troperville
tools
toys
12th Feb: A new policy is being put in place for TRS threads: Make your case that the name/page is broken in the Opening Post, or the thread will be nuked immediately. See Everything You Wanted To Know About Changing Names for what "Make your case" means.
5th Feb: Echo Chamber Season 1 blooper reel on Youtube here
SubpagesMain
|
|
|
|
Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone
|
"What does he have to do to make it clear to you lunkheads!? The show's over! They wanna be alone!"
When a Will They or Won't They?-type couple is on the verge of upgrading their relationship, their friends will quickly vacate the area to give them some privacy. The less Genre Savvy friends may have to be shooed or pulled away. As may children; adult friends may hurriedly cook up some implausible reason to leave. In some variations, the friends will spy on the couple to see how it goes. In others, the "couple" uses this trope to get others to leave, often by Fake-Out Make-Out.
If the friends are a bunch of Jerkasses they might say this very loudly so that the couple in question can hear. Resulting in much blushing, and possibly a Snap Back, as they Cannot Spit It Out once they know they have an audience. This sort of thing is a typical Moment Killer.
Examples
open/close all folders
Anime And Manga
- In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, after Caro sends a quick telepathic note to Erio, the both of them quickly vacate Subaru's hospital room after Teana arrives. Man, even the kids can detect the lingering Les Yay.
- The Heel Face Turned Witch of the Waste does this to Markl in the movie version of Howl's Moving Castle. She pulls him away while Howl and Sophie are having their moment.
- In Genshiken, Sasahara and the other guys excuse themselves from Kousaka's apartment so he would be alone with Kasukabe.
- The "let's spy on them" variation was a trademark schtick of everybody else in the house when Ranma and Akane had to talk in Ranma 1/2. This of course usually led to the interruption of said moments when someone inevitably either fell through the sliding doors, or got impatient and told them to Get On With It Already. The same thing happens with Ukyo and Shampoo.
- A variation: In Macross/Robotech, when Hikaru/Rick and Misa/Lisa kiss to try to distract what they thing is a Zentraedi guard, it turns out to be Max's battroid in a Zentradi uniform. He stows his comrades into the coat's pockets, but teases Hikaru/Rick and Misa/Lisa by putting them in the same pocket to give them some "privacy".
- Played straight multiple times and subverted once in Card Captor Sakura. In the manga (and second movie of the anime), Tomoyo (and Meiling) often make excuses to disappear when Syaoran gets close to confessing his love to Sakura. Subverted once with Sakura and Yukito in the Path of Stars; everyone makes sure they enter together alone, Eriol even holds off his mischief for a while, but the talk that ensues is Yukito turning Sakura down and helping her realize that she loves him as family.
- Near the end of GaoGaiGar, the other GGG members keep Mamoru from going with Gai and Mikoto to her parents' grave, knowing that anything they say there (and afterwards) is likely going to be very private.
- In Chrono Crusade, when Rosette walks away from her group to find Chrono in a carnival, Azmaria makes up an excuse to Satella for why they shouldn't follow, when her motivation is really so Chrono and Rosette can have a moment alone together.
- Done in Gundam Wing in episode 46. After Heero learns Relena's on Libra, he goes to get her. Duo wants the Gundam Pilots to go after him, but the others decide not to, with Quatre adding, "Besides, let's leave the two of them alone." Note that Quatre has a smile on his face when he says that. He probably knows something that the rest of the pilots don't know.
- Chapter 255 of Mahou Sensei Negima! has a hugely smiling Konoka speedily vacating the room with Setsuna after Asuna insisted that she be the one to rub the healing salve on Negi's, partly healed, shirtless body.
- In episode 23 of Shin Mazinger, the Narrator tries to pull this on Kouji and Sayaka as they're doing their usual thing, but they overhear him just before the scene changes.
- In Van Dread one of the characters arranges for the lovebirds to be Locked in a Room together. Although they thoughtfully installed cameras beforehand...
- ... and broadcast the feed live across the whole ship, to boot.
- In a more recent chapter of Detective Conan, an injured Takagi is alone in a hospital room with Sato, certain that any moment now, a Moment Killer will walk through the door. Thankfully, unknown to him, the Detective Boys shoo away the visitors under the pretense he needs his rest, and they can't help but to peek in the room when he and Sato share a very Squee-enducing kiss.
