History Main / UnknowinglyInLove

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Far From Home", Brainiac 5 is completely unaware that he has fallen in love with Supergirl until Green Arrow points it out.
* Implied in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. [[spoiler: [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda's]] behavior around Amity over the course of the first season suggests that she may have been unconsciously harboring a crush as early as "Lost in Language". However, by the time we actually get [[CrushBlush concrete proof]] in "Escaping Expulsion", [[LoveEpiphany she realizes what's going on]] pretty much immediately.]]

* Implied in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. [[spoiler:Luz's behavior around Amity over the course of the first season suggests that she may have been unconsciously harboring a crush as early as "Lost in Language". However, by the time we actually get [[CrushBlush concrete proof]] in "Escaping Expulsion", [[LoveEpiphany she realizes what's going on]] pretty much immediately.]]
* For most of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', the main protagonist Adora is oblivious to her romantic feelings for her former childhood friend-turned-nemesis Catra until the series finale when the latter [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove admits her own feelings for the former]].

The trope may come alongside LoveEpiphany (especially BelatedLoveEpiphany), RomanticFakeRealTurn, LadykillerInLove, and/or RaceForYourLove. It may be caused by the character growing out of the GirlsHaveCooties stage or being InHarmsWay and consequently too distracted by escaping death to consider deeper feelings like love. If the character is oblivious specifically because they don't consider themselves [=LGBT=], their loved one may be a ClosetKey. Those accustomed to LovingAShadow may find that "real", mature love feels quite different. Subtrope of WhatIsThisFeeling.

* Asuka Jr. from ''Manga/KaitouSaintTail'' has a severe case of NoSocialSkills to the extent that he struggles to understand girls, love, and romance at all, and so it takes him a while to understand that he's in love with his classmate Meimi simply because he can't distinguish between that and merely just caring about her as a decent human being. For a while, it does seem to be nothing but genuine consideration, but at some point, [[GreenEyedEpiphany he starts getting really antsy about the idea of someone taking her away from him]], something that confuses him even further because by all means, there's no reason he should be bothered by that, right? [[spoiler:He eventually figures it out when his ongoing pursuit of PhantomThief Saint Tail, whom he deeply associates with Meimi due to suspecting that they're the same person, puts things in pragmatic perspective for him: if there's something that he wants to protect to the point of never wanting to let it go, it means it's something that truly has become precious enough to be his "treasure", and that developing an intimate enough relationship for him to do what he wants to do for her will require a RelationshipUpgrade.]]

* Asuka jr. from ''Manga/KaitouSaintTail'', didn't notice his feelings for Meimi for '''two years''' in-universe.

* ''Manga/SPYxFamily'': Loid Forger has difficulty realizing his own affection for Yor, the woman posing as his wife. Likewise, Yor is unaware of her developing feelings for Loid or jealously towards his co-worker, Fiona.

* ''Manga/SPYxFamily'': Loid Forger has difficulty realizing his own affection for Yor, the woman posing as his wife.

* In ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', Sousuke takes a long time to recognize his growing feelings for Kaname for what they are; when he and Kurz discuss the subject in the novels and Kurz tells him it's love, Sousuke doesn't believe him, as love is supposed to be happy and [[LoveHurts he is miserable]]. Sousuke's warped, sexually exploitative upbringing also contributes to his ignorance.
* ''LightNovel/OthersidePicnic'' has Sorawo, who recognizes early on that Toriko is in love with the missing Satsuki. But she is oblivious-- until well into vol. 4 --of her ''own'' feelings for Toriko. Justified in that Sorawo spent much of her youth dodging kidnappers and hiding in abandoned buildings. She's thrown when Toriko reveals that she has two moms, so it's likely that given [[DarkAndTroubledPast everything going on in her life]], Sorawo simply never stopped to consider her own stance on romance or orientation.

* ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'', At the end of episode 19, Taiga finally comes to realize that she's in love with Ryuuji, after going to some effort to help set him up with her good friend, Minori.

* ''LightNovel/OthersidePicnic'' has Sorawo, who recognizes early on that Toriko is in love with the missing Satsuki. But she is oblivious- until well into vol. 4- of her ''own'' feelings for Toriko. Justified in that Sorawo spent much of her youth dodging kidnappers and hiding in abandoned buildings. She's thrown when Toriko reveals that she HasTwoMommies, so it's likely that given [[DarkAndTroubledPast everything going on in her life]], Sorawo simply never stopped to consider her own stance on romance or orientation.

