When I was little, I loved the trope of “I love them [romantically] but I can’t tell them because I’m scared they won’t reciprocate.” But you know what’s occurred to me? This trope works even better in a platonic/familial sense, because it’s so much less common to admit those types of feelings to someone.
Give me two friends who have to keep biting their tongue to not introduce the other as “my best friend,” because wow, this person really is my best friend but what if I’m not theirs, and best is such a strong word, and will they be offended, and I don’t want to slip up they’re so cool
Give me a completely platonic boy/girl duo who sees each other as brother and sister but not wanting to say so, because that’s a really unusual thing to do, and in so many movies those relationships turn into a romance, and what if people think we’re faking it to “hide our feelings,” but wow I’m really not attracted to them and they’re like a sibling to me
Give me an adult who sees a child like their daughter/son and trying their hardest not to think about them that way, because at least somewhere (if not present), they have biological parents who might love and/or miss them, and I feel like that’s disrespecting them, and anyways how do I explain to a kid (especially a young one) that I love them like they were my own, and I know I trained them and mentored them and even raised them but what if they wish they knew their real parents and just aren’t saying anything to be polite