History Main / CannotSpitItOut

** A familial example from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes''. Due their seeming lack of emotions, the protagonist Byleth has difficulties expressing any form of affection towards their father Jeralt. In ''Three Houses'' this manifests as them [[spoiler:crying for the first time in their life when Jeralt is killed]] and in ''Three Hopes'' is shown in their support conversations, in which Byleth goes out of their way to gift Jeralt flowers as a way of showing affecting and thanks for the life they've had with their father after growing concerned that they never expressed the love one might expect between parent and child. Thankfully, Jeralt reasssures them that [[ParentsKnowTheirChildren he's always know]] even if they didn't show it.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'', Hector and Florina's entire support conversation set is based on Florina being unable to say two words to Hector, when all she wants to do is thank him for saving her from certain doom in Laus. It takes Hector and her pegasus fighting to get her to finally spit it out. Of course, her [[ShrinkingViolet androphobia]] didn't exactly help...
* A familial example from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes''. Due their seeming lack of emotions, the protagonist Byleth has difficulties expressing any form of affection towards their father Jeralt. In ''Three Houses'' this manifests as them [[spoiler:crying for the first time in their life when Jeralt is killed]] and in ''Three Hopes'' is shown in their support conversations, in which Byleth goes out of their way to gift Jeralt flowers as a way of showing affecting and thanks for the life they've had with their father after growing concerned that they never expressed the love one might expect between parent and child. Thankfully, Jeralt reasssures them that [[ParentsKnowTheirChildren he's always know]] even if they didn't show it.

* Chiaki in ''Webcomic/MyImpossibleSoulmate'' has many oppurtune moments to confess her feelings to her crush Fumiko, but due to her shyness, she quickly chickens out. Most infamously is [[https://mis.thecomicseries.com/comics/7 this]] exchange:
-->'''Fumiko:''' Who do you like, Chiaki-chan?
-->'''Chiaki:''' Huh? I...I like...bread.
-->'''Fumiko:''' Bread?
-->'''Chiaki:''' Yeah Bread!

* Averted in ''Film/GhostRider'': Johnny's love interest confronts him about breaking their date... so he tells her that he turned into a burning biker skeleton possessed by a spirit of vengeance. Naturally, she finds this preposterous, but when she sees proof that he was telling her the truth, she unhesitatingly steps up to help him.

** Sebastian had always wanted to tell Amelia since the day she returned to Appleton that [[spoiler:he is her father, but he got worried about her mother when she went missing on the night of the arson.]]

** [[spoiler:Sebastian had always wanted to tell Amelia since the day she returned to Appleton that he is her father, but he got worried about her mother when she went missing on the night of the arson.]]

* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': After discovering that [[spoiler:her mother]] is the the infamous thief called The Purple Fox, Amelia tries keeping it a secret from her friends. Joe is most concerned by her and he tries assuring her that she can tell him anything and that he won't judge TPF for whatever reason for their crimes, but she still refuses to tell him.

See also AbortedDeclarationOfLove, InterruptedDeclarationOfLove, YouDidntAsk, MistakenForIndex, HintDropping, DugInDeeper. A specific sub-trope of PoorCommunicationKills. Sister trope of TongueTwister. Has nothing to do with being unable to [[IAteWhat clear one's mouth of a disgusting flavor]]. EveryoneCanSeeIt is what happens when the information is romantically related and blatantly obvious to everyone except those who can't spit it out.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' In "Death: At Death's Door", Despair and the ghost of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe like each other, but can't admit it.

See also AbortedDeclarationOfLove, InterruptedDeclarationOfLove, YouDidntAsk, IdiotPlot, MistakenForIndex, HintDropping, DugInDeeper. A specific sub-trope of PoorCommunicationKills. Sister trope of TongueTwister. Has nothing to do with being unable to [[IAteWhat clear one's mouth of a disgusting flavor]]. EveryoneCanSeeIt is what happens when the information is romantically related and blatantly obvious to everyone except those who can't spit it out.

** Not even remotely romantic, but the Arishok in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' is utterly unable to directly compliment people who are not followers of his religion outside exceptional circumstances, and even then he seems to understate a lot. One of the earliest 'compliments' you hear from his mouth is: "I have a growing lack of disgust for you."

* This drives the entire plot of ''VideoGame/EmilyIsAway''. You keep backing out of telling Emily how you really feel about her, and that leads to [[spoiler: her getting together with Brad, even after a brief breakup, and you losing the only other girl you showed interest in]].

* ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}'s buddy Billy Wintergreen hypothesizes in the ComicBook/DCRebirth series that Slade loves his kids more than anything in the world and is eaten up with guilt for not being the dad that they need but is too fundamentally broken to tell them that.

* ''ComicBook/MouseGuard'': Incredibly, it's the [[spoiler:HotBlooded BoisterousBruiser Saxon]] who embodies this trope. In Winter, we learn that he's been sitting on his feelings for [[spoiler:Gwendolyn]] for years. [[spoiler:He spits in the denouement.]]
* In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' [[spoiler:Spike, when confronted by Nightmare Rarity, can't quite bring himself to admit his feelings for her. This is immediately lampshaded by Nightmare Rarity, who coldly mocks him for it.]]

* Happens several times in the ''ComicBook/SquadronSupreme'' limited series. Sometimes it's sheer plot convenience, as a character is found withholding information that could've averted a problem later on. Other times, it's due to higher-priority instructions given during brainwashing...

** This is subverted in the ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan series, where Peter reveals that he's Spider-Man to Mary Jane in issue #13. Mind you, that's really early in the series [[DecompressedComic by Bendis standards.]] Then again, it takes him nearly a hundred to tell this to Aunt May.

* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': In chapter 6, Japan was about to confess to Italy only to cut himself short. Nerves got to him. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] later on.

** A bit of AscendedFanon revealed that the entire human/angel war was set in motion by this. [[spoiler:Adam and Lilith were originally in love with each other, but never confessed their feelings before they were converted into carriers for the FAR souls. Lilith's desire to be with Adam caused her to subconsciously follow him to Earth.]]
* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': Asuka kept her real feelings for Shinji secret. She finally managed to spit it out after [[spoiler:getting engaged,]] [[TheILoveYouStigma but even then she was still frightened to say it]].
* In the ''Webcomic/MobPsycho100'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20822168 The Best Laid Plans]]'' Teru plans to confess his feeling to Mob over a very fancy dinner date. His plans are derailed when he finds that he forgot his wallet at home, doesn't have enough to pay for their dinner, and falls into a stream. Eventually he does spit it out, though, and it's adorable.

