I’m reminded of a show where before the pilot aired the creators of the show were deciding the relationship between the lead characters (male and female)
At first they were going to do “friends to Would-they-Won’t-they romance.” The creators chose to ditch the romance entirely and made it just pure friendship instead.
The creators said “We didn’t want to cheapen their relationship with romance, to have a True Friend that will always have your back is a beautiful thing.”
Honestly, regarding works of fiction, I don’t agree with those creators because I got that romance rot in my brain and I can’t turn it off, however it’s an interesting perspective and I respect it.