Summary: The Day of Ceremonies. Planning has been underway for weeks for this event, and the bloated day of spectacle and subterfuge designed to wind the citizens of Oz up into a tizzy has finally arrived.
...or
A look behind the curtain at the last hours of the Wicked intermission through Fiyero Tigelaar's eyes, if the intermission was rated R.
Spoiler alert: Fiyero Tigelaar is not holding up very well at all.
Additional Tags: angst, heavy angst, the last hours of intermission, canon compliant (see AO3 for additional tags)
A tinny, pre-recorded voice chirps out over a background of rapid, high-pitched alarm bells. The sound rises up out of a pint-sized blue Monkey made of tin, clad in a velvety suit of green and gold. Tiny, crosshatched speakers nest in the hollows where each of its eyes should be. The Monkey's voice is pitched up into a cloying falsetto, unrecognizable to all but the smallest circle of in-the-know Ozians as the corn-fed con man currently moonlighting as their wonderful Wizard.
Fiyero Tigelaar startles awake, bolting upright in his bed. He looks over at his nightstand, glaring at the Oz-forsaken gadget with disgust, then flings his arm over to smack the snooze button on the top of its head as fast as he possibly can. The little abomination, thankfully, has the decency to fall blissfully silent on contact.
Hello all. My laptop that I used for commission work has finally shut down. If anyone would be willing to help me out with ko-fi donations or commission work I could really use it right now.
Fiyero’s depression and how it effects his entire arc
So you hear a lot of “Fiyero is just a male Glinda” or “he has no purpose other than being a love interest for elphaba with zero personality” ect.
Neither of these things are true, if you look beyond the surface you will see a character that is completely lost. Lost in life, lost his purpose, lost his sense of self and his way forward and covers all that up with well… this
Because this is fun, this is what people expect from a spoiled carefree prince and if he can’t make himself happy he might as well lean in and give the people want they want. How many times has he done this? How many schools has been kicked out of? Before he reached the point where he knew no one would see or question the turmoil going on with him even when its incredibly disruptive and he arrives at Shiz basically shouting his depression and nihilism at everyone because he knows no one is going to listen to the lyrics he’s singing, he knows no one really cares…
Until she does.
Elphaba hears him loud and clear because she’s not looking at the ridiculous display, she’s listening to what he’s really saying, doing to others what she wishes people would do for her and finding the least likely person to be struggling.
Though its never explicitly stated why Fiyero is the way he is Jonathan Bailey has gone on record with some insights into how he played him:
“He’s deeply unnerved by stillness and adhering to rules and structure. That is probably a sign of someone who’s never really experienced love. When you see someone causing that sort of disturbance, it’s usually because they’ve never felt seen. His fluidity, ease, and elasticity speak to his ability to maneuver and avoid. He’s quite avoidant. He has these bright, shining moments with everyone but never really allows the other person to land it with him.”
That can be read as someone who had a very lonely childhood where his needs where never met, where he was likely raised by staff not family, and the family he had likely had sky high expectations, and expected results he could not reach so he gave up trying.
So here is a man that masks these insecurities under layers of superficial charm, charisma, and arrogance but deep down probably considers himself pretty useless, or a complete failure someone that can offer nothing but shallow beauty to others but has no real value other than that.
Now before we get into the scene that defines Elphaba and Fiyero’s relationship, I’d like to point out an interesting quality he has, that he doesn’t realize he has, that will go on to define his characters actions anytime he’s not shown or eyes are off of him for the rest of his arc- when eyes are on him he plays the part people expect, the second eyes are off him is when he snaps into action and does the right thing without thinking, this will establish what happens during his arc when he’s not on screen later…
So now we’ve arrived at Elphaba and Fiyero in the woods. I really do believe this sequence is the one that changed everything for him. Its subtle, but its monumental for his character.
She read him like a book, called out all his BS, and all that superficial charm and arrogance just falls on its face instantly. Suddenly the real Fiyero is standing there before her, raw, insecure, vulnerable and exposed. To him its ugly, its shameful, its inadequate, something he hides deep and assuming she has to hate it as much as he does and would never want his help like this, he pulls away, but then she catches his hand and tells him she does- that this is the version of Fiyero she WANTS- the real ‘broken’ one, the one that cares, the one that’s flawed and far from perfect but genuine. I believe in that moment he found his life purpose again.
