Fandom Problem #15,890:
I'm just gonna say it.
I get that the idea of two people who knew each other when one was in their lower 20s and the other was mid-teens being in a relationship at some point can be unsettling. And if its when the younger is a teen, or as soon as they turn of legal age, yeah, that bothers me, too.
But when it 15 to 20 years down the road, they're on equal footing because they're both adults, both have life experience, maybe even both were swept up in events together (like in many superhero, fantasy, or action stories), already had a friendship, and are basically equals, then I don't see the problem.
If there was a power imbalance, or the older treats the younger like theyre still a child or something, then yeah, that would be a problem. Tbh, it would be a problem in most relationships regardless of when they met.
But things like age gaps of five to ten years don't matter as much as people get older. Its more about life experience and connection.
And honestly? It can be interesting to explore the characters navigating through all of the potential ins and outs of having known each other that long and being attracted to one a other.
I just wish some people would realize that healthy relationships like that do exist irl, and can in fiction, too, because people grow and change as life moves forward, and so do dynamics, instead of, at best, lowkey shaming people for those ships and, at worst, trying to destroy their lives.
