Pining can be the most satisfying and the most heartbreaking part of a television romance.
One one hand, it’s fulfilling to see part of your ship crushing on their friend while they are completely oblivious, but on the other hand…well, pain.
Related: 23 Seemingly Unlikeable Characters Who Won Our Hearts
But secrets have a way of coming out, and on television, feelings are always addressed at some point.
We put together a list below of 23 characters who were secretly crushing on their friend!
Niles Crane – Frasier
Niles was hopelessly in love with Daphne for seasons, but he never summed up the courage to tell her. In fact, it took almost 8 years for everything to come to light. Once it did, however, Niles discovered that Daphne felt the same way about him, and they ended up getting married.
Jonah Simms – Superstore
Jonah was crushing on Amy ever since the pilot. He didn’t find out she was married until a couple of episodes into the season, but you can’t just shut off your feelings. The two became incredibly close friends and Jonah spent all that time secretly in love with her. In fact, the constant stuttering and inability to form sentences when Jonah finds out Amy likes him back deserves all the awards.
Simon Lewis – Shadowhunters
Simon was head over heels in love with his childhood best friend, Clary. Needless to say, it didn’t work out because the chemistry between them was little to none. It’s all okay though since Simon is slowly discovering that Isabelle Lightwood is the love of his life.
Gert Yorkes – Marvel’s Runaways
Anyone could see that Gert was crushing on Chase despite him originally not showing much interest. She tried her best to deny it, but it was to easy to see right through her. Thankfully, Chase eventually realized that he had feelings for Gert as well.
Clarke Griffin – The 100
This one isn’t actually proven, but it’s pretty obvious how Clarke feels about her best friend. The amount of close-ups there are of Clarke looking longingly over at Bellamy while he’s with his girlfriend is getting excessive.
Eleanor Shellstrop – The Good Place
When Chidi admitted to not having feelings for her, Eleanor tried to play it cool and say she felt the same way. But poor Eleanor was a goner for Chidi and has been for centuries. Literally.
Max Evans – Roswell, New Mexico
Max was crushing on Liz hard. Like, really hard. The fact that they didn’t get together right away was painful, but it also created a more satisfying build-up.
Jessica Day – New Girl
Even though they had dated in the past, both Nick and Jess decided they were better off as friends. But when none of Jess’ other relationships work out, she realizes that she’s been in love with Nick the whole time. She keeps her feelings for him a secret and spends a season secretly pining for him, while he’s in a serious relationship with Reagan.
Kara Danvers – Supergirl
It may feel like forever ago, but we haven’t forgotten that Kara spent the entire first season pining over James. Why didn’t they get together again?
Santana Lopez – Glee
Santana was always in love with Brittany, but she was too afraid of coming out and making her feelings known. When she finally did, she was met with acceptance from all of the glee members, and she and Brittany had a double wedding with Kurt and Blaine later on in the series.
Leo Fitz – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Poor Fitz was always helplessly in love with his best friend, but Jemma had no idea. It actually took them being in a life or death situation for Fitz to finally admit how he feels.
Jim Halpert – The Office
Jim was crushing helplessly on his co-worker since the moment we were introduced to him. The fact that Pam was engaged put a damper on things, but Roy was honestly the worst so we didn’t actually care. After his feelings came out, it did take a little for them to make it work, but these two lovebirds got married and had kids.
Betty Cooper – Riverdale
Her feelings may have come to light on the first episode of Riverdale, but Betty Cooper was crushing on her BFF for years. Childhood best friends to lovers? Sign us up.
Dan Humphrey – Gossip Girl
Dan Humphrey had it bad for Blair Waldorf and absolutely no one saw it coming. The two formed an unlikely friendship, and during their time together, Dan fell in love with her. It took Blair a while to find out about Dan’s feelings for her, but not too long to discover that she felt the same way.
Amy Raudenfeld – Faking It
The very premise of the show was built on Amy’s love for Karma. Faking a relationship with your best friend can get pretty complicated once you realize you’re crushing on her for real.
Joey Tribbiani – Friends
Joey’s crush on Rachel was hard to watch because of how much he was struggling with it. Joey’s such a good person that he refused to act on his feelings for fear of being a bad friend to Ross. We still think Joey and Rachel belong together, but their relationship was put to an end before it even had a chance to start.
Brienne Tarth – Game of Thrones
Brienne may have never admitted it outright, but it was all too obvious that her respect for Jamie had evolved into deeper feelings.
Barney Stinson – How I Met Your Mother
Barney never thought that he would ever want to settle down until he and Robin had a one night stand. Robin made Barney realize that he did want a relationship, but she was also his best friend’s ex-girlfriend. Because of this, he tried to keep his feelings a secret, but once he confessed how he felt to Lily, it eventually made its way to Robin.
Emily Fields – Pretty Little Liars
Emily was secretly crushing on Alison for forever, and although she never told Alison, it was pretty obvious she knew. But as it turns out, their kisses weren’t just for practice, and Alison was secretly crushing on Emily back.
Felicity Smoak – Arrow
Sometimes we forget just how hard Felicity was crushing on Oliver for the first couple seasons of Arrow. Watching her heart break while he dated different people throughout the beginning of the show was all kinds of painful.
Barry Allen – The Flash
Barry had always been in love with his best friend since they were kids. It took a couple of seasons for all to be revealed and for Iris to realize she felt the same way, but we couldn’t be happier for them.
Caroline Forbes – The Vampire Diaries
To be fair, Caroline had a crush on Stefan the very first episode of the show. But when she was shot down and Elena became Stefan’s epic love, no one expected it to go anywhere. Later on in the series, however, the two became best friends and Caroline realized that she liked Stefan for real.
Jake Peralta – Brooklyn Nine-Nine
It may be shocking since they’re so in love and stable now, but we can’t forget the days when Jake was hardcore crushing on Amy and hoping for something to happen between them “romantic stylez.”
