#though fandom these days has largely conflated the latter with the former

[theshipscloset]

have we considered the possibility (read as truth) that Shatner was simply in love with Nimoy and Kirk being in love with Spock was an accidental byproduct of that 🤨

I don't guess or presume character bleed unless it's specifically described by the actor or someone relaying what the actor told them, partially because it can get out of hand really fast but mainly because performing is a job. 95% of the time they're just doing their job well and honestly there's no telling which from the outside because on screen chemistry or performance is not a reliable indicator of real life chemistry. Real enemies play fake lovers, real lovers play fake enemies, real spouses turn out to have zero fake chemistry all the time, and one guess is as good as another. It's much safer (and keeps fandom much more sane tbh) to make 'they're good at their job' the default until you're specifically told otherwise by the source.