#x-files au I think

[formulafics]

★ MINI…ER LANDO | LN4

scenario: in which lando and his wife reveal her pregnancy to the world (request)

pairing: lando norris x wife!reader

a/n: dad lando anyone? he’s a girl dad and that’s all. this one is super short and sweet, but i hope you all enjoy! i’m totally up to doing more dad lando if anyone wants it

PART TWO | PART THREE

requests open for smau’s | check pinned for more info

ynnorris

liked by landonorris, danielricciardo, alex_albon, oscarpiastri, mclaren, and 336,789 others

ynnorris the last month - one of the best 🧡

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landonorris cant wait for baby norris

⤷ ynnorris cant wait either ☹️❤️

carlossainz55 congratulations 🎉

danielricciardo aren’t you guys still babies?

⤷ ynnorris very funny daniel

⤷ danielricciardo you know i’m just playing. on a real note, congratulations ❤️

georgerussel63 congratulations, yn!

⤷ ynnorris thank you george 🥰

mclaren new line of babies merch ✍🏻 got it.

lewishamilton happy for you both - you’re gonna be good parents. wishing you a safe pregnancy. 🙏🏻❤️

lando.jpg

liked by ynnorris, georgerussel63, daniel3.jpg, carlossainz55, maxfewtrell, team_quadrent and 392,125 others

lando.jpg as of late…

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danielricciardo i thought my lecture on protection was really good. i guess not. 😞 congrats mate! cant wait to meet the little fella ❤️

maxfewtrell can the baby replace you on stream?

⤷ landonorris no

georgerussel63 mate i think you have a bit of pregnancy glow going on there

⤷ alex_albon he does, doesn’t he?

⤷ albonoformula HELP WHY IS GEORGE FUNNY

charles_leclerc i volunteer to babysit

⤷ ynnorris you’ll babysit lando? 🥹

⤷ landonorris 😐

norrisnation yn and lando are an old married couple at the ripe age of 24

⤷ estiebesties I KNOW I LOVE THEM

[flightlessribbons]

Lady and the tramp 💜

[carefulfears]

knowing you, you have probably talked about it before but i’d really love to know what you think about mulder’s savior/sacrificial lamb complex. i think it was csm that mentioned in amor fati that mulder’s hero complex would be the end of him one way or the other and it always reminds me of this essay “the gods show up” where the “tragic hero” is described as a human who’s by fate already dead, but keeps talking and trying for the sake of something bigger anyway (aka that post where you said mulder belongs to scully but that just ends up being the reason for her hurt because he also belongs to something bigger that doesn’t care for his well being). strangely it also reminds me of that interview where dd said “mulder is a guy who has been given the problems as jesus” lol.

this is such a beautiful question...the first thing that you have to understand is that i genuinely view fox mulder as a benevolent second coming of christ and every written word stems from the point of view of its author, so. the second is that i think duchovny had an understanding of the character that made that story/franchise what it was and his description of a "profoundly human model of christ" in writing the base-work of amor fati (a conflict between larger purpose and desire for normal life) is as unironically insightful as it is extremely funny. the third is that when mr. x shoves mulder against the wall of the hospital garage in one breath and tells him "i used to be you. but you're not me, mulder, i don't think you have the heart" - it's as much endorsement as it is damnation.

if you look at these two quotes from the amor fati dream

CSM to mulder: "You've suffered enough - for the X-Files, for your partner, for the world. You're not Christ. You're not Prince Hamlet. You're not even Ralph Nader. You can walk out of this hospital and the world will forget you."

and later, mulder to diana: "I have commitments-- to the X-Files, to Scully, to my sister."

CSM is meant to be playing the role of the literal last temptation, the snake-like figure that has to lead his prey astray. but those three things that mulder still has his sights on (the x-files, scully, samantha) are three things that nobody else is dedicated to. nobody else is going to keep those cases open and search for answers and care about those victims. nobody else is scully's partner: working with her, looking after her, fighting with and for her. nobody else is inspiring her. nobody else is remembering his sister, missing her, looking for her. the mother that leaves him in a hospital room in this episode, is burning last signs of life a few chapters later.

i've seen people argue that the problem with this episode and its larger arc is that "CSM is right and the episode thinks he's wrong" but i don't think he is right. i don't think he thinks he's right. i think he's doing a job and mulder is doing a job, both playing their roles, and his thesis is that mulder has done "enough" and suffered "enough" for his list of commitments- but what's enough when no one is gonna tag you out? when the speaker is waiting for a clear shot? (i'm reminded here of one of my favorite audries fic lines: "he sits on the bed, the line of his shoulders going curved and uneven. even hercules would have dropped the weight of this world.")

which is all to say (and remember my point#1 at the top), that i wouldn't describe mulder's "savior complex" as even really being a complex, i think it's just the world. i used to talk about sometimes how moving it is to me that mulder was born into this world and was always going to die for this cause and the story is about people who choose to follow. who have every opportunity available to them and want to do this work at any cost. who won't leave him in it alone, at any cost.

it's scully at the end of the road saying that she would do it "all over again."

it's skinner's "if given the choice between advancing my career by being blindly loyal to some faceless puppeteers pulling strings from the shadows, or to throw in with you two, make no mistake about it. i'd make the same decision every single damn time."

and anon i really love that quote you shared, which is from the gods show up by michael kinnucan: "The center of every tragedy is the image of a human being who has already died but keeps talking, someone whose face is a mask."

which, as you alluded, is what i define as the tragedy of mulder's character. that he was always going to die for the cause he was born into ("there is no other version of this story") and perhaps more tragic: that people depend on him, at any cost. that scully dedicates her life to someone who will list her as his tethering responsibility, but who doesn't belong to her. cannot be predominantly responsible to her, of her. harsh punishment for fruitful crimes.

[soupinaboot]

X-files Steddie au when?

[nachosncheezies]

People like Bill Jr. got all kinds of things wrong about Scully but probably none moreso than thinking it was tragic that Mulder was dragging her along on some descent into madness, when actually the real tragedy was how few of the people she loved ever realized it wasn't a descent.

(It couldn't be bc 1. it's not madness and 2. she was already there.)

[shitouttabuck]

wip wednesday

tagged by @rewritetheending @onward--upward and @alyxmastershipper 💓💓💓

i haven’t reeeeally started writing anything other than planning this out broadly because it’s very plot heavy but got a little lost thinkin about the intimacy of shaving the other day so this is from x files au in some shitty shared motel room while they’re cryptid hunting or chasing aliens idk we’ll figure it out

When he emerges, hair towelled dry and in clean clothes, Eddie frowns at him. “What?” he asks. “Promise I didn’t finish all the hot water.” “No, you just look—” Eddie gestures at Buck’s face, “—scruffier than usual.” “Oh,” Buck says, running a hand over his day-four stubble. “I forgot my razor.” “Oh,” Eddie’s face clears, “just use mine.” Buck swallows. “Um. Okay. Thanks.” Eddie nods at him and goes back to squinting at his phone, so Buck about-faces and re-enters the bathroom. It’s not a big deal, he tells himself as he foams up his face. It’s like—like sharing a hairbrush. Intimate, sure, not something you’d tend to do with people you don’t know well, but it’s not a big deal.  He wets the razor and brings it to his throat, heart hammering there so violently it feels like his Adam’s apple is trying to get out. If his hand doesn’t stop trembling he’s going to nick himself, and God, he is being absolutely fucking ridiculous. Deep breath. The razor glides over the thin skin of his throat, muscle memory even as he stares at himself in the mirror. Doesn’t think about Eddie doing this every morning, using this very razor. Blade edge kissing his jaw the same way it kisses Eddie’s. Doesn’t think about Eddie doing this for him, hand holding his chin as he shaves Buck carefully, grip firm when he turns Buck’s face this way and that. Doesn’t think about Eddie kissing where the blade kissed him first.  Doesn’t think about any of that when he rinses the razor clean and slots it back into the travel mug, where Buck’s toothbrush rests against Eddie’s with such easy familiarity it’s about to spark a whole new crisis. 

tagging @try-set-me-on-fire @jeeyuns @housewifebuck @anxieteandbiscuits @forthewolves @zahlibeth @athenagranted @buckactuallys @transboybuckley @icecreampotluck @diazblunt if you have anything to share today or later!

