfiel, who definitely aren't family members, to the same photo.
  • Similarly, Ling and Lan Fan get a fair amount of Ship Tease, and multiple characters appear to ship them. However, it's not stated whether or not they're married at the end of the series.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) has its own set of this. Most obviously are Roy and Riza as the ending episode has an epilogue scene that's heavy on the Ship Tease between them; however, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa keeps it open by having little interaction between the two. The ending to the anime has Edward stuck on the 'wrong' side of the Gate, but the "Kids" OVA shows Edward's three grandkids, one of whom is identical to Winry. Whether this means he (or Alphonse) married Winry or Winry's Earth alter is vague, as is whether it's even canon.
• The anime version of Genshiken ends this way between Sasahara and Oguie due to the show being Cut Short. They do get together in the manga and their budding relationship is explored. They are boyfriend and girlfriend when the anime is revived, but by that point in the story Sasahara has graduated and is largely Out of Focus so it doesn't come up much.
• Gundam
  • Gundam SEED Destiny ends on this note for Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Athha, who became an Official Couple at the end of the first series. They were still together at the beginning of Destiny... then a war and politics got in the way, Cagalli almost got into an Arranged Marriage with another man, harsh words were said, and near the end of the series Cagalli is shown not wearing the engagement ring Athrun gave her. It's obvious they still care for one another, but whether the relationship is salvageable is unknown. Also, Athrun's given some Ship Tease with Meyrin Hawke, and Cagalli tells her to 'take care of him' just to make it more confusing.
    • The Movie, Gundam SEED Freedom, however, has Cagalli showing Athrun that she is wearing the ring he gave her. This could be a flag that they are indeed still together, but an official statement from Mitsuo Fukuda states that he disappeared after the final battle. He let no one know of his whereabouts, throwing further shadow across Athrun and Cagalli's status.
  • The Movie of Gundam 00 has this trope. Just prior to Tieria Erde launching for the final battle with the ELS, Mileina Vashti surprises him with a short but cute love confession out of the blue. Right afterward, he hitches a ride to the ELS homeworld with Setsuna and the 00 Qan[T]... and that's it. She's never seen again and it's unknown if he ever returned to Earth... although there is a Tieria-type Innovade aboard the Sumeragi fifty years later.
• In the last chapter of Heaven's Lost Property, Ikaros gives a Dying Declaration of Love to Tomoki. She soon comes back to life along with everyone who died in a Reset Button Ending, but Ikaros' confession isn't even mentioned again until a bonus chapter in which Tomoki finally decides to "settle things" with Ikaros, only for him to back down when he realizes she isn't ready to hear his answer. Later, Tomoki vaguely asks Ikaros to "always stay by his side" and Ikaros complies.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers: The Buon San Valentino strip, in which Germany finally seems to be coming to terms with his feelings for Italy, never got finished, so we never get to see what happened there.
• Higehiro: When Yoshida has to come back to Tokyo, Sayu declares her love for him and promises to find him after she becomes an adult. The story concludes at the point where Sayu appears in front of Yoshida again after graduation, at the spot where they first met, asking him to let her stay at his place again.
• The finale of Izetta: The Last Witch doesn't make it explicitly clear whether Izetta and Finé became a couple, but there are some hints they were heading in that direction due to the very strong amount of affection they shared for each other.
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
  • Iino and Ishigami's final chapter ends with them more or less in the exact same situation that Kaguya and Shirogane were in the very beginning, making it pretty clear that while they're not a couple yet, they will eventually get there.
  • The antepenultimate chapter of Spin-Off series We Want to Talk About Kaguya mentions that in the near future a restaurant by the name of "Miso Matsuri" opens to rave reviews. This had been a hypothetical name that Erika had previously said she's want to open up with Kazamatsuri, implying that she eventually figures out that he has a crush on her and they get married.
• The anime of Kaze no Stigma ends with Ayano using her "bond" with Kazuma to bring him back to himself. However, despite the fact that she's been forced to acknowledge her feelings for him, there's no real resolution to the Romance Arc: just a hint that there's potential for their relationship.
• In MÄR, this might be the case with Koyuki/Snow and Ginta. The anime ending is significantly more suggestive than the original manga. Given their feelings toward each other, and the fact she's the only one of his potential love interests still with him at the end, this may have been the implication.
• Mekakucity Actors puts this on both of its main pairings:
  • Both Takane and Haruka are established to have feelings for each other, but neither of them ever actually spat it out, due to multiple personality problems. Even after Haruka comes back to life, we never get to see whether he or Takane ever told each other their feelings.
  • Shintaro and Ayano spend a good deal of their screentime fervently denying any kind of attraction, despite blatant cues that that's not the case. Later, Ayano admits privately that she isn't the girl Shintaro needs (implying that she wants to be), and Shintaro went into solitary seclusion when Ayano died. The last time they are seen together, they make awkward small-talk and then both try and say something... but refuse to finish after they interrupt each other. Then go straight back to denying everything when Kano appears and calls them "love birds".
  • At least we still have an on-going novel and manga which both contain far more detail than the anime. (And may give more hints the Will They or Won't They? with a a handful of other characters.)
• Monster has ambiguous endings for minor characters Karl and Lotte and between main characters Nina and Tenma, who show hints of potential romantic interest by the end of the series, but who are (temporarily?) separated by education and work.
• In the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue of Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Konoka and Setsuna are both shown in wedding kimonos and Setsuna is bridal carrying Konoka, but while it explicitly says they got married (in the same year), it doesn't say if it was to each other. This gets pushed even further in the sequel UQ Holder! where Konoka's and (supposedly) Setsuna's identical grandchildren join the cast. Later both would explicitly confirm that Konoka and Setsuna are their grandmothers.
• Many of the main continuities of Neon Genesis Evangelion end on this note.
  • In End of Evangelion, the Finale Movie to the anime series, Shinji and Asuka are left alone together on the shore of an empty world and are aware of each other's feelings. However, their interactions throughout the movie have not been positive to the point of non-slapstick physical violence at times and Asuka in particular has many legitimate reasons to be upset with Shinji. While many of these events are notoriously ambiguous and Asuka may have made some gesture of affection, it's at best unclear what their relationship will be like going forward.
  • The manga adaptation ends with the world having been reset and all the cast losing their memories of each other. An older Shinji and Asuka have a Meet Cute on a train with some obvious mutual interest, and it's implied they will shortly see each other again at school. Since this is the very last chapter, it's left undisclosed as to whether anything comes of this.
  • Shinji and Asuka get this sort of ending again in Rebuild of Evangelion, but not with each other for once. The fourth film has a similar sort of world reset as the manga. At the end, Shinji is shown to have some sort of close relationship with Mari which isn't outright confirmed as romantic in nature. On the other end of this trope, newly-adult and uncursed Asuka returns to Kensuke's house, but they're not actually seen together, and they've never explicitly been shown to feel that way about each other.
  • Most of the licensed non-canon properties feature either clear romantic resolutions or comically unresolvable love triangles or harems. However, Evangelion -ANIMA- makes it fairly clear that Shinji and Asuka have fallen in love, then abruptly ends before they do anything to make it official.
• Oreimo zig-zags the issue all over the place. Kyousuke and Kirino are unambiguously in love. But right after their mock wedding and The Big Damn Kiss, it turns out they decided to end their relationship, because brothers and sisters can't really get married. But Kyousuke kisses her in the epilogue, and there's a vague implication that they're secretly still in a relationship...maybe. The afterstory then virtually confirms that they remained together, and only ended the public side of their relationship to continue privately without the worry of social repercussions.
• Oreshura ends like this. Eita and Masuzu confess their feelings to one another and he then tries to get all the other girls to hate him so that he can avoid "the battlefield". This somehow leads to some kind of weird individualized pseudo-Relationship Upgrade with each of them (Hime now thinks she can hold him rather than have him hold her, Ai now has his seal(blood) on her "marriage certificate" and thinks she is as good as his wife(she intends to have the form recognized officially once they graduate... because that will work), and Chiwa apparently is now spurred into being more sexually aggressive with him (she kissed him out of nowhere)). However, Masuzu seems to have the upper hand and actually be the object of his affection. Probably.
• The anime of Ouran High School Host Club ends without definitively establishing which of her two major Love Interests Haruhi will choose, although there are some pretty strong hints. The manga, however, definitely shows her choosing Tamaki.
• Patlabor:
  • For much of the The Mobile Police/New Files continuity, Noa and Asuma have a Strictly Professional Relationship. Still, there's no denying they have chemistry. Their bond is such that their squadmates clearly believe their relationship goes deeper than "just friends". Yet, there's No Hugging, No Kissing either, though they've gone out while off duty. The last 2-3 episodes suggests they might be be headed towards actually becoming a couple, but still leaves it up in the air.
  • It was finally subverted by The Next Generation live-action adaptation, which serves as the Distant Finale^note set 15 years later for the original series. During which, it's confirmed that she and Asuma finally got together, sometime after the OVA continuity's conclusion; making it a Belated Happy Ending for them.
• Phantom Quest Corp.: There's no denying the attraction between Ayaka and Detective Karino, but Ayaka is obstinate and plays hard to get. She isn't above flirting with him though. At the end, she starts to confess her feelings for him, 'til her top pops open due to Clothing Damage from her duel with Mukyo. Naturally, he can't help but look and gets decked for it. It's left unclear whether he still has a shot with her, afterwards, or if he's ruined his chances for good.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • Pokémon the Series: XY ends the same as all other seasons end before it, with Ash and his companions taking different paths. Serena, while she hasn't changed her mind about going to Hoenn and parting ways with Ash, makes it clear that she hasn't given up on her feelings for him, hoping to "become a more attractive woman" when they meet again, and it's subtly implied that Ash finally reciprocates.
  • The manga The Electric Tale of Pikachu has lots of Ship Tease between Ash and Misty, as well as between Jessie and James. While the latter couple does end up getting married (with Jessie visibly pregnant), Ash and Misty's relationship is left unconfirmed, although it's heavily implied they're at least engaged.
• Ranma ½ ends with the secondary finances/crushes on both sides crashing Ranma and Akane's wedding. Soun says that another cannot start until they sort out these relationships. On one hand, the two agreed to the wedding and Ranma confessed his love earlier, but on the other, it's ambiguous if Akane remembers the confession (long story) she didn't explictly confess, and Ranma's motives for the wedding were not entirely motivated by love.
• Sota and Meteora from Re:CREATORS: there's no definitive answer about their feelings towards one another despite their Ship Tease from the first half of the show, but the epilogue shows them smiling fondly as they email each other, fully supporting each other's creative endeavors.
• In one episode of Sailor Moon, this happens between Ami and Usagi's brother Shingo, who has a crush on her at the time. She cares for him very deeply and confesses a desire for marriage and children to him. The episode ends with a romantic-looking scene of the two of them enjoying the fireworks together like a couple. Since it's Shingo's final appearance in the series, it's not confirmed if they ever hooked up or not, but at least it ends on a high note compared to most other Ship Teases for the Sailor Senshi.
• A Silent Voice has an open ending between Shouya and Shouko. They have mutual affections and flirt with each other but aren't a couple.
• In Sk8 the Infinity, the protagonists Langa and Reki have a great deal of Ship Tease build-up, with their personal storyline together fitting in with romance-oriented series. Langa all but outright says that he has a crush on Reki, and it's shown through clever writing and animation that it's very likely mutual on Reki's part, even though he doesn't express it in words. By the end, though, they fall into this—they're together as friends again after hardship, and obviously closer than ever, but possibly in part due to Hide Your Gays, there's no clear romantic resolution, only Langa thinking about Reki in his mind as he approaches him at the very end, heavily implying that the latter is his love interest.
• Spirit Circle: Kouko leaves Fuuta with a kiss and challenge to chase her, but Nono has no intention of giving him up. While having Babies Ever After is necessary to bring back East and Rune, Kouko points out it doesn't have to be these incarnations that fulfill the bargain.
• Summer Time Rendering: In the new timeline at the end of the series, Sou and Mio are teased as possibly becoming a couple as she doesn't reject his confession outright and instead asks what he likes about her.
• In the final scene of Symphogear, Miku tells Hibiki that there's something she's always wanted to tell her, and Hibiki responds that she hopes it's the same thing she wants to tell her. It's not shown whether they actually make a Love Confession to each other, but it's heavily implied.
• In the Trigun anime, its implied Meryl has feelings for Vash, but by the end of the story its never made clear whether he feels the same way.
• The Vision of Escaflowne ends on this kind of note. Hitomi has returned to Earth, but the very last scene implies that she and Van can still communicate across the dimensional gulf, which in turn suggests that travel between Gaea and Earth may still be possible.
• The anime of Welcome to the NHK's includes a declaration of love, and it sure looks like it's mutual. But at the very end, Satou and Misaki are meeting together as usual, and though they are clearly involved in each other's lives, it isn't clear whether they are involved as friends or as romantic partners.
• Robin and Amon in Witch Hunter Robin. They've had heavy Ship Tease from the start, and while the ending has Amon basically agreeing to stay by her side for life (in case she ever loses it and needs someone to stop her, though it's shown neither believes such a thing will happen), we get no confirmation of anything.
• The World God Only Knows actually concludes with this: Keima confesses to Chihiro, she gives out a rejection, then later she appears before him and invites him for tea.
• Your Lie in April: The story ends with Kousei heartbroken by Kaori's death, and he clearly isn't ready to settle down with anyone yet. However, Tsubaki vows to always be by his side and won't leave him alone even if he tries to get rid of her. As Kousei doesn't reject her feelings and appreciates the fact that she wants to be there for him, there's hope they might get together in the future.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • While the original manga was basically a case of straight up No Romantic Resolution, the sequel movie, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions, has some Ship Tease between Yugi and Téa implying that Téa may return Yugi's feelings after all. While she leaves for America in order to accomplish her dream of becoming a dancer at the end of the movie, the looks they give each other and the lingering high-five they have when she's about to leave seem to imply something between the two. It helps that Word of God has said they might get together when she returns.
  • At the very end of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, as they are flying off to Astral World, Kotori finally confesses her feelings to Yuma. However, while he blushes in response, it's ultimately ambiguous whether he returns her feelings or if they will get together. Doesn't help that Kotori proceeds to call Astral Yuma's most important person immediately afterwards.
  • During the final episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, the show gives a lot of Ship Tease between Takeru/Soulburner and his Childhood Friend Kiku. He takes her to Link VRAINS during the credits, holds her in a Bridal Carry when she almost falls when they enter, blushes after she calls him cool, and Brave Max even calls Kiku Soulburner's girlfriend when he sees them together. However, it's not confirmed if they actually are dating or not.

