When a different kind of Hot-Blooded takes over...
[punches Hiccup on the arm]
"That was for kidnapping me."
[kisses him on the cheek]
"That was for everything else."
"That was for kidnapping me."
[kisses him on the cheek]
"That was for everything else."
— Astrid, How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
This trope is all but universal in romantic stories, often bringing to a close the Will They or Won't They? phase of a Romance Arc. When two characters with romantic tension spend a lot of time bickering, it is all but inevitable that sooner or later one will interrupt the other mid-rant by suddenly grabbing and kissing them. The kissed one rarely resists, and usually responds wholeheartedly.
Usually this is triggered by their hostilities reaching a climax that results in an exchange of slaps, followed by a moment where both stare at each other in combined confusion and shock, after which they dive into the kiss.
Either way, the kiss prompts both to realize that they've been in love all this time — the rationale being that they wouldn't argue so much if they didn't give a damn about each other. Normally results in some kind of permanent change in their relationship.
The concept is related to the theory that hate is not necessarily the opposite of love so much as its twisted twin; its opposite would be apathy. Ergo, lots of contained emotion towards a person might be translated into lust given the proper catalyst. Pulled off successfully, it can be... quite satisfying. Otherwise, not so much.
This trope is a major factor in Foe Yay Shipping since such arguments between those characters in the actual shows are often similar to examples of this trope (or even get Why Don't You Marry It? reactions). It should be noted that in Real Life it's not exactly a sign of a healthy relationship, with the exception of a little roleplay between consenting adults.
Note that this trope is mostly Exactly What It Says on the Tin. If there is no kiss, that's Belligerent Sexual Tension.
Dating back at least to William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
Compare "Shut Up" Kiss, Love at First Punch, Belligerent Sexual Tension, Power Dynamics Kink, "Take That!" Kiss, Vitriolic Best Buds, and Destructo-Nookie. Often considered in similar terms to Foe Romance Subtext. Tsunderes are often involved on at least one end. If the the slapping is far more devastating than the kissing, then it's more likely a Destructive Romance or The Masochism Tango.
Kiss-Kiss-Slap is this in reverse (kissing, then fighting). These two tropes can easily be Zig-Zagged (so easily that the trope images of these two tropes share a frame from the exact same story).
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Other Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Deconstructed in Neon Genesis Evangelion with a scene where Shinji and Asuka kiss which was actually a heartbreakingly epic and twisted failure of communications for both of them contributing to Asuka's mental breakdown and Shinji's Despair Event Horizon. They are attracted to each other but both fear rejection, so Shinji doesn't dare believe it's anything more than just a way to pass the time and Asuka pinches his nose (ostensibly because his breathing is bothering her) to get at least some kind of reaction out of him and to ensure some kind of "plausible deniability" of her own emotions in the face of possible rejection. And rejection is what she reads from his passiveness even if he doesn't mean it as such, because he doesn't understand there to be anything to accept or reject... mostly because her words and actions just then and there give him no reason to actually think so! So after seeing Shinji's reaction (that is, gasping for air, not hugging or comforting her), she ran into the bathroom, making gargling noises as a front. Shinji is left feeling even worse.
- Black Lagoon's seventh episode is a fight between Rock and Revy which cumulates with Rock punching her, Revy shooting him in the face, and the two making up by kissing through their cigarettes.
- In Blue Drop, Hagino and Mari's huge fight at the school's swimming pool results in both of them landing in the water and exchanging a kiss — probably, since that moment is obscured by lots of bubbles.
- Gokinjo Monogatari: A kiss directly follows a bitchslap, which the heroine gives her somewhat tactless lover.
- Durarara!!: Celty punches Shinra who knocks her helmet off, and then the two hug.
- In Wild Rose, Kiri is angry about being forced to become a servant and purposefully riles up Mikhail. This very quickly leads to sex.
- This applies to almost every interaction between Michel and Bird's Nest in Copernicus Breathing, most notably when Bird's Nest confuses Michel Bohringer with his dead little brother Michel. Again, Incest Subtext. This also happens when Michel finds Bird's Nest's stash of drugs and Bird's Nest attempts to get them back, which ends in some more Incest Subtext as well as some flashbacking to Brother–Sister Incest.
- A Cruel God Reigns: Happens between Jeremy and Ian when Jeremy is hallucinating that Greg is following him after recounting all the times he was sexually abused to Ian. It winds up with biting, kissing, and Intimate Psychotherapy.
- Sunako Nakahara and Kyouhei Takano from The Wallflower have their first kiss after dissing each other's faults for a good page or so.
- Itazura Na Kiss: Kotoko's First Kiss with Naoki happens after they've just humiliated each other in front of their respective classes and Naoki plants a "Take That!" Kiss.
- Cross Ange: When Ange is mourning the seemingly certain death of her Love Interest Tusk, she is suddenly blindsided when he reappears behind her and hugs her from behind, alive and well. Her response is to angrily slap him, believing that his presence is some trick that Embryo is pulling on her. Then, as if to convince herself that the man in front of her is her Tusk, she tugs him to the ground, kisses him, and begs him to not resist as she kisses him again, leading into Their First Time. And yes, it is Tusk; he indeed survived.
- In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016), Link and Midna's Belligerent Sexual Tension persists even after they become quite openly affectionate. Midna even precedes their Last Kiss with a Bitch Slap and unceremoniously shoves him to the floor once she's done.
Comic Books
- In Frank Miller's All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, Wonder Woman is characterized as a man-hating shrew, someone who thinks men do nothing but destroy the planet and even calling some random onlooker in the street a "sperm-bank". She meets up with the rest of the Justice League, including Superman and, after saying that she hates their guts (several times, using the same wording) she suddenly starts making out with Supes. After that, she returns to her ultra-radical feminist self with no explanation given for the two heroes suddenly massaging each others' tonsils.