[baylardian-1]

i bring a sort of cringe naenae tf agenda to the x files fandom

[television-overload]

An X-Files 13 Going on 30 AU where Mulder is the weird kid next door that's completely in love with his best friend and she doesn't realize it send post

[seleneprince]

By the way, in my fem! Snape au (known as Sevrina Snape), she and Evan become lovers eventually and, during the Second Wizarding War, they end up having a daughter

This is her:

She looks just like her father, with all the Rosier features and all, but she has her mother's eyes and pale skin. Signature traits of the Prince family.

Regardless of whether Evan and Sevrina actually get married and love each other or they just have a friends with benefits kind of deal, they always conceive her. And Evan is killed by Alastor Moody along with Wilkes, leaving them both.

Ah, and just like Snape's daughter from my other au, she was born with a particular condition because of her mother...

[unknownarmageddon]

“I will not ask where you came from; I will not ask and neither should you”

Is this anything

Killer belongs to Rahafwabas Cross belongs to Jael Peñaloza Apocalyptic Kross AU belongs to me and @denieatsart

Lyrics from the song Like Real People Do by Hozier

[emerald-onion]

SCP-404: Abomination #1

Item #:  SCP-404

Object Class:  Apollyon

Special Containment Procedures:  SCP-404 is to be contained in a standard humanoid S-2 containment cell, but has permission to roam around the Site as it pleases. The cell must be deprived of any colors and furniture and will only be decorated or furnished further if the subject specifically requests it. Any monitoring equipment placed inside the cell must be small and hidden. Attempts at interviewing SCP-404 must be treated with caution. Under no circumstances are direct testing procedures are allowed to be performed on the subject.

SCP-404's requests must be approved immediately but not before undergoing intense review to discern any attempts at breaching containment or harming others. So far, the subject has requested:

A bean bag

A Samsung QN90B Television

Knitting needles

Myopic glasses

Various kinds of yarn

The Russian Drama TV Series Undernovela

Doll stuffing

Description:  SCP-404, also referred to as Error, is a black glitchy skeleton monster with a color palette mainly consisting of dark reds/reds, dark blues/blues, yellows, oranges, and blacks. The subject has two unsymmetrical eyes, one a small yellow pupil and the other a circle with yellow, blue, and black. Its preferred attire is a black hoodie, a red shirt, black shorts, and black slippers. The subject's body seems to be in a state of constant glitching with its pitch shifting through different octaves in a short period of time.

SCP-404 is able to summon multiple dragon-head-like blasters, which will fire black energy beams capable of obligating everything on their way. It can also produce sharp bone structures and use high-density blue strings. If tied into a victim's 'SOUL', the subject is able to use the strings to puppet them to its liking. A brain scan displays that instances of SCP-404's victims are still conscious and highly aware of their physical states.

SCP-404 has told the Foundation that it is fully capable of reality hopping, and while there is still some doubt, many believe that this ability is what allowed it to escape on [REDACTED]

SCP-404 has a domain that, at first glance, seems to be made of nothing but whiteness. SCP-404 names this domain the Anti-Void. Testings on the Anti-Void have been unsuccessful due to the subject's uncooperative nature.

SCP-404 displays a highly volatile and unpredictable personality, having had several mood swings that often result in mass destruction, especially when things don't go its way. Aside from a few exceptions, the subject is hostile to all living beings, expressing clear delight in tormenting the D-Class and Foundation personnel alike.

It is a certainty that SCP-404 is capable of breaching containment anytime and only chooses to stay out of its attachment toward a few of the Foundation's personals. These people include:

Dr. Sans

Agent Red

Agent Blue

Dr. Outer

Dr. Ink

"SCP-404 definitely holds a special fondness toward Dr.Ink, but sometimes it acts almost... guilty around them. There's something we still haven't known yet. Further investigation is required.

-Dr.Sans"

Observations have desmonstrated that their presence has a pacifying effect on the subject and it will not hesitate to terminate anyone who tries to bring harm to the them.

No one knows the origin of SCP-404, even itself. It was found by Dr.Blue from Site [REDACTED] on DD/MM/YY in a distressed and confused state. Three months after its recovery, SCP-404 breached containment, resulting in the death of hundreds of people. Any attempt at re-capturing it had not only been futile but also disastrous to both the surrounding area and Foundation's resources. It wasn't until the success of  Agent Prism that SCP-404 is once again contained.

Addendum SCP-404-A: Although SCP-404 may have an attachment toward Agent Red, please under no circumstances should we let them in a room together. SCP-404 will belittle him, and Agent Red will push back.

