#thesexfiles

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Collector's Edition: Mulder, To Jew or Not to Jew

While there is no canonical confirmation about fans' (and David Duchovny's and Vince Gilligan's) theories concerning Mulder's Jewish heritage, these fics say "who cares?" and explore the topic, anyway.

Loose chronolgical order below~

@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls’s november 27, 1973

AU-- Different outcomes of that fateful day in the Mulder family household.

David Hearne's As Long As It's Not Patrick Swayze

Post Shadows Mulder and Scully watch a movie and bat religious ideas back and forth.

@leiascully's (Ao3) 

OctoberFicFest Day 2: Eat

Post One Breath Mulder is surprised that Maggie wants to take care of him.

Blasphemy?

Post IWTB Mulder is in Biblical times with sandals and disciples... or is he?

@writingwell/RocketMan's (Alt. Gossamer, Xanadu) Elsewhere

Mulder and Scully's car slides off the road; and the two hole up in a Lutheran church, discussing how they're never safe but never bored.

Summer's These Dreams

Mulder and Scully share a dream: saving Jewish aliens from Nazis.

@contrivedcoincidences6/Spooky66/geektime66's

Not Alone (Ao3)

Mulder reflects on religion, faith, and his lack thereof.

i_gaze_at_scully's Unnamed

Mulder is hit hard after a case involving the death of children at the hands of a pedophile.

Thalia D'Muse's Different Religion

Post Never Again Mulder ponders on the ouroboros of it all, and how much the truth has replaced his childhood beliefs.

Lapsed_Scholar's

Atonement

Part 1: Post Memento Mori Scully is furious that Mulder ghosts her for the weekend... then finds out he's turned to a neglected part of his identity out of sheer desperation to save her life.

Lights

Part 2: AU-- Emily lives, grows up with Mulder and Scully, and becomes interested in Mulder's Jewish heritage.

Heirloom

Part 3 (a prequel to Lights): AU-- 13 year old Emily expresses interest in Mulder's heritage; and is reassured that she is his daughter no matter what.

A Devil's Office 

AU-- Mulder does not leave in S9, staying home with William while Scully and Doggett and Reyes get caught up in a demon case. He later confesses to Reyes how much his son reminds him of his sister.

Beshter's Seasons: Fourth

Small mentions of Mulder's Jewish lineage slowly peek through, then spill over in a deluge of family history during the Kaddish case.

Meredith's (Alt. Tumblr)

Catching the Train

Kaddish Mulder wants to wrap up the case as fast as possible to get he and Scully back on the curing-her-cancer track.

The Sin of Submission

Sein und Zeit Mulder thinks his actions might have hurt Scully like Bill Mulder's had Tena. She swiftly reassures him.

bcfan's Hanukkah

Post Kaddish Scully buys Mulder a menorah. He assures her he's a multicultural guy.

@mollybecameanengineer/Sareki’s My Beloved (Tumblr)

AU-- Post Kaddish Mulder, shaken by Nazis and Hasidic Jews and Ariel, rushes into Scully's motel room and tells her his feelings.

incidental's (Alt. Tumblr) Into the Red Sea

Post Redux II Maggie finds Mulder in her church; and they have a conversation about his similarity to Moses's extended family.

Laura Blaurosen's In the Valley of Sorek

Post The Red and the Black Scully is scared to sleep. Mulder keeps her company, and later changes their flights so she can rest.

@amplifyme/wonderland/Lydia Bower’s

Reconciliation (Tumblr, Ao3)

Post All Souls Mulder picks Scully up from her church; and opens up about his religious past and current agnostic position.

denynothing1/Barbara D.'s Illuminations (Gossamer)

Post Drive Scully finds Mulder stumbling through his mother's Sabbatical routine. Tena had cut her son from the rituals, painting him with the same brush as her Nazi-sympathizing husband.

@mchalowitz's (Ao3) un-mulder

Pre-How the Ghosts Stole Christmas Scully is surprised by Mulder's storage wreath.

@90stvqueen/thesexfiles's Carol of the Narcissist and the Naysayer

AU-- Post How the Ghosts Stole Christmas Scully drops in with gifts, and opens a conversation that leads to more.

@aloysiavirgata’s (Ao3, WBM, Gossamer, LJ, Alt. LJ)

The Waters of Babylon (Ao3)

Mulder spends his time in Arcadia recalling on the one time he saw his parents in-love and happy and comparing it to his own failed marriage and relationships.

