Basic Trope: Two characters have difficulty nailing down the nature of their relationship.
- Straight: Alice and Bob routinely spend a lot of time together, but when asked if they're dating, they're not sure.
- Exaggerated: Alice and Bob spend 99% of their time together and even share a bed, but they're unwilling to label their relationship.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob are pretty confident for the most part that they're Friends with Benefits, but occasionally they feel like a romantic relationship might be better for them as well.
- Justified:
- One or both of them has been hurt before and really want to feel the other person out before they commit to anything.
- One or both of them feels like they could do better, but they're willing to keep hanging with their current partner until someone else comes around.
- Inverted: Bob and Alice immediately clarify their relationship as soon as they feel a spark.
- Subverted: Someone asks Bob is Alice is his girlfriend. He immediately says "yes".
- Double Subverted: Alice shoots him a look and Bob indicates he was just joking.
- Parodied: Bob and Alice have been married for several years and have even had a couple kids, but they still staunchly refer to use labels in their relationship.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: After a few dates, Bob and Alice start calling one another "boyfriend" and "girlfriend".
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "Wait, lemme guess, you can't tell me if you're dating or not."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Charles is trying to get Alice in the sack. When she expresses reluctance because of Bob, Charles points out that she isn't saying they're in a relationship.
- Defied: "No, I'm not going to do that whole cutesy are-we-or-aren't-we thing. She's my girlfriend."
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alice gets so tired of Bob's unwillingness to call her his girlfriend that she dumps him for the first man that will.
Back to Relationship Labeling Problems.
