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Sometimes I get to thinking about how there surely must be some games we play here on Earth that aliens have independently invented on their planets. I think the word I'm looking for is "canonical," a game that is so simple that any intelligent lifeform will eventually stumble upon it. Tic-tac-toe, for example. It may not be X's and O's, but odds are some alien species has a game that involves trying to match three symbols in a grid like that. They probably have a game like checkers, though not chess; chess is too complex with too many specific rules, but checkers is probably simple enough that it exists in some form or another elsewhere in the galaxy. Footbal, real football, what Americans call soccer, probably exists; teams competing to move a ball to opposite ends of a field, that seems like the sort of game that cavemen would invent, so alien cavemen probably had it too. Soccer and basketball both are simple enough I think that they could exist elsewhere, maybe even something like golf, but American football or baseball or cricket are too esoteric. Aliens probably have games like rock-paper-scissors, or tetris, or dominoes, or go fish, at least something recognizably similar.

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[thebutterflyestate]

movement four

Suyako lent (Name) some clothes to change into, it was one of the older woman's faded checkered patterend kimonos of the red color. After changing into it, she went back to where the rest of them were and found Sumiyoshi, Suyako, and Yoriichi sitting together by the engawa. The woman was serving tea and the peeled fruits she was working on earlier.

"(Name)-chan, some join us!" Suyako waved for her to come over and the said girl walked over shyly, sitting between her and Yoriichi, "I should introduce you to our other visitor, I bet rumors have reached your home. Tsugikuni-San, this is--"

"O-oh! We already met!" (Name) blurted out in panic. The couple looked surprised.

"You mean...earlier, just a few minutes ago?" Sumiyoshi asked, tilting his head to the side. (Name) sunk in her place, she has to explain a rather lengthy history. "

"We met a long time ago. I accompanied her back to home." Yoriichi spoke, his voice low and quiet. (Name) looked at him, eyes a bit wide, he was being humble and wasn't sayin ganything about the fact that he saved her, "The (Surname)s are good people."

'He even remembers my surname!' (Name) placed her hands on her cheeks. Sumiyoshi grinned.

"They are good people! I take it that you saved (Name)-chan?" He asked and (Name) nodded, shyly.

"He did... I was attacked by those creatures of the night and he saved my life." She said and the couple smiled. Yoriichi looked over to her then the girl realized that they fell silent and were staring at her. She blinked, her face turning red. Why were they staring?

"You're so cute, (Name)-chan!" Suyako gushed, pinching the girl's cheek. (Name) was a bit confused as to why they were like that. They conversed for a few more minutes, finishing all the fruits and tea then they resumed to doing their chores. The Kamados needed more helping hands to make charcoal so (Name) decided to stay and help since she had some time in hands. If ever dawn catches up to her, the Kamados invited her to sleep over. Or option two was thet Yoriichi would walk her back home which sounded really appealing to her when Sumiyoshi said so.

(Name) was helping Yoriichi with wood cutting. Not that the girl was cutting, all she was doing was gathering the wood together and bringing them to Sumiyoshi who would burn and turn them to charcoal. Suyako was doing the laundry. Yoriichi did most of the labor, cutting wood with an axe in a rather unbelievable speed.

"Aren't you getting...tired?" (Name) softly asked the samurai who looked at her while setting another lumber on the chopping stump. He shook his head.

"I am used to this." He said. It was literal small talk. (Name) couldn't say anything more than that. She was too shy and she had no idea how to hold a long conversation so she gave up on it and just watched him work.

After a few more hours, Sumiyoshi called it a day and they all gathered inside for dinner. (Name) helped Suyako prepare dinner and set it in the dining table. She had prepared a lot, justifying her cooking by saying that it's rare for them to get visitors up the mountain. They all ate while the couple shared stories of their experience in being up the mountain.

"How is your baby, Suyako-san?" (Name) decided to ask, the woman giggled.

"My baby is dong good, for sure! Eating all these healthy foods especially your family's fruits!" She exclaimed, "Anyway, (Name)-chan, do you plan to marry soon?"

