User blog comment:Real Godisme/Chapter 481/@comment-2214433-20160411134137/@comment-24546844-20160411150056

@Nc There was no (big) uproar because Gajeel and Levy were an already strong stabilished ship. Now imagine if it was someone like Lissana, Kinana or say, Wendy (ignoring the circunsraces, "air" was the chapter's name) saving him. I'm sure there'd be massive uproar.

Sadly it seems every fandom has this mentality that you can only ve saved by someone you love or if you're saving someone it instantly make you that character's love interest and any stabilished ship is threatened. The extent of how toxic this is is debatable and varies with the fandom and ship though. See Wendy and Doranbolt for example.