Unpopular opinion: not everybody who interacts needs to be shipped with each other.
I'm not saying to stop shipping of characters all together, I would never!! I personally do like shipping characters too but sometimes it just feels too much, at least to me. Especially when it's people of the same gender. And I've seen it ESPECIALLY in the mcyt fandom. I am in a few of those myself,, and it's actually begun to get a bit annoying in my opinion. I am currently watching one mcyt show that I'm not gonna name in the off chance somebody somehow pins it to me, but it's really difficult to talk about the two main characters without people thinking I ship them. Sure, I can see WHY they'd be shipped (THE CHARACTERS, NOT THE REAL PEOPLE BTW) but I just don't feel like doing it myself? I think they could just be super good friends. Like,, best friends. Plus it's against their boundaries to be shipped.
I hate how so many types of media, whether purposely or not, make friendships seem less than romantic relationships. This may just be my aroace self screaming nonsense but I truly do think that. Maybe it's the fact I don't seek/feel romantic or sexual attraction. But I love my friends so so so much and if I were in the situation as these characters with one of them, I can guarantee it'd seem like there was something romantic, but there's not!! I just have such a deep love for these amazing people that are in my life but it's all platonic. I'd die if it meant saving them. I'd do almost anything for them. But,,, at the end of the day we're friends. Not "just" friends, because there shouldn't BE a just. Platonic relationships are not less than romance. And not everything is romantic. Romance of boring!!!! (Woah ... LC reference??)
But that's just my two cents, I'm not telling anybody to stop shipping their favorite characters, I just wish that if somebody didn't see them as romantic people wouldn't claim they're not as much into the fandom as you are, or that they just don't get it or anything. Maybe they do get it. Maybe they just don't feel that way. MAYBE they're also tired of romance being forced onto everything and would like genuine friendships represented in media as much as romance is. Maybe.
Anywhos I'd like to also say all of this is my opinion and I hope I'm not coming off as a jerk who thinks my opinion is better. Opinions don't work that way (in most cases I think..)
