Sheith Is Good But Wouldn't It Be A Horrible, Confusing Message For Kids To Have "you're Like A Brother

Sheith is good but wouldn't it be a horrible, confusing message for kids to have "you're like a brother to me" happen and THEN reveal a romantic relationship? Like, irl this complicated type of thing might happen but uhhh don't think we need to muddle the line between family and romantic relationships for young kids. that would really be a bad message. I don't think (hope tbh) it won't be canon for this reason

I mean, again, literally everyone on Team Voltron has referred to one another as found family. If you think sheith can’t be canon for that reason, no paladin ships can be:

Furthermore, this is Studio Mir. They made Avatar, and even though Aang and Katara get married, they still have that “you’re like a brother” thing going at first. Excerpt from The Ember Island Players:

Aang: “Did you really mean what you said in there?…when you said I was just like a brother to you and you didn’t have feelings for me?”

Katara: “I didn’t say that. An actor said that.”

Aang: “But it’s true, isn’t it?”

Harry Potter is also for kids. But Harry? Yeah, he thinks of Ginny as a sister at first. Still marries her. And again, this kind of thing is common for this particular archetype of relationships:

Literally the list goes on and on. Mistakenly thinking of someone as being like family before your feelings develop into something more is literally part of the natural arc of friends to lovers. This is plenty common in media for kids as well as adults, and I’m quite honestly sick of people pretending the friends to lovers trope is only okay if you’re straight but if not it’s somehow fucking gross. Especially considering how so many lgbt people like myself went through their childhood confused as fuck and thinking of their crushes as being just platonic or familial love because that’s the kind of thing internalized homophobia does to you. 

Hell, I even got scared and backed out of confessing to someone by saying I loved them like a sibling. And this is pretty common among lgbt people tbh. In that context Keith struggling with a crush on Shiro and not knowing how to classify his feelings or being afraid to admit it is extremely relatable and well written. 

I understand you think you’re trying to do the right thing here, but please don’t tell me what kind of representation would have helped me as a kid.