Thank you, this does clarify things!
Hmm...I think that might be what it comes down to - while I have favorite characters, my OTPs tend to be stronger; I go for favorite relationships first and chars second. And I tend not to like/be interested in relationships involving chars I don't like/aren't interested in - I'll put the relationship above the individual char's happiness. While as many fans put the char first - "as long as X is happy". That argument doesn't work for me emotionally, it's just not how I fan, but it does make sense (and is probably the healthier attitude! ^^;)