>>57713084In the manga, Ruby (exactly 11 years old) and Sapphire (10 years and 10 months old)
(yes their specific ages and the time between their birthdays are actually plot relevant) go on their Pokemon journeys alone for the first time. Then only 80 days later they both decide they're totally
in love with each other. Then they "hang out" as "BFFs" in a comfy joint secret base for a few years till they're 15, when they suddenly decide they're totally
getting married. I'm not saying they fucked, but if they did, they started seriously young. Their relationship is like a SFW version of what would've actually happened between two teens in real life.
Basically I'm sure (You)'re not the only one who thought a bunch of dumb young teenagers running free across the land would just start boinking each other, even in the Pokemon universe. But to avoid having Sapphire get pregnant at 10, Kusaka wrote a story couched in the framework of marriage and responsibility instead, so he could still write a romance but just tiptoe around the sex parts a bit more so TPC wouldn't get mad.