Addendum SCP-404-B: Do not let SCP-404 meet SCP-90. We don't need what happened in Incident 2112 to happen again.

Addendum SCP-404-C: Any relation SCP-404 may have with the missing Dr. Geno has never been verified and anyone who tries to spread rumors that may indicate otherwise will be punished accordingly.

[penelopwgarcia]

tyler: I think this is a sweet comfort house

wednesday: I mean we didn't catch anything in there, do you?

tyler: I think I could be thrown all the way across the room and my first thought would be the wind

wednesday: uhum, pretty windy on here

enid, on her solo investigation, screaming from the attic: I HATE IT HERE I HATE THIS PLACE AAAAAAAAAA

tyler: did you hear anything?

wednesday: I think she's having fun

[daisychainsandbowties]

Paprika is the troublemaker, Bay Leaf is the matchmaker.

“I assure you, there was a noise at regular intervals.”

“Until I came in the room?” Ava asks.

“Correct. It did not stop when Camila investigated. She suggested a ghost in the machine,” Beatrice frowns. “Hello, Lilith. Have you… misplaced Paprika?”

“No, but Bay Leaf has gone on a walkabout; if you see them let me know?”

“Maybe Baby spice is the ghost in the machine,” Ava laughs, removing a cover panel to find a cephalopod that has clearly been tapping a pipe with one of Beatrice’s mechanical pencils. “Holy shit!”

“Language!”

lilith tuts at bay leaf the whole way back to the aquarium, ‘i can’t comprehend what makes you so certain that your interference is even necessary with those two’ & almost shrieks when cam materializes out from among a couple of empty tanks with paprika draped scarflike around her neck.

the two of them stand there. cam looking dashing with her artfully tousled curls and her little grin and paprika wearing his natural red and orange and burnt umber.

lilith, meanwhile, looks perplexed. dressed in her lab coat, which is perpetually stained with fish-guts. bay leaf has one arm stuck to her cheek and he’s trying to climb up out of her arms.

less than dashing, if you aren’t biased when it comes to marine biologists. and camila certainly is.

cam laughing and saying, ‘oh so i was right - it was a ghost in the machine.’

lilith: ‘i don’t-’

cam: ‘it’s a Greek theater thing. you know, deus ex machina.’

lilith: ‘oh… i didn’t know you liked Greek theater.’

cam: ‘uh, well, i like Medea as much as the next person but i know it mostly because of The Matrix. you’d like it, i think. says some pretty interesting things about gender, reality. the monsters are kind of chthonic.’

lilith: ‘right.’

lilith: ‘i have to go.’

cue paprika slapping one arm over cam’s face to save her the trouble of putting her head in her hands.

cam: ‘lilith wait!… we’re going in the same direction.’

but all she’s left with is the sweep of lilith’s white coat disappearing around the corner, the lingering smell of saltwater and gore.

(bay leaf grabbing very dramatically onto the wall when lilith turns the corner, forcing her to stop and gently pry his suckers off the plaster while blushing furiously)

camila sighs, looks at paprika, ‘c'mon buddy, let’s get you back home.’

‘your mom is really weird.’

[gebediahhhhhhh]

“see, Scully, I’m such a good friend, I’m arranging you a hookup in the middle of investigation with a guy you find hot although I’m a little bit jealous”

[green-fifteen]

Day 2: unauthorized surveillance in the boys room

Prompt: Eavesdrop Fandom: X-Files (TV) Pairing: Scully & Mulder / Gen Summary: In a world where Scully and Mulder meet as Dana and Fox, two teenagers take on a high-stakes case. (I wrote a high school AU for some reason.) Word count: 2,889 read on AO3 instead

for @fluffyfebruary

Fox opens his locker and dumps his books inside. They land noisily in an uncomfortable-looking pile. He can hear the locker to his right opening as he shuffles through the mess of papers on his shelf. Where is his damn essay?

The girl next to him tucks a few strands of orange hair behind her ear and adjusts something neatly within her own locker, then closes and locks it. There's a tall boy standing at her side who looks like he was sculpted by the head coach to fill out a football jersey. Fox looks away from them when he bends his head to kiss her.

"Come to practice?" he hears.

"I can't today. There's a lab after school."