Audio Play

• At the end of 36 Questions, Jase and Judith meet up after spending years apart, they finish The 36 Questions in person, follow through with the final step of staring into each other's eyes, and then we're left with no real hint as to what happened afterwards.

Comic Books

• At the end of The Golden Age, after surviving the Dynaman revelation incident, Johnny Chambers (Johnny Quick) and Libby Lawrence (Liberty Belle), who were both divorced, settle down together again, with Johnny considering re-tying the knot with Libby.
• Spider-Man: During the Spider-Gwen/Spider-Man crossover, Gwen Stacy discovers Earth-8, a reality in which older version of herself and Miles Morales are a married Battle Couple with two children. When she reunites with the regular Miles, they share a kiss, but decide not to get together just because destiny said so. They agree to remain friends for the time being, but are open to being something more in the future.

Fairy Tales

• In The Lord of the Winds, the story ends with the eponymous lord of the winds asking the main heroine to marry him. Her ultimate opinion of him and her answer, let alone any "and they lived Happily Ever After" conclusion, aren't given.

Fan Works

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): The ending of the main story and the post-main story Timeline both respectively have Maia Simmons and Ren Serizawa showing signs of feelings towards each-other, but the Timeline's Left Hanging end point leaves it ambiguous if they become an item, leaving that up to Recursive Fanfiction to explore.
• Implied at the very end of Bolt From The Blue, when Xanxus has a vision about a girl in a parallel world and decides to seek her in his world to see if she's still Varia Quality here. She's also the girl his alternate fell in love with and married Happily Ever After, so the fans went nuts with speculation.
• A Diplomatic Visit: In the epilogue of the fourth story, The Diplomat's Life, Twilight's reminisces reveal that Discord and Well-Hidden are both still close to Fluttershy, and that some suspect her to be romantically involved with one or the other of them, though they've never confirmed it either way.
• Earth and Sky: The Ship Tease between Braeburn and Rainbow Dash isn't brought up again after chapter 34, where them getting together was left as a possibility in the future.
• In Gap Year Adventures by A.A. Pessimal, a sub-plot is the strained relationship between graduate Assassin Mariella Smith-Rhodes and a compatriot Horst Lensen, a young man who in the course of seven years education together she has come to utterly despise as a walking reminder of all the reasons why she wanted to leave Rimwards Howondaland. Her best friend (and a wiser older sister) see more clearly than she does - she is actually attracted to Lensen but indignantly denies it on every occassion this is suggested to her. Meanwhile, he is secretly more than a little bit in love with her. The tale ends on a cliffhanger of Mariella reluctantly admitting that maybe he isn't as bad as all that... but while both families involved are not-so-subtly nudging them together and they end up serving in the same Army unit during their national service, the eventual outcome is left unspecified.
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: Harry and Hermione think it's ridiculous for them to make binding agreements at age 12 regardless of what they feel for each-other in that moment, so their ultimate romantic fate is left ambiguous, although Hermione in any case makes a magical vow to always be Harry's friend.
• Leave Your Spirit ends on an open note that suggests that Katara and Zuko will have a December–December Romance.
• A Lonely Girl starts with Trixie agreeing to become Timmy's friend. It's likely that it'll turn into a relationship eventually, especially since Trixie has already admitted that she likes Timmy back.
• The Many Dates of Danny Fenton, a Danny Phantom: In the ending where Danny doesn't get a girlfriend, he eventually forgives Katie Kaboom from Animaniacs and the implication is the two start dating.
• At the end of the Star Trek fanfic Memories Born of Fire, Spock tells Christine Chapel that he has to sort out whether taking a human wife would work out. However, he tells her to ask about the possibility of a Relationship Upgrade later.
• The Vocaloid fanfic Rotting Camellias ends with Miku and Luka going forth into an unsure future together. Although Luka admits she wants to have Miku in her life and Miku agrees to do so, it's not stated directly that the two will get together.
• The ending of UNDERTOW is ambiguous on whether Minx and Rio will become a couple or not.
• The last chapter of the Superjail! fanfic An Unexpected Child has this sort of ending, with the Mistress hinting to the Warden that she might go out with him after all just before she and the rest of Ultraprison leave.

Film — Animated

• Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman ends with Bruce and Kathy driving off into the sunset together. However, anyone familiar with Bruce's track record with relationships isn't going to hold their breath for the wedding. Even more so when it was a Foregone Conclusion that Bruce would end up all alone.
• A Bug's Life: The movie's ending hints that Flik and Princess (now Queen) Atta may end up together based on how they hold hands, but nothing is confirmed.
• By the end of The Incredibles, Violet comes out of her shell a little and successfully asks Tony out for a date to the movies. He's subjected to a memory-wipe in the sequel, but again, the two of them are going on an official date at the very end.
• Mulan ends with what is essentially the couple's first date. No declaration of love, no kiss, just a "hey, let's get to know each other better." They marry at the end of the sequel, however.
• My Moon: Has Moon called off his romance with Earth so she can be with Sun, or is he just distancing himself for now, while everyone can figure out their relationship with each other? He saves her in the nick of time right after he apparently disappears, and when Earth asks Moon if he's not staying, his only response is "I'll be around", followed by moonlight shining on Earth. This implies he's still there for her and loves her, but he's obviously heartbroken by Earth's interest in Sun and it's not clear if they're regularly meeting up as they were before.
• The Prophet: Halim has shown to have a crush on Kamila, and her facial dialogue after they (with Almitra) bid farewell to Mustafa, implies she may be returning his affections.
• The Simpsons Movie featured a subplot with Lisa and her movie-exclusive boyfriend Colin. Near the end of the movie, they go out for ice cream and this interaction is never heard from again.
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ends with Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy becoming friends before she returns to Earth-65, her home dimension. Throughout the film they have been hinted to be attracted to each other (especially given their romantic history in the comics) and the last scene has Gwen finding a way to contact Miles across dimensions.
• A major plot point in Wish Dragon centers on the friendship between Din and Li Na, and if they would end up staying friends or becoming a couple. In the end, however, it's purely left up to the viewer's interpretation.
• Several bits of evidence in Yellowbird suggest that Yellowbird and Delf begin experiencing a romantic attraction to each other and become a couple at the end of the film. They touch beaks, gaze at each other sweetly, and even dance together during the credits. They don't explicitly acknowledge that they are in a relationship but it is heavily implied.
• Your Name ends with Taki and Mitsuha finally reuniting and sort of recognising each other, and that's it. Whether they actually get together is left unknown, albeit strongly suggested by the heavy symbolism. It's less unclear in the novelisation.
• In Zootopia, at the very end, Nick and Judy are best friends and police partners. While we get a brief mention of the L-word, it's being used semi-sarcastically and unclear if it indicates friendly love or romantic love, and then it immediately cuts to a sloth gag.