* One ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1730427/1/Anguish fanfiction]] had Drizzt trying to tell Catti-brie how he feels about her at the most perfect moment -- on a balcony during a ball -- [[spoiler: only to be interrupted because Delly was having a baby.]]
* Happens twice in the ''[[Fanfic/ThePrivateDiaryOfElizabethQuatermain Elizabeth Quatermain]]'' series. First, when one character proposes to the woman he loves, he can't quite bring himself to actually ask the question (luckily, she answers it anyway). The second time, another character just can't say the words until he's practically arguing with the object of his affections, finally blurting it out in an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove.

* A huge point of the plot in the ''Franchise/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' fanfic ''Toward the World's End''. Protagonist Arthur is clearly in love with Nanoha, which is obvious to everyone except Nanoha and ''himself''. Arthur constantly grapples with the fact that he has no clue what he actually feels for Nanoha, other than that it is more than friendship. He ''does'' refer to Fate as his "rival for Nanoha's love" toward the end of the 2nd fanfic however, with the revelation more directed at the fact that Arthur now understood Fate's feelings, rather than his own. However, it may suggest that he is at least slightly coming to terms with how feels.
** This gets so extreme that the other characters make jabs at Arthur about it, and several of them have a "side" that they're on (Either supporting Arthur or Fate ending up with Nanoha). Particularly, Arthur's fellow forwards often use this as a talking point at lunchtime. Subaru in particular. None of these characters have any problem spitting it out to Nanoha either, making several jokes about Arthur's feelings around her.
* ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'' has this as part of Konan and Nagato's backstory. Things might have gone differently if Nagato had not suffered from this.
* [[WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom Danny and Sam]] in ''[[Fanfic/FacingTheFutureSeries Hearts and Minds]]'' had difficulty [[spoiler:confessing their deeper feelings for each other at first]].
* In ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfTime'', Literature/SherlockHolmes can't even seem to ''process'' his feelings towards Beth Lestrade, let alone spit them out. After she makes a thinly veiled AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, he can only say, "Good night, Beth."
* Almost literally in ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' fanfiction ''Haloes''. While Urd and Keichi are obviously developing feelings to each other, a nasty bout with aphasia robs the former of her ability to use written and spoken language. Her later AnguishedDeclarationOfLove has the mute goddess [[spoiler:develop an entire StarfishLanguage made of music and translate it in words just to relearn how to speak.]]
* ''The Fascinating Yet Obvious Twixie'' spends thirteen chapters of Twilight and Trixie dancing circles around each other without admitting how they feel, for fear of rejection. Given that they spend the entire story together in the same room and get highly intimate for a number of reasons, some severe self-delusions are employed. [[spoiler:Once Trixie realizes that Twilight does feel for her, it all comes tumbling out.]]
* ''Magician's Obsessions'': This and an unhealthy dose of ObliviousToLove keeps Trixie and Twilight from realizing their feelings. Of course Trixie only collects those photos and news clippings of Twilight in order to keep tabs on her rival! Of course Twilight is depressed because Trixie left and never came back, because she really, ''really'' wants to be her friend! At one point Celestia considers just telling Twilight, "You're in love. Get on with it!"
* In ''Fanfic/BlindMansBluff", [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Nick]] just can't confess his feelings for [[MoralityPet Ellis.]] He truly loves him, and God forbid if you ever [[BerserkButton hurt]] [[UnstoppableRage Ellis]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge in front of]] Nick, but due to his general standoffish nature and his residual trust issues from his rocky divorce, he finds it difficult to express his feelings.
* In ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/247904/any-way-you-want-it Any Way You Want It]]'' (a sequel to ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/230261/going-anywhere Going Anywhere]]''), roommates Tinker and Emma each refuse to reveal to the other why they were running away from [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Canterlot]] on the same day until the other does first. For his part, Tinker doesn't want to ''ever'' tell her that [[RunawayBride he left his fiance (in an arranged marriage) at the altar]]. Though unstated, Emma probably has the exact same reason, being as it was the exact same altar.

* In ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'', Shinji liked both Asuka and Rei, but he didn't say anything because he wasn't sure about his feelings or theirs... [[spoiler:until Asuka kissed him.]]
* ''Fanfic/NeonGenesisEvangelionGenocide'': Shinji didn't dare spit his feelings out because he thought Asuka hated him. On the other hand, Asuka thought that ''he'' wasn't interested in her and he hated ''her''.
* It's revealed in ''[[Fanfic/OversaturatedWorld Sugarcarthesis]]'' that Sugarcoat had a crush on Twilight and never told her while she was at Crystal Prep because, well, Crystal Prep is all about academia. By the time she finally does confess, Twilight has ingratiated herself with her Canterlot High friends and has no idea how to react...
-->'''Sugarcoat:''' I just poured my heart out to my crush, who then folded space to get away from me. ''[deep breath]'' [[HeartbreakAndIceCream We are getting ice cream.]]\\
'''Lemon Zest:''' ''[puts an arm around her shoulders]'' [[PrecisionFStrike Fuck yes,]] we are getting ice cream.

* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'': Vegeta being forced to ask for help and swallow his pride at the Earthlings that contributed to beating him.
--> '''Vegeta''': "Every fiber of my being wants to puke at once when I say this, but I need your he...I need your [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aossw4UUjVA heaa...]]"
--> '''Gohan''': You need our help?
--> '''Vegeta''': [[SureLetsGoWithThat That. Yes.]]
* ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': In chapter 24, Moondancer confesses to Princess Celestia that she kept sending hints Twilight's way, but Twilight never figured out what Moondancer was trying to say - [[spoiler:that she was in love with Twilight]].
* ''Fanfic/ShipsAhoy'': Oscar is unable to tell Olive about him planning on being a Lab Director and how he wants to remain an Investigation agent to help her achieve her full potential despite Oprah's repeated requests for him to tell her, and it causes major strife in how they see each other. When Olive does manage to find out that Oscar is becoming a Lab Director, it's from his cousin Polly Graph, and the realization hits her like a truck as she believes that he never cared about her and heads back to Headquarters just in time to see him be promoted to the position.
* ''Fanfic/ForeverAndAMile'': One morning, Octavia runs into Oprah, who is surprised that she's at work early. Octavia realizes that she could tell Oprah about her entire strife with O'Brian, even though the last agent that did that apparently [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment got sent to the moon by O'Brian himself,]] but instead, all she does is give a sheepish chuckle and wish her boss a good morning. Later on, when assigning her a case regarding the World's Largest String Cheese being stolen, Oprah tells Octavia to talk to her if she needs anything, and Octavia simply adopts a hesitant facial expression as she lies and tells her boss that she's okay.

* In ''Film/AprilShowers'', Sean cannot seem to tell April he loves her. [[spoiler:And then she dies in the school shooting, meaning he'll never get the chance to.]]