"Danaaaaa," he whines. Fox wrinkles his nose and his search starts to feels a little more desperate. He hates it when he has to listen to this guy. If he could just find that stupid essay! He knows it's here somewhere. He wrote it a whole week in advance, then put it in his locker for safe keeping until it was due. Which it is. Right now.

"Maybe you could come over for dinner tonight, when you're finished. Mom keeps asking me to invite you, even though I told her I have. Like seven times. She wants to meet you."

"I'll try. I'll be real tired after practice, though. How about I call you when I get home and let you know then?"

"Okay. I think my dad is making pasta, so there'll be plenty if you decide to come. I hope you do."

They're quiet after that while they lean in to kiss each other again, this time longer and more noisy. Fox scrambles through his mess one last time and finally spots what he's looking for. He nearly crows in triumph, but a glance at his watch shows him he doesn't have time to celebrate. He has to be on the other side of the building in one minute. He slams his locker shut and dashes down the hall, away from Dana and away from her lying boyfriend.

For Fox, school is (mostly) easy and very boring. As his report cards show, he doesn't have any trouble performing above the standard, academically (if you ignore his D+ in German). His extracurriculars are impressive, too; he's a cross country runner, and a whiz on the debate team.

The people at his school are also very boring. And, in a sense, they're also easy. There are lots of 'in-groups' that he's noticed: mean and pretty people, technology obsessives, artistic flunkies, just to name a few. Despite not caring about any of the things that bind these groups together, he's managed to become friendly with almost all of them. It's all surface level for him, though. It isn't that he doesn't care about people, or that he doesn't want to have real friends. It's just that everyone he goes to school with is too easy to read.

Take Dana's boyfriend as an example. He doesn't want to meet Dana's parents, likely because he doesn't take their relationship seriously. Despite this, he feeds her fake and obvious excuses to string her along, pretending he's as serious as she is. Once, Fox heard him say he "needs to clean the oven," after Dana invited him to her sister's birthday party.

And, unfortunately, Fox is never taken in by the little lies people tell to make and keep relationships. He hopes it will be easier when he's older, but at 17, he sometimes feels like he's the only genuine person he knows.

After he turns in his essay and manages to stay awake through the rest of class, he strides back to his locker. Dana is already there, bending to arrange her textbooks into some kind of order. When he opens his locker, she straightens and turns to face him.

"Hey, Fox," she says, voice friendly. It isn't hard to hear the nervous tension underneath it.

"Hi, Dana," he replies. He's pulling his folders from his backpack, tugging them out three or four at a time.

There's a moment of silence where he knows she's chewing on her lip. "You heard what Paul said today, right?"

Fox snorts and looks at her. Her face is a little pink and her eyes keep darting to him and away again. She holds her mouth in a straight line. He can't help but feel sorry for her.

"Yeah, I heard him."

"Do you think…" the words catch in her mouth, but she soldiers on. "He's not coming over for dinner, is he?"

He tries on a gentle smile, then says, as kindly as he can, "I don't think so."

She straightens her back and turns to lean on the front of her locker. Her entire posture signals determination to him all of a sudden, and he gets an uneasy feeling.

"Okay," she says. "I want proof."

"Proof?"

"Yes. No offense, but I'm not sure if I can totally trust your perspective on the situation. I don't know you that well." She shakes her head and the white light in the hallway glints gold off her glasses. "I want to break up with him. I think I need to. But I want to be sure."

He nods, slowly. "And you are going to do this… how, exactly?"

She faces him fully, arms crossed and gaze direct. "I need your help."

Fox feels his eyes go wide.

He's only spoken to Dana Scully twice since the beginning of the school year. The first time it happened, he'd been rushing to cross country and he was already late. He'd closed his locker and immediately lunged into her. Their books and homework pages had flown across the hallway and they'd worked together to sort everything. He didn't have much time for pleasantries, but when she'd said "I'm Dana," he'd said, "Fox," and "Nice to meet you," before sprinting away.

The second time was only five or six days before now. She'd been humming to herself, rummaging around in a bag of cosmetics. He'd been leaning against the locker on the other side of his, fiddling with an origami crane. He couldn't get the neck to fold correctly. Boyfriend Paul had come up and startled both of them, his huge hand slapping on metal.

"You look like a fish when you make that face," he'd said. "Like some deep sea thing with huge eyes."

