#lots of italicized stuff here but there's a lot of stuff i think he'd be casually interested in

[annaraebananawriter]

"Someone who’s eaten that much ice cream is clearly not okay. come on, talk to me." With Dream, Ink and Blue for the quote thingy please I love them

I think this drabble is actually 100% fluff. Which...is a first for me, I think. I am unsure how to feel about it. (Lie: I am really happy with this drabble and I hope you are too. I had lots of fun.)

Now, will all my talk of Star Sans Poly lately, I have gotten myself in the mood for it, so some of that might've bled into this drabble. But I think it's more so in a 'before they realized they loved each other' sort of way than anything else.

Small warning for cursing and mentioned animal death and I think that's it. Let me know!

Happy reading! Prompt is italicized.

~oOo~

Ink checked his phone as Blue pulled into the driveway. "Still haven't heard from him."

"Well, he can't ghost us anymore."

See, last week, they had agreed--all three of them, that is; Ink, Blue, and Dream--to go out on a fun little night this weekend. Ink needed some more yarn, as he was on a knitting kick lately and had run out of the bulk of the yarn he bought at the beginning. They planned to go shopping first, first art stuff, then maybe clothes and a few other places, then it was dinner time, where they would be eating at a dinner they all liked and frequented, and then it was off to the movies, where they would watch the one that was finally here that they'd been looking forward to all year.

Blue had been looking forward to this night all week. It'd been a couple of months since the three of them had hung out together. No fault of any of theirs, things have just been busy. But he was missing his friends, a lingering ache in his chest the longer his messages on his phone remained bare and the more nights he had with uninterrupted peaceful sleep.

That's how he knew it was getting bad--he was even missing Ink's late-night phone calls that kept him up for an hour before he finally convinced the artist to either sleep or reminded him to do something else.

And, finally, the night came. He met up with Ink and they wandered around the shop they agreed to meet at, waiting for Dream...who never showed.

They tried reaching out, texting and calling multiple times, but nothing came of it. Dream seemed to ignore the attempts. Which was frustrating. Concerned, they weighed the decision of continuing on with the night with just the two of them. If Dream knew they gave up a night of fun just because of him, he'd be immensely guilty. He'd try making it up to them by buying them expensive gifts, which they would accept, though the gesture indirectly made them guilty as well. They didn't want Dream to get upset, but it seemed like, no matter what decision they made, it would end in that.

What other reason would Dream have for ghosting them if he wasn't upset in the first place? And if he was upset, then he needed his friends more than ever. That took priority over any kind of fun they had planned.

With a shared nod, Ink and Blue hopped in the car and drove to their friend's house. It was their first guess as to where he might be; Dream loved to isolate himself inside when he was sad. And sure enough, the lights were on, though Dream's car wasn't in the driveway. Nor was Nightmare's.

They didn't bother knocking. Blue already had a spare key, entrusted to him for emergencies. And he considered this an emergency.

As soon as the door was open, Ink strode in and followed the sound of the television, stopping briefly in the doorway before disappearing. "Scooch over," Blue heard Ink say, and the sound of someone sniffing and shuffling over.

Shutting the door behind him, setting down his things, and taking off his shoes, he entered the living room as well, being faced with a sorry sight he hadn't seen since high school.

Small ice cream bins littered the coffee table, along with tissues and a cracked phone. The source of the mess lay on the couch, cocooned in the quilt from his bed, now having moved over to make room for Ink, who leaned against Dream, focus already on the TV. Smiling, Blue locked eyes with Dream, who sniffed again. His friend handed Ink the halfway-eaten ice cream and held up his hands, silently asking for a hug.

Which Blue was happy to give. Squeezing himself into the corner on Dream's other side, he wrapped his arms around his friend and he started crying all over again. "Hey, it's okay," he said, rubbing his back. "What's wrong?"

Dream sniffed. "Nothing." His voice was muffled by Blue's shirt.

Ink snorted, eating a spoonful of the ice cream. "Bullshit. Someone who’s eaten that much ice cream is clearly not okay."

Shaking his head, Blue nudged Dream, asking him to look at him. "Come on, talk to me." Giving him a smile, he tried to do the puppy dog eyes his friends always did. He couldn't tell if they worked, but Dream did sigh, sitting up to rest his head on Blue's shoulder.

"It's nothing, really," Dream said, "Just a whole bunch of bad days. Which made this a shitty week." Pausing, he sighed again, more heavily this time. "Which sorta made me forget about our plans. I'm sorry."