"Eh?" She blinked. Oh, no. She knows where the conversation was going, "N-no, I don't think so... Ahaha, anyway, this meat is good, what is it?"

"It's pork!" Sumiyoshi answered without taking the hint, he turned back the conversation, "Oh, not yet? I thought your father was setting you up for an arranged marriage since of your family's orchard and farm."

She frowned, lowering her bowl and chopsticks. It was true. She was old enough to marry, if not, a little late to marry. She was twenty-one, after all. And she hadn't have any suitors because her father scares them off or because men didn't like the idea of caring for a sick wife. It was a burden and some may say it's useless. Her father was still trying to make ties with other families with good reputation so that when they get a heir, their grandson would inherit the (Surname) orchard and farm land.

Suyako noticed that she became upset. She smacked her husband's arm, he flinched and looked at her confused, she glared. Sumiyoshi laughed nervously and decided to change the subject, "Tsugikuni-san, how about you? Do you plan to marry?"

"No." He answered in a straightforward manner, making (Name) more upset. She was quite hopeful that he'd have at least the tiniest interest in women...mostly her. But she wished. Suyako glared at her husband again and decided to take the wheel.

"Thank you for helping us out today, we managed to get our stuff done twice as fast!" She said then turned to (Name), "Sweetie, I assume you'd want to go home now?"

The girl perked up, nodding, "Y-yeah! I want to sleep over but my family will be worried."

"AW, is that so?" Sumiyoshi frowned a bit then turned to Yoriichi, "Is it alright for you to take her home?"

Yoriichi nodded, chewing the food in his mouth silently. The couple smiled at him while (Name)'s face turned pink when he agreed to do so.

"Thank you for coming along," (Name) said, her eyes making contact with the ground as she and Yoriichi walked side by side. He carried a lantern while she carried her basket, inside t were her damp clothes and some charcoal from the Kamados as a thank you.

The two walked down a stony path, the same path (Name) would come up to whenever she'd go to the Kamados. Crickets chirped as the moonlight shone upon the two of them, only few rays of the moon spilled through the trees' canopy.

(Name) smiled. It was peaceful during the night, accompanied by the crickets and the flickering lights of the fireflies. She hummed quietly but realized that she could attract demons. She shut up. However, she stopped in her tracks when she saw a swarm of fireflies close to a pond. Frogs croaked and insects dances around the pond that illuminated the moonlight. It was rather convenient that there were only a few trees that covered overhead.

Yoriichi also stopped when she did, he looked over where she was looking and blinked. She turned to him and she shyly asked, twiddling her thumbs, "C-can we go there for a second?"

He nodded and she quickly parted he foilage in front of her to cross to where the pond was. Firelies floated and the frogs kept croaking their song. It was a magical view. The inner child in her was giddy, she beamed and she sat by the pond and she was surprised that Yoriichi also followed her lead.

"Uhm... I know we both don't talk much but I feel safe around you just after that one incident...is that strange?" She asked him softly, "We...we are complete strangers to another...yet I trust you so much."

He only stared at her. The moonlight lit up her face and the fireflies gave her a little glow. It was a mystical view. Her (eye color) orbs reminded him pools of water, ever flowing and gentle.

A grasshopper landed on the top of her head but she didn't seem to feel it. He blinked and she tilted her head to the side, curiously as to why he was staring. The grasshopper didn't jump off her head at her movement. He reached out and offered a finger to the insect and it hopped into his finger. He pulled away and showed her the grasshopper.

She smiled and giggled, "Oh, was that on my head...?"

(Name) obsereved his features as he watched the grasshopper on his finger. His face was quite close and she could see the details of his face once more. His jaw was chiseled, his nose was sharp, his eyes were slanted and reminded her of cherries. The strange mark on his left temple was eerie but to her, it was his additional charm. She hadn't seen him curl his lips into a smile yet.

Aside from his face, his hair was rather fluffy like clouds but it was like fire. His body was indeed a build of a samurai, foreboding and full. His hanafuda earrings, however, was odd like the wisteria charm necklace she wore.

At that moment, he, a man, of who knows what age, looked like a peacful child to (Name). She smiled gently.

