Characters who keep digging themselves deeper while trying to clarify an unintentionally unfortunate remark in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- A Fools Study Into Witchcraft: While attempting to explain what Personas are, Akko makes it sound as though she's enslaving Shadows. However, she manages to escape the hole she's created for herself when she starts comparing them to Pokémon.
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: When Chloe calls out Goh for how his obsession with Mew led to him drifting away from her, Goh shoots back that at least he has a Goal in Life, claiming that she doesn't have any dreams of her own. Even Ash recognizes that he's Dramatically Missing the Point, and is only driving the wedge between them deeper this way.
- Weight of the World:
- While being retained, America asks Winter if she's going to cuff him to something in order to prevent him from leaving. Realizing how that sounds, he then declares that he was joking, having never experienced that or expected it to happen. He keeps babbling until Winter holds up a hand to silence him, coolly responding that she would never do such a thing, much to his chagrin (and relief).
- Played for Drama when America tells Atlesian Military Doctor Charon about what General Ironwood did to him. While he initially tries keeping it vague, he realizes that he's making them sound like a Stalker with a Crush and hastily backtracks, only to accidentally reveal that the General kidnapped and experimented upon both him and Canada.
- moral of the story (Nyame): Oliver notes that if he admits to Thea that he ignored Laurel's accusations about Blood because he couldn't trust her word thanks to her addiction issues, the same issues he ended up driving Laurel to suicide over weeks later, he'd be doing this. Especially since it turns out Laurel was right and he was wrong, and his mistake indirectly helped cost their mother her life.
- Averted in the Facing the Future Series, where Danny would make a comment that would upset Sam, but would always follow up with a nice recovery. Sam once accused him of enjoying that.
- In the Black Book of Boyfriends
, Erza is enraged when she finds out that one of the guys that Lucy considered dating was her own Love Interest Jellal. Lucy tried to calm her down by showing that she's no longer interested in him, but the fact that the early written reasons were because of Jellal's actions under his Face–Monster Turn during the Tower of Heaven arc only infuriates Erza more, and pointing out that they've been crossed out, which makes it look like Lucy is reconsidering him. Erza is only convinced out of attacking Lucy when the last remaining reason he's crossed out is read: that Lucy considers that Jellal belongs to Erza.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Fifth Path: In the Support "Romantic Advice" Linhardt tries to deny having a crush on Lysithea after Hilda figures it out but only manages to dig his own grave, something he acknowledges.
- In The Art of Binge Eating Harry has gained weight during a period of depression. Draco shows up to apologize about his initial reaction to Harry's new looks.Draco: Bit of a narrow doorway, how do you fit through? Right, well, that was joke, in case you wondered. I don't think you are fat. Look! I brought you more junk food, doesn't that show that I don't care if you get even more fat. Not that you're fat! Okay, let's start this again.
- In Ashes in the Wake of War Ron states that without Harry as a buffer, his and Hermione's relationship was too awkward for them to stay together.Harry: Ron...please tell me you aren't actually asking me to join your relationship, are you? Because I really, really don't think of either of you that way...
Ron: Ew! No! Merlin, Harry...no, we just decided that we worked better as friends. I came back a bit early so we could have some time apart after all that happened, but we aren't going to stop being friends or anything, and I'm definitely not asking you to join us...er, not that I'm against, erm, whatever it is that you like...or if you don't like people, or...erm...
Percy: Ron, stop digging the hole. You're almost buried alive at this point. - In The Problem with Purity Draco unthinkingly insults Harry's foxtrot skill and then dances with Hermione to demonstrate how it should be done. A jealous Harry makes an excuse and leaves.Draco: Is he going to come back from the kitchens?
Hermione: Depends how seriously he's convinced himself that maybe it's not him you're interested in.
Draco: You've got to be kidding. He thinks I'm interested in you? [beat] Which is to say that if I were interested in women, I would of course be interested in you, but since I'm not—
Hermione: I don't want to have sex with you either, Draco, so let's call it even, shall we? - In When a Veela Cries Su Li makes an Accidental Innuendo while referring to Neville and continues making more when she tries to clarify it.Neville: Um, thanks for defending my honor, but next time, maybe we should leave it undefended.