"Not important right now." Ink said. "Plans can always be remade."

"Ink's right. Please, continue. Tell us about this shitty week."

Chuckling, Dream stifled a cough with his hand. "Okay. So, you know my boyfriend, right? Well, my ex-boyfriend now, I guess. Broke up with me. Through text, of course. This was back at the start of the week, which pretty much makes it the start of it all.

"Because that day, I got stuck in the middle of the rain without an umbrella. And this was after being trapped in traffic, which made me late for work. And speaking of work, all week long it seems like it's just been putting pets down or animals brought in from the road that we can't save. All week! And then, just a couple of days ago, my car wouldn't start, which meant Nightmare had to come and pick me up from work. My car's in the shop now, but it won't be fixed until Monday."

Taking a breath, he rubbed his face, continuing. "And then yesterday, my phone fell and broke. So, if you called me or texted me, I never got them. Sorry. Nightmare left this morning for a small work trip. He wanted to hold off on it, but I convinced him to go. He'll be back on Monday anyway. So, I've been stuck here in the house, which was fine at the start. I thought it could work as a reset, make next week better. But things have just been breaking, all over the place! First the sink, then the freezer, then a couple of plates and glasses."

Dream sniffed. Again. "And I decided to just take a break, lay down and watch a movie, eat some ice cream. Turned the TV on, and what seemed like a normal rom-com was playing. So I watched that. But then it turned sad, and no matter what I went to, all of it was sad movies! So, then I just started crying, and just couldn't stop." Sighing, he leaned further into Blue. "And now I think I'm getting sick."

"Aw, you poor thing." Ink cooed, grinning. He pulled Dream over to him, wrapping him in a big hug. "I did think you were being dramatic at first, but no, that is a shitty week." Tightening his grip, Ink's grin widened. "This calls for an exorcism."

Dream struggled to free himself from the hug. "Ink, I can't breathe!"

Ink hugged him even tighter. "I won't let you go until all the shittyness is expelled from you."

"Ink!"

Blue laughed before finally taking pity. "Okay, okay. Ink, stop." Huffing, Dream sat up, glaring at Ink. Blue grabbed him by cupping his cheeks and turned his head side to side, looking him over closely. "Hm...have you eaten yet today?"

Dream blinked, thrown by the change in subject. "Nightmare made breakfast." Pausing, he closed his eyes with a sigh. "But I forgot to have any. I even put the leftovers in the fridge when he left."

"So, you've just had ice cream?"

"Yeah."

"I see." Blue gave him another inspection. "Just as I figured, then. You need a proper meal. Maybe some medicine, then, if you're getting sick. And then, a cheerful movie, which Ink will pick, along with some cuddles." Before Dream could think of protesting, Blue held up a finger. "And that's doctor's orders."

"You're only in med school." Dream rolled his eyes. But he was smiling. "Not a doctor yet."

"Still."

"But, yes, that does sound wonderful." Dream smiled up at him. "Thank you, Blue." He then turned to Ink. "And thank you, too, Ink, even if you tried to suffocate me."

Finishing off the ice cream, Ink wagged a finger. "I exorcised you."

"It felt like suffocation."

"Good! Then it was working. We should get back to it then..."

"Ink!"

Dream tried to get away, but Ink was faster. He knew all of Dream's ticklish spots, too, which was an advantage. Dream shrieked with laughter, making Ink laugh, and the sound of both their laughs made Blue laugh, a hint of a blush on his cheeks as he beamed.

Yes, he thought to himself. That's more like it. These two deserved to be laughing, not mopping around. They delivered to be happy and passionate, a bright future ahead of them. And Blue loved them so much, more than anyone else he was friends with, he would make sure they got what they deserved.

That's what friends were for, after all.

[unfriendlyamazon]

20 question writer meme

love to do these thank you for taggin gme @alectoperdita

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

51 fics (plus a secret one when i made a fire emblem ao3)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

222,579 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

YGO is my main one, but i'd really like to break into stardew valley and aforementioned fire emblem 3 houses

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Baby Dragon (no surprise there)

Liking You and Me

Sweater Weather

In Awe of Flowers

A Hand to Hold

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do my very best to respond to comments because they make me so happy but sometimes if the fic is really old or I just don't feel like it I may not.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't really write a lot of angsty fics. Probably my angstiest work over all is Competitionverse and No Such Thing As A Free Lunch specifically since that's sort of about how things don't work. I have some angstier stuff in the works because I really want to dig into some Wheeler trauma. Did I ever post my vampire Joey origin on here? That's probably the saddest thing I've ever written.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably when I wrote Seto proposing to Joey

