- Browncoat, Green Eyes
: Harry is quite excited to learn that the crew of Serenity includes a Companion, and promptly pulls her aside for a "greeting ceremony". When other crew members are confused and slightly disturbed by the open invitation to watch, Harry clarifies that what he wants is a decent cuppa.Harry: The Companion controlled stuff is the best tea in all the 'verse. - An Impractical Guide to Godhood: Persephone casts a summoning spell to bring the being who hates Percy most, expecting to summon Zeus so that he can take out Percy. Instead, the spell summons the Suicide Squad member who Percy turned into an alligator for trying to kill him.
- In Bloodsucker, while taking each other's vitals for health class, Star reveals Danny doesn't have a pulse. Danny spends a few seconds internally panicking before the teacher points out Star didn't have her fingers in the right spot.
- In Boldores And Boomsticks, Ozpin and Ironwood discuss recent events at Beacon, including incidents that led to the main hall getting damaged and the dance having to be pushed back (specifically a Bullhead pilot mishap, something involving a coffeemaker and a firehose likely related to Ozpin, and Cardin insulting Coco while she was in earshot). They conclude that things are quieter than usual. Ironwood is also proud to say that Atlas Academy's Dust storage has only exploded three times recently.
- Harry and the Shipgirls had a scene where Fred and George Weasley, seeing a large cake from the Abyssal Re-Class Revina, start poking the cake to make sure Revina wasn't in there. After they confirmed that she wasn't in there, she emerged from a potted plant instead and lampshaded the subversion.
- In How I Learned to Love the Wild Horse, Ranma decides to talk to one of his new girlfriend Clover's friends as Ranko to learn more about her. While talking to Alex, Ranko mentions being worried about her "brother" because Clover's allegedly had several boyfriends. Alex starts getting pissed that she's suggesting Clover has an STD until Ranko asks if any of Clover's exes are the crazy jealous type who might try to come after Ranma.
- In I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Become the Ultimate Defensive Hero, after a meeting where the Hero Public Safety Commission was discussing how similar to All For One Kaede's power was and the possibility that she might perform a Face–Heel Turn, there was a scene where it looked like she had betrayed and killed her friends even while they begged her not to and said they should have seen it coming while Maple was engaging in Evil Gloating. They were playing a game called Tycoon, and Maple had just managed to win the game.
- Infinity Crisis: In Powers and Marvels, the Rangers and the Avengers are tricked into thinking that Rita took the coins to the Moon Palace when in fact they were left with the Mandarin and Zedd to be used to 'wake up' Fin Fang Foom.
- In Interventions, to capture the Level Five escapees after they take Dawn as a hostage, the Company sends Buffy, Angel, Spike, Connor, Tara, Vi, and the Haitian, with Tara using a glamour to create the impression that the Haitian is Peter until they've taken down most of the opposition.
- Metal Gear: Green: The soldiers of a town under warlord rule begin to flee their positions when a MSF plane is heading over their town to drop its payload. What few didn't expected death to come. Instead of bombs, it was crates of food, water, medicine and toys as well as an offer of standing down in exchange for more of the same, as well as amnesty. The locals eagerly take the deal, even rounding up the Warlord loyalists for the MSF to take.
- Mike Pines: When Bill taunts Mike over having made a deal with Molten Freddy to come hunt him down, Mike assumes he's the price for the deal. He's actually the prize-Bill promised Molten Freddy his body in exchange for the animatronic killing Dipper.
- People Like Us: The end of Chapter 5 has Travis about to take Arthur to a movie. Viewers of Taxi Driver will expect said movie to be a porno just like the one he took Betsy to. He actually takes Arthur to The Fox and the Hound.
- In Sora's Adventure in Rogueport Remake, Sora, Mario, Luigi, Koops, Vivian and Nocturne are set up to fight Byleth. Byleth winds up knocked out via smoke bomb as the Phantom Thieves show up and knock out Sora and the gang and take them and Byeth to the Phantom Thieves' laundry room under orders from "X".
- The Delinquent Cooper: During the chapter based on "Of Mice and Mechs", the way the chapter plays out makes it seem like Penelope still betrayed the Cooper Gang, exactly like in canon. However, out of the Black Knight instead comes Arpeggio, a villain from the second game who was supposed to be dead (he was killed when Neyla betrayed him and used the frame of Clockwerk to crush his body) and reveals that Penelope is instead being held captive by him.
- To Hell and Back: After Eddie manages to briefly stall him using S.T.A.R. Labs' anti-speedster technology, the end of the chapter cuts to Barry glaring at Caitlin and Cisco, looking as if he was about to lose his temper at them. He then bursts out laughing, admitting he was actually impressed that they managed to hide their anti-speedster measures from him for so long, and that, honestly, he would've done the same thing.
- In Ein Riese, der Fliegen Wollte, a very agitated Jean drags Marco into a closet because he has something important to tell him but the whole thing is just so complicated and he's not sure about how the other boy is going to take it. A blushing and obviously moved Marco gently encourages Jean to confess his thoughts, only for Jean to blurt his suspicions regarding a lost teammate who actually would be a shapeshifter instead of kissing him. You almost can hear the Record Needle Scratch within Marco's mind.