- Different Tales, Different Lessons: In what some have claimed to be one of the funniest moments from "That Dream Within a Dream", Crane, who practices calligraphy in canon, walks in on Tai Lung, Mantis, and Monkey using calligraphy as an Unusual Euphemism for more... explicit topics. Unaware of this, Crane begins talking at length about his own love of calligraphy, not understanding what the other three find increasingly amusing about what he's saying. The scene ends with everyone present save Crane having succumbed to hysterical laughter, much to Crane's annoyed confusion.
- Ace Savvy VS Stether: As part of her plan to supplant Lincoln as the lead, Lola attempts to convince Preston that he's a terrible person through Malicious Slander. Then it turns out that Preston was secretly recording her rant, which he leaks online, making matters much worse for all involved.
- For His Own Sake:
- When Motoko's family calls for her to explain herself before their council, she refuses to acknowledge any of her mistakes. Instead, she continues blaming Keitaro, insisting that it was entirely his fault that she decided to attack him, ranting about how All Men Are Perverts who must be punished. She continues doing so even after being censured and stripped of her heiress status, which only serves to further convince her family that she requires further punishment.
- Naru has the exact same problem when she's called to account for her actions at the Kuromitsu Inn by the president and board members of Tokyo University. She claims that she only attacked the man out of instinct after overhearing him teasing his wife and assuming the worst, something she blames upon Keitaro and having to "deal with his perversions" all the time. Unfortunately for her, they don't consider her victim blaming to be a reasonable defense.
- BURN THE WITCH: Lila's hideously Skewed Priorities mean that she remains hellbent on trying to ruin Marinette and Ladybug's lives when they are literally the only ones standing between her and the angry mob Witch Hunter is riling up. And thanks to Witch Hunter having a magical list of all of Lila's transgressions that updates to include every new crime, all she succeeds in doing is adding more fuel to the fire.
- Burning Bridges, Building Confidence: Adrien and Alya are both remarkably adept at this, due to how both keep insisting that they haven't done anything wrong even as the consequences of their actions catch up to them:
- As Chat Noir, Adrien decides to start skipping battles entirely. When caught sitting on the sidelines by an angry civilian, he outright brags about how he'll only join in if Ladybug admits how much she needs him and agrees to be his girlfriend. Not only does this piss off the civilian, it upsets Master Fu, who decides to make said civilian into a permanent hero so that Ladybug has a reliable partner. Even after being directly warned that he's on thin ice, Chat Noir doubles down on his entitled behavior, even going so far as to try getting the new hero killed while he stands by.
- Once she learns that somebody else has been given the Fox Pendant, Alya starts slandering them online. Her behavior only serves to convince Ladybug that she can't be trusted with any Miraculous, especially after she gets akumatized into Rena Rage and outs her former secret identity.
- The Karma of Lies:
- Adrien virtually makes this his full-time job after Hawkmoth is caught. Ladybug loses what faith she had left in him when he skips the final battle despite being explicitly told he'd be needed and can't provide a reasonable excuse. The public soon follows when he crashes an interview he wasn't invited to, tries to downplay his father's crimes at the expense of the entire city's pain and suffering, and then has the gall to act entitled to payment for what he went through fighting Hawkmoth. As Adrien, he carelessly lets Lila see him accessing a bank account, then rants about all of her other crimes to the police when she later empties it, which just makes him look shady for not reporting her sooner and makes him the prime suspect. Finally, he insists on fighting Mayura alone, and loses the Ring to her in a way that cements the public's suspicions that he was working with his father all along.
- Notably, there is only one moment where Adrien actually recognizes that he's about to dig a deeper pit for himself. During the disastrous interview, Chat Noir claims that he only missed out on the Final Battle because he was babysitting a civilian who'd been previously akumatized, since Hawkmoth was making Ladybug Run the Gauntlet by reakumatizing past victims and sending them after her. He then realizes that he can't actually name names, as Marinette wouldn't be happy to hear he was with Lila. More commonly, Adrien outright refuses to acknowledge even the possibility that his actions are in any way wrong.
