I really like this thing The Terror does where no one ever kisses. At first I thought it was just being neo-Victorian, than it was about the vibes, but now I just think it's because as they said in interviews this show is about love between people and as a result they purposefully choose to only use elements that can be equally used to build romantic, platonic, familial and sexual relationships. If Bridgens and Peglar or Hickey and Gibson or Sophia and Francis kissed, their relationship would stand out, would be marked as special which is why they become worthy of a "bigger" gesture than their other relationships and that's the opposite of the point that The Terror is trying to make. Even Bridgens, who literally dies of a broken heart, is sobbing at James' deathbed that there will be poems.
How people express love in The Terror is never differentiated in a way to imply that one kind of love is more important than the others.
james bites his hands until he’s bruised and bleeding to try to keep from crying out while being hauled. bridgens is the first one with him when he finally does and, in the next hours, bandages his hands before holding them at the end.