Heroic Gaze

Often though, they will find themselves gazing deeply into each other's eyes, one indication of their UST. This can often precede an Almost Kiss as this is usually what is happening before that.

If this is an extremely intense gaze into the other's eyes, this might be an indication that a Big Damn Kiss is on the horizon. It can also be a platonic look between two friends.

There are four versions of this held gaze, depending on the atmosphere of the story:
 * Romantic: This will appear at least once, accompanied by some passion on one (or both) of the partners in the gaze, hence it fits into the passionate look variant of the trope.
 * Platonic: Two friends will hold each other's gaze meaningfully to either encourage the other or to just let them know that they are there for them.
 * Antagonistic: If the two of them are rivals or enemies, this becomes a classic staredown with both characters trying their level best to out-intimidate the other.
 * Supernatural: A shared gaze where souls gaze into the other person's soul, all at once having a deeper experience than the other two versions mentioned above can have.

Examples

 * Flynn and Rapunzel share a Held Gaze before their Almost Kiss after they have watched the lanterns rise into the sky.
 * The romantic version occurs between Hiccup and Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon 2, right after they came out of their Big Damn Kiss, and it is very short due to Gothi interrupting it.
 * In Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Spirit and Rain have a deep gaze into each other's eyes under a tree. Spirit also does this with Little Creek at least once.
 * In Tarzan, this happens between Tarzan and Jane when he first meets the girl, and they stare into each other's eyes in wonder. And again later during the "Strangers Like Me" Falling in Love Montage, where he pulls her close to him while they swing together on vines.
 * Elastigirl and Mr Incredible share a rather long seductive one right after they capture a thief together during the beginning of the movie.
 * Aladdin and Jasmine share one Held Gaze early on in the movie with a sunset behind them, leading to an Almost Kiss. They do this again later on after their carpet ride, but this time it leads to a Kiss.