#“You Have to Go Back to Bed”

[randomfoggytiger]

"You Have to Go Back to Bed"

Fictober, Day 7

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For @agent-troi, who liked this post-Hungry idea.

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"Scully, got any meds on you?" Mulder, head in hands, sat on the edge of his motel mattress, squeezing into an upright approximation of the fetal position.

Shutting the door behind her, Scully hastily padded to his bedside dresser. "Did you take any of these this morning?"

"No, and I'm feeling it now."

"I can see why." For a split second, she curled her palm tighter, fought back an avalanche of Why, Mulder? criticisms. Now was not the time.

"I don't need two, Scully."

She sighed, stilled. "Here's one. And here," she added, grabbing a glass of water, "drink this." He must have filled it before the pain became too much.

Although Mulder was gulping the water with gratitude-- head tilted up and back in an attempt to relieve his cranial pressure-- he must have sensed her tension; or known her well enough to guess she would be tense. "I get it, Scully. It was too soon."

"Well, working a case a few weeks after traumatic brain surgery isn't the wisest choice." Lowering herself to the bed, she sat shoulder to shoulder and waited for him to shrug in acceptance. "But you were doing well, before...."

"Before I shot Rob Roberts." He leaned forward again, elbows on his knees and back slumped guiltily. "Like a rube, Scully."

"No one could have predicted what he did, Mulder. We'd have to have been in his head. I mean, not even his therapist knew, really."

Her partner couldn't nod, but he could silently acquiesce. She knew his signs enough to read the release of guilt. "You're wrong about one thing."

Of course. "Oh? What specifically?"

His eyes peered up at her, solemn but twinkling. Sincere. "I still can't predict...." He shrugged a little, shy gesture that filled in the blanks.

"Mulder." This impossible, hopeful dreamer. "You didn't read my mind."

He wasn't offended, smiling at her pat answer. "I did, Scully. I dreamed it."

"And not the first crazy one with me in it." It was fun to flirt with their new line: her foot on one end of it and his on the other, slowly erasing inch by inch until they met in the middle. Only a matter of time before they stopped clutching their touchstones and gave over their hearts.

"But for now," Scully decided, closing the lid on her flyaway thoughts, "you need some sleep. if your headache's not better in the morning, we'll fly home and get you into an early appointment."

"Scully," Mulder started. His hand was on her wrist, suddenly, arresting her before she could sweep out of the room. "I..." He wanted to say something, his eyes darting over her face. Then his cheeks twitched, amused; and she mentally walked back through their conversation.

If he wanted to know her mind, the VCU's Golden Boy could have flipped it inside and out-- had, before they were assigned-- and poured over every shade and shadow. But maybe that was the trick: he could understand the depravity, expect the danger; suspicion a conspiracy lurking in the hearts of human nature. The fantastic, the ghosts and the spooks, acted as an escape from this rote calculation and prediction. Maybe it was as simple as his need to believe in something greater-- in goodness, in distinction, in separateness. In her. And that kept the car driving, and the road going, and life ground to a halt in repeated, unending lines.

Or maybe, she reflected, weighing the new, enlightened understanding shining from his soul, it was those things, until he woke up.

Mind readers, both of us.

"Read this," Scully whispered, raising her hands to steeple her temples. "Ummm...."

"I hear you, Scully, loud and clear." Mulder turned, shuffled backward, and grabbed a pillow like a good little boy. "See you in the morning, Doc."

Rising, then pausing, she turned one last time to lean across the bed, to vainly smooth his sweaty, unruly spikes of hair. "Goodnight, Mulder."

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Thanks for reading~

Enjoy! 

Tagging @today-in-fic and @xffictober24.

[teaboot]

Sometimes at work it's not my place to tell people the things I want to say, and I find I often go home at the end of the rougher days to stand blankly in my shower and tell myself over and over what I wish I could pass on.

This accomplishes very little, and mostly just gives me a tension headache, but through it all I think I've narrowed myself down to a few solid things I'd like to tell people the most.

