#scully and mulder go to the carnival

[enigmaticxbee]

Tropes & More - Fic Recs

All the tropey-goodness!

Body-Swap:

Underneath Your Skin by crescentmoon222 - Dreamland AU, NSFW

What if Feels Like for a Girl by @mldrgrl - Dreamland AU, NSFW

Dreamland III by @admiralty-xfd - Dreamland sequel

Flea Market Economy by Punk

I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours by Tv_Saved_The_Teenage_Girl

Masters of Time by @sisterspooky1013 - time travel to 1960s Masters of Sex, NSFW

Times Colliding by onlytheinevitable- time travel 1998/2018 body swap, NSFW, WIP

Cubed by Louise Marin - Scully wakes up as an alternate version of herself, NSFW.

Parallel by @sisterspooky1013 - Scully wakes up as an alternate version of herself, NSFW.

Fake-Dating:

Never by Allison Kinney - Undercover, NSFW

Diversion by @sisterspooky1013 - Stakeout, NSFW

Just Another Dinner Party by @somekindofseizure - Undercover at a swingers party during Arcadia

Amish Country by Lolabeegood - Undercover with the Amish, NSFW

We’re Married Now by @skinfull - Undercover in a cult, NSFW

Hallowed by onlytheinevitable - Undercover in a cult, NSFW

More Than a Feeling by @sisterspooky1013 - Undercover at a carnival, NSFW

Undercover Swing by 2momsmakearight - Undercover at a sex party, NSFW

It’s Just Pretend by @storybycorey - Undercover in a motel, fake sex turning into real sex, NSFW

The Marriage Spectacular by @cecilysass - Lost FBI agents. Stormy weather. A marriage retreat in a mountainside inn with one room available.

The Newlywed Game by onlytheinevitable - While going out for dinner, Scully runs into an ex and Mulder valliantly pretends to be her husband. However, that little lie traps them into having to play the Newlywed Game in front of a bunch of strangers and they have to navigate admitting feelings they haven't even admitted to themselves.

Baseball Metaphors by @leiascully - Scully runs into an ex and they pretend to be dating, NSFW

Just Go With It by @skinfull - Mulder runs into old high school classmates and they pretend to be married, NSFW

The Annapolis Grant by @slippinmickeys - AU, Scully pays Mulder to play the role of her boyfriend, NSFW

Wedding/FBI Ball Date:

Plus One by @alienqueequeg - Mulder convinces Scully to let him be her plus one at an old friend's wedding, NSFW

Hardball by Missy Pennington - Scully gets a sexy red dress to wear to the FBI ball when she finds out Phoebe Green will be attending

Five Ballrooms by @admiralty-xfd - Five Christmas parties. Five separate POVs.

The Twelve Tropes of Christmas by @mangokiwitropicalswirl - Christmas ball and all the tropes

Holidays:

far away and to the west by @audries - Thanksgiving with the Gunmen

at the close of the day by @audries - Thanksgiving on the road

Fairies, Skip Hence by @slippinmickeys - Christmas at the Scullys, NSFW

Shades of Winter by @piecesofscully - Christmas at the Scullys, NSFW

Marshmallow World by @agoodwoman - Christmas 1998, set Season 6, our beloved agents are working under AD Kersh. Mulder and Scully get into the holiday spirit. NSFW

Regular People by @chimerical1975 - Thwarted Christmas plans, impulsive decisions, and unexpected visitors make two extraordinary FBI agents into regular people. NSFW

Chicken Dinner by @cecilysass - Dinner at Mrs. Scully’s. Mulder overhears Maggie speaking to her friends about her daughter’s relationship with her partner. What he hears floors him.

Gingersnap by @cecilysass - Holiday baking, NSFW

if the fates allow by @all-these-ghosts - Christmas with Mulder and Scully, 1993-2016

Birthdays by @syntax6 - seasons 1 through 7

One Bed (see Faking Dating above too):

Let’s Play a Game by @danasculllie - Motel room Truth or Dare, NSFW

Truth or Dare by Adrienne - Mulder and Scully have a wicked game of Truth or Dare while sharing that hotel room in Rain King. NSFW

Twenty-Questions and a Winter Storm by @danascully77 - NSFW

Designated Mulder by onlytheinevitable - Mulder had always wanted to see what Scully would be like drunk, but he didn't anticipate it would finally happen on the one night they had to share a bed. NSFW

Sexy Snowed-In by @peacenik0 - Mulder and Scully are snowed-in together, will they find a way to escape their boredom? NSFW

Hot and Sticky by Megan Reilly - One hotel room, two FBI Agents...and it's a hell of a hot night besides. NSFW

One room. One bed. by spooky66 - NSFW

Free Merlot at the Cool View Motor Court by @sarie-fairy - post The Rain King, NSFW

Turn that damned thing off by @sunflowerseedsandscience - The Rain King missing scene.

Time Enough At Last by bayloriffic - The Rain King missing scene.

Conversation in the Dark by Cass - The Rain King missing scene.

Stop Me by Gina Rain - post The Rain King, NSFW

Unbidden by @phillippadgettwrites - NSFW

Bunkmates by @leiascully - There's only one hotel room, and it's got a special surprise.

Expense Report by 13th_blackbird - The Bureau conducts an audit, and Scully considers the costs.

Scully/Other:

Universal Invariants by @syntax6 - set over the course of a canon-parallel version of season 1 and early season 2 where Scully’s boyfriend Ethan who was cut from the pilot sticks around. NSFW

Early On by @sunflowerseedsandscience - Mulder and Scully are drawn to each other from the start but Scully is still with Ethan. NSFW

Homicidal Tendencies by Swikstr - Casefile crossover that pairs Scully with the detective from Homicide: Life on the Street. NSFW

You He Did Not Fail by extraordinarily_ordinary - After Scully leaves the X-Files for a position in LA a case brings them back together. Starts Scully/Other but ultimately MSR. NSFW

Original Sin by @syntax6 - post FTF Scully moves to Utah. Scully/Other but great MSR. NSFW

Arizona Highways by Fialka - Visions of Melissa lead Our Heroes on a case confirming the existence of a series of Emilys. But does Melissa really have a message, or is it all in Scully’s head? Scully/Other but ultimately MSR. NSFW

No Regrets by MystPhile - During Arcadia Scully reconnects with Detective John Kresge. Ultimately MSR but not until the very end. NSFW

Promises to Keep by Prufrock’s Love - post Requiem Scully/Skinner, I really struggled with this one, but still an interesting read. NSFW

Heart’s Desire by @malibusunset - post Two Fathers/One Son Scully reconnects with an old boyfriend during a case. My favorite Scully/Other fic - ends in MSR, but it’s probably the only fic where I’ve thought that Mulder might be the wrong choice. NSFW

La Lacuna by @aloysiavirgata - Scully explores her feelings after Milagro while investigating a murder. Scully/Other but ultimately MSR. NSFW

Mulder/Other:

The Waters of Babylon by @aloysiavirgata - As they prepare to become Rob and Laura Petrie, Mulder thinks back on his life and the paths not taken.

Seventeen by @scapegrace74-blog - Explores how Mulder's sexual relationships shaped (and mis-shaped) him as a man. Each chapter represents a different partner. Mulder/Other, ultimately MSR, NSFW

Triptych by @iconicscullyoutfits - married to Diana AU, ultimately MSR

To Love Somebody by Tess and Jacquie LaVa - In the midst of attempting to have a normal romance, Mulder's escalating feelings for Scully, and her deteriorating health due to her advancing cancer, make it impossible for him to commit... Mulder/Other but ultimately MSR. NSFW

The Guts by @wtfmulder - How would Scully react if Mulder dropped an open condom wrapper in front of her? MSR but dealing with Diana.

Dr. Scully's School for Exceptional Boys by Prufrock’s Love - post series, Mulder/Other and MSR, NSFW

One for the Road by @phillippadgettwrites - post breakup, Mulder has a girlfriend but mostly MSR, NSFW

Pregnancy/Baby/Family:

The Family G-Man by Neoxphile and FelineFemme - A double tragedy strikes Mulder the week before Christmas of 2003. What if he could go back and change things, save the son one lost and give the other the family she wanted? Could it keep them safe? NSFW

Five Years and a Lifetime by @monikafilefan @slippinmickeys - One night stand AU. Five years later, Scully and Mulder work at the same pediatric hospital, and Scully's four year old daughter bears a striking resemblance to the picture of a dark haired girl that sits on Mulder's desk... NSFW

In the Best Interest of the Child by @mldrgrl - AU When tragedy strikes, Mulder is forced to take guardianship of his young niece, but the matter is complicated by the arrival of a sister-in-law he's never met.

The Way Things Are by Sukie Tawdry - One night and their whole lives were changed forever. Season 1 AU. NSFW

Right Hand Return by humphreywrites - Scully is returned from her abduction with a baby, no memories of anything prior to her captivity and some PTSD.

All That Is Dark and Bright by @malibusunset - Emily lives AU. NSFW

Five Years and One Night by Shalimar - Scully leaves the X-Files post-Emily but gets drawn back in when Mulder discovers Emily wasn’t the only child created. NSFW

Intimacy Deux by Mojo - The one in five billion happens. NSFW

40 Weeks by @malibusunset - What if the IVF attempt in Per Manum had been successful? NSFW

A Boy and His Fox by 6hoursgirl - What happens when two FBI agents have a platonic relationship based on trust and mutual respect...and an exchange of genetic material. NSFW

The 13th Sign and 7 Days in May by Prufrock’s Love - Post-Deadalive. Mulder saw no reason for life, death, sex, Armageddon, or emotional dysfunction to stand in the way of true love.

Hurricane Season by rah and beduini - Post-Existence week at the beach with the Scully family and baby Wim. NSFW

Terra Firma series by @malibusunset - Post-Existence domestic family drama, a classic comfort read for me. NSFW

Misc:

Partners With Benefits by onlytheinevitable - Friends with benefits, NSFW

Truncated by Lysandra31 - Scully and Mulder find themselves in a tight spot. Spooning ensues.

You Send Me by @spooky-nerd - Portals keep popping up around Mulder. It's rather inconvenient until he realizes it's possible the universe is trying to tell him something.

[pookie-mulder]

July 2024 fic roundup

Here are the highlights from this month! I really love doing these. It helps me be more engaged with what I’m reading and actually remember individual fics once I’m done with them (rather than stuffing them in the collective “fic soup” in my brain, where they’ll combine together until there’s no hope of remembering details). Anyway, I highly recommend doing some sort of fic journal! I’d love to know what you guys are reading.