* ''FanFic/TheFlashSentryChronicles'': Twilight and Flash didn't realize they have feelings for each other until years after they became friends. Even the efforts of Cadance, the princess of love, had failed to hook them up.

* In ''FanFic/AYoungGirlsDelinquencyRecord'', Tanya has to be shown ''forcefully'', via magic, that she has feelings for Visha. She's still oblivious to the utterly transparent crush Visha has on her.
* In ''Fanfic/FindingFamily'', Anne didn't know that she's been in love with Marcy without even realizing it in the 10 years the Calamity Trio had been apart. It takes Sasha explaining everything to her within the timespan of 45 minutes for Anne to see how oblivious she had been.
* ''Fanfic/TheFlowerPrincessAndTheAlchemist'': Despite the UnresolvedSexualTension between them, [[{{Manga/Bleach}} Orihime]] has some difficulty recognizing her true feelings for [[{{Manga/FullmetalAlchemist}} Edward]] ([[spoiler: even though they have kissed on a few occasions]]). This mainly has to do with her being so madly in love with [[FirstLove Ichigo]] that [[ObliviousToLove she can't perceive her feelings]] for [[SecondLove Edward]] as anything romantic in nature because it's just too different than what she feels for Ichigo. Plus, her deep-seated self-worth and insecurity issues also play a factor because she strongly believes that [[InsecureLoveInterest no one would truly fall in love with her]]. The real her. [[StepfordSmiler The ugly, broken person]] [[BeneathTheMask she tries to hide from the world]].

* From Alan's [[SwitchingPOV P.O.V. chapter]] in ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', it's quite clear that he already has a crush on Catarina when he is 9, but he only recognized his crush when Catarina was briefly kidnapped when he's 15. And even as a 9-year-old boy he certainly knows what love is; the reason he met Catarina in the first place is to accuse her of ''seducing'' his [[ArrangedMarriage betrothed]] Mary.

* ''LightNovel/PleaseBullyMeMissVillainess'': Yvonne is a human player [[RebornAsVillainessStory reincarnated as the lead villainess]] of an OtomeGame, who accidentally finds herself the [[YuriGenre target of the heroine Elsa's affections]]. It takes her a ''long'' time to realize that Elsa's feelings are romantic in nature (though mainly because the original game contained no GayOption route, let alone a villainess one), and she is still (the novel is unfinished at the time of writing this) stumped by what it is exactly she herself feels towards her, earning her the FanNickname "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutronium neutronium]] girl" because she is just that dense.

* ''WesternAnimation/FrogAndFriends'' exaggerates the trope for comedy. When Frog [[InterspeciesRomance falls for a duck]], he not only doesn't realise he's in love (thinking the fast heartbeat, strange mood, blushing, and chills are symptoms of a disease) but once he's told it's love, he doesn't realise who he's in love ''with''.

* ''Literature/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'': After Saul's ArmorPiercingQuestion to Seigi asking him if he knows he's romantically in love with Richard, Seigi spends days questioning his own feelings, having never considered them love at all. In the end, he comes to terms with the fact that he does love Richard (even if he's still not sure it's romantic).

* Subverted in a ''Manga/LoveHina'' subplot. Motoko experiences strange feelings whenever she's around Keitaro, and is told by others that those feelings must be love. HilarityEnsues, until TheReveal that she was ''actually'' sick, and the feelings she was having were symptoms of the illness.

* ''LightNovel/PleaseBullyMeMissVillainess'': Yvonne is a human player [[RebornAsVillainessStory reincarnated as the lead villainess]] of an OtomeGame, who accidentally finds herself the [[YuriGenre target of the heroine Elsa's affections]]. It takes her a ''long'' time to realize that Elsa's feelings are romantic in nature (though mainly because the original game contained no GayOption route, let alone a villainess one), and she is still (the novel is unfinished at the time of writing this) stumped by what it is exactly she herself feels towards her, earning her the FanNickname "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutronium neutronium]] girl", because she is just that dense.

* Kyohei and Sunako from ''Manga/TheWallflower'' absolutely ''refuse'' to even entertain the thought that they're in love with each other- Sunako going as far as to say 'Love is an illusion' and ''Kyohei'' using the excuse that he 'loves her food'- and this is ''after'' they've kissed ''twice'', saved each other ''countless times'' and had the ''[[EveryoneCanSeeIt entire cast]]'' calling them out on their {{U|nresolvedSexualTension}}ST and feelings - so much that at this point of the manga everyone is ''convinced'' they are in love/together.