- Deadpool and Shiklah, big time. This happens 3 times over the course of one volume. In fact, it's a revolving door of this trope, combined with Kiss-Kiss-Slap. Just because their fights end with sex doesn't mean they've made up and resolved their issues. The sex was just a temporary truce.
- Shiklah physically attacks Wade for being a bad husband and not doing the monstrous things he used to. He grabs her and says he'll show her something monstrous. They're shown lying in bed, while Shiklah smiles and Wade says that should shut her up a while.
- On Valentine's day, Shiklah is still not happy with him -stabbing him in the neck at one point. He tells her to just take control and do what she wants with him. They're shown in bed together again.
- Finally, they end up going to war with one another and Shiklah marries someone else and attacks Wade when he protests. When we see them again, they're both half-naked after having sex again.
- A frequent move of Catwoman's when she goes up against Batman. The final issue (#82) of one of her series is just one example.
- In Boy Meets Hero by Chayne Avery and Russell Garcia, villain Cold Snap and her protege 'Zack Savage' get a moment like this, hurling insults, complete with "Are you as turned on as I am?" "More!", at which point she jumps on him and they start kissing.
- Scrooge McDuck and Glittering Goldie in the Don Rosa story The Prisoner of White Agony Creek. Of course, this zig-zags right to Kiss-Kiss-Slap, as she promptly punches him. The action cuts to outside the cabin, where there are sound effects of yelling and crashing — and then, suddenly, silence. Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson attempt to rush in, shouting, "They killed each other!" but the more Genre Savvy Judge Roy Bean prevents them from ruining the moment.
Roy Bean: Based on careful deliberation (and many years of experience with life), it is the verdict of this court that what's going on in that cabin is not a hangin' offense in Langtry, Texas — or anywhere else. Thank gosh!
- It's even more so with Donald Duck's parents in The Invader of Fort Duckburg.
- Must be something in the family, Donald and Daisy also have these scenes fairly regularly.
- Runaways: In the first run's final issue, everyone meets up months after the confrontation with their parents. When Gert sees Chase (who she'd given the Kiss of Life to previously) she slaps him and demands to know why he's been off the radar and never got in touch with any of them. He explains that he was busy looking for Gert's pet dinosaur. "And I found her." Gert grabs him and kisses him.
- A nice variant in ElfQuest. Near the end of the first volume, Leetah and Cutter try one more time to reconcile but fail (narration: "Once more a wall of anger rises between them"). Cutter breaks down and turns away crying, half decided that he needs to go away to escape the heartbreak. Then Leetah simply speaks his soul name, the ultimate expression of intimacy among elves (and definitely the equivalent of a kissnote in this context), and an implied acceptance of him as her "lifemate".
Leetah: Tam...? (embraces him) You are trembling...
- Katie's dynamic with Andrew in Seconds; one minute they are insulting each other's food and the next they are making out in the walk-in.
- In the short-lived Penthouse ComiX line, this happened every time (which was Once an Episode) Captain Adventure and Hericane met; insults, then fighting, usually leveling one or more city blocks in the process, and eventually ending in rather intense and destructive intimacy, often resulting in far more property damage. (Hericane seemed to be turned on by violence, regardless of whether she was on the giving or receiving end.)
- In a Supergirl Annual, the titular heroine punches Brainiac 5 across the room when he's being a bigger jerkass than usual. Five minutes later she kisses him.
- Wonder Woman (1987): Circe and Ares' romance once they're both out of the disguises they'd been in when they first started and meet back up after Ares takes their daughter from the Amazons, has a definite hostile yet attracted to each other element. It's odd since Ares is usually nicer to his romantic interests than he is to most folk, but makes sense for Circe who is trying to reclaim her former status as someone who hates everyone save for her daughter.
Comic Strips
- Dilbert: Mordac, Preventer of Information Services, and Ming, Dark Webmistress, start off by insulting each other's firewall and HTML before engaging in a romantic embrace
. No break-up or Snap Back either. If anything, they seem to be the happiest romantic couple in the entire strip.
Fan Works
- A Crown of Stars: In chapter 50 Asuka and Shinji did the Kouji/Sayaka routine. First they talked. Then they argued. Then they fought physically. Then they kissed. Then they made love.
- Essentially every fanfiction written in the verse of BBC's Sherlock set after The Reichenbach Fall. Usually a manifestation of the authors unable to decide whether, upon Sherlock's reveal that he's not actually dead, John Watson will punch him in the face or passionately kiss him. Hooray for compromises?
- In The Vow, Shen and Lianne have their First Kiss only after they end up arguing heatedly about their feelings.
- In Thousand Shinji, Asuka almost gets herself killed when she fights Sandalphon, getting Shinji angry and frightened enough to slap her and yell at her. When she laughs it off, he cries and asks her to kiss him. She obliged him.
- The Miraculous Ladybug fic Something in the Night has the two heroes being reunited seven years after Ladybug failed to show up to a planned meeting in the park, where they would have revealed their identities. Chat Noir is not in the mood to listen to her explanation, though he does allow her to spend the night in his apartment to prevent the police from tracking her down. The tension between them becomes especially heated after she happens to mention living in New York recently, leading to a shouting match as she continues to insist that she didn't stand him up on purpose.
Ladybug: How many times do I have to tell you!? (takes a step closer to him for emphasis) It was an accident! I tried to get to the park, but everything from that day on went wrong.
Chat Noir: Quit yanking me around! I don't know what to believe anymore. I can't do this!
(Ladybug opens her mouth to reply when Chat Noir leans forward and kisses her, leading into a consensual but somewhat aggressive sex scene in the side-story, Burning in the Night.) - Earth's Alien History:
- Kauri swears revenge on Mala for killing her sister during a Klingon raid on an Amazon colony. However, they keep finding themselves forced to fight together against Collectors and other Reaper agents, and grow a grudging respect for each other as time goes by. By the time of the actual Reaper War, that respect has turned to love.
