abstract
| - Death seems imminent for a character. Her grief-stricken Love Interests who has been doing the Will They or Won't They? sidestep with her decides that he'd better let clean with his feelings for her or else he'll have to live with the thought of never having said it to her. In other cases, it's the dying person who confesses her love. Apparently, looming death is the best time to make those tragically intense romantic declarations that you cannot spit out when your love is healthy and you are, too. May include a Now or Never Kiss (but hopefully not a Last Kiss). Oftentimes, it turns out that the person is actually Not Quite Dead, usually right after the confessor declares his feelings, and he tries to back out of what he just said. Or the revelation that she'll live comes right before the critical word (a Last-Second Word Swap may be required) to keep the Will They or Won't They? situation alive. Has a 50:50 chance of being subverted nowadays, but far from being a Discredited Trope. Common subversions include the confessed-to becoming irritated that it took a death threat for the confessor to finally overcome his Cannot Spit It Out problem, the dying person faking it, or helpfully pointing out that the death bed is not the most ideal place to say those words. In some cases, the person who's about to die (or otherwise lose any chance of being with his or her beloved) will consider doing this, but decide not to for certain reasons, such as not causing undue anguish to the person he or she is going to leave behind, making this an Aborted Declaration of Love. A kinkier variation of this is the "we're going to die tomorrow, and I don't want to die as a virgin" mindset. Formerly known as Going Down with the Ship, which has now been reappropriated for the traditional (and more literal) use of that phrase. Examples of Dying Declaration of Love include:
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