Right - but I'd only seen it in mainstream writing. I don't remember who said that bromance was slash plus gay panic, but that's it exactly: it's a term that allows people who are afraid of genuine homoeroticism to enjoy the power of its tropes while ultimately denying its impactfulness. You get to have all the fun of the Boys' Club without any of the Scary Queer stuff messing up the fun.

It's not a word that I much like. It's not a word that fandom made, and honestly I prefer our terminology: preslash or smarm or subtext. It bothers me, a little, to see fans picking up what to me reads as deprecatory, anti-queer language.