- Ursa, the Klingon Pathfinder on the Andromeda mission, and Pelessaria, the Klingons' Asari scientific advisor, constantly bicker and get on each other's nerves. And as their plotline goes on, it becomes apparent that they're in love, they just don't realize it yet.
- Fate/Black Dawn: Shirou's relationship with Morgan le Faye starts out this way, with Shirou repeatedly making her angry enough for her to be interested. This culminates when they fight about Mordred, and Morgan flat-out tries to kill him, but he ultimately calms her down by grappling her into an impromptu hug and kissing her neck. After that, they're mostly Sickeningly Sweethearts, but in the sequel, Morgan mentions that he gets a lot more violent when he's jealous, which she enjoys.
Films — Animation
- Hiccup and Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon (2010), at the end of the movie.
Astrid: (punches Hiccup) That's for scaring me!
Hiccup: Oh wha- wait, what is it always going to be this way? 'Cause... (Astrid grabs him and kisses him deeply) ...I could get used to it.
- A rather extreme example is used very briefly early in the film Ratatouille. When Remy is running through the walls of an apartment building, we briefly see a woman holding a man at gunpoint as he runs by; a shot goes off, narrowly missing Remy, who goes back to investigate. The two struggle over the gun briefly before they passionately kiss one another. Those French...
- Ginger and Rocky in Chicken Run; Ginger slaps him for having deserted the hens on the farm and not having the guts to confess he couldn't teach them to fly... Then kisses him for coming back after dumping the cruel farmers for good.
- The controversial Batman/Batgirl sex scene in Batman: The Killing Joke happens after a terse argument between the two of them causes Barbara Gordon to attack Batman, resulting in a Suggestive Collision.
- Coco: Héctor's relationship with Imelda — his song, "Un Poco Loco" was written about her (as confirmed by Lee Unkrich), which details how she makes him crazy but he still loves her. On Imelda's side, she was rightfully upset with him for leaving their family but slapped Ernesto with her shoe for killing "the love of [her] life".
Films — Live-Action
- James Bond plays with this in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Tracy invites him up to her hotel room, but instead Bond finds a thug who attacks him. Then he returns to his own room to find Tracy there Ready for Lovemaking. Thinking (not without reason) that she set him up, he slaps her face when she denies knowing about the thug, but then backs off when he realises she's telling the truth. Although Bond tells her to leave, they end up in bed shortly afterwards.
- Lockout has this between (ex) CIA Agent Snow and Emilie Warnock at the end of the movie. She arrives, they banter, and then when you think they are going to kiss she punches him in the face. He admits that "for a second there I thought you were going to kiss me" at which point she smiles, turns, and walks away. And he follows...and more banter ensues....sexual banter...
- Blades of Glory has this between Stranz and Fairchild van Waldenberg. When caught by the police for their crimes, the brother and sister team fight like a married couple with the other screaming "I hate you!" before slapping the other across the face. And then sharing a kiss. Um... right.
- Father Goose does this. The first time, Leslie Caron slaps Cary Grant, he calmly slaps her back, and she dissolves in tears and runs away. The second time, she slaps him, he slaps her back, she slaps him back ... cut to Trevor Howard, reaction to the news that they want to be married.
- In Brüno (2009), the titular character adapts the alias of "Straight Dave" and becomes an MMA fighter. At one match, his scorned former assistant/ex-boyfriend shows up and proceeds to give him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, which soon turns into make-up sex, much to the redneck audience's horror and disgust.
- Taken to extremes by Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). The two main characters practically demolish a house with gunfire in an attempt to kill each other. They then proceed to punch, kick and smash objects onto each other, demolishing even more furniture in the process, until they grab their weapons again and get to a Mexican Standoff. Surprising nobody, little time passes before they put down the guns and start kissing and ripping each other's clothes off. They then proceed to demolish even more of the house...
- In Whitecoats, this is done without the will they or won't they, in this case the Slaps were a fistfight where they gave as good as they got, with the rest of the cast trying to pull them apart. It ended when they started making out.
- Iron Man:
- An argument between Tony Stark and Christine Everheart cuts directly to them having sex. However, this is a one-night stand and isn't a set-up for a relationship.
- The more subdued scene later on with Tony and Pepper is more standard but still ends up subverted when it inspires Pepper not to sleep with her boss but to mull over just how screwed-up her relationship with him is. Later played straight when they get together in Iron Man 2.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has a classic example of this: Indy and Elsa are arguing. Indy goes on about how "Since I met you, I've nearly been incinerated, drowned, shot at, and chopped into fish bait" blah blah, then Elsa pulls Indy into a kiss, to his confusion, yells at him for it before kissing him again. Considering she's actually The Mole, it seems like she's done her research about the other women he's been in relationships with and thus based her seduction on it.
- The Lone Ranger (2012) with Armie Hammer features a scene where Armie and Ruth Wilson are on a horse, she slaps him and then kisses him.
- Enchanted: Giselle is first turned on by Robert when he makes her feel angry for the first time in her life.
- Played straight in Lethal Weapon 3, where Riggs and Lorna end up kissing after the infamous "my scar is bigger" contest.
- The Milargo Beanfield War: Joe and his wife Nancy sometimes argue about Joe's decisions and threaten to hit each other, but they never actually do so and it seems to just be foreplay before they kiss and talk things through more calmly.
- The Singles Ward has another classic example, where Jonathan and Cammie, after having gotten off to a rough start, get into an argument in the kitchen, during a party at his house. They criticize and mock each other, stepping ever closer together, until a friend walks in to find them making out.
- Outlander has a rather non-standard use of this. Kainan knocks Freya unconscious during his attempted escape. The following morning, Freya gives him a good sock upside the head in return. Freya warms up to Kainan after hearing that he killed a bear all by himself. By the end of the film, they're married.
- In Gangs of New York, Jenny and Amsterdam insult each other which escalates into a physical fight with slapping, punching, grappling, clawing, and even try to bite, followed up with a kiss.