- A scene in The Pride of Sunnydale opens with a group of teens fleeing some monster in absolute terror and doing their damnedest to find somewhere safe from it. The monster keeps picking them off the moment they turn their back on one of their group. When the final teen is killed, he turns to dust and it's revealed they were vampires running from Xander.
- During his first loop with Suzaku in Screw You Fate, I'm Going Home, Lelouch spots C.C. and greets her as Cera,note only for C.C. to remark that's not her name. Cue Lelouch guessing several other names starting with "C" and revealing he has no idea what her name is.
- Danny Phantom: Stranded: During the course of the story, it was hinted that a redemption arc was being set up for Misty Smith-Yang, especially near the end of it.
- To be more specific, Misty had used both magic and a powerful jiangshi to torment Star into leaving Amity Park in hopes of stealing Danny for herself. When this fails, Misty uses her minion to kidnap and attempt to intimidate Star—revealing her pent-up anger and frustration over her own life, as well as her envy towards Star and her "perfect like," as well as making shallow assumptions of her character based on her wealth and popularity. However, after Star calls Misty out on her actions and reveals that her life is far from perfect, Misty breaks down in tears and seems to be remorseful. While Star tries to reason with her and promises not to press charges if she releases her, Misty almost seems to be considering it, only for Shi to trick her into freeing him and then take Star away for himself.
- Even before that, Misty was unwilling to hurt Star physically and reminded Shi repeatedly that hurting or killing her was out of the question. This shows Misty has some standards despite Shi pointing out how unethical her actions are regardless.
- As stated previously, when Misty tries to confront Star, Star sets the story straight about her own life. Star admits that she was indeed once a shallow girl, but her life had been far from happy and easy, revealing the many issues she had to deal with regarding her family and the toxic influences in her life. Star admits that she had her own issues and that Danny's kindness and love made her want to be a better person, and she finally has some happiness in her life. She also refuses to give up the guy she loves. Misty was shocked and horrified about her actions and assumptions of Star's character that she broke down in tears. It's implied that Star would have forgiven Misty and she would've taken responsibility for her actions had Shi not kidnapped Star.
- Misty also did not hesitate to try to save Star with Danny and his friends after Shi kidnapped her. Later, upon learning the truth about Shi (that he is a distant ancestor of hers who was obsessed with a woman who never loved him and became a jiangshi to destroy his brother who married the woman that he loves), she is horrified by this, and her words imply that she realized how shallow her feelings for Danny were.
- When Shi offers to help Misty still win Danny's heart, she rejects that offer and casts a spell on Shi to end his terror once and for all, realizing that she had been wrong to free him from the start.
- After hitting her head against the wall after they defeated Shi, it appeared that Misty developed amnesia, and she could no longer be held accountable for her actions anymore. Even so, she still expresses a crush on Danny, who calmly turns her down and tells her that he loves Star. Despite looking sad, Misty seemed to accept it and didn't put up a fight, making Star believe that she might have been a victim of Shi's manipulations. It was also implied that her getting amnesia would give her a fresh start with Danny and his friends and potentially become real friends with them and that she would bury the hatch with Star.
- However, it is THEN revealed that Misty FAKED getting amnesia to escape the consequences of her actions and to have a clean slate with Danny. It's also shown that she STILL resents Star for being the one Danny loves and still living a relatively more affluent life than hers. She also still vows to steal Danny and has no qualms with using her magic to steal a kiss from him without his knowledge. This shows that Misty really didn't learn a thing from the whole experience and is still a loose canon.
- A Magician In Gotham: When Flagg prevents Jack Napier from becoming the Joker, another man named Jack is shown breaking down into hysterical laughter, implying he'll become the Joker instead. However, when the second Jack appears again, it turns out he's actually Jack Ryder, the man who will become the Creeper.
- Zigzagged in Dragon Ball Z Abridged:Vegeta: Now watch, Kakarrot, as your life becomes inconsequential, as I reveal my GIANT MONKEY—
[camera zooms in on Vegeta's crotch; crowd gasps]
Vegeta: —FORM!
[camera goes back to Vegeta's face; crowd sighs in relief]
Random Guy in Crowd: Thank god, I thought he meant penis!- Episode 31, "There's Something About Maron", is set up to be the first episode of an adaptation of the Garlic Jr. Filler arc... but the same episode ends with the unfortunate Filler Villain running into Mr. Popo, who gets provoked into killing him.
- Let's Go seems to be yet another story where Mirabel is about to run away from home, only to be stopped by a member of her family (in this case, Isabela). However, it turns out that the reason Isabela was stopping her was so that she could go with Mirabel, no longer wanting to pretend to be someone she's not.
