History Main / ImpliedLoveInterest

* In the ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' series, there are multiple hints that Amitie has feelings towards Sig, with the games keeping the ShipTease subtle while the official light novels explore their relationship further. With that said, Amitie is never outright ''stated'' to be in love with Sig, and Sig himself is too focused on BugCatching to have actual thoughts on this, so even if the implied crush is mutual (and according to a line Sig says in the light novel ''Amitie and the Girl of Love!?'', it might be), it's unlikely something will actually come out of it anytime soon.

** ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheBlackKnight'': Manages to imply both Sonic[=/=]Blaze (through her Black Knight counterpart of Percival) and Sonic[=/=]Amy at once. Percival blushes at Caliburn's [[ShipperOnDeck teasing]], and the final cutscene confirms [[spoiler:Sonic and Amy were supposed to go on a date but Sonic missed it due to being summoned to Arthur's Realm.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': When held prisoner by Gazan and Ming-Hua, Bolin makes three statements: That Gazan had a BadassMustache since he was ten, that he was raised by an older sister, and that he and Ming-Hua are mutually attracted to each other. They share a look, then Gazan tells Bolin he got two out of three right. We never find out which.

** Suzuna and Sena have a {{meet cute}} introduction to each other, people often think they're a couple, and Suzuna states that she doesn't view Sena as a little brother (unlike Mamori). Sena's feelings for Suzuna are left rather ambiguous as well, other then the fact that he's rather protective of her.

* In ''{{Film/Centurion}}'' Gorlacon was TheMentor to Etain, but he has no wife in sight and he displays particular affection for her.

* In ''Literature/{{The ColSec Trilogy}}'', there's nothing to [[ShipTease unequivocally establish]] Cord and Samella as an OfficialCouple. That said, it's pretty clear by the end of the trilogy that Cord is in love with Samella, and there are hints that Samella probably reciprocates.

* Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri in ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}''. Despite huge amounts of ShipTease throughout ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' and ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'', it's never actually outright said that they like each other or ever get into a relationship. While the epilogue and official artbook ''heavily'' imply they love each other and do get together, on-screen it never goes further than holding hands. Although, given the state of Kyoko's [[ScarsAreForever hands]] and how she feels about people seeing or touching them that alone speaks more volume about the nature of their relationship than it usually would.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'': Edward and Harley. There's plenty of [[ShipTease ship teasing]] and {{unresolved sexual tension}} between the two of them, and Tellah's ghost is practically a ShipperOnDeck, but the game never confirms if they become a couple.

* In nearly every ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' series, the main group has [[TheSmurfettePrinciple exactly one main female character the protagonist's age]], and there are occasional hints of her having a crush on the protagonist, but the show's emphasis on ThePowerOfFriendship means her feelings will be ambiguously mutual at best. The main examples from each series are Anzu from [[Anime/YuGiOh the original]] (implied to be requited), Asuka from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'' (might be requited), Aki from ''[[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds 5D's]]'' (heavily implied to be requited), Kotori from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhZexal ZEXAL]]'' (she confesses, but his reaction is fairly ambiguous), and Yuzu from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhArcV ARC-V]]'' (some hints of reciprocation, but ultimately unconfirmed).

* In nearly every ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' series, the main group has [[TheSmurfettePrinciple exactly one main female character the protagonist's age]], and there are occasional hints of her having a crush on the protagonist, but the show's emphasis on ThePowerOfFriendship means her feelings will be ambiguously mutual at best. The main examples from each series are Anzu from [[Anime/YuGiOh the original]] (implied to be requited), Asuka from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'' (unrequited, as Judai [[RomanticFusion becomes]] an OfficialCouple with [[OneTrueLove Yubel]]), Aki from ''[[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds 5D's]]'' (heavily implied to be requited), Kotori from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhZexal ZEXAL]]'' (she confesses, but his reaction is fairly ambiguous), and Yuzu from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhArcV ARC-V]]'' (some hints of reciprocation, but ultimately unconfirmed).

->''Ronnie Anne Santiago. Spunky and independent spirit who loves skating, games, and pranks. Has a crush on Lincoln?''
-->-- ''[[http://www.nick.com.au/loud-house/games/loud-house-ace-savvy-on-the-case-au/ Ace Savvy on the Case]]''

* ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'': Jordan, for Riley. The alarm that goes off on his head shows that he is shy around her, but because it's a repetition of "GIRL!", it's unclear if this means he has a crush on her or is nervous of girls in general. In the sequel short "Riley's First Date?", the two hang out together, but it's never confirmed if this is her first date (hence the question mark in the title).

