[quote=@Zombehs]
Again, if you think the friends > lovers tropes involves "Nice Guys" hoping to be rewarded for hanging around and not y'know genuine friends developing their relationship further... sure, that's your interpretation of it lol.
[/quote]
No, but it generally ends up becoming that in practice, because men who buy into it get false expectations when they use these stories as manuals. When they try to apply this stuff in real life, it usually turns into what you described. And while I don't like having to state the obvious multiple times, what I dislike even more are platitudes and cliches. :P