He looked up and is eyes caught hers. She immedieately turned red when she was caught, she stumbled in her seat and she slipped. Yoriichi grabbed her wrist before she could fall into the pond, he dropped the lantern on to the ground.

(Name) was wide eyed but she regaied composure when he pulled her back to her spot. She bluched yet she burts laughing when the grasshopper on his finger hopped on to his face. He let go of her wrist when she took the grasshopper off his face.

She was laughing, "You are strange... You chose to drop the lantern instead of he grasshopper or me."

Yoriichi watched her lips stretch into a grin. It was the first he'd seen her smile without a care in the world. He'd only see shy smiles or little giggles from her but tonight was different.

He opened his mouth," If I did not drop the lantern..." He said as he picked up the said thing from the ground. She raised her brows, blinking, "I would not have seen you smile like that."

(Name)'s face turned as red as his hair.

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[wcmi-22]

Lovely day for a picnic with a Mad man!

It was a lovely spring day in Wonderland. All the birds were singing with glee, all the children were playing in the park and may people were out and about enjoying the beautiful weather. This gave one petite blonde named Alice Liddell an idea for what she wanted to do on her day off. So the little blonde dressed in a lovely long white collared shirt with an even lovelier sky blue shirt and holding it together was stylish black lace and brown belt. She even decided to try that hairstyle Ariel had suggested to her as well.

(Sorry the second picture looks so rough!!!! But you guys get it Alice looks adorable)

She then gather her picnic basket along with the yummy cucumber sandwiches, tea, crumpets, for the basket,her red and white checkered blanket and best of all her book of poems that she simply could not put down.

Once she has all her stuff together, she finally shuts her front door and walks toward the park. Once she arrives, she notices both the beauty and the various people all gathered around the area. Some were flying kites while others fed the ducks, walk their dogs or even watched their children play on the play ground. Some of them even decided to picnic just like Alice. Which lead to a great dilemma, finding a spot.

Though Alice had been to many a year party and social affairs before in London but, when it came down to it, she was not a very social person. In fact every time she tried to be, she acted shy and quiet to the point no one could hear her. Still she was determined to do better and she was determined to get a spot!

As she looked around for a nice spot, suddenly she saw once again the bimbettes staring at her and talking about her as she went by.

“Is that the Hatter’s girlfriend?” One of them in a red dress asked.

“I believe so, can you believe her?” Said another one in the green dress.

“I know! What kind of woman hangs out with such a freak like him?” Said the one in the yellow dress.

“Another freak obviously!”

Though they thought Alice could not hear them, however, they were sorely mistaken. Because once Alice turned around, she gave them a stern hard glare at them. In response they all turned their heads simultaneously to the opposite of Alice who kept on walking away until finally she found a lovely little spot under a large oak tree with a perfect view of the lake.

There she set up her picnic and placed her food on a plate in front of her along with some tea then got out her book and started to read as she ate.

“Humph those bimbettes!” She started to think to herself. “Who do they have think they are? Having the right to judge people and their lives!? At least Reginald pays attention to me even though I don’t want him to but they can’t even get Gaston to notice them! And besides Reginald isn’t that bad!”

Suddenly, she realized what she had thought and shook her head to help her go back to her senses.

She soon forgot about the bimbettes and kept reading as she enjoyed her cucumber sandwiches that is until a oh so familiar voice called to her.

“Oh Cricket!” it shouted. Low and behold right down the hill was none other than the mad man himself, Reginald Leopold Theophilus the Third.He wore his signature green hat along with his orange overcoat, blue vest over his white collared shirt, long green pants with matching abnormally large shoes. He had in his hand a rather unusual picnic basket to say the least. In fact it wasn’t even brown like normal baskets were, it was teal with strange green and pink swirls all over it with a plum purple blanket in the inside of it appearing out of it as well.

“Oh no!” Alice thought to herself “Not him! Not today, Lord!”

Though Alice wanted to run away but sadly, it was too late because he had already managed to gallup up the hill and to her area.

“Lovely day isn’t it, cricket?” He says as he sets up his area right next to hers.

“Reginald!” Alice said sternly.

