That Didn't Happen

""I didn't do that, I didn't do that, I didn't do that, it never happened! I didn't do that, I didn't do that, I didn't do that, it never happened! I didn't do that, I didn't do that, I didn't do that, it never happened!...""

- Reilly after her Accidental Kiss with Larry, So Little Time

""I'll forget I ever heard anything, so you need to forget you ever said anything.""

- Souichi after hearing Morinaga's love confession in Challengers

Backpedaling on the Relationship Upgrade (or at least trying to). A pair that's had their first kiss, or made out, or even gone straight from zero to sex in 30 seconds, will mutually decide afterward to pretend nothing happened. Cue cries of outrage from the Shipping crowd.

If the two were Kissing Under the Influence, if Aliens Made Them Do It, if there was a Love Potion involved, or if it was some other form of Deus Sex Machina, it's almost believable when they successfully do just that. After all, the feelings weren't real (or they can at least pretend that's the case). They may not even be in a Romance Arc at all; just two characters randomly selected to supply the sex appeal for the episode (though now that they've had romantic contact, they're guaranteed their own shippers anyway).

If there was no excuse other than raw passion, however, there had better be some sort of change in their interactions or the believability breaks down. You can't hold on to the old relationship status quo after you've voluntarily swapped fluids. After all, Sex Equals Love.

The phrase may be used explicitly, or the decision may be implicit, with the two pointedly talking about everything but what just happened.

Not the same thing as Fanon Discontinuity, which is when the fans are the ones pretending something didn't happen. For another form of backpedaling, see Relationship Reset Button.

Anime & Manga
"Avian: What was I thinking?!? I didn't want to get married!
 * Sango of Inuyasha takes this a step further; after declaring that she would rather stay and die with Miroku than save herself, when it turns out that Miroku is not about to die after all, Sango's response to his gentle teasing about it is to go into complete denial: "Did I say something? What did I say?"
 * At the end of the Ranma One Half manga, Ranma appears to completely forget his Anguished Declaration of Love to Akane, though whether it's due to deliberate denial or Selective Obliviousness isn't exactly clear.
 * An interesting variation occurs in the Boys Love manga Challengers. When Morinaga finally tells his sempai Souichi that he loves him, as an explanation for his desire to quit university to get away from him, Souichi makes a pact with him that they will continue working together as lab partners and friends, and forget that he ever confessed. Since Morinaga was planning to sever ties with Souichi after confessing, Souichi's That Didn't Happen actually prevents their relationship from being aborted for good.
 * Not quite the same thing, but in the Spin-Off sequel The Tyrant Falls in Love, one of Morinaga's major frustrations is that Souichi seems dead-set on keeping their relationship at a standstill by pretending after any revealing incident that they're still nothing more than friends. Even after having sex, saying out loud that he can have sex with Morinaga only, kissing Morinaga of his own volition, and moving in together, Souichi appears determined to willfully block from his mind any implications that his homophobia may be misplaced.
 * Played with in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Makoto performs several time leaps to make sure that literally does not happen. Nevertheless, her relationship with him is still affected to the point that she might as well not have bothered.
 * Mahou Sensei Negima with probably too many to list. The most obvious ones are Asuna's Forceful Kiss with Negi when he was under the influence of The World Tree, and an incident involving Akira and a kissing-obsessed golem created by Haruna.
 * Midori no Hibi. Tsundere girl Ayase finally admits her love for Seiji, but because she was so angry and tired of not being able to reveal it sooner, she tells him it was just a joke.
 * In the dub of Yu-Gi-Oh GX, after Jaden's monsters break out of the Maiden in Love's control:

Sparkman: Oh, boy... Wait until Sparkwoman hears about this...

Both: Guy pact! This didn't happen, okay?"


 * In Axis Powers Hetalia, Japan, after getting a lesson in sex (and being very loud during it, to say the least) from his close friend Greece, furiously tries to write it off as "just a dream" the morning after. Apparently he was too panicked to realize that calling it All Just a Dream just opens the door to a whole host of other implications...
 * One-sided version where it's only a confession that happens, in Hayate the Combat Butler, after spending an enjoyable not-a-date with Hayate, Hinagiku confesses that she's in love with him, just as a train goes by not allowing him to hear it. His response is equivalent to "What did you just say?" her response is clearly this trope.

Comics

 * Transmetropolitan: Spider Jerusalem & Yelena Rossini get drunk one night. Next morning, Spider wakes up to find himself and her naked in the same bed. Spider contemplates it for a while afterwards and decides to go with the flow, but Yelena goes straight to the trope, and keeps up the charade until the end of series 2 when (in another bout of drunkenness) she loudly confesses to the affair (and to the fact that she wasn't really the niece of Spider's editor) in front of a sizable number of people. The relationship slowly builds again from there.