- The Alternate Tail Series is a Role Swap AU that switches the main characters of Fairy Tail with either their rival (Natsu with Gajeel) or an associated character (Lucy with Levy). After the pattern lasted with the five main characters (along with two other pairs), it would seem that the team's medic Wendy's replacement would either be a rival or have a connection with the main group. However, it turns out that her replacement is Kagura Mikazuichi, The Ace of Mermaid Heel in canon with more in common with Erza than Wendy.
- When Shirou blows through all of her minions in Fate: Gamer Night SE, Mikado Ryouko prepares her final contingency: a magical contract detailing her absolute surrender and offering her servitude if he can save her loved one.
- When Shirou accidentally walks in on Yoruichi getting out of the shower, there's a brief pause followed by a loud smacking sound. The sound was Shirou's erection smacking against his stomach, not Yoruichi hitting him.
- In Promises of a Wandering Hero Rider asks if Shirou would like to blow off some steam with her after a stressful day, to his eager agreement. Turns out they both meant a spar.
- A purely In-Universe example from Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Fifth Path. In the support Hubert Gets Detention, Byleth at first looks like she's threatening Hubert in response to him threatening her but in reality she gives him detention.
- Five Nights At Freddy's: Lost Souls: The comic's prologue starts off like your typical horror movie introduction: Two teenagers come to the park at midnight to do a test of courage, following the rumors about supernatural happenings at the Fazbear's Frights attraction. Once they enter the facility, the reader sees shadow-y figures move about in the dark, until Freddy himself appears and jump scares the teens. But after the the kids run away, it's revealed that scaring them was all Freddy planned. He even scolds the other animatronics for getting so close to the kids.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi/ The Untamed
- In The Beast Of Gusu, after Jin Guangshan offers Wei Wuxian anything he could want, as long as he joins the Jin Sect, Wei Wuxian’s response at first appears to be considering, but quickly turns out to not be the case.
- In this fan comic, when Melody throws her bouquet, Mabel shoves another guest out of the way seemingly so that she can catch it. However, she actually wanted to ensure that Dipper and Pacifica caught it.
- In Off the Line when Bigshot discovers Rainstorm's actual gender when he lets down his disguise, he keeps asking if Rainstorm's gay. He stubbornly refuses to let the subject die and or let Rainstorm change the subject. When Rainstorm reluctantly admits that he's bisexual, Bigshot turns out to be supportive of Rainstorm's sexuality and gives him a Bear Hug to Rainstorm's relief.
- Us and Them ends with Seph talking to a grave, trying to express his feelings. At first it seems he's talking to Aeris but she walks up behind him shortly after. The grave belongs to Jenova.
- Harry Is a Dragon, and That's OK: The Triwizard selection is underway, the three champions from each school has been chosen, then the Goblet of Fire spits out a fourth piece of parchment that reads, "I had to see if I could do it. Your move, headmaster." Sadly, it's typewritten, so Alastor Moody can't participate.
- Harry Potter and the Magic of the Beasts: Pettigrew and Narius have kidnapped Emily and Hermione through Ron and Pettigrew is busy carving the ritual that if completed, will bind both girls to him as sex slaves for the rest of their lives. He manages to complete the ritual without interruption... and is turned into a human-rat hybrid. When Pettigrew tries to cast the killing curse at James, Sirius and Harry, he finds out that not only can he not cast any spell due to the ritual, but that the ritual he used was altered and destroyed 2,000 years ago, with the results being permanent.
- In A Little Different, Albus seems to be undergoing Gayngst but it turns out he's just worried how his mom will take him not supporting the Harpies anymore.
- Meaning Of One has a gut-wrenching one when Harry sees that there's a Weasley jumper for him, and thinks that it's a sign that Mrs Weasley has been able to accept his involuntary soul-bond with Ginny and that he at last is part of a family. Turns out that there's a book bundled with the jumper, all about propriety and decorum, and a similar one with Ginny's jumper; it's just continuing the string of attempted interventions.Ginny: Do you have any idea what you just did to him?
- Someone Finally Noticed - A Harry Potter Tale:It wasn't long before Remus Lupin, aka Moony, was also brought on staff to teach DADA. Remus was going to be staying in a warded dungeon basement somewhere safe on the nights of the full moon.
Severus and Sirius would publicly duel to see who got the privilege of substituting for him, and turned it into quite a learning experience for the student audience. No dangerous spells were allowed, though after the duck suit with pink tutu and ballet slippers, Filius decreed that there would be no more prank spells that embarrassed anyone.
Severus pouted at that, and tried to argue that Sirius was cute in that get up.
- In You Got HaruhiRolled!, Haruhi crosses a busy street. She narrowly escapes being run over by countless vehicles, and makes it to the other side of the road safely. Immediately after, she is crushed by a blimp which crashes from out of nowhere.
- In Karma Circle 08: Committed, Professor Membrane take his kids to meet with a psychologist, supposedly to get help for Dib. However, after Gaz responds to the doctor's questions with a string of spiteful, petty, and hypocritical reasons for why she hates Dib, it turns out that she was the one being analyzed; she is promptly declared mentally unwell and dragged away in a straightjacket.
