But the text itself emphasizes their attraction to the female body the other is in and de-emphasizes the friendship bond. The sex scenes are foregrounding the bodies and not the deeper connection their friendship has produced.

I'm not discounting their friendship [and nowhere am I saying that I don't see them as especially close...all Im' saying is that the TEXT suggests that this is *not* the reason they initially come together nor, I'd argue, the reason they reconnect after the second swap], but I am arguing that the text very clearly works against tropes we usually find!

[And I made the same error in Straight as a Circle where I defaulted into them being together rather than just resistant fuckbuddies...I just reread and while one could interpret it that way, the text itself really suggests John's constant discomfort...]