I was so happy to see this up here! They are the only m/m pairing in Bleach that I find remotely canon and I absolutely love them.

I actually think Kubo-sensei intended it to be that way. It's no secret to mangaka that the fans (especially female ones) will pair up their male characters. Yumichika is written as stereotypically gay and he's close friends with Ikkaku. The subtext is pretty obvious!

It does seem like people are highly oversensitive about the comments of how "canon" their beloved pairings are.... I don't see what's so terrible. Yaoi has never been canon, in fact there are about three canon ships in the whole damn series!

Anyway, sorry you have to deal with that and good job!