- The parents in The Ref. Although it's more like get into an argument and then almost kiss.
- In Moonstruck the two leads get into a verbal fight, knock over a table, and then kiss. But hey, they're Italian-Americans, that's normal for them.
- The Great Leslie and Maggie DuBois in The Great Race. He kisses her, she slaps him. When he kisses her again later, in the next scene they're in a car with a "Just Married" sign on it.
- Maverick. Maverick's relationship with Annabell Bransford. They argue and fight throughout the film and end up in bed together near the end.
- The Princess Diaries 2: Nicholas and Mia start arguing near the fountain and begin hitting each other with fans while shouting out "I loathe you!" (in a way that it makes it sound like "I love you!") before Nicholas then violently grabs Mia into a kiss. At first, Mia kisses him back and even pops her foot. However, she breaks the kiss in pure shock and they both fall into the fountain as they continue bickering.
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Jen and Lo take this Serial Escalation, crossing the desert twice, patching up twice, and beating each other senseless, until...
- In Random Hearts, Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas have discovered that their spouses were having an affair (they were killed in a plane crash on the way to a romantic rendezvous). He's obsessed with finding out all the details while she just wants to let it go. They're arguing about this and she's slapping and shoving him when he abruptly grabs and kisses her, shocking both of them.
- In Night at the Museum, the second movie Manic Pixie Dream Girl and Genki Girl Amelia Earhart playfully plays on it, slapping repeatedly Larry to get his attention and then planting a passionate kiss on his lips.
- In the Italian Film Il 7 e l'8 (The seven and the eight), near the end, the resident Jerk with a Heart of Gold gets a passionate proposal from the resident Ice Queen. He initially flatly refuses, blaming the girl for her icy demeanour and bad manners, until she slaps him. After that, he suddenly and abruptly kisses her.
- It's played with in Grosse Pointe Blank where Martin and Debi are kissing and Debi stops the make-out session and says something is missing, then slaps Martin across the face before going back to kissing and proceeding to have sex
- Dame Vaako and her husband in The Chronicles of Riddick. He slaps her, she tries to attack him, they have sex. Further, a line of dialogue indicates that this is not only "normal" behavior for both of them, but it's also considered foreplay.
- Return to Me: Grace slaps Bob, then apologizes and kisses him.
- Thor: The Dark World. When Thor makes his first appearance after leaving her two years ago, Jane Foster slaps him then apologizes, explaining she's just checking that he's real given the Reality Is Out to Lunch events she's just witnessed. She then slaps him for not coming back to her, despite turning up in New York. When Thor comes up with a reasonable excuse, they lean in for the inevitable kiss...then Darcy provides a Moment Killer.
- 22 Jump Street: Humorously subverted when Mercedes and Schmidst almost kiss while punching each other, then start arguing about it while making a reference to Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). It gets even more awkward for them when they throw themselves on the bed as if they are about to have sex.
- Mystery of the Wax Museum: At the end of Florence and her editor's bickering, he suddenly proposes to her and she accepts.
- An Invoked Trope in The Assignment (1997). A Doppelgänger of Carlos the Jackal is being trained to impersonate the charismatic terrorist, including a former lover instructing him on Carlos' domineering sexual technique.
Carla: Take off your clothes. (looking down) You're smaller than him.
Annibal: (awkward laugh) Really...
Carla: (slap) That's what he would have done if I had said something like that. Without a moment's hesitation. What's wrong with you? No eres ni hombre!
(She goes to slap him again — Annibal hits first knocking Carla across the room.)
Annibal: Look I--I'm sorry, I--
Carla: Shut up! Come to me, come on...kiss where you hit. (Annibal tries to kiss her lips — she turns her face away) Kiss where the blood is. Spread it on my lips so I taste it... - The Car: Road to Revenge: Rainer and Daria have an emotionally charged conversation about their lost loved ones. At the end of it, Rainer invites Daria to hit him (as a way of testing her combat skills). He catches the punch, and then the two of them kiss and fall into bed. Doubles as Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex, as they have just survived an attack from the homicidal automobile.
- Played with in Daredevil (2003). Elektra Natchios gives a cold shoulder to Matt Murdock when he tries to hit on her, eventually getting physical to make him desist. When the blind lawyer shows himself more than capable of matching her, she starts getting interested.
Matt: (sparring with her while balanced on a seesaw) Does every guy have to go through this to find out your name?Elektra: You should try asking for my number!
- At the end of Prairie Fever, Preston and Abigale are travelling back to Clearwater when Olivia, who they had left in Carson City, catches up with them. Preston and Olivia start their usual argument when Preston suddenly grabs her and kisses her. When he releases her, Olivia slaps him and then grabs him and kisses him. Shipper on Deck Abigale watches all of this with a huge smile on her face.
- Joe and Nicky take this to an extreme in The Old Guard. A pair of nearly 1000-year-old immortals of the Resurrective Immortality variety, the two met on opposite sides of a war and killed each other multiple times before finally calling a truce and falling deeply in love.
Literature
- This situation very accurately describes the relationship between Aravis and Prince Cor in The Horse and His Boy:
Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I'm afraid, even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.
- Alluded to in the prequels to Eddings' The Belgariad. The heirs of Astur and Mimbre were Locked in a Room "to kill each other without disturbing honest people", with the sole purpose of having them accept marriage.
- Pretty much defines the relationship between Garion and Ce'Nedra.
- Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice are often cited as this — a scene where the two of them argue about what the other's worst qualities are makes Darcy's Clingy Jealous Girl Caroline Bingley worried enough to try to distract them with the piano... which just leads to more UST. However, the Slap-Slap-Kiss feelings are actually only coming from Darcy; Elizabeth genuinely DID detest him at first and finds it insulting that no one can ever give a girl permission to genuinely dislike a man without masking love.
- Older Than Dirt: The real ur-example is most certainly the Sumerian poem The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi, in which the Tsundere goddess Inanna spends most of the story berating the shepherd Dumuzi for not being a farmer until they have a good argument and Inanna becomes smitten. They spend the rest of the story having awesome sex.