“Yes, dear cricket?” He says.

“Your being awfully rude you know!”

“Really?” Reginald questioned “How so?”

“I did not give you permission to place your blanket next to mine nor in my area!” She explained indignantly.

“It’s a free park!” Reginald explains “All the areas here are free for everyone,cricket!”

Alice only rolled her eyes at his explanation.

“But I suppose if it will make you feel better,” he says and clears his throat. “Pardon me, Miss Liddell,” he starts to ask in his most dignified voice “but may I please have the honor of sitting near your presence for the time being?”

This made Alice both shocked about how he called her Miss Liddell and a little bit annoyed about how he made fun of it.

“Or shall I be banished from this country all together?” He asks giving her a puppy dog pout.

All Alice could do was sigh, roll her eyes and say “oh alright!” Followed by a “you may stay!”

The Mad Hatter quickly day on his blanket and got out his food which surprisingly, looked quite delicious considering how mad he was about combining food. Alice even saw him one time put ketchup on his Macaroni and cheese at one of Ear’s tea parties. The thought of that memory disgusted her beyond measure.

As she gazed at his food, she noticed something rather odd! Not only did he have crumpets, earl grey tea, honey and scones, but he also had a plate of celery, peanut butter and three boxes of raisins.

She then watches as Reginald gets out a butter knife, digs into the peanut butter and places said peanut butter on each celery stick.

If that weren’t bad enough, he opens a box of raisins and sprinkles them on top of the peanut butter covered celery sticks.

Then he proceeded to take one from his plate and munch on it with all his might.

This made Alice almost sick to her stomach just to watch him eat this weird concoction he made up.

Son Reginald notices Alice watching him and swallows his snack before lifting his plate of raisin and peanut butter covered celery sticks to her.

“Want one, Cricket?” He asks smiling his toothy smile.

Alice simply humphed and said “no thank you Mr. Theophilus!”

“The Third!” He interjected before putting down his plate.

“Besides how can you eat such a odd meal such as that?!” Alice states in disgust.

“What this?”Reginald says pointing to his plate. “Why it’s only ants on a log!”

“Ants on a what now?”

“Ants on a log, my grandmother used to make me these as an after school snack when I was a boy,” he explained “they are both delicious and nutritious!”

Reginald soon picks up another one of the celery stick and crunches into it, making Alice shutter in disgust.

“Besides they have to be better than those plain cucumber sandwiches your eating there, love!” He states pointing to her plate of small sandwiches.

“They certainly are not!” Alice interjected. “I had these all the time at tea parties when I was a girl and they were delicious and best of all less messy than your silly little snack!”

“Well,” he says finishing his stick “ how do you know if you don’t like them if you don’t try them, Cricket?!” He mocks.

“Well,” she says flustered “how do you know if you don’t like my sandwiches if you don’t try them too!” Alice mocks back.

Soon, Reginald taps his mouth with a napkin, lifts his plate and serves it to Alice.

“Care to put your money where your mouth is then, my little tea cake?!” He smirks with a Cheshire grin.

“What?!” She questions.

“How about this, dear Alice! If you try my celery sticks and I have one of your sandwiches, we will both see who is right and who is chicken!” He states. “Whoever can eat the others snack without hesitation wins!”

“And wins what exactly?” Alice asks.

Reginald then thought for a moment until finally, a brilliant idea came on in his brain.

“If I win, you have to let me combine my picnic with your picnic and spend the rest of the time here with me!” He states.

“And if you lose?” Alice asks with her arms folded across her chest.

“I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the week!” He says.

Of course, Alice isn’t one to gamble but not having Reginald bother her for a week was just too good to pass on.

“You got yourself a deal!” She says and shakes Reginald’s hand.

Both soon got a piece of each other’s snack and looked at each other.

“Ok,” Reginald says “ladies first!”

Alice gulps then lifts the peanut butter And raisin covered celery up to her mouth. Her hand is shaking, she looks to Reginald who smirks his devilish smirk as he watches her.

“Ugh I can’t do it!” She yells and puts it down.

Soon Reginald takes the sandwich in his hands and before Alice knew it, eats it whole with no hesitation what so ever.