- Shadows Awakening has a meta example. When the Phantom sends Wong to retrieve the first Oni mask, it looks like the story will turn into another alternate take on Season 4... until the Phantom forbids Wong to go after the other masks (as that would only aid their enemy Tarakudo), sending him on a different quest. Word of God is that this is in fact the only similarity to canon that will happen, as the story will focus on a different set of MacGuffins.
- Jackie Chan Adventures: Olympian Journey:
- A scene in the first chapter has Jade infiltrating a building only to get captured by a henchman... at which point this is revealed to just be a simulation as part of her Section 13 training.
- Chapter 14 ends with the implication that Drew will now have Aphrodite's essence, which is seemingly confirmed in Chapter 15. However, the end of that chapter reveals that in actuality Drew is just Eros; his mother is the one who became Aphrodite.
- In chapter 15 of from porcelain to ivory to steel, while fighting off zombies in a Pakistan village Sherry runs into a woman named Mariah, who asks for help finding her son. The reader is led to believe that it is an Adaptational Early Appearance of one of Dio's Egypt 9 Glory Gods. That is until "Mariah" reveals that her son is none other than J. Geil and shows off her two right hands, revealing her true identity as Enya the Hag.
- It's (Not) Your Fault: On Page 44, Luna hears some kissing noises at the bottom and it leads the audience to believe that it is Lincoln and Sam, but on the next page, it is revealed that Lincoln was kissing Lucy's statue as practice for Stella.
- Lucy's Secret: The opening shows Lucy as a young woman kissing a real-live Edwin... but then it turns out to be a dream.
- In Rule 63 fanfic One Girl with Ten Brothers, when Luke comes out as a bisexual who's been dating one of his male classmates for the past six weeks to his brothers, Loki responds by punching him in the stomach.... because he's mad that Luke didn't trust him or the other brothers enough to tell them about it before.
- Falling for You: A Running Gag throughout the story is that You's name keeps getting mixed up with the pronoun You. When Dia tells You and Ruby that Kanan and Mari are arguing because Mari said she wanted to kiss You, You thinks that Mari meant she wanted to kiss Kanan but the latter thought she meant their mutual friend. Then it turns out that Mari did meant she wanted to kiss You.
- The reason that Kanan was mad is also subject to this trope. While at first it seems she's upset that Mari wants to kiss another girl, that isn't the case as the two are polyamorous and permit each other to kiss other girls. It's just that Kanan isn't happy that Mari wants to kiss You specifically, as she sees You like her little sister and thinks she is too young to get caught up in Mari's horny antics.
- I (Don't) Love You starts as Ruby Kurosawa declaring she will do something very important to Hanamuru, which leads to her to asking her senior Kanan out to a date, only for the older girl to turn her down. Ruby states that this must be because Kanan is already dating her older sister Dia (since they spend so much time together), and states she'll be happy the two are together before leaving the student council room. Hanamura then suggests to Dia and Kanan they should try to pretend to date to spare Ruby's feelings until she gets over Kanan. However, it's after Hanamura reunites with Ruby that it's revealed the confession was fake: Ruby's real plan was to set up a Romantic Fake–Real Turn between Kanan and Dia.
- Dial: The Avengers party is winding down, the six original members are shooting the breeze, then an unexpected robot walks in, everyone gears up to fight... and Jarvis speaks up within his new dedicated robot body.
- The Mandela Magazine recreates "Gabriel"'s introduction from early in Mandela Catalogue, with him appearing in a dark void with a black bar over his face, whispering "I deceived them..." with a raspy electronic voice. The bar then disappears, revealing a goofy face. Gabriel then exclaims "To have a party!" in a normal voice before dancing as soft pop music plays in the background.
- In World as Myth, the Chapter 8 cliffhanger implies a battle between Zenkichi Hitoyoshi and Koi Munakata. Come Chapter 9, we have a fight between Nekomi Nabeshima and Tokemichi Choujabaru.
- The One to Make It Stay: All the Laughs We Had in the Past comes in the wake of Alya betraying Ladybug by posting a manipulatively edited video of her and Chat, which got her alter ego benched for the summer. The story's summary hints that major changes will be made, implying that Alya's benching is likely to be permanent. However, Alya's conversation with Ladybug offers hope that she'll be able to reconcile, and Chloe finds herself cut from the team instead after demonstrating that she hasn't learned a darned thing and has no intention of trying to change. This kickstarts a chain of events that drastically shakes things up...
- Tales of Karmic Lies Aftermath: Early on, it's established that Alya is so desperate to become a superhero again that she's seriously considering trying to steal a Miraculous from one of the active heroes. Then a chapter opens with somebody casing out the Couffaines' houseboat. The would-be thieves turn out to be unaffliated, and hearing about how they were stopped convinces Alya to drop the idea.
- A Miraculous Ladybug web comic has Tikki introducing Plagg to a sinful Marinette/Chat Noir fanfic, knowing that Plagg is an enthusiastic Shipper on Deck for the couple. Tikki leaves the tablet with the fanfic behind with Plagg, thinking he will read it while she's gone. He's not going to... because he wrote that fic. He even lampshades it to the audience.Plagg: You all think that I'm gonna jump on the sin fic now that Tikki is gone, don't you? Well joke's on you — because I wrote that fic!
