Secret Relationship/Playing With
Basic Trope: Two characters decide to keep their relationship a secret.
- Straight: Bob and Alice fall madly in love, but decide to hide their love to prevent hurting John's feelings.
- Exaggerated: In order to perfect the ruse, Bob and Alice never so much as talk to each other when John is around.
- Bob and Alice hide their relationship from literallly everyone.
- Justified: John is madly in love with Alice himself, so Bob and her don't want him to be crushed.
- It's not Bob and Alice, but Barb and Alice, and their relationship would be taboo.
- Inverted: Bob and Alice tell everyone, including strangers on the street, how madly in love they are, and even wear matching t-shirts stating such.
- Subverted: Bob and Alice have a secret relationship, but they decide it's too hard and make it public
- Double Subverted: The public reaction is so negative that Bob and Alice pretend to break-up and then continue their relationship in secret.
- Parodied: Bob and Alice think their relationship is secret, but all their friends and family know about it and discuss it at length when they are not around.
- Bob and Alice's relationship is so secret, even they don't know about it.
- Deconstructed: Keeping their relationship a secret takes it's toll on Alice, who decides she can't keep living a lie and breaks it off with Bob.
- Reconstructed: Bob makes a passionate plea to Alice in which he explains how much he loves her but also how much greater their love is when the entire world cannot judge them. She takes him back.
- Zig Zagged: Bob and Alice claim to be just friends, but their extreme closeness leads everyone to believe they are in a relationship. When they are confronted, they deny it and claim that they really are just friends. However, they later reveal that they were in a relationship the entire time, only for them to promptly publicly break-up. Then the break-up is revealed to be a sham and it becomes doubtful as to whether they were ever in a relationship in the first place.
- Averted: Bob and Alice's relationship is known by all everyone.
- Enforced: The producers feel that the drama of this secret relationship will boost ratings
- Lampshaded: "Anyone notice that Bob and Alice both seem to go to the bathroom at the same time?"
- Invoked: Bob and Alice has a lengthy discussion about how they are in love but cannot hurt John's feelings, so they decide to keep it a secret
- Defied: The same conversation takes place, but Bob and Alice decide it's better to be honest
- Discussed: "Is it just me or do Bob and Alice seem friendlier lately?"
- Conversed: "Oh god, not another secret relationship, we've had enough of those!"
- Played For Laughs: Bob and Alice are caught in several lies about their relationship that they must bend over backwards to explain in highly amusing circumstances
- Played For Drama: Bob's and Alice's secret relationship is eventually discovered by John, which creates a rift between the friends and tension all-around
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