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1!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16893084240.76088500 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.
2
3->''"And now, rather than admit these feelings, you're dancing around one another with this mind-numbing and frankly boorish mating ritual. So please -- for my sake -- either quit your bickering, or pull over, tear off those clothes, and GET IT OVER WITH ALREADY!"''
4-->-- '''Murray Bauman''', ''Series/StrangerThings'', [[Recap/StrangerThingsS3E7ChapterSevenTheBite "The Bite"]]
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6This is a FanSpeak term used to describe any relationship that is obviously filled with UnresolvedSexualTension but the characters resist going into a full blown relationship for a rather long time. Usually the two characters will be presented so that "they will" is the conclusion to root for; only rarely is the question of whether the writers think they should is in any real doubt. This includes situations in which the characters do finally get together, but do not last as the point of the term is to point out {{Shipping}}.
7
8Fans of works that rely on this kind of dynamic will find that most works are very reluctant to resolving the relationship and risk losing the valuable source of dramatic tension that is the (seemingly) unrequited feelings. After all, without that lovely source of drama, the audience could cry that the work is either JumpingTheShark or suffering ShippingBedDeath depending on whatever replaces it. As such, many of works that feature these kinds of relationships will end in a LastMinuteHookup with writers keeping the romantic tension building throughout the series, only revealing that they do (or alternatively, [[ShipSinking that they don't]]) in the midst of concluding any other major plot threads during the GrandFinale.
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10Though even fans of such relationships aren't without their complaints when shows rely on this a bit too much. Works that keep this plotline going for ''too'' long will be criticized as having a RomanticPlotTumor that overshadows the rest of the work. Or, if the work itself is romance-focused to begin with, fans will often just get frustrated waiting for the pay-off, while works make ever-more-desperate narrative leaps to keep these two characters apart, or may even have the characters hook up for a little while, [[RelationshipRevolvingDoor only to split up over and over again]], until they finally ''finally'' let the characters get together for good...at which point, [[TheChrisCarterEffect the work has lost most of its audience anyway]], as people stopped caring or got exhausted by the back-and-forth.
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12[[folder:Some tropes that are often associated with this phrase]]
13* AlmostKiss
14* AnchoredShip
15* BelligerentSexualTension
16* CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem
17* DidTheyOrDidntThey
18* DivorceIsTemporary
19* EveryoneCanSeeIt
20* FakeFirstKiss
21* FalseStart: Something prevents a long-awaited love confession from happening.
22* HeldGaze
23* JustFriends
24* MaybeEverAfter
25* MomentKiller
26* MutualPining
27* RelationshipLabelingProblems
28* RelationshipResetButton
29* RelationshipRevolvingDoor
30* RelationshipUpgrade
31* ShipTease
32* ThatDidntHappen
33* TrueLoveIsBoring
34* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo
35* UnresolvedSexualTension
36[[/folder]]
37!No examples, please. [[Administrivia/DefinitionOnlyPages This only defines the term.]]

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