She'd whacked him hard with a notebook and then they'd kissed. Their interaction after that had been almost identical to the one Fox saw today. Dana had asked him to come over, Paul had said "Sorry, Dana, I volunteered to babysit my nephew tonight," and then he'd gone away again.

And apparently, that was enough to push Fox over a line he didn't even know he'd been toeing.

"He's not going to come over," he'd said.

Dana had been surprised to hear him talk, at first. Then she'd been angry.

"Excuse me?"

"You have to know he's stringing you along."

"I don't--" she spluttered. "As a matter of fact, it is none of your business." She kept her voice low as she turned away from him, stuffing her backpack in an uncharacteristically haphazard fashion.

"Listen," he pressed. In for a penny, in for a pound. "I just wanna know why. Why are you still with that guy?"

She laughed like she was being forced to. "Oh, I see what this is. You're--"

"I'm not coming onto you." He ran a hand over his clammy forehead. "It's just been bothering me."

She slammed her locker shut and didn't meet his eyes. "Well, now you're bothering me." As she walked away, she looked like she'd like to turn back and say something else, something really biting. She appeared to think better of it and just marched away from him instead. Her orange ponytail swung in lockstep with her stride.

Now she's asking him for help.

"What?" he says, mouth hanging open a little.

She ignores him. "Football practice is tonight. Paul will be in the locker room in about," she checks her watch. "Fifteen minutes."

Fox just gapes at her.

"You're in cross country, right? I looked you up in the yearbook." He nods. "Good. And where are you going now?"

He looks at her with suspicious eyes. "Cross country."

"Perfect." She closes her locker with a bang like a striking gavel. "You'll take me with you."

"You can just go to the track yourself," he says. "You don't need me to take you there."

"No," she clarifies. "I want you to take me to the locker room."

Fox tries to argue, he really tries. He isn't nearly invested enough in this relationship to risk being punished when they get caught. He speaks at length to this point, at a rising volume. Unfortunately, Dana has a strategy of her own. She gives just as good as she gets while they argue, but then, when Fox has had enough and stomps away, she follows him. Realizing she'll just follow him all the way to the locker room, he takes an awkward minute to re-evaluate the situation, Dana standing fuming behind his back.

"You really think you're going to see or hear something about you?" he asks.

"Well, no, of course not. Not naturally, anyway."

He sighs. "You want me to bring it up." She nods. "But I don't even know Paul, I have never spoken to him!"

Dana gives him a hard look. "Fox, if it bothers you so much to listen to him lie, you should be happy to get him to tell the truth."

And she's right, he realizes.

That's how they find themselves in the empty locker room, mere minutes from being discovered, Dana's hands over her face while Fox changes faster than he ever has in his life.

"Okay, get in," he says, once he's crammed his school clothes into his backpack and placed everything on the hook. She's lucky the bottom of his locker in here is much emptier than his regular one.

She folds herself down into the cramped space and gives him a thumbs up. Before he closes it, he says, "You won't be able to say anything after I close this."

"I know." She looks annoyed.

"So do you want to say anything?"

"Yeah." She glares up at him, her eyes the only part of her that isn't in shadow. "Close the damn door, Fox."

He sits on the bench with his homework in his hands as the other athletes trickle in. The pages are just a prop-- he's listening for Paul, who comes in after a few minutes with a group of football players, laughing raucously. They're at a different group of lockers, somewhere behind him. His cross country teammates have already arrived and are making noise and chatting too loudly for Fox to make out what the footballers are saying, so he stands and pretends to stretch.

Then, his heart pounding, he sidles over to his teammate, Collins. "You know Dana Scully?"

Collins looks confused. "Yes? She's in my history class."

He makes himself fidget, like he's nervous to be asking, and says, "Does she have a boyfriend?"

"Why are you asking me? I hardly know her."

"Well, who might know? Could you ask around?"

He heaves a put-upon sigh, but walks over to another of their teammates and speaks to them. From there, it isn't long until one of them darts gleefully over to the football players.

Paul's voice cracks over their heads like a whip, halting all conversation.

"Who the hell is asking?"

And then he's coming around the corner, looking pissed off. His jersey hangs on his shoulders at a weird angle, like he just got it over his head before he came over.

"Mulder? You wanna date my girlfriend?"