Film — Live-Action

• At the end of 27 Dresses, George re-encounters Tess after their engagement/wedding blew up spectacularly. Pedro briefly hassles him about how good she looks, and they have a conversation in which Tess forthrightly catalogues all her traits that she lied about, but the film leaves it ambiguous about whether they will restart their relationship on a proper footing, or simply part ways on better terms.
• (500) Days of Summer: A few days after his last conversation with Summer, Tom meets a woman named Autumn who's applying for the same job he is. He asks her out on a date, she tells her his name, and that's how the movie ends. It's ultimately left ambiguous as to whether Tom will use what he's learned from his past experiences and stay together with her, or if it'll just be another failed relationship like the one he had with Summer.
• At the end of 7 Men from Now, Stride returns the gold to Wells Fargo and tells Annie that he is going to take a job as a deputy sheriff in Silver Springs. He puts her on a stagecoach bound for California, then rides away. Annie, however, tells the stage driver she is not going.
• All About E: It's indicated that E and Trish may be back together at the end.
• Already Tomorrow In Hong Kong - a Spiritual Successor to Before Sunrise below - ends with Ruby and Josh realising that they might have fallen for each other, but they don't know whether or not they should leave their spouses. Ruby in particular has just got engaged and is due to leave town next week. The film literally cuts off just as they're in the taxi together, unsure of what to do next.
• Asteroid City contains three main romances, and while one of them (Woodrow and Dinah) is definitively resolved, the other two end on an ambiguous note: Augie and Midge fall in love while stuck in Asteroid City, but never consummate their relationship and after the lockdown is lifted, Augie wakes up to find that he overslept and Midge already left town. She does, however, leave him her PO box for her address, which is still something. Meanwhile, it's never shown what happened to the budding romance between June and Montana or whether they even got together.
• The Apartment: Baxter seems to be totally head over heels about Fran; she, on the other part, is severely traumatized by her past love experience (which had led to Interrupted Suicide) and had only realized a few minutes ago that he is a guy who can make her happy. Though she came back to his titular apartment on the New Year Eve for the film's ending, they don't share a kiss or even embrace, and she doesn't reciprocate his love confession. However, her glowing smile and a hint that she's left her abusive romantic interest for good allow enough space for optimism, along with the immortal last line:
  Fran: Shut up and deal.
• Before Sunrise:
  • The story ends with Jesse and Celine very clearly in love, despite only having met the night before, but having to separate and return to their homes in America and France respectively; they agree to meet up again in Vienna six months later, but the audience doesn't find out if they made the rendezvous and it's left to each person's individual opinion to decide. This fact was remarked on by many critics of the film, and hearty lampshaded in the sequel. Then a sequel, Before Sunset, was made almost a decade later that clarified things: Jesse made the rendezvous, but Celene didn't due to a sudden family emergency.
  • Before Sunset and the second sequel, Before Midnight, leave the fate of Jesse and Celine's relationship ambiguous too: Before Sunset leaves it unclear if Jesse will choose to stay with Celine despite being (unhappily) married with a son (although it's hinted that he will, and the second sequel pretty much confirms that he did) and Before Midnight ends with Jesse and Celine having a huge, potentially marriage-destroying fight and then tentatively trying to reconcile afterwards.
• Broadway Danny Rose has a Bitter Sweet Ending but ends on a glimmer of hope with Danny Rose chasing after Tina though its unclear if his accepting her offer of friendship will extend to anything more than that.
• The ending of Crooked House suggests that Charles and Sophia may get back together, though it's not definite.
• Crazy, Stupid, Love ends with Cal and Emily happily reminiscing about all that happened in the past year, implying that they'll end up back together. However, Emily might still be dating David, and Cal has had several one-night stands, so they may very well just end up as Amicable Exes.
• Daddy Issues ends with Maya having broken up with Jasmine, (largely because Jasmine was also sleeping with Maya's father) going to Italy to launch her own fashion line and the final scenes show her in the company of a girl wearing one of her outfits, their exact relationship unspoken.
• Definitely, Maybe has Will reuniting with April after not talking to each other for many years and even sharing a kiss, though given their past relationship, it may not be a sure thing that they will get together.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Implied with Greg and Holly at the end of Dog Days as they hold hands.
• Easy Virtue ends with Larita leaving her marriage to John because she realises the age difference is too great. Jim hops in the car with her and they drive off together. Jim had been the only member of John's family to show her any kind of kindness, himself being unable to relate to his wife anymore. It's unknown if this ending is romantic in nature. Jessica Biel thinks they're just kindred spirits and Jim is just taking an opportunity to escape. Colin Firth meanwhile believes there's some kind of spark between them.
• The final scene of Edge of Tomorrow shows Cage once again finding Rita at the shooting range, as he has innumerable times before, on the final reset of the "Groundhog Day" Loop. The film ends there, before we see what becomes of them now that the war is won and the loop is broken.
• The ending of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has Joel and Clementine get told about erasing their memories of each other — and the film ends uncertainly about whether they will give things another try. An alternate ending would have shown a much older Clementine going to Lacuna to erase Joel again — only to be told that she and him have been doing that repeatedly over the years and always ending up finding each other again.
• The Family Man: Jack experiences what his life would have been like if he had married his college girlfriend Kate, causing him to realize that he's Lonely at the Top in his job as a Wall Street executive. He tracks down Kate, who is in town for only a few days, to make a heartfelt confession about the life he saw they had together. She takes him up on his offer of a cup of coffee to talk things over, but it's left ambiguous if they will become a couple. Even if they do, their life would obviously still be very different from the "glimpse" that the angel showed Jack.
• From Here to Eternity ends with both Karen and Alma leaving the island a few weeks after Pearl Harbor. Karen had broken it off with Warden when he wouldn't become an officer so she could divorce her husband for him. However it's unclear if she's going back to America with her husband or not, and she has a hopeful line about returning to the island someday. So it's entirely possible she might come back and pursue Warden once again.
• Good Will Hunting ends with Will having "to see about a girl." We never see his and Skylar's reunion, or get any sense of whether or not their relationship will have any future.
• Going the Distance has one after Garrett moves closer to Erin and they re-connect at the concert.
• At the end of The Graduate, Ben saves Elaine from the wedding she doesn't want to have, and they jump on a bus. So what happens then? We don't know, but the looks on their faces don't seem terribly promising. What's more, the wedding is already over by the time Elaine runs out of it - meaning that she's legally married to someone else.
• A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints does this with Dito and Laurie. He left town fifteen years ago, she waited for a while and eventually had a baby with a man who's not around anymore. When he returns, there's clearly a spark between them. But it could go either way, as the climax's focus in Dito reconciling with his father and best friend. The movie is Very Loosely Based on a True Story and the open-ended nature is deliberate - as the real Laurie had died of AIDS long before Dito returned to Astoria, and her portions are partially written as a Fix Fic.
• Hail, Caesar!: Despite the date between Hobie Doyle and Carlotta Valdez being set up by the studio to increase public interest in them and therefore their movies, the two actually get on incredibly well, with the implication being that they may strike up an actual relationship, or at least a good friendship. However we never find out either way.
• The Half-Breed ends after a series of traumatic events which conclude with Lo's forest home burning down. Lo, the eponymous half-white, half-Native American protagonist, says he will leave to seek a new home elsewhere. Teresa, whom Lo saved from arrest and hanging, says that she realizes she loves him, and that they'll never be apart, and she'll follow him anywhere. He walks away, she follows, the film ends.
• In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, they had this happen between Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, something which definitely didn't happen in the books. Neville mentions to Harry that he's going to find Luna so that he could tell her that he loves her, but whether he actually did or not is left vague. Their final scene together is the pair sitting together in the aftermath of the battle.
• High and Tight has Becky breaking things off with Vinnie because she can't handle him going off to war. However the night before he's to leave, she's seen coming to the house to talk to him. It's left open what happens between them.
• High School Musical of all things: While the rest of the story resolves itself Troy and Gabriella settle for an Almost Kiss at the end and singing ambiguous lines such as 'together's where we belong' in the final song, but don't actually get together or admit their feelings. (Ironically its the Beta Couple, Chad and Taylor, who definitively decide to go on a date.) By the second film Troy and Gabriella are together, though them not being able to kiss becomes a Running Gag.
• Honey Baby ends with Tom meeting Natascha at a church in her home village, where they may or may not find happiness together.
• In Imitation of Life, Bea finds out that her daughter Jessie has fallen in love with her fiance Steve, Bea decides to break up with Steve to prevent anything coming between her and Jessie. But she tells Steve to call on her again whenever Jessie falls in love with someone else.
• In Good Company has Dan's daughter Alex (played by Scarlett Johansson) breaking up with Carter (played by Topher Grace) midway into the movie. The ending hints that they are possibly still romantically interested in each other but did not actively pursue it.
• Into the Woods:
  • Cinderella agrees to come live with the Baker, Jack, and Red Riding Hood at the end. Nothing is said and it could be an entirely platonic thing - but there does appear to be something between her and the Baker that indicates they could fall in love somewhere down the line.
  • Rapunzel and her prince are last seen riding out of the kingdom during the Giantess's rampage. It's left open whether their Fourth-Date Marriage will be a happy one.
• I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With has an ambiguous ending as to whether James winds up with his schoolteacher, Stella.
• In John Tucker Must Die, Kate and Scott still had some unsolved feelings for each other. Beth, Carrie and Heather noticed and begin to act as Shippers On Deck when the movie ends.
• Juliet, Naked ends with Annie driving Tucker back to London so he can take care of his daughter Lizzie and her newborn son. They wish each other farewell, and a year later, Annie emails him to say that she's moving to London and they agree to meet each other at a coffee shop. It's never clarified what happens after, though the post-credits scene implies that Tucker and Annie did end up becoming a couple and are quite happy together.
• Kissing Jessica Stein ends with Jessica getting dumped by Helen, but then there are hints that Jessica might get back together with Josh.
• Like Crazy: It's unclear at the end if Jacob and Anna will stay together.
• Little Manhattan has this as a subplot for the protagonist's parents, who start off the story in the process of getting a divorce but through some quirk of the law haven't finalized their split yet. Near the end, he comes home to their apartment to find the "his" and "hers" labels mysteriously vanished from the various containers in the cupboards and refrigerator, and his parents in the bedroom laughing together as they look over old photo albums and reminisce about all the good times they've had and how exactly they got together in the first place. Have they decided to call off the divorce and stay together after all? Well, maybe.
• Little Women (2019) leaves whether or not Jo and the Professor get married at the end ambiguous. The professor comes by her house in Massachusetts on the way to California to take a new job because he didn’t have any reason to stay in New England. After he leaves, her sisters tell her that he was telling her that he wanted her to be the reason he stayed. The three of them set off after him and catch up with him before he gets on the train. The two of them kiss and then it cuts to them having opened a school in the house she inherited from her great aunt, juxtaposed against scenes of Jo watching her book being printed. The Framing Device of Jo selling her book to a publisher originally has Jo ending her book with the heroine unmarried, but agreeing the revise the ending to include the marriage. This ending can be interpreted to mean that the “marriage” was simply a concession she had to get her Story Within a Story published.
• In Lockout, Snow and Emilie end the movie with her punching him in the face, him being very surprised and saying "For a second there I thought you were going to kiss me!" and then they walk off into the sunset together as he says that he can't see the relationship going anywhere and her responding that it all depends on how good he is in bed. He laughs and says that, in that case, it will last about ten minutes.
• The epilogue of The Loft, set six months after the main events of the film, ends with the newly-divorced Chris leaving a bar when he is approached by Anne Morris who asks him if he wants to get a coffee with her.
• Magnolia: It's not at all guaranteed that Jim and Claudia will have a successful (or even long-term) relationship, especially given her cocaine addiction. But it is fairly certain that they will try.
• At the end of The Man from Laramie, Will knows that Barbara intends to quit Coronado and head back east. He smiles, and invites her to stop in Laramie on the way and look him up.
• Marty ends with Marty saying "If we have enough good times together, I'm gonna get down on my knees. I'm gonna beg that girl to marry me", and then calling Clara, the girl he went out on a date with.
• My Days of Mercy: At the end, Mercy tells Lucy she's broken up with her boyfriend and the two are going out on a date, making it possible they'll be together again.
• Night Train to Lisbon: It's implied at the end that Raimund and Martina may eventually get together.
• In the Romantic Comedy One Fine Day, the protagonists don't even make it as far as dinner together. Instead, they fall asleep on the couch at the end of a tiring day.
• Pandorum ends with a rather tender moment in the escape pod between Bower and Nadia. Of course they've only just met and Bower has just remembered that his wife left him, so it could go either way.
• Paul & Michelle (1974) ends this way, with Paul and Michelle separated, but holding out some hope that he will keep his promise to return to her again in three years when he's finished with college.
• In The People I've Slept With, the final scene shows Angela meeting Jefferson a few months after the other events of the movie. At this point, the other issues have been resolved and it appears they may resume their relationship.
• In Rear Window, Jeff and Lisa are a couple at the end — the question is whether they're going to last. Early on, Jeff says that their relationship can't work out, because their lifestyles are too different — he's a photographer who takes dangerous assignments, she's a fashion model. Lisa can't really counter this, but they still remain together. The ending scene shows the ambiguity of their future; Lisa is wearing a shirt and pants instead of her earlier, impractical high-fashion outfits, and she reads a book called Beyond the High Himalayas. However, once she notices that Jeff has fallen asleep, she puts the book away, and starts reading a fashion magazine — showing that she hasn't really changed.
• The Rebound ends in this way with the main couple sitting down to dinner with their extended family, secretly holding hands.
• At the end of The Revengers, it seems likely that Benedict is riding back to Elizabeth (after all, where else has he to go?), but it is never explicitly stated, and the viewer does not know what Elizabeth's reaction will be when he gets there.
• Trish and Han in Romeo Must Die end the movie just hugging and comforting each other over their losses. They've only known each other a short while, but it's unclear if they'll pursue a relationship. A kiss was filmed for the end but replaced with the hug due to potential Narm - as the cast and crew thought it would be odd for Han to kiss Trish right after seeing his father shoot himself.
• Room in Rome: Alba and Natasha admit their love for each other, saying they've never loved anyone like this. They go their separate ways however at the end though... before turning back and reuniting, possibly to pursue something long term.
• The film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World ends this way.
• Mal and Inara at the end of Serenity.
  Mal: So, you ready to get off this boat and back to civilized life?
  Inara: I, uh... I don't know.
  Mal: (Beat) Good answer.
• Sideways: Miles and Maya break up due to his lying about Jack's upcoming wedding. Hearing about his ex-wife's pregnancy finally hammers in that it's really over between them, and then Maya sends him a long letter about how much she loved his (likely never to be published) novel. The film ends as he rings her doorbell.
• Signature Move: Zaynab passionately kisses Alma right before the end when she walks away with her mother. It's thus implied they may get back together.
• The Spectacular Now has Sutter getting a grip and travelling to Philadelphia, ending just as Aimee sees him waiting for her. Bear in mind that he had caused her to get into a traffic accident and stood her up when he promised to move to Philadelphia in the first place. Aimee has shown herself to be forgiving but she could have finally had enough. This is in stark contrast to the book, which made it clear that they wouldn't reconcile and Sutter's life would go nowhere. The two leads disagree on what happens; Miles Teller thinks that Aimee has matured too much and will see them Better as Friends. Shailene Woodley thinks they will get back together.
• Superbad. In the last scene, Evan and Becca, the Alpha Couple of the movie, go off together to buy a new comforter. Meanwhile, we see Seth and Jules, the Beta Couple, heading away so he can buy her makeup. Whether or not Seth/Jule will become romantically involved is left ambiguous.
• At the end of Taken 2, it's implied that Bryan and his ex-wife will reconcile, but it is left open-ended enough that some reviews referred to the reconciliation as a dropped plot point.
• That Awkward Moment never clarifies whether Jason and Ellie end up together at the end—two months after she breaks up with him, he apologizes for not being there when she needed him the most and asks if they can start over. They meet up at a bench at Gramercy Park together to talk about the state of their relationship and whether they should move forward, but the audience never gets to hear the conversation or what they decided on.
• Due to the Timey-Wimey Ball, Teen Beach 2 leaves Official Couple Mack and Brady in this state at the end as they've only just met.
• Ticket to Paradise: Former bitter exes David and Georgia are giggly and hand-holding at the end of the film when they decide to stay in Bali together, and Georgia's now single again, but it's unknown if they get back together.
• In the 1923 silent film Zaza, the title character, played by Gloria Swanson, has an affair with Bernard Dufresne, whom she doesn't realize is married. After finding out, she breaks it off. Years later, they reunite, and it's mentioned that Dufresne's wife has died in the meantime. This obviously frees Zaza and Dufresne to resume their relationship, but the film ends without revealing whether they do.