- In Xanth, Ogre-style-love is violent to the point of being perceived as rape by virtually all of the other non-Ogre cultures.
- Mort and Ysobel. There's a good two pages dedicated to a conversation in which they insult each other.
- Pratchett sums up their relationship in Soul Music: [Mort and Ysobel] took a strong and immediate dislike to one another and everyone knows there's only one inevitable outcome to that kind of relationship.
- In Pyramids this is mostly the case for Pteppic and Ptracy until it is revealed they're half-siblings.
- This is standard for Trolls in Discworld. Throwing a rock (ideally a pretty rock) at someone's head is the Troll equivalent of blowing them a kiss.
- DS Edgar Wield and Edwin Digweed in Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe novel Pictures of Perfection, largely because neither of them is Genre Savvy enough to realize that Hill is parodying Pride and Prejudice.
- An entire chapter of The Action Hero's Handbook is dedicated to teaching the reader how to invoke this trope.
- Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged and Trillian Astra in And Another Thing..., after a heated argument regarding a) the treatment of Random Dent, and b) whether or not the chosen pastimes of either of them is more or less pathetic and laced with schadenfreude than the other's.
- With Amy and Ian in Book 3 of The 39 Clues. (And then, it goes all Kiss-Kiss-Slap because he leaves her for dead, she thinks she's over him as soon as he realized he actually might have liked her, and then there's his psycho mom making him help her try to kill Amy and her brother. Yeah, um, that might cause problems....
- Percy and Annabeth in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. In this case, at Mount St. Helens, Annabeth kisses Percy.
- In The House of Hades this happens between Leo and Calypso. She's fed up with being sent heroes to fall in love with, so she's incredibly acerbic and argumentative with Leo from the moment he lands there. He reacts indignantly but is okay with setting up camp on Ogygia away from her. After a little time, she starts to visit him when she hears him building a way to leave and offers to help. As soon as he noticed how good she looked in working clothes and with dirt and grime on her hands, anyone could tell what would happen. She gives him his FirstKiss before he leaves and he swears on the River Styx to rescue her from Ogygia.
- In The Fountainhead Dominique Francon systematically annoys Howard Roark, who returns the favor, till she hits him across the face with a riding crop. That night, he breaks into her house and rapes her. She instantly falls in love with him.
- How about Lestat and Louis from ''The Vampire Chronicles"? They cannot agree on anything, get in physical fights and insult each other like there is no tomorrow (or at least Lestat does this) but at the end of the day Louis still manages to say "I love you". Lestat is not complaining.
- Spice and Wolf: Lawrence shows up to redeem Holo from being collateral from a deal gone bad. Cue strangle attempt, a mean-sounding right hook, and the obligatory Love Confession. A few self-deprecating lines, a kick to the torso, a snappy one-liner, and then the kiss.
- Underplayed in The Witchlands - Safi and Merik's first moment of strong attraction comes at the end of an aggressive shouting match, and they end up close enough to one another they almost kiss.
- InCryptid: When Alice finally finds Thomas (her husband who's been Trapped in Another World for 56 years), he thinks she's an assassin at first, and they get into a physical fight before he realizes it's her from her Fighting Fingerprint, and then kisses her.
Music
- Muse's Knights of Cydonia music video (which is done in the style of a '70s Sci-Fi movie). The love interest slaps the hero in a bar, Smash Cut to the slap shown again, but they're now in a bedroom and wearing fewer clothes. Again, with fewer clothes, but he grabs her arm and they kiss.
- The whole point of the '80s Latin-American pop song "Dame un beso" ("Gimme a Kiss") by Yuri, which plays it up as comedy.
- "One More Night" by Maroon 5 is about a couple who fight constantly but are always unable to resist the physical attraction they have to each other.
- Florence and The Machine has a song called "Kiss With A Fist" that is basically about this trope.
- The music video for Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You is this trope all the way through, with the "Kiss" part is in the lyrics.
- The Aphex Twin and Chris Cunningham video "Flex" involves a nude man and woman beating each other up before engaging in sex and going out in a flash of light.
- 'The Ballad Of Tom Jones', Space's duet with Cerys Matthews, veers between this and The Masochism Tango. The couple in the song are constantly at each other's throats, to the point where the woman tries to kill the man by driving him off a cliff. The only thing that stops the couple from killing each other is - you've guessed it - the sound of the music of Tom Jones.
- "Not Another Song About Love" by Hollywood Ending exhibits this in spades. The narrator rants about what he hates about the girl after arguing with her and denies that he's singing a love song. In the last verse, he gives up the charade and admits he loves her.
- "Shut Up & Kiss Me" by Orianthi
Professional Wrestling
- Here's an example between Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon, then-General-Managers of WWE Raw and Smackdown, respectively. Strangely, it was never mentioned again after this.
- Beth Phoenix's relationship with Santino Marella was pretty much this.
- Maxine's relationship with Derrick Batemen was mostly her slapping him, knowing he'd stick around for the occasional kiss. Kaitlyn got Derrick's friends together and staged an intervention over how unhealthy this relationship was, so Maxine moved on to the more manly Johnny Curtis.
- This is pretty much Jessicka Havok's relationship with Tag Team partner Sami Callihan, only Havok tends to do a lot worse than slap him when they have an argument since they are about the same size. Still, she usually ends up tenderly comforting him after knocking Callihan on his ass, and Callihan will fight back on the rare occasion they are actually booked in a match against one another.
Puppet Shows
- Red and Gobo of Fraggle Rock — in the rare moments when they're not fighting/competing to see who can be more stubborn, they're hugging. Or Red is desperately trying to get his attention. And yet for all their complaints and squabbles about leadership, they keep coming back...
Theatre
- Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing.