Gifts/Corundum and Ourania

Post The Goldberg Variation Mulder buys Scully wicked expensive earrings, curtesy of a local jeweler named Herschel.

Unnamed 

Post S9 Mulder and Scully, out-of-practice Jew and lapsed Catholic, spend a weekend ribbing each other over ham, lamb, and The Ten Commandments.

By Falling In And In - 3/5

AU-- William grows up with his parents... but that doesn't mean he's safe from the many misadventures and dangers of being a Mulder-Scully.

@cecilysass/cecily_sass/Cecily Sasserbaum’s The Gentle Art of Dream Interpretation (Ao3)

Mulder dreams of himself, his friends, and his enemies as French Jews during the persecution in Paris. He finds Scully outside; and the two of them finally discuss the topic-- and turn a new page.

DaynaFoxe's The Return of Samantha Mulder

AU-- Post Sein und Zeit Samantha is returned, alive and unaged. Mulder becomes her guardian; and Scully takes them both under her wing as they all readjust (Hanukkah and Christmas included.)

Beduini/beduini's Hurricane Season

AU-- S9 Mulder and Scully and William are trapped with the other disgruntled Scullys during a hurricane.

@sigritandtheelves/DarlaBlack’s Advent (Tumblr)

Mulder and Scully's Christmases develop over the years, mixing in elements of their partnership and family life as they do their best to stop Colonization and save (most of) the world.

Susan Proto's

Barbecue Series 10

AU-- S7 Maggie celebrates Mulder's Jewish holiday with he and Scully and Charlie... and Charlie is not happy.

Barbecue Series 17

AU-- S7 Tena sends her son, fresh from the hospital after a recent round of torture, a special gift.

Life Cycles 15 - The Grand Entrance

AU-- S9 Mulder joins a Jewish church; and Scully's pain tolerance is, once again, proven to be higher than expected (hint: their second child is born very fast and, one could say, very inconveniently.)

IShouldBeWriting's Together We Believe

Post IWTB Mulder's cousin draws he and Scully into a Jewish lore case. Scully sighs, resigned, and gets down to work.

@mangokiwitropicalswirl's (Ao3) The Seventh Time He Asked

IWTB (or Revival) Scully is ready, finally, to get married after listening to years of Mulder's various creative proposals.

@cock-holliday/biggayyeehaw’s Mulder, Scully, Skinner, Reyes, Doggett, and good old Cigarette Smoking Man himself were in a room with a tied-up Chris Carter

It's crack time; and CC has a lot of questions to (not) answer.

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

[90stvqueen]

After by thesexfiles

Barbara Howard/Melissa Schemmenti | Angst/Smut | Explicit | 7,617 words | Complete

After Joe asks Melissa for a divorce, Barbara offers her comfort.

“I want to,” Barbara said — it wasn’t clear if there was more to her sentence or if that was the totality of it. She cupped Melissa’s face, drawing it toward her. Her gentle touch and conflicted expression communicated what her words could not.

“You can’t,” Melissa said.

“What if I did?”

Read it here.

[angstbotfic]

Angsty's Smut Challenge Poll #2: Barbara Howard/Melissa Schemmenti

since i can't assume people like all of the different ships to do comparisons, and the overall number of fics is low, i'm breaking out the smut challenge by ship. here's the second poll

fic links:

a matter of proximity by beanierose

always an angel; never a god by thesexfiles

wild geese by vanillabeansituation

spinning on that dizzy edge by asexualizing (Specialcookies)

glory glory glory to the night that shows me what i am by thesexfiles

[thesexfiles]

always an angel; never a god by thesexfiles

Barbara Howard/Melissa Schemmenti(/Gerald Howard) | Angst/Introspective Smut | Skating the line between Mature and Explicit | 3,987 words | Complete

After dinner, Gerald, Barbara, and Melissa settle into routine.

Has she ever looked at him like that?

Her jaw goes ever-so-slack, her eyes just so slightly widen. It's beyond love but not beyond fear. Awe on her face. Reminds him of the way she looks at the ocean when they're on a cruise. Like she's seeing God.

It’s been that way for fifteen years — long before Melissa made her debut in their marital bed, long before Gerald even thought to suggest it.

Read it here.

[no1trust]

Yep, we all know the truth.