- Bakery "Enemies": Marinette panics when Chloe, Ladybug's biggest fan, sees the son of Hawkmoth. Of course she doesn't know they were already friends.Chloe: Adrikens!
- There's More Magic Out There:
- It's initially suspected that Alix is a werewolf due to the strange scent Juleka picks up and the fact she is having issue with a time of the month near the full moon. At the end of Chapter 4, Juleka, Alya, and Sabrina find out that Alix is actually a witch working on a spell to keep the real werewolf calm during their transformation. The real werewolf is none other than Chloe.
- Alya assumes that Nino is going to tell her that he was the hero Carapace after the Anansi incident, as she already figured that secret out. Instead he reveals himself to be a gargoyle.
- A tragic example in ...Smile the Brightest. The story starts with Marinette finding Adrien in emotional distress in regards to his father's treatment of him, and she providing him the support he needs. The story header includes the tag "suicide attempt," making it seems that despite Marinette's efforts he'll try to take his life out of despair. It's not until halfway through the story when Chat comes to Marinette with horrid news: that Alya had tried to end her own life due to depression.
- At the start of safe and sound, a Loony Fan of Adrien throws a brick at him after he was at a press conference with Clara Nightingale. During a school break-in, some of Adrien and Marinette's classmates along with their teacher fall into a trance, causing Adrien to suspect the same crazy fan broke into the school and is now an Akuma. But at the end of the story when Marinette confesses her feelings to him and kisses him, he finds himself unable to move. This reveals that Marinette was the Akuma the whole time, with the power to put anyone in a trance so can prevent Adrien from getting hurt again.
- What An Injustice: During the final battle against Hawkmoth, a post Heel–Face Turn Mayura pulls something out of a bag and throws it at him to make him let go of Ladybug. Hawkmoth initially thinks it was an Uproar to Depower him, only to find out that it's Audrey Bourgeois's decapitated head, with Mayura revealing she did the same with Tomoe Tsurugi as both of them were collaborating with Hawkmoth.
- The Great Banana Search: The premise of the fic is that a person in a Mr. Banana costume sees Hawkmoth transform back to Gabriel Agreste, and both Gabriel and the audience suspects that the person was Chat Noir, given that he wore a Mr. Banana costume to help maintain his secret identity in both "Feast" and "Kwamibuster" along with Adrien being unusually quiet and even upset at his father, plus asking questions about his mother's disappearance. The final chapter reveals that Adrien wasn't the one in the costume, he was upset thanks to reading some conspiracy theories that his father may be responsible for his mother's disappearance and he hasn't even figured out his father's Secret Identity until Hawkmoth himself blurts it out during a fight between him, Chat, and Ladybug. It's revealed at the end that the person that saw Hawkmoth detransform was Kim Le Chien, Adrien's classmate who owns a Mr. Banana costume and has been freaking out about the whole until he decided to reveal the truth to his friend. Hilariously, both of these revelations were set up in chapter 2.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Age (In)appropriate readers are shown an effigy that makes them think that Spike actually skinned Caramel while it's later revealed that it's just a costume that looks like Caramel while the real Caramel is hidden IN the costume.
- An Apple Comes Out of the Cellar starts off looking like it's going to be about Applejack being rejected by her family for being a lesbian but it quickly becomes clear that her family has known that for years and their only reason for being upset is that Applejack used a slur to describe herself and is thus being a bad example for Apple Bloom.
- In Chrysalis Visits The Hague, Queen Chrysalis performs one during the first hearing on the entire courtroom, pretending to build up one of her famous outbursts before suddenly backing down and making the judges stumble over themselves.
- I Have This Friend has Twilight approach Celestia, looking for romantic advice on behalf of her "friend", who has romantic feelings for a pony who sounds suspiciously similar to Princess Celestia. Turns out, Twilight was asking for advice on behalf of Applejack regarding her feelings for Rarity.
- In The Lunar Guardsman, Pinkie Pie comes across an unconscious Raegdan. She veers into explaining, while her hooves run across his naked form, to noone about how there are things that daughters want to do to their fathers but can't, but he is different in that he acts like one to her in a fashion so would not be angry in a way as her real one would. She then takes the chance to unleash her urges and draw on him with a pink marker.
- Message In A Bottle Starscribe: In "Part 2: Breach", the protagonists are walking through a portal and the protagonist, who passes through the portal first, thinks heavily about who the second arrival is, but is incorrect.
- The Palaververse: From the second chapter, the expectation that Simoom is talking about a vibrator or similar object, since this was preceded by a mention of "marital aids", but subverted to the extent that it loops back to talking of sexual subjects, of a sort:"Oh!" Simoom exclaimed then, suddenly brightening. "A marital aid? Like one of those things with knobs on?"
