- Take it as read, ninety percent of fanfiction is all about resolving this very trope. The other ten percent? Slash resolving perceived sexual tension.
Arrowverse
- To Hell and Back (Arrowverse):
- Oliver Queen and Nyssa al Ghul. It was strong enough that even in the nominally emotionless League of Assassins, there were rumors about how close they were.
- Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance. A number of people have also noticed this, and Oliver himself is starting to become aware of it as well. Tommy has noticed as well, much to his displeasure.
- Barry Allen and Iris West. Barry knows how he feels about Iris, but stalwartly refuses to pursue her, while Iris is only recent starting to become aware of these feelings due to Barry's long disappearance. People have noticed this situation as well, including Iris' boyfriend Eddie Thawne, who is reacting very much the same way Tommy does with Oliver and Laurel.
- Code Geass Megiddo has Lelouch and Kallen, as per the series. He explicitly trusts her the most out of all of the Black Knights (closest afterwards being C.C.), and trusts her with his protection as his "Knight of Zero," along with the job of killing him if he ever falls off the right path. While the Ship Tease hasn't been very explicit yet, many of their scenes together imply that their relationship is much less platonic than they'd like to believe.
- Children of an Elder God: Between Shinji and Asuka since they met and Shinji noticed how beautiful she was. For a good while, though, neither of them dared to give the first step because they were afraid of rejection. Even after getting together they were hesitant to go beyond kissing because a bunch of Eldritch Abominations could use their desire and lust to corrupt them.
- In Child of the Storm, Harry and Carol have a ridiculous amount of attraction between the two of them and are incredibly close to each other - Undying Loyalty is just the start. However, Carol's not got a good track record with male friends actually being friends, not feeling Entitled to Have You - her only close male friends when she meets Harry are her Camp Gay best friend, Jean-Paul Beaubier, and her self-appointed Knight Templar Big Brother, Lex Luthor. As a result, there's lots of psychological baggage to deal with. Harry, for his part, wouldn't be averse to a Relationship Upgrade, but puts their friendship first. As a result, they're both still in the Just Friends phase, though they flirt a lot. And then deny they're flirting. Literally Everyone Can See It, even the freaking villains. In chapter 46 of the sequel, they finally surrender to the inevitable and get together.
- Hotspring Souls!: The Chosen Undead and Rhea have loads of this. They clearly like each other but can't bring themselves to act on their mutual feelings and have a Relationship Upgrade. Solaire has made it his personal "mission" to get them to hook up.
- Last Child of Krypton: Shinji and Asuka had this since they met for first time and he could not believe how beautiful she was. Of course, Shinji being Shinji, he did not realize she was trying hard to not stare at him during their first meeting, and he spent several chapters saddened because he did not think she would like him back.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: Between Shinji and Asuka since they met in an aircraft carrier. Asuka was in very deep denial for a long while, whereas Shinji figured out his feelings after a while but he tried to find the right timing to ask her out (unfortunately other people kept ruining his attempts).
- In Thousand Shinji:
- Between Shinji and Asuka until Shinji confessed and Asuka showed that she loved him back.
- Rei was strongly drawn to Shinji and Asuka, but she didn't know how dealing with her emotions. When she tried to seduce them, it went awry.
- The Flower Princess and the Alchemist: Orihime's and Edward's relationship in a nutshell. It's obvious that Ed has a definite crush on her (though he won't admit it), but Orihime's feelings for him are pretty vague. She has shown signs that she feels "something" for Ed. When she was trapped in a illusion where her life was back to the way it was before she met Ed and Al, she felt that "something" was still missing. Ultimately, it was Ed's voice that helped her escape. She doesn't know why she feels a strong desire to see Ed again or why she's so reluctant to leave his side, she just is. Cue The Promise. The only thing keeping them from admitting their feelings is that Orihime still has feelings for Ichigo, and Ed being... well, Ed.
- In Tales of the Otherverse, Rogue and Kara spend five chapters wondering whether they should get together or not.