[enigmaticxbee]

A few more season 6 fics:

Ask Me Again by @sisterspooky1013 - A game of questions turns into a game of feelings. NSFW.

39+43 for the dialogue prompt by @amorfati3215 - the morning after.

The Kaleidoscope by @cecilysass - Scully's Friday night date sends a sharp, unpleasant shock through Mulder. How he reacts: three possibilities, three permutations. NSFW.

The Third by Suzanne Barringer - a late night stakeout conversation.

Long Play by Lysandra - Mulder and Scully get rid of the dust. NSFW.

The Hungry Pig by @mldrgrl - Mulder is finally forced into attending a team building workshop and the results are eye-opening.

Timing by @scullyfemme - AU where Mulder is more insistent on getting Scully to listen to his confession in Triangle. NSFW.

Carol of the Narcissist and the Naysayer by @thesexfiles - post How the Ghost Stole Christmas, NSFW.

Speechless series Speechless - Perfect - Angel Part 1 and Part 2 - Respite by Anjou - starts post Tithonus and goes AU, an old fave. NSFW.

A Winter’s Tale by Anjou - Mulder and Scully go on the run after discovering another Emily. NSFW.

Arizona Highways by Fialka - the discovery of more Emilys, an absolute classic. NSFW.

Squirm by @amplifyme - post One Son. A late-night meeting. Apologies are offered and Mulder eats some crow with a side of whisky.

Off the Record by RawPrincess - IVF arc, NSFW.

In Which “Laura” Takes “Rob” Up On It. Alone. by @edierone - mid Arcadia, NSFW.

Just Another Dinner Party by @somekindofseizure - Mulder and Scully play married at another event while on the case in Arcadia Falls.

Intimacies With Strangers by @mldrgrl - mid and post Milagro. Scully and Mulder come to terms with the past and the present due to Padgett’s supposed insights into Scully’s psyche. NSFW.

Ominous by Louise Marin - Scully and Mulder share a bed and a prophecy.

36 and Four Minutes by @mldrgrl - Based off a psychological study I read about a husband and wife team who attempted to create love in a lab.  This is set the night before The Unnatural and hopefully acts as a precursor for the season of secret sex ;)

Leather and Secrets by @somekindofseizure - post The Unnatural fluff.

Another Beautiful Saturday and Again, Forever by @sigritandtheelves - post The Unnatural, lovely, fluffy goodness and NSFW.

The Caller You Are Trying To Reach by @cecilysass - mid Three of a Kind. Mulder speaks to Scully on the phone when she's under the effects of the anoetic histamine.

Vermilion by @peaceniko - post Field Trip. Mulder and Scully experience some strange side-effects. NSFW.

S6 Rewatch - Fic Recs

Need something better to read than Padgett’s florid drivel? These are a few of my favorite season 6 fics that aren’t connected to a specific episode. This got long - turns out there are a lot of great old school casefiles that are set in season 6:

Overnight Sensation by @syntax6 - novel length casefile with great msr as Mulder and Scully try to get back in sync post Two Fathers/One Son. This is an old fave.

Amish Country by lolabeegood - great long undercover casefile. Fake married! One bed! All the good stuff. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Queen’s Gambit by Suzanne Schramm - early season 6 casefile with great angsty msr. It’s a serial killer case, but features Psychic!Scully. And a great series of motel scenes where Mulder and Scully slowly, angstily, ust-ily work their shit out. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Quietus by Allison Johnson - casefile follow up to Paper Hearts set early season 6. No overt romance, but delves into their dynamic in an interesting bittersweet way.

Lesser Evils by Hannah Mason - dramatic, tropey Scully is kidnapped, will Mulder save her in time? fic. Set post FTF, dealing with the aftermath of their almost kiss.

No Earthly Means by Circe Invidiosa aka @invidiosa - A Genderbender follow up casefile set in season 6. Great UST and an ending that harkens back perfectly to the episode’s own WTF ending. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Ensky by ViXen - serial killer casefile with some great slow burn msr. My jam.

And a few non-casefile recs as well:

Dividends and The Seven Year Itch by Suzanne Schramm - a late night motel room conversation set early season 6 and a mid season follow up. In the first the FTF almost-kiss is finally addressed and on the precipice of changing their relationship Scully says Oh god, this is it, isn't it? which just captures the irrevocability of that shift for me and why they teeter on the edge for so long. Don’t worry, RST in the second part. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

I Never and Imagine Yourself Magic by artemisx3 - takes place in early season 6 when they’re on manure duty and margaritas give them the push they need. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Opposite of Impulse by Maria Nicole - pitch perfect broken down car on a hot summer day interlude set between The Unnatural and Biogenesis.