Literature

• The Books of Ember: A single line at the end of The Diamond of Darkhold hints that Doon and Lina might be falling in love with each other. There's no further mention of them after that. It does mentions that they end up sharing a house, so it's safe to assume that they probably did end up together.
• The Dresden Files:
  • As of the end of Cold Days, Harry and Karrin have a serious talk about their relationship. She is extremely reluctant, given certain qualities Harry shows in the novel, and point blank says she isn't ready for that yet, but, when Harry says, in effect, "So, we're friends?" says:
    "We passed the "just friends" phase long ago. I just need time, Harry."
  • The ending of Skin Game strongly implies that they get together but, as the author has said that even he doesn't know who Harry ends up with it, it isn't known if they stay actually do stay that way.
• Fablehaven ends with Kendra and Bracken tentatively considering getting into a relationship. On one hand, there's a definite attraction between them. On the other hand, Bracken is Really 700 Years Old and not technically human. Meanwhile, Kendra is still a teenager, and human. (Mostly.)
• The Fell of Dark: Auguste's relationship with Jude and Gunnar ends this way. In the book's epilogue, Jude reveals that Gunnar has left the town because he hates goodbyes, but that knowing him, he'll regret it soon and come back looking for Auguste. Jude himself says he needs to go back to Europe to help the Syndicate, but implies that he will also come back to look for Auguste in the future. Because of the blood oath they swore each other, the three are aware they'll never be able to fully separate from each other and are bound to meet soon, indicating that they may continue their relationship in the future (which relationship or even if they'll all be together in a polyamorous trio is also left in the air, but tending to the latter).
• Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock has a very subtle ending, and has left a lot of readers uncertain as to whether Polly and Tom will get together or not. The villainess's trap for them implied that the only way for Polly to help Tom was to reject him, but since the trap was set up so that this was true when they were "Nowhere" (that is, in Faerie), Polly works out that this implies they can be together "somewhere". However, Polly's relationship with Tom has always been either as a child hero-worshipping an adult, or a teenager with a crush. So if they're going to start anything new, she acknowledges that they're going to have to get to know each other as adults, and find out whether it'll work or not.
• In the revised ending of Great Expectations, Dickens implies (without explicitly stating) that Pip and Estella will end up together. It's noteworthy that the original ending had Estella marrying someone else instead.
• At the end of I Sit Behind The Eyes, Emily (or rather, the creature possessing her) and Terry are still just friends. She claims that she is grossed out by the idea of becoming a couple. However, she admits that she is still only a child and might consider it when she gets older.
• Just Juliet: Lena and Juliet break up due to their life ambitions taking them in different directions. While painful, Lena gets over this and moves on. However, then she meets Juliet again at Lakyn and Scott's wedding. Before they know it, they're together like before, and though there are barriers between them it's implied they may stay that way somehow.
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club: The ending indicates that Lily and Kath may get together again after they were forcibly separated.
• The Maze Runner: In The Death Cure, Thomas' romantic arc with Brenda has this kind of ending. The series is closed with them Holding Hands while Watching the Sunset in the safe haven, but there's nothing confirming that they're hooking up, although they might. But then, Thomas is still grieving for the loss of his friends, particularly Teresa.
• The ending of the Millennium Series has Lizbeth rush off to Paris to reconnect with Mimmy, but it's not really clear if either of them are interested in rekindling their relationship. Salander's relationship with Blomkvist is less vague; she decides that she's no longer really attracted to him. Blomkvist's other relationships are left ambiguous as well — while he admits to Erika Berger that he thinks he's in love with Monica Figuerola, he can't say for certain that it's serious. And while he and Erika are temporarily halting the sexual part of their relationship, as they typically do whenever he's seeing someone, there's really nothing to say that it won't resume again.
• Unlike The Song of The Lioness and The Immortals, both of which ended with clear romantic couplings, Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small ended on a Maybe Ever After note, just reminding readers that Kel is still attracted to Dom. Pierce was making sure to demonstrate that you don't need romance to be happy or whole. She later confirmed that they do not end up together.
• Patricia C. Wrede's The Raven Ring ends with Eleret turning down one suitor and traveling homeward with the other. However, the relationship with Karvonen is just beginning, so this falls into "Let's see where this goes" category.
• Six of Crows: While it's heavily hinted at the end of Crooked Kingdom that Wylan and Jesper are now a couple, the situation between Kaz and Inej is left more ambiguous, though they hold hands at the very end of the novel.
• Star Wars Legends:
  • At the end of The Thrawn Trilogy, Luke gives Mara Jade his father's lightsaber for a multitude of reasons — but mostly because he wants her to have it. She reflects that he's just given her one of the last remaining links to his past, and thinks that this is not a subtle message, and he's wasting his time. But as he's leaving, she tells him to hang on a minute — she's coming with him.
  • Successive books in the Legends franchise largely ignore Mara Jade and this hint. Luke has had a lot of love interests. It's not until the same author came back with the Hand of Thrawn duology that they, in fact, got together. It was followed quickly by Star Wars: Union, in which they were married — and then other authors had to acknowledge it.
  • In a case where the "maybe" is clear but ultimately, fortunately, "no", there's Splinter of the Mind's Eye. It was intended to be the sequel to the first Star Wars movie if it didn't make enough money for Lucas to tell the story he really wanted (i.e. The Empire Strikes Back), so Han Solo wasn't involved, but Luke and Leia were. Along with endless subtext.
• Mary Stewart's The Stormy Petrel ends with a promise that Rose and Neil will see each other "next term," suggesting the potential for a romantic relationship. In this case, ending the novel with just the beginning of a potential romance is quite realistic, as they've only known each other for a few days.
• Roofshadow and Tailchaser from Tailchaser's Song depart because Tailchaser is still looking for his lost love Hushpad. Roofshadow shares her heart-name with Tailchaser, something incredibly intimate that he hasn't even done with Hushpad, and says she will think of him often. Tailchaser replies that he hopes they will meet again someday. After Tailchaser reunites with Hushpad he finds her living a comfortable, lazy life as a spayed pet and ends up leaving her because of their differences. The book ends on Tailchaser going on with his life.
• Toll the Hounds ends with Spinnock seeking out the human priestess Salind to confess his love to her, but it is unclear if anything comes from it, as the book ends shortly after we see him leave for her tent.
• At the end of Vampire of the Mists, it appears that Sasha and Liesl might end up together. Of course, that depends on whether they survive at all, and whether they manage to cure her of lycanthropy. So who knows?

