Real life hero inspiration #1

Me: "Why would you tickle me back? That's horrible! You can't retaliate against me! That's not how this is supposed to work!"
B: "I didn't realize. All I know is that usually when I tickle you, you ram a knee somewhere in... uh... rightful and proper self-defense."

Sometimes the greatest romantic gesture of all is pretending that your loved one isn't totally ridiculous.

Reality of life with a writer

Me: "This story started out pretty lighthearted, but it got darker."
B: "Uh-huh."
Me: "Yeah! Now I'm giving the hero a traumatic injury and a tortured backstory and all sorts of fun stuff! I need to figure out if there's any other ways I can mess him up."
B: "..."
Me: "..."
B: "Well, this was disturbing."