night vale: *has a man and the main character the audience interacts with casually express romantic feelings for another man and treats it as normal and acceptable behavior*

*subverts the ‘bury your gays’ trope multiple times despite many of the objects, events and individuals both characters encounter being highly dangerous and the town itself a notoriously hazardous environment to live in*

*allows the characters to discuss their relationship with and feelings for one another in a way that emphasizes its importance to both of them without it being their only or defining trait but simply another aspect of them and their personalities and day-to-day lives, kinda like, yknow, real people in a relationship*

*creates conflict and tension between them that doesn’t rely solely on them being in danger or being unfaithful to one another and always leads to their relationship being strengthened after they confront it in a healthy manner that allows them to learn and grow from it*

*shows their relationship developing realistically and coherently over the course of the podcast so that every new progression in it feels like a natural part of both the characters’ lives and the narrative*

*doesn’t sexualize the characters and represents a kind of gay relationship that is even rarer in popular media (carlos is canonically a person of color, something that is established in the very first episode)*

*marks the special occasion of its 100th episode by having them get fucking married*

night vale: anything else you’d like with your order ma’am?

me: