There was another post called "nikaj pill 👀👀" that inspired me to post about this
In MY opinion, i think the guys don't mind the edits and the shipping.
I think it’s because the “meaning” of the ship changes once the creators acknowledge it.
I'll bring up Sharky and Kenny for example, their ship probably was the most popular during betasquad's 'peak' and they played into it.
Even now they still sometimes do and the other guys make jokes about it, acknowledge it, and react to it. Sharky and Kenny read fanfics on stream and laughed about it. They intentionally exaggerated the “couple” behavior, (just search up like shenny moments there's plenty examples)
At that point the ship stopped functioning as a genuine romantic fantasy and turns into more of a fandom meme.
So the audience(shippers) aren't going "Sharky and Kenny are secretly dating!!" and it becomes boring for them. Once the creators lean into it ironically, the ship basically becomes satire of shipping itself.
It loses the “tension” that made people obsessed with it in the first place.
Back to Nikaj, I think it started becoming popular after the betasquad come back and then especially now in the recent months it's became really weird.
I keep seeing them infantalising AJ into a short feminine anger issues stereotypical gf behavior with golden retriever Niko. They tried to make it seem like a joke but also it's obvious they dont treat it to be and they are genuinely parasocial.
Could be the reason why they moved out, the fans got weird and it affected their friendship.
Also Niko's gf exists, 5 years stronger now so they probably want something really serious (moving in together/marriage)
This is just my take, I want to know what you guys think about the 'fandom space' of betasquad.