b/c I think much of the responses were colored by a certain slash predisposition, i.e., a writer has to work *against* certain OTP notions that already assume that John and Rodney are made for each other...

I don't think it's just in the reader though - I would say that even as graycastle's story works against the typical OTP reading, it also to a degree depends on it. If you're not at least willing to assume that it's not unlikely for these two characters to have sex, would the story be believable at all? We have two control freaks who've lost control of their very selves - why else would do something that complicates the situation even more? What I find brilliant is how the story works with and against that OTP underpinning at the same time. YMMV.