Bingowings said:
The idea that showing two fictional characters going from friendship to romance is pandering to something and should be avoided.
It happens in real life so why not? I’m not saying it happens in 90 percent of blossoming relationships but it’s a common enough occurrence that people start out as friends and end up realizing that they would be better off in a relationship with each other. As DavidMerrick pointed out it’s more realistic than two people being almost completely antagonistic towards each other only to then fall in love. And in my view it’s more realistic than people falling in love with each other at first glance.