Film

 * When Harry Met Sally: After the title characters, previously platonic, have sex without thinking, they try to pretend it never happened the next morning. Realistically, it doesn't work, and the resulting frustration nearly kills their friendship.
 * The Philadelphia Story establishes this early on as Tracy's default response to anything crack in her "ivory goddess" self-image. So naturally, when she gets drunk on the eve of her wedding and goes for a late-night swim with Mike...
 * DON'T TELL ME IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!! IT DID HAPPEN!!! I SAW IT HAPPEN!!!

Live Action TV
"Xander: (points at her) That didn't just happen!
 * In The Mighty Boosh, Howard callously did this to Vince Noir after their near relationship upgrade. Howard brushed it off, claiming the kiss was a 'momentary lapse of judgement.' Vince was not amused.. Neither were the shippers
 * Tasha says this to Data in Star Trek the Next Generation after an intoxication virus gets them to demonstrate how "fully functional" he is. Subverted in that Data clearly still holds that memory dear, even after Tasha dies.
 * A line was cut from Tasha's Meaningful Funeral as well. "Data, it did happen." It's clear to see where it was supposed to be in the script, as they kept Geordi's surprised reaction shot.
 * Farscape, after Aeryn and Crichton, thinking they're both going to die in a shuttle with no life-support, start ripping off each other's clothes. After they're rescued, they both excuse it as the stress of near-death conditions, etc. etc.
 * Giles of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has twice done this: once with Joyce (de-inhibition spell) and once with Anya (amnesia spell convinced them they were engaged).
 * It also happens, less supernaturally, with Cordelia and Wesley in "Graduation Day"-- after almost half a season's worth of flirting and romantic tension, the two kiss twice, passionately... and apparently terribly, because they awkwardly and blatantly ignore it afterwards.
 * Likewise when Xander and Willow kiss in "Homecoming".

Willow: No! (gestures nervously) I mean, it did, but it didn't!"

"Clark: Lois, you know, after the wedding things got a little crazy.
 * One episode of Hustle required Ash and Stacie to be photographed making out. After the photoshoot, they just stood around awkwardly, trying to be casual. Ash's nickname is Three Socks, after all. This one worked so well because there had never been any subtext between those two, and there hasn't been any since: it truly was just kinda awkward for everyone involved.
 * This happens in The Nanny when Mr. Sheffield tells Fran that he loves her in a season-ending Cliff Hanger episode... then takes it back. The "taking it back" part is dwelt upon ad nauseam for the next season or so.
 * This happens in Scrubs with J.D. and Carla. They were drunk at the time and Carla is married to J.D.'s best friend Turk. J.D. insists that it was just a "friend kiss," but Carla denies this was the case. See the kiss in question here and the morning after here.
 * In Smallville, Lois is forced to admit that she loves Clark while under duress and hooked up to a lie detector. She later claims to have unhooked herself from the machine and Clark believes her.
 * More likely he didn't, just decided not to push the issue.
 * Also on Smallville, when Lois returns from an extended trip and sees Clark for the "first time" after their Almost Kiss at her cousin's wedding:

Lois: Things got a little crazy before all hell broke loose, let's face it. ... Or we could not face it, and just forget that it ever almost happened."

"MAX: You know about what happened... I was real emotional with all that was going on.
 * This actually begins Barney and Robin's Relationship Upgrade in How I Met Your Mother. After an old boyfriend destroys Robin's self-esteem, Barney (displaying his heart of gold) comforts her and gets her to laugh and shrug off the hurt. She takes him home and has sex with him... but the next morning, horrified by the idea that she's become just like the bimbos he sleeps with and brags about, she makes him swear that it never happened. She moves on, safe in the knowledge that they're Just Friends, and oblivious to the fact that he's just fallen in love with her.
 * They seem to be awfully fond of this trope.
 * After Shannon and Boone have sex (in flashback) on Lost, Shannon declares that they'll just go back to the way things were before. This is somewhat complicated, considering the two are stepsiblings.
 * On Black Books, Bernard thinks he and Fran might've slept together in the past, but he doesn't entirely remember. Suspiciously, Fran has informed that he's not allowed to remember.
 * On Dark Angel, Max and Logan have the following conversation after their first kiss:

LOGAN: I know.

MAX: It's not...

LOGAN: Me, neither.

MAX: I mean...

LOGAN: Exactly.

MAX: So long as that's clear.

LOGAN: I'm glad we talked about it."