He victoriously pats his mouth with a napkin and gives another smirk to Alice.

“I guess this means I win, Cricket!” He states mockingly.

Alice was shocked at how easily he ate it “But..but ....but how? You said...”

“I said they were plain to me,” he states fixing up his picnic to mix with hers “ I never said I never had one!”

“YOU....YOU CHEATED!YOU REPTILE,YOU YOU UNHOLY NEANDERTHAL!!!!”Alice exclaims in anger.

“No I didn’t, Cricket!” Reginald states “All I said was if you try my celery sticks and I have one of your sandwiches, we will both see who is right and who is chicken!”

“I...I..” Alice started to say until she realized there was nothing to be done. After all, her father had always said to never back out of a promise that you make to someone. Although in this case, she wished she could.

Through out the picnic, though at first it was a little awkward, eventually it became quite pleasant when Reginald and Alice talked about her poetry book.

“Well personally, my favorite author would be Oscar Wilde because of my heritage.” Reginald said lying on the blanket next to her with his hat over his face and his arms behind his head.

“Wait your Irish?!”Alice said surprised.

“Yes,”Reginald says “and Scottish so by the time I get to heaven I’ll probably see my ancestors in the middle of a fight between clans.”

Alice laughed at the though of both his family’s battling it out on those fluffy clouds with their brogue accents.

“So, can you speak Celtic and Gaelic then?” Alice asked.

“Eh a little here and there depending on which one I do!” He says.

“Which one do you speak better in?”

“Well,” he says sitting up from his former position. “ I do remember a few words in Scottish Gaelic .”

“Could you speak some!” Alice said excitedly until she gains her composure “um please.” She responds dignified once more.

“Well,” the Hatter says blushing at her excitement “Alright!”

Reginald then thinks for a moment then finds the right words to say, clears his throat and says “tha gaol agam air mo nighean blonde.”

“What does that mean?” Alice said confused.

“It means I love my blonde lass, my dear cricket!” He says smiling with his goofy smile at Alice who is blushing. They gaze at each other as they sat there in silence that is until

Alice sees the sun is setting and quickly gets up.

“OHDEARLOOKATTHETIMEIBESTBEGOING!” She says in a panic as she picks up all her things “ WELL LOVELY PICNIC MR.THEOPHILUS!”

“The third!” Reginald interjects.

They soon shake hands and Alice leaves Reginald on the hill at his own private picnic and as she walked away she hears in the distance “I had a good time mo nighean blonde!” Still she does not look back but merely walks away.

Back at her estate, she tries ever so hard to gain her composure of the events that occurred.

“We have discussed this Alice!” She scolded herself. “He is not right for you! He’s silly and delusional and and and...” suddenly those words he said in the robust Scottish brogue filled her head again.

“Oh curse that Scottish accent!” She says to herself and goes into the kitchen and washes the dishes, along with her sense,for the rest of the evening.

The End

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[skepticalspooky]

hellbent

msr | fluff | college au | one-off/stand-alone

hello i’ve never written a fic before but i guess i have now! please feel free to give feedback. i aim to please (probably). also this is pretty short so i apologize for that.

