Yeah, it's a different creature, often, in slash -- I'm sort of generalizing on the fly, here, but in slash it's but one of many scenarios in which the characters might have sex (I agree with the silliness of stories where the hurt partner is all but dead until the "healing sex" begins), but in gen, specifically, it's as if it's as close as the story can come to ... not to slash, because I do not think of gen as a sort of substitute for/pale imitation of slash, but to physical intimacy, to that visceral expression of affection that is so satisfying. (I hope I'm not too incoherent; I've had my scotch and it's bed time, really).