@clayote i mean i’m being intentionally loose on my meaning of the word “comfort” here; it would be more accurate to say every story decision is made for satisfaction of the author (with comfort being one form of satisfaction), but more broadly i think “i wrote it this way because that is what i like” should generally be the default assumption as opposed to something which needs calling out specifically
authors frequently feel a need to justify aging up characters and i just don't think they should have to