- Marinette's classmates (with the exception of Chloé, Juleka, and Rose) respond to her Secret Identity being outed by immediately getting excited about the perks of being friends with Ladybug, completely forgetting they've been treating her like dirt or at best offering insincere token apologies. When Marinette doesn't prove receptive to their sudden desire to act like nothing happened, they start insisting that she has to forgive them, at least the ones who aren't trying to say she should apologize for keeping secrets from them. Marinette walks away even more convinced that they were False Friends all along and glad she made the decision to cut ties with them for her own well-being.
- LadyBugOut:
- Alya's attempts to dodge around admitting that she knows Ladybug isn't happy about a photo she posted to the Ladyblog only serve to rile up most of her classmates further. Including Marinette, who's none too pleased that her 'best friend' is putting her 'big scoop' over Ladybug's express wishes.
- Lila also ends up painting herself into a corner with her lies and losing all the respect she'd gotten from her classmates as a result. When she attempts to regain some of it by claiming that she was Rena Rouge, that only serves to isolate her from her two remaining allies, as Alya and Nino realize that she's lying since that was Alya's old identity.
- When Ladybug confronts him about ditching patrol for selfish reasons in Lying on the Job, Chat Noir insists that he wouldn't lie to her. Ladybug skeptically asks if he's really never lied to her or about her, and when he sticks to that claim, reveals that she met up with Theo and learned the truth about the Copycat incident — something else Chat Noir lied to her about, having caused his akumatization by falsely claiming he was dating her and rubbing their supposed relationship in Theo's face, then telling her that she caused it by not showing up to the dedication ceremony.
- The One to Make It Stay:
- White Hot Morning features Alya doing a truly impressive job of this. When Ladybug confronts her about posting a Manipulatively Edited video on her Ladyblog that falsely makes it appear that she accepted one of Chat Noir's Love Confessions and agreed to a Relationship Upgrade, Alya blows off all her complaints, making clear that she doesn't respect the superheroine's privacy or right to make her own decisions. As far as Alya's concerned, making her ship sail matters more than the truth, or the feelings and opinions of those involved. Once informed that her alter ego Rena Rouge is being benched for the summer as punishment, she immediately tries to throw Chloé under the bus, claiming she should be punished instead despite not being involved with this incident.Ladybug: Interesting that you would drag your teammate into this. It's not making your case any better.
- When Ladybug makes clear to Chat Noir yet again that she's not interested in him that way, calling him out on ignoring her feelings due to his sense of entitlement, he responds by doubling down on his spiteful, petty behavior. As it turns out, refusing to help against Reflekdoll, then prioritizing flirting over fighting against Gigantitan doesn't do him any favors. Nor does his jealousy of Viperion and the other heroes for existing and providing the steady, reliable backup he refuses to give to his nominal "partner".
- When her family confronts her for ignoring their messages and skipping out on babysitting duties, Nora accuses Alya of being self-absorbed. Alya reveals that she was trying to help her friends with their "romantic troubles", despite said assistance not being requested or desired. Nora isn't impressed, and it only reinforces their mother's point about Alya having badly Skewed Priorities.
- When Ladybug calls Chat Noir out on how he constantly complains that she's not "treating him like an equal partner" while refusing to show her or the other heroes the same courtesy, he blows her off, then snarls at Viperion for daring to speak up, perfectly illustrating the point she's trying to make.
- White Hot Morning features Alya doing a truly impressive job of this. When Ladybug confronts her about posting a Manipulatively Edited video on her Ladyblog that falsely makes it appear that she accepted one of Chat Noir's Love Confessions and agreed to a Relationship Upgrade, Alya blows off all her complaints, making clear that she doesn't respect the superheroine's privacy or right to make her own decisions. As far as Alya's concerned, making her ship sail matters more than the truth, or the feelings and opinions of those involved. Once informed that her alter ego Rena Rouge is being benched for the summer as punishment, she immediately tries to throw Chloé under the bus, claiming she should be punished instead despite not being involved with this incident.
- Red For Fortune: Adrien does this when Marinette confronts him about a fashion shoot arranged by his father that, while supposedly inspired by Chinese New Year, only featured white models in yellowface, including Adrien himself.Marinette: (throwing the magazine down on his desk) This is what’s going on in here, Adrien. This racist pile of crap that your father helped produce.
Adrien: (glances at the magazine and recognises the photos, before turning back to Marinette) You're upset over a fashion spread in Mᴏᴅᴇ? I don't see what the big deal is; I mean, none of it is lewd or anything. I guess this collection isn't my father's best work...
