History Main / AnchoredShip

* ''Film/BatmanBegins'': Bruce is in love with Rachel, but his career as Batman precludes their getting into a relationship. In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Rachel gets into a relationship with Harvey Dent, and then [[spoiler:Rachel gets blown up by the Joker and dies. She leaves behind a note stating that she was choosing to marry Dent, which Bruce never finds out about until the sequel (and even then he refuses to believe it).]]

* Alibaba and Morgiana from ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic''. Alibaba has a LoveRevelationEpiphany after one of his friends tells him Morgiana likes him, but Morgiana doesn't fully understand her own feelings for Alibaba, nor the concept of romance in general, so she doesn't feel ready to be his girlfriend. They agree to wait until Morgiana comes to learn enough about romantic love from Alibaba for them to become a couple. [[spoiler:Then things are further complicated when Alibaba faces being forced into an ArrangedMarriage. He could keep Morgiana as a concubine, but that would go against his principles.]]

* ''Literature/The39Clues'' has [[ShrinkingViolet Amy Cahill]] and Ian Kabra. Ian [[IWasOnlyPretendingToLikeYou pretended to like]] Amy so he and his sister could run off with a clue, but [[UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo as she began to think that she was getting over him, he actually developed feelings for her]]. Even if he wanted to tell her how he felt, it is unlikely that [[MyBelovedSmother his mother Isabel]] would let them be together. At the end of the series the SequelSeries offers a chance for things to change.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' has several relationships that dally in this territory, but most notably the relationship between Nynaeve Al'Meara and al'Lan Mandragoran starts out this way.

* The ''Literature/{{Fallocaust}}'' series has a couple of these.
** Sanguine and Jack are very much in love, but Sanguine left Jack to become Silas' sengil/bodyguard. They also split up so Sanguine could [[ThrowTheDogABone date Valen before he died.]]
** [[spoiler: Reno and Silas spend the entirety of ''The Suicide King'' falling for each other, only for Silas to finally be [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor get his beloved Sky back]].]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Castle and Beckett. [[spoiler: Beckett states that she's free to give it a shot once her mother's murder is resolved, but not before. As of the finale of season 4, they are together. And at the end of the season 5 finale, he asked her to marry him]]

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Midoriya and Uraraka both have strong admiration towards each other. However, when Uraraka realizes her feelings, she chooses to suppress them so a potential romance won't interfere with their goals (Midoriya to be the next Symbol of Piece, Uraraka to make enough money to help her parents).

* Jin and Misaki in ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'' are an example that ends in a successful resolution. Jin feels an inferiority complex over [[TheAce Misaki]], so he played a [[TheCasanova Casanova]] front, despite being faithful to their ChildhoodFriendRomance. [[spoiler:The issue was resolved in volume 5 of the light novel.]]

* Niles and Daphne were like this for five solid seasons in ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Niles was helplessly in love with Daphne, but he was married and refused to cheat on his wife, and wouldn't divorce her since he loved her too (though ''why'' he loved her, no one will ever know). So he never mentioned his love, and though Daphne had mad chemistry with him, [[ObliviousToLove she remained oblivious to his feelings]], never even considering him due to his marriage. They finally de-anchored when Niles' marriage fell apart for unrelated reasons, but went through a long period of WillTheyOrWontThey, CannotSpitItOut, UnrequitedLove, PoorCommunicationKills, RomanticFalseLead, and UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo before [[TheyDo they finally hooked up.]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

** The problems drive away the unburdened partner or the one that has gotten over his or her problems. Alice realizes that she cannot help Bob deal with his issues and goes out with David instead, even while Bob claims he is willing to get together with her.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Touma Kamijou and Misaki Shokuhou were friends would occasionally meet up with each out across Academy City until one day a gang of espers attempted to attack Misaki, leading Touma to defend her with his own body and causing Misaki to fall in love with him. Unfortunately, the injuries Touma sustained nearly caused Touma to die, forcing Misaki to use her powers to save his life and leaving him unable to remember her. Misaki hopes that Touma can regain his ability to remember her so she can confess her feelings for him.