Misunderstandings
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | miscommunication |
| Related tropes/genres | Mutual Pining, Pining |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Misunderstandings are a popular plot device in romance and humor fanfiction. In romantic stories, a misunderstanding can be used to fuel angst and pining and is often combined with other tropes like friends to lovers and roommates au. The misunderstandings trope overlaps with the miscommunication trope.
Misunderstandings are also used in original fiction and other media. See TV Tropes's Mistaken For index.
Usually one of the parties says or does something that is inevitably misinterpreted by the other party leading to situations that may or may not culminate in a happy ending, depending on the story.
E.g. when the two love each other, but do not seem to notice -- or for some reason one of the parties interprets some situation as revealing that they will never work out -- it and are always thinking that the other does not appreciate them, leading to a series of misunderstandings that almost always culminate in their conciliation and their union.
Example Fanworks
- Captivated (Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Felix/Annette). Felix mistakenly thinks his crush Annette is dating Golden Deer leader Claude.
- Actually, "Charging Crystals" sounds like a Brodian thing, huh (Fire Emblem Engage, Ivy/Kagetsu [NSFW]). Kagetsu's poor grasp of traditional Elyos expressions and poor wording lead to him and Ivy having sex.
- don't leave me tongue-tied (Stray Kids, Han/Lee Know)
Fannish Resources
- Misunderstandings tag on AO3
- Miscommunication tag on AO3