You can't change people. Not permanently, not for anythig. You can support them, encourage them, love them, give them tools and opportunities and resources, but you can't make them change. They can change themselves if they want to, but they have to want to, and they have to want it for themselves, because they're the only one that's certain to be with them forever.

For better or worse, you make your own choices, and blaming bad choices on others doesn't only work to absolve you of responsibility- it also robs you of control. Because if you say you only did something because I did something, then you arent only shifting blame- you're admitting that you cannot control yourself, that you cannot truly make choices for yourself, that other people can control you- and as long as you truly beleive that, you'll keep facing the same problems over and over. You'll keep letting others dictate your choices, because you'll beleive that they can, and you'll never be free.

White knights on horseback are from fairytales. Nobody can help you if ou're not willing to help yourself. To try, to put the dirty work in, to belive you're worth that effort- Act as though nobody is coming to save you. From a struggle, from pain, from bad relationships, from yourself. And when you do save yourself, because you will, because failure here isn't an option if you want to survive, you'll never find another dragon that can keep you prisoner.

Don't say anything to anyone that you wouldn't want them remembering forever.

Doing the right thing in bad circumstances is hard. It's the hardest thing. But if you make the choice to do that hard thing anyways, despite your fear, you'll go on the rest of your like knowing that you're the sort of person who did something.

The present only seems the hardest because the past I over and the future hasn't happened.

There's so much joy ahead of you, the kind you can't possibly understand until you see it yourself.

The responsibility of consequences is often disguised as the power of permission. "I won't do this if you help me", "I'll work on my anger if you do this for me", "I promised you I'd quit, but can I have just one?". The unspoken question is, "Can it be your fault if this goes badly?"

You cant make someone love you the way you need to be loved. Someone can love you very much and still be bad for you, even if you love them very much in return. Two people can love each other very, very much, and try their very best, and still be wrong for each other.

Sometimes being near to someone changes you, even in good ways, and the people you become don't fit together as well as the people you were.

Caring takes work. Even if it's real. Especially if it's real. And the most important gestures aren't the grand, poetic, songs-and-flowers-and-tears moments; they're getting out of bed even though you don't want to. Paying attention to things you don't enjoy. Scrubbing pans, or opening a window, saying "thank-you", or helping carry groceries into the house. The small things fill the big things- without the small, boring, mediocre things, big things feel hollow.

Thrre is honour and dignity in humble work.

If you are a cruel and spiteful person, then you will find every place you visit to be full of the same cruel, spiteful people. This is not because the world is as cruel as you, but because everywhere you are, you will be disliked. This is the curse that comes with being persistently cruel and spiteful.

If you are a kind and ppsitive person, you will repeatedly encounter kind and positive people, because as they grow familiar with you, they will be happier to have you near. This is the reward of being a kind and positive person.

When splitting paths with loved ones, briefly or forever, aim for your last words to always be "I love you".

[lazylittledragon]

dood dump <33

[mochasucculent]

Was looking at refs and since Viktor has two different leg braces I was wondering, do we think he wears them simultaneously?? The refs don't perfectly line up perspective-wise so it's hard to tell but parts of the one he wears during the Hexcore scenes look like they could maybe line up with the brace that he wears over his clothes, but also some parts really don't and look like they'd be super uncomfy. Also HOW does he take these on and off. Experts weigh in

[lizardkingeliot]

it's still blowing my mind that i thought we'd be getting something close to cartoon villain lestat at the trial and instead we got... this weeping broken thing who can't help but stop in the middle of it all to give louis a genuine, heartfelt apology for the monstrous thing he did to him. who refused to go along with the narrative that he didn't think he would be hurting louis when he did it. whose shame and love are overwhelming him in equal measure and to such a degree that he can't perform. he can barely stand...

and it actually feels like... the closest thing we've gotten to ~real~ lestat so far in this show? even though it's still just a memory, louis is remembering the sincerity of him even if he claims he wasn't moved by it. he's sitting there and he's...

he's remembering. even as he circles right back around to the narrative that lestat was only there because he wanted them dead. it was just more lestat insanity, of course. a moment of realness in the middle of his revenge to meant disorient, nothing more. with armand being ever-helpful and chiming in to confirm that lestat is the one who does this. lestat is the one who wants to leave you with no sense of what is or what is not. yes. that's right. it's LESTAT...

but louis is almost there. louis is remembering...