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten a few comments especially since I write trans characters and a weird one on my fire emblem fic but I'm not afraid to delete.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I didn't used to! It was more I didn't trust my abilities but now I've gotten lots of practice and I find smut easiest to write. It has a inherent climax.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I write a lot of AUs but have yet to write a crossover. Maybe I should. Maybe it's time for some characters to meet each other.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I bounce ideas off @kaijous all the time and I would say we've co-written some stuff, though I don't think any of it's published.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

KaiJou 4 Eva

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Honestly back in the day I used to start so many fics I never finished which is why I've focused on one shots or series so at least I have something complete. I have a restaurant au in mind that's sort of based on The Bear and I'd really like to dig into it but it just seems like so much work. Of my published ones... Star Trek AU I'm sorry I abandoned you.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at natural dialogue and I hope my conversations flow. One thing I like to do and hopefully I'm good at is having characters react without recognizing their feelings. Especially with Seto Kaiba I try my best to write around the actual emotion he's experiencing because I don't think he'd recognize it. I think of this piece of writing advice every day of my life.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I write from third person limited perspective and I really could have a more distinct voice for each character. I'm also a bit repetitive I know.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

It's something I struggle with especially when I write explicitly international characters. I very rarely write out non-English dialogue partially because I don't want to screw it up, and I go back and forth on italicizing non-English dialogue which I have some thoughts and feelings on that have been explained better by other people. I think especially with a Japanese speaking cast I've taken some notes from webcomics actually, but ultimately if the audience is meant to understand there's no reason to obscure it. In fact the only fic I have done another language for a fic is one where I had Seto speaking Vulcan, which is a made up language that I don't feel as strongly about screwing up.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Honestly... I think it might be YuGiOh. A long, long, long time ago I had friends posting script style fanfiction on DeviantArt and I joined in on the fun. The first fandoms I was really part of and writing fic for was Teen Titans and Avatar: the Last Airbender. Zutara and Raven/BB, in case it wasn't completely obvious.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Oh boy this is a tough one. Baby Dragon is a favorite of mine, as is In Awe of Flowers, but to be honest I think it might be Sons. It's not my most polished piece but I managed to make a fic out of the feelings I had around Grandpa and Joey that carries a lot of emotional weight for me.

To keep it going I'm gonna tag @kaijous @luxielovesparkles and whoever else wants to do it. i've been massively depressed lately but i'm crawling out of my hole and i think it's time to write again...

[czesarevich]

* HOBBIES AND INTERESTS!

instructions: bold whichever hobby your muse feels deeply passionate about, italicize the ones that are more like casual interests for them, & finally strikeout the ones that they are not likely to take an interest in.  repost, do not reblog!

birdwatching, pottery, oil painting, drawing, singing, acting, breakdancing, fashion design, cooking, baking, mixology, bodybuilding, beekeeping, crocheting, knitting, sewing, embroidery, fishing, flower arranging, gardening, graphic design, rock climbing, surfing, swimming, lute

kayaking, canoeing, rafting, metalworking, foraging, candlemaking, rapping, mixed martial arts, karate, judo, taekwondo, kung fu, muay thai, brazilian jiu-jitsu, krav maga, aikido, boxing, fencing, tennis, table tennis, stamp collecting, wrestling, capoeira, archery, swordsmanship, viola

kickboxing, origami, gaming, photography, paintball, parkour, figure skating, rollerblading, reading, poetry writing, scrapbooking, skiing, snowboarding, scuba diving, snorkeling, woodworking, video game development and design, whittling, whale-watching, yoga, meditation

stand-up comedy, gymnastics, skydiving, travel, blacksmithing, baseball, basketball, volleyball, golf, american football, rugby, cricket, soccer, cosplaying, hunting, horseback riding, jogging, larping, cycling, shopping, sailing, sculpture, vlogging, journaling, palm reading, tarot cards

witchcraft, ballet, jewelry-making, topiary, tabletop roleplaying, calligraphy, pole dancing, zumba, rock collecting, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, motorsports, taming animals, hacking, tattoo artistry, storm chasing, ballroom dancing, flower pressing, competitive eating

flying planes, flying spacecrafts, blogging, model building, model engineering, building with legos, building in the sims, stenciling, soapmaking, miming, ventriloquism, computer programming, trivia, ghost-hunting, chasing down mysteries, kite flying, hiking, robotics, watercolour painting

softball, house flipping, sudoku, chess, winemaking, breadmaking, cheesemaking, gossiping, clubbing, salsa dancing, poker, badminton, bowling, ice hockey, track and field, cross country, astrology, stargazing, colouring, prose writing, makeup artistry, quilting

leathercraft, piano, violin, acrylic painting, guitar, ink painting, sketching, flute, clarinet, hula hooping, toy collecting, spray painting, research, language learning, board games, hairstyling, keeping up with the latest trends, brainteasers, cartography, drums, comic book collecting

digital painting, songwriting, cleaning, freestyle dancing, podcast hosting, toymaking, bingo, pilates, sightseeing, cheerleading, wine tasting, camping, samba, antiquing, metal detecting, art collecting, home brewing, memorabilia collecting, tapestry weaving, thrifting

shoemaking, furniture building, home improvement, essay writing, leaf pressing, conducting science experiments, skull collecting, mountain biking, dumpster diving, roasting coffee, brewing tea, harp, puppetry, skateboarding, saxophone, trombone, tuba, trumpet, cello, ukulele

[sickness-and-stealth]

i would like to hear about technoblade

hehehe well since you asked so nicelyyyy :]

keep in mind that some of this could be taken as quackity and tommy critical, but it's not supposed to be. to be safe though, if u still wanna read but dont wanna risk, the tommy critical would be under the "willing to put aside differences for a common cause (mostly)." section, and the q critical stuff would be under "movin on, he's got strong morals and i like that a lot." both are bolded, italicized, and end at the next point. it is undeniably lmanburg critical, so i tagged it as such, but if you still want to read, skip past "nother side tangent".

also!! this is not me sayin that c! techno can do no wrong, just stuff i really like abt him!!

without further ado, here's my super duper long post about both character and content creator technoblade, and why i think he's so darn cool!!

i'm not really sure how to format this so it'll probably be like half list and half paragraphs? i dunno but i really like technoblade and i think he's super neat!! he's a great storyteller, actor, content creator and friend, if what his friends have said is anything to go by. he cares deeply for a lot of things, from minecraft to his dog (that he'd planned on being indifferent about when they first got him) to his content and anything in between. he likes people to feel included and safe on his channel, i remember seeing a screenshot of a comment from 2016 where he was callin someone out in his comment section who said a slur i think. replied somethin along the lines of "you can be edgy all you want, i can't stop you, but i don't tolerate homophobia on my channel" and hes talked about how cool he thinks lesbians are but people still call him homophobic :[ makes me sad but that's not today's point

mm i think i'll go onto stuff i like about character! techno and then come back to cc

-all his pets. the big mean bad guy of the server keeps a whole buncha dogs, a horse, two polar bears, a fox and a few other things safe in his home because he cares about them... he was willin to get executed for his horse... big ol softie he loves animals

-his unwavering love for phil. techno loves phil so much, they're best friends in the entire world and would do absolutely anythin for each other and it makes me so happy!!!! techno's been betrayed a million times but he still trusts his best friend and companion with everything he has. also the fact that he let ranboo come live with them, mostly because phil said so even though he was super wary? makes me cry. also also, the fact that phil said that if redza wanted to kill techno, he would just let it happen and not fight back? (can't find the clip rn but i'll look) breaks my heart into a million pieces and makes me cry, but just shows how much techno would do for him :(

-willing to put aside differences for a common cause (mostly). the red banquet? him takin in tommy even after he'd been betrayed? thats a compromise baby. and yes i know he did destroy lmanburg after tommy decided to stay with tubbo, but he was goin to do that anyway, the only thing he did to spite tommy was team with dream imo

>little side tangent about that, i'm pretty sure techno has said MULTIPLE TIMES that he is not friends with dream, that he only worked with him on doomsday because they had a common goal and that he doesnt even really like the guy, but the last time i checked, the wiki said they were in good standin. i do not believe that, i think techno sees his entire relationship with dream as closer to neutral/negative, because the only thing that's keepin them related at all right now is the fact that techno still owes dream a favor. they have that to take care of and then techno goes back to not carin about dream.

-movin on, he's got strong morals and i like that a lot. he knows what he wants and he'll stand up for it!! if he feels someone betrayed his trust, he'll deal out whatever punishments he deems necessary. now this is not to say he should get to play judge, jury and executioner, but it is to say that i think him killing quackity was justified because even though techno didnt technically lose a life, he was very close to doing so. if he hadn't had the totem, he would have. he got all of the pain of losing a life, of getting crushed to death by an anvil, so i personally think that quackity had what was comin to him for orchestratin the whole thing. and while i dont think that him blowin up lmanburg was the best option, it was the only one that would drive his point home and make them understand what he'd been tellin them since he joined pogtopia. and it seems they mostly listened, so it worked

>nother side tangent, yes he blew up lmanburg but people act like it was the worst thing in the entire world. they're like "but it was terrorism!" yes but also this is on a server where it's standard to just shoot, blow up, burn, destroy or kill anythin that gets in your way, or really anythin you want to. this isnt real life, its a video game and irl stuff like that doesnt really apply because the rules are different in this universe (in my opinion). also, lmanburg was people's homes, yes, but he gave them time to move stuff outta their houses, gave them warning (even though they did start early, which was a bit dickish). and lmanburg was just land, really, he didn't take anyone's lives during it so personally i dont think people should hold it against him as much as they do

-lastly, he's just a cool guy and i like him a lot :] he added in his chat as canon characters/beings in the plot so that was really cool!! and he's got a lotta lore and stuff and he's a cool character to play around with and i want him to interact with more characters positively because he deserves it and yeah :]

onto cc! technoblade!!!! mr. cool guy himself!!

-he's so nice... he tries to hide it but so many people have said he's just a big sweetheart!! like niki (i hate the name of that vid) said that whenever they talk he makes sure she has time to say what she wants to and he invites her to stuff when she's feelin bad and she really appreciates it, and bbh (starts around 4:25) recently said that he's only spoken to techno personally like five or six times but he's had fun every time and thinks hes super sweet and funny and i just :'] his friends care about him so much and they know cares about them

-hes so funny and for what. comedy master, so funny, ive never watched a video of his where i haven't laughed, every time he's on someone's stream hes fuckin hilarious and i just think hes so funny. the "donde esta la biblioteca" bit?? so fuckin funny, he just rushes tommy while screamin about the library, kills him and then says "he was no match for my two years of spanish in middle school" LITERALLY UNMATCHED i adore him. and even on accident, the one time he streamed and forgot to unmute for like 30 seconds?? that was hilarious and he didnt even do it in purpose

-how much he loves floof. i just... he loves that dog so much.... he wasn't expecting to like him, he said his family had always had cats and they'd always been cat people and then floof just destroyed that idea... he loves that dog so much, he puts him in videos, talks about him on streams, there videos online about him fallin in love with the dog i just,,, he loves floof so much and it makes me really happy

-this ones smaller but that one video with his lil sister from like six years ago makes me cry they're so similar and she's so excited and he's so happy to just have her playin minecraft for his channel i weep every time i watch that video thanks

-the consistent inside jokes and things within his communities. like just,, so many jokes in vids and streams have been around for so long and idk why that makes me really happy. it makes for a really nice community and its easy for new fans to get into it, which is really nice :]

-the fact that we've seen his face multiple times but still have no fuckin clue what he looks like... like rn i cannot recall his face right now but if you showed me a picture of him i'd be like "yeah that's technoblade" and then you'd take the picture away and i'd forget immediately

-he's just genuinely cracked at the game. he's so good at minecraft. he crazy good, and when hes determined to get somethin done, it'll happen. his 1000 game winstreak in skywars? antarctic empire? the potato war? the dozens of wither skulls he grinded for? the gear he got for pogtopia and junk? insane literally insane hes so talented and cool

-his little traits that i recognize as adhd stuff make me rlly happy too :] its really nice to see someone i look up to who has it as well and it's not like the main point of his personality ig? idk how to say it but its really cool to see that he has it and talks about it sometimes and exhibits traits of it that i also have and hes super cool and successful and has a good time because that was somethin that seemed completely unattainable to me a few years back honestly, and the only sources about adhd came from accounts that focus solely on talkin about adhd and nothin else (which is still really great). its just really nice to be able to watch someone who just. is a minecraft youtuber and has adhd, and not someone who has adhd and is also this and that. its nice to see it not be the center of attention and it's just a thing, a fact of life (here's just some sources where says (around 4:20) he has/mentions his adhd)

-he's just overall a good guy, i think he's neat!! he posts videos when he can, streams when he can, interacts with his audience, cares about his friends, loves his dog and is just a cool dude and i think hes epic :]

there's probably more but i cant remember rn, thank u for readin this far if u have and super sorry for such a long post lmao :] lmk if i got anythin wrong :[ have a good day y'all, lmk what u think abt any of my takes in the replies or just come yell at me in my ask box or dms if u wanna hehehe

[intheseautumnhands]

4 17 18 25

( writing asks ) And then the end of the work week made me forget I'd ever done this one, whoops.