There was a pause in the sly-off, and Gellert and Fairy Floss turned their own wary attention Simoom's way. "Potentially," Fairy Floss allowed slowly. "What manner of thing with knobs on are we discussing here, Viceroy?"
"The name escapes me. Names tend to do that. You know." Simoom smiled at each of them. "It's got a tapering shape, usually made out of metal or something else that's nice and firm. Screws together and can come apart. Some of the manufacturers in Equestria or Asinia enchant them to give things a little magical boost. You know." He elbowed Gellert with what was probably meant to be a knowing grin. "Hah, the chieftain struck me as the kind of griffon skilled in their use, if you don't mind me saying so!"
"...I possibly do?" Gellert radiated helpless bewilderment in the face of this unexpected angle of attack, as if he'd suddenly found himself being mauled by a goldfish. "I mean, er, fair play to any being who gives them a go, each to their own and all that, but I've really never felt the need—"
"Some of the enchanted models freeze water and crush the ice for you?" said Simoom helpfully. "You can pour that in if you need cooling. Mirage and I often do."
"...pour it where—?"
"Once we get it out in the evening after a hard day, the night just flies by."
"I...don't...doubt..." Burro’s words came out stilted as several of Simoom’s phrases re-arranged themselves and made a outcome that was far healthier for his imagination. Fairy Floss, who had a decade's advantage in practising joined-up thinking over Burro, got there a few seconds ahead.
"Viceroy, you're talking about some sort of drink mixer and dispenser, I presume?" she said. "I hope?"
"Quite!" Simoom slapped his forehead with a hoof, whilst Gellert contrived to simultaneously relax and suppress a cackle. "A cocktail mixer! I'd quite forgotten the name, curious though it may be. Yes, Mirage and I got quite an advanced model for ourselves for our first anniversary. She's quite fond of an iced brandy sour or two at the end of a week. Your own bottle inspired the thought, Tyrant." In the long and hesitant silence that followed, he followed up with, "I'm sure they'll enjoy it immensely."
The long and hesitant silence ran on, in which Simoom appeared to contemplate the middle distance, and then he shrugged and said, "I suppose in terms of more direct marital aids, you could have always just gotten them a good old-fashioned aphrodi—"
"So, Viceroy!" Burro interjected. "What have you gifted the happy couple?" - Sophistication and Betrayal has the protagonist run home for a brief tryst with his girlfriend, only to cut to the next scene of him... bouncing a ball of a wall. The way this is described, you'd think it was initially describing something completely different.
- Ultra Fast Pony: The episode "Pirate Shipping" uses this, and then immediate switches right back.Big Mac: Would you like to know why they call me "Big Mac"? It's because I love to mack on yarr. And also because I've got a giant co--
(14 HOURS LATER)
- Played for Drama in Hero Names, which follows the number one hero Deku, who has defeated the villain association and leads Anti-Bullying campaigns. The narrative first paints Deku to make it seem that it is Izuku Midoriya like in canon. The latter half reveals that "Deku" is actually Katsuki Bakugo, having taken the name Deku after his dare to Izuku to jump off the roof came to fruition, seeing himself as worthless after pushing his classmate to suicide.
- In Juxtapose, Toshinori gives Gran Torino a call after the Sports Festival and thinks about how much Izuku will love his internship. When Izuku meets Gran Torino, he's surprised to learn that he won't be interning with him. Instead, Gran Torino will be mentoring Katsuki and Shouto while Izuku will be mentored by Sir Nighteye.
- In When Reason Fails, when Katsuki tells his Cabal that all the female Warlords are romantically pursuing Shoto, Shoto says he's wrong. He then clarifies that he means that Monoma is bisexual and that Shoto is being romantically pursued by all of the other four Warlords instead of saying the female Warlords have no interest in him.
- In The Fourth Apprentice, Sarutobi has decided to come out of retirement as a sensei and train another student. All the signs and the premise of the plot at first point to as though he's going to select Naruto to be his student, however he doesn't pick Naruto, he chooses Sakura.
- Naru-Hina Chronicles:
- Neji and Tenten find Lee and Gai glaring at each other. At first glance, it looks like the latter two are about to have an epic fight. However, right after they scream and look like they're about to start their fight, it turns out they were just playing a game of Rock–Paper–Scissors.
- Something extremely similar happens when Lee is shown interacting with Miho for the first time several chapters later.
- Naru-Hina Chronicles Mini-sodes: Naruto wakes up and finds himself not only naked on a bed, but also with Hinata and Nanami lying unconscious on top of him and naked. He panics and wonders what happened, no doubt under the impression the two ladies had sex with him while he was unconscious. However, a flashback from ten minutes earlier reveals that both Hinata and Nanami became unconscious after seeing his naked body, thus preventing either of them from having sex with him.
- Neji and Tenten find Lee and Gai glaring at each other. At first glance, it looks like the latter two are about to have an epic fight. However, right after they scream and look like they're about to start their fight, it turns out they were just playing a game of Rock–Paper–Scissors.