Marinette: Oh, it's an awful collection; completely uninspired and cliché. But I wouldn't be half so upset if an Asian designer had been behind a shoot supposedly inspired by an Asian holiday.
Adrien: There probably weren't any Chinese designers that were high profile enough.
Marinette: Do you honestly believe the words coming out of your mouth? I can name three Chinese designers off the top of my head that have been members of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. There are tons of other Chinese designers that participate in Paris Fashion Week. One of them, Ms. Min, even puts out a collection every year in honor of Lunar New Year. The Met Gala, you know, the premier fashion event in the world? It was teeming with work from Chinese designers last year - four of whom were featured in the exhibit! Your father has never caused such a sensation as Guo Pei's fox fur gown, and he sure as hell has never been featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gabriel doesn't make art; if this is anything to go by, all he makes is racist garbage.
Adrien: (stands up and glares at her) It’s not like he could control who Mᴏᴅᴇ asked to do this spread. They chose the person they thought had the best collection for what they wanted to portray.
Marinette: Gabriel Agreste could have easily turned them down if he had the decency to see that what Mᴏᴅᴇ was doing was wrong. Of course, that would require him to realize that his collection was racist trash and that Mᴏᴅᴇ clearly wanted to portray racist trash. (turning the pages over, with Punctuated Pounding) How. Else. Can. You. Explain. This? (finishes on a shot of Adrien) It wasn't enough that they whitewashed my culture, was it? They also had to deck their white models in yellow face. (glaring into his eyes) What made you think that this was in any way okay? How can you claim to be my friend and do something like this?
Adrien: He’s my father; I couldn't just say no.
Marinette: Your relationship to him is precisely why you were the only one who could say ‘no’.
Adrien: (bitterly) You really have no clue about how wrong you are there.
Marinette: I know that any other model or member of the production crew would have committed career suicide if they confronted him. Just as your father was in a position to turn down Mᴏᴅᴇ without consequences, you were in a position to call him out without ruining your future career.
Adrien: You're crazy if you think I wouldn't have faced consequences, Marinette.
Marinette: What, you'd be grounded? Lose your video game privileges? No sweets for a month? Do you really care more about some petty personal comforts than doing the right thing?
Adrien: 'The right thing'? This isn't some grand moral conflict. You're overreacting.
Marinette: Spoken like a truly privileged white man. Your father must be so proud.
Adrien: Don't act like such a martyr, Marinette. It's not like you're some oppressed minority - heck, your skin is even paler than mine.
Marinette: (lets out a harsh and bitter laugh before cutting it off and continuing to glare at him) You were right, Alya; white faves will always disappoint you in the end. - In Serendipitous Fate, there's a scene where Adrien wakes up erect after spending the night in Marinette's bed. And he soon learns from an amused Marinette that this isn't the first time it's happened there.Marinette: Poor kitten. You can't help it, I know that. Though I was a little startled the first time I saw it, I'll admit.
Adrien: Just kill me now.
Marinette: Don't say that! We're both victim to mother nature, that's all. No need to be such a baby about it.
Adrien: It doesn't happen only when I'm here. It happens all the time, whether you're here or not. (realises how that sounded) I-I mean, not that- not that you don't cause- It's different! I mean, sometimes it is because of you! But not all the time! Some- sometimes it is. But I don't do anything about it! I don't think about you like that! (realises she's a little offended) I-I mean, I don't think about those things at all! Not about you, anyway. Haha. Wait, no! (Facepalms) I don't think about anyone when it comes to those things! Like, doing things when I'm alo- I don't- Never! That's not- sometimes! Sometimes I do! But never about anyone else other than- But not- Shit. Uh, I do- I do sometimes. But only you! And not often! Oh god! (realises he just admitted to masturbating while thinking about her) It's really not that often! Like, not that I don't think about you a lot- but I have- It's not-
Marinette: Shhh. Just stop talking. - The Wolves in the Woods: Alya keeps doing this to herself after Ms. Bustier's trial. The more she attempts to force her way back into Marinette's life and reclaim her as her "best friend", the worse she makes things for herself:
- Immediately following the sentencing, she makes a tearful, emotional appeal to Marinette outside the courtroom, begging her to bail her and the others out since they shouldn't be blamed for how Lila tricked and misled them. When Marinette doesn't immediately respond, Alya then lunges at her, which doesn't help her already tarnished image one bit.