- In the House/Once Upon a Time fanfic Definitely Not Lupus, Regina quickly picks up on the fact that Emma and House are attracted to each other despite not seeing each other for years and their constant bickering. Strangely she doesn't mind it, as she is positive that Emma would never cheat on her.
- Auburn Strands And Red Threads: Inuyasha/Orihime.
- Inuyasha is fairly quick to pick up on his feelings for Orihime. Orihime...not so much. Justified in that Inuyasha has more experience in the field of romance compared to Orihime, so, unlike her, he is not so Oblivious to Love.
- Slipping Between Worlds: One of many as yet unresolved sub-plots concerns the interaction between visiting bemused Roundworlder Philip Holtack and young graduate assassin Jocasta Wiggs. This is a Work In Progress, but Word of God is that there are a few twists in store yet.
- In Gap Year Adventures
by the same author, A.A. Pessimal, a sub-plot is the strained relationship between graduate Assassin Mariella Smith-Rhodes and a compatriot Horst Lensen, a young man who in the course of seven years education together she has come to utterly despise as a walking reminder of all the reasons why she wanted to leave Rimwards Howondaland. Her best friend (and a wiser older sister) see more clearly than she does - she is actually attracted to Lensen but indignantly denies it on every occassion this is suggested to her. Meanwhile, he is secretly more than a little bit in love with her. The tale ends on a cliffhanger of Mariella reluctantly admitting that maybe he isn't as bad as all that...
- iFight Crime With Victorious has several characters afflicted with this. Of terrible mention is Robbie and Cat, the former who uses his power to possess people or control their actions from a distance to force Cat to perform oral sex on him in an attempt to remedy this trope.
- Weightless (Mass Effect): Garrus and Shepard had this bad before she was spaced. And after she returned, they continued to do this for a good couple of chapters before eventually get on with it.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- What Hath Joined Together: Lock Flash Sentry, somepony with a major Bodyguard Crush on Princess Twilight Sparkle which may be reciprocated, in an empty train with the object of his affections for twelve hours, and you get two very, very uncomfortable ponies.
- A Crown of Stars: Between Shinji and Asuka prior to get together in chapter 25. They wanted each other very much, but they were too scared and soul-wearied to try to have a relationship.
- Advice and Trust: Before getting together Shinji there was so MUCH sexual tension between Shinji and Asuka... Shinji was very smitten over Asuka and she was the subject of more than a few of his fantasies, and Asuka could not figure out why Shinji was on her mind so much. In the first chapter (which happens chronologically several weeks before the prologue) they finally realize each other's feelings, and when Asuka asked Shinji why he never reacted to her hints if he wanted her so much he answered he had not noticed she was dropping hints... she pointed out -among other things- she groped herself in front of him.
- The Child of Love: Shinji and Asuka "resolved" it before the start of the fic by having an one-night stand. Nonetheless this story shows why you should resolve your Belligerent Sexual Tension first: since they had not resolved their many issues and opened up to each other, the consequence of that fling (Asuka getting pregnant) put great strain on their relationship.
- Doing It Right This Time: There was a lot of romantic and sexual tension between Shinji, Asuka and Rei in the original timeline, and it increased when the three of them travelled back to the past and Asuka and Rei started to be drawn to each other. In chapter 2 the three of them buy new clothes and Asuka can not help to notice Rei looks beautiful, Shinji looks more handsome, and seeing Shinji paying attention to Rei's looks is making her jealous for more reasons than usual. All of it was resolved when the three teenagers decided to have a three-ways relationship.
- Evangelion 303: The sexual tension between Shinji and Asuka was pretty intense in the early chapters. Shinji could not help to peep at her constantly, and Asuka did not know how to deal with her growing attraction, resorting to climb into his bed using some stupid excuse. The situation resolved itself in chapter 5 when they got together.
- Ghosts of Evangelion: There is a lot of unresolved sexual tension between Shinji and Asuka even after getting together because they weren't ready to have sex for a long time due to their numerous issues.
- HERZ: Between Shinji and Asuka prior to their reconciliation in 2020. They were drawn to each other but their many -and ironically similar- issues, their wildly different ways to deal with them and their utter obliviousness to each other's feelings had kept them apart (and even hurt) until then.
