Unrequited Love Switcheroos in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- Kyon: Big Damn Hero has this in a kind of strange way between Kyon and Sasaki; Kyon had a fairly obvious crush on Sasaki during middle school, but once they go to high school they drift apart and Kyon starts getting involved in, well, stuff. And then she starts being significant to the plot again (and having her own crush on Kyon) once he's gotten himself over his crush he didn't realize he had and was set up in an Arranged Marriage with Tsuruya. He's also involved in his really strange harem-situation with his fiancee.
- This is a somewhat recurring element in the anthology fic Phantom Hearts
. Some examples include:- Mary Test, alongside her sister, was originally a Stalker with a Crush towards Gil Nexdor, but he only starts to take notice of her (and only her; sorry Susan) once she's finally over him and gotten together with Danny.
- When Pucca fell in love with Danny, Garu was initially ecstatic... until he finds out that Pucca was the only thing stopping Tobi and his minions from kicking his ass.
- Spark to Spark, Dust to Dust: When Weiss finally agrees to give Jaune a chance, she winds up enjoying herself so much on their date that she'd happily continue their relationship... only to find that he's not interested.
- The Vigilante Boss and His Failed Retirement Plan has a platonic variant with Izuku and Katsuki's friendship. For years, Katsuki rejected all of Izuku's efforts to reach out to him, mocking and bullying him. When his Karma Houdini Warranty runs out, Katsuki has a painful epiphany while talking to Aizawa that Izuku was his only true friend. Following this, he sincerely wants to be friends again, but realizes that even seriously apologizing won't rebuild their relationship.
- In Welcome to Silent Hill, Sherlock had accepted that Watson would never love him back. Guess what happens in the epilogue?
- Cat's In The Cradle has Kyoko's relationship with Makoto play out similarly to the singer's relationship with his son in the Harry Chapin song. In the first half of the fic, Makoto is the one who initiates most of the conversations with Kyoko, who's a bit cynical about his confidence that they can be friends and preoccupied with her investigative work. In the second half, Kyoko is the one who initiates the conversations with Makoto, who has since fallen in love with Sayaka and started a Secret Relationship with her.
- Resurrected Memories: Back in Season 1, Danny had a major crush on Paulina, but moved on after seeing firsthand how unpleasant her personality really was. After learning that he's a popular superhero, she's suddenly much more interested in hooking up with him.
- Milk has Roy and Ed in a relationship where Ed is in love with the Colonel; unfortunately, Roy is only using him for sex. By the end, Roy realizes that he's actually fallen for Ed, only to find that his former lover has had enough.
- In The Boy Who Died A Lot, Harry falls for Snape after his teacher starts counseling him over his suicidal tendencies and protects him from Umbridge. Snape oblivates Harry in order to make him forget his infatuation, only to find himself falling for Harry in turn.
- The popular Marauders era fanfic The Life and Times has two examples:
- James and Lily. For the longest time, James has been hopelessly in love with Lily, and has pursued her relentlessly throughout their first five years at Hogwarts. While Lily, on the other hand, despised James for his immaturity, bullying tendencies (particularly toward Severus Snape, who is also in love with Lily), and arrogance, and bluntly rejected him every time he asked her to go out with him. Throughout sixth year, James begins to go through a decent amount of Character Development as he drops his bullying ways and gradually becomes more heroic (though he still pretends and tries to convince others he really is a jerk). This makes Lily start to see James in a new light and she begins an on and off friendship with him that slowly develops into Belligerent Sexual Tension (despite her being in a relationship with Luke Harper at the time, who she is not in love with). At the beginning of their seventh and final year, Lily realizes she has feelings for James, but by then he has finally given up and moved on to Carlotta, who seems perfect for him on paper. Lily lampshades it herself when she wonders if all her rejections of James hurt him as much as watching him and Carlotta together hurt her, this makes her start to regret how coldly she used to treat him. This is an interesting example in that we already know they end up together, we just don't know how they get there.
- Adam and Marlene. Adam has been in love with his best friend Marlene for several years, who has been in a turbulent long-term relationship with Miles, and is unaware of his feelings. When he finally gets up the nerve to tell her toward the end of sixth year, she is so overwhelmed by his confession (and by the fact that she ended her relationship with Miles only a few months previously) that she harshly rejects him, which she immediately regrets. Even though they eventually resume their friendship, Adam is hurt enough by the rejection that he decides to move forward with his love life and starts dating an Indian girl named Prudence Daly over the summer, making Marlene realize she really is in love with him after all.
- In Herding Cats, Karkat wrongly thinks this is what has happened between him and Nepeta.
- Tavros, who by this point has become incredibly Wrong Genre Savvy, informs Aradia that this is what has happened between them (he used to be flushed for her, she used to be pale for him). Aradia informs him that actually, she was never in love with him, and what's actually happened is that he's now a complete dick.