Live-Action TV

• In the last scene of Being Human (UK) Alex suggests she might consider a future with Hal, but she needs to go see her family first, and might decide to stay with them indefinitely.
• Bones has a scene in the finale with Aubrey having chicken take-out with Karen Delfs after his break up with Jess.
• Happens in one episode of Castle. The main witness to a crime has amnesia and doesn't remember anything. As a part of the investigation the police end up bringing in his ex-wife (who he doesn't remember). At the end of the episode the two of them decide to go out on a date together.
• An interesting case in Chuck. After two and a half seasons of Will They or Won't They? Chuck and Sarah become an Official Couple after the mid-season finale of Season 3, and marry at the end of Season 4. Season 5, however, ends with Sarah Mind Raped by the Big Bad Quinn with a faulty Intersect, wiping out much of her memory of the past four years and turning her against the team and leaving her believing her marriage to Chuck was part of her mission. By the end of the first part of the finale Sarah is shown that these events were genuine, but she doesn't feel them now. The second half drops hints that her memory hasn't been entirely destroyed and she may recover, and the very last scene is of Chuck and Sarah sitting on the beach from the premier with Chuck telling Sarah their story and both laughing as he tells her about their adventures over the last five years. The episode and series closes on a kiss between them, but the ending is ultimately ambiguous over whether Sarah's memory and feelings will ever fully be recovered.
  • Though Word of God is that the ending was meant to show that Sarah has always loved Chuck and always will.
• Dash & Lily: At the end, Sofia and Boomer go see a movie together and walk out of the theater holding hands. This is the most seen of their budding relationship
• Derry Girls ends without resolving Erin and James's feelings for each other, even though in the finale they're still clearly into each other even a whole year after sharing their first (and seemingly only) kiss. Judging from comments made by Lisa McGee from earlier seasons about how she wasn't sure that the pair would fully realise their feelings for each other until they grew older, it's quite likely she Invoked this trope quite deliberately. She later stated that they did eventually end up together, but not until they were in their 30s (a good 15 years after the events of the show), having stayed close friends the entire time.
• The drama adaptation of the manga Flunk Punk Rumble has this for Adachi and Shinagumi. The former finally confesses in the last few minutes and the latter seems to be playing hard to get, grinning and teasing him by feigning obliviousness when he asks her for an answer. Things are looking good though.
• High Fidelity: Rob resolves to pursue Clyde even though he says they have little chance together, with the series ending without showing if she succeeds.
• How I Met Your Mother
  • The series finale is this for Ted and Robin. After The Mother died of a Soap Opera Disease, the kids figured out that their dad is actually telling the story as a way for asking their permission to date Robin which they accepted. The show ended with Robin, looking out of her apartment window seeing Ted who is holding the blue French horn. Though it's been pointed out throughout the show that Ted and Robin's relationship didn't work out at first due to several issues which remained unresolved. So, it still means that Ted and Robin would have one more date, but it does not necessarily mean that they would get married with Robin being a stepmom to two teenagers.
  • The Revised Ending is this for Barney and Robin. Although they still divorce after three years of marriage, Ted implies that they might get back together as they smile at each other during Ted and the Mother's wedding.
• Played with in the finale for JAG. During the last ten minutes, Harm and Mac finally admitted their love for each other after nearly a decade and she accepted his marriage proposal. However, as she was being reassigned to San Diego, and he was reassigned to England, the show did end on a question mark, as they literally flipped a coin to determine whether Mac would resign from the Marines or Harm from the Navy so they could be together.
• The Night Manager Jed and Pine part ways at the end of the series, but imply they will see each other again soon.
• Search: Dong-jin and Ye-rim aren't an Official Couple by the end, but their last interactions suggest they might start dating again in the future.
• Single Father ends on an optimistic note but without a definitive happy ending for Dave and Sarah.
• The first generation of Skins ends with Sid packed off to New York by his best friend to find Cassie, the girl he loves. The final scene is of Sid looking around right in front of the restaurant where she works. Although as of Series 7, Cassie's episode "Pure" both confirms that they found each other, and also reveals that it didn't work out.
• Spaced ends this way for Tim and Daisy. They had some very subtle UST built up, and the finale revolves around Tim getting Daisy back to live with him, but it's not a romance that pulls them back to each other. It was intended to be followed up in a third season, but the show was ended by the creators. A while later, a DVD extra was filmed showing they had hooked up and had a baby.
  • Marsha and Mike are the same as they share a final scene together that implies but doesn't state at all that they will get together. (Word of Gay later confirmed that Mike was apparently exclusively into men and later came out and found a boyfriend, so even if something did happen between him and Marsha, it clearly didn't stick.)
• The last episode of Stargate Atlantis hints at an attraction between Ronon and Amelia Banks, a gate room technician and Action Girl with kickboxing skills.
• Star Trek: Enterprise never actually clarified the ultimate status of the relationship between Captain Jonathan Archer and his old flame Captain Erika Hernandez. They seemingly rekindle their relationship in "Home", and her subsequent appearances involve flirtatious banter with him, but there's no reference to whether or not the rekindling lasted. Given that the only reason for their breakup (he was promoted and she wasn't) had ceased to be an issue, however, and the warmth of the aforementioned flirtatious banter, it's as reasonable to assume the relationship did last as it is to assume that it didn't.
• Supernatural: The Series Finale shows that at some point, Sam had children, but it's uncertain if Sam got together with Eileen or someone else.
• In the last episode of Ted Lasso, Jamie and Roy look Keely straight in the eye and ask which of them she'd rather be with. While she had dated Jamie back in season one, her relationship with Roy had ended much more recently (at his wish, not hers), and they'd even slept together only a month earlier when he confessed to still having feelings, leaving him as the expected romantic outcome. However, she kicks them both out, choosing neither, at least for the time being. In the Where Are They Now montage she's seen sitting with both the boys looking very happy, though it's unclear if she did get back together with one (or both) of them.
• That '70s Show ended this way for Eric and Donna. Although they had been the show's primary couple for the first seven seasons (sans Season 4), Eric left the cast in Season 8, and they broke up offscreen. He returned for the finale, but his scenes with Donna did not make it clear whether they were reconciling or not. The sequel series, That '90s Show, reveals that they reconciled and now have a daughter together.
• Ugly Betty ends this way with Betty and Daniel together in London, but not necessarily "together". Again, the lack of resolution may be a result of the series being canceled.
• Veronica Mars ended this way, with hints of possible feelings lingering between Veronica and Logan. In this case, the lack of resolution might simply be a result of the series being canceled. The 2014 movie then reaffirmed their feelings for each other.
• The X-Files series ends this way. The romantic arc for Mulder and Scully had been going pretty much since day one, and even after they were officially a couple and had a child, they couldn't be together. The final scene of the series ends with the two cuddling on a hotel bed while on the run from the FBI. It was the first time they'd been able to do such in over a year, and it ends with Mulder saying "Maybe there's hope." It's unclear about where the relationship is going or even where they're going. The 2008 movie "I Want to Believe" shows that they had bought a house and were living together like a married couple. Chris Carter actually played on this trope in the trailers for the movie, as the trailers imply that Mulder and Scully were no longer together.
  • By the point of the 2016 revival mini-series, Mulder and Scully have not seen each other for several years, having broken up again at some point. However there is, of course, the traditional UST, albeit now without the U.

