History Main / TheNotLoveInterest

* Shaun Murphy an Claire Browne ''Series/TheGoodDoctor''. They are the two most important characters in the series (Shaun is the protagonist, while Claire is the deuteragonist) and they have a friendship that goes beyond the merely professional, even so, they have never shown romantic interest in each other.

* ''Series/TheGoodDoctor'': Shaun Murphy an Claire Browne, they are the two most important characters in the series (Shaun is the protagonist, while Claire is the deuteragonist) and they have a friendship that goes beyond the merely professional, even so, they have never shown interest in each other.

* [[TropeOverdosed As usual]], the Literature/{{Honorverse}} has an example. In the wake of the battle of Lovat, Thomas Theisman and Eloise Pritchart become this to each other, as [[spoiler:the man Eloise loved, her ''de facto'' husband Javier Giscard]], was killed there. With [[spoiler:her lover]] gone, Eloise drew ever closer to Theisman, who quite literally held her hand as she agonised over the decision to [[spoiler:authorise the operation that would result in the First Battle of Manticore]] and became her closest confidant, friend, and supporter. If they ''were'' romantically involved, they would fulfill the RulingCouple trope to a tee.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', Harry's relationship like Thomas is like this sometimes. Thomas Raith the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent incubus]] is Harry's friend [[spoiler: and half-brother]] and they never have any doubts about the relationship, but when Harry is between girlfriends, Thomas takes on that role in the story a little bit: He's closer to earth in some ways and [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl has needed to be rescued more than once]]. Although Harry does [[FauxYay pretend to be]] [[ItIsPronouncedTroPay "Toe-moss"'s]] [[FauxYay gay lover]] once, to keep someone from questioning why he was searching Thomas's apartment ([[spoiler: since nobody else knows that they're half-brothers]])

* Fred and Daphne ([[Franchise/ScoobyDoo yes, really) from ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie''. They’ve been best friends since childhood and have been mistaken for a couple before. In fact, they’ve both stated that they probably would be together if they were straight.

* ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'' has Mittens, a stray cat who meets Bolt after he gets separated from his owner Penny. Initially, Bolt [[ChainedHeat takes her prisoner]] because he is [[TrumanShowPlot deluded]] into thinking she is an agent of the fictional villain Dr. Calico. Ultimately, though, this leads to them getting to know each other in what strongly resembles a romantic subplot, culminating in a pseudo-FallingInLoveMontage and them ending up as PlatonicLifePartners. Despite how close they end up being with each other, however, the possibility of it being anything other than platonic is never even hinted at, presumably because the animals in this setting are just "realistic" enough for an interspecies pairing to be weird.

* Sisters Anna and Elsa in ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' are each other's Not-Love Interests. The movie centers around their relationship more than any romance and Anna is Elsa's LivingEmotionalCrutch. [[spoiler:The twist at the climax is based on this trope: Anna is told that her heart can only be unfrozen by an ActOfTrueLove. Right as she's about to freeze to death, her love interest is coming in to save her-- but she ''denies him the chance,'' catching a sword blade meant to kill Elsa. ''This'' -- [[HeroicSacrifice saving Elsa]] -- ends up being the act of true love that breaks her curse]].

* ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' has Vanellope, a little girl Ralph meets when she steals his golden medal. They make a deal so he helps her win a race and he can get his medal back in exchange. They soon bond and become close friends because they're both outcasts in their own games. Ralph's attachment to her is strong enough for him to decide he doesn't need a medal to prove he is a good guy and he even tries to sacrifice himself for her.

* ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'' puts a lot of focus on the developing relationship between {{deuteragonist}}s Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Of course, as a Buddy Cop Show, this trope is pretty much to be expected and the writers specifically focused on them becoming best friends. However, future romance is possible, given they get something of a MaybeEverAfter and the creators are quite aware of the intense {{Shipping}} of the two in the fandom.
* Maui is this to Moana in ''Disney/{{Moana}}''. Moana and Maui start off disliking each other but development an InterspeciesFriendship over the film as they go on an adventure together. They, however, show absolutely no romantic attraction to each other, even ignoring the fact Moana is a teenager while Maui is a SemiDivine adult who is ReallySevenHundredYearsOld.

* On ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot,'' Brad. He's protagonist Jenny's best friend and usual foil, but WordOfGod says that if the show had continued, their relationship would continue to be platonic and Jenny would likely have wound up with her geeky [[StalkerWithACrush admirer]] Sheldon. Brad/Jenny is still the FanPreferredCouple, however.

** Hell, the series finale had Shawn, when proposing to Juliet, more or less admit that Gus is along for the ride, even when he meets "his Juliet" in a hilarious speech. Gus and Juliet mroe or less nod knowing that be married to Shawn means Juliet is gonna be with Gus (platonically) as well.

* ''Franchise/ToyStory'':

** And of course, Woody and Buzz who serves as each other's main motivations in the first 2 movies. In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', Woody tells Buzz "I'll have old Buzz Lightyear to keep me company ... for infinity and beyond."

* On ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama,'' [[BigBadWannabe Max]] and [[HypercompetentSidekick Scarlett]] rarely have significant interaction with anyone but each other, and a few characters seem to think that they're dating; Max even suspects that Scarlett may be attracted to him. However, they never wind up more than friends/enemies.

* ''Series/{{House}}'': House and Wilson, given that they're based on Holmes and Watson. Wilson is, if not the most important person in House's life, damn close. He's also the only person House seems to genuinely care about.