A lettermen-clad frat boy thrust an unidentifiable drink at Scully as soon as her shoe hit the weird linoleum floor. Who picks linoleum for a walkway? The vibe of the house was anxious yet somehow sexual and the acoustics made by linoleum didn’t help. Maybe wanting to experience a college party was silly. It seemed atrocious so far, with the plethora of half naked 20-year-olds and the overbearing smell of vodka and perfume and weed. Scully felt like she was in another dimension where time moved one hundred times faster than normal. A guy that she vaguely recognized from some class came up to her and tried his hand at catcalling, though it didn’t carry the intended effect seeing as he was five inches away and had to face the consequences. His hand gripped her back in a way that could be passed off as “flirting” but was more likely his attempt at keeping balance. Of course, Scully had to decline his offer of “test riding his dick” by stepping on his foot. It was unfortunate for him that she was wearing wide heeled boots. He retaliated by calling her a bitch which, much to his chagrin, had no effect on the answer she already made clear. Tugging on her two-sizes-too-big jacket, Scully decided to make her way into the calmer yard. There, she was met with the odd couple making out and a few groups chatting about things that won’t matter in 10, maybe even 5, years. But who cares? Why not live in the moment? Thinking about the deeper meaning of every move and every word and every person gets tiring. A prime example of someone living in the moment was the kid who just received an unbranded cigarette from a random. Or was it a cigarette? Scully had all the time in the world to think about it because this kid was blissfully unaware of anything but his maybe-cigarette and the stars. She even clocked a few glances thrown his way, out of intrigue or lust, yet he sat unwavering, hellbent on outer space. A scary and often forgotten part of her wanted him to be hellbent on her. Not necessarily sexually, no, but in some way or ways, she wanted his attention because it seemed so sweet. An even scarier part of her knew he would be hellbent on her if he knew her. An instinct maybe, or perhaps just hope. At this point, she figured out that she had been staring for a bit too long. He was staring straight back, eyes smiling in unison with mouth. Could he read her mind? She desperately hoped that wasn’t so. Scully hung on to every moment as this mystery boy made room on his blanket and pat a seat beside him, holding relentless eye contact. She could practically see her eyes widening in excessive disbelief and her face reddening just enough to be noticeable. Nevertheless, her feet floated her to his stupid checkered lawn blanket and forced herself down. One would expect the first words spoken from this mysterious college kid to be somewhat thought-provoking or even brooding. They were not.

“Your coat. I like it.”

Her coat. He liked it. Her two-sizes-too-big brown bomber jacket. The one with all the patches. He liked it.

“Thanks. I like your...” she couldn’t search fast enough and too many off-putting things were coming to mind, “glasses.” She did. They were nice round glasses. He only needed them for reading really, but he seemed to like them too. Truth be told, they were both a bit flustered. It felt different for two complete strangers to share this common timidness upon meeting, yet it was there. Oh, was it there. Perhaps one of them was thinking too much about what the other looked like under their cool jacket and cursed themselves for thinking about that having just met them. Maybe the other wanted to run their fingers through the other’s hair just because it looked so soft and oh my God could not believe they were being so weird right now. But that’s merely one interpretation of events, of course.

“I’m Fox, but Mulder is preferred.” Fox Mulder? My Lord did this kid’s reputation precede him. This was Spooky, Spooky Mulder, the guy who believed in aliens and shit! Scully never had a face to put with the name. Her intrusive but welcomed thoughts said it was a good face.

“I’m Dana- uh, Scully.” She couldn’t tell if she was stumbling over words (her own name of all things) or if she was subconsciously following that last name pattern.

He simply repeated her. “Scully.” It sounded pretty good coming from him.

“Nice to meet you, F- um, Mulder.” Again with the word stumbling? Then again, she wasn’t used to people going by their last name. Then again, she was formulating excuses like clockwork with this guy. He laughed. He was clearly struggling a bit here too. If only she knew his excuses. He was just nervous about this other thing, he was just hot because of the weather. Maybe they could exchange excuses sometime.

A necessary subject change, if you wanted to say they had a subject to change at all, came on a shooting star. It was unusual to see a shooting star with all the artificial light surrounding the pair, but there was no denying its twinkling as it shot across the sky only to shrink and fade away. “Do you ever make wishes on those things?” He sounded a bit gruff. Scully was still red. He wasn’t helping.

“Not really. It’s more of a fun phenomenon to me. But it shows me that I’m on the right track by living in the moment, I guess.” Was she rambling? She had four-ish sips of beer, does that lead to Scully mini-tangents? It was all another excuse and she knew it.

“Hm. That’s a different way of looking at it.” He paused a moment with no sign of elaboration. “I make wishes sometimes.”

“What do you wish?”

He didn’t answer, he just smiled. She didn’t pry.

“But your thing with being on the right track. I think I’m gonna use that now. Like, um, would I have seen that if I was arguing or staying in or something?”

“Yeah, exactly. You probably wouldn’t have. But you made the choices that led you to see it instead.”