* Tragically used in ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon''. Shu Lien and Li Mubai are deeply in love with each other and pretty much everyone knows, including themselves, but Shu Lien's first love and fiancé was actually Li Mubai's best friend, and he tragically perished in an event that Mubai still blames himself for. Therefore, to not shame the dead guy's memory, they can't act on their love. [[spoiler:And don't do so until Li Mubai is fatally poisoned and, in his last moments, he shares a LastKiss with Shu Lien.]]

[[spoiler:'''Jay:''' Say it, don't spray it.]]

* Peter in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'' is the absolute definition of this trope. Despite being a budding scientific genius, plus highly articulate and witty when it comes to taunting criminals he's captured and stupid cops, whenever he tries to speak to Gwen he deteriorates into gibberish. [[spoiler:He ends up getting around this by revealing his webbing rather than outright saying it, allowing her to put the clues together.]]

* Peter and MJ both in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome''. They care about each other but aren't comfortable putting it into words quite yet. Peter has psyched himself up by planning out a LoveConfession, which keeps getting derailed by his life as Spider-Man. When they're finally alone together and he's about to tell her, he's [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove thrown off-guard]] by MJ revealing she knows his secret identity. She then accidentally devastates him by claiming that her interest in him was only about seeing if her theory was correct, but bigger problems emerge before she can explain that wasn't what she meant. [[spoiler:After Mysterio has been defeated and they reunite, they finally tell each other how they feel and they have their FirstKiss. By the denouement, they're a couple.]]

* Creator/StephenKing's ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series does this a hell of a lot: [[spoiler:Whoops, pregnant with a shapeshifting daemon baby and I'm one of the fathers]] and [[spoiler:there's two of us.]] Funny part is [[spoiler:I never had my way with you. My seed is being passed to you by an oracle who'll proceed to rape you for a good 30 pages.]] Gosh darn, can't not love Stephen King.
* In Creator/RobinJarvis' ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' trilogy, Audrey is in love with Piccadilly, though he has been led to believe she hates him. Before he leaves with Thomas, Arthur, and Barker to confront [[BigBad Jupiter]] in ''The Final Reckoning'', Audrey attempts to confess her feelings to him, but what she manages to say comes out in an awkward and confusing manner. Before she can clearly explain what she's trying to tell him, she is interrupted. [[spoiler:She never sees him again before his death.]]

* In ''Literature/HyperionCantos: The Rise of Endymion'', the main character spends a great deal of energy angsting over a period of time that his love spent unaccounted for while he was off touring planets, having kidney stones, and eluding the Space Pope. No, really. He deduces that this time was spent with another man, and angsts accordingly. At length. Of course, he can't bear to ask her about it; otherwise she might have told him that [[spoiler:thanks to some time travel tomfoolery, the other man was ''him.'']] However, considering how much of the plot's pacing hinges on said lover's constant reluctance to give information that would explain anything to anyone, maybe not.

* Just about every single heroic character in ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', and its sequel series ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', suffers from this. Nobody who has ''any'' sort of vital information about ''anything'' can reveal it straight away, either because they for various reasons Cannot Spit It Out or because they're interrupted by someone else arriving or something important happening. The single exception to this rule is Butch, a minor character from ''The Lost Hero,'' who at his first appearance explains exactly what's going on the moment he's asked.

* In ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'', the first thing Darcy says about Elizabeth is that she's not pretty enough to dance with (which she overhears). When she walks to Netherfield to visit her ill sister, his opinion of her starts to change, but he doesn't do anything beyond {{Longing Look}}s until he tries to propose to her many months later, fully expecting that she was ''hoping'' for it. He did have a good reason for keeping his feelings quiet; as he [[SarcasmMode helpfully explains]], he was trying to reason himself out of wanting to connect himself with her inferior family. How odd, then, that she should refuse him! Of course, after Elizabeth's refusal, Darcy takes stock of himself based on her complaints about him and starts to shape up, becoming a much more polite and empathetic person. This causes Elizabeth to begin loving ''him'', but feels incredibly awkward about it given how violently she refused him, and also feels guilty because half of the jerkish acts she accused him of weren't even true. So she says nothing to him about it, partly due to the awkwardness and partly because she feels like he couldn't possibly love her back after the crap she gave him. ''Then'' [[spoiler: Lydia elopes with Wickham, exposing the Bennet family to potential, devastating shame which would make Darcy's marrying Elizabeth social suicide on his part]], and complicates it all even ''further.''
* ''Literature/{{Rebecca}}'' (Daphne du Maurier). [[spoiler:The heroine is convinced that she's a complete failure compared to Rebecca, her husband's first (dead) wife, until she finds out that Rebecca was evil and the husband never loved her and murdered her. Which cheers her up immensely.]]

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' has a significantly less cheerful romance example: [[spoiler: Solas's]] inability to admit that [[spoiler:he is [[TricksterGod the Dread Wolf]]]] during his final romance scene is at least part of why he [[spoiler:[[BreakHerHeartToSaveHer breaks up with the Inquisitor]], and ultimately ends up leaving the Inquisition.]]
* This drives the entire plot of ''VideoGame/EmilyIsAway''. You keep backing out of telling Emily how you really feel about her, and that leads to [[spoiler: her getting together with Brad, even after a brief breakup, and you losing the only other girl you showed interest in.]]

*** Cloud is convinced he used to [[spoiler: be a member of [[SuperSoldier SOLDIER]]]], and all evidence points towards this -- he has the uniform, the sword, the skills, and the glowing eyes. However, [[spoiler: after leaving town to join SOLDIER, he failed to get in, and instead enrolled as a basic grunt. After a mission that took place in his hometown in which his idol Sephiroth, went insane and burned it all down, maimed the closest thing he had to a childhood friend, nearly killed his best friend, and stabbed him through the chest, he was patched up by EvilutionaryBiologist Hojo as part of an experiment. However, the combination of the drugs and trauma completely destroyed his mind, and when they escaped and his friend Zack died defending him he utterly snapped, adopting an elaborate system of FakeMemories and osmosed identity from Zack, who actually was in SOLDIER. And so Cloud relates the events of that day as if he was in Zack's position. Aforementioned childhood friend Tifa is spooked by the fact that Cloud can tell the story accurately despite him apparently not being there. Little does she know that Cloud was with them on that mission, but disguised as a Shinra grunt. The discrepancy causes Tifa so much confusion, doubt, and worry about what might happen if she confronts Cloud over this that she chooses to bottle up her concerns. The end result of this is when Sephiroth starts telling Cloud various half-truths in order to drive him insane, Tifa's lack of understanding of the situation finds her unable to refute any of Sephiroth's claims.]]