* Julie to Mike in ''{{WesternAnimation/Motorcity}}''. He affectionately calls her "Jules," and often trusts her with certain information or duties. In the finale they even get kinda close [[spoiler:when she's trying to break him out of prison]]. Not to mention that [[spoiler:writers for the show revealed that they were going to be canon in the upcoming seasons]].

* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': [[UnwantedHarem Although nearly every female character has feelings for Jaune]], Weiss is the exception. She admits he's physically attractive, that's the extent of it. Even when Weiss and Jaune get into a FakeRelationship to fool Weiss' sister Winter, none of Jaune's actual love interests care, as they know there's nothing to be worried about.

* ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'': Barnaby shows up in Kotetsu's life at a critical point in the latter's career and fits into so many "love interest stereotypes" (a TroubledButCute[=/=]{{Tsundere}}[=/=]BrokenBird [[DefrostingIceKing Defrosting]] SugarAndIce King who [[ReplacementLoveInterest bears some suspicious parallels]] [[RomancingTheWidow to the widower hero's]] [[TheLostLenore late wife]] and was [[spoiler:[[MadDictatorsHandsomeSon mentored by]] the show's BigBad]]) that the writer/artist for the manga adaptation has even joked about him being the show's 'heroine'. The creators' fondness for [[ShipTease teasing their "wonderful relationship"]] doesn't help.

** Sakura plays this trope straight (and in romantic sense) for Naruto, to a point where even Naruto replies his father's MistakenForRomance with "[[BlatantLies Kinda]]." The {{canon}} movie ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'' revealed that [[LovingAShadow Naruto's attraction to her was driven in great part because of his aforementioned rivalry with Sasuke]]--which was implied back in [[http://www.mangapanda.com/naruto/3/17 Chapter 3]]. [[WordOfGod Kishimoto has also stated in several post-series interviews]] that Naruto and Sakura's close friendship was nothing more than a [[TrollingCreator deliberate]] RedHerring for the true OfficialCouple, [[spoiler:Naruto and Hinata]], and further explained that [[LikeBrotherAndSister Sakura]] was ''never'' intended to be Naruto's main love interest to begin with, while [[spoiler:Hinata]] ''always'' was, since the early stages of the manga.

* Reina is this to Kumiko in ''Literature/SoundEuphonium''. Reina is a mysterious, aloof peer from Kumiko's middle school. Over the course of the first several episodes they become close friends with [[LesYay heavy overtones]] of something romantic. Despite this nothing concrete has been confirmed and if the anime is anything like the novels [[spoiler:Kumiko and Shuuichi would be the OfficialCouple]]... However, due to differences in focus and adaptation, [[spoiler:his]] role seems to be reduced, and season 2 ends with an emotional outburst from Kumiko to [[spoiler:Asuka]]. Any prominent changes to close relationships are to be seen, of course, considering that it's [[BaitAndSwitchLesbians KyoAni]].

* Sora to Taichi in the Japanese version of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure,'' much to the ire of shippers worldwide. The English version adjusted things ''just'' enough to make Tai her UnluckyChildhoodFriend when she pursued a relationship with Matt.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' has Rita and Runt, a pair of homeless animals who are in search of a new home together. They are not romantically involved, mainly because a dog-cat romance would be really weird.

* Kyousuke for Riki in ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters''. It's constantly impressed on the audience how very close they are (often to [[ShipTease ambiguously romantic levels]]), he gets an incredible amount of focus - though he doesn't have his own route, he's absolutely integral to Rin's route and gets even ''more'' plot focus in Refrain - and one of the biggest subplots in the game is the way their relationship changes over the events of the game, from friends to fighting to becoming even better friends. It's even more noticeable since this is {{Bishoujo}} game, which tend to have only minimal male characters and even more minimal character development for them. He's even alone among male characters in a Creator/KeyVisualArts game in having his own {{Leitmotif}}, something usually restricted to only the love interests.

* [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Mokuzu]] to [[{{Kuudere}} Nagisa]] from ''Manga/SatouKashiNoDanganWaUchinukenai''. Mokuzu outright insists she's a [[Literature/TheLittleMermaid mermaid who must befriend someone within a set period or she will turn to sea-foam]]. The two hold hands in splash pages and Mokuzu only attends a "[[NotADate date]]" with a boy to spend time with Nagisa.

* ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'': Barnaby shows up in Kotetsu's life at a critical point in the latter's career and fits into so many "love interest stereotypes" (a TroubledButCute[=/=]{{Tsundere}}[=/=]BrokenBird [[DefrostingIceKing Defrosting]] {{Sugar And| Ice}} [[{{Kuudere}} Ice King]] who [[ReplacementLoveInterest bears some suspicious parallels]] [[RomancingTheWidow to the widower hero's]] [[TheLostLenore late wife]] and was [[spoiler:[[MadDictatorsHandsomeSon mentored by]] the show's BigBad]]) that the writer/artist for the manga adaptation has even joked about him being the show's 'heroine'. The creators' fondness for [[ShipTease teasing their "wonderful relationship"]] doesn't help.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Jaune and Ruby quickly form a bond through a shared feeling of social awkwardness when they're both new to Beacon. They then bond as leaders of their respective teams, and the two teams are very good friends. Jaune is also quick to offer back-up to Ruby if he thinks she's in trouble. However, Ruby has shown no romantic interest in anyone [[FanPreferredCouple despite what some would say about Weiss]] and Jaune initially falls for Weiss until he begins to reciprocate Pyrrha's feelings for him. [[spoiler:The end of Season 3 ''does'' hint that their relationship might deepen, given that they're traveling together and Weiss and Pyrrha are currently gone and [[KilledOffForReal dead]] respectively, but that remains to be seen]].