* ''Manga/FairyTail'': By the end of the manga, almost all of the couples are definitively resolved one way or another. The biggest one still up in the air is ironically [[spoiler: Lucy and Natsu]]. There's a lot of ship tease but the series deliberately ends on a MomentKiller and avoids a definitive answer.

* In ''Anime/GreatPretender,'' the protagonist, Makoto "Edamame" Edamura, has romantic subtext with both of his literal partners in crime: tough muscle-woman [[RookieMaleExperiencedFemale Abigail Jones]], and his conman mentor, [[LoverAndBeloved Laurent Thierry.]] Makoto seems to develop a crush on Abbie [[DistractedByTheSexy as soon as he meets her,]] and he spends most of the second arc, "Singapore Sky," [[TheDulcineaEffect being extrememly protective of her]]. He undergoes CharacterDevelopment, learns to [[LovingAShadow care more about her as a person and not just an idea,]] and she ends up being the closest thing he has to a "best friend." Meanwhile, Laurent openly flirts with Makoto, even making him blush in one of their early interactions, and offhand comments from both Abbie and SixthRanger Cynthia suggest they think Laurent is at least physically attracted to Makoto. Finally, the theme song of Makoto's relationship with both of them, "Our Love," is an outright love song--and it plays both when Makoto takes Abbie out for a peaceful and fun day on the town and when he [[WatchingTheSunset Watches The Sunset]] with Laurent. However, Makoto never openly confesses any feelings to Abbie, and Laurent never explains the true nature of his feelings for Makoto, leaving everything as subtext.
** As mentioned before, comic adaptations and the successor ''WesternAnimation/VoltronForce'' are rather blatant that they are.

** Female V has Judy. She's the only romance option for female V you meet in the game's story and have to work with in multiple missions. Johnny will mention that he can see "the way (Judy) is looking at (female V)" and that it makes V feel all "mushy inside" (Johnny and V share a body, so he can feel their feelings). Judy also has the most content post her romance arc, often texting V and sending her trinkets for her apartment. She's also the only love intrest, other than Panam, [[spoiler:who will leave Night City with V in "The Star" ending]].

* Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri in ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}''. Despite huge amounts of ShipTease throughout ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' and ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' along with the confirmation in Episode 10 of the anime that Makoto views Kyoko romantically during his NightmareSequence, it's never actually outright said that they like each other or ever get into a relationship. While the epilogue and official artbook ''heavily'' imply they love each other and do get together, on-screen it never goes further than holding hands. Although, given the state of Kyoko's [[ScarsAreForever hands]] and how she feels about people seeing or touching them that alone speaks more volume about the nature of their relationship than it usually would.

%%* Did anyone ever watch ''WesternAnimation/HandyManny'' and ''not'' assume that he and Kelly had a thing for each other, despite no real evidence?

%%* Did anyone ever watch ''WesternAnimation/JakeAndTheNeverlandPirates'' and ''not'' assume that he and Izzy had a thing for each other, despite no real evidence?

* Mulan and Captain Li Shang in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''. They blush around each other and Mulan asks the captain to stay for dinner, but no one outright says that they are a couple. Subverted in the second movie when they get married.

* Poppy and Branch in ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}''. Branch is heavily implied to be in love with Poppy, and she seems to reciprocate by the end of the movie, but in the end nothing is confirmed. It is worth noting that their most predominate duet together is Cyndi Lauper's 'True Colors", a classic love ballad and the scene itself gives off a rather romantic vibe. However, also worth noting is that they don't do anything more than hug, and romantic kissing among trolls is shown to exist in the film's opening number. The sequel focuses on Branch trying to confess his feelings to her.
* Eggs and Winnie in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls''. The two share several bonding moments, and are shown to really enjoy dancing with each other at one point, but nothing is confirmed by the end of the movie.
* Mrs. Brisby and Justin have their ShipTease in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'', but ultimately their minds are on other things besides romance.
* Tigress from ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' has some ambiguous ShipTease with Po. Tigress is his favorite of the Furious Five and a lot of their interactions in the first film revolve around Tigress learning to respect Po. ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'' adds onto their relationship by having them hug more than once and having Tigress show more concern for him than the others. Despite this, there's nothing 100% concrete that implies they like one another as anything but close friends.

* ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'' is a bit ambiguous about the relationship between Gerda and Kai. Near the beginning they're described as [[LikeBrotherAndSister friends who are as close as siblings]]; she does kiss him when [[RescueRomance she saves him]], but it's not clear if that's meant to be romantic. You can find adaptations where [[PromotedToLoveInterest they get together]], are just friends, or get [[RelatedInTheAdaptation actual rewritten as siblings]].