- This Bites! has a number of them:
- When Cross gets the newspaper after Crocodile's uprising, he finds three bounty posters instead of two. The first two are for Luffy and Zoro as canon, and everyone thinks the third is Cross's, but it's only at the end that the readers find out that it's Vivi's.
- On the SBS, Cross details the easiest way to make the Whitebeard Pirates mad enough to bring their entire might on someone's head... stealing their sake. Even the Whitebeard Pirates laughed at that one. Well, some of them did, others Face-Faulted.
- Cross uses this twice in quick succession when Robin tries to seduce answers out of him. First, he tells her that he'll answer all her questions if she does one thing: tell the Straw Hats about the day Ohara died. Second, when Robin asks if doing so will make him trust her, Cross answers no; he already trusts her.
- In The Greatest There Was or Ever Will Be, Ash and Brock take a tour of Silph Co. while the girls go shopping, and are on edge because they know that Team Rocket is planning to attack the place. During the tour, they notice a man wearing a trench coat and generally acting suspicious. At the end of the tour, the man takes off his coat, frightening the tour guide, and Ash is prepared for battle... only for the man to turn out to be a streaker.
- Legendarily Popular has an In-Universe example, when Misty sees Drake's powerful Dragonite and speculates that the entire Orange League is doing this.Misty: ...you know, I think I just worked out why people don't usually beat the Orange League. It's all about technical skill and connecting with your Pokémon and ice sledding, and then suddenly you have to fight a team built around that.
- In Ask the Ryans, Aran Ryan's little sister Rory explains that his cheating problem makes her sad, and that she had tried and failed to get him help. The last panel reveals that said "help" was trying to get him to go further by stuffing his gloves with firecrackers rather than his usual horseshoes.
- In Adamantine Mist, after Ranma and Akane destroy gifts she received from her mother, Kasumi announces that since their engagement is off, she will be the one to marry Ranma and will do so in two weeks time. Both Ranma and Akane agonize over it but can't confess their feelings due to their Belligerent Sexual Tension. Come the wedding day, it's revealed that it's a double wedding: Akane marrying Ranma and Kasumi marrying Dr. Tofu.
- In Ambition of the Red Princess, there's a scene where Malty is frequently glancing at a bulge under Naofumi's cloak and thinking that it's getting larger in response to her discomfort and "moving on it's own in response to some bestial desire". Turns out he's got a few monster balloons gnawing on him that he's been ignoring.
- Mother, May I: The story starts out with the introduction of Naofumi Iwatani, setting the scene of a female Naofumi entering the story of The Rising of the Shield Hero. And then Motoyasu refers to her as father, revealing it to be the setting of The Reprise of the Spear Hero instead.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness:
- Act III has a rather dark example, both in and out of universe. In chapter 11, when the rest of the group are outside of Tsukune's room reacting in shock, Moka initially assumes that they're referring to Tsukune's cracked Holy Lock and responds in kind... until she walks into the room and sees they were actually shocked at the sight of Kokoa pinning Tsukune down and raping him.
- In Act VI chapter 36, Kurumu and Yukari fondle Apoch and Astreal's breasts to see who's are bigger, only discovering afterwards that there was a tape measurer off to the side the whole time and they just did so for nothing. As Apoch and Astreal are about to take revenge on the two, Razico yells "Hold it!", and we briefly think he's trying to break up the fight. Instead, he reminds Apoch and Astreal that they've already caused enough damage to Fang Fang's home, and orders them to take it outside.
- Jaune Arc in The Equalizer is built up several times as a Dust specialist (in training), essentially making him a Wizard in a world of Fighters, with Weiss commenting Dust specialists can do amazing things no one else can. Near the end of the one-shot, it's revealed that Jaune's "abilities" amount to mixing different kinds of Dust together at random to create bombs and throwing them at stuff.
- Mistress of the Night is a vampire AU where Weiss is an ancient vampire who has captured vampire hunter Jaune and is planning to enjoy the opportunity. And then their teammates come back early. It's not a vampire AU, Weiss and Jaune were just engaging in some sexy roleplay. Weiss is mortified to be caught wearing fake plastic fangs and drinking fake blood from a wine glass.
- In Overlord, the protagonist spends a couple chapters dealing with a rather irritating young girl and regularly comments on how insane Ruby Rose is, only to learn after a week that the girl is Summer Rose, Ruby's future mother.
- Arc Royale has the Running Gag of Blake becoming more and more frustrated that almost every iteration of Jaune that the group meets is or has been romantically involved with their universe's version of her. This gag culminates in them encountering a version of Jaune who explains that he is a leader in the White Fang and has been successful in helping transform it back into a more peaceful organization. Having reached her breaking point, she interrupts the conversation to resignedly state that he and his Blake must be together, since he sounds like her ideal partner. After asking him to just confirm whether they're still dating or have progressed to being married with a kid on the way, this Jaune confusingly responds that not only are he and his Blake not together whatsoever, but his version actually loathes him.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
- In Purple, when it is revealed that Wrong Hordak/Kadroh is in some kind of relationship with someone, having asked several people about the subject of love, Hordak accidentally convinces Wrong Hordak/Kadroh to introduce this person to him. He brings in an affectionate dog, and with Wrong Hordak/Kadroh "quirky disposition", Hordak tries thinking of a way to explain to him that one does not romance a non-sapient dog... only for him to introduce the dog's owner as this special person.Wrong Hordak/Kadroh: That's funny, brother. Based on how you acted, I assumed you were under the impression that I was in love with the dog.