* In ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'', Richard starts avoiding you and becomes tongue-tied in high school for reasons unknown. Trying to push him to talk will make him avoid you more, [[spoiler:but he'll eventually confess that he fell in love with the summer camp instructor while also having feelings for you. He couldn't tell you earlier because he was so hung up with his emotions regarding his crushes.]]

-->'''Bronson:''' ... I'm not sure what to say... But just stay calm and hear me out. I have good news, and I have bad news. Which do you want to hear first...? No... Let me start with the good news first. I picked up a giant [[spoiler: "Drago Fang"]]. It'll make for a great weapon. I figured you could probably use it. ...... As for the bad news... ...... The bad news is... ............ ...It's where I found the [[spoiler: Drago Fang]]. It was...... in your... [[spoiler: It was pierced through your wife's heart... ]]

** Said rival is an even more extreme version, in that he won't admit ''to himself'' that he ''might'' just be attracted to the PlayerCharacter...[[spoiler:until the endgame, where he strongly implies that he did indeed feel affection for her. Shame he had to [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betray her]] first.]]

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' has a bartender keep a letter from Bobbery's deceased wife away from him for several DECADES. It's not until the player needs the Bob-omb that the bartender gives you the letter to give to the ex-sailor.

* Used absolutely heartbreakingly in ''VideoGame/Prey2006''. Tommy asks himself in the mirror why he won't just tell Jem he loves her. He eventually does [[spoiler:after having had to kill her.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'', this is pretty much the only reason that [[spoiler:Red and Elh aren't together by the end of the game.]] [[ShipperOnDeck Merveille]] designs [[spoiler:a virtual simulation to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] a RescueRomance to get them to admit their feelings, but [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove the program ends too quickly and Red forgets what he was going to say]].]] There's also a minor, nameless female NPC who constantly tries to tell herself to spit something out to another male NPC. [[spoiler:Subverted when the guy just owes her some money.]]

* Most of the problems in the last act of ''VisualNovel/PhantomOfInferno'' could have been solved early on if Reiji had done what most normal people would have done and greeted [[spoiler: Cal]] as joyfully and warmly as what he had expressed in his monologue and explained to her why he ran instead of using the opportunities that she gave him to speak to be confrontational and non-expressive. ([[spoiler: "...Leave Elen out of this." "Cal..." "..." "Wait, Cal!" etc., etc., etc.]]) Made doubly frustrating because she approached him looking for an excuse to drop her vendetta.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' has this problem with Team JNPR as the girls, Pyrrha and Nora, are in love with the boys, Jaune and Ren, but they don't come out and say it ''normally''. It's much more noticeable, especially with Nora, in their respective {{Image Song}}s, "Dreams Come True" and "Boop". [[spoiler:In the Volume 3 finale, Pyrrha finally is able to fully express to Jaune how she feels about him... just before she goes off to what turns out to be her death.]] ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'' parodies this for all it's worth.

* In ''WebAnimation/XRayAndVav'', X-Ray has this problem towards his pal Vav -- Vav's head over heels in love with IntrepidReporter Ash Samaya, and X-Ray is both insanely jealous of him and insanely ''terrified'' of losing his pal to a girl. Vav is completely clueless to this (and other things) that he thinks that X-Ray's being an asshole with Hilda frustrated that the two just won't sit down and talk lest their egos clash. [[spoiler:Doesn't help that The Mad King used this against them.]] Thankfully, they get this worked out in the end.

* Oh dear. Lucy from ''Webcomic/BittersweetCandyBowl'' spends YEARS -- both in-world and in real life -- trying to come to terms with her feelings before she finally announces how she feels. [[spoiler:Disappointingly, she left it just a bit too late.]]
* In ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'' Nikodemus keeps delaying informing Vita of his feelings for her even after a coworker has informed her of his very obvious crush. Her annoyance with his hesitation eventually leads her to turn her attention to Quixoto.

* Dave and Helen from ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' gradually become attracted to each other. [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=10117 This week]] of strips gives you a good idea of their relationship. Eventually, they [[spoiler: end up together]]. Then [[spoiler: break up.]] Then [[spoiler: almost destroy the world.]] Then [[spoiler: get back together.]] Then [[spoiler: plot to destroy the world together.]]

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Haley is unable to confess her love for Elan for the first several hundred chapters. Elan, being the resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, is the [[EveryoneCanSeeIt only one oblivious to her feelings.]] Then she is struck with aphasia, and takes advantage of the situation to confess multiple times to Elan's face, secure in the knowledge that he can't understand a word, when ''actually'' confessing (say, through writing, or just grabbing him and smooching) would cure her.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Rascals}}'', Reiko when she tries to tell Skye that she loves him on this page [[https://rascals.kemono.cafe/comic/rascals-pg-456/ here ]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sakana}}'', Jiro, who is already unlucky enough, simply can't build up his courage to talk to "Cashier Girl", who is working across from him and who he's been in love with for two years without even knowing her name. [[spoiler: They do go on a date together after some time,]] but only after Jiro had some help from his big brother and his best friend.

** In the second part of the Love Potion arc, Gwynn curses Torg by causing him to bray and start turning into a donkey every time he tries to say something important in order to make sure that he does not tell anyone about her plan. Unfortunately, while Torg is on a date with Zoë, Oasis arrives and abducts him, kicking Zoë in the face in the process. Under the curse, Torg is unable to tell anyone what happened, causing Gwynn to believe he mistreated Zoë, but he eventually manages to get Riff to find out the truth. [[LoopholeAbuse By writing it down.]]

* ''Webcomic/SplitScreen'': Jeremy wouldn't confess his feelings for Jan because [[spoiler: he feels he's not good enough for her and he'd hold her back on her career path.]] She's too stubbornly prideful to just ask him how he felt. This went on for more than a decade.
* A fair chunk of the early portion of ''Webcomic/TheirStory'' focused on Sun Jing's efforts to befriend the girl she has a crush on, Qiu Tong. She loses her nerve and [[EpicFail ends up walking away after stammering out a "hi" each time]], and her suspicious behaviour causes Qiu Tong to avoid her, out of fear that Sun Jing wants to beat her up. [[spoiler: This lasts until chapter 81 when Sun Jing finally confesses to Qiu Tong and makes her romantic interest clear.]]

* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': Percy [[spoiler:Vex'Ahlia]] dance around this for ''70+ episodes!'' He builds stuff for her and calls her his "favorite," while she gives him kisses on the cheek in return for the projects he builds for her and calls him "dear," but neither of them tells each other about their feelings because of the trauma in their pasts. He thinks he's no good for her, and she thinks she's below his station. Not until [[spoiler:Percy dies in Episode 69]] does she confirm her feelings, and he doesn't hear them then. [[spoiler: He spends the next two episodes only just then considering telling her, and then gives her TheBigDamnKiss to end Episode 72.]]