🦆👧 Temporum VI by Emily_M1013

This is the third installment of a wonderful Emily AU, The Mallards series. I love how it puts its own spin on canon events, and I’m delighted every time I see an update in my inbox!

🤫🪪 Snakebitten by @onpaperfirst

My favorite thing about this fic is the way it adds to canon without rehashing what we’ve already seen in the show, building on season 5 so seamlessly. (The motel scene is 👌)

👰‍♀️🤵‍♂️yesterday’s future by @thursdayinspace

This fic answers the question I posed in this post: What if Mulder and Scully got married right after William was born? I loved it so much! The angst and the longing and the overwhelming love were just perfect.

👓😩 spectacular by @thursdayinspace

Scully has a thing for Mulder in glasses. Mulder has a think for Scully in glasses. They bang about it. (And who can blame them, really?)

🌳☕️ Suncadia by @sisterspooky1013

A banger from the great sisterspooky! It’s a casefic set in the weird post-Millennium era where they kiss sometimes but haven’t established the terms of their relationship yet. Pining and yearning abound!

🏥👰‍♀️ Something blue (and something pink) by @sunflowernyx

Mulder and Scully get married during the cancer arc. It’s sweet, angsty, adorable, and tender. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

🐶🪤 A Change of Seasons by Jo-Ann Lassiter

Still making my way through @lilydalexf’s survival fic recs! This one is a one-shot; perfect for when you want a bit of hurt/comfort without all the peril and drama.

🌨️🌲 Frozen by @dashakay

Classic, cozy, cabin-in-the-woods fic where our two favorite agents get snowed in and finally admit their feelings for each other.

🏥👻 Finding Rokovoko by prufrockslove

An instant addition to my holy grail list! This is the first fic I’ve read by this legendary author (I think?), and BOY HOWDY do I see why they’re so revered. I finished this fic in one sitting, reading late into the night (yes, I was very tired at work the next day).

I think it’s best if you go into this one mostly blind. All you need to know is that MSR are teetering on the knife’s edge between UST and RST, there’s plenty of cancer arc angst, and they go on a spooky adventure that will give you the creepy crawlies.

📝📱 Belphegor’s Prime by prufrockslove

Another absolute banger from the legend themselves. This fic is as close to perfection as humanly possible. The way everything comes together is just incredible. If you haven’t read it yet, do it now! Shirk all other responsibilities and devour this fic in one sitting!

One of my favorite things about this fic is how ruthless Mulder is. I don’t think I’ve encountered a version of him quite like this anywhere else. His intense love for his family and his innate sense of duty are intensified to the point where he skirts the boundaries of what’s morally acceptable. He’s so desperate to protect his loved ones and fix the world that he will do anything, even if he risks becoming his father(s). It felt so organic and natural for him to become that version of himself under the extreme circumstances.

Anyway, if you’re a fan of time travel, DILFs, or characters whose greatest strengths become a curse, this is the perfect fic for you!

🎪🎡 More Than a Feeling by @sisterspooky1013

A s6 casefic where M&S go undercover at a traveling carnival. I love how fleshed-out the OCs were — it really raised the stakes of the story and made you care what happened to them. Such a fun read!

🐞🩺 Inspection by @ingridgradient

Our favorite agents use tick checks as an excuse to touch each other. Need I say more? Things get hot! (Thanks for the rec, @is-on-its-way!)

P.S. If you like this one, check out let’s have a look by girlfromnowhere (thanks for finding it for me, @randomfoggytiger!)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿✝️ Hiraeth by prufrockslove

This is one of those fics that leaves you gobsmacked that someone wrote this for free and posted it online for anyone to enjoy. The amount of detail in this story is truly unbelievable. I don’t even normally like total AUs, but this one won me over!

Mulder and Scully’s medieval counterparts are so far removed from anything in canon, yet they still feel exactly like the characters we know and love. This fic is an absolute master class in characterization. I am now a prufrockslove stan account.

———

Special shoutout to @skelavender’s latest installment of fall into place, which isn’t out yet but I had the pleasure of beta reading. Guys, you are in for some serious shrimp emotions. It’s got everything you could ever want. I can’t wait until everyone gets to see how awesome it is!

[thatfragilecapricorn30]

Fic Friday (30)

Title: More Than a Feeling

Author: @sisterspooky1013

Word Count: 52,316

AO3 Description: Carnival employees are disappearing under mysterious circumstances. The FBI sends their best and brightest to find out why.

My thoughts: I love everything this author writes, but this fic holds a special place in my heart because it's just that good. Mulder and Scully have to go undercover as carnies, in that sweet time of season 6 when their relationship is on the brink of becoming something more. The casefile is excellent and the cast of characters are developed and interesting. You won't be disappointed with this fic.

Enjoy! Tagging @today-in-fic

[gaycrouton]

Oversized Scrubs

season three | slight hurt/comfort | protective mulder | 1.8k | ao3

Black lace. A pink bow. Some sheer thing that haunted his dreams. He never meant to see any of it, he looked away as soon as his brain caught up to his eyes. It just sometimes took longer than he was proud of because of the southern redirection of his blood flow.

It was just something he’d gotten used to over the past few years of working with her. If Scully was doing an autopsy, chances were, he’d accidentally get a clear shot down her shirt.

The first time it happened, he almost couldn’t believe his eyes. It was like his mind was treating the creamy, pale expanse of Scully’s torso like a Rorschach test. Scully’s clothes were usually baggier, at least her suit jackets were, but for some reason, more often than not, the small woman wore scrubs that were several sizes too large for her frame. This meant the neckline would fall away from her torso if she bent down even slightly, and since he towered over her, he was always in the line of sight.

Mulder never said anything because it felt inappropriate to bring up. He knew the autopsies physically took a toll on her without making her feel like she needed to modify her posture so her pervy partner would stop looking at her breasts.

Only, that was just it. While he’d have the decency to look away, he’d often turn his head to find the local medical examiners making a similar discovery before suddenly paying a lot more attention to her than they previously had been.

Sometimes they smirked at him like getting a free peek at the unsuspecting medical doctor was an inside joke, and it made his blood boil. 

Much like it was right now.

He didn’t particularly like Officer Gonzalez to begin with, the man seemingly couldn’t differentiate confidence and arrogance and made it everyone else’s problem. Mulder hadn’t expected him to come to the autopsy bay, but apparently, the man wanted to treat the victim’s body like a carnival attraction. Mulder hadn’t been paying attention to what he was saying, but he noticed when the constant hum of the background noise came to a halt. 

When he glanced over to see if Gonzalez had left, he saw a sleazy grin had been what sealed his mouth shut. The man looked like he was trying to raise himself up on the balls of his feet, and it became painfully obvious to Mulder why that was when he glanced at Scully who was currently bent over the body as she collected debris samples.

Deep purple satin.

He immediately pulled his attention up towards her face and saw she was completely none-the-wiser to the fact Gonzalez was treating her job proficiency like a strip tease.

“I thought you were going to canvas the area for more bodies?” Mulder stated firmly, stepping in front of the officer to effectively block Scully from his line of sight.

Gonzalez smirked at him, and Mulder knew he was only chagrined because he thought he’d stepped on Mulder’s toes. “Well, I’ll leave you to it,” he replied, the real meaning of his words causing Mulder’s jaw to clench.

He stood there for a minute until he couldn’t hear the departing officer’s footsteps, but the sound of Scully’s murmured voice caused him to turn back around. “I thought he’d never leave.”

She was still hunched over, and he was still avoiding looking at the valley of her torso. A familiar weight settled uncomfortably in his chest, and he felt like a prick for not mentioning it to her sooner. Over three years of working together, there had to have been at least a couple dozen people who had leered at her without her knowing because he was too chickenshit to say anything.

“Hey Scully,” he stated, walking towards the other side of the table.

“Hm?” she hummed in reply. She glanced up when he didn’t answer, and, upon seeing the look on his face, stood up straight. “What’s wrong?”

“Um,” he sighed, stopping when he caught sight of the tape recorder hanging down from the ceiling between them. “Could you turn that thing off for a second?” he asked, gesturing to the tape recorder.

She gave him a look, but complied nonetheless. “Is something wrong?”

“Well,” he paused. Knowing he had to have this conversation didn’t help him when it came to figuring out what to say. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way.”

She cocked an eyebrow and continued to stare him down. “Then say what you mean.”

“Why are your scrubs always so big on you?” he asked.

“Because most of the places we go only have scrubs for men,” she replied, compiling his guilt. “Why do you ask?”

He bit his cheek and rubbed his chin. “I just wanted to let you know that… sometimes, when you bend over… it’s easy to see down your shirt.”

There was a moment of silence that made his balls rescind into his body in fear. “I wasn’t trying to look, it’s just-“

“I’m constantly bent over during an autopsy,” she finished flatly.

“I just thought you might want to know,” he replied, looking towards the door where Gonzalez had just exited.

When he turned around, he saw her attention had followed his and her eyes snapped back with a look of understanding. “Is that why you, in so many words, told him to get lost?”

“I also thought his cologne smelled bad,” he joked lamely. Scully looked down at herself, as if really assessing her scrubs for the first time. The collar of the shirt was so big that it effortlessly exposed her collarbones; no matter how she shifted or adjusted, the shirt dwarfed her. His gaze flickered down and he noticed a small protrusion on her hip and the way her pants legs were rolled up a few times. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were having a hard time getting scrubs in your size? I could have told the morgues to have some ready for you before we fly out,” he asked.

“Mulder, you know most of the autopsies I do are spur of the moment,” she sighed. “And while that’s a sweet gesture, I already have to deal with their surprise at seeing a female pathologist. I don’t want to deal with their frustration at being requested to accommodate me.”

“I could always-“

“Is it really that bad?” she interrupted with a frown, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I’m just tall, so, uh, yeah,” he stammered awkwardly. “You don’t even have to bend over very far for it to gape.” 

Her lips pursed to one corner of her mouth as she let her head fall back in defeat. “Did someone say something to you?” she asked, her tone pitching up slightly like it did on the rare occasion she got embarrassed.

That wasn’t what he’d meant to do, and the guilty knot of pressure in his chest was beginning to creep up his throat. It was now obvious to him the large scrubs were a subtle sign she wasn’t invited into the space she had a right to, that it already was uncomfortable for her, and now he’d gone and made her self-conscious.

“I’ve caught a few guys staring,” he admitted softly. “I should’ve mentioned it earlier, I just,” he paused, taking a deep breath before exhaling, “so much time has passed that I didn’t want you to think I hadn’t said anything because I was ogling you.”

“You weren’t?” she asked. The soft inflection of her question made his eyes widen before he saw the smirk on her face. 

“You already have one potential sexual harassment complaint you could file against me from when you found all those videos in the cabinet,” he teased back.