[xxplastic-cubexx]

oh noooo or whatever

bonus aka The Real Motive Behind This:

SURPRISE double bonus. textless ver of the first pic under the cut

[justaz]

thinking about arthur who has crazy quick reflexes and is a relatively light sleeper who woke up to the sound of someone in his room and saw merlin crouched down messing with his keys before softly asking “whatre you doing?…before breakfast?”

[slavhew]

please draw something soft with little pq dirk and alpha dave or the silly pq older one iregrhgh ur art makes me so so sad abt them in the best way ever plsplspls

HI ANON. oh my god sorry for keeping you waiting this long. i wanted to do something nice for you but truth be told... i struggle with drawing people hugging & similar stuff. historically. but ur rq is WAY overdue so!! i did my best.

i only hope this reaches you alrighht... i wish it notified anons when their asks are answered ahgfdjksgg ;w; thank u so much for this and again so sorry it took this long...

[welcometogrouchland]

(ID in alt) I literally said I was gonna post this month's ago and then never had the wherewithal to describe it and so I didn't Lmao (said with pain). But since I'm thinking of opening my commissions I figured I should remind ppl that I. Yknow. Can draw.

Lots of Steph here (I had major art block making all of these and my brain worms for her kept me going) + some sprinkles of stephcass for Cass nation to enjoy!

[somegrumpynerd]

More dude and bruh texts

[simandy]

I find it fascinating how every single one of my health issues can be mistaken for laziness

[sforzesco]

some sketches of Lorenzo de Medici and Galeazzo Maria Sforza :)

⭐ places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app / tip jar!

[jadewritesficshere]

Steddie x female!reader thought 18+ only

Eddie blinks his eyes a couple of times to make sure he is actually seeing what he is seeing. He must be living in a nightmare.

You're laying back on one of the pool loungers. One leg dangling over the edge keeping your foot on the warm cement ground, the other spread over Steve's lap as he absently rubs his hand up and down it while he bitches to you about something from work. Your hand rubs up and down Steve's back in comfort. But that isn't the nightmare.

Your bright red bikini bottoms covering enough, but with your legs spread a bit more skin is shown then intended. Spread in such a way that makes Eddie want to just dive in. Get on his knees and worship you, rub his face over your mound as he licks and nips and sucks. Moan as the curly thatch of hair brushes against his face.

Except the curls of hair he is expecting to see peeking around your bikini are gone. Just smooth bare skin. And that isn't the only nightmare. Steve's chest is smooth like when he was in school on the swim team. Not a speck of that beautiful chest hair Eddie would curl into after getting hot and heavy. Not a single curl of the "love rug" he jokingly called it.

Eddie wants to weep. To throw himself down like a little kid and thrash his arms and legs around. Yeah, it's your body and you can do what you want, but he still is sad its gone. Eddie doesn't like change, and suddenly walking in to see both of his partners change something without any warning? Uncomfortable. It makes Eddie feel itchy.

Eddie can barely speak as he walks over and sits next to Steve. He doesn't respond to Steve's warm greeting. Doesn't respond to you asking how the day is. Just stares with big wet eyes at the sight in front of him. A pout on his lips.

A warm hand lands on his shoulder, gently squeezing. Steve's brow furrowed in concern, your wide eyes blinking at him.

"Shaved?" Eddie asks in a quiet voice, eyes darting to Steve's chest and then your clothed pussy. Steve lets out a huff of laughter, "Fuck, thought something was wrong man." Eddie glares," It is."

[kit-screams-into-the-future]

was having trans marty thoughts again and i came to a realization about this scene

[klanced]

when adam met 11yo keith he immediately knew that keith was gay and was like i have GOT to support this kid!! (runs into traffic) meanwhile shiro spent years operating under the assumption that keith had like a gender thing going on

[buttercupshands]

silly guys finally got another one in

took them a while but they did it! (oh no)