He nodded. “Plus, it might make girls think I’m deep.” Scully laughed, but he was right. It kinda worked and she hated it. “But it makes me think about other things that are out there, too.”

“Like... like, aliens?” She could see the Spooky in him now. He seemed so serious about this that she almost moved away a bit. She didn’t.

“I can sense the skepticism, Scully!”

“Mulder, if you think that’s skepticism, you should hear my thoughts on the WOW! signal.” They could both feel eyes on them at this point, but surprisingly Scully didn’t care. She couldn’t not look into his eyes when he started talking about aliens and bigger meanings of things and, at one low point, Bigfoot. Scully even dropped the excuses and quietness and replaced it with a newfound comfort. He gave her goosebumps when he spoke about crazy theories in a smooth tone and it made her laugh, really laugh, when he rolled her eyes as she disputed him. He certainly was hooked on her sarcasm and questioning looks. Her prodding was like the missing piece to his mixed-up Mulder puzzle. Sometimes, when he thought she couldn’t see him because she was laughing away from him, he looked at her like he was hellbent on her. She could see him.

When she was done laughing, she would push away a loose strand of her scarlet hair. Mulder noticed this happen every time for about nine muffled song changes, not that he was counting. This time, he took the liberty of tucking the strand away himself, lingering on her jawline only a few seconds too long. Scully couldn’t do anything but look down at her shoes. The sound of car doors slamming and crickets chirping and distant songs and loud laughing made for a nice distraction. But the alcohol proved to override this effect. Rosy-cheeked Scully wanted to speak her mind and she was only a bit buzzed.

“I can’t believe I’ve never seen you before.” Mulder looked away from her when she spoke.

“I tend to stay out of the, uh, spotlight,” he replied after a few pointless moments, annunciating the T’s in “spotlight.” Scully nodded understandingly, yet she yearned for him to be in the spotlight. She figured it would be a nice change of pace. She didn’t say that. No, she wasn’t that brave yet.

“Talking to you is easy.” Wonderful, changing the topic and beating around the bush. Hey, it made Mulder smile.

“I feel the same about you. It’s nice having someone who... pays attention? I don’t know if that makes sense. I just feel like you’re listening.”

“I’m listening.”

“Am I talking too much?”

“Did you forget the part of our conversation where I talked about my 8th grade Halloween dance for ten minutes?” Another Mulder smile, but this one came with a laugh. Now his hand was on her hand and he was sitting closer to her than she thought and was that her heart she heard beating? Or was it his? A common theme returning, intrusive thoughts got the best of Scully and all she could think about were his lips. Lucky for her, his mind was racing too. He wanted to be pressed against her; soft yet tense, breathing yet unmoving. She wanted to know how his hair felt between her fingers and she couldn’t explain why because she didn’t need to. That’s how it was and that’s how it will be. Their brains sparked at the same time as they turned to look at each other at the same moment. In a “fuck it, this needs to be true” moment, Mulder moved his hand to Scully’s shoulder as he leaned into the space between them. Scully met him in the middle, her lips carefully finding his before he could reach her. It was different than she expected in the best way possible. His lips were soft but his face was contrastingly rough, and as she let her hand wander to his hair she found that it was soft too. Pulling away but lingering close, the two weren’t quite sure what to say. They’d just met and now they were swapping spit in some stranger’s yard. Less romantic than expected, but perhaps the fact that it was so thrilling and a bit spontaneous made up for it. She thought a kiss would be the cure, but Scully’s heart didn’t stop racing and she was fine with that. Mulder looked at her for the longest time as she thought. Visually, he was unaffected. Deep down, he felt he could run a mile. She seemed pretty perfect to him before and this confirmed it. Not once had he felt so connected to someone before. Sure, she disagreed with him on almost everything, but she listened and truthfully had some great ideas of her own. He loved that she could take an urban legend and it explain it fluidly and scientifically as if she was writing a revolutionary report in her mind. Maybe it was the beer or the group of assholes smoking in front of them. No, that’s wrong. It couldn’t have been. God, was it time to talk now? He didn’t know what to say and she obviously didn’t either. He went with the first thing that came to mind.

“How come we’ve never met before?”