Given the circumstances, I don't think the writers had any intention of Yaoi fanservice in this game. I do however feel that it is open to many interpretations. I heard a quote once that I strongly agree with. Once you release a story to the world, it is no longer your story, but everyone's story who witnesses it. I think that is true in the sense of saying that a person will take the story and make of it what makes the most sense to them. I remember when J.K. Rowling came out and said Dumbledore was gay, everyone was applauding her for it, but what confused me about that whole bit was that she didn't write Dumbledore into the Harry Potter books as openly or obviously gay. It was very subtle and could have been construed, but I don't feel she wanted to take the risk of that tarnishing her books' success. There were plenty of people who would have never agreed that Dumbledore was gay until Rowling said it, and as far as I'm concerned, if she didn't specify it in the books, then it's up to the reader. I feel like this is probably the closest case to what I interpreted in Noel. If you start up the game and play through the whole thing considering him to be a gay dude, it makes absolute sense for his character and is compatible with his actions and personality. At the same time, if you don't consider him to be gay, it makes just as much sense. For me, it just made the story better to consider him that way, it's a personal bias. But I wasn't surprised to see some others online who felt the same way. I am surprised though that no one so far here on EOFF seemed to picture it this way.

Anyway, like I said before, it doesn't really make a difference overall. I think when it comes to this game having a lack of romance, you're pretty much right, Summoner of Leviathan. Even Snow and Serah's relationship did seem sort of frozen and taking a back seat to the crisis of the storyline. Still, with so many blocked and suppressed feelings going on in this game, I couldn't help but read into the characters and wonder what's going on in their heads. There were times I thought even Serah might be giving up on snow as a lover. Sometimes it seemed like she was depressed about it and viewed Noel as such a strong role model that she wished she could have a lover more like him.