I Love You Because I Can't Control You/Playing With
Basic Trope: Character who can seduce or control others finds somebody they can't manipulate, and falls hard for this not-so-easily-obtained target.
- Straight: Kyle, a cruel Casanova with a knack for leaving broken hearts in his wake, meets Leslie, who isn't interested in him. This makes him much more interested in her.
- Exaggerated: Kyle can influence most women (and men) into sleeping with him through his good looks and latent Mind Control... yet Leslie is somehow immune, much to his shock.
- Downplayed: Kyle finds Leslie's indifference mildly intriguing, though by no means her sole attractive quality.
- Justified: Kyle wants to know what makes her 'tick' and why she doesn't find him attractive when so many others do.
- Inverted: A hopeless loser who can't woo anybody finds somebody he can easily seduce. This turns him off.
- Alternatively, Kyle only loves Leslie when he can control her. If she defies or ignores him, he loses interest.
- Subverted: It looks like he's fallen for her, but he's only feigning love as a different way to seduce a difficult prize.
- Double Subverted: ...but he then falls for her in the process of pretending to fall for her.
- Parodied: The reason Kyle's charm doesn't work on Leslie is because she's a Mannequin.
- Deconstructed: No matter what he does, Leslie simply doesn't find Kyle attractive. In fact, she's increasingly repulsed by his various attempts to snare her. Her repeated rejection just spur him on until he reaches the level of Stalker with a Crush... or worse.
- Alternatively, Kyle finally manages to earn her affection... only to discover that he was more enamored by the chase. Having finally gotten what he wanted from her (if only on a physical level), he moves on like he always has, leaving Leslie a bitter, twisted shell of her former self.
- Reconstructed: Kyle and Leslie have a good "equal terms" relationship because they can take turns being the dominant partner. If done with a Fetish Fuel twist...
- Zig Zagged: Kyle likes Leslie because he can't control her. She's turned on by the idea of controlling him, but once Kyle is chased by Leslie, he loses interest and...it basically yo-yos from there.
- Averted: All Take and No Give
- No Hugging, No Kissing
- No one can resist Kyle's charms.
- Leslie's disinterest keeps them Just Friends, making Kyle miserable.
- Enforced: "We need a way for Kyle to be more interested in Leslie than any of the dozens of other women he could have . . ."
- Lampshaded: "Why are you so obsessed with me?" "Because you're the only one who ever spurned me so far. Which means you turn me on even more now."
- Invoked: Leslie purposely shows no interest in Kyle in order to attract his attention.
- Defied: After some reflection, Kyle decides that Leslie isn't worth the bother of wooing someone he can't control, and moves on to someone more attainable.
- Discussed: "There's just something about a woman who won't fall for the same old charm."
- Conversed: "Why is it always the one woman the Casanova can't have that always gets him hot?"
- Played For Laughs: Belligerent Sexual Tension
- Played For Drama: Kyle, undone by Leslie's indifference to him, goes to greater and greater lengths to win her over, failing with each attempt. Unfortunately for Kyle, Leslie is The Vamp, so she keeps subtly pushing and pulling him until he does something that either humiliates or kills him.