Basic Trope: Someone confesses who they're in love with, but not directly to said person.
- Straight: Alex has a crush on Bethany. He tells Wendy that he's in love.
- Exaggerated: Alex tells all his friends except Bethany that he's in love.
- Downplayed: Alex hints that he has a crush, but doesn't explicitly confirm it.
- Justified:
- Alex is bad with words and thinks that Wendy can more effectively communicate his love for Bethany.
- Alex struggles to directly talk to people he's in love with, so he wants Wendy to tell Bethany he loves her.
- Bethany is unavailable, so Alex confesses to Wendy instead.
- Alex doesn't want Bethany to know how he feels.
- Alex and Bethany have a hard time communicating, so it's easier for him to talk to Wendy.
- Alex had to explain to the incredulous Wendy why he was buying flowers at her shop in the late summer instead of just before Mother's Day.
- Inverted:
- Alex hates Bethany, but doesn't want her to know, so he tells Wendy about his distaste for her instead.
- Alex confesses to Bethany, then wants her to tell Wendy.
- Subverted: It turns out that Alex was just rehearsing what he'd say to Bethany, and then goes to confess for real.
- Double Subverted: But Alex ends up backing out of confessing to Bethany at the last moment.
- Parodied: Nobody confesses their love directly in this universe; if someone tells you how they feel, you can tell it means they're not in love with you.
- Averted: Alex confesses to Bethany directly.
- Enforced: Rule of Drama. Wendy badly communicates the idea to Bethany, making her think Alex isn't interested in her.
- Lampshaded: "Don't tell Bethany this, but I'm in love with her, okay?"
- Invoked: Wendy says, "If you don't want to tell Bethany how you feel, maybe you could tell me instead."
- Exploited: Bethany and Wendy had a falling out. However, Wendy is still friends with Alex, and does what he says. Alex confesses to Wendy in the hopes that she'll start talking to Bethany and they'll become friends again.
- Defied: Alex thinks that it's more personal and direct if he just confesses to Bethany directly.
- Discussed: "You think he confessed directly, or he had someone do it for him?"
I'm in love with Love Confessor, but don't bring that up to her, okay? Go tell Token White instead.