Snow in Alabama by Tesla - offbeat little fic with a memorable motel room first kiss featuring embarrassing misunderstandings and their classic lack of communication.

Blame the Weather by @softnow - first time fic, not much plot but HOT, NSFW obviously.

Show Me by ArtemisX5 - Scully responds for once to Mulder’s late night what are you wearing jokes. NSFW. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Contemplating by Dreamshaper - a late night visit from a bored Mulder, turns surprisingly sweet. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Cherry Blossom Season by @peacenik0 - a fun, fluffy slow burn over the end of season 6, turns NSFW after The Unnatural!

The I in Team by @spookydarlablack - Sensing their discord, Skinner sends Mulder and Scully to a team-building seminar. It goes about as well you’d expect at first. It’s so satisfying to see them actually work through some of their season 6 issues.

No Regrets Compiled Part 1/Part 2/Part 3 by MystPhile - after running into Detective Kresge during the case in Arcadia Scully embarks on a journey to recover her sense of self and reconnect with the people in her life. Ultimately MSR but definitely NSFW Scully/Other. I read this years ago and was searching everywhere for it. Thank you again to @arboreta for helping me find it again! Takes place over the back half of season 6 and includes some wonderful introspection from Scully and insightful conversations with Kresge, her mother, and in the end with Mulder. (On Gossamer so if link doesn’t work you can search for it there.)

Triptych chapters 14-18 by @iconicscullyoutfits - AU where Mulder and Diana were married at the beginning of the show, but otherwise following canon. WIP but these chapters set over the course of season 6 can be read as a standalone arc (although you really should read the post FTF chapter 13 because it is FANTASTIC and sets up this season’s dynamics). Conveys the complexities and contradictions of these characters so, so well - ease and warmth and tension and heartbreak all at once.

Contact High by Penumbra - I also rec’d this under 6x21 Field Trip since it’s a post-ep but it’s one of my favorite fics of all time. A trippy, beautiful first time fic, captures Mulder and Scully and this moment perfectly. If you haven’t read it just GO.

See individual episodes S6 Rewatch posts for episode-specific fic recs.

[deirdresart]

Happy 4th? 🥴

Here’s a lil ns/fw comic drawn by me, written by thesexfiles

[thesexfilespod]

want a date night like scully’s? you can find everything you see here (sans scully herself) at Nox Shop !!

AND get 10% off w our code: thesexfiles

we are So excited about this!! check out this rad women-owned shop 🌸💗

[susezaubert]

#Yessss!!!! So so true. I adore you all! 😍

@tunemyart @yesbothways @trashyeggroll @maniacalshen @thesexfiles

on fanfic & emotional continuity

Writing and reading fanfic is a masterclass in characterisation. 

Consider: in order to successfully write two different “versions” of the same character - let alone ten, or fifty, or a hundred - you have to make an informed judgement about their core personality traits, distinguishing between the results of nature and nurture, and decide how best to replicate those conditions in a new narrative context. The character you produce has to be recognisably congruent with the canonical version, yet distinct enough to fit within a different - perhaps wildly so - story. And you physically can’t accomplish this if the character in question is poorly understood, or viewed as a stereotype, or one-dimensional. Yes, you can still produce the fic, but chances are, if your interest in or knowledge of the character(s) is that shallow, you’re not going to bother in the first place. 

Because ficwriters care about nuance, and they especially care about continuity - not just literal continuity, in the sense of corroborating established facts, but the far more important (and yet more frequently neglected) emotional continuity. Too often in film and TV canons in particular, emotional continuity is mistakenly viewed as a synonym for static characterisation, and therefore held anathema: if the character(s) don’t change, then where’s the story? But emotional continuity isn’t anti-change; it’s pro-context. It means showing how the character gets from Point A to Point B as an actual journey, not just dumping them in a new location and yelling Because Reasons! while moving on to the next development. Emotional continuity requires a close reading, not just of the letter of the canon, but its spirit - the beats between the dialogue; the implications never overtly stated, but which must logically occur off-screen. As such, emotional continuity is often the first casualty of canonical forward momentum: when each new TV season demands the creation of a new challenge for the protagonists, regardless of where and how we left them last, then dealing with the consequences of what’s already happened is automatically put on the backburner.