- Played straight in Thoroughly Modern Millie where Millie and Jimmy throw insults at each other like "Skirt-chaser", "Gold-digger", "Womanizer", "Jezebel", and "Casanova". At which point he grabs her, snogs the hell out of her, and dashes off... whereupon she bursts into song.
- Jimmy and Helena in Look Back in Anger.
- In Wicked at first Glinda and Elphaba, more apparent in the musical where they have a song that revolves around Foe Romance Subtext and lust related lyrics.
- Fiyero and Elphaba. The first time they meet he nearly runs her over and she shouts at him but by the second scene together they start off shouting a lot and then suddenly nearly kiss. Their relationship is full of this during Act I.
- The writer of Crazy For You loves this trope: a little bit Irene and Bobby (though this might be more of a mild Yandere), Irene and Lank, Polly and Bobby - of course, theirs is more of a Kiss Slap Slap Mistaken Identity / Fake King Kiss Kiss Slap Slap Slap Kiss.
- The Taming of the Shrew.
- Hotspur and Lady Percy in some productions of Henry IV, Part 1, particularly the 2012 BBC version.
- In the Screen-to-Stage Adaptation Anastasia, Dmitry tries to argue with Anya why he can't be her "prince." She contradicts him, then seizes his suitcase and steps up onto it to kiss him. Their whole relationship up to this point has been Belligerent Sexual Tension, making this trope a natural endpoint.
- In Avenue Q, this trope is explained lovingly in Christmas Eve's song, "The More You Ruv Someone (The More You Want To Kill Them)."
Video Games
- In the TV Zapping intro of the first Command & Conquer game, the third sequence (on channel 319) is a perfect example of this. Joe Kucan, who directed all of the live-action scenes in Command & Conquer (and plays the iconic villain Kane), has named it as his favorite scene in the whole series. See it here.
"At least your mother tipped well!"
- Fire Emblem seems to be quite fond of this trope when it comes to romance:
- Th earliest examples are Tanya and Othin from Thracia 776.
- The Binding Blade has Well, Excuse Me, Princess! Clarine and Fragile Speedster Rutger.
- In The Blazing Blade, we have Genki Girl Rich Bitch Serra and Badass Bookworm Erk, Tsundere Farina and the Boisterous Bruiser Dart the Pirate, Genius Bruiser Hector and Action Girl Lyn, Hector and Farina, and to some extent Wil and Rebecca (she kicks him in the gut and yells at him quite a bit shortly before rushing into his arms) and Serra and Matthew.
- The Sacred Stones has the other Well, Excuse Me, Princess! L'Arachel behave this way towards her two pairing options (arrogant Jerk with a Heart of Gold Innes and The Wise Prince of sorts Ephraim) and popular fanon option Rennac.
- Boyd and Mist from the two Tellius games also have this dynamic.
- Panne and Kellam get into deadly sparring matches if you pair them up in Awakening, ending in marriage if you get them to S support.
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis shows that Indy loves this trope. After freeing Sophia Hapsgood from her prison they get into an argument, she hits him, he hits back, she goes to hit him again but Indy yanks her into a deep kiss.
- Buck and Dare do this near the end of Halo 3: ODST.
- Renegade Shepard and Miranda's kiss in Mass Effect 2.
- In Mass Effect 3, the first time you meet Jack, she punches you. But if you'd romanced her in the previous game, she promptly kisses you on the mouth, much to the delight of her students, who are watching.
- Also Wrex and "Eve", who are as much Sickeningly Sweethearts as two Krogan chieftains can get.
- Jade Empire has the player's introduction to Silk Fox.
- In Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, several scenes where a male Exile gains Influence with the Handmaiden are immediately preceded by a fistfight with her. Unfortunately, it never gets to the point where a fistfight seamlessly turns into a makeout session.
- Dragon Age:
- In Dragon Age: Origins, Oghren and his old flame Felsi's reunion is this, with the two tossing insults at each other before Felsi asks him to stay a bit longer so that they could continue the namecalling. By Awakening, they're married and have a kid together though still not quite peaceful due to Oghren's inherent Blood Knight nature.
- Dragon Age II, any romance with a rival.
- Discussed in Dragon Age: Inquisition, where Dorian asks Varric if he has this relationship with Cassandra. Varric fiercely denies this.
Just because two people dislike each other doesn't mean they're about to kiss, Sparkler.
- Saints Row's Kinzie is a shut-in ex-FI computer analyst who was framed for stealing secrets and moonlighting as a dominatrix (the latter is pretty accurate). She becomes a romance option and reacts to Boss asking if she wanna fuck with a punch to the jaw, then pouncing them.
The Boss: Hey, Kinzie, wanna fuck?
Kinzie: Let's go. (punches the Boss and jumps into his/her arms sending them toppling over.) - The reunion between Frank and Galena in Shadow Ops: Red Mercury plays out like this. Firstly, her slapping him for leaving, and then pulling him closer for a kiss, only for him to pull a gun on her because he thinks she's The Mole.
- In Mortal Kombat, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade's relationship is always portrayed this way in both the video games and the movie, with Sonya being disgusted by Johnny's attempts to flirt with her, leading to them constantly bickering, before slowly gaining mutual respect and eventually falling in love. While they're never shown explicitly as a couple, Mortal Kombat X takes place over a period of 25 years following the previous game and features their daughter Cassie Cage.
- Completely possible in The Sims 4, thanks to the separation of the romance and friendship relationship bars. See this thread. Same with the Romantic Garden Stuff Pack, which features the Whispering Wishing Well, which, depending on its mood, can give you different results for various wishes. So if you wish for romance when he's in a really bad mood, he could be giving you a relationship with a random Sim who has a full Romance bar with your Sim, but also a completely red Friendship bar, resulting in the status mentioned above.
Web Animation
- Chikn Nuggit': Iscream and Fwench Fwy. Their conflicts are quite silly and thankfully never actually get physical, but one of Iscream and Fwench Fwy's arguments spontaneously turns into a clearly very mutual makeout session, much to Chikn's confusion. It makes one wonder, given how harmless they actually are to each other, if Iscream and Fwench Fwy weren't more cartoonishly-Vitriolic Best Buds All Along than actual enemies.