“I would never file a complaint for that. You were just being such a good friend for holding onto Frohike’s collection for him,” she deadpanned.

Mulder openly chuckled at that, and Scully looked pretty proud of herself for it. He was relieved they were able to diffuse the tension with humor, but he knew he’d unleashed something that was bound to continue to be a problem. 

He was about to say something when he saw Scully lift the bottom of her shirt up. The action revealed to him that the drawstring of the pants was effectively useless; instead, Scully had taken a hair tie and cinched the waistband herself. He watched as she deftly removed the drawstring from the scrubs and re-cinched the waist before letting the hem of the shirt fall back down.

Scully then took the string and tied it around her waist like an apron, adjusting the fabric as needed. “How very MacGyver of you,” he teased.

She offered him a small smile before clearing her throat. Then, looking at him with the utmost expression of professionalism, she said, “I’m going to resume working now. Will you tell me if it’s bad?”

“Are you giving me permission to look down your shirt?” he asked playfully.

“One-time offer.”

Scully bent over, only this time glancing up at him as if to check if he was looking. There was an eroticism to the action he hadn’t expected and it made his breath catch in his throat. “Well?” She asked, her voice deeper from craning her neck up.

Mulder let his eyes flicker downward and was met with the sight of her collarbones peeing over the collar of her shirt. “Leer-proof,” he replied.

“Good,” she nodded, flicking the tape recorder back on and signaling the end of the conversation.

He stuck around for a while, waiting to see if she found anything notable from the external exam before deciding to take his leave. There were a few family members he needed to interview, and he still felt a little grossed out seeing the organ removal process.

Mulder let her know where he was going, but he was stopped right when he got to the door. 

“Mulder,” she called out softly, making him turn around to look at her.

“Yeah?”

He watched a sly smile spread on her lips as she continued working on the body. “Your fly’s down.”

---------------

*I promise I haven't abandoned any of my other works. I've taken a vow not to join any exchanges until I'm caught up with everything. Grad school, serotonin deprivation, and no free time just go hand-in-hand. I was typing this on my phone to be a note for later, and it just ended up writing itself so I figured I'd post it here as a little thing. Again, promise I will be updating my other WIPs as soon as I can.

[atths--twice]

Come With Me

While on the run, after a morning spent slightly at odds, Scully discovers that it’s Mulder’s birthday and sets out to turn the day around.

It’s 10/13! Mulder’s birthday is today! I know there are many ways he could be spending THIS day, but what about a birthday years ago? Back when days blended together and dates became meaningless. How would those days have been celebrated?

Fictober prompt for day 13- Come with me, hurry.

They had been feeling the funk. The way it got when they had been cooped up too long either in one place, or simply from being around one another for long periods of time. 

She loved him, she did, but sometimes the close quarters and the fact that they were each other’s everything became too much. 

They had been at a small cabin for two weeks, a wonderful little place set back at the end of a long road where no one drove as there were no other houses around. It was by a lake and they went out hiking and exploring nearly every day. 

But today… today they had hit that wall. 

Deciding to give him some space, Scully went for a drive, needing to feel she was in motion, even while they were standing still. 

She had no destination in mind and as she drove, her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she had not eaten since breakfast. Pulling into the parking lot of a diner, she put her baseball cap on and got out, keeping her head down. 

Sitting in a back booth, she ordered a sandwich and a lemonade. Looking out the window, she saw the lot next door had a carnival set up. She watched as families entered, some of their kids dressed in Halloween costumes. 

“What’s the date today?” she whispered to herself and when the waitress came back, she asked her. 

“Oh, it’s the thirteenth of October. Were you checking out the festival there? It’s our annual Fall Harvest Festival and it’s up until November first. On Halloween, they turn it into the Haunted Fall Harvest Festival, so if you’re into that, you should come back. It’s full of mazes and scary stuff. It’s super fun.” 

“Yeah, thanks,” Scully said, a plan forming. “You know what, could I get this sandwich to go? And another one as well. Same sandwich, but without a pickle. And a large iced tea, please.” 

“Sure thing. Be ready in a few minutes.”

__________

She drove down the long road to the cabin, smiling as she took a sip of her lemonade. This plan was just the thing they needed. It would be perfect. 

Leaving the food in the car, she hurried inside and found Mulder on the back porch, staring out at the lake. 

“Hey,” she said, smiling at him and he looked at her in surprise and she understood why, remembering the way she had left. “I know it’s gonna sound crazy, but…” She held her hand out to him and wiggled her fingers. “Come with me.” 

“What?” he asked, now looking confused. 

“Come with me,” she repeated, stepping closer to him. “Hurry.” 

“Scully… what are you-”

“Just come on, let’s go.” She grabbed his hand and pulled at him until he stood up. “Consider it a peace offering. Now come on.” He looked at her skeptically, but did as she asked. 

They rode in relative silence as she drove them to the parking lot of the festival. Parking the car, she looked at him and watched his face as she waited to see what he would think. 

“A carnival?” he asked quietly. 

“A harvest festival,” she said just as quietly. “They have it every year, I’ve been told.” 

“A harvest festival,” he said, nodding as he smiled. 

“Games and rides,” she added. “What do you think?” 

“I think…” He chuckled softly and turned to look at her. “I think it’s just what we needed.” 

“I agree,” she said with a smile. “But wait, it’s more than that. Close your eyes.” He raised his eyebrows in question and then as he had done at the cabin, he did as she asked. 

She reached into the backseat and brought the bag holding their sandwiches and the special item she had inquired after. Taking it from the bag, she opened the packaging and smiled. 

“Hold out your hands, but keep your eyes closed.” 

“Okay,” he said, grinning as he put out his hands. “But if it’s a severed head, I’m gonna be very upset.” 

“It’s not,” she laughed, placing the container in his hands. “And no more Wayne’s World for you. I can’t go through that again.” 

“No way,” he said, scoffing in his best Wayne impression. 

“Way,” she replied, smiling as she stared at him. “Okay, open your eyes.” He did, looking at what he was holding. 

“A cupcake?” he asked. 

“A birthday cupcake,” she said. 

“No shit? It’s my birthday today?” He laughed and nodded, staring at the chocolate cupcake with orange and white frosting. 

“It is,” she said, smiling as he took it out and unwrapped it, taking a large bite. 

“Mmm,” he hummed, nodding as he chewed. “It’s the best cupcake I’ve ever had. Here, have a bite.” 

She leaned forward and he held it as she took a small bite, wanting him to have the majority of it. It was good and she almost wished she had gotten two of them. 

He smiled and when she swallowed her bite, he leaned closer and kissed her. She closed her eyes, a hand on his cheek as they kissed again, the sweetness of the cupcake adding to the sweetness of the kiss. 

“I’m sorry about today,” he whispered, their foreheads pressed together, their sweet breath mingling. “I know I can be… that it can be…” 

“I know,” she said, pulling back to look at him. “And it’s not you. It’s both of us. We’re both to blame at times. This was one of those times. We’ll have more and we’ll get past it.” 

“Yeah,” he whispered and she smiled, kissing him one more time. 

“Come on. Let’s eat and then go play some games. I want to win a big stuffed prize.” 

“You don’t want me to win one for you? Be all chivalrous and shit?” he asked, shoving the rest of the cupcake into his mouth. She raised her eyebrows and laughed. 

“How about I win one for you, it being your birthday and the fact that my aim is better?” she asked, taking off her seatbelt and taking the keys from the ignition.

“We’ll see what happens,” he relented, licking his fingers clean and closing the container. “What sandwiches did you get?” 

________

They ate at a picnic table, laughing and occasionally kissing, the fight and grumpiness from earlier, now in the past. 

He attempted to win her a stuffed dog, but missed as one milk bottle refused to fall, despite his pleading with it. 

“Okay. My turn,” she said, handing the man at the booth five dollars and receiving a bucket of softballs. 

She had every milk bottle down in two throws. 

They both walked away with a prize, Mulder taking her hand and pulling her close, telling her how much it turned him on watching her throwing the balls. 

“I think you just like saying balls,” she whispered and he chuckled, nodding in the affirmative. 

They ate and drank, trying out different fried foods, until Scully groaned and said she could not take anymore. 

They got lost in the large corn maze, relying on the map Scully had thoughtfully grabbed as they entered. 

“I’m glad you grabbed that map. But what if it had been my plan, getting us lost,” he said, grabbing her by the belt loops of her jeans and pulling her close. He took her baseball cap off and she shook her hair free from it. “You are so beautiful. Maybe I wanted a few minutes alone with you here.” 

“Oh my god! This is not the way we came. You totally got us lost!” a woman shouted, walking past them before Scully could reply. She smiled at him as he glanced at the woman. “How could you do this?” 

“It’s a maze, Margot,” the man following her shot back. “It’s meant to be confusing.” 

“To a simpleton maybe,” she shouted over her shoulder. 

“Oh, that’s really nice,” he shouted back as they disappeared from view. 

Mulder turned his attention back to Scully, shaking his head and closing his eyes briefly. 

“Well, that’s-”

“Come on! I’ll beat you!” a little girl yelled, giggling as she ran past them. “You’re so slow!” 

“Mom said not to run. I can’t keep up with you! Wait, Ari!” another little girl called. She was younger than the other girl and she sighed as she paused for a second and then started to run. “Wait for me!” 

“Hurry up slowpoke!” 

“What were you saying about a moment alone?” Scully asked and he laughed as he bent his head to kiss her quickly before putting her hat back on. 

At sunset, they boarded the Ferris wheel, the stuffed prizes they won sitting on Mulder’s right side. Scully laid her head on his shoulder as they began to rise slowly, stopping to let others board. 

“It was a good day,” she said softly and he hummed in reply. He placed his hand on her thigh, drawing patterns upon it, his touch causing her to shiver. 

“Cold?” he asked and she shook her head. 

“No,” she whispered and he chuckled softly, his fingers slowing. She closed her eyes and focused on the patterns he drew, attempting to see if she could decipher them. 

“I’m glad we came out today. We needed this,” he said, the chair rocking slightly as they stopped once again. 

“Hmm,” she hummed, taking her hat off and placing it beside her before combing her fingers through her hair. “We did.” 

“Thank you.” 

“For what?” she asked, raising her head to look at him. 

“Being here, putting up with me.” He shrugged and she smiled. 

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.” 

They stared at one another and the sadness of the cost for their seclusion, which always lived so close to the surface, nearly broke free. 

But then the ride began to move in earnest and it startled her. 

“Whoa,” she said, laughing as she clasped the bar in front of them. 

The sunset was breathtaking from the top of the Ferris wheel and they both sighed as they stared at it. 