That’s the thing with people suffering from depression, it takes your personality, your interests, your purpose, your self esteem, and leaves you a shell of a person that cannot see a way forward or out of the pit you’ve dug themselves into and most wish that someone would send them a lifeline or give them a sense of purpose to find themselves again and that’s exactly what Elphaba did for Fiyero.
Its also why I always take issue when people say ‘he has no personality outside of Elphaba,’ ‘no hopes or dreams other than being her ride or die’ …. Like yeah, that’s what depression does to someone and he’s only just started to be rebuilt before the one person who changed his life is taken from him again. Now he’s left searching for his lifeline as she’s been made public enemy #1 and he’s stuck trying to get back to her anyway he can.
In that time between the movies where only headcannon and bias exist, its difficult to say how things went down between Glinda and Fiyero, but what you can see of him at the beginning of For Good is that’s he’s completely regressed without Elphaba- he’s doing for Glinda exactly what he did for the students in the library at Shiz- going through the motions and fulfilling expectations she and the people of Oz want and expect out of him while being absolutely miserable while losing the part of himself he gained back with Elphaba.
His arc in the second movie is just sacrifice after sacrifice for the one person he loves and believes in: his morals, his freedom, his safety, his status, his title, his comfort and wealth, his life, his looks, his body, his friends, his home just to be with the person that saved his life in more ways then the obvious one. You see him finally reuniting with her when everything is said and done, and yeah, he’s still insecure and self conscious, but it also seems like a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders. That he can leave ‘Fiyero the prince’ behind and just be his flawed self again with the one person that always loved and valued that side of him.
I’m sorry, but if you say that Wicked is sexist because the female characters aren’t “good” or “likable” enough, I’m going to assume the sexism is coming from inside the house. Morally repugnant male characters like Dexter Morgan, Daemon Targaryen, and Patrick Bateman are widely beloved, but y’all can’t empathize with morally questionable women with complex emotional journeys?
Fiyeraba parallels (7/?)
━ Fiyero pushing people away in Dancing Through Life vs Elphaba pulling him back
His fluidity, ease, and elasticity speak to his ability to maneuver and avoid. He’s quite avoidant. He has these bright, shining moments with everyone but never really allows the other person to land it with him. (...) Elphaba has a calming presence on Fiyero and allows him to be himself. It’s a real privilege to meet someone who sees you for who you really are. - Jonathan Bailey
Fiyeraba parallels (7/?)
━ Fiyero pushing people away in Dancing Through Life vs Elphaba pulling him back
His fluidity, ease, and elasticity speak to his ability to maneuver and avoid. He’s quite avoidant. He has these bright, shining moments with everyone but never really allows the other person to land it with him. (...) Elphaba has a calming presence on Fiyero and allows him to be himself. It’s a real privilege to meet someone who sees you for who you really are. - Jonathan Bailey
“Fae?” he called, breathless and dizzy. “What— what was that?”
His head was spinning, and from where he stood, it seemed that hers was doing the very same thing — spiraling down, perhaps, instead of in the same place as his own brain did without a sense of direction. Elphaba seemed a little bit alarmed with herself, with her own actions and thoughts.
“I can’t— Oz, Fiyero,” she sighed, closing her eyes and breathing in. “Have you seen yourself?”
Or,
Fiyero is the sexiest man alive, and Elphaba is having a hard time keeping her hands off of him.
Good thing, though, that he doesn't want her hands away.
read it on Ao3
She could blame it on the way-too-warm day.
She would, anyway, even if someone said that she couldn’t.
Summer had settled over Shiz with all the subtlety of a marching band. The air shimmered over the paths between buildings, the grass had gone soft and sweet beneath the sun, and every classroom had become an exercise in endurance. By the time Galinda had suggested escaping to the lake near the Suicide Canal for the afternoon, even Elphaba had lacked the energy to object.
The heat had settled over Shiz like a second sky, heavy and golden and impossible to escape. Even the grass surrounding the lake seemed to droop beneath it, lazy and bright beneath the summer sun.
It was unbearable.
That, Elphaba decided, was the problem. Not the fact that Fiyero Tigelaar was currently shrugging out of his shirt a few feet away; of course, not. The problem was absolutely the weather.
Elphaba fixed her eyes firmly on the book balanced in her lap.
Across the lake, someone laughed, and water splashed, and she turned another page of her book, not daring to look up.
“Elphie,” Galinda called.
“Hm.”
“Seriously? Oz, I cannot stand you,” Galinda declared for perhaps the fourth time that afternoon, dramatically lowering herself onto the blanket beside her. “We came all this way to enjoy ourselves, Elphie!”
The green woman frowned, not even raising her eyes to see her friend.
“I am enjoying myself,” she defended herself. “It’s a nice day.”
Galinda gasped.
“You’re reading,” Galinda stated the obvious.
Elphaba turned a page.
“Yes. And I very much enjoy reading,” she declared. “Especially on a nice day,” she added.
Galinda stared at her in disbelief. Again, because they had had that same dialogue leaving their dorm hours before — they had had that conversation while setting up the towels on the grass and the picnic on one of the wooden tables close to the lake.
“That sentence alone should disqualify you from participating in summer,” Galinda groaned again.
Elphaba frowned.
"Because I'm thinking?"
Galinda leaned back on her elbows with all the elegance of a cat basking in sunlight.
“Well, stop. It's summer.”
Elphaba opened her mouth to respond, and Galinda suddenly tilted her head toward the lake.
“At least do a summer thing, come on,” the blonde said, and Elphaba squinted her eyes, confused.
“I’m by a lake with a picnic a few meters from me,” she argued. “What do you consider to be a ‘summer thing’ if this isn’t?”
Galinda gestured broadly.
“Oh, please. You know what I mean,” her best friend said. “Can we at least acknowledge the obvious?”
Elphaba followed Galinda’s line of sight despite herself. In the water, bright and vast, Boq was attempting to splash Fiyero, and Fiyero retaliated. Neither had much success in their playing, which wasn’t surprising — they weren’t doing much more other than laugh and swallow water, and their aim was sincerely pitiful.
And because Elphaba, despite not really liking it, could play dumb, that was what she did.
“What obvious thing?” she asked, and her best friend gasped.
Galinda looked personally offended.
“What obvious thing, Elphie? Please,” she gestured more wildly at the lake. “The view.”
Nessarose made a small choking noise, sitting beside them with her back to a tree and a sewing kit in her hand, gasped.
“Galinda!”
“What?” Galinda asked innocently. “I have eyes.”
Elphaba snorted.
“That is true,” she laughed. “You’ve never encountered a man you weren't willing to admire aesthetically.”
Galinda shrugged.
“I appreciate beauty in all its forms.”
Nessa frowned.
“You appreciate men, Galinda,” she said.
“Also true,” Galinda sighed dreamily toward the water. “They're very decorative.”
Boq chose that exact moment to trip over something unseen beneath the surface, and a loud yelping sound echoed around. In the next second, Fiyero caught him before he fell entirely underwater.
“Decorative and occasionally useful,” Galinda decided to add.
Elphaba laughed despite herself.
“Poor Boq,” she said, and Galinda laughed, too, shrugging once more.
Elphaba glanced back toward the lake for a second, really. Only for a moment. Only long enough to see Fiyero pushing wet hair away from his forehead as he listened to Boq's animated complaints and curses towards whatever it was that he had tripped over.
Fiyero’s shoulders glistened in the sunlight, and water traced slowly down his chest.
Elphaba snapped her book shut.
She refused to look at Fiyero again.
She knew exactly what he looked like, and honestly, that was part of the problem.
They had been together for months now, hidden beneath stolen evenings and quiet walks through gardens after everyone else had gone to sleep. Two years of friendship had taught her the cadence of his laughter and the shape of his thoughts.
The past few months had taught her other things. Like how his voice changed when he said her name softly and the warmth of his hands. Like how very, very difficult it had become to behave normally around him when all she could think about was kissing him.
Senseless.
And shirtless, preferably.
“Fae?”
She blinked, coming back to reality and the moment they were all in. Her vision focused, and she could hear Galinda and Nessa talking to Boq — who had brought something she didn’t understood what was from the water — and Fiyero, who had also gotten out of the water, had wandered over to her.
Shirtless.
Oh.
“Are you coming in?” he asked, and she supposed it was a repetition because she hadn’t heard the first question he had asked.
His hair had already begun curling from the humidity. Sunlight traced bronze across his skin. Water glimmered at the edge of the shore behind him.
He looked unfair.
“No.”
One light eyebrow lifted.
“No?”
She shook her head.
“I prefer not to drown,” Elphaba told him, eyes drifting down to her lap so she wouldn’t burst.
Fiyero frowned.
“You’re tall enough to stand on most of it, Fae,” he argued.
She nodded, a sign that she knew that, and just shrugged.
“I prefer not to.”