- Red vs. Blue. Tex and Church sometimes play this in reverse:
Chruch: Alright, O'Malley, this is it. From now on if anyone makes my girlfriend crazy and psychotic... it's gonna be me.
Tex: Aw, that's sweet.
Church: Shut up, bitch.
Tex: Asshole.
Webcomics
- Parodied in this Starslip Crisis strip.
- T-Rex of Dinosaur Comics wishes this were more common. See?
- Done with Star Trek references in this Punch an Pie: strip.
- And again when discussing a job offer.
- And again when discussing a job offer
- MegaTokyo's Beta Couple: Largo/Erika. She has broken his arm on two separate occasions. Not that he didn't supply enough reasons for this.
- Faye and Sven of Questionable Content in this strip.
- Hot Goblin Girl Nitrine and her archfoe Halfling Sorceress Morgana satisfy our Les Yay and Foe Yay Shipping expectations in this episode of Flaky Pastry.
- This is the entire basis for the rather strange shipping of Pella X Richard among the Looking for Group fandom.
- In Juathuur, Emojueel evokes this rope talking about Thomil and Sojueilo. "Fists of love!"
- Ménage à 3:
- Yuki pulls one on Gary. Considering her earlier treatment of men she's upset with, that was actually restrained.
- Sonya does this to Gary too.
- Sonya and Yuki got to do this with each other. (NSFW) The shocked look on Zii's face shows just how unexpected this was.
- This is more or less the extent of Tracy and James' relationship. They go from arguing to having make-up sex (sometimes while arguing) quite often.
- Yuki pulls one on Gary
- Homestuck:
- Two of the trolls (Aradia and Equius) have one of these: slap slap kiss.
- Happens to another couple (Vriska and Tavros) in a more sadistic fashion. Boy, troll romance sure is weird!
- This one backfires rather severely. The boy can't understand why the girl randomly switches between romancing him and abusing him, and he just ends up afraid of her. His confusion and fear just enrages her into abusing him further, while she falls into depression wondering why he doesn't love her like she thinks he should. The result is a psychological train wreck.
- Can also be seen between Spades Slick and Snowman, although this one isn't so much this trope as stab dismember viciously gnaw each others' lips off.
- Some of this comes about because of the troll concept of "kismesissitude", symbolized by a spade. Despite being entirely based on the two parties hating each other, it's considered as valid and important a form of romance as matespritship, their closest analogue to normal human romance. The second example above is ambiguously an example of kismesissitude, while the kiss between Spades Slick and Snowman definitely is.
- Karkat and Terezi tend to swing between fighting and genuinely caring about each other. It's all a part of their Ship Tease.
- It's not physically violent, but Sollux and Feferi had a very bipolar relationship in which Feferi went from snapping at Sollux for being cranky to giggling at how adorable Sollux was while cranky within seconds.
- Two of the trolls (Aradia and Equius) have one of these: slap slap
- Spacetrawler has Pierrot and Emily. Emily is constantly getting on Pierrot's nerves, and Pierrot reacts appropriately, to the extent that Captain Nogg thinks they hate each other. There's no shortage of subtext that they like each other—and as of this "Shut Up" Kiss, there's text-text as well.
- Lucy of Bittersweet Candy Bowl is most violent with the guys she likes at all, David notwithstanding. Species differences among other things.
- This strip from Bomango.
Andy: Sorry, you just don't seem like the type someone could ask about... you know... love, and stuff.
Gogo: I has been in hate with many people. I has much perspective.
Andy: Maybe, but that isn't love.
Gogo: Do not be so silly, Boo-Bear. Often, difference between love and hate is like difference between red and orange. - This has turned out to be the central theme of Penny and Aggie.
- xkcd has a high-tech version.
- Black-Hat Guy and Dark-Haired Girl develop from a backfired attempt at emotional abuse for the lulz to hat theft, to hat recovery through superior firepower, to a crush, and finally to a mutual relationship that may or may not involve high explosives and sabotage. It's basically this combined with Unholy Matrimony, as they express their love by cruelly trolling everyone, each other included. Somehow it manages to be much less dysfunctional than it sounds and occasionally even weirdly adorable.
- Black-Hat Guy and Dark-Haired Girl develop from a backfired attempt at emotional abuse for the lulz
- Kade and Layla in Eerie Cuties.
- Bobwhite: Cleo and Tony. "If a male and female character are fighting there is a 99% chance they are going to kiss right after."
- Not Invented Here: Fang/Umesh. Though the comic skips right past the kiss and straight to their shocked expressions post-coitus.
- Happens in this strip from MercWorks. Though it is missing a 'Slap'.
- Happens at times between Matt and Kayleigh in Dork Tower.
Matt: You think my friends are annoying!
Kayleigh: You think my friends are pretentious!
Matt: You hate my hobbies!
Kayleigh: You think I'm a snob!
Matt: You ARE a snob!
Kayleigh: It's better than being a loser dweeb with no initiative, no fashion sense, no job, no prospects, and a 'Buffy' hater to boot!
Matt: THAT was a LOW blow! (beat) I love 'Buffy'.
(beat) KISS! - Happens in The Non-Adventures of Wonderella. Rita and her Evil Counterpart from a Mirror Universe go from yelling threats at each other to making out in two panels.
- A slap-slap-slap-kiss-slap in the Archipelago sidecomic between Snow and Noemi here.
Web Original
- Limyaael's Fantasy Rants: Limyaael hates this trope and wrote a Rant specifically about ways to avert this kind of romance.
- This video at Cracked.com features a debate on why Batman is actually horrible for Gotham, which turns into a shouting match...and then a makeout session.