“Beautiful,” she whispered and he hummed, his fingers tracing on her thigh again. 

She watched as he made a line of hearts, stopping mid thigh and going back towards her knee. Her stomach quivered at the image it conjured up of his tongue in that exact same spot only a few days ago.  

What that man could do with his tongue…

He traced a heart line again, slower this time, and then it changed. Letters now, and she closed her eyes, paying close attention. 

I.. L.. O.. V.. E .. Y.. O.. U 

Another heart and an exclamation mark were added and she smiled. 

On the inside of his arm, she used her nails to trace the same letters adding the number two, a heart, and two exclamation marks. 

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head as they rose to the crest of the Ferris wheel, her eyes opening to watch the setting sun as his fingers began tracing slowly once again. 

[agentnatesewell]

I’m here to ask very politely for any little tidbits of info you have about Suri, because I love her a lot. Mentally I’m blowing her a kiss rn 💙

Hello my most wonderful friend! I cherish and adore you very much. Yes! Would love to share some tidbits!

* After college (Rebecca got in rather swiftly with the plagiarism scandal with Bobby and shut it all down and cleared her name), Suri volunteered with UNESCO and ended up working for an NGO based out of Paris … how she ended up in Wayhaven started with her trying to get heritage protection status for her hometown

* Suri wears three-inch heels because Dana Scully wore three-inch heels when she was out on investigations … she can easily run in them. Not so easy in some parts of the forest that she’s always in now

* Speaking of Dana Scully, whenever she’s feeling the loss of her parents (Rebecca’s absence), she curls up and watches the Xfiles, with no lights on. Mulder and Scully she always thought were Rook and Rebecca (little more goofy for Rook, but you know, there’s the whole sister angle, too)

* Her favorite food is wedding cake

(There are a lot more)

* She didn’t grow up religious (though her grandfather is Muslim), but her favorite song she’s ever heard from a religious establishment is Schubert’s “Ave Maria”

* When she and Nate adopt a cute little terrier with more personality than both of them combined, she’ll name them Bishop

* She’s very, very in love with Nate Sewell. Attraction immediately, but fell in love with him during the carnival undercover (the drive home after the mirror scene)

* The NSYNC song Selfish describes how’s she’s feeling about her relationship with Nate after the not-breakup/sounds like a breakup relationship talk at the end of b3

* She knows Wayhaven inside and out, can tell you anything about everything and can walk around blindfolded and not be lost

* Suri doesn’t hate Bobby, she feels sorry for him most of the time, and tolerates/sometimes likes him. He was her first boyfriend. Speaking of exes, one of them, a sweet musician named Farr dedicated an album to her called The Jasmine Room (her middle name is Yasmine)

* She speaks/understands a smattering of languages including English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, and Estonian

* She has an unspoken, semi-obvious crush on Morgan

* Her relationship with Rebecca is not good. At all. She feels as though Rebecca allowed Rook to die a second time by never, ever talking about him. A huge part of her life, hidden

Okay! I could go on but here are a few tidbits! Thank you again!

[baronessblixen]

Scully and Mulder go on a case near Niagara Falls, and promise each other to go see the actual waterfall right after the case because neither of them have been there before. They buy rain ponchos, Mulder thinks Scully looks adorably small in it and she thinks he looks adorably tall in his. They take pictures like real tourists on the platforms, then finish their day at the Carnival where they share corn dogs before going back home.

This is so cute! Mulder and Scully blending in as tourists. I love it. They deserve this, anon. They really do. Thanks for this sweet scene!

[dracox-serdriel]

Oh, no... my first real fandom (The X-Files) goes with essentially everything.

X-Files x Good Omens (aka X-Omens or Good Files) - angels + demons actually mesh perfectly with monster of the week, even when the monsters are aliens because we all know how much angels/demons love that Horse Head Nebula

X-Files x Orphan Black (aka X-Black or Ophan Files) - damn, too easy

X-Files x Warehouse 13 (aka X-13 or Warehouse Files) - too easy AND you get the excellent addition of Secret Service/ATF vs. FBI for flavor

X-Files x Ninja Turtles (aka X-Turtles) - basically, the monster of the week will end up being some random human and NOT the super-sized turtle OR that giant rat guy

X-Files x Walking Dead (aka X-Dead) - too easy AND the added flavor packet of Mulder being smug AF about zombies/the undead while Scully rolls her eyes at his extensive zombie lore monologues

X-Files x The Librarians (aka X-Librarians) - again, way too easy - AND just imagine the Flynn/Mulder and Eve/Scully interactions

X-Files x The Good Place (aka X-Good) - I mean, where else would Mulder and Scully go when they die? Too easy...

X-Files x Bones x Sleepy Hollow (aka X-Sleepy-Bones) - seriously, too easy with Sleepy Hollow and Bones canonically being in the same universe, adding X-Files would be like two sentences of exposition and three of canon event merges

X-Files x Castle (aka X-Castle) - again, too easy

X-Files x Doctor Who (aka X-Who) - there's no way Mulder doesn't have a encyclopedic knowledge about one alien that's been on earth that much and at the center of so many serious alien conflicts, ok? Agian, too easy. Hardest part is getting Scully and Mulder to England.

X-Files x Grimm (aka X-Grimm) - OMG, these blend SO well I've already done a crossover fic for it

X-Files x Bureau of Magical Things (aka X-Bureau) - again, too easy PLUS you get to have the fun of Mulder dealing with how Fairies and Elves contributed to a lot of the alien lore as cover for centuries

X-Files x Carnival Row (aka X-Row) - the only complication here would be the time travel component

BUT, following that complication, let me look at some of my fandoms set in a past era!

X-Files x Downton Abbey (aka X-Abbey) - this will either be terrible or fantastic, there is no middle ground

OMG, WAIT!!! I'VE FOUND IT!

X-Files x Galavant (aka X-Galavant) - finally, I found a terrible fandom combo! Scully and Mulder trapped in a medival musical? Oh, no, damnit, that actually sounds awesome...

combine your first real fandom with your current one to create a terrible, terrible au

[freckleslikestars]

prompt: mulder & scully at a carnival :)

Thank you so much!

Fun fact: growing up I hated going to the carnival my village held each year - it was too busy and too loud and I'd always have to be on one of the parade floats and the straw bales we had to sit on were always itchy. I don't enjoy fairground rides because I don't like heights and I get motion sick. I dreaded it every year. However, I love the concept and aesthetic of carnivals and funfairs.

1155 words, read here on AO3

‘Come on, Scully, it will be fun!’

‘Mulder, no. We’ve got an early flight in the morning and it’s been a long week. We should go back to the motel, pack our bags, and get some sleep.’

Mulder pouted, face lit by the strings of rainbow bulbs hung everywhere in the dusk, ‘y’know, we’re never going to be able to sleep with this music. You can hear it halfway across town. Just half an hour, Scully? Please?’

She sighed, rolled her eyes. If she said no he’d just dig his heels in, go alone and walk back to the motel, calling her when he got lost. And he was right, the music was obnoxiously loud.

The carnival had popped up overnight, making their missing persons case harder to work as they navigated around streets closed for the parade and sought out witnesses and suspects when the whole town had apparently been joining in with the festivities.

Ellingbrow wasn’t a big place, a small farming community in west Ohio of 2,978 residents, and every single one of them could, at one point or another throughout the day, have been found at the funfair or taking part in the parade.

‘Fine,’ she huffed, shaking her head, ‘half an hour. But only half an hour.’

In truth, part of her was relieved they weren’t going straight back to the muggy heat of their unairconditioned motel rooms, and she watched as her partner shed his jacket, swallowing thickly as he loosened his tie and undid his top buttons.

Averting her eyes and shucking off her own blazer, she tried to cool the heat in her cheeks. Briefcases and outerwear were deposited in their rental.

‘So,’ she cleared her throat, ‘what first?’

‘First, cotton candy!’ a grin split across his face, eyes lighting up as he grabbed her hand and dragged her onto the field crowded full of attractions and people, weaving in and out between laughing teenagers and drunk twenty-somethings to find the stall and join the short queue, releasing her hand.

‘You know this is pure sugar, don’t you, Mulder?’ she grinned when he handed her a stick of candy floss, accepting one for himself and handing over a couple of dollars.

‘That’s what makes it so good,’ he took a bite, looked around over the heads of others, gasping with joy, ‘there’s a ghost train over there! We’re going on it, come on!’ his hand found hers again as if it were second nature for them to be linked. If she weren’t being rushed through throngs of people by her long-legged partner, she would have taken the time to contemplate just how comfortable he seemed holding her hand.

One ghost train ride later, he was crowing with laughter and she was smiling indulgently up at him. Whilst she wouldn’t admit it on a later date, she was enjoying herself, if only through watching Mulder enjoy himself. Another thing she wouldn’t admit at a later date was how deep she was realising her feelings for her partner really went. Since the discovery and loss of her daughter, since her remission, since maybe even before her cancer diagnosis, she’d found herself falling more and more for him, and what had started as curiosity and lust had evolved to friendship, admiration and love. Time away from him was spent thinking about him. And when she was close to him, she felt it; wanted to be closer.

‘...wheel?’

‘Hmm?’ she blinked up at him, shaking herself out of her reverie.

He laughed, shook his head and nodded over to the Ferris wheel, ‘wanna see the entire town?’

She smirked as he guided her over to it, ‘that’s not exactly hard.’

‘What is it you don’t like about small-town America, Scully?’

‘Who says I don’t like small-town America?’

He smiled and shrugged, holding out the carriage door for Scully to step into, ‘it’s just something I’ve noticed over the years, you never seem happy out in the sticks. I wondered why that is.’

‘I dunno. I guess I grew up a navy brat, so we always lived in base housing that...it was like we were in this isolated community. It wasn’t bad or anything, I just...as soon as I went to college, moved to the city-proper I decided that was what I wanted, where I wanted to live. I don’t like the idea of everyone knowing you, everyone knowing your business, you know? There’s an anonymity to the city that I like.’

‘I can understand that,’ he nodded slowly.

‘So, why do you like them?’

‘I like the sense of community. The idea that there’s always someone watching out for you, always someone to lend a jug of milk or a bag of flour.’

‘You taking up baking, Mulder?’

‘No, but you know what I mean.’

Scully nodded, rested her head on his shoulder as they looked out across the lights of the town, ‘I do know what you mean. I think that’s probably a myth, though. I mean, how many towns like this have we had cases in? Terrible, horrible cases?’

‘Point taken. But then, how many more towns never have even so much as a case of joyriding.’

‘I know you, Mulder. You’d get bored, restless.’

‘Hmm, maybe. Maybe not.’

By the time they disembarked, the speakers had dropped in volume just slightly and were now playing slow, soft Elvis.

