Well, I manage to OTP both Wyatt/Josephine and Doc/Kate and Wyatt/Doc, so I've got relatively little problem working around Sharon and Rumiko (who, IMO, are the only serious challenges to slash, since Tony's other girlfriends were much more transitory, and Bernie was an obvious beard).
My personal take on Steve/Tony in canon is that they've loved each other most of their adult lives, but that neither ever actually acted on it in canon -- it's what makes The Confession so effective; despite the fact that Steve was the love of his life, Tony never told him, never actually verbalized it, so Steve never knew, and now it's too late (and likewise, Tony never knew that his feelings were returned). It's the great dramatic irony of the end of Civil War: Steve died thinking Tony no longer cared about him, not realizing that Tony loved him more than life itself (literally, given Tony's occasionally suicidal tendencies), and Tony, until he got that letter Steve left him, thought that Steve died hating him.
When you think about it, the structure of the end of volume five (which, as we all know, ceased publication after issue number 26 - ignore my previous comment about letters Tony may or may not have gotten) is set up so that Steve dies after being betrayed three times, by each of the three great loves of his life: America, Tony, and Sharon. Except that "America," which is Steve's great love the way France is Enjolras's mistress, isn't ever going to love Steve back, anymore than "truth" or "justice" can love you back, and Sharon and Steve are/were in love as much with the idea of each other as with the real people behind that idea. Sharon puts Steve on a pedastal to some extant: she's as much in love with "Captain America" as she is with Steve Rogers, which, considering that she grew up hearing stories about how awesome he was from Peggy, makes a certain amount of sense. And Steve, in return, occasionally puts Sharon on a pedastal: she's the one who's supposed to be "the girl of his dreams"; pretty, blonde, very similar in appearance to the woman he had a crush on during the war, and also a kickass SHIELD agent, which solves the romantic dilemma created by the fact that Steve's closest emotional ties are always with his comrades-in-arms. She's what he's supposed to want, and is as close as he can get in many ways to what he actually wants (which is essentially the kind of shield-brother relationship he has with Tony and arguably with Sam or Bucky, though I really, really can't see Steve/Bucky as sexual).
Tony's non-Steve significant others have all stabbed him in the back (except for Bethany Cabe, who ruled, and Janice Cord, who was actually in love with the second Crimson Dynamo), so they're comparatively easy to dismiss. For one thing, I have no doubt that Tony would have broken it off with any of them, even Rumiko, if given the chance to get together with Steve.
which cracked out canon romance made you go "WTF? Come on, the slash makes more sense than that!"
I'm tempted to say the Living Armor, but that actually makes a disturbing amount of sense, so: Diamondback. All I can say is, the sex in that relationship must have been very, very good, because nothing else explains what they could possibly have seen in each other.
no subject
My personal take on Steve/Tony in canon is that they've loved each other most of their adult lives, but that neither ever actually acted on it in canon -- it's what makes The Confession so effective; despite the fact that Steve was the love of his life, Tony never told him, never actually verbalized it, so Steve never knew, and now it's too late (and likewise, Tony never knew that his feelings were returned). It's the great dramatic irony of the end of Civil War: Steve died thinking Tony no longer cared about him, not realizing that Tony loved him more than life itself (literally, given Tony's occasionally suicidal tendencies), and Tony, until he got that letter Steve left him, thought that Steve died hating him.
When you think about it, the structure of the end of volume five (which, as we all know, ceased publication after issue number 26 - ignore my previous comment about letters Tony may or may not have gotten) is set up so that Steve dies after being betrayed three times, by each of the three great loves of his life: America, Tony, and Sharon. Except that "America," which is Steve's great love the way France is Enjolras's mistress, isn't ever going to love Steve back, anymore than "truth" or "justice" can love you back, and Sharon and Steve are/were in love as much with the idea of each other as with the real people behind that idea. Sharon puts Steve on a pedastal to some extant: she's as much in love with "Captain America" as she is with Steve Rogers, which, considering that she grew up hearing stories about how awesome he was from Peggy, makes a certain amount of sense. And Steve, in return, occasionally puts Sharon on a pedastal: she's the one who's supposed to be "the girl of his dreams"; pretty, blonde, very similar in appearance to the woman he had a crush on during the war, and also a kickass SHIELD agent, which solves the romantic dilemma created by the fact that Steve's closest emotional ties are always with his comrades-in-arms. She's what he's supposed to want, and is as close as he can get in many ways to what he actually wants (which is essentially the kind of shield-brother relationship he has with Tony and arguably with Sam or Bucky, though I really, really can't see Steve/Bucky as sexual).
Tony's non-Steve significant others have all stabbed him in the back (except for Bethany Cabe, who ruled, and Janice Cord, who was actually in love with the second Crimson Dynamo), so they're comparatively easy to dismiss. For one thing, I have no doubt that Tony would have broken it off with any of them, even Rumiko, if given the chance to get together with Steve.
which cracked out canon romance made you go "WTF? Come on, the slash makes more sense than that!"
I'm tempted to say the Living Armor, but that actually makes a disturbing amount of sense, so: Diamondback. All I can say is, the sex in that relationship must have been very, very good, because nothing else explains what they could possibly have seen in each other.
Edited to fix my sucktastic spelling.