I hear you, Nyanko
My fear is that when your character is genuinely but simply (without any romantic hopes or interest) being nice to a companion (showing an interest in their lives, etc.) that the coding will flag that and respond with flirtation. This has been my experience with Bioware titles.
So some kind of romance toggle or orientation designation would allow the developers the freedom to design the game to be sensitive to potential romantic interests but give the players an "opt out" clause so that their actions won't always be interpreted that way.