‘Dance, Scully?’

‘Why not?’ she smiled, noticing his hand already in her own, trying to remember when exactly he had taken ahold of it again.

They stood out, somewhat, dancing slowly in their suits amongst the crowds of people in denim cutoffs and flannel shirts and graphic tees. But then, when didn’t they stand out?

‘When we were kids, living in San Diego, Missy and I used to catch a bus down to the boardwalk in the evenings sometimes. We’d spend the month saving up all the loose change we could for those evenings. We’d eat fairground food and both pretend not to like it, we’d go on the Ferris wheel and hang out in the arcade. She’d find a booth to get my palm read, or my cards, whatever there was. She was into that sort of stuff.’

‘I know. She had a lot of healing crystals with her when you were returned. Where’d she pick that up from?’

Scully shrugged, laid her head against his chest, ‘I don’t know. She was always the believer. When we were kids she believed in fairies and monsters and dragons. I never did.’

‘No. No, I don’t imagine you ever did,’ he smiled and pressed his lips to her crown. ‘You know I wouldn’t want you any other way though, right?’

‘You don’t wish I believed things more readily?’

‘Sometimes, in the moment, I do. But mostly? No. No, you wouldn’t be Scully if you didn’t challenge me.’

‘Mulder?’

‘Mm?’

‘Thank you.’

‘For what?’

‘For tonight. And...for everything.’

Tagging @today-in-fic

[sisterspooky1013]

More Than A Feeling, Chapter 5

Rated X | Read it here on AO3

Chapter has a TW for pedophilia

Mornings are a slow time for the carnival staff. There are trash cans to be emptied, plush to be restocked, and ride checks to be performed before they open the gates at noon, but no one is in a hurry at 8:00 am. Cups of jet black coffee line the picnic tables, jackets and sweaters wrapped tightly around shoulders to fend off the wet chill of the night that has not yet been burned off by the still-rising sun. Some are nursing hangovers, others waiting for caffeine or stronger, less legal stimulants to find their way into bloodstreams. Conversation is sparse.

Scully sits huddled beside Mulder, using the excuse of a full table to absorb some of his body heat through their flush thighs and torsos. His hair is sticking up in all directions, eyes bloodshot and drooping. She’s always had affection for this rumpled, docile version of him that she finds at the end of a long day or when she knocks on his motel room door in the middle of the night. He’ll have to get going on breakfast prep any minute, but for now he still looks half asleep. She gently bumps against him with her shoulder and he startles, looking over at her with a dazed expression.

“Did you pull an all-nighter?” she asks, resisting the urge to reach out and comb his hair down, or rub her cold hands against his scruffy cheeks.

“Not on purpose,” he says with a sigh, taking a long drink of his coffee. “My neighbor was very…busy last night,” he finishes, glaring at Mitch, who is sidled up next to Maxie at the other end of the table.

“I see,” Scully says with a smirk. “Don’t tell Summer, it’ll break her heart.”

“Don’t tell Summer what?” Summer asks cheekily, popping her head between the two of theirs.

“How are you so chipper first thing in the morning?” Mulder asks with irritation, and Summer ruffles his hair.

“I’m just pumped about another gorgeous day fixing broken shit and dodging puke,” Summer answers. “Speaking of which, we need to figure out what’s up with the YoYo before we open, Penny. If it’s out of order another day Tami’s gonna shit a brick.”

Scully nods sleepily and moves to stand.

��What the fuck, lady?!”

Twenty heads turn as if on swivels towards the hubbub at the other end of the table, where Mitch is holding his hand over the back of his neck protectively as Madge stands behind him, nostrils flaring and jaw quivering with anger.

“We don’t need that shit here, not on our crew,” Madge spits, gesturing with the long metal spatula she has clutched in her hand.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Mitch asks, standing up and moving close to Madge so that he towers over her, assuming a posture of intimidation.

“I saw you,” she accuses, using the spatula to point at his face. “You trying to get this little girl hooked so you can pimp her out? Make her sell for you?”

“Do we have a problem, Madge?” Tami shouts from across the boneyard as she stumbles out of her trailer, pulling on a jacket with her hair still wrapped in a silk scarf.

“He’s dealing, Tami!” Madge yells back. “I watched him pass it to Maxie, the hard stuff.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Mitch asks again, looking between Madge and Tami.

While everyone else is watching the scene unfold, Scully looks beyond the melee to see Jean slip out the door of Tami’s trailer and dart over to her own, which is parked just behind it.

“Madge, I need you to calm down,” Tami says, holding up her hands. “Let’s just take a minute here. Mitch, why don’t you go back to your bunk and cool off.”

“Why do I need to cool off? I didn’t do anything!” Mitch defends, spittle gathering in the corners of his mouth.

Tami levels him with a cool, intense stare. “Just go take a minute, would you?” she says calmly, and Mitch stomps off with a huff. “Nothin’ to see here, folks,” Tami continues, disbanding the crowd of onlookers.

People drift back to their coffee or their bunk, gossiping about what Madge saw and whether Mitch is going to get fired. Tami speaks to Maxie in a tone too hushed to hear, then sends her off as well.

“Well, on the plus side, I’m awake now,” Mulder grumbles, standing and heading into the cook trailer.

Inside, Madge is slumped down in a chair in the corner, her chest still heaving with adrenaline and her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle of the spatula.

“Potatoes, Buddy Boy,” she says without looking at him. “And start the sausage browning.”

He turns on the stereo and gets to work, and after a few minutes Tami enters and closes the door, leaning against it and addressing Madge.

“What happened out there?” Tami asks, her tone defeated.

“I know what I saw, Tami,” Madge says defensively. “He passed her a little packet.”

“It was Sweet ‘n Low, Madge,” Tami says softly. “For her coffee. Neither of them has done anything that makes me think they’re using, much less dealing.”

“I know what I saw,” Madge repeats, and while Mulder keeps his eyes on the prep table he can hear the tears thickening her throat.

Tami moves closer, kneeling on the floor in front of Madge. Gently, she pries the spatula from her hand and then wraps up both of Madge’s hands in her own.

“I know this time of year is hard, Madge,” Tami says quietly. “I understand, you know I do. But you can’t keep doing this.”

Madge opens her mouth to reply but she chokes out a sob instead, and Mulder is overwhelmed with empathy.

“It won’t bring him back,” Tami whispers, and Madge nods, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Take it easy today, okay?”

Tami gives Mulder a glance that asks if he will keep this between them and he nods, then watches her leave. Setting aside his prep, he takes Tami’s spot on the floor at Madge’s feet and wraps his arms around her shoulders. She leans heavy into him, barking sobs wetting his T-shirt as her arthritic hands claw at his back. He wants to say something reassuring, but there is nothing that he can say. He can’t rewrite her past or bring her son back so he just holds her, the music drowning out the wails of a woman who is doomed to spend the rest of her life wondering how things might have been different.

-

Scully and Summer make their way to the YoYo, coveralls over their jeans and a utility box in Scully’s hand while Summer carries a small boom box. Scully drops the tools near the dog house, where the jock stands while the ride is in motion, and Summer starts it up.

“I swear, the less complicated the mechanics of a ride are, the more it breaks,” Summer grumbles as she starts and stops the ride several times to observe what Barry had reported the day before.

“Was what happened with Madge this morning typical?” Scully asks casually as she watches the swings lurch too suddenly when the ride starts up and stop too abruptly when Summer turns it off.

“Yes and no,” Summer answers, frowning at the jolting swings. “She’s a pretty cool old lady, but she can get heated about hard drugs. Can you hand me that socket wrench?”

Scully hands her the tool, watching as she loosens the control panel on the side of the dog house and checks the connection of several wires.

“Is it common for people to be using stuff like that? People on staff?” Scully asks.

“Using? Most of ‘em are. But it’s dealing that gets Madge all worked up. Last summer a kid we picked up in some shit town in Ohio was selling out of the bunkhouse and Madge just about blew a gasket. Tami wasn’t planning on keeping him on anyway so she fired him, but Madge was so upset she had to take the rest of the day off. I remember because Jean made dinner.” Summer stops and looks up at Scully with sudden seriousness. “If Jean is in charge of food, run, don’t walk, to the nearest McDonald’s.”

Scully laughs at Summer’s joke, and takes the opening for a new line of questioning.

“I saw Jean come out of Tami’s trailer this morning,” she says, watching Summer’s reaction. “Early, like she’d slept there.”

Summer glances at her with a smirk, then goes about refastening the cover on the control panel.

“You know, for someone who flat out refuses to discuss your romantic interest in one of our coworkers, you sure don’t mind sticking your nose in other people’s business,” she says.

Scully feels heat rise to her cheeks but tries to appear unaffected.

“That’s because there’s nothing to discuss,” she defends, and Summer shakes her head.

“Whatever you say, Penny,” Summer retorts, then stands. “I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s the hydraulics. Turn on the radio, would ya? This’ll take a minute.”

Scully finds a suitable station and joins Summer in the center of the ride, where they expose the hydraulic system.

“So I know you’re not gay,” Summer says, almost to herself, as she works. “And I know you’re attracted to him, because I’ve seen you checking out the goods.”

Scully, realizing they have not moved on from the topic of Luke, steels herself, keeping her eyes on the mechanics of the ride.

“And I hear you snickering like high schoolers at your little midnight rendezvous,” Summer continues. “So that begs the question.” She stops and gives Scully a pointed look. “What’s the hold up?”

“This may come as a shock to you, Summer,” Scully says tartly, “but it is possible to be attracted to someone and enjoy their company, but not sleep with them.”

“So you admit you’re attracted to him?” Summer shoots back, and Scully scoffs.

“You sound like my sister,” Scully says, shaking her head.

“Well, we can’t both be wrong, now can we?” Summer says, victorious. “Does she live back in St. Joseph? Tell her to drive out so she can help me pull your head out of your ass.”

Scully’s smile fades, and she feels preemptive guilt for bringing down the tone of the conversation.

“She died a few years ago, actually,” she says, and Summer’s face falls.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” she says, laying a hand on Scully’s shoulder.

“It’s okay,” Scully says.

“Well,” Summer says, returning to her chipper demeanor, “I’ll just have to pull your head out of your ass myself, in her honor.”

Scully laughs out loud at that, and they get back to work. The YoYo is back up and running smoothly just before the gates open and the ride jock, Barry, approaches with a beaming smile as they test out the stop and start several times.

“Hey, you fixed it!” he says, his thin, combed-over hair ruffling in the breeze.

“Yup, we’ll come back and check on it in a bit and make sure it’s riding smooth,” Summer says, tossing tools back into the utility box.