%%* Lincoln Loud and Ronnie Anne Santiago of ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes''.

** Sean and Jet. At first, Jet seemed interested in Sydney, but this waned and the Jet/Sean shipping was boosted over the course of the show. Jet is very affectionate with Sean, always teams up with him when the situation calls for it, and has a nickname for him ("Seanzo"). They have sung a duet together, danced with each other at least twice, and Sean finally works up the courage to hug Jet in "One Small Step". In "Lone Star 2 - Rocket Kids!", Sean's character the Shopkeeper all but admits to having a crush on Western!Jet towards the end.

* A slightly strange example occurs in ''VideoGame/ClubhouseGamesFiftyOneWorldwideClassics.'' The game features a large number of "tutorial skits" that feature a man, a woman, a little boy, and a little girl. Naturally, this makes them resemble a family. However, they're never actually stated to be related, and while the man and the woman share some flirty dialogue, they're never confirmed to be a couple or the parents of the children, leaving their relationship ambiguous. This [[InvokedTrope may have been intentional,]] to give them {{Applicability}}.

* ''Manga/KenganAshura'' has several couples who seem rather intimate, but are never really confirmed as a couple.
** Dr. Hanafusa and nurse Yoshizawa are always together, and frequently hang out even during holidays. Karla wonders if they're a couple, although Elena thinks Yoshizawa is more like a [[CloudcuckoolandersMinder mom]] than a girlfriend.

A variation also happens a lot in video games where the player has more than one possible love interest. One character will often be the "preferred" option, with the most work gone into their romantic "route," hints nudging the player in their direction early on (such as being the [[FirstGirlWins first one the player runs into]]), or just the easiest to connect with unless the player deliberately chooses to go with another choice.

* Did anyone ever watch ''WesternAnimation/HandyManny'' and ''not'' assume that he and Kelly had a thing for each other, despite no real evidence?

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' has many examples, though in most games the player can arrange for a wide variety of hook-ups other than the ones that are implied to be "correct."
** Julia or Lana for Seliph in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', though the former ship is sunk upon [[spoiler:Seliph finding out they're related]], unless [[GoodBadBugs you keep her and Seliph glued to each other until she's captured]]. It's more blatant in the Oosawa Mitsuki manga adaptation, though.
** Lilina for Roy in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade''. They have ShipTease moments even outside of support conversations (mostly Lilina making it blatantly obvious that she has feelings for him, with Roy [[ObliviousToLove just not catching on]]), their support chain is one of the fastest in any game, getting them to A-rank alters the ending, and one of the CG images in the music player depicts their first meeting as children. This even got two nods in prequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade''; one in the B-Support between Lilina's father Hector and Roy's father Eliwood, which has Hector dreaming of a not-yet-born Lilina playing with an unborn Roy in the future, and getting supremely annoyed at the possibility that he may lose his daughter to Eliwood's son, and the other in the epilogue, which shows the above-mentioned first encounter in cutscene form. Furthermore, [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck-qvvEWEAAk55F.jpg:large an attention-grabbing card (lower-right)]] was made for the official ''TabletopGame/FireEmblemCipher'' card game.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'':
*** Ninian for Eliwood, given the heavy amount of ShipTease between the two and [[spoiler: the fact that their A-Support alters the ending so that Ninian stays behind with her lover]].
*** Hector for Lyn. The two of them have a lot of ShipTease moments with each other as well as some altered scenes.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'':
*** Chrom gets two -- Sumia and Female Robin. [[ShipToShipCombat Discuss with caution.]]
*** Male Robin and Lucina could also be seen as this, due to their relationship altering some of the scenes in the game's story, as it does with Female Robin and Chrom. [[ShipToShipCombat Again, discuss with caution.]]
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'': [[DanceBattler Azura]] is this for Male Corrin. They get a lot of ShipTease on all three routes, and Azura has ''three'' unique {{Love Confession}}s and Support chains with him, compared to everyone else's one, [[spoiler: in spite of the [[KissingCousins true nature]] of their relationship]].
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'': Depending on the route, Byleth gets....
*** Edelgard, regardless of gender, is implied to be carrying a torch for them. At the end of her route, she essentially gives a LoveConfession even if she isn’t S-Supported. She's still implied to have feelings for them even on the Silver Snow route, where they are absolute mortal enemies [[spoiler: as this is the route where [[EtTuBrute Byleth betrays her]] after having spent almost a year growing closer to her as her professor.]] Promotional art also tends to show her gazing longingly at Byleth whenever possible.
*** Dimitri, both pre and post-timeskip (especially post), has several scenes with a lot of romantic undertones and HoldingHands is a reoccurring theme between them. He’s also the only one of the main lord whose paired ending with Byleth mentions marriage between them. Although he can only marry a Female Byleth, the undertones are still very much present when playing as male, making him either bisexual or IfItsYouItsOkay towards Byleth in-text.
*** Rhea in her route, regardless of gender. In fact, Byleth's RelationshipValues with Rhea are so important that [[spoiler:her chance of surviving the final battle depends on her relationship with Byleth. Fail to get an A-support and she gets a MercyKill]].
*** Claude downplays this a bit. Much like Dimitri and Edelgard, he does get more than a few scenes highlighting his relationship with Byleth. However, they lack some of the romantic undertones the former two have since Claude is [[OnlySaneMan considerably more well-adjusted than either of them and Rhea]] so he doesn’t rely on Byleth being his MoralityPet. That said, the ShipTease between the two is still very much present, so he still fits the trope, only a bit less explicitly.
*** Much like the other house leaders, Yuri comes off as this in the ''Cindered Shadows'' side-story. But much like Claude, this is heavily downplayed (likely due to him not having his own proper route). He gets a bit of deliberate ShipTease with them, fitting his status as TheTease, becomes soft to Byleth pretty quickly, and isn’t ashamed to call them cute when recruited in the main game.

