Yup...I can get this to an extent; I think the difference is that "family" has multiple meanings to me. So I love siblings, and sibcest can squick me (though I sometimes like it as a twisted kink; I can't see it as warm & fuzzy but as a fucked up obsessive relationship I sometimes go for it.) But for me, an important part of family is the parents: marriage (or the equivalent thereof) is at the foundation of a family.
This, definitely, has a lot to do with internalized definitions of "family"; my experience with happy marriages means that I see them as, if not absolutely necessary to a family, then at least a common element. So I can see chars as brothers sometimes, but if they're not actually related I'm just as likely to see them as a married couple. And, as mentioned, I see a happy marriage as a best friend + sex relationship, so it's not that far a mental/emotional jump for me to make. (and probably why I tend to prefer happy-fuzzy McShep slash, as I see their relationship as pretty healthy to begin with, for all they're weirdos...)
in other words, they'd still be seeking relationships with other people, but also having sex with each other, and trying to explain *that* to people outside the relationship ... I'm very intrigued by that possibility, actually.
Hmmm. I'm intrigued by polyamorous relationships in general, though I admit I have a hard time seeing it with John & Rodney - mainly because I don't see either of them as having particular strong sex drives; the "Kirk" reading of John always strikes me as OOC, and I read Rodney as the kind of guy who wouldn't really get much out of sex outside of the context of a close relationship; he's not interested in sex itself so much as the intimacy (that's just my personal fanon take, not anything canonical!) (And that's another reason why I don't have trouble slashing them; I don't see sex as that important to their lives. At the same time, it helps to slash them in that I do see them as sexually compatible - "my" John is borderline asexual, and Rodney likes sex on occasion but is easily distracted by other things...
Re: Part 2 (edited)
This, definitely, has a lot to do with internalized definitions of "family"; my experience with happy marriages means that I see them as, if not absolutely necessary to a family, then at least a common element. So I can see chars as brothers sometimes, but if they're not actually related I'm just as likely to see them as a married couple. And, as mentioned, I see a happy marriage as a best friend + sex relationship, so it's not that far a mental/emotional jump for me to make. (and probably why I tend to prefer happy-fuzzy McShep slash, as I see their relationship as pretty healthy to begin with, for all they're weirdos...)
in other words, they'd still be seeking relationships with other people, but also having sex with each other, and trying to explain *that* to people outside the relationship ... I'm very intrigued by that possibility, actually.
Hmmm. I'm intrigued by polyamorous relationships in general, though I admit I have a hard time seeing it with John & Rodney - mainly because I don't see either of them as having particular strong sex drives; the "Kirk" reading of John always strikes me as OOC, and I read Rodney as the kind of guy who wouldn't really get much out of sex outside of the context of a close relationship; he's not interested in sex itself so much as the intimacy (that's just my personal fanon take, not anything canonical!) (And that's another reason why I don't have trouble slashing them; I don't see sex as that important to their lives. At the same time, it helps to slash them in that I do see them as sexually compatible - "my" John is borderline asexual, and Rodney likes sex on occasion but is easily distracted by other things...