- Higher Learning: In the first few chapters Shinji and Asuka were frightened of confessing their feelings each other because they were frightened of rejection and pain. In chapter 5, after having gotten a few life lessons of their newest teacher and having downed a whole bottle of sake they got drunk enough to dare to confess each other.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide: Played straight for quite a while, but ultimately averted. After much heartbreak and drama, Shinji and Asuka finally have a mutual breakthrough in their understanding of each, and through this mutual insight they arrive at a less complex adjustment and make the jump to Official Couple.
- The One I Love Is...: Before the beginning of the story there was unresolved tension between Shinji and Asuka because Shinji was frightened of showing openly he liked Asuka, Asuka did not want to admit she liked Shinji, and Rei had not realized yet what she liked Shinji. Later there was tension because Shinji cared about both girls but he was unable to choose whom he loved the most.
- Scar Tissue: Shinji and Asuka loved each other but their psyches were so damaged they were seemed to be unable to open up to each other. Shinji thought Asuka hated him and Asuka thought he never cared about her and he just used her because she was convenient. At the same they were so codependent on each other neither of them would ever think of leaving and breaking off their relationship.
- Between Shinji and Asuka in The Second Try until they got together. After Impact they danced around each other for a while, wanting to get together but being still too afraid to act on their feelings.
- Not So Far: Don and Terry, as they dated during their academy days, both seem to still have feeling for each, with Don hoping to possibly have a relationship again.
- Olivine Romance: Jasmine and Morty. Figuring out why Jasmine won't just do it is the focus of the plot- on the surface it looks like she's The Prude, but going on it's implied to be something deeper.
- A Force of Four: Kara Zor-L and Andrew Vinson used to have this before getting together.
- Of Love and Bunnies takes this tack with Tommy and Kim, the original Green/White and Pink Rangers, who were in a relationship until it was terminated by a "Dear John" Letter. The first hundred or so chapters build up the UST that resulted from 5+ years of not seeing each other and it's still going on despite them figuring out that Skull broke them up by accident.
- Redemption (KHR): Tsuna and Chrome begin to develop some as they grow closer together over the course of the fic. Tsuna had a hard time acknowledging it since he was still mourning the death of his First Love Kyoko. Once the Scolgio war is over and Tsuna is finally ready to move on, he decides to take a chance and asks Chrome for a dance at the after party, with Kyoko's spirit nudging him forward, telling him to live his life. The epilogue reveals that they he and Chrome later married and lived a happy life together (though, due to Chrome's physical limitations, without children).
- Sehnsucht: There was something between Noriko's previous incarnation Cervello Cynthia and Daemon Spade. It's been confirmed that Cynthia was in love with him, but to what extent he returned her feelings isn't made clear, since by the time they met he had already mutually fallen in love with her adoptive sister Elena. Both loved Elena too much to entertain what was between them, and when they finally did have a chance to be together, it was at the cost of Elena's death. By that point, Daemon was too far gone and too obsessed with Elena's memory, and the romantic tension between them remained unresolved, to both their regrets.
- Thawing Permafrost has 34 chapters of the stuff between the two leads, student Dan and teacher Mizore, before their awkward Relationship Upgrade in chapter 35.
- In Hellsister Trilogy, there was a good amount of attraction between Kara Zor-El and fellow Kryptonian survivor and Legionnaire Dev-Em, whom Kara found attractive but kind of a jerkass.
- Superman of 2499: The Great Confrontation: Between Alan Kent and Katherine de Ka'an. Long story short, Katherine was torn between Alan and his brother Adam until she finally chose the former.
- In X-Men: The Early Years, Scott Summers and Jean Grey spent months wanting to jump each other's bones. What was stopping them? The belief that their feelings were unrequited."Hank can I ask you a question?" Sue asked from where she was sitting up front in the canoe, watching Scott and Jean.
"Yes?"
"Are those two going to kill each other or start ripping each other's clothes off?"
Hank glanced over to where Scott and Jean's argument was heating up and sighed. "I don't think the two of them have it figured out yet."