His mouth twitched, and he chuckled, and she looked up at his face. Only she caught the amusement hidden there in his expression, and only she knew the particular softness in his expression before he smoothed it away.
“Suit yourself,” he said lightly, smiling, and then he jogged back toward the water.
Elphaba made the mistake of watching him go. His shoulders shifted beneath smooth skin, and the muscles in his back moved with effortless grace before he dove cleanly into the lake.
The splash drew delighted shrieks from Galinda, who had followed Boq and helped Nessa reach the picnic table near the water.
“Fiyero!” Galinda yelled.
"What?" he called when he emerged once more.
“You splashed me!”
He laughed, a boyish expression on his face.
“It was the water's idea!” he alleged, and Boq laughed loudly enough to startle birds from nearby reeds.
Elphaba stared determinedly at a patch of grass while she could hear Fiyero laughing and Galinda scolding him and Nessa teasing Boq. She could hear water splashing, and absolutely did not glance up when Fiyero emerged from deeper water, pushing damp hair away from his forehead.
Absolutely not.
Fiyero drifted closer with Boq when the other man jumped into the lake, too, their conversation easy and familiar. Two years of friendship had settled naturally around all of them by now.
Fiyero smiled at something Nessa said to them and then he glanced toward Elphaba. Only briefly, yes, but his eyes softened and the corner of his mouth tilted upward. It wasn't the bright grin he offered everyone else, but smaller, entirely hers.
Heat climbed higher beneath Elphaba's skin, and she looked away first.
Coward.
The afternoon stretched lazily onward. Galinda, after being practically dragged inside the lake — while the kidnapping was cheered on by Nessa — floated dramatically near shore, and Boq continued losing every competition he invented. Nessa laughed and commented on whatever it was that Elphaba wasn’t aware about (gossip, mostly) and Fiyero dove beneath the water and emerged farther out, sunlight scattering across droplets that clung to his skin.
Elphaba fixed her attention determinedly on a cluster of reeds growing along the bank after she decided to sit nearer, her towel just a few feet away from the border of the lake. She absolutely refused to notice the shape of his shoulders, or the easy strength in his arms, or the fact that every time he emerged from the water, she found herself looking before common sense could intervene.
This was ridiculous. They had been together for months, and she had already kissed him before — many, many times. She had sat beside him in libraries and walked with him through gardens and held his hand beneath tables when no one was looking, and none of this — seeing him — should have been new.
Honestly, perhaps it was the heat. Perhaps it was the sunlight, or the realization that loving someone romantically did not, in fact, diminish appreciation for their appearance. If anything—
Elphaba pressed her lips together. She refused to finish that thought.
By the time shadows lengthened and they finally gathered their things, Elphaba's patience with herself had worn thin. She was bothered and she was annoyed at her own brain and she was so completely out of her mind — she felt a bother in each of her limbs and she was very much feeling heat that wasn’t related to the Sun anymore.
Elphaba felt like exploding, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted herself to disappear or the cause for all those feelings.
Galinda departed halfway back toward the dormitories after spotting acquaintances across the courtyard, and it was Boq that accompanied Nessa back to her own dorm, because of something she hadn’t paid attention to and just accepted.
Their voices faded gradually into evening, and Elphaba walked beside Fiyero in silence.
The air had cooled slightly with the lowering of the Sun, but not enough.
“You've been quiet,” Fiyero observed gently when they were alone at a safe distance from everyone, and inched a small step to the side to be closer to her.
Elphaba felt like murdering him. But she managed a small smile anyway.
“I’m just thinking,” she said.
Fiyero hummed.
“Should I be concerned?” he asked.
Elphaba risked a glance at him. He looked unfairly composed, his hair was still damp and his sleeves had been rolled carelessly toward his elbows after he'd put his shirt back on.
He smiled at her with familiar affection, and somehow that was worse.
“No,” Elphaba said after a pause. Then, honestly, she added:“Maybe."
His expression grew worried immediately.
“Elphaba—”
She shook her head.
“I'm fine.”
He hesitated. Then nodded, accepting her words and not wanting to pry anything out of her that she didn’t want to share.
“All right,” Fiyero said, but his hand brushed briefly against hers as they climbed the stairs toward his apartment, a silent question. A familiar reassurance.
Elphaba looked at their hands, then at him. Then at the apartment door as the key turned and the lock clicked.
And every ounce of restraint she had spent the entire afternoon carefully constructing dissolved all at once.