* ''WebVideo/{{Jreg}}'': In ''The Mental Illnesses'', [[spoiler: Anxiety tries to confess to Depression in "The Mental Illnesses 4", possibly an InterruptedDeclarationOfLove.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Anxiety''': Depression, people really care about you. ''I'' care about you. I... I might even l...lo--...l--.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Aang. Oh, Aang. Someday you'll be able to tell Katara how you feel. [[spoiler: Naturally, that time was the end of the GrandFinale.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', potential couple [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]] and [[ComicBook/TheWasp Janet Van Dyne]] suffer from this. [[spoiler:By the time Hank works up the courage to say anything, he goes unconscious right after saying the word "love". He doesn't manage to actually proclaim his feelings for Jan until after ''she'' goes unconscious.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' does this a lot when it comes to Patty. [[TwiceShy She can't spit it out, either.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': Nathan Explosion has an "apology problem," in that he finds it hard to say that he's sorry for his actions. This turns out to be an actual physical incapability [[spoiler: during Roy Cornickelson's funeral: as he tries to apologize to Pickles, he stammers over the phrase and even ''vomits blood'' before he can finally spit it out.]]

** Another example: from 'A Bird In The Hoof', Princess Celestia meets Twilight's friends for the first time in person. She's been told about them and what they do. When Fluttershy is introduced to Philomeena, Celestia merely asks Fluttershy "Isn't she lovely?" Cue the bird losing a few feathers off of her already near-featherless body and making a horrible hacking cough as though she's dying [[spoiler:(She is. [[DeathIsCheap She gets better]].)]]. Long story short, the entire episode could have been skipped if Celestia had simply thought to mention to Fluttershy that [[spoiler:Philomeena is a phoenix.]]

** Following Amity Blight's CharacterDevelopment and eventually developing feelings for Luz, she doesn't have the heart to tell her how she feels, especially in "Wing It Like Witches" whenever they cross paths. This probably has something to do with the fact that the idea of Luz rejecting her is unambiguously stated to be her greatest fear. [[spoiler:Ultimately, she does manage to blurt it out in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", though she defers to Luz and allows her to be the one to initiate the RelationshipUpgrade.]]
** In "Reaching Out", Luz gets a text message from her mother about an important event that day she is unable to attend, but she is too scared to reveal the truth to anyone, especially Amity. When Amity demands the truth some time later, Luz finally reveals the event she missed: [[spoiler:it was the anniversary of the day her father passed away, and every year she and her mother visit the cemetery to do a special ritual of picking flowers and placing them on his grave. Naturally, Amity understands her feelings and they pick flowers at the Grom tree to make up for it.]]
* Try as she might, Isabella from ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' can't work up the courage to tell Phineas how she really feels about him. [[spoiler: He can't tell her either.]]

* Initially played for laughs, then played for drama in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' episode "Jedi Night". Hera, who is a bit delirious due to being given a TruthSerum while being interrogated by the Empire, spends the entire episode trying to tell Kanan something while he breaks her out of jail, only to BaitAndSwitch to something silly ("I have to tell you something... [[ImportantHairCut I hate your hair.]]"). At the end of the episode, she finally manages to tell him that she loves him... [[spoiler:and then [[HeroicSacrifice he dies]] right afterwards]], leading to her anguishing over why didn't she tell him sooner. The GrandFinale later heavily suggests, however, that she was trying to tell him something ''else'' -- [[spoiler:she's pregnant]].

** Also [[ZigzaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] with a SiblingTriangle subplot between Lion-O, his brother Tygra and shared LoveInterest Cheetara. Rather than explicitly state that they both have feelings for her and asking if she reciprocates, they [[InvokedTrope complicate]] matters by treating their interactions as ([[SiblingRivalry yet another]]) passive-aggressive competition, hoping she'll give an indication of "choosing" one of them eventually. In "Between Brothers" Cheetara finally understands the extent to which the pair have been feuding over her, and apologizes for [[PlayedStraight playing this trope straight.]] She admits that she's [[AllLoveIsUnrequited also harbored unrequited feelings]], confessing her love and kissing [[spoiler:Tygra, which is of course the moment Lion-O enters the scene.]]

* A familial example from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes''. Due their seeming lack of emotions, the protagonist Byleth has difficulties expressing any form of affection towards their father Jeralt. In ''Three Houses'' this manifests as them [[spoiler:crying for the first time in their life when Jeralt is killed]] and in ''Three Hopes'' is shown in their support conversations, in which Byleth goes out of their way to gift Jeralt flowers as a way of showing affecting and thanks for the life they've had with their father after growing concerned that they never expressed the love one might expect between parent and child. Thankfully, Jralt reasssures them that [[ParentsKnowTheirChildren he's always know]] even if they didn't show it.

* ''VisualNovel/YoJinBo'' is absolutely ''full of this trope''. Jin is the worst about it, but all of the guys do it. Even when confessing their feelings, it often comes out as "IUhYouToo" and YouShouldKnowThisAlready.

* One rare example in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' (rare because the elves tend to practise BrutalHonesty): Zhantee keeps his love for Leetah a secret, likely because Leetah is lifemated to their chief, Cutter. He's open about his respect and admiration for her, but never says that his feelings are romantic. When Cutter finds out, he tells Zhantee that they could have been a threesome ''centuries'' ago if Zhantee had only told him. Too bad [[spoiler: this is moments before Zhantee dies]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'': For most of his super heroing career, Captain Marvel Jr couldn't tell anyone his name, because it happened to also be his [[ByThePowerOfGrayskull transformation phrase]] (minus the "Jr"). He's now known as Shazam, having taken over for Billy Batson, who took over for the Wizard Shazam as guardian of The Rock of Ages.

** Peter Parker is unwilling to reveal his dual identity to his Aunt May, because he fears the shock will kill her, and later because he doesn't want her constantly worrying about him risking his life as Spider-Man. It became even worse when Peter wouldn't tell his first girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, the secret either. He never told Mary Jane while they were dating, either -- ''she'' had to tell ''him'' that she knew his secret.

* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': Shinji and Asuka got together after he said to her that he loved her. However Asuka was still very confused, frightened and insecure of herself and her feelings. So it took a while until she was ready to admit to herself and him that she needed him and loved him back.

** Subverted. In the prologue Misato thinks Shinji is incapable to confess his feelings to Asuka and she tries to encourage him to admit them to her. Shinji answers the usual excuses: he does not think that Asuka loves him back, he likes things the way they are right now... in reality they had got together several weeks ago and were keeping their relationship secret. Before that, though, they HAD been unable to spit it out: Shinji did not believe that Asuka liked him, Asuka was too proud to admit that she had fallen for him and both were frightened of rejection.

* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': Asuka kept her real feelings for Shinji secret. She finally managed spitting it out after [[spoiler:getting engaged,]] [[TheILoveYouStigma but even then she was still frightened to say it]].

* Pyrrha in ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant'' has this problem like she did in her home series, only this time, Yang is the one she's in love with. A major reason why she has trouble confessing her feelings is because Yang is the first genuine friendship she's ever had, and while she'd like for it to become something more, she's also terrified of ruining it.

* ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': In the original timeline Shinji thought Asuka did not like him back, Asuka thought Shinji did not like her back and he loved Rei instead, and Rei was unable to recognize her own emotions. In the altered timeline neither of them confessed for a while since Asuka was confused because she also started liking Rei, Rei was unsure about her feelings towards Shinji and Asuka, and Shinji thought he would have to choose between both.

* ''Fanfic/HigherLearning'': Shinji was afraid of confessing Asuka because he is a shy kid who did not think she liked him. Asuka was frightened of confessing Shinji because she is afraid of opening up to other people, and he had ignored all hints she dropped. It took a bottle of sake for them reaching each other out and blurting their feelings out.
* ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'': Shinji did not dare to confess his feelings to Asuka because he was afraid that she would not love him back or she would find out about his SecretIdentity and regard him as something was above her rather just Shinji. Asuka did not dare to confess her feelings because she was afraid to open up and get rejected.
* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': Shinji can't spit two things out to Asuka: his feelings towards her (because he is certain of she'll run for the hills if he confesses too soon); and the bit about him being a time-traveler and being awfully sorry for all what he did and did not to her (because her life and safety depends on him keeping his mouth closed).

%%* A major problem Ruby has in the first few stories of ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora''. She eventually moves her feels to Penny.

* A huge point of plot in the ''Franchise/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' fanfic ''Toward the World's End''. Protagonist Arthur is clearly in love with Nanoha, which is obvious to everyone except Nanoha and ''himself''. Arthur constantly grapples with the fact that he has no clue what he actually feels for Nanoha, other than that it is more than friendship. He ''does'' refer to Fate as his "rival for Nanoha's love" toward the end of the 2nd fanfic however, with the revelation more directed at the fact that Arthur now understood Fate's feelings, rather than his own. However, it may suggest that he is at least slightly coming to terms with how feels.
** This gets so extreme that the other characters make jabs at Arthur about it, and several of them have a "side" that they're on (Either supporting Arthur or Fate ending up with Nanoha). Particularly, Arthur's fellow forwards often use this as a talking point at lunch time. Subaru in particular. None of these characters have any problem spitting it out to Nanoha either, making several jokes about Arthur's feelings around her.

* Almost literally in ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' fanfiction ''Haloes''. While Urd and Keichi are obviously developing feelings to each other, a nasty bout with aphasia robs the former of her ability to use written and spoken language. Her later AnguishedDeclarationOfLove has the mute goddess [[spoiler:develop and entire StarfishLanguage made of music and translate it in words just to relearn how to speak.]]

* ''Fanfic/ForeverAndAMile'': One morning, Octavia runs into Oprah, who is surprised that she's at work early. Octavia realizes that she could tell Oprah about her entire strife with O'Brian, even though the last agent that did that apparently [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment got sent to the moon by O'Brian himself,]] but instead, all she does is give a sheepish chuckle and wish her boss a good morning. Later on, when assigning her a case regarding the World's Largest String Cheese being stolen, Oprah tells Octavia to talk to her if she needs anything, and Octavia simply adopts a hesitant face expression as she lies and tells her boss that she's okay.

** Harry Osborne has a terrible grudge against Spider-Man, as he believes he was responsible for the death of his father, Norman. As one of the only people who knows Spider-Man's real identity, he spends the greater part of the movie making things difficult for Peter Parker, battles Spider-Man a few times as the Green Goblin, and eventually, in one of said battles, gets injured. Later in the movie, Peter asks Harry to help fight the team of Venom and the Sandman, but Harry declines the offer. At this point, the Osborne family's loyal butler Bernard arrives, and tells Harry that Spider-Man was really never responsible for Norman's death, and that he died of his own folly. Apparently, the butler knew this all along, but still allowed Harry to play out his vendetta against Spider-Man. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the DVD extras]], the butler was a hallucination for Harry to justify himself. Note how ''only'' Harry sees him during the entire movie.

* In ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', Peter stumbles on his words in nearly every conversation he has with [[SingleGuySeeksMostPopularGirl Liz Allan]], and is staring at his feet when he finally tells her about his crush on her. However, she's already figured it out and offers to be his date to the school dance.
* Peter and MJ both in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome''. They care about each other, but aren't comfortable putting it into words quite yet. Peter has psyched himself up by planning out a LoveConfession, which keeps getting derailed by his life as Spider-Man. When they're finally alone together and he's about to tell her, he's [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove thrown off-guard]] by MJ revealing she knows his secret identity. She then accidentally devastates him by claiming that her interest in him was only about seeing if her theory was correct, but bigger problems emerge before she can explain that wasn't what she meant. [[spoiler:After Mysterio has been defeated and they reunite, they finally tell each other how they feel and they have their FirstKiss. By the denouement, they're a couple.]]

* ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': Quicksilver just can't tell Magneto that the latter is his father. Peter knows he'll say it to him some day, but just couldn't do it even when standing right in front of him at a moment where doing so could've convinced Erik to fight against Apocalypse sooner.

** Harry finds out in the last book that Dumbledore had been eaten up with self loathing for causing his sister’s death for about a century. He let his brother Aberforth continue to (understandably) resent him for that long. Aberforth had just assumed he was able to move on with his life and become the best wizard of the era. Harry has to be the one to explain to Aberforth that he was “never free” from it all because he could never bring himself to apologize to Aberforth or tell him that he loved him and their sister.

* In ''Literature/TheNameOfTheWind'', Kvothe finds himself unable to tell Denna how he feels, at first out of mischance (and her frequent, frustrating absences), but later it is because he fears he has nothing to offer her, and that if he were to pursue a romantic relationship with her it will end badly, as most of her relationships apparently do. Instead of trying to work up the courage anyway, he ends the book as an UnluckyChildhoodFriend. Of course, this is only the first part....
* Seregil from ''Literature/{{Nightrunner}}'' takes at least a book and a half to spit out anything: [[LockedOutOfTheLoop the secret of his protege's heritage]], his true feelings for his protege, his own [[DarkAndTroubledPast murky past]]....
* In Creator/IsobelleCarmody's ''Ashling'', part of ''Literature/TheObernewtynChronicles'', Rushton and Elspeth love each other, but neither of them admit it until Rushton has an emotional breakdown and tells her that he thinks that she doesn't love him because he can't use his psychic powers, when she was actually ignoring him because she thought he was carrying on with Freya.

