Basic Trope: A character denies being friends with one or more characters.
- Straight: Steve denies the fact he's Pete's friend even though they seem to get along well.
- Exaggerated:
- Steve blatantly denies that Pete is his friend and he never will be his friend even though they're truly friends.
- Steve and Pete are friends for a long time, yet they deny that they're friends.
- Downplayed: Steve and Pete are friends, but Steve doesn't consider him a considerably close one.
- Justified:
- Steve just hasn't really known Pete that much and Pete is just too friendly with him.
- Steve and Pete are business partners, and there are no friends when it comes to doing business.
- Steve is just a Jerkass who thinks that having friends make him less cool.
- Steve is just a loner who isn't interested in making intimate friends.
- Pete is very unpopular and Steve doesn't want him to ruin his reputation.
- Steve sees Pete as a rival whom he wants to surpass.
- Inverted: Steve and Pete are mortal enemies, but they both deny it.
- Subverted: Steve denies being friends with Pete, just until Pete saved his life from being hit by a truck.
- Double Subverted: ...but that's only when they're alone. Steve denies Pete as his friend in public.
- Parodied: Steve insist to people he barely knows Pete while Pete is wearing a shirt with a picture of them smiling with their arms around each other and the words "best friends" underneath.
- Zig Zagged: Steve is flighty. One day he denies being friends with Pete and the next he doesn't.
- Averted: Steve and Pete are best friends and they know it to be true.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded:Steve: "Shut up! It's not like that!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Steve and Pete want everyone to know they are friends.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "You know that thing where a character denies being friends with another?"
- Deconstructed: Steve's denial of being friends with Pete has caused others to see Steve as a freaky loner who doesn't value friendship of others. As a result, Pete abandons Steve, hoping to find a friend who admits they are a friend.
- Played For Drama: Steve is being questioned by a judge whether or not he is friends with Pete, whom both were involved in an (accidental) shooting in the bank. To get himself out of the situation, Steve denies being friends with Pete, leaving Pete to be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.
Just because I've given you a link to Friendship Denial doesn't mean we're friends. You got that?
