Usually when a kiss between two characters is as highly anticipated and as rapturously received by fans as the Young Avengers kiss has been, it’s because the kiss is the moment two characters acknowledge their mutual attraction and get together. If you look at examples in TV shows like Cheers, Lost and Veronica Mars, epic fan-pleasing kisses are always a way to resolve long-simmering tension between two characters.

This kiss isn’t like that. Drawn by Jim Cheung and Mark Morales, this is a kiss between two characters who have been in a committed relationship since before their first “on-screen” appearance. This is a kiss between two characters who have long-ago acknowledged their attraction and already established their devotion. And that’s why this kiss is remarkable; because it took seven years to show a kiss between two characters who must kiss each other every day. It’s a remarkable kiss because of all the times we haven’t seen it.