The door was closed for only a second, the click of the lock still echoing inside, when Elphaba attacked Fiyero. Her lips were on his in an instant, desperate and hot and clumsy, her tongue demanding his without him even realizing what was happening. The prince’s back pressed against the door, and it was instinct that his hand found her waist and his mouth responded in kind.
He pressed her against him, still a bit confused at the limits and carelessness he was allowed still — it was very, very much new what was happening right then, and while he was delighted, Fiyero had no idea of how to proceed.
His girlfriend had to breathe against his mouth for a second, and Fiyero moved his leg so it was a little bit more comfortable for them to be standing; which led his knee to be between her legs, and the touch to be a little more than he had even intended to.
He hadn’t meant it to be anything at all, if he was honest. Fiyero just meant to make it so at least his standing wasn’t disrupted by that woman.
But at the change of position, Elphaba let go of him as if his touch had burned her, and pressed her lips together despite the labored breathing.
When Fiyero looked at her, Elphaba was now walking in circles.
“Fae?” he called, breathless and dizzy. “What— what was that?”
His head was spinning, and from where he stood, it seemed that hers was doing the very same thing — spiraling down, perhaps, instead of in the same place as his own brain did without a sense of direction. Elphaba seemed a little bit alarmed with herself, with her own actions and thoughts.
That was very much something he was worried about, even if her actions were very much approved by every single part of him.
“I— I can’t stop thinking,” she breathed. “I can’t stop thinking of-of you, and I can’t take you off my mind.”
He cleared his throat, trying very much to understand anything at all of what had just happened. His heart pounded against his ribs and his skin and his mouth were still processing the heat of her touch; granted, Fiyero wasn’t doing a good job at being balanced.
“We’re dating, love,” he said. “Why do you make it sound like it’s negative that you think about me?”
Elphaba shook her head.
“It’s not— not that,” she said. “I can’t— Oz, Fiyero,” she sighed, closing her eyes and breathing in. “Have you seen yourself?”
He looked to his side, to the wall where he knew had a mirror.
Fiyero disheveled reflection seemed even more bewildered than he was.
“I— yes?”
Elphaba groaned.
“I can’t— argh!” she complained. “I keep thinking about you. And I’ve been trying for weeks not to rip your shirt off any chance I get so I can get my hands on you.”
The room fell in silence, and Fiyero felt like he had just had a stroke.
Pairing: Elphaba Thropp/Fiyero Tigelaar, background Fiyero Tigelaar/Galinda Upland, former Fiyero Tigelaar/borrowed OC from @toinkeroo
Rating: Teen
Words: 5,489
Summary: After a lovely day for the Charmed Circle, Elphaba and Fiyero spend an unexpected evening together. Fiyero shares a surprising piece of himself with Elphaba.
Or: Fiyero Tigelaar comes out, in exactly the sort of emotionally high-stakes way you might imagine him capable of.
Additional Tags: Canon compliant, movie verse, missing scene, Shiz era (see additional tags on AO3)
_____________________
“Can I just say one more thing? You could've walked away back there.”
“So?”
“So, no matter how shallow and self-absorbed you pretend to be – ”
“Uh, excuse me, there is no pretense here. I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow.”
“Oh, please. No, you're not. Otherwise you wouldn't be so unhappy.”
______________________
17 Hours Earlier
“Oh, Oz – everyone! It's halfway through the ninth hour!” Galinda announces, her naturally high-pitched timbre escalating into something panicky and shrill.
Fiyeraba Source's Pride Month event is officially running from June 17th–30th!
We've got a handful of prompts if you're looking for inspiration:
✨ Pride Parade
✨ Genderbent
✨ Crossdressing / Drag
✨ Found Family
✨ Shiz LGBTQ Club
Use one prompt, combine a few, or do your own thing. Fanart, fic, drabbles, edits, playlists, moodboards, crafts, and more are all welcome as long as they're Fiyeraba-focused and fit the Pride Month theme.
If you'd like to join in, post your work on Tumblr and tag:
#FiyerabaSource
We'll be checking the tag throughout the event and reblogging submissions from the official blog. ❤️
You can also add works to our AO3 collection: HERE
A few quick guidelines:
• No generative AI
• Fiyeraba-focused works only
• Be kind and supportive of fellow creators
Huge thanks to @gemikanxiii for the beautiful event art!
