Well… your message sat in my inbox for 5 days bc this is a question every reader has to answer for themselves. It partly depends on how much canon you’ve read. 

[^X “I love him in ways that I can’t explain to other people. They don’t understand… it’s not their fault.” is that not canon?!]

IWTV is Louis’ account of their time in that era, and as @vraik​ astutely pointed out, Louis admits that he’s holding back information when he says “If I held something too close for you to ask about it, I would not bring it up in the first place.” Lestat says as much near the end of TVL, that Louis left many things out. *~Unreliable narrators!~*

And movie!IWTV had even less of what Louis says in the book, because it had to be edited for the sake of time… many scenes in the book were not in the movie. Also, it was made in the early 90′s, keep in mind that it pushed the envelope for its time re: showing any homosexuality.

tl;dr: I ship Louis/Lestat, I don’t need to define my ship as romantic, sexual, or platonic, etc. I just hardcore ship them TOGETHER.

Hit the jump for more, cut for length.

While they don’t “date” in canon, Louis talks about Lestat in IWTV with a lot of fascination, and later, Lestat writes about Louis with a lot of fascination, too (more, really!)… and they don’t actually kiss in canon until the 3rd book, right before Lestat’s big concert, and then they’re separated again soon after. It’s a ship that takes alot of Read Between the Lines.

Most of the vampires who are turned in canon are turned bc their makers love them so much that they can’t let their loved one be perishable any longer. Whatever Louis’ perception was of IWTV!Lestat, it seems clear to many of the fandom that Lestat chose Louis for more than his wealth and/or friendship, and that now, in later canon, the feelings between them are mutual.

AR answered this in 2014 when she was answering #Fan Questions for Lestat, in which she RP’d Lestat admitting that Louis would be his “Forever Companion.”

There was an article out in 2012 that had some varied comments worth reading about it: Anne Rice confirms that the vampires Louis and Lestat are a same-sex couple with a child. 

io9: There’s the concept of Louis and Lestat as Claudia’s “parents,” which we see in the novel, movie and now in the graphic novel. When you know the narrative, it’s not quite the modern statement it could appear to be visually, in the adaptation. Are you okay with that as an idea for the new century?

AR: Sure! [Laughs] Sure! I never thought of it, they were the first vampire same-sex parents.

io9: I had wondered if that had been a thought on your mind before.

AR: No.

io9: That’s the way that it seems to be shown, it’s very much “she’s our daughter now.” So I can say, they’re a same-sex couple with children?

AR: Absolutely! Claudia! She’s their daughter.

My additions to one of the comments is pretty funny and you should check it out bc hey, you’ve read this far so? KILL MORE TIME.