- She accidentally lets slip to her parents that she secretly knew Lila was lying the whole time; while attempting to justify herself, she reveals that she was Driven by Envy the whole time and was trying to "knock Marinette down a few pegs" so that she'd stay an Extreme Doormat. Needless to say, this makes her parents completely unsympathetic to her cries about "just wanting her best friend back."
- Her vendetta against Lila winds up isolating her from the rest of the class as she keeps attempting to rope them into her Zany Schemes against their will... and horrifying them by revealing just how far she's willing to go in the name of vengeance.
- Cain: The more All Might tries to reason with Katsuki, the more Katsuki doubles down on his vindictive vendetta against Izuku, escalating to increasingly awful extremes as he plunges deeper into denial. His refusal to acknowledge reality only ensures his ruin.
- Failure to Explode: When Mitsuki confronts her son about how he attempted to attack Izuku in the middle of Aldera Middle School, he protests that it never mattered before — unintentionally confirming that he'd assaulted his 'friend' in the past.
- Sleeper Hit AU: Ochako called Izuku 'Deku' while unaware of what it meant. When she finally gets a chance to apologize to him years later, she explains that she'd initially thought that was his name since she heard Bakugou call him that and thought it was 'cute'. This makes him doubt the sincerity of her apology and reject it.
- Think Before You Speak:
- Since he's so used to getting away with his Barbaric Bullying of Izuku, Katsuki is utterly bewildered when he's punished for using potentially lethal force during their practice exercise. He legitimately believes that proclaiming he only did that because his target was Izuku will help his case; instead, it only serves to convince everyone present that their concerns about repeat offenses are very valid.Katsuki: I only did that because it was Deku!
Midnight: I need you to really understand that's not a good or defensible argument. - Aizawa also does this with his refusal to admit that he was wrong to try sabotaging one of his students through Malicious Slander. While defending his actions to the Hero Commission, he accidentally reveals that he hadn't bothered reading any of his students' profiles — otherwise, he would have known that Izuku's Quirk had only recently manifested. Even after learning this, however, he continues to insist that wouldn't have altered his (mis)handling of the situation at all.
- Since he's so used to getting away with his Barbaric Bullying of Izuku, Katsuki is utterly bewildered when he's punished for using potentially lethal force during their practice exercise. He legitimately believes that proclaiming he only did that because his target was Izuku will help his case; instead, it only serves to convince everyone present that their concerns about repeat offenses are very valid.
- Throughout the entirety of Whispered Tribulation, Aizawa engages in this due to the Sunk Cost Fallacy: after assuming that Izuku must be The Mole, he refuses to acknowledge that he might have made a mistake, constantly Moving the Goalposts and latching onto any Contrived Coincidence he can find as "evidence" that he and his allies were right to kidnap the boy and attempt torturing a "confession" out of him. The more he doubles down, the deeper he digs his own grave.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- The Demesne Of The Reluctant Twilight Sparkle: Faced with a Twilight who's already in a foul mood, a pair of guards keeps saying things that make her even angrier. Things get worse when they realize this and start babbling. Then one tries to throw the other under the bus, hitting her Berserk Button by betraying his friend.
- Loved and Lost: Prince Jewelius invokes this trope about halfway through the fic via a clever exploitation of his good PR and his secret evil gloating towards the fugitive heroes he's just recaptured at that point. Taking them out to be Forced to Watch Celestia's Public Execution, he knows full well that the heroes will try to expose him for The Sociopath he really is, despite the citizens of Canterlot and especially Twilight already resenting them for contributing to the nearly-successful Changeling invasion. Sure enough, he gets to sadistically enjoy the results of their fruitless attempts to warn the populace about his having started the invasion to begin with and his current plan to murder Cadence, which only succeed in making them more scorned upon for all the above reasons. A few minutes later, this ends up backfiring on him when he tries to get Celestia to try and expose him as well, not knowing that she's already cottoned onto what he was doing and now knows that everypony has lost all faith in her. So instead, she uses her final speech to earnestly apologize to the public for her own role in the invasion happening before raising the sun for what she thinks is the last time, which finally earns the crowd's forgiveness and results in a growing call for the execution to be stopped, even before Luna rescues her sister at the last moment. From there begins the gradual process of Jewelius' downfall and the heroes' fortunes turning for the better.