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged goes into greater detail on how Bulma and Vegeta got together in Episode 34. At the end of the episode, the incident where Bulma phones into the gravity room where Vegeta is training devolves into Volleying Insults until Bulma invites him into her bedroom. It's then implied that the resulting sexual encounter led to Trunks' conception.
- This gif◊ summarizes the trope perfectly.
Western Animation
- Angel's Friends: Raf and Sulfus in episode 26 when they both hit each other and then make up with a kiss. But unfortunately, they unwittingly seal the Big Bad Reina from her prison in Limbo, thanks to the sacrilege they committed. They also broke off the scales of VETO, much to the disdain of their superiors.
- Bob's Burgers features a literal example in "Boyz 4 Now", when Louise becomes infatuated with the eponymous boy band's youngest member, Boo Boo... and is overcome with a desire to slap him in the face.
- In Daria: After the title character gets into an argument with Jane's beau on whether or not they actually have anything going on on the side, the two come to a mutual agreement that Tom breaking up with Jane is inevitable — and that, furthermore, it has nothing to do with Daria, and neither would choose to get involved in the first place... That is, until Tom kisses her. Twice.
- Beast Machines: Rattrap and Botanica.
Botanica: Although our task does not appear glamorous or exciting, these trees carry our best hope for the future!
Rattrap: Oh, I'm sorry. I was only thinking about myself instead of all the HOMELESS TERMITES!
Botanica: And what would you rather be doing?! Sticking your tail in a computer socket?!
Rattrap: Heh, beats the heck out of plowing your little field of dreams!
Botanica: I think it's high time you dialled back on the attitude!
Rattrap: Oooo-hoo, well, how about I make like a tree and leaf!
Botanica: That would be just fine by me, you impudent little—
Rattrap: Your bark as bad as my bite?!
Botanica: Grrrrrrrr!
Rattrap: Rrrrrrrrrr!
Botanica: RRRRRRRRRR!
Rattrap: GRRRRRRRR!
(smooch)
"GASP!" - Courtney and Duncan on Total Drama.
(after watching Owen and Gwen walking over logs while being attacked by eagles, Courtney kisses Duncan)
Courtney: (after breaking the kiss) You're still not my type.
Duncan: You make me sick.
(they kiss again)- They do it again in the Total Drama Action Celebrity Manhunt Reunion Special.
On the bus
Duncan: YOU'RE INSANE YOU KNOW THAT?
Courtney: AND YOU ARE A MONSTER.
(Their eyes grow wide)
They start making out- Geoff and Bridgette also do this in their elimination clip.
Bridgette: That's ridiculous!
Geoff: YOU'RE ridiculous.
Bridgette: I can't believe I blew a million bucks for you!
Geoff: WE'RE THROUGH!
Bridgette: -gasp-
The two turn away, only to look at each other and start making out again. - Scrooge McDuck and Glittering Goldie on DuckTales (1987). Their idea of romance is taking turns tricking each other out of a fortune... and making out afterwards. Not as violent as the above-mentioned comic but still interesting.
- DuckTales (2017): It didn't actually happen, but Louie is Genre Savvy enough to ask if it would after he sees Donald and Beakley fighting.
Louie: Wait, are they gonna kiss?
Huey, Dewey, and Webby: Ewwww!
Donald and Beakley: OUTSIDE! - Jimmy Neutron and Cindy Vortex own this trope.
- Brock Sampson and Molotov Cocktease from The Venture Bros. are more of the "Stab Stab Kiss" variety, but they always fight and have a hot makeout session afterwards. Too bad they can only get to second base, though...
Brock: I THOUGHT THE COLD WAR WAS OVER!
Molotov: It's always cold in Siberia. - Stōked: Fin and Reef (of course the almost kiss).
- Their relationship doesn't get expanded much as the movie goes on, but Centipede and Ms Spider in James and the Giant Peach definitely have this moment:
Ms Spider: Centipede, I do not know whether to kill you or... kiss you.
- He looks rather satisfied by it as well.
- Musa and Riven in Winx Club.
- Helga and Arnold from Hey Arnold!. Especially in the latter episodes like "Girl Trouble", "Egg Story", "Summer Love", "Married" and "April Fool's Day".
- Perils of Love a small French short that is the essence of this trope.
- Selwyn and Tallulah, the bickering sorcerer couple in The Smurfs (1981), fight with each other as much as they love each other. Zap-Zap-Kiss, anyone?
- Kevin Spencer: Kevin's parents are insanely violent and rude to anyone they come across. But they love tormenting each other (especially Percy). It occasionally ends up with hate sex.
- Kevin and Shawna are occasionally this, most likely attributed to Shawna's slowly growing insanity.
- Teen Titans (2003): When Starfire comes to earth, she bashes Robin in the face, then she kisses him on the lips (so she could learn the language due to the Tamaranean ability to absorb languages through physical contact).
- Chelsea and Sumo on Clarence. In a scene near the end of "Too Gross For Comfort", they dramatically argue with each other over who can tell the grossest story. When they run out of stories to tell, they growl at each other and... suddenly start making out. This in turn grosses everyone out and makes everyone scatter, because every kid knows that Girls Have Cooties.
- The Simpsons: In "Lisa's Wedding", Lisa and her college rival Hugh go from mad at each other to passionately making out when Lisa defines "stochastic" without having to look it up in the dictionary.
- Caleb and Cornelia have this dynamic in W.I.T.C.H., with Hay Lin lampshading it at one point by telling Cornelia, "You and Caleb can't go 10 minutes without fighting." They are clearly devoted to each other, though, and miserable during their brief breakup. The fights are less and less frequent by the end of the series.
- Kent Nelson, the previous bearer of the Helmet of Fate in Young Justice (2010), had this kind of relationship with his dearly departed wife, and that was the way he liked it. Before he passed, he left Kid Flash with one final word of wisdom in relation to the latter's somewhat antagonistic relationship with his teammate Artemis:
Nelson: Find your own little spitfire; one who won't let you get away with nothin'!
... You're expecting a kiss here, aren't you?
