Dating

Dating (also referred to as a courtship) is a period where two individuals who wish to seek a relationship that would lead to marriage spend time with each other in intimate settings to attempt building a close relationship. Usually in dating, the individuals share activities that they enjoy doing together, and sometimes one would encourage the other to try an activity that they have not engaged in before. Communicating one's feelings with each other can increase or decrease the closeness of the individuals.

In the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series, Smurfette enjoys being with her fellow Smurfs, but has never seriously engaged any of them in a dating relationship until Empath came along five years after she became a real Smurf. The relationship lasted for about ten years with at least one breakup period, which culminated in their marriage.