Fox is a little afraid, he'll admit it. Some of the blood from his face seems to drain into his feet, pumping in and preparing him to run.

"Oh, uh." He looks around. Everyone is watching them, eyes darting from one to the other. The football players are leaning around the corner, wide grins on their faces. Even the swimmers have come around to see what's happening, padding over barefoot in their swimsuits.

"I was just asking if she was dating anybody. I didn't know she was your girlfriend. I don't even care about her that much." He's aware that this could be the fatal flaw of their entire plan-- that this innocent act depends on Paul being so blithely unobservant that he never noticed Fox listening to their conversations at Dana's locker.

"Well, now you know, idiot. Watch your mouth."

Well, there's that. Still, Fox knows he should to be very careful about what he says next. He's still not really sure how this is going to play out. What if he was wrong about him? He takes a deep breath.

"I will. I'm just curious, though-- how did you land a girl like that?"

Paul's eyes flash dangerously, but he laughs. "Oh man, Mulder. You did not just say that." The rest of the football team is laughing, too.

"No, I'm serious. Dana is great. How did you get her attention?"

Paul sobers and looks right into Mulder's eyes. "Dana is a redhead and boring as hell. I have never met a chick who talks more about her grades. On the other hand, I could date anyone I wanted in this school. Do you know why I'm still with her?"

Fox shakes his head.

"Because she's almost ready, man." At this, the footballers holler and make lewd gestures. Fox interprets them correctly.

"You think she'll have sex with you?"

One of the football players guffaws. "It's been two years! She'd better put out after two years!"

Another one says, "I wouldn't be surprised if she gives it up tonight."

Furrowing his brow, Fox asks, "What's tonight?"

Paul takes a menacing step closer. "What's it to you, dork? Why are you asking these questions? Researching how to make Dana fall in love with you?"

"Is she in love with you?" he asks, and it sounds like a challenge.

Paul's nostrils flare but he turns his head. "What do you think? She's been begging me to meet her family. Trying to take me tux shopping for prom. Of course she's in love with me." As he speaks, he's scanning the room just like Fox had, gauging the reactions from their classmates.

"And tonight," he says, almost grandly like he's making a royal announcement, "I'm gonna tie off the net."

"What does that mean?" he asks, honestly puzzled.

"I'm gonna come over for family dinner and convince her to go all the way." He says it like he thinks Fox is an idiot for needing an explanation.

After that, the locker room is a chorus of hooting and jabbering. Paul turns away from Fox to sneer something to his friends when a whistle suddenly cuts through the noise-- time to hit the field. Before he's tugged away, Paul looks at Mulder again.

"Maybe you can date her when I'm finished, jerk. Hope you like sloppy seconds."

And then he's gone, rushing away to football practice.

When everyone is gone and the locker room is empty again, Fox realizes he's smiling. He feels incredible. It had taken no time at all to get Paul to spill his guts to him, and he was right about everything! Well, Paul was planning to go to Dana's house for dinner tonight, but he really had been stringing her along the rest of the time! And what a confession it was-- not only the incriminating evidence he wanted, but even more besides! This proves Paul was operating with forethought, that he'd planned to use Dana in this way for a long time--

A thump comes from his locker and Fox spins the combination into the lock, feeling triumphant. He flings it open and grins at Dana.

She's still crouched in the same position, but now her face is hidden in her knees. The smile dies on his lips as he takes in the way her shoulders are shaking and the near-silent gasps of air he can hear despite her efforts to muffle them in her jeans.

"Dana?" He lowers himself on the bench on front of her. She doesn't respond.

"What do you think?" he asks, feeling helpless and a little lost. "Is that enough to break it off?"

She makes a wet sound that he realizes is supposed to be a laugh, then she lifts her head to blink up at him.

"Truthfully?"

Her eyes and nose are red and watery and her voice sounds choked and frail like she just woke up. He can't look away.

"Of course I want the truth."

She wipes her eyes with her sleeve. "I think Paul is getting single-er as we speak."

His mouth twitches and hers does too, and then they're laughing together.

He doesn't know why she decided to trust him with this, why she came to him for help even though she'd been angry at him for telling her the truth. In the end, it doesn't matter. When he listens to Dana laugh like this, he can honestly say he has never heard a more genuine sound in his entire life.

[catgirlkirigiri]

I am once again posting furry satosugu