- This was also done by Kazuha Toyama in the Shiragami-sama case. It was bad news for Shinichi though: He was about to shrink back into Conan when Ran was still with him. Heiji tried to help him escape, but Kazuha invoked the trope.
- Hilariously averted in the manga version of Fruits Basket, where Tohru and Kyo are going about their morning doing normal things, but being a little TOO embarrased about brushing hands together when reaching for something and the like. Yuki, upon witnessing the two, suddenly feels the need to get up and leave. Not to give them privacy so much as to just get the hell out of the sugar-laden-atmosphere.
- It happens at the end of Gundam SEED, when Athrun senses that Kira is going to cry and he drags Cagalli out of the room to leave his friend alone with Lacus. Cagalli protests.
- Amelia does this with Zelgadis to give Lina and Gourry room after the first part of a fight with the second season's first Big Bad Halcyform.
Comic Books
Fan Fiction
- In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, Nagato of all people enforces this at one point.
- In the Galaxy Rangers fanfic Isn't Life Strange, Doc half-jokingly suggests this to Zach when they see Shane and Niko having a happy moment, despite both of them being laid up in Sickbay.
- Played with in the Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic Flowers of Antimony. The military personnel, all of whom were privy to Roy and Riza's Wacky Marriage Proposal, attempt to give them some privacy in a compartment on the train back to Central... except for the members of the Mustang unit, who left communications equipment in there with them and are listening intently to the conversation.
- Death And Ker features several scenes in which Shinjiro, observing the burgeoning romance between Akihiko and Mitsuru, finds a way to slip away unnoticed and leave them alone together. It almost approaches the level of a running gag, as it's inevitably followed by one or the other of them wondering where the hell he went.
Animated Films
- In WALL•E, MO shoos the other robots away from EVE and Wall-E as they're reunited.
- In Pocahontas, Grandmother Willow closes her leaves like a curtain while the main couple are about to kiss.
- Meeko also fulls one off by preventing Flit from getting in the way. This and his resulting expression is one of the few respectable actions Meeko does in this movie.
- In the Aladdin sequel, The Return of Jafar, Iago shoos Genie, Rajah, and Abu away from Jasmine and Aladdin, loudly and obnoxiously, as he does everything. It's an attempt to make them trust him (maybe).
- Tangled: When Flynn and Rapunzel seem to be about to kiss near the end of the floating lanterns scene, Pascal turns pink and covers his eyes. Kinda subverted, though, when he immediately peeks between his fingers.
- Cinderella has this invoked by the King to make sure that the Prince can spend more time with Cinderella without gawkers and to eventually propose to her.
- At the end of The Hunchbackof Notre Dame, the villagers crowdsurf Quasimodo away from the cathedral, but Esmeralda and Phoebus stay behind.
- Inverted at the end of Atlantis: The Lost Empire where ____ and ____ both run off from their subjects and climb up a large rock structure as the stone face representing ____'s dead father flies away into the sky.
Film
- The Matrix Reloaded: Link, Neo, Trinity and the Kid are all on an elevator together. When the door opens Link says, "Let's go, Kid. These two got things to do." As soon as the door closes again Neo and Trinity start kissing.
- In Sense and Sensibility, when Eleanor bursts out crying at the news that Edward is not married, her mother and sisters look at each other, gobsmacked for a moment, and then hurriedly vacate the room.
- In The American President, when President Shephard and Sydney Ellen Wade are about to reconcile, A.J. announces, "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Lincoln bedroom, giving oxygen to Lewis."
- In the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of Dumbledore's Army pull one of these as Harry confronts Cho at Christmas.
- Mean Girls invokes this trope hilariously when Damian whispers "Man candy, stage right!" and grabs Janice to run off while Aaron comes over to Cady. They then completely subvert the trope by running back seconds later, kidnapping one of Cady's certificates to a pancake house, and then leave again.
Janice: (grabs the certificate) Thanks, suckah!
Damian: PEACE! (they run off)
- Arthur tries to invoke this with Ariadne in Inception when Fischer's projections are looking for him. It doesn't work, but it's very smooth on Arthur's part.
Arthur: Quick, give me a kiss.