Fanfic does not do this. 

Fanfic embraces the gaps in the narrative, the gracenotes in characterisation that the original story glosses, forgets or simply doesn’t find time for. That’s not all it does, of course, but in the context of learning how to write characters, it’s vital, because it teaches ficwriters - and fic readers - the difference between rich and cardboard characters. A rich character is one whose original incarnation is detailed enough that, in order to put them in fanfic, the writer has to consider which elements of their personality are integral to their existence, which clash irreparably with the new setting, and which can be modified to fit, to say nothing of how this adapted version works with other similarly adapted characters. A cardboard character, by contrast, boasts so few original or distinct attributes that the ficwriter has to invent them almost out of whole cloth. Note, please, that attributes are not necessarily synonymous with details in this context: we might know a character’s favourite song and their number of siblings, but if this information gives us no actual insight into them as a person, then it’s only window-dressing. By the same token, we might know very few concrete facts about a character, but still have an incredibly well-developed sense of their personhood on the basis of their actions. 

The fact that ficwriters en masse - or even the same ficwriter in different AUs - can produce multiple contradictory yet still fundamentally believable incarnations of the same person is a testament to their understanding of characterisation, emotional continuity and narrative. 

[90stvqueen]

Fritole by thesexfiles

Barbara Howard/Melissa Schemmenti | WIP | Mature Fluff & Angst & Internalized Homophobia & Infidelity

No apology. No hello. The newcomer lifted the lid off of the container and swaggered past Barbara to grab a sticky note and a sharpie. The smell of something sweet and nutty immediately filled the room, and curiosity won over indignance. Barbara peeked into the plastic container to see what looked like small pockets of fried dough covered in confectioners’ sugar. “Fritole,” the newcomer said, scribbling something onto the sticky note. “My nonna’s recipe.” She slapped the sticky note onto the table beside the container. HELP YOURSELF. CONTAINS NUTS. She looked at Barb for the first time, her lips curled in a confident smile, and held her hand out. “Melissa Schemmenti. Who the hell are you?”

[mel5757]

Melissa Griffiths being interviewed

Please have a listen to my latest interview with NOVA Entertainment as part of podcast about transgender people like myself and Jamie another transgender female.

Link to podcast:

https://www.acast.com/thesexfiles/episode6-transgender

[ao3feed-strangerthings]

say it again

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2yvJXEa

by thesexfiles

steve has fought demodogs with nothing but a baseball bat. he has risked his life to keep a bunch of stupid kids safe. how is keeping his feelings in check around billy harder? how does it seem like so much more enormous a feat?

tw: homophobic slurs

Words: 2250, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington

Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington

Additional Tags: Shower Sex, Angst, Internalized Homophobia, Slurs, Manpain, Bisexual!Steve

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2yvJXEa

[thesexfiles]

Carol of the Narcissist and the Naysayer by thesexfiles MSR | (2/3) | Hard R | Pure fluff, not a plot in sight | Part 1 Note: This was meant to be a quick PWP holiday fic, but I took a while to write part two, so even though it’s no longer Christmas, it happens during Christmas. Also unedited so sorry for any mistakes (hmu if you’re a beta though)!

“Can it really be this easy?” she wonders aloud. Her hand finds his, their fingers interlace. She sits back and exhaustion hits her. Physical, existential. They have both been running for so long. To sit in silence like this and really ponder their future together is to lose all momentum and collapse. 

Would this have happened sooner if she’d just said something? If she’d bought him a pornographic VHS earlier into their partnership? If she’d quit ignoring his stolen glances to her lips sooner on and made him put his money where his mouth is?

“Mulder,” she says, turning her head and opening her eyes. His mouth crashes against her jaw, undeterred from having missed its mark. In the last three and a half minutes (or so she assumes without having looked at her new watch), she has learned that Fox Mulder is a very good kisser. “Mulder!”

He stops kissing her, sits back, peels off his jacket. She’s feeling a little hot, herself. “We still haven’t actually discussed our feelings,” she says.

He looks at her with eyes half-lidded. She doesn’t know if it’s exhaustion or desire. Knowing them, it’s a healthy mix of the two.

“What’s there to say?” he says, leaning forward to kiss her again. She gently pushes him back with one hand, and he obliges.