- Princess Twilight Sparkle's School For Fantastic Foals: Winter Break: Sumac remarks that he'd like to make foals with Pebble to see what they'd look like (referring to how diverse their family is). When he realizes how That Came Out Wrong, he tries to clarify with little success, with Igneous Lampshading how he's only making it worse.
- The Three Sisters: After learning that Rarity is a changeling princess, Rainbow Dash tries complimenting her, only to keep falling into this with her poorly chosen words.
- The Element of Time: While gushing about how much he's learned from Naruto, Konohamaru accidentally implies that he didn't learn anything from Sakura despite her being his team's sensei. He makes it worse when he complains to Akari about how he thinks she's not as good a teacher as Sasuke, ignoring all of Akari's efforts to warn him that Sakura is right behind him.
- Escape From The Hokage's Hat: During an argument with Sakura in front of Jiraiya and Team Eight, Kakashi inadvertently does this: everything he says to defend his decisions and acting like a Fair-Weather Mentor only wind up making him look even worse.
- For instance, when Sakura complains about how he barely bothered teaching her anything, Kakashi implies that he didn't see her as worth the effort due to her lower chakra pool. Sakura asks him "What part of 'those who abandon their allies are worse than trash' do you believe?"
- Kakashi then claims that he wanted all of his students to become powerful, not just Sasuke, only for Sakura to ask why Sasuke was the only one that he taught any special, 'exclusive' techniques to:Sakura: Every single ninja in my generation is treating me like a lazy failure because I don't know more than the Academy ninjutsu and taijutsu. You're Sharingan Kakashi with over a thousand moves! Don't you think that maybe there was a technique or two in that grab bag for your other students?
Jiraiya: You didn't want to teach [Naruto] anything that would've pissed off the Uchiha, right?
Obey Me! – One Master to Rule Them All!
- In Your Coal, Belphegor's first attempt at apologizing to the protagonist becomes this when he effectively attempts to guilt-trip them into forgiving him for what happened, which only angers the protagonist even more.
- The Improvising Engineer: When Commodore Crow asks Lieutenant Aileen why she chose to go outside her orders for a scouting mission and kidnap a child, her attempts to explain away and excuse her actions leave him completely unimpressed, threatening to have her Kicked Upstairs.
- In Confide in Me, one of these occurs in Chapter 20:Joker: So...would this be a bad time to mention that she wanted to go to the Red Light District together afterwards.
Sae: Excuse me!?
Joker: O-Oh, well, I mean, she wanted to go, but I told her 'I'm sorry Makot-...er, Niijima-senpai, but that's very irresponsible, not to mention that your incredibly smart and talented older sister would never approve of t-
Sae: Yeah, nice try. Now why don't you tell me what really happened?
Joker: Ummm...
Sae: You have five seconds to explain before I wring your neck.
Joker: You wouldn't do that...
Sae: 5
Joker: Like I said, she wanted me to go there with her!
Sae: 4
Joker: We were pretending to be a couple!
Sae: ...2
Joker: She wanted to meet with this club host.
Sae: 1
Joker: (originally written without spaces) She was really worried about a fellow classmate because of rumors that she was seen at the Red Light District so she asked for my help and we found out she had a boyfriend who was also a club host so she asked me if we could pretend to date so we could go on a double date and investigate him!
Sae: (Death Glare) - Peggy Sue fic Escher has Yusuke accidentally reveals intimate and personal details of Hifumi's life (that he knows from the future) while distracted, then promptly ditching her. When she confronts him in a cold fury over this, he's so intimidated by her his "clarification" compounds his error by rambling about whether it 'is happening' or 'will happen'.
- Through Her Eyes: When Nora accuses her boyfriend Ren of ogling Yang, he tells her that he doesn't want to throw any beautiful blondes onto his bed for any reason, being quite happy with her. Naturally, Nora latches onto the fact that he just called Yang "beautiful".