"MADDIE: What was that?
 * Subverted on Northern Exposure: It looks like O'Connel and Fleischman are going to get together on a trip out of town, but O'Connel, running on two days without sleep, falls asleep before they can do the deed. It looks like she's going to forget that the "almost did it" never happened, but she wakes up... and thinks they did it. Then
 * Mulder and Scully of The X-Files are this trope. They never specifically say "that didn't happen", but kisses, confessions, conversations, even an invitro attempt come and go and are never mentioned again. They are the couple that never resolves anything. So frustrating.
 * Variations on the phrase "this never happened" are Arc Words on Mad Men and sometimes fall into this trope. In season four, after Don sleeps with and then makes it clear he has no intentions of starting a relationship with her (adding insult to injury by ), she confronts him by telling him, "This actually happened."
 * Moonlighting: After David and Maddie's first (non-dream) kiss, this exchange ensues...

DAVE: Um...what was what?

MADDIE: That, that. Weren't you here? What we just did, what was that?

DAVE: I dunno. I didn't do it. You tell me, what was that?

MADDIE: What do you mean, 'You tell me'? It wasn't me, it was you.

DAVE: I didn't do it, you did it.

MADDIE: I did not do it.

DAVE: Well I did not do it.

MADDIE: Well...if you did not do it, and I did not do it, I guess--

BOTH: It didn't happen."


 * Mary Tyler Moore Show has both Mary and her boss Lou become completely squicked out after kissing, leading to this.

Music

 * The Gin Blossoms did an entire song about this. It's titled "Whitewash" and can be found on the album "Congratulations, I'm Sorry".

Video Games

 * Prince of Persia: Sands of Time ends with the Prince trying to kiss Farah - but since he rewound time, she doesn't remember how they worked together and warmed up to each other, so she's indignant and offended. Immediately he hits the button on the Dagger of Time, rewinds to before the kiss, and gives the dagger to her - so no, that didn't happen.
 * Dragon Age: Origins has the potential for a female PC to end up in a foursome with two members of her party plus another, minor quest character. Should you succeed in pulling it off, the following cut scenes has the female participants asking to "never speak of this again".

Webcomics

 * Happens in Errant Story, after Sarine pounced on Jon (for reasons too complicated to explain here). And unfortunately for Jon, when a 3000-years old magic-wielding Elf decides that something didn't happen, you won't be in any position to disagree.
 * Subverted later, though, because Jon remembers just enough to be able to tell that Sarine erased his memory (but he doesn't exactly know why), pressing her to admit that they've "just" done it. Of course, that's more a subversion of Laser-Guided Amnesia than this trope, but still...
 * In Order of the Stick, Haley starts planning denial before the actual kiss.
 * Vaarsuvius sort of pulled this (and revenge, lots of revenge) after Belkar kissed him/her in a drunken stupor during New Years. It helped that Belkar had no memory of 'The Event.'
 * This comic shows that at some point, the denial stops being believable.
 * In Shortpacked, Mike sleeps with Amber and Ethan on the same night, in order to drive a wedge between them. Amber's reaction is this trope, Ethan's is quietly asking if he wants to go again.

Western Animation
"Sam: Uh, that never happened.
 * Happened in Hey Arnold The Movie: Helga revealed to Arnold that she loved him all along and proceeded to kiss him. In the end, they nervously decided that it was because of the moment and nothing serious had happened.
 * On Danny Phantom, when Tucker and Sam say this after their Accidental Kiss, it's believable:

Tucker: You got that right!"

"Sam: You didn't think it was a real kiss... did you?
 * When Danny and Sam try this after their first Fake Out Make Out, not so much:

Danny: NO! Why... did you?"

"Chris: But it all seemed so real...
 * Danny's expression before he says his line is priceless.
 * Almost a constant in Avatar: The Last Airbender, where the status quo is restored instantly after any change between, though it may be more of a case of Executive Meddling. This is most notable after   The most jarring instance of this trope, however, happens between 'The Ember Island Players' and the show's finale, where  . Curiously, this seems to apply only to this couple, as all other switches to a romantic relationship, example,  , are portrayed openly on the show.
 * In Family Guy, Chris claimed that Meg is going crazy like when she killed her other sister. Lois reminds him that it was All Just a Dream
 * In Family Guy, Chris claimed that Meg is going crazy like when she killed her other sister. Lois reminds him that it was All Just a Dream

Peter & Lois: IT WAS A DREAM!!!"

Real Life

 * Common, particularly among closeted gays, adulterers, and ex-lovers who've broken up but "somehow" fall back into bed with each other. Occasionally the participants agree for things not to happen on a regular basis.