See, now, this is why I like these guys together, even though I can't quite get on the "so what if there's no canon to support it, this stuff's gold" bandwagon with you.

I mean, I want to. But I have...canon issues, I guess. (:

Ray/Ray is one of the very few, IMO, wholly canonically insupportable (erg, here's that word again) pairings that actually works for me, and I think it's the only one that works consistently. And it works for the reasons you've laid out above: because it's exploring who these guys are when they're *not* Fraser-appendages, when they're *not* trying to live for some unreachable ideal, when they're just, finally, relaxing into being themselves.

Plus, ya know, all the lovely heartbreak. (: