Yeah, I don't know about Eternal, but the pre-slash in Foolish yourself was like, not "this is what is was like before they slashed", but more like "if I hadn't said pre-slash, you really wouldn't have guessed that there was potential for slash in the future".

I wonder if it's one of those things where the authors write "squint and you can see slash/pre-slash" just because they want to capture that audience that doesn't primarily prefer gen/het.

Gen and Het are now dating. Would that be a threesome?

There's more chemistry on screen than in Eternal. There's one moment where you think Cas might be referring to "feelings", but it's brushed away so fast. A single "Blow me, Cas" is much more charged than that, if you need to read into things.

Proper pre-slash is like the Zombie story, where it was apparent it was just a matter of time, and Sam basically knew what was going to happen and Dean was in denial/clueless mode. Otherwise it's just a friendship fic--which is fine! And allowable under the deancasbigbang rules. So don't lie to get readers. Because I might not have read it as soon if she hadn't said so, but I certainly wouldn't bitch if she hadn't.

t /assuming gender

I think Foolish would have worked better as a gen story. Please explain to me the end, because 1) I don't know who says the last line, and 2) IDEK WTH I'm supposed to take away from that, emotionally or narratively. Except that the author's resume in the fandom is dark and bleak (she did the weird Oz one and the Hole in the World one)

So, you said "dry" so I skipped over and skimmed the western. Gross, but not as gross as I'd feared. Did not want.

Okay, if peeps are gonna do westerns, lets take a nice slashy one and do the Crowe/Bale 3:10 to Yuma (which this one had a flash of near the end).

Except that the author's resume in the fandom is dark and bleak (she did the weird Oz one and the Hole in the World one)

No, that's bauble, the author of the first story (Wherever I go (I end up somewhere I've already been)), which I kinda liked. Her bang story was quite cheerful in comparison to everything else I've read by her.

Okay, onto second half of Foolish.

Argh, that's right. Must not rely on memory.

I think (know) your tolerance for the bleak far surpasses mine. Because while I didn't hate her other fics as much as Farewell to the Flesh, her BB went through a lot of Bleak shit before it got to anything resembling positive. It's like Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in reverse.

Damn. I don't know if it's better suited to Leverage or Supernatural, but someone needs to make an I'm a badass liar scammer vid to Kool Moe Dee's I Go To Work. Either would be perfect.

As for the last line of Foolish, I'm assuming it's Dean talking to Cas, telling him that he won't believe in him in the future (predicting Point of No Return) and shutting him out.

her BB went through a lot of Bleak shit before it got to anything resembling positive. It's like Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in reverse.

This last one? I'm confused. Dean was messed up, but I saw hope for him all the way through. I really didn't think it was bleak at all.

Of course, I despised Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Just the pages and pages of everything was falling apart on all fronts. Dean got the girl and lost her, got the guy and did everything to push him away, Ben a complete fucking dick (read: teenager).

the whole time I was reading I saw no hope. I thought it was truly going to end with Dean losing everyone permanently all over again.

Maybe that's why I can handle bleak, because even though stuff was messed up, I assumed it would get less so. I figured the arc was Dean getting over his shit and actually noticing Cas for himself and getting past his issues with him. And I wasn't surprised to find out he was in denial because of something that had happened between them that he was avoiding talking about.

What was depressing and stayed so? Sam. I hate that.