[She kisses him and then looks around]
Ariadne: They're still looking at us.
Arthur: Yeah, it was worth a shot.
- In Fireproof, Kirk Cameron's character's best friend shoos the other firemen away from the door in order to let the protagonist and his wife enjoy their reconciliation in peace.
Literature
- Mrs Bennet does this in Pride and Prejudice in a painfully obvious fashion, in hopes that Mr Bingley will finally get over himself and propose to Jane. The Crowning Moment of Funny comes Mrs. Bennet attempts to make "subtle" let's-get-out-of-here motions to her daughter Kitty... who doesn't understand what her mother's up to and naively (and loudly) asks her mother why she's winking at her in such a strange fashion.
- And in the movie, where they leave the room... and promptly gather around the keyhole to listen in to all the proceedings.
- Not long thereafter, Mr. Bingley cheerfully asks Mrs. Bennet to suggest a nice long walk for Darcy and Elizabeth to go on, and then immediately suggests that Kitty would not want to go with them, in a manner that can only be considered subtle when compared to Mrs. Bennet.
- In John C. Wright's The Golden Transcedence, when Phaethon reunites with Daphne, Helion and Atkins turn away on their own, but must make Diomedes leave them all; Diomedes, coming from the asexual Neputanians, finds it very interesting to watch.
- Hermione does this in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - leaving, and dragging the less perceptive Ron away with her - to give Harry time alone with Cho.
- She does it again in Deathly Hallows to allow Ginny to give Harry his birthday present. Unfortunately, this time Ron got away from her.
- In "The Lost World" (Jurassic Park), Thorne uses this as an excuse to get everyone except Sarah and Ian out of the trailers, not long before the parent T-rexes appear and push the trailers over a cliff.
- In L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, Marilla does this at one point to leave Gilbert and Anne alone together. Anne sees right through it and is furious with her, because of course, she and Gilbert are Just Friends.
Live Action TV
- In Dollhouse, Echo starts helping Bennet with the reconstruction of Caroline's wedge, but quickly makes an excuse to leave the room once Topher joins them. It doesn't end well. (Although in Bennet's final moments, she and Topher did have a Relationship Upgrade.)
- There is a small moment in NCIS S7 Premiere, when Ziva returns and she and Tony stand in the bullpen gazing at each other for a few moments before McGee makes some half-hearted excuse and leaves the room.
- Leverage: When Parker is jealous of Hardison's attraction to one of their clients, Sophie tells Parker she should confess her feelings and leaves them alone together. Parker Can Not Spit It Out, but Hardison understands and basically lets her know that he's willing to wait.
Theater
- In The Pirates of Penzance, the sisters want to give Frederic and Mabel privacy but don't want to leave them unchaperoned. So they decide to "shut their eyes and Talk About The Weather" in the form of a very silly patter song. (While peeking.)
- Tragic variant in La Bohème: Rodolfo is tending to the dying Mimi, and Colline goes out to sell his coat for medicine. As he leaves, he asks Schaunard to come along:
Colline: Schaunard, each in a different way, let us put together two acts of kindness. I, this; and you—leave them alone together!
- Doc makes this speech in the third act of The Most Happy Fella, which leads into "Song of a Summer Night." After the song Tony and Rosabella are indeed left alone, but a very unhappy revelation ensues.
- Cyrano de Bergerac: Cyrano invokes this trope at Act II Scene V when Roxane and his Duenna met him at the bakery of the poets (Roxane’s Duenna is supposed to be her chaperone). Cyrano bribes the Duenna with pies and ask her to eat them in the street, so he can have some privacy with Roxane.
Cyrano (filling her arms with the bags): Pleasure me then; go eat them all in the street.
The Duenna: But...
Cyrano (pushing her out): And come not back till the very last crumb be eaten!
(He shuts the door, comes down toward Roxane, and, uncovering, stands at a respectful distance from her.)
- Used hilariously by Ben Franklin in 1776 when Martha Jefferson arrives to "cheer up" her husband.
Video Games
Web Comics
Web Original
- Dept Heaven Apocrypha subverts this; Fia would really, really, really like to leave her demon and Meria to themselves, but since the demon is possessing her, she can't. Hilarity Ensues.
Western Animation
- Chowder did this with a casserole and a stink cloud.
|
|