“Plenty, Mulder. I can’t deny that I’m…attracted to you,” she says, “but we work together. That complicates matters. Besides that, we’re both tired and probably feeling a little more sentimental than normal because it’s Christmas. Are we thinking rationally?”

“Well, I’m Jewish, so it’s definitely not Christmas sentimentality on my end,” Mulder says, putting his hands up. “My thoughts have been clear as air since Hanukkah ended last week.”

Scully laughs. “You don’t even celebrate Hanukkah.”

“Exactly. So I’m thinking as rationally as anyone who doesn’t have any major winter holidays to stress out over.”

He smiles at her and her stomach twists. She has wanted this, wanted him, for so long, and denied that want every time it resurfaced. Now here he is, offering himself to her, lips wet and red as poinsettias.

“Can it really be this easy?” she wonders aloud. Her hand finds his, their fingers interlace. She sits back and exhaustion hits her. Physical, existential. They have both been running for so long. To sit in silence like this and really ponder their future together is to lose all momentum and collapse. And yet here she is, and here he is, and if they allow themselves to collapse now, it is into each other.

“Scully, you know so many things,” says Mulder. “You know Beethoven from Bach. You know the name of every bone in the human body. You know how to listen and what to say. How is it that you don’t know how easy this could be?”

Scully sighs. “It’s never been easy for me, Mulder. I’m 34 years old and the most serious relationship I’ve ever had was with a married professor. I don’t know how to do it.”

“You say that like our relationship up to this point has been fun and games,” Mulder says. She can’t tell if he’s serious or not, only that he’s looking at her with an intensity he usually reserves for the stars.

“That’s not what I mean, Mulder.” She shifts her body toward him, crosses her legs underneath her so she can see him. So she can let herself be looked at. “You know what I meant.”

"Well… I guess the question is whether we allow our relationship to reflect our feelings, or if we continue working strictly in a professional manner,” he says. She’s surprised by his pragmatism, although it’s been a long time since she’s considered their relationship strictly professional. Strictly professional would be calling only during office hours, no lingering touches, no roundabout scenic drives on their way to investigate a case. Strictly professional ended the day she dropped her robe so he could check her lower back for supposed alien death spots. Strictly professional lasted for a day, and they’ve been running together in limbo ever since.

"How do you feel?” Scully asks. “What do you want?”

“I don’t think there’s any question of what I want,” he says sadly. She furrows her brows, tries to find the source of his sobriety. Has he already given up on her? When she just spent the last few minutes practically in his lap, her tongue in his mouth?

She uncrosses her legs. Leans into him and plants a soft kiss on his lips, her hand coming to rest on the back of his neck.

"It isn’t my only pleasure in life,” she says, “to prove you wrong.”

She crawls onto his lap, straddling his legs. Biology is funny. She knows she can’t conceive, and yet her body still wants. From an evolutionary standpoint, an infertile woman had no need for the continued production of hormones, pheromones. And here she is, wanting him. She sits up on her knees and looks into his eyes, waiting for a response.

“Will it change the way we work together?” Mulder says. “If we do this?”

“Probably,” Scully says, running her fingers through the short cropped strands of hair at the base of his scalp. His legs shift under her. “No.”

“No?” he repeats.

“Well, it’s not like this is casual for either of us.” She watches his chest rise and fall, a silent breath of relief.

“I don’t want to assume anything,” he says. “I’ve made plenty of assumptions about how you feel and what you want without asking you.”

“You can assume I’m not going to just fuck you and then ask for a transfer,” Scully says. “Mulder, you’re my best friend. And I… I do love you.” She grimaces at how young the words sound coming from her, how clumsy. But the beaming smile Mulder gives her washes all her self-doubt away.

"The truth comes out,” he says.

She’s mid-”shut up, Mulder” when he kisses her, pulling her to him with his fingertips in her hair, cupping her face.

He doesn’t need to say it now; he’ll say it another time. His lips are put to better practice kissing hers. Truth be told, she’s known he loved her long before she ever realized the feeling was mutual.

The song from the grocery store, the one she can recall from every midnight mass and every caroling trip, plays in her head now as she kisses him back. Silent night. Her tongue slides along his. They’ve always found just as much comfort in silence as in speech. Just as much tension. The only sound in the room is her breath mingling with his. She breathes him in like an animal, presses a kiss to his neck and licks off some of the sweat that has accumulated there.

