Butting in, too, to say I so agree with this: it bugs me no end that some folks just can't seem to accept two guys have a platonic, brotherly, close relationship. Why???

So many times I have read a story in awe, and then get to the sex part and think...wow, this could have been so great if not for that. I've got nothing against slash as a form (although in my main fandom, Supernatural, it sure is a LOT more awkward). But when it becomes the EVERY STORY theme, it just seems lazy, narratively speaking. Especially when the sex is used to breach an emotional gap. It's not even about squick, but just being unrealistic and too easy (even in real life, sex rarely if ever solves problems).

I do wish, sometimes, that there were a few more experiments in gen.