“That’s great,” Barry says. “The kids love this one. They were so sad yesterday when it was out of order.”

Scully considers him in his too-tight khakis and weathered polo.

“You like kids, Barry?” she asks, and he gives her a perplexed look.

“Of course, who doesn’t?” he answers.

Summer and Scully collect their gear and make their way back to the maintenance shed to put away their tools and get ready to open.

“Does he seem a little off to you?” Scully asks.

“Barry?” Summer clarifies, and Scully nods. “Yeah I’d say he’s a stone cold creeper. Maybe we can plant some drugs on him so he’ll go the way of Dylan.”

“Dylan?” Scully asks, confused.

“That kid who got fired for dealing last year,” Summer elaborates. “His name was Dylan. Local hire, total gazoonie. Didn’t even make it the full week.”

Scully feels a flush of adrenaline, recalling the profile of the teenager who went missing last summer after working for the carnival. His mother and sister said he went out for his last day of work and never came home.

-

It’s just past 5:00 pm, which is peak time for family visits before the crowd shifts to the late-night fare of rowdy teens and couples on dates. Mulder is taking his evening break, during which he usually does a circuit of the fair to see if he’ll cross paths with Scully. By the time they meet up at the end of the night, he only catches low-light glimpses of her dirty hands and the dust clinging to her brow. He’s found himself growing increasingly fond of this blue-collar version of her with blonde eyelashes and pale pink lips, and he always jumps at the opportunity to see it in the full light of midday.

Sadly, he doesn’t spot Scully, nor Summer, but as he’s headed back towards the cook trailer he does see Barry. The older man is walking down the midway holding the hand of a little girl who can’t be more than five or six. The girl has tear streaks down her cherubic little face and Barry is smiling at her, speaking animatedly. Mulder watches them for a moment, expecting Barry to take the child up to the ticket booth, as is the protocol for lost children, but when they take a hard left and head towards the boneyard, he starts jogging to catch up with them.

“Hey!” he shouts. “Barry, wait up!”

Barry freezes and turns around slowly, that same smarmy smile plastered on his face as always. As Mulder runs the final few yards before he reaches them, he spots Scully and Summer rounding the corner from the concessions and waves them over.

“Hey, who’s this?” Mulder asks breathlessly, looking down at the little girl. Her ponytail is loose and frizzy, her overalls covered in dirt.

“This is my friend Jenny,” Barry answers, his face pleasant but his voice holding an edge of irritation. “We were just going to go find her mommy, right Jenny?”

“Mommy goed to work,” Jenny says mournfully.

Mulder crouches down so he’s eye level with the child just as Summer and Scully reach them.

“Did your mommy leave you here alone?” he asks the child, and she nods.

“Don’t worry, Jenny,” Mulder says softly. “This is my friend Penny, and she can help you find your mommy, okay?”

Scully steps forward and offers her hand to the child.

“Let’s go see if we can call her, okay?” Scully says, and Jenny drops Barry’s hand and takes Scully’s.

Mulder and Scully exchange a significant look, and he waits until she and Jenny are out of earshot before he turns back and addresses Barry.

“Where were you off to there, Barry?” Mulder asks levelly, and Summer steps up beside him so that they are shoulder-to-shoulder.

Barry blinks, pushing his mouth into a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Just going to take her to the lost child station,” he says with a noncommittal shrug.

“Is that right? Because the lost child station is up by the ticket booth, and it looked to me like you were headed for the boneyard,” Mulder says, and Barry swallows but doesn’t say anything in response. “Summer, why don’t you go get Tami?” Mulder suggests, not taking his eyes off Barry.

“She and Jean are in town,” Summer answers, her voice dripping with vitriol. “But we can hold him in the maintenance trailer. It locks from the outside.”

Mulder wraps his hand around Barry’s bicep, and the man flinches but doesn’t resist. They walk back down the midway, Summer and Mulder flanking him like the perp that he is, until they arrive at the maintenance trailer. Mulder shoves Barry inside and Summer slips a thick padlock through the door at the back.

“That fucker ain’t going nowhere,” she spits, sitting on the ground in front of the door.

Scully comes jogging up to them, a look of concern on her face.

“Where’d he go?” she asks, and Summer hitches a thumb over her shoulder.

“In here until Tami gets back,” she says resolutely.

“I just saw Jean’s truck pull in a minute ago,” Scully says.

“I’ll stay here,” Summer says, looking between the two of them to gauge their confidence in her perp-watching abilities.

They nod and walk away from the maintenance trailer, heading back to the boneyard.

“What happened to the girl?” Mulder asks, and Scully heaves a sigh.

“Dani at the ticket booth said her mom drops her off every day when we open and comes back for her just before we close. I told her to call the police and child protective services.”

They find Tami and Jean unloading a truck full of groceries for the cook trailer, and when they retell the events of the last fifteen minutes, the color drains from Tami’s face.

“Where is he?” she asks, and Mulder and Scully lead her to the maintenance trailer.

When they arrive, the back door hangs open and Barry is gone, as is Summer.

The four of them exchange looks of panic and confusion, but before they have a chance to form a plan, Summer comes running up, breathless and gape-mouthed. She stares at the open door of the maintenance trailer and then looks at her bosses and her coworkers.

“Where’d he go?” she asks fearfully.

“You were supposed to be watching him!” Mulder admonishes her, and Summer balks.

“There was an emergency on the Tilt A Whirl,” she defends. “Some kid had his arm stuck and—I was gone for like three minutes!”

“Well, I doubt he’ll be coming back here,” Tami says grimly. “I’ll call the local PD and report it.”

“They’re probably already here,” Scully explains. “I called them to come pick up the little girl.”

“Motherfucker,” Tami says under her breath. She kicks at the ground with the tip of her shoe for a moment and then looks up, addressing the three of them while Jean stands quietly behind her. “Listen, let’s keep this with us, okay? All anyone else needs to know is that a little girl got left. If Barry were here, I’d give him up in a heartbeat, but if this gets out they won’t let us come back next year.”

There is a loaded pause filled with the shrill screams of passengers on The Ring of Fire, and finally they all nod in acceptance of this request.

“Thank you. You all did the right thing,” Tami says, looking at them each in turn. “You did good.”

Tami and Jean head back to the boneyard, and Mulder turns to Summer.

“How could he have gotten out, Summer? Is there another door?” he questions, and she shakes her head.

“I don’t know,” she says, “I was seriously gone for two minutes, tops.”

His break long since over, Mulder returns to the cook trailer and a very irate Madge.

“Well look who decided to grace us with his presence,” Madge says derisively, tossing scraps of chicken at a wiry-haired brown dog that sits at her feet.

“Sorry, mom, something came up,” he says contritely, and drops down onto the bench beside her. “What’s with the dog?”

“Oh, we get strays showing up now and again. I think they follow the smell of the deep fryers. This guy just wandered over a few minutes ago. He’s kinda cute, huh?” Madge explains, her mood lifting as she looks at the dog.

Mulder is admittedly not a dog person, but he considers the mid-sized pup. He doesn’t appear underfed, and sports a tuft of hair on top of his head between his ears that looks out of place. Mulder lifts his hand to pet the dog, and it recoils as though expecting to be struck.

“Oh, did somebody hurt you sweetie?” Madge coos, scratching the dog behind its ears. She turns to Mulder and her tone shifts. “You better get shakin’, Buddy Boy. Bellies to fill, people to feed.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mulder says with military precision, and heads into the cook trailer.

-

Scully waits on the ferris wheel, her short legs dangling over the side of the bench making her wish Mulder would hurry up and get here, both because she’s hungry and because she needs a push. The day was long and strange, Barry’s disappearance made all the more baffling when they discovered his car still parked in the lot by the boneyard and all his possessions untouched.

“Sorry,” Mulder says as he jogs up and drops heavily into the car beside her, setting it off swinging. “Tami didn’t want to go too heavy on the groceries given that we slough tomorrow night, but she did splurge on something that’s a bit more in line with your usual tastes,” he explains as he reveals a bowl overflowing with fresh berries.

Scully makes a little appreciative noise and takes it from him, popping a perfectly ripe blueberry in her mouth.

“So, what are you thinking?” she asks around a mouthful. “About the whole Barry situation?”

Mulder shakes his head softly.

“Something isn’t adding up. Did you notice that Lenny and Picker were conspicuously absent today?” he asks, snagging a strawberry.

“Were they off?” Scully asks.

“I don’t know,” Mulder says with a shrug. “I haven’t seen them at all, not even at breakfast.”

“So…what?” Scully goads him to elaborate.

“So, I know they aren’t big fans of Barry, they were wary of him from day one. What about Summer?”

“What about her?” Scully asks defensively.

“Well, might she have let him go?” Mulder posits.

“No,” Scully says emphatically, offended. “Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know,” Mulder admits, and they are quiet for a beat.

“What about Madge?” Scully asks. “She got pretty heated with Mitch this morning, and Summer said she’s flown off the handle like that before.”

Mulder turns to give her a deadpan expression that she knows all too well.

“Madge is pushing seventy, Penny. She has diminished strength as a result of her stroke, not to mention her arthritis. I think the worst she could do is whack someone over the head with a spatula,” he says lightly.

That earns him a chuckle, and Scully acquiesces.

“I guess we have to wait and see if he turns up, at home or otherwise. Maybe his car will be gone by morning. We don’t have enough information to conclude that he’s disappeared,” Scully says into the cool night air, and Mulder nods.

They pick through the berries, Scully taking the sweetest ones and leaving the under ripe raspberries for Mulder, and he kicks off again every few minutes to keep the car swaying forward and back. She catches him watching her from the corner of her eye but doesn’t look at him right away, waiting to see how long he’ll keep his eyes on her. Nearly a full minute passes, or at least it feels that long, and finally she turns her head toward him.

“What?” she asks, and his lips curl up into a guilty smile.

He shrugs, and she lifts her eyebrows, which is a Scully-version of repeating the question.

“You’re different here,” he says, and she quirks her head at him.

“Yes, that was the intention,” she says playfully.

“No, not just that,” he elaborates. “Even right now, when you’re you, you’re just different.”

“In a bad way or a good way?” she questions.

He looks at her for a beat, considering how to respond, and suddenly the lights on the wheel come to life, followed by the whir of the motor. They look at one another, mirroring confused faces, and then there is a sudden lurch as the ride begins to move, carrying them backwards away from the platform. Mulder lifts his feet, tucking them into the trough at the bottom so they aren’t dangling over the ground, and Scully reaches up to grab the lap bar and slam it into place as they move further into the air.

“This is weird, right?” Mulder asks, but the way her eyes are darting around them with panic is all the answer he needs.