* Did anyone ever watch ''WesternAnimation/JakeAndTheNeverlandPirates'' and ''not'' assume that he and Izzy had a thing for each other, despite no real evidence?

* Lincoln Loud and Ronnie Anne Santiago of ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes''.

* Ryder and Katie of ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol''.
** Also Chase and Skye.

** In several adaptations Misty was this for Red's counterpart [[note]]there were no female player characters in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', and as the youngst Gym Leader she's the only significant female character close to his age[[/note]], though the games themselves have Red and Misty being buddy-buddy in one official art:
*** It's a point of controversy in [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} the anime]]: the original writers stated that the two are too young to recognize their feelings, and some of the dialogue implying attraction in the Japanese version could also be interpreted as leaning more towards PlatonicLifePartners than romance. The English dub [[PromotedToLoveInterest promoted]] her to AllLoveIsUnrequited--a few instances of dialogue were rewritten in an attempt to push the couple, and more notoriously, Misty's farewell sequence had the scenes depicted in the flashback completely changed (the original focused less on her as a {{Love Interest|s}}, and more on her as a trainer and [[TrueCompanions as a friend]]).
*** The first 4koma had Red drooling over Misty a few times.

** Essentially any time there's a possibility of the [[SchrodingersPlayerCharacter potential player characters]] meeting in ''any'' of the [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver main]][[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire line]] [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl ga]][[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY mes]] (Ethan/Lyra, Brendan/May, Lucas/Dawn, and Calem/Serena respectively, the other member of the pair being an NPC); with the exception of [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Gener]][[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 ation V]], where the other player character barely appears as TheCameo as your partner in the Battle Subway. However, this is usually restricted to really light ShipTease that may easily fly over the heads of some people, or may not have had any romantic undertones intended at all from the writers... [[spoiler:However, this trope is played completely straight for Brendan and May in the remakes of ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', if they aren't an outright [[NoHuggingNoKissing can]][[AvertedTrope on]] [[OfficialCouple couple]], where the two are actually shown ''dating'' at the end of the game.]]

%%* Ryder and Katie of ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol''.
%%** Also Chase and Skye.

* In nearly every ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' series, the main group has [[TheSmurfettePrinciple exactly one main female character the protagonist's age]], and there are occasional hints of her having a crush on the protagonist, but the show's emphasis on ThePowerOfFriendship means her feelings will be ambiguously mutual at best and usually one-sided. The main examples from each series are Anzu from [[Anime/YuGiOh the original]] (implied to be requited), Asuka from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'' (unrequited, as Judai [[RomanticFusion becomes]] an OfficialCouple with [[OneTrueLove Yubel]]), Aki from ''[[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds 5D's]]'' (heavily implied to be requited), Kotori from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhZexal ZEXAL]]'' (she confesses, but his reaction is fairly ambiguous), and Yuzu from ''[[Anime/YuGiOhArcV ARC-V]]'' (some hints of reciprocation, but ultimately unconfirmed).

** Downplayed with Yusaku and Aoi in Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS. While they do get a few ShipTease moments, they have a lot less compared to what past protagonists and main girls in the franchise got, and overall don't seem to have much actual romantic interest in each other, or even a particularly strong friendship until the third season. The dub, however, plays this straight.

-->'''Estelle:''' Wow, Rita! That was SO cool!\\