but slash doesn't equal smut, so just because there's no fucking doesn't mean there can be no slash. I mean, I know you talk about subtext but it can be more than just subtext even without the whole smut factor.

Slash doesn't have to include sex. That's true.

The thing is, I'm very much a plot-driven writer. If I write with the premise that two characters are lovers, then it's likely at some stage in a story I'll reach a point where it would be natural for them to have sex. And, yeah, I could do the fade-to-black thing, but often, when I reach that point, I find the nature of the sex is important, so I must include that scene. (Like in Protector when I finally got Jim and Blair into the same bed - it would have ruined the story completely if I hadn't shown how they had sex.)