Stalking Is Love/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: The target of a Stalker with a Crush finds out about them and is flattered rather than horrified.

  • Straight: Lucy finds out that Richard has been spying on her for some time, taking pictures and yearning after her from afar. She finds this romantic rather than creepy.
  • Exaggerated: Lucy learns that Richard has been following her around, memorizing her schedule and keeping exhaustive records of her every move. Instead of barracading herself in the house and calling the police, she squeals with delight and embraces him.
  • Justified: Lucy is desperate for love and never imagined anyone would take an interest in her, let alone this much interest.
  • Inverted: Richard tries his best to avoid Lucy. When she finds out about this, she feels mega insecure, and seeks to make him love her.
  • Subverted: Lucy freaks out when she finds out about Richard.
    • It seems like Lucy finds Richards' actions romantic but it is later revealed that it was all a lie (out of fear that if she directly told him how she finds his actions revolting he would react rather violently.) Lucy approaches Richard and tells him how flattered she is but when he gets himself ready to date her she leaves and when she is further away from him she calls the police and have him arrested.
    • Lucy rejects Richard's romantic desires but only because she think he is ugly, and the stalking issue is never mentioned.
  • Double Subverted: ...However, after calming down, she reconsiders this and decides that she's more flattered than frightened.
  • Parodied: Richard's devotion to stalking Lucy is incredibly creepy, but Lucy turns out to be a Nightmare Fetishist -- which scares Richard off and reverses the entire situation, as she becomes his stalker.
    • Richard's stalking makes Lucy fall for him... but everyone else is insanely Squicked out by this and respond accordingly.
  • Deconstructed: Lucy's positive reaction to him adds fuel to the fire; however, after becoming her boyfriend, Richard finds that Lucy is "changing" from the ideal image he'd constructed of her to something different. Something he doesn't like as much... The steps he takes to fix this mainly make matters worse, until the relationship comes to a painful, destructive end.
    • Though Richard seems like a stalker at first, upon further review it turns out he hasn't done anything that violates personal boundaries.
    • Lucy is delusional and paranoid, and only thinks Richard is stalking her. Richard just happens to ride the same bus as her and lives down the street from her but has no real interest in her at all.
  • Reconstructed: ???
  • Zig Zagged: Lucy responds favorably to Richard at first, but as she learns more about the depths of his obsession, she wavers between feeling flattered and feeling deeply disturbed. Her friends and family also respond in varying ways, ranging from "Aww! How romantic!" to "Oh God what?!" and "Hang on, Daddy just has to get his gun..."
  • Averted: Lucy is not being stalked at all.
    • Lucy is creeped out by Richard's inappropriate behavior and she files for a restraining order.
  • Enforced: The Stalker with a Crush is the Author Avatar.
  • Lampshaded: "So, instead of getting a restraining order, you sleep with him? Lucy, you need help."
  • Invoked: "When Lucy finds out I've been stalking her, she'll be so flattered, that she'll want me."
  • Defied: "I'll see your psycho ass in court!"
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Played For Laughs: Richard is incredibly bad at the "not being seen" park of stalking, and Lucy has no ranks in Spot. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Played For Drama: Lucy's parents find out that Richard has been stalking on their daughter for weeks and Lucy seems to be flattered by it. Reality Ensues.


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