* Zig-zagged in ''Fanfic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan''. Twilight doesn't realize she is crushing on Nova Shine, but eventually knowingly falls in love with him. Nova, with misguided views of love, flatly refuses to believe he is in love with Twilight even though he is head over heels for her and everyone else comments on it.

* ''Fanfic/HeroicMyth'': After being saved by Archer several times, Tiona develops a crush towards him. She doesn't realize it at first, and it takes some time before it sinks into her.

* ''Fanfic/TheFlowerPrincessAndTheAlchemist'': Despite the UnresolvedSexualTension between them, [[{{Manga/Bleach}} Orihime]] has some difficulty recognizing her true feelings for [[{{Manga/FullmetalAlchemist}} Edward]] ([[spoiler: even though they have kissed on a few occasions]]). This mainly has to due to her being so madly in love with [[FirstLove Ichigo]] that [[ObliviousToLove she can't perceive her feelings]] for [[SecondLove Edward]] as anything romantic in nature because it's just too different than what she feels for Ichigo. Plus, her deep-seated self-worth and insecurity issues also plays a factor because she strongly believes that [[InsecureLoveInterest no one would truly fall in love with her]]. The real her. [[StepfordSmiler The ugly, broken person]] [[BeneathTheMask she tries to hide from the world]].

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Downplayed, since Rachel knew she loved Ross in the past, but when Ross was about to marry Emily, Rachel was genuinely surprised when Phoebe made her realize that she was still in love with him.

* ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'': Played for laughs when Shinnosuke and Chase are at the cafeteria drinking with the latter asking the former if he's in love with Kiriko. This causes Shinnosuke to drop his drink and loudly deny it but Chase believes it because he saw him spying on him and Kiriko at the rooftop. Shinnosuke still denies it and points outs her flaws such as being violent to him. When Kiriko shows up to discuss about the case, Shinnosuke gets distracted by looking at her but leaves immediately which conforms Chase's suspicion. As they leave, Shinnosuke begins to realize that he does have feelings for Kiriko after remembering the times they spent together while on duty.

* The ''Series/{{Scorpion}}'' character Walter is a TinMan, often declaring himself to be unburdened by emotions while proving himself wrong; in fact he ''feels'' emotions but [[WhatIsThisFeeling can't process them]]. In particular, he ignores or denies his feelings for Paige, even pushing her towards other love interests. It's only when a heartbroken Toby [[WhatTheHellHero drunkenly yells at him]] for acting this way that he admits his feelings, and it takes another year before he's able to be mature enough about it for a relationship to develop.

A character doesn't realize they're in love with someone. It's not that [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove they don't know what love is]] (though they may not have ''felt'' it before) or [[{{Tsundere}} they're in denial]]; they simply don't connect the butterflies in their tummy to this "love" thing that everyone talks about. Or their love manifests in a different way than [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel they expect]], or what is normal for their society.

The trope may come alongside LoveEpiphany (especially BelatedLoveEpiphany), RomanticFakeRealTurn, LadykillerInLove, and/or RaceForYourLove. It may be caused by the character growing out of the GirlsHaveCooties stage, or being InHarmsWay and consequently too distracted by escaping death to consider deeper feelings like love. If the character is oblivious specifically because they don't consider themselves [=LGBT=], their loved one may be a ClosetKey. Those accustomed to LovingAShadow may find that "real", mature love feels quite different. Subtrope of WhatIsThisFeeling.

* ''LightNovel/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'': After Saul's ArmorPiercingQuestion to Seigi asking him if he knows he's romantically in love with Richard, Seigi spends days questioning his own feelings, having never considered them love at all. In the end, he comes to terms with the fact that he does love Richard (even if he's still not sure it's romantic).
* The ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' character Heiji is utterly incapable of realizing his feelings for Kazuha, going so far as to believe that [[spoiler:the jealousy he felt when she flirted with a magician was just a leader's ''concern'' for his follower]].

'''Kaguya:'''...So...there's some kind of heart disease called that, you mean?\\

'''Kaguya:''' ''(chuckles)'' So even doctors make jokes.\\

''(cue tantrum)''

* In ''Fanfic/FindingFamily'', Anne didn't know that she's been in love with Marcy without even realizing it in the 10 years the Calamity Trio had been apart. It takes Sasha explaining everything to her the the timespan of 45 minutes for Anne to see how oblivious she had been.