Holy night. His hands grip her thighs. She presses down onto him. She’s always pressing him for hard evidence, and here she has it between her legs. He wants this just as much as she does. Wants her. Butterflies rise up in her stomach. Did she ever think this was really going to happen? Did she ever think she would let it?

All is calm. Her heart pounds against his chest. She begins to grind her hips, growing frantic. Their kisses turn sloppy, two open mouths panting in unison. His fingernails lightly scratch along her side, drawing goosebumps.

All is bright. The only light illuminating the room is the streetlight outside of Mulder’s window. A sliver of moonlight hits his face, and he stares at her with reverence. They move together, fully clothed, like teenagers on his couch.

“Is this okay?” she whispers. She means this, this desperate act of frottage. She could take off her shirt, could lead him to his bedroom, but she’s so tired and this admission of love was so poorly planned. If she’d thought she was coming here tonight for this, she’d have taken a shower, shaved, changed into nicer underwear. She’s not physically prepared for sex tonight. “I mean, tonight I don’t think…”

“This is great,” he pants. “This is…”

He can’t finish his sentence, a fact that turns her on even more. She hasn’t dry-humped since she was probably 17, but she doesn’t have it in her to be embarrassed about it. He is rock-hard between her legs, his hands gripping her hips to push her down on him harder. She adjusts her legs, finds the right angle that will make this actually happen for her. Begins to let out quiet moans, little breaths of encouragement.

It’s quick and sloppy, the way they move together, they way they kiss. The rise and fall, the way he kisses her neck and whispers, “come on, Scully, yes” and palms her ass. She grows louder, her voice joining the rusting sound of cloth rubbing against cloth and his own quiet breaths, puncturing this otherwise silent night. She clutches his shoulders when she comes, rocking herself against him with every wave that rocks through her body.

Now she is whispering, “Come on, Mulder,” her fingers at the nape of his neck again, pulling his hair. For once, he does what she tells him to do, coming with a shudder. She watches his face, the look of concentration she’s seen so many times applied to this primal act. The way his eyes close and his mouth opens. She watches a dark wet spot appear at the front of his jeans.

Now that they’ve finished, she doesn’t know what to do. She’s never been good at this part, which is probably why she’s had so few (okay, one) one-night stands. How long does she stay like this, her legs beginning to cramp on either side of his? Is Mulder a cuddler, and is there room for that on his couch?

He saves her from having to make a decision on what to do. “Uhm, I’m going to go clean myself up.”

“Okay,” she says, climbing off his lap. It’s been too long for her, and even this will leave her legs stiff and sore tomorrow. Or maybe she’s just getting old. She admires his back as he walks away, unused to the strangeness of being allowed to openly look at him without fearing he’ll see her checking him out. It’s liberating. It’s terrifying.

She sinks into the couch and waits for him, and the exhaustion returns. She closes her eyes, just for a second. She’ll just doze until he comes back. This really is a very comfortable couch, she thinks. She understands now why he falls asleep on it so often.

“Scully?”

Bleary-eyed, she lifts her head, disoriented. “Hm?”

"Uh, you fell asleep.”

She opens her eyes fully. It’s still dark out, but that means nothing. The short days make it impossible to tell what time it is. “What time is it?” she asks.

“It’s 5:30,” he says sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I know you said you were due at your mother’s at 6.”

“Shit,” she says, sitting upright. “I have to go.” She looks down at herself, at her work pants and her blazer. She can’t imagine what her hair must look like right now, or her makeup. “I, uh - I have to run home and change.”

“I know,” he says. “Will you call me later?”

He looks so young, so vulnerable. She smiles even though his fragility makes her sad. She works hard to not let any trace of emotion slip through the cracks of her shell, and he wears everything on his face, completely unaware of his own intensity. She loves him, so she loves this about him.

“Of course,” she says, and he follows her to the door. She kisses him chastely, acutely aware of her morning breath but even more aware of the way her lips tingle as she pulls away. “Merry Christmas, Mulder.”

“Merry Christmas, Scully.”

[danceswithpsychos]

Lord forgive me, for I have sinned. 🚬☠🔥 new video coming soon 💁🏻 "dang, I get sexual 😏" putting the mac down, in your head vs reality #epicfails #thesexfiles

[kingtrawww]

👀 "..from Texas 🇨🇱 what's next" | #TrillTape2 & #theseXFiles | King Trawww™ We Not Pressed© (@beyonce's from Texas)

[verychilly]

sexy