Fire Emblem/Ho Yay

• There's plenty of Ho Yay/Les Yay subtext in the Fire Emblem games, most notably with Florina/Lyn (Blazing Sword) and Ike/Soren (Path of Radiance). Due to the emphasis on Relationship Values to build trust between comrades, anyone can theoretically be paired with anyone. Yes, even Oliver/Reyson, although that's... not exactly stretching it...
  • But probably the most infamous example of all is the very close friendship between "angsty, angry, and Seme" Raven and "are you sure it's not a girl?" Lucius. And yes, if you play the support game, you can get a ending with them together.
  • Legault/Heath. Legault is probably as close as a Blazing Sword character is going to get to out-and-out Bi, but it's most overt with Heath and the Black Fang's Lloyd.
  • Hector and Eliwood are the best of friends who make a vow to remain close for the rest of their lives, even when Hector secretly accepts a shortened life and a violent death for Armads's power just so he can support his friend. They're the most popular FE7 yaoi ship on AO3.
  • Rath and Wil have some subtle vibes. Wil wants badly to be friends with Rath, and their supports are the only ones where Rath actively laughs at the other's goofiness.
  • Nino from Blazing Sword has some Romantic Two-Girl Friendship vibes with both Rebecca and Florina.
  • Rebecca's hero worship of Louise the Lady of Violets. Including pretty much drooling over her for being so beautiful, ladylike and strong.
  • Vaida is a bit...obsessed with Karla. She mostly wants to spar with her and possibly kill her, but the way she expresses such a desire is...suggestive.
• Possibly lampshaded in Radiant Dawn; early on Micaiah mocks Sothe's hero-worship of Ike, describing the latter as "conqueror of Daein, 'hero' of Crimea, father of Sothe's children..." (first part paraphrased)
  • Just about everything Heather says in Radiant Dawn is a come-on toward another girl. Though Nephenee gets the brunt of it.
  • It's a tradition among Fire Emblem yaoi fangirls to slash the red knight and the green knight. From Kieran/Oscar in "Path of Radiance" to Kent/Sain in "Blazing Sword", all the way back to Cain/Abel in the very first Fire Emblem, it can't be avoided.
    • Some of them are significantly more slashy towards each other than others. Kent and Sain, for example, have paired endings with other female characters, and even in-story, outside of supports, Kent has a Bodyguard Crush on Lyn and Sain is a Handsome Lech. Oscar and Kieran, on the other hand, don't seem to show interest in female characters: Kieran is obsessed with Oscar, and Oscar, while initially dismissive, grows friendlier towards Kieran, even giving him a special skill scroll in a base conversation in Radiant Dawn because Kieran has the tendency to hurt himself while practicing. D'aww!
• In Sacred Stones: Ephraim/Lyon, and Eirika/L'Arachel are the biggest ones with Lyon telling Ephraim how he simultaneously loved and hated him and L'Arachel compliments Eirika's beauty as much as she talks about herself.
  • Eirika's not just limited to L'Arachel, either; she has her fair share of Les Yay with childhood friend Tana as well. At the very least, she has a Romantic Two-Girl Friendship going with both.
  • Also, if you get an A support between Gerik and Joshua, Gerik follows Joshua to Jehanna and serves him for the rest of his life because he is impressed by his swordplay.
  • While it's innocuous enough, Gerik also takes Saleh out to dinner. He does no such thing for Tethys or Marisa, his female supports.
  • There's also Artur and Joshua's supports, in which Joshua, as payment for a coin flip he wins, gets Artur to do some late night training sessions with him. All of which occur offscreen. In their B, a big deal is made over whether Joshua is "exhausting [Artur] in training." And at the end of their A, Joshua says, "I want you to keep being my partner."
  • Speaking of Tethys and Marisa, while their A support is primarily just good-natured teasing, sometimes it really sounds like Tethys was slipping in some under-the-radar flirting...

Tethys: What an interesting reaction. Youth is so cute. Marisa: Wh-why are you smiling?! Ah... Tethys: Don't be so embarrassed. We're going to be around each other for a long time. We should talk.

• • Marisa also goes through a serious Defrosting Ice Queen routine with Tana. And Tana mentions that she "doesn't know what she would do" if Marisa said no to being friends with her.
• While theoretically "anyone can be paired with anyone," only certain couples get paired endings, and that's usually pretty telling. A pretty obvious example is Ike in Radiant Dawn: despite Ship Tease throughout all of Path of Radiance between him and Elincia, he has paired endings with two characters, neither of whom are her, both of whom are male.
  • If you're wondering, they're Soren and Ranulf.