- Early in Blizzard Storm, it seems as though Lazuli would either be an important character, if not one of the main antagonist. However, now with the author saying that the fic is almost finished, she has had more or less no significance to the story.
- In the Star Trek: Enterprise story Do It!, someone (implied to be either Malcolm or Archer since he mentioned going to the armory) is encouraged by his friends to "do it" with an unknown woman, even though last time, both got embarrassed. Some time later, he replies that he did do it and "it got hot very fast", she did something with oil, it was "a unique experience", both moaned in pleasure, she didn't mind when he "dipped a finger in beforehand", she went to get some whipped cream but had none so they had to settle for something else which made things "sticky", and at one point she nearly choked. As it turns out, though, the woman was just his coworker Hoshi and he was fixing her hotplate. The reason she nearly choked was because she swallowed dessert down the wrong way.
- A Tangled Web We Cut: Raphael goes ballistic at his son after finding out he spent 24 years in Hekapoo's dimension when he could have come home, and ended up fathering ten children. Marco says he has a write to be angry about all of that, but Raphael tells his son he isn't angry about any about his son finding love and having a family. He's upset because Marco grew up to be a good man, loving husband and caring father... without any help from his mom and dad.
- In Chapter 10 of Blue Au-niverse, we find Blue Diamond and her Pearl waiting at Ocean Town's beach for something to hatch. In previous chapters, the Crystal Gems are concerned that Blue intends on creating a gem army to reignite the war. Instead, we find out that they are simply there to watch baby turtles hatch.
- It Sucks to Be Weegie!: In one comic, the pudgy hero of the Mushroom Kingdom whose name starts with M is finally showing up in the comic! You're expecting it to be Mario, aren't you? Nope, sorry, it's actually Mallow.
- Chapter 17 of Distortions (Symphogear) has a scene of Kirika begging Shirabe not to do this and Shirabe saying that she is sorry. They're actually playing a game of Uno and Shirabe just won herself the hand.
- This Tamagotoji video starts with Kotesu Kaburagi feeling hungry and his partner Barnaby Brooks noticing and making a bento, following the Tamagotoji trend of one character (Barnaby) trying to cook for their partner (Kotetsu). However, Barnaby is knocked aside by Karina Lyle (who in the series has a big crush on Kotetsu) and the rest of the video follows her efforts in making an edible bento for Kotetsu.
- Courtney and the Violin of Despair is a meta example. The story is billed as a "kinder, gentler 'Courtney bashing' story", but it doesn't take long for perceptive readers to discover that the "bashing" target is actually being treated like The Woobie.
- Riding a Sunset: A Villain Chapter opens with Megatron and Shockwave going to see/interrogate a prisoner who's being tortured for information. The reader believes that a poor Autobot is being interrogated before they're killed (much like poor Cliffjumper in at least two continuities). But the chapter soon reveals that the prisoner is a Decepticon; specifically, Skywarp, for spreading treasonous lies. Apparently, Starscream's attempts at coups aren't as clever/unnoticeable as he thinks they are.
- Undertale: Papyrus's Belief: Subverted with Papyrus's Special Attack. He builds it up a few times throughout the battle as being his ultimate move, casually explaining to Frisk that it is the most powerful attack he has in his arsenal. When the time comes to use it, Papyrus lifts his arm up to summon it...and a single bone falls harmlessly to the ground. The music quietly deflates as the bone shakes a bit, until Papyrus snaps his fingers and spins it around in the air, raising it up to himself, where it turns into Frank the Gaster Blaster, who promptly shoots a very large beam of energy out of its mouth and directly at the player.
- Mauling Snarks:
- Taylor was expecting Armsmaster to be upset when he hears that Squealer approached her to defect, due to having difficulty with her powers. He is, but it's because of the PRT not being approachable enough for capes with those kind of difficulties.
- After learning that the Slaughterhouse Nine are a therapy group for capes with violent power urges which doubles as a black-ops squad sent after criminals that keep escaping justice, Carol goes on an angry, nigh-incomprehensible rant. Taylor is surprised to learn that Carol is angry at the congress with its restrictive laws that made this all necessary and not at the Nine themselves.
- In It's An Unliving, the Self-Insert Black Lantern accidentally maims Hades' daughter Melinoe with an automated defense protocol when she tried to remove his power ring. When later meeting the various gods, the Black Lantern sees the Furies, goddesses of vengeance, near vibrating with their rage. It takes some time for him to learn their anger is directed at Melinoe because removing the Lantern's ring would have destroyed his physical form, meaning she violated Sacred Hospitality.