- A popular plotline in fanworks is having Yuuri realize that he's in love with Wolfram after the latter has already moved on.
- In A Little Red and Blue, Sharon is transported to the year 1944, where she is found by the past Steve. She initially acts cold to him because in her timeline, he abandoned her after she had stolen his shield for him and for choosing to stay in the past with her aunt Peggy. She eventually warms up to him and the past Steve develops feelings for her, even trying to convince her to join him as part of the Howling Commandos. Sharon rejects him, believing that he's "supposed" to be with Peggy. When Sharon is sent back to the present, she comes across the present Steve who explains that he didn't actually stay in the past and the two enter an official relationship.
- A common premise for Love Square shippers is reversing the crushes, like having Adrien falling for Marinette while she falls in love with Chat Noir.
- In Brokenhearted, Adrien only realizes how much he loves Marinette after she gives up entirely on pursuing him and starts dating Luka.
- Played With in the Dad Villain AU. Nathalie spent a long time fruitlessly yearning after Emelie; in the original timeline, she transferred some of that affection to Gabriel after seeing how devoted he was to reviving his wife. For her part, Emelie knew about Nathalie's crush, but acted oblivious while endlessly stringing her along. After Gabriel rewrites reality with his Wish, Nathalie doesn't recall ever falling for him... but he does, and feels just as entitled to her devotion as Emelie does. This causes problems when Nathalie realizes she was Loving a Shadow and moves past her crush on Emelie, leaving both of the Agretes seething with jealousy at the mere suggestion that she's interested in somebody else.
- The Karma of Lies: After Marinette's Secret Identity is exposed alongside Hawkmoth's in their final battle, Adrien expects her to swoon into his arms; after all, Alya already revealed her crush on him to the whole class. Unfortunately for him, Marinette realized she was Loving a Shadow after he refused to do anything about Lila, especially after she told him how much she was hurting and he completely ignored her, declaring she could handle it. When she declares as much, Adrien once again completely ignores what she's saying and continues to insist that they have to get together.
- Of Patience and Pettiness: After finally giving up on his unwanted pursuit of Ladybug, Adrien decides to switch targets to Marinette. Who used to have a crush on him, but let those feelings fade after seeing that he prioritized Lila over her. Notably, Adrien is fully aware both that she used to have a crush on him and that that's no longer the case, but convinces himself that he can 'win her back'.
- Played With in Two Letters: Chat Noir spent the better part of two years harassing Ladybug, only to give up his pursuit right as her resistance was worn down enough that she'd actually considered giving in. And why did he give up? Because he'd decided to switch targets to Marinette, right as she'd decided to give up her fruitless pursuit of Adrien. Marinette subsequently concludes that he was only ever interested in the challenge; Adrien denies it, but also declares that Ladybug should have immediately accepted his disinterest despite his own refusal to respect HER feelings.
- What Goes Around Comes Around: Marinette gave up on Adrien and is happily dating Luka. Then Hawkmoth reveals that he knows her Secret Identity and attacks the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Adrien's immediately eager to hook up with 'his lady', ignoring the fact that she's currently with another guy; both he and Alya incorrectly assume that Luka's nothing more than a Romantic Runner-Up that she was 'settling' for because her real love wasn't available.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Green, Twilight had a Precocious Crush that was unwittingly rejected by its recipient, who wasn't aware just how serious the filly's confession was. Years later, Princess Luna realizes that this incident lies at the core of Twilight's insecurities, which are ruining her relationship with Pinkie Pie. When she informs Princess Celestia of this, they promptly have a Love Epiphany; however, they decide to help Twilight and Pinkie mend their relationship rather than throwing their hat into the ring at such a late juncture.
- Romance and the Fate of Equestria: Rarity reveals early on that she's considering accepting Spike's feelings for her someday. The following chapter has Spike declare that he's gotten over her.
- A Growing Affection does this to Sakura; Naruto announces in the first chapter that he is no longer in love with her. By the end of the first book, she is in love with Naruto, but he and Hinata have started dating.
- Lucky Charm: Sasuke and Sakura broke up before the main series begins. However, when she starts spending more and more time with Naruto, he becomes increasingly jealous.
- Throughout The Fools' Tournament, if Hamuko and Minato aren't actively dating each other, then they swap back and forth which one of them is being friend-zoned.
- Whitney in the Pokémon Reset Bloodlines Expanded Universe sidestories was shown having tough luck with dates, since Johto's guys have plenty of No Guy Wants an Amazon. Come the Holiday Special, she finds herself a boy who likes her and the two start dating, and by the next year, those who rejected her are now wondering What Does She See in Him?.
- In Stay, Marco realizes that he was in love with Star right after she gets engaged to Tom. He also fears that this could happen between him and Kelly if he lets her go, making him reluctant to break up when there seem to be No Sparks on his side.
