This was written for Brigdh for While We Tell of Yuletide Treasure's 2004 rare fandom all-request challenge. Romeo and Juliet was the only fandom I recognized in Brighd's requests, so I was glad she liked the final product. :-)

Let me tell you that you haven't lived until you've spent six weeks tapping out fanfic on your desk to make sure it scans.

I had a mental checklist. Blank verse, check; prose, check; sonnet, check; heroic couplet, check. I mean, I geeked out on this thing.

And I owe incredible debts to the great betas: Merry Contrary, who gave me encouragement and checked the meter and pointed out continuity issues; and Ellen Fremedon, who kept needling me to make Mercutio angrier, and was right.

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Fortune's Fool