Happy Pride! We can't wait to see what everyone creates. 💚
Cynthia Erivo for Variety. She speaks on how people were psychoanalyzing her friendship with Ariana and the misogynoir she was subjected to during the press tour for Wicked For Good:
“It’s very interesting, watching what people’s perception is versus what the reality actually is. Lots of psychologists seated at home deciding who we were, what we were going through, what we were doing and why. I think that people didn’t really believe that we were actually friends. But that’s also because people don’t know me very well. If I’m a friend, then I’m a friend. If I’m not, then I’m not.”
“I think that we haven’t really come to terms with the insidious nature of how we view Black women. And I’m sure people will read this and think, ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, it’s not about that.’ But it is. Because that’s what was being made fun of. It was my physique; it was my shape; it was the fact that I was bald; it was about what I looked like. And because of that, there was this assumption that I was bigger than my co-star and so I had to be controlling or protecting, and that was my role. I would hazard a guess that it would not have been the same had it been the other way around.”
Now performing a one-woman version of 'Dracula' in London, Cynthia Erivo reflects on the chaos of making 'Wicked.'
Cynthia Erivo shares her feelings on the smear campaign made against herself and her friendship with Ariana Grande during the Wicked press tour.
The absolute tragic irony of the actress of Elphaba, the character who faces severe adversity and bigotry due to her skin color, inside a narrative that condemns such bigotry for the irrational hateful nonsense that it is, suffering from the very same idiocy in the real world is legitimately the absolute saddest thing that could’ve come out of this musical hitting the mainstream. I find Cynthia to be one of the best Elphabas in many ways – all related solely to her performance – but now there is an even deeper layer to it, because she truly encapsulates Elphaba’s experience. Oz is here and it is vile.
Hi! Is part 1 of "a reconstructed struggle" the only piece of XF fic you've published? What a lovely, lovely piece. I cannot believe I just came across it. The section where Scully comes to the realization that Mulder has been waiting for *her* and she goes through the list of how he's declared his love for her, and the rain description, and the tenderness - just really stunning. I felt like I was there with them. I'm hoping you have a ton more stories and I’m just missing something here!
It is indeed the only piece of XF fic I've ever officially published. Now that pt. 2 is up, I can say it's actually the first fic from any fandom that I've ever finished!
The ideas themselves have never been the problem. And dialogue is always floating around in my head. I historically have a terrible problem with getting 95% of the way there and then throwing my hands up and abandoning when one paragraph doesn't sound the way I want it to sound. I also have a pretty demanding Real Life job, and parenting, and, and, and. But my daughter's a teenager now, and I am occasionally finding pockets of time I never had before.
Thank you for the message, I'm so glad something that's lived with me on and off for so many years resonated with someone else! ❤️
A Reconstructed Struggle, Ch. 2: The Sun Continues To Rise
Tagging @today-in-fic
Rated: R
Word count: 11,215
Timeline: Through My Struggle IV
Content Warning: references to medical rape, consistent with what was presented in MSIV. Non-network-television friendly liberties are taken with language. A few giant leaps south of Chris Carter’s Zone of Incomprehensibly Platonic Behavior.
Author's note: I have...no excuse for the 7.5 year gap between chapters. I'd written this chapter when I posted the first part of this in 2018, it just needed editing. I don't even know why I'm posting this now, except that I found it on my phone and wanted closure! I haven't touched this once before today, so any inconsistencies of voice or tone stem from a 7.5 year interruption.
Ch. 2 Preview:
“None of this was meant for you,” the boy says flatly, his eyes empty. “You have to let me go,” he whispers, shimmering evanescently at the horizon before he disappears under the waves.
______________________________________
Farrs Corner, VA
4:38 AM
Scully startles awake, a combination of sweat and tears glistening on her face. She feels a sudden, powerful wave of nausea and raises a shaky hand up to cover her mouth.
Mulder reaches out to her with his eyes closed, gathering her into his arms and easing her back down alongside him. He operates entirely on instinct, decades-old muscle memory from when they had been on the run inhabiting one thin-walled motel room after another. They’d needed to stay quiet and maintain a low profile, but they'd struggled with overwhelming symptoms of untreated post-traumatic stress for years. Soothing each other's nightmares had become an automatic response over time, a reflex triggered in even their lowest levels of consciousness.
"Mmmph. S’okay, Scully," Mulder slurs, nuzzling his face into her hair. "I’m right here,” he mumbles, his breath warm and familiar against the skin at the back of her neck. He hums an additional string of nonsensical syllables into her hair, tightening his arms around her as he fades back into unconsciousness.
