Affection makes sense. Hugging someone because they are crying is sensible and nice.
Kissing them for the first time is totally stupid and immature.

And let me get this straight..you accept a giant floating monster whale thing bu tnot a girl ending civil war with singing? This is a fantasy setting with fantasy rules. They can do whatever they want.

As for contrived plot elements, what else is new. Biggest contrived element in the series was Tidus SOMEHOW not even catching a hint about Yuna dying. Sure the Guardians didn't bring it up but what about every other denizen of Spira he ran into? They just failed to even allude to this huge fact?

i couldn't care less about Tidus and Yuna in FFX so I can see your point about which scene you prefer depending on which characters you actually care for.