Theater

• The Addams Family technically ends on this for Wednesday and Lucas. The implications are on the heavy side, just short of actually confirming their marriage, but it's apparent that both have gone through some Character Development and may still have a few issues to work out. (Averted in the tour version, where a brief wedding scene is part of the curtain call.)
• Cripple Billy Claven and Slippy Helen McCormick in Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan. Possibly a Belated Happy Ending as the next play in the trilogy, The Lieutenant of Inishmore introduces Mairead and Davey Claven, a sister/brother duo with personalities eerily similar to Helen and her brother Bartley respectively. Billy was established as having no living relatives. This hypothesis depends on how long Billy lives after the ending of The Cripple of Inishmaan.
• Hadestown ends with Hades and Persephone promising that when she returns to him in the fall, they will focus on repairing their marriage after Orpheus reminds them of their love for each other. Whether they will ever be able to truly reconcile is unknown.
• The stage version of Holiday ends with Linda running after John, who has just broken up with her sister Julia. Her brother Ned drinks a toast to them and to his grandfather. Curtain. We're never told what kind of relationship John and Linda end up having, we can only hope that Linda wins John's heart in the end. The 1938 film adaptation adds an extra scene of the couple reuniting, and ends on their kiss.
• Into the Woods:
  • The Princes abandon both their marriages and are seen with Snow White and Sleeping Beauty at the end. Given their womanising ways and the fact that they don't grow as characters, it's possible they'll get bored with these women too.
  • Likewise Cinderella breaks things off with her prince and the Baker's wife is killed by the Giantess. Cinderella agrees to move in with the Baker and be a family with Jack and Red Riding Hood. It's Fanon that Cinderella and the Baker will probably end up together and about 90% of the fandom ships them.
• At the end of Measure for Measure, the Duke proposes to Isabella, a novice in a religious order. She never replies, so the script leaves it unclear whether she accepts or declines. Depending on which performance you see, however, this might be played as a Maybe Ever After: some theater companies depict her giving a sign of consent or acceptance. Others have the actress assume an expression of dismay or shock (or pointedly walk offstage), implying a rejection.
• In My Fair Lady, Eliza returns to Henry, and it is clear from both their responses that they're reconciling after their quarrel. There is romantic interest on both sides, but no definitive sign of a Relationship Upgrade (because George Bernard Shaw was against the whole idea; note that all of the dialogue here is recycled from earlier scenes).
• In the end of The Twelve Months, the Stepdaughter is eager to stay in touch with April and keeps the engagement ring he has given her, but she returns home to live her own life and neither of them speaks of any further commitment or plans thereof.

Video Games

• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has Ryoko and Renya. A battlefield conversation establishes that they used to date in middle school, and while there's an implication that they got back together in the Distant Finale, it's left far more ambiguous than any of the other couples seen in the ending. When asked about it, writer George Kamitani said that their relationship is whatever the player wants it to be.
• Blaze Union's C ending hints that protagonist Garlot and his childhood friend Siskier might be getting together in the near future—if for no other reason, because their third childhood friend Jenon (who had a crush on Siskier) and Garlot's first crush Nessiah are both conveniently dead, leaving Siskier with no more obstacles. Remarks by the creators in an interview confirm that they eventually do get together.
• Eddie and Arianna, from BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm. They decide to open a library together in the True Ending, and a bit earlier Eddie admits to having fallen for her in a conversation with the player, but her own feelings towards him are never revealed, so it’s left unclear whether they actually get together, or if they’re just running the library together as friends.
• In EarthBound, Ness takes Paula back home and leaves her there. They're just kids, but Everyone Can See It.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Rikku and Gippal in Final Fantasy X-2. The scene where he says they were together (which Rikku denies) is optional though she does have a few moments in the game that suggests otherwise and the two are seen leaving the Farplane holding hands.
  • Nearly every single possible pairing in Final Fantasy XII. Vaan and Penelo have known each other a looooong time and are travelling together at the end, Penelo's final line being "Every sky pirate needs a partner" and that's it. Supposed Platonic Life-Partners Balthier and Fran get a bit of Ship Tease in the game, as do Balthier and Ashe, though nothing ever comes of either relationship. That said the Secret Expanded Epilogue to the game’s direct sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, shows Vaan and Penelo briefly kissing. Making the status of their relationship much less ambiguous.
  • Despite having a happy ending, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII leaves a lot of things frustratingly unclear, like did Snow and Serah finally get married? What happened to Noel and Yuel? Did the two sets of Implied Love Interests, Fang/Vanille and Hope/Lightning hook up?
• In Gloria Union, the B ending involves Elisha sending a letter to Ishut that hints at her having feelings for him, and Ishut's comrades teasing him about it. Aside from that, nothing.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks: The constant strong Puppy Love of the game would suffice by itself, but it goes further. The last shot of the game is Link and Zelda holding hands in a very romantic tone. Also, in two of the three epilogues of the game we see that they still are together in some way.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword as well. After chasing/saving Zelda for the entire game the two of them stand together on top of a statue where the game previously teased a kiss and look over the landscape. Zelda decides that she's going to try to make a life for herself there and asks Link if he'll be doing the same. He smiles and the game ends.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, a gossiping man will reveal that every night, Princess Zelda will gaze wistfully at a painting of a previous generation of Link and Zelda, implying that Zelda is of the age to want a romantic attachment. This puts the final shot of the game of Link and Zelda looking at the same painting together and smiling at each other in a different light.
• Life Is Strange ends on an ambiguous note no matter who the player chooses between Chloe, or Warren.
  • Having Max pursue Chloe can result in a kiss during episode 3, if Max accepts Chloe's dare, and a second kiss between them during the climax of the final episode. Yet, Max's final journal entry states that she still isn't sure what her actual feelings for Chloe really are.
  • In Warren's case, Max can accept a movie date from him during episode 2, but the game ends before the date is scheduled to happen. Despite subtle implications that the attraction might be mutual, the closest Max ever comes to expressing feelings for Warren only happens if she writes on his door slate during episode 4.
  Max: (thinking) "I can have some fun with Warren for a change. And he's the one who wants to "Go Ape!"... and sometimes, you have to take a chance and see what happens."
• The "Blood Brothers" ending for Life Is Strange 2 has Sean in a situation where he could easily reconnect with his optional love interests (Cassidy or Finn), but isn't shown doing so on-screen. Fanon generally takes it as read that they did indeed hook back up, given the similarities to the "Parting Ways" ending where Cassidy or Finn does make an on-screen reappearance as Sean's partner in the Distant Finale, but in canon at least it falls into this trope.
• Heavily implied to have happened to Jimmy Patterson and Manon from the first Medal of Honor. It's mentioned that Patterson proposed to her, and the 2010 reboot has you playing as his grandson. Doubles as a Historical In-Joke, as Manon was based on a real woman named Helene Deschamps Adams, an OSS operator who worked closely with an American Lieutenant during the war and married him when the war ended.
• Solatorobo strongly implies that Red and Elh will get together in the near future (and, as of DLC Quest #8, Elh knows Red's feelings, though he has amnesia of the event and Elh has decided to wait until he comes to his senses on his own, rather than trying to push for anything — despite the fact that asking to remain together was what prompted Red to begin to confess). Less strongly implied but still quite possible is Beta Couple Merveille and Béluga.
• Tales of Graces. Hubert and Pascal. Before the final cutscene Hubert confessed his love to Pascal and she essentially didn't get it. But in the ending cutscene she interacts with him and nearly no one else, gives him an Affectionate Nickname, and meows at him. Then resident Big Brother Mentor and Troll to end all trolls, Malik, takes Hubert aside, gives him Pascal's communicator, and encourages him to "tame the stray cat." During the credits there's a sketch of Hubert sitting at a fountain and receiving a message from Pascal.
• Undertale has Toriel and Asgore that were once married, but a tragic event broke them apart due to Toriel being angry at Asgore for his response to the tragedy. In the Golden Ending, they are shown to be working at the same school, implying that the two have either made up or they're on speaking terms with each other at the very least.

Visual Novels

• Some of the non Miou endings in A Profile give a hint to a possible Kaine/Miou relationship developing in the future. Before this, Kaine was alternately jealous of and angry with Masayuki regarding Miou because he felt that Masayuki broke up with her in a harsh way.
• In the ending of Double Homework with Johanna and Tamara, the protagonist vows to keep up his relationship with the two of them for "as long as I can." He clearly loves them, but is also unsure if he will always be up to the challenge of keeping both of them satisfied.
• Dream Daddy: Robert's good ending. After the PC convinces Robert to try to reconnect with his daughter and work through his issues, Robert will make it clear he is in love with him, but that in his current state, he can't be a good partner and will not be any good in a romantic relationship. They decide that, until Robert is ready, they'll be friends, with clear intentions of becoming a couple in the future.
• Ever17: You and Hokuto in the true ending. The ending involves a scene when he confesses his love and asks her out to her suprise, but whe don't actually see her reaction. They DO get together in one of the other endings and have a mountain of Ship Tease so...
• In Katawa Shoujo, Shizune's route ends with Hisao, his girlfriend and her best friend going their separate ways for now, but promising to meet again one day.
• In The Letter, Luke's romance endings with Marianne and Rebecca are this. In both of them, the narration states that the two are good friends, but only time will tell whether or not they'll become a couple.