When they reach the highest point on the wheel it slows to a stop, suspending them over the park. They look at each other, and then peer over the sides of the car looking for some explanation as to why and how they have found themselves on a midnight ferris wheel ride. The speaker mounted to the spindle crackles and screeches, and then the sultry notes of “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton start to wail loudly across the stock-still fairgrounds, darkened aside from the lights on the ferris wheel.

A flush of irritation and mortification washes through Scully’s belly. “Goddamn it, Summer,” she mutters under her breath, and Mulder shoots her a look. Scully sighs, not looking at him as she offers an explanation. “Summer is trying to set us up,” she starts, her cheeks burning. “She thinks that we—that there’s something between us. Jesus, this is embarrassing.”

“Ah,” Mulder says, looking over the side of the car towards the dog house below.

The car lurches again, carrying them forward and down the other side of the wheel. As they pass by the dog house, they see not only Summer, but Madge as well as Jean, Tami and a handful of others looking on with hopeful smiles. Scully openly glares at Summer, who winks at her and puckers her mouth to throw several air kisses her way. Just as soon as they’ve passed by the group, they are carried up towards the top of the wheel again.

“I mean…it’s not a bad idea,” Mulder says, laying his arm across the back of the bench behind her.

She gives him an incredulous look.

“What isn’t a bad idea?” she questions.

“People already think there’s something going on, if we just let them think there is it might help our cover. We can meet in your trailer, for one, instead of out in the open like this,” he says, gesturing around them. They pass by the dog house again, where Mickey cups his hands around his mouth and yells, “Make an honest woman out of her, Luke!”

“Okay,” Scully says, slowly coming around to the idea. “So we just tell them we’re…dating?”

“Well, yeah, but I think we might have to do a little more than just say it,” he offers.

She tucks her chin, trying to interpret his half-formed idea.

“I don’t think they’re going to let us off this ride until I kiss you, at least,” he finishes, and the expression on his face is one she’s never really seen before. If she had to guess, he looks nervous.

“Right,” she says in an unreadable tone, though her heart is hammering in her chest.

“So, Penny,” he says, scooting closer to her end of the bench, and every hair on her body stands on end. “Will you be my girl?” He flashes her a smile that makes her mouth go dry and her mind go blank, and while she knows this is just part of the bit, her body is reacting to it like it’s actually happening.

“Um, okay,” she replies, “sure.”

“Loving the enthusiasm,” he jokes. “I’m gonna kiss you now…okay?”

She is marginally aware of their continuous rotations around the wheel, and the encouraging whoops of the staff, but she zeroes in on Mulder as he leans towards her and waits. She licks her lips and stares at his mouth, that mouth that she’s considered at great length, and just how it might feel on each part of her body. She nods softly and he touches her cheek, his eyes searching her face before he leans the rest of the way and presses his lips to hers.

Summer screeches, a victory cry that could shatter glass, and there is a cacophony of cheers and clapping from the ground. Mulder begins to pull away and she leans into him, her lips slightly parted as she kisses him back. His tongue grazes the inside of her bottom lip and she feels her belly drop out from under her, so she sits back and sees that they are falling down the descending side of the wheel.

Mulder blinks at her, a mildly shocked expression on his face, and Summer slows the ride to a stop as they pass by the platform. They rise from the car on unsteady legs, greeted by a group of smiling carnies and a very smug Summer. Mulder loops his arm around Scully’s waist and she startles, looking up at him to give a warning but seeing a very intentional look in his eye. Play the part, it says, and she understands that this is how it will be now. She knows what it’s like to kiss Mulder, and she’ll come to know what it’s like to be casually touched by him the way she might expect if they were a couple.

But they aren’t. It’s all a charade, and one she suspects won’t make it any easier to ignore the fact that she’s been waiting to kiss him for years.

Tagging @today-in-fic

[lilydalexf]

Thank you for the nice words! Here are some very good X-Files fics set fully or partly in New Orleans. Enjoy! At a Loss for Words by Karen Rasch Mulder and Scully head for the Big Easy for a little R & R. But things don’t work out precisely as they had planned. The ghost of a long dead courtesan feels that Scully would be the perfect host for her spirit. And Mulder needs to find a way past his own fears to save them both. [Part 7 of the Words series.] Divided We Fall by Dianora Scully becomes fed up with Mulder and the X-Files, and takes a leave of absence to work things through. Dominion by aka "Jake" "So what's in New Orleans, Mulder?" His slanting smile widened into an all-out, cat-who-ate-the-canary grin, producing a seldom seen dimple in his unshaved cheek. "The third in a series of decapitations, Scully. Ritualistic overtones." He waggled his eyebrows. "The heads are still missing." Every Sparrow Falling by Alloway Horror. Deadly birds, mysterious soldiers and abandoned carnivals lead Mulder and Scully to small-town America, where they discover that dwelling on the past can be a very dangerous thing. First Few Desperate Hours by @all-these-ghosts "He’s not sure the road that brought them here is on any map." On the road and in the shadows with Mulder & Scully. Gazebo by Mish Let's just say, it's post "all things", and it has smut. Go Be by Invisivellum Flickfic; Continuation (sorta) of the last scene between M & S; Third-person POV; Scully gets the opportunity to just “go be a doctor” for a while... Goin' Nowhere by Nicole Perry Mulder and Scully are on the run, pursued by common enemies and able to trust no one but each other. Will they find the truth they seek before it is too late? [Unfinished, but ends with some closure] Letters of Transit by Loch Ness It's 1999-- The Date has come and gone, the "Project" is underway and deadly bees have been unleashed on North America. With the world coming apart and people scrambling to get away from the swarm. Mulder faces fateful decisions about his own role in events to come-- and about Scully. Louisiana by Terma99 Moisture in the air and bath can lead to steam. New Orleans by Paula Mulder and Scully get stuck sharing a hotel room. No Quarter Given series by Mish She wants to feel alive. Partial Abandon by MoJo Scully takes a twelve hour break in the Big Easy with Mulder for some pure MSR. Reflections of the Unknown by Sophos Scully and Mulder investigate serial killers in New Orleans, and reflect upon their feelings for each other. [There is a sequel] She Walks at Night by @fragilevixenfic Mulder’s knack for getting himself and Scully into sticky situations leads them to the heart of NOLA at the tail end of Hurricane season after barely surviving a Floridian storm—to investigate a rumor of a notable Voodoo Queen and missing girls trying to bring her back. Skeleton by @lilydalexf A skeleton's talking, and Mulder and Scully are investigating. As far as casefiles go, this one is on the fluffy side since our agents are pretty busy paying attention to each other. Smoke on the Water by Miss Elise While on a case that takes them to Louisiana, Scully considers the men she has loved in her life. Solving the murder of Ophelia Washington will take all the strength Scully has. Split the Lark by @syntax6 Scully and Mulder deal with a traumatic event. Victim Soul by prufrock's love The case of a purported 'victim soul' - a comatose girl who suffers for and heals others - sends Mulder and Scully, still coming to terms with her cancer, to New Orleans. What Hands Do by Mish "And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand." I think that about covers it.

[ladiesandwitches]

"Ish?" Scully repeated with tired scepticism. Even if she were to believe that none of this was part of some schtick, that the woman really had the abilities she claimed, 'ish' didn't exactly sound like the kind of detail they were looking for. Hell, she could go up to the door herself and get an 'ish' conclusion; anyone could.

For her part, Scully did listen as Jewel explained her gift, these abilities that apparently made her so frequently useful to the police, but she had a feeling that even Mulder would draw the line at supernatural allergies. "So you can talk to the dead, but you're also allergic to them?" She let the question hang in the air, along with all its implications. "Wouldn't that make your gifts counter-productive?" And difficult to employ.

"Okay, so let's say I believe you," she continued, once she listened to Jewel go into further, and stranger, detail, "which I'm not saying I do-- but that doesn't sound like an allergy to me. That sounds like cause and effect; a man is beaten over the head so you get a headache." She gave a small shrug, as if that was the simplest conclusion to come to. And that was only if working within the hypotheticals of accepting all this as truth, and while Scully had to admit she had seen some strange things, discovered realities that challenged everything that science had previously known to be fact, that didn't mean she automatically believed all this, especially when it seemed so all over the place. Though she couldn't deny the allergy thing was original.

"Death advocate, spirit empath, seer and premonitions; you're practically my partner's bucket list in one person," she observed drily. And speaking of her partner, she only wished he were here to go into the details of the case himself, speaking with the passionate belief that meant he had no hesitation in sharing his theories as well as the facts. Scully, however, was more reluctant, but no matter what Jewel could or couldn't bring to this case, she needed to be informed.

"Cases of missing children," she told her. "Wherever this particular circus travels, children go missing before they leave town. Most often it's two or three, but there have been instances of as many of five children in one town disappearing with the carnival. And while it might seem obvious to simply question the performers, to start an investigation, no one can even begin to identify a single member of this troupe; not their real names, their fingerprints, their social security number. It's as if, for all intents and purposes, they don't exist." And it was hard to investigate someone when you didn't know who they were. Not to mention when no bodies of children had ever been found.

"But while these reports of missing children go as far back as the 1950s, the actual correlation goes much further than that." She took a breath that almost became a sigh. "To when this circus began in 1817"

               She easily could have explained the process to the agent while she was doing her magic scan, but Jewel couldn't help but feel that if she were to, it would fall on deaf, sceptic ears.

"I got something-ish." Traces of the magics, but they were old and didn't exactly indicate if this whole thing was magical. Surely, there was no dying it now, but going in without a plan with an agent who could easily get herself killed if she were to go in all guns blazing, things could get messy and while she didn't really like the idea of having that on her conscience and also the idea of being hunted by her force was less than appealing.

"But to answer your question. The short answer is yes. Call me an advocate for the dead. Can't speak for themselves and I'm not really into people benefitting from their tragedies. Also a spirit empath. Can feel everything they're feeling. Also..." Now this skill set would be the hardest to explain. Not really, but out of all things explained so far, this would be the strangest, going off Jewel's own assumptions of the agent. "We can say that I'm somewhat allergic to death." Throat was cleared before she went to explain herself. "Lets say for example someone's died at a crime scene by being beaten over the head but the body's been moved. We got all the telltales signs of a murder but no way to know how it happens. I enter the scene and get the most ear splitting headache known to mankind and that's it. Basically, if there's been a death at a place within a week or so within me going there, I'll get a really big idea of how this person was killed. That, but I'm also a seer. Premonitions and visions in dreams, the whole lot." And part was added with minimal enthusiasm, simply because she was certain there's be more scepticism. "Yeah, confronting fakes comes with the territory of it all, but let's not forget... all I am to the masses is a washed up woman in the music industry trying to hold onto her relevance." Scoff followed, roll of eyes.

