What If We Kissed In — Anime store interior with kiss location text.

What If We Kissed In

2018Image macro / phrasal templatesemi-active

Published March 24, 2026

Also known as: What Would You Do If We Kissed · What If We Kissed

"What If We Kissed In" is an image macro meme format where users pair a photo of an unusual, specific, or absurd location with the caption "What if we kissed in [location]," typically decorated with blushing emojis and the see-no-evil monkey emoji. The format emerged from earlier "What would you do if we kissed" posts in the manga community around 2015 and crystallized into its modern form on Reddit and Twitter in late 20181. The joke works by presenting an obviously inappropriate or hyper-specific location in a tone of shy romantic sincerity, creating a comedic gap between the casual delivery and the bizarre setting1.

image macro memes snowclone memes absurdist humor memes relationship memes deep fried memes

Overview

The format follows a simple template: an image of a location, overlaid with Impact font text reading some variation of "What if we kissed in [specific place]." The images are almost always decorated with blushing face emojis (😳) and the monkey-covering-eyes emoji (🙈), telegraphing a tone of exaggerated, bashful romance1. Many versions use deep-fried image filters, adding a layer of ironic distortion to the already absurd premise2.

The comedy comes from the mismatch between the earnest, flirty delivery and the locations chosen. Early examples referenced the Fortnite Battle Bus and the Blair Witch house1. As the format spread, users competed to find the most niche, uncomfortable, or darkly funny setting possible, from the Waco compound to a neighborhood high voltage box1. The locations got stranger and more specific over time, turning the meme into a game of one-upmanship.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit / Me_IRL (modern format), Twitter / manga community (precursor)
Key People
u/h0bbez, Vshimmer, @kissjjh
Date
2018

The meme has roots in older "What would you do if we kissed" posts from the manga and anime fan community. On June 7, 2015, Twitter user Vshimmer posted the question alongside an image from Sugiyama Miwako's manga "True Love"2. That style of post circulated on Reddit and Twitter over the next two years, eventually spawning a widely-shared text message screenshot where someone sends "What wof you do if we acidebtal kissed" in a series of desperate, typo-laden texts1. The screenshot landed on subreddits like r/justneckbeardthings and r/sadcringe, where it picked up thousands of upvotes1.

The modern "What If We Kissed In" format, focused on naming a specific location rather than asking what the other person would do, first appeared on September 15, 2018. Redditor u/h0bbez posted a deep-fried image to the Me_IRL subreddit with the caption "What is we kissed in the battle bus," referencing Fortnite2. The post earned 23 points with a 94% upvote rate2.

How It Spread

On October 27, 2018, Twitter user @kissjjh posted a deep-fried image reading "What If We Kissed In The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 😳😳," bringing the format to a wider Twitter audience2. On January 2, 2019, @seokT__T posted a variation that attached a celebrity crush to the joke2. The format picked up steam through K-pop Twitter, where the "acidebtal kissed" phrasing had already found a home1.

The meme hit its peak in late March and early April 2019, surging across Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram2. On March 30, Twitter user @Facesovpain posted a picture of a panopticon with the caption "What would you do If we kissed In the panopticon 🙈🙊🙉❣️," pulling in 98 retweets and 432 likes within two days2. On April 1, a Tumblr user named Gayingenue posted a still from *Dead Poets Society* captioned "What if we kissed in the dead poet's society classroom," earning 266 notes in a single day2.

New York Magazine covered the trend in April 2019, analyzing how the format works as a mashup of ironic shitposting and sincere internet crush culture1. The article traced the meme's DNA back through the cringey text screenshots and anime community posts, connecting them all as part of a "super-genre" of collaborative romantic fantasy delivered through meme formats1.

How to Use This Meme

The format is loose, but most versions follow the same pattern:

1

Find an image of a specific, unusual, or absurd location. The more niche or uncomfortable the setting, the funnier the result. Horror movie sets, dystopian structures, random mundane spots, and video game environments all work.

2

Add text reading "What if we kissed in [location name]" or "What would you do if we kissed in [location name]," typically in Impact font.

3

Add blushing emojis (😳) and the see-no-evil monkey (🙈) for the signature tone of flustered sincerity.

4

Optionally deep-fry the image for extra ironic texture.

Cultural Impact

New York Magazine's coverage placed the meme within a broader pattern of internet users collaborating on romantic scenarios through shared formats, comparing it to the #imagine fan fiction tradition and the "Real N**** Hours" posting aesthetic1. The article noted how the format's use of universal visual signifiers like Impact font and emoji stickers made each post instantly readable despite the increasingly absurd content1.

The meme also marked a moment where ironic and sincere internet flirting became hard to tell apart. As the nymag analysis put it, the format "presupposes that the specific is universal," wrapping hyper-niche interests in the familiar packaging of social media relatability1. The joke asks whether there really is someone out there who wants to share a romantic kiss in the Blair Witch house, and the internet's answer, predictably, is yes1.

Fun Facts

The misspelling "acidebtal" (for "accidental") from the precursor text screenshots became its own micro-meme on K-pop Twitter, appearing independently of the image macro format1.

A post on r/sadcringe reading only "What wof you do" accumulated roughly 4,700 upvotes, proving the format works even stripped down to barely coherent text1.

The precursor manga image had already been compressed and watermarked with an iFunny banner by the time it surfaced on the Amino anime community in mid-2016, suggesting it had been circulating for some time before that1.

The format's emoji choices aren't random. The blushing face and monkey emojis draw from "Real N**** Hours" posting aesthetics and text chains that use emoji as punctuation1.

Frequently Asked Questions