Webcomics

• Homestuck ending on an ambiguous note naturally involved this trope. Rose and Kanaya were the only confirmed ship, whilst everyone else is left up in the air. Dirk and Jake had earlier attempted to break up (neither telling the other), but by series end they are seen talking and even playing soccer together. Dave and Karkat had heavy Ship Tease post-retcon, but the narrative danced around a concrete confirmation. Then Dave and Jade have a last minute Ship Tease, and the series ends with the three of them sitting together for a picnic leaving the answer up to the audience as to who got together (though Word of Saint Paul is that they're a One True Threesome). Roxy began wondering if John was "boyfriend material," and the two do end up spending time together, but Roxy had a number of moments with Calliope that could be interpreted anywhere from romantic to platonic. The ending features the three going for a walk through the woods, again leaving it to the audience to decide who hooked up. Finally there was the doomed version of Vriska and the Game Over timeline Terezi, who reconcile in the afterlife during a montage, with their meeting point marked with a distinctive red (the color of Matespritship) and an embrace. Neither character is present in the finale.
• The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal ends with Amal realizing he loves TJ and entering what's heavily implied to be the tattoo parlor TJ started working at, but we don't see what happens after that. It's a pretty optimistic ending for the two of them, but a purchasable epilogue comic makes it more ambiguous by providing three theoretical scenarios of their future: one has them in a happy relationship, another shows them having more difficulties with their relationship but still together, and a third has their attempt to pursue a relationship not work out.
• Magick Chicks established Faith's affection for Tiffany near the beginning. Tiffany was reluctant to reciprocate because she thought of Faith as her enemy and because she was straight. Despite her misgivings, she was struggling to accept that she was actually attracted to her and eventually began to consider the possibility. The comic went on indefinite hiatus before the issue could be resolved, though their last interaction had Tiffany offer Faith a DVD of her morning workout. Naked.
• In Penny and Aggie, the title characters, having tried and failed at a romantic relationship in their last year of high school, keep in touch through college and beyond. The comic ends with their five-year High School Reunion, during which they discuss their recently-ended relationships with others, and what they've learned from those and from each other. In the final strip, Penny asks Aggie what she thinks they mean to each other now. Aggie smiles and says, "Now's when we find out."

Web Video

• Empires SMP: Shelby's perspective of Season 2 ends with her visiting GlimmerGrove to apologize to Katherine about how she acted while Brainwashed and Crazy and asks her out for coffee as a first date, an invitation which Katherine accepts now that her main problems throughout the season have been resolved. In the epilogue and sequel series ten years later, Shelby is known to have a girlfriend/partner, but the partner's identity is left as The Un-Reveal. The ambiguity is clarified to be intentional on the content creators' part, not wanting to rush a relationship for the characters.
• Kontrola: It's strongly implied, though not confirmed, that Natalia and Majka will get back together when the series concludes.
• Zario and Jay ride off into the night at the end of the first season finale for Pretty Dudes, with no spoken plan, just the desire to get away and to be together. Production on season two hinted at the fact that this ending may not be as happy as desired, but with delays from the COVID-19 pandemic, the answer still hasn't been revealed.

Western Animation

• Thanks to the open ended nature of the Grand Finale, Adventure Time ends with Finn and Huntress Wizard's relationship left open ended due to a lack of closure. What happens between the two, especially after two episodes in the final season confirming and cementing their feelings for each other, is up to the fans. This can change in the upcoming Season 11 comic book series.
  • The final issue of the Season 11 comic implies that they're still together.
  • The status of their relationship in the Distant Lands miniseries is a total enigma, as the miniseries doesn't answer if they're still together or not (or in the case of "Together Again", if Finn had a family with Huntress, as the beginning of the episode reveals that he recently died as an old man. It doesn't help that the episode refuses to give any insight on Finn's life after the finale, other than him still adventuring and taking his grandniece Bronwyn as his partner after Jake died.).
  • The Fionna and Cake spin-off reveals they're still together.
• Zuko and Mai get back together in the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender but past that it's murky. They break up in the tie-in comics but it’s unclear if it’s for good. Zuko’s daughter, Izumi, has the same very distinctive jawline as Mai in The Legend of Korra. Zuko never mentions a wife and Izumi’s son Iroh (who looks like Zuko) only talks about Zuko and Izumi, he never brings up his grandmother. Izumi only speaks for about thirty seconds in the show and has a non-speaking cameo a few episodes earlier so it's not like she ever gets to say anything about her mom either. The creators also have explicitly ignored the question about who her mom is.
• The final episode of Code Lyoko left a hint the Ulrich and Yumi might get over their Unresolved Sexual Tension, but left it really unclear.
• In Justice League Unlimited, the Love Triangle between Shayera, John, and Vixen is closed out by John declaring his intention of staying with Vixen. However, given the existence of John and Shayera's Kid from the Future, as well as flashbacks that reveal John and Shayera are a Reincarnation Romance, this is less than convincing. Word of God states that John and Shayera will eventually be together.
  • The sequel comic shows what happens. Vixen gets killed, and John and Shayera get together., however, this is later contradicted by the sequel series Justice League Infinity by J.M DeMatteis, which ends with Vixen very much alive, but chooses to leave John as she becomes aware he is still deeply in love with Shayera. Shayera and John do not get together at the end, but she offers him her support as a friend after his break-up
• Drakken and Shego are implied to end up as more than business partners in the Series Finale of Kim Possible. Their final scene has Drakken's flower wrapping them together and the two sharing a shy smile, but it isn't made clear what their current relationship is.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In the episode "Hearts and Hooves Day", Big Mac and Cheerilee fall in love due to a love potion given to them by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. At the end of the episode after the potion has been cured, they're last seen pretending to still be in love before going off to have a picnic. It's left ambiguous whether they're just friends putting on an act to troll the CMC or whether there's actually something going on. Ultimately, Big Mac ends up with somepony else, indicating that if there was really anything there, it didn't last.
  • The series 9 episode "Dragon Dropped" does this for the Spike/Rarity Ship Tease that's been going on since the first episode. On the one hand, it shows Spike with a new friend who he enjoys hanging out with more than Rarity, and the ending implies he might have gotten over his crush on her. On the other hand, Rarity's behaviour towards him has Clingy Jealous Girl undertones, Spike is touched when she admits she missed their time together, and the episode ends with Spike saying he'll always want his "Rarity time" and Pinkie making a comment that could be interpreted as Shipper on Deck. Neither are explicitly shown together with anyone in the Distant Finale, making it even more ambiguous.
  • The Distant Finale implies that Fluttershy and Discord got together ^note there was even supposed to be a kiss between them, but it got changed in the final version, as well as Applejack and Rainbow Dash (though even the initial passes left their status ambiguous), and Yona and Sandbar, but there's nothing beyond an implication for any of them. When asked, Jim Miller stated that the ambiguity was deliberate, to allow the fans to interpret the moments for themselves.
• O'Grady: It's painfully obvious Kevin and Abby have a thing for each other that they both refuse to admit. It's never fully resolved, but the end of the series finale "Frenched" features Kevin giving Abby his CD as a romantic gesture, seemingly starting a new chapter in their relationship.
• A couple of examples from the Distant Finale "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue of OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes:
  • Dendy and K.O. are still close friends decades into the future, but if they're romantically involved is intentionally left vague.
  • Enid is shown still with Red Action years into the future, but in the further future where K.O. now runs the Bodega, the two new Bodega employees look suspiciously like Patchwork Kids of Rad and Enid, up to them also using their abilities (one being a Kick Chick with Rad's body design and skin color and the other looking like a thin male version of Enid, but with Rad's antennae and using telekinesis). The staff have been explicit that the pair are deliberately ambiguous-looking for viewers to reach their own conclusions of whether Rad and Enid had kids or if the two workers are just random doppelgangers who coincidentally look like Rad and Enid.
• In Over the Garden Wall, Wirt and Sara end the series finally acting on their mutual undeclared attraction, agreeing to have what's probably a date, but it's up to the audience to guess where things went from there.
• The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue of The Owl House implies Eda and Raine rekindled their romance and that Beta Couple Willow and Hunter got together, but neither is explicitly stated.
• Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!: The Will They or Won't They? situation between Sparx and Nova is seemingly finally resolved in the final episode, as she gives him an Anguished Declaration of Love in order to free him from his corrupted state. However, this is immediately overshadowed by Skeleton King coming Back from the Dead and a cliffhanger ending, so we don't know if they actually hooked up or not.

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