"Collection of cases?" Witch couldn't help but feel that she wasn't been given the full story and all the details, but she couldn't exactly call the agent out as it would just make her a hypocrite. "What kind of cases are we talking about?"

[xfilesfanficexchange]

Let’s Go For A Ride

Author: @unicornscully​

For: @fridaysat9​

Mulder asks Scully to go on some carnival rides and Scully finds a ride of her own.

Link Here

#XF2Close4Comfort2022 26/26

[lotzzoforangezoutside]

THE LIST II

THE LIST I (111 stories) -updated 7/1/2021

& MASTERLIST I (LONG VERSION, W/ SUMMARIES)

Original Series

Between Michigan and Maine  |  Team Building  |  Last Christmas  |  Secret  |  The Waterbed  |  The Mayor and the Idiot  |  Furry Fairy  |  Langly’s Birthday Party  |  Jellyfish  |  The Terms  |  The Spooky Twins  |  Wearing You  |  Perpetual  |  Brotherly Love  |  The Dearest  |  He Said, She Said  |  37  |  Spotless Mind  |  From the Attic  |  The Sixth  |  Home Alone  |  Ice Ice Baby  | The Sun and the Moon  |  Precious  |  The Glow of Day  |  Geek  |  New  |  You  |  The Puppy  |  Truth or Dare  |  The Bedroom  |  Text to Cancel  |  Chinese for Breakfast  |  Honey Milk  |  The Guessing Game  |  The Cat and the Cantaloupe  |  Building an UFO  | Visiting the Boys  |  Ark  |  Models  |  Curiosity  |  Never Ever  |  Fathers  |  Routed  |  Playing Doctor  |  White  |  Maybe  |  Report Card  |  The Field Where I  |  A Gift of Just Because  |  Trouble |  Say Anything  | The Boy and the Dog  |   Just as Sweet  |  Suspenders and Smoker  |   Game Changer  |  The Fall Fun Carnival  |  The Pool  |  The Things He Knew He Knew  |  Spring Cleaning  |  Meet Arcadia  |  On Melancholy Hill  |  Before It Gets Out of Hands  |  In the Granite State  |  God Bless Mom  |  The King of the Castle and the Dirty Rascal  |  Come with Me and We’ll Be  |  Radar Love  |  Pudding  |  How to Catch a Manatee  |  Rumbly Tumbly  |  Welcome to the Judgment-Free Zone  |  Come and Go With Me  |  Drunks  |  Hook  |

AU

Emily AU: Green-Eyed  |  Chop-Chop  |  The Moon Child  |  Fox Day  |  Band-Aid  |  Before You Go-Go  |  Nightmare |  Flowers and Kisses  |  What I Like about You  |  Homework  |  Girls’ Night  |  Mockingbird  |  Big Ouie  |  Miss Scully  |  Family Picnic  |  All My Life  |  The Time to Hesitate is Through  |  What I Want, You’ve Got  |

Cricket Universe

Mulder’s Time Machine  |  Déjà Vu  |  What Does the Fox Say  |  Characters  |  Four  |  Horse  |  Crack  |  The Soothsayer’s Tea  |  Coincidental  |  The Season of the Soul  |  The Exchange  |  One  |  First Kisses  |  Jellyfish II  |  Jellyfish III  | The Traits of Mulder  |  Dancing about Architecture  |  Kitsune  |  Revelation  |  Meow  |  A Promise to Last  |  Juno Uno Love Song  |  The Most Precious Thing He Owns  |  In the Blackest of Rooms  |

Conversation in the Very Very Late at Night…. eleven  |  twelve  |

3X…. eight / nine / ten /

Short shorts & snapshots

drabbles…..Kappa | Lambda | mu | nu | xi | omicron |  pi | rho | sigma |

“fanfic ideas that will never”

Summer memories  |  Haunted House

(updated November 1)    

[silhouetteofacedar]

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic Ch. 1: A Revelatory Papercut

AO3 Link - MSR, rating pending 

It all started with a paper cut.

Actually, that’s not entirely true.

Fox Mulder had seen this coming from a long way off. Years, really. He knew in the back of his mind that his growing attachment to Dana Scully would eventually entangle him beyond hope of release; that his fondness and respect for her would deepen to the point of devotion. That his attraction to her would ripen into a passion that he could neither act on nor contain. He’s been in free-fall since the day they met, and is only just now hitting the ground.

It isn’t a matter of if, but when.

And the when happens to be Thursday, February twelfth, 1998, at eleven twenty-nine A.M, when Special Agent Dana Scully sits opposite him at their desk, leafing through a sheaf of papers, and slices her index finger on one.

“Shit,” she mutters, observing the droplet of blood gathering outside the cut and reflexively popping her finger into her mouth.

Mulder, slouching over his own stack of documents, looks up at her in surprise at her utterance and promptly falls in love. Hard.

The sensation rolling through his body reminds him of going to a shitty carnival on the Vineyard one summer when he was eleven. He has a distinct physical recollection of riding a rickety old rollercoaster that had no business operating with human passengers, anticipation building with the climb of the car on the tracks. He can still feel the euphoria of cresting the rise and dropping down the other side, a vortex of giddiness twisting in his stomach.

Only now he is experiencing this as a thirty-six year old federal agent in an office chair, across a cluttered desk from the most beautiful, resilient, and achingly unattainable woman he’s ever known.

“You okay, Mulder?” Scully asks, rising from her chair and crossing the room to fetch their first aid kit from a cabinet. “You look a little flushed.”

“Hypoglycemia,” he says quickly, then mentally kicking himself because she’s a goddamn doctor and knows better than him what the symptoms of severe low blood sugar are. Symptoms he certainly doesn’t have. “I skipped breakfast.”

“Uh huh,” she replies absently, wrapping a bandage around her fingertip. “Well, once we finish this report we can go to lunch.”

He wants to take a bite out of her. Instead he picks up a pen and watches letters and numerals swim across the page in front of him.

He’s finally, absolutely in love with Scully. And he has no idea what to do about it.

Mulder stays late at the office that night, tossing pencils upwards at the ceiling before realizing Scully will notice them tomorrow and know he wasn’t buried in research or catching up on paperwork like he claimed.

Falling in love is pretty inconvenient, which is probably why he put it off for so long. He had overlooked his growing feelings in much the same way he’d ignored a hairline crack forming in one of his favorite mugs a few months ago. He kept using the mug until one day he found coffee seeping out the bottom of the cup and onto his newspaper, soaking the pages together. He had foolishly thought the crack would hold, and felt stupid for being even momentarily surprised.

He spins lazily in his office chair, listening to the bolts squeak.

In reality, he has only two clear options.

One: he could sit back and do nothing. Pine for her quietly, nurse an ache in his chest so deep that it cuts him in half right down the middle. Sleep alone on his sofa until he draws his last breath, never uttering a word to her because she deserves more than him, deserves better than he could ever provide.

But he knows and respects her. After everything that’s been taken away from Scully, the last thing he wants to do is deny her agency or choice. And because he’s an asshole, he desperately, selfishly hopes that she chooses him.

So that leads to option two: do… something.

This is where he falters; he hasn’t wooed a woman in years. And if he thinks on it, his last two relationships were fairly heavily driven by the female participant; almost as though he were just along for the ride.

But Scully is different; Scully challenges him, excites him, brings him peace. She keeps him in line while simultaneously setting him free. Sometimes she even smiles at his jokes. He’s never had the privilege of someone else’s trust and confidence in that way before.

Mulder doesn’t know if she wants him the way he wants her. Hell, it seems impossible for anyone to want another person that much, but here he is, chewing on the eraser end of a #2 pencil, ready to upset the entire balance of his professional and personal life on the off chance she might.

It’s worth a shot. She’s worth a shot.

He only hopes he’s worth one in return.

[starsarestars]

❤️ for Teresa and Marisol please x

Teresa + Marisol

“Adina said he’d chat all this shit about how he and Marisol were meant to be, had everyone in on it ‘cause of course they didn’t fucking know...”

Teresa’s voice drifts over from the bean bags in an angered hiss, the boys groaning sympathetically.

“So if you honestly want my opinion of Graham? I think he’s a complete twat. Everything about him is shit and- and I- I can’t stand him.”

“Do you not think she did it ‘cause she’s scared? That maybe she wants to stay in the game before she invests everything in something that isn’t certain?” Says Ibrahim, an imperious twinkle in his deep brown eyes. Ibrahim delves into a vein of rationality that Teresa’s anger can’t quite reach around. The lads can sense it from the muddled look in her eyes and the way she turns her head, defiant in every sense of the word.

“I don’t know. I don’t really care, either. I’m over Marisol, anyway.”

None of them seem wholly convinced when she says this, not even Teresa herself. She forces on a wobbly smile, tears brimming in her eyes as she focuses on gnarls in the astroturf rather than the strained attempts at pleasant conversation that pass her ears.

Their dynamic in the drafts of She’s A Carnival (the Teresol fic) and what little bit I’ve got of the Noah Oneshot Painted Bird is one that I’m very interested in. There’s a certain twee way about most of the pairings I have because I’m quite idealistic, but the two of these suffer from incurable will-they-won’t-they Mulder and Scully-itis. Marisol pairs well with introverts who kinda go with her pop psychology and intellectualism as well as the whole push and pull, but Teresa is the absolute opposite - If someone is making absolutely nonsensical hot takes, she’s not afraid to call them out on it. As much as she is a bit of an antagonistic and downright vicious person at times, Teresa when chipped away to her core is somebody who is actually quite vulnerable and causes as many problems as possible to distract people from her own shortcomings. She goes into Love Island with the intention of faking as much of it as possible to prove to the people around her that she was something she wasn’t and instead she finds out more about herself than she bargained for and that, truth be told, she was capable of loving somebody in a way that has her feeling like she can be vulnerable without being scared. The major element of their relationship at first is fear: fear of judgement, fear of going against the expectations set for them, fear of just about everything you could imagine. Things mellow out over time and the two of them wonder why it was ever like that in the first place and why they were so content with things being that way for so long. Once Marisol becomes a lawyer and Teresa finally gets her degree in Astrophysics, things between them are so content and happy - It’s liberating to finally be with somebody who just gets them. Expect countless duvet days, art gallery dates, nonsensical arguments about anything they can think of that end with fits of giggles, cosy nights in watching the rain while bundled in blankets while the cats pad around the flat and clumsy slow dances to a half remembered song tunelessly hummed in the kitchen at 3am while the coffee machine chirrs away.

There’s a load of old songs that remind me of them but I think the Siouxsie and the Banshees cover of Dear Prudence is their song.