I got babbly, so I stuck it under a cut. :D

4. Tell me about your favorite will-never-finish-it fic? Why won’t it be finished?

Most of the stuff I thought up for a long time never actually got started, and a lot of them I still absently hope to get done someday, though a lot of them are unlikely. XD

The main one I can think of that I started, and don't think I'll ever go back to at this point, is the MCU fic I was going to write for polybigbang one year. Clint/Bucky/Steve/Natasha, starting after Winter Soldier and more or less ignores everything that happened or was revealed after -- I started it a couple movies later, but I ignore a lot of later MCU if I write it. Clint has a habit of picking up strays, people who need a place for the night or a little bit of help, and isn't going to let the collapse of SHIELD stop him; he doesn't realize the latest one is Bucky until he tells Natasha about him, and that starts a whole chain reaction. I wrote a fair amount for it, for me -- about 8k altogether, plus some rough outlining -- and while it was never a plot-heavy story, I had a lot of thoughts about the emotional arcs and interpersonal conflict.

I'm just less interested in writing the MCU overall lately, and if I ever did, I feel like it'd be easier to start fresh with things that were never more than an idea. Plus, the more canon gets added, the harder it gets to just go, "I am wiping out like seven years of movies for this fic and pretending they don't exist", without going totally OOC for this version of the characters. XD I'm not even sure I could really accurately write the versions of them I was back in like 2014 anymore. But I did like it, and I kind of wish I could make it be more than an overly-long set-up, a handful of scenes, and a series of increasingly ridiculous notes about missing scenes.

Also, it has this, which I never finished the rest of the scene for, but sort of want to rescue and put in something else if I ever go back to MCU fic, because I really liked this:

...because see, the problem isn't that Natasha has one-sided conversations at him; that would be fine. Clint would know how to handle that, but that's way simpler than what's actually going on. No, Natasha has ten-sided conversations at him, and all ten are her own sides, and Clint's never sure if he's supposed to have a voice in them too, or if he's supposed to stand here like a handball wall and let Natasha bounce all of her many points of view off of him til whatever's set her off into this state settles in her brain.

It's what he ends up doing, though, every time, because he doesn't know what he'd tell her. She never really says it, but he gets the feelings these conversations are even more of a minefield than she can't help showing. One wrong step, and she'd shut down, and he doesn't know if she'd ever open up to him like this again.

And if there's something worse than Natasha having cryptic, complex, intricate debates with herself using him as a prop? It would be knowing he'd been allowed to be that prop, and see this unsure part of herself that she keeps so carefully clamped down, and did something to prove that he didn't deserve to see it at all.

There's more of the fic that I actually like than I expected for like eight years ago, but that part is one of the first I wrote and still one of the bits I like the most.

17. What’s your overused word/phrase that you have to keep an eye out for when you edit?

"Just" and "a little". Everyone just barely does things in my fics and I need to be ruthless with it when I go through drafts. XD Also, my first instinct 90% of the time is that you are not in love now, you are fucked. "[love interest does something cute/characteristic/charming/attractive/affectionate] and [they're] so, so fucked" is my personal version of the italicized oh; it's slipped through at least two or three fics I've put up and been cut out of several.

And everyone smiles, shrugs, and leans against things too often in most of my first drafts.

18. What’s your favorite word to slip into stories if you can?

I can't actually think of one! I like too many words to show that kind of favoritism. XD

25. Freebie! What question do you wish I had asked? Answer it here!

I don't know if that's supposed to be general or off this list, I will go with off the list cause I am too tired to come up with something. XD Let me go with this one, cause I have a small ramble:

What fic is on your back burner, waiting to be written when you feel your skill matches its potential?

I'm cheating a little, cause it's not a fic but a genre. Social media fic; I love reading it, I have one or two ideas for them, but I feel like making social media sound remotely natural is hard enough when using it in real life for me. XD I'd love to write one someday, I even tried to start one at one point which never got finished, but I don't know when I'll feel up to it (or be in a fandom that works for it again, although I do have some urge to write TUA social media fic despite the time period, mostly around Allison's career).

(For a specific fic, there is an AU fic for Hadestown I keep thinking about, half-inspired by Pippin, where Persephone and Hermes keep manipulating new people to replay the story to try and fix things, focusing on the repetitions where it goes wrong, and I don't know right now if I could do that justice, even if the main reason I'm holding off is time and wanting to finish some WIPs before I start a new one.)