As far as fic goes, I think an equilibrium has been reached. Het and slash are fairly equally represented, like major parties, with alt pairings as the third party that only space hippies vote for.

Does that mean I'm a Democrat, a Republican, and a space hippie? Coolness!

But seriously, yeah. I haven't been in the fandom as long as you have but this sums it up for me pretty well for me.

(I was about to say the first NC-17 fic I read was a Vash/Meryl but I think it may have been a Rocketshippy Pokemon fic. Don't look at me like that.)