I think the thing that sets ed/stede apart from a lot of the canon gays i’ve personally encountered and ultimately what makes me go so crazy for them is that. them realising they’re in love with each other or even getting together is not the end of their story, it’s the beginning. being in love with each other isn’t the resolution of their character development, it’s the driving force behind it. and the fact that they went canon in the first season of the show is so important. unlike pretty much every other canon gay couple i’ve seen in tv, ed/stede is not “endgame”. it’s literally the entire story