* ''Creator/SimonaAhrnstedt'' gives us a really painful example of this in her debut novel, ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}''. It's the story about young Beatrice, who's bullied and pressured by her abusive and tyrannical uncle into an engagement with a man. A man who's not only like forty years older than her, but he also treats women like they're dirt under his shoes. So what does she do? Of course, she tells nobody the truth about why she agreed to marry this man (he would get her beautiful but weak cousin instead, if she didn't sacrifice herself). To be fair, she really is in a crappy situation, but still, yikes... And unfortunately, her love interest Seth is no better. Since he thinks that she willingly rejected him to marry an old disgusting aristocrat, stupid pride keeps him from admitting that he loves her. Several misunderstandings between them (sigh...) leads to much misery for them both (including that Beatrice gets [[spoiler: brutally raped and battered on her wedding night]]).

* Justified in ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo'' -- while Apollo has clearly figured out some plot important information, he forgets it at the worst possible moment due to him being BroughtDownToNormal. [[LampshadeHanging Of course, Apollo gets frustrated at how often this happens]].

* Music/FrancoDeVita: The theme of "Preso de mi propio sentimiento" (Slave Of My Own Feelings"). Franco is unable to tell his LoveInterest about his feelings, and as a result his mind and heart are being tormented over the prospect that said feelings may never be outed.

* "Everybody Knows (Except You)" by The Divine Comedy. The narrator can tell literally anyone about his feelings, and does (his parents, his friends to the point of driving them crazy, random strangers on the street and even making a small child cry) but he cannot bring himself to tell the one oblivious object of his affections.

* "First Love Picture Book" from Music/HoneyWorks' ''Music/ConfessionExecutiveCommitteeLoveSeries'' tells the story of Mio Aida, who fell in love with her school mate Haruki, and the two were really close, but she never found the courage to "close the last 10cm distance" between them, and they eventually parted ways and moved on from each other. Tragically, Haruki's song, "Goodbye, Our Mutual Unrequited Love" reveals that he actually feels the same way about Mio, but likewise was too scared to actually confess to her.

* Mothy's "60 Second Love" sung by Rin Kagamine is about a school girl who is in love with a boy who reads her bus, but can't bring herself to tell him.

* According to the ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' "Master Guide", Gorg seems to have a crush on Meanae but can't express his feelings due to his stone-face nature and lack of emotions.

* OlderThanSteam: ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' uses this trope. Tybalt confronts Romeo, challenging him to a swordfight. Romeo tries to explain that there's no reason for their two families to keep feuding, since he and Juliet recently got married. Tybalt won't let Romeo get to the part about marriage, assuming Romeo's unwillingness to fight is simply the act of a coward. Then Tybalt makes the whole conversation moot when he [[ItsPersonal fights and kills Mercutio instead]].

* ''VideoGame/CorpseParty'': Poor Naomi! Not only is she unable to spit out her feelings for Satoshi, but because of her {{Tsundere}} nature, she is unable to apologize when she knows she's gone too far, so neither her nor Seiko feel any better and they end up separating [[spoiler:which leads to Seiko's death]]. In ''Book of Shadows'', Naomi actually has a coughing fit.

*** Cloud is convinced he used to [[spoiler: be a member of [[SuperSoldier SOLDIER]]]], and all evidence points towards this -- he has the uniform, the sword, the skills, and the glowing eyes. However, [[spoiler: after leaving town to join SOLDIER, he failed to get in, and instead enrolled as a basic grunt. After a mission that took place in his hometown in which his idol Sephiroth, went insane and burned it all down, maimed the closest thing he had to a childhood friend, nearly killed his best friend, and stabbed him through the chest, he was patched up by EvilutionaryBiologist Hojo as part of an experiment. However, the combination of the drugs and trauma completely destroyed his mind, and when they escaped and his friend Zack died defending him he utterly snapped, adopting an elaborate system of FakeMemories and osmosed identity from Zack, who actually was in SOLDIER. And so Cloud relates the events of that day as if he was in Zack's position. Aforementioned childhood friend Tifa, is spooked by the fact that Cloud can tell the story accurately despite him apparently not being there. Little does she know that Cloud was with them on that mission, but disguised as a Shinra grunt. The discrepancy causes Tifa so much confusion, doubt and worry for what might happen if she confronts Cloud over this that she chooses to bottle up her concerns. The end result of this is when Sephiroth starts telling Cloud various half-truths in order to drive him insane, Tifa's lack of understanding of the situation finds her unable to refute any of Sephiroth's claims.]]

** There's also Irvine's inability to mention [[spoiler: his past association with the other main characters and even the villain]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''. He alludes to it for a while, but it takes a rather random event to make him open up with it.

* In ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'', Richard starts avoiding you and becomes tongue-tied in high school for reasons unknown. Trying to push him to talk will make him avoid you more, [[spoiler:but he'll eventually confess that he fell in love with the summer camp instructor while also having feelings for you. He couldn't tell you earlier because he was so hung-up with his emotions regarding his crushes.]]

* ''VideoGame/ImmortalSouls'' has John unable to bring himself to tell his LoveInterest Allison that he's a vampire, that he's the one who accidentally caused her brother's coma, or even just admit that he is in love with her. This causes him all manner of problems, as since he's a HeroicNeutral, both the bad ''and'' (ManipulativeBastard) good guys take advantage of the matter on a regular basis. As a result he's constantly forced to choose between keeping his secrets, protecting Allison, and/or going along with whatever scheme either side has cooked up for him.

* Kaidan, at least in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. He shows interest in a female Shepard early on, but has difficulty spelling it out. The third game revealed that he had an even harder time spitting it out if Shepard is a man. Shepard being ObliviousToLove did not help. Shepard can call him on it, too:

* A few of the minor spirits never seem to get around to telling Yuuto how they feel in ''VisualNovel/AseliaTheEternalTheSpiritOfEternitySword''. Unless they do it during the sex scenes, which aren't part of the English release. On a more important note, neither Kyouko or Kouin ever confessed to the other despite the two actually dating. Both have their own reasons.
* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': Sakura eats, cooks and does the next-closest thing to living in [[SenpaiKohai Shirou]]'s house for 2 years and is completely smitten with him, but due to her completely non-existent self-esteem, she absolutely cannot let him know how she feels.

* In ''VisualNovel/ShinyDays'' nobody can ever say anything important when it would be appropriate. Surprisingly given the genre, the one who's worst about this is actually Setsuna ''after'' she's started dating Makoto. She never takes the opportunity to tell Kotonoha that she's dating Makoto even though Kotonoha is one of the girls nice enough to instantly back off if her crush is taken. She also won't tell Makoto that the new substitute manager at Radish is her father, not her ex boyfriend. While Makoto's reaction is way overboard and rather dickish, the whole problem could have been resolved if she could just say four simple words: "Shun is my dad."

* Non-romantic version in ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', when Magnus asks Kitten for the reason behind the latter's resignation. Kitten tries to explain it to him, but realizes that Magnus doesn't remember a thing from [[spoiler:his mad rampage which caused Kitten to make the DealWithTheDevil to stop him]], and decides to hide the fact, mangling the account immensely.
* In ''WebAnimation/XRayAndVav'', X-Ray has this problem towards his pal, Vav -- Vav's head over heels in love with IntrepidReporter Ash Samaya and X-Ray is both insanely jealous of him and insanely ''terrified'' of losing his pal to a girl. Vav is completely clueless to this (and other things) that he thinks that X-Ray's being an asshole with Hilda frustrated that the two just won't sit down and talk lest their egos clash. [[spoiler:Doesn't help that The Mad King used this against them.]] Thankfully, they get this worked out in the end.

** Eridan also was this. He's in a moirallegiance with Feferi, and their dialogue implies that they've know each other for a long time. But their moirallegiance goes badly, and by the time Eridan's got up the courage to confess that his feelings for her are romantic, Feferi wants to break up with him and is too emotionally exhausted to consider a romantic relationship.

** Even more mysterious is the [[spoiler:Yuki/Kobayashi relationship, such as it is. It's been intimated that he's spent years pining for her, and that just about everyone other than Yuki was aware of the fact, but it remains unclear whether she considers him a potential romantic interest or "just a friend". Either way, she isn't telling]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sakana}}'', Jiro, who is already unlucky enough, simply can't build up his courage to talk to "Cashier Girl" , who is working across from him and who he's been in love with for two years without even knowing her name. [[spoiler: They do go on a date together after some time,]] but only after Jiro had some help from his big brother and his best friend.

** In "The Immortal King", it's revealed that the demon K'Z'K spent time in the Never as Rithuly's guest. Rithuly fell in love with him, but wasn't able to confess it until the moment when K'Z'K was finally summoned away. This quite possibly happened just so that Rithuly, a {{Cthulhumanoid}} EldritchAbomination parody, could utter the pun that he wasn't skilled in the "[[Creator/HPLovecraft love-craft]]".

* A fair chunk of the early portion of ''Webcomic/TheirStory'' focused on Sun Jing's efforts to befriend the girl she has a crush on, Qiu Tong. She loses her nerve and [[EpicFail ends up walking away after stammering out a "hi" each time]], and her suspicious behaviour causes Qiu Tong avoid her, out of fear that Sun Jing wants to beat her up. [[spoiler: This lasts until chapter 81 when Sun Jing finally confesses to Qiu Tong and makes her romantic interest clear.]]

* In ''Literature/EntirelyPresentingYou'', Alexis can't tell her closest family and friends about her secret-identity as the bloodsucking-superhero known as Blank Face.

* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': Percy [[spoiler:Vex'Ahlia]] dance around this for ''70+ episodes!'' He builds stuff for her and calls her his "favorite," while she gives him kisses on the cheek in return for the projects he builds for her and calls him "dear," but neither of them tell each other about their feelings because of the trauma in their pasts. He thinks he's no good for her, and she thinks she's below his station. Not until [[spoiler:Percy dies in Episode 69]] does she confirm her feelings, and he doesn't hear them then. [[spoiler: He spends the next two episodes only just then considering telling her, and then gives her TheBigDamnKiss to end Episode 72.]]

* The titular heroine of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' suffers from a combo of this and an UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo with her crime fighting partner, Chat Noir. What makes it ''really'' frustrating is that [[ClarkKenting their identities]] [[PaperThinDisguise are only covered by a]] DominoMask for each of them. This is handwaved by a magical ability that the costumes have, but it still kinda makes you want to go inside the TV and tell them yourself.

** "Green Isn't Your Color": Fluttershy makes it big as a fashion model, and Rarity is jealous, but trying not to show it and being supportive so Fluttershy can have her chance to shine. Meanwhile, ShrinkingViolet Fluttershy is [[CelebrityIsOverrated quickly growing tired of the unwanted attention that comes with fame]], but trying not to show it because she thinks Rarity would be disappointed if she gave up. Both of them confide to Twilight Sparkle... but unfortunately for everyone involved they make Twilight swear to secrecy. [[KeepingSecretsSucks Twilight promptly drives herself crazy trying to keep their respective secrets]] even though [[PoorCommunicationKills it would save everyone a lot of trouble]] [[BrokenAesop if she]] ''[[BrokenAesop didn't]]'' [[BrokenAesop keep said secrets]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'': This sums up Sprx and Nova's relationship fairly well, especially in Sprx's case; it's obvious he loves her, and comes fairly close to saying it a couple of times, only for something to interrupt or chicken out at the last second. In the final episode, [[spoiler: it's ''Nova'' who finally spits it out, in order to break Sprx out of his BrainwashedAndCrazy state]].

* ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}'s buddy Billy Wintergreen hypothesizes in the ''[[ComicBook/DeathstrokeRebirth Rebirth]]'' series that Slade loves his kids more than anything in the world and is eaten up with guilt for not being the dad that they need but is too fundamentally broken to tell them that.

* Following Amity Blight's CharacterDevelopment in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' and eventually developing feelings for Luz, she doesn't have the heart to tell her how she feels, especially in "Wing It Like Witches" whenever they cross paths. This probably has something to do with the fact that the idea of Luz rejecting her is unambiguously stated to be her greatest fear. [[spoiler:Ultimately, she does manage to blurt it out in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", though she defers to Luz and allows her to be the one to initiate the RelationshipUpgrade.]]

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Haley is unable to confess her love for Elan for the first several hundred chapters. Elan, being the resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, is the [[EveryoneCanSeeIt only one oblivious to her feelings.]] Taken UpToEleven when she is struck with aphasia, and takes advantage of the situation to confess multiple times to Elan's face, secure in the knowledge that he can't understand a word, when ''actually'' confessing (say, through writing, or just grabbing him and smooching) would cure her.

* ''Film/SaveTheDate'': Sarah tries multiple times to tell Jonathan she's pregnant by him, but can't bring herself to. The end comes right before it's implied she finally does.

* Carrie to Devin in ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' for most of the series until [[spoiler: sthe gives up on him and decides to just focus on the competition. Which happens just in time for him to realise he's in love with her and suffer from this trope as well!]]

* The titular heroine of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' suffers from a combo of this and an UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo with her crime fighting partner, Chat Noir. What makes it ''really'' frustrating is that [[ClarkKenting their identities]] [[PaperThinDisguise are only covered by a]] DominoMask for each of them -- it kinda makes you want to go inside the TV and tell them yourself.