Not quite of 'master list' proportions yet, but I thought I'd start compiling these into a pinned post so at the very least it might encourage me to write more.
The Apartment
MSR/humour short piece
Following an indiscretion in the cab, our tormented duo unravel in the summer heat. Inspired by a heatwave in the UK. (2,743 words)
I'll Get Your Key
MSR short piece
Mulder's lost his keys. They go back to Scully's apartment so she can get his spare, but the universe has other ideas. (1,880 words)
The Double
Case fic / MSR
Mulder and Scully investigate a case about lookalikes, when they unexpectedly encounter Mulder’s double. Scully grapples with her attraction to him. (14,950 words in 20 chapters)
The Bartender
AU / MSR
Scully has just joined the FBI and begrudgingly attends the office Christmas party, where she encounters Mulder, a mysterious bartender. (3,304 words)
Too Much... series
Crack/spoof (think 90s Gossamer)
Mulder is traumatised by a bizarre evening (Bigbird, love potions and Krycek in a tutu). Scully is convinced it's just a dream, fuelled by overindulgence. Until she becomes involved as well... (4 stories, around 2,000 words each)
[I wrote this series during the original run, then picked it up again recently. I don't feel like it's my best work but including it anyway!]
He remembers karate classes in sixth grade and ‘kime’, meaning power and focus, a decisive moment of control. He's got this. He's got kime.
He opens his eyes and her face is dangerously close. Her eyes seem to flutter in slow motion. He tries to tell himself it's just propaganda, like those chocolate ads with the seductive women, it's all in his head and it's just Scully. Just his partner, Scully.
Her thumb slips down, catching on his mouth.
Yes, just his standard, highly intelligent, diabolically beautiful partner Scully.
Scully wakes from her stupor and snatches her hand back. You are a scientist. A doctor. A special agent. You are a professional. Does he have incredible lips that could mould a lavish Grecian vase out of pottery and do you want that pottery to be you, yes, but that’s not important here.
She slips out of her shoes, hoping some extra height difference might give them the necessary distance.
Mulder looks down at her feet as she flexes her toes.
“It’s really hot in here,” he says. “Why don’t I open the window?”
What It's About? A case surrounding a missing research team sends Scully and Mulder to remote Alaska, where a sudden snowstorm leaves them stranded and cold. Forced to take shelter with a local family, a bizarre mystery and huddling for warmth push the boundaries of their new partnership.
Chapter 7 (Snippet)
She stepped forward and squeezed his hand. "Maybe some secrets should stay buried, Mulder. Maybe the world wasn't ready for whatever was buried under the ice. Maybe it would destroy us."
"What about our secret?"
Her stomach dropped. "Perhaps it's similar. Maybe we aren't ready for that yet. Maybe it would destroy us, too."
His mouth pulled into a thin line, the weight of her words tugging it into a frown. "So, it really was just about staying warm, then?"
"That's not all it was about." She replayed how he felt inside her—the way he'd pressed on her stomach and sent the world somersaulting. Commitment begged to rise from her throat. Even now, she wanted to turn what happened into something more. But they had a partnership, a friendship, and jobs to do. "Sex would only complicate things," she said.
"I suppose it would." He started walking toward the exit, pulling her along. Hand in hand, they meandered through the empty research station like they didn't have a plane to catch in just a few hours. "So, what you're saying is that asking you on a date would be a foolish endeavor at this time?"
She rolled her eyes, but a small smile played on her lips. "At this time, very foolish."
"Hmm. That's what I thought."
"But, as you said, Mulder, we eat dinner together all the time. Nothing is stopping us from catching a movie, either."
"What about drinks?"
"We could do drinks," she said. "But it wouldn't be a date. It would just be as us. Two—"
His shoulder throbs and his body feels sore, but Mulder can’t stop smiling. With his good arm around Scully and the night air surrounding them, he feels drunk. Or high. If he were to mention that to Scully, she’d raise an eyebrow, check his temperature, and check his prescription. They haven’t given him anything strong. No, the feeling of being high comes from the woman next to him. From their first kiss.
They’ve kissed. Finally.
Yes, the grin will stay on. In his dreamy stupor, he hasn’t noticed Scully’s eyes on him. She is not worried, or even contemplative. There is a smile on her face, too. And it’s directed at him.
“Are we going home?” he asks her. All he wants is to kiss her again. He wants to do more than just kiss. Hell, they’ve just escaped zombies. It’s a new year. They deserve to just be for a couple of hours.
“Home?” she asks as if it were a foreign concept to her.
“Yours or mine?” He can’t help himself. She rolls her eyes, but there’s no heat behind it.
“Mulder.”
“I’m not high,” he says quickly. “You know I’m not.”
“You’re in pain.”
“No, I’m- wait, Scully. We haven’t done gifts yet.”
“You want to do that now?” He nods.
“We have to.”
“Why?” She’s tired. He can see it written clearly in her face. But he can’t let her go. His gift for her has been burning a hole in his pocket. After tonight, he is ready. They are.
“Trust me,” he says. “Do you want me to drive?”
“No.” He grins, knowing she would say that. “I’m driving.” She hides her yawn behind her hand. Mulder will make sure she doesn’t fall asleep on their way home.
“Take me home with you, Scully,” he says as he puts on his seat belt. The look she throws him makes him smile even harder.
*
She doesn’t question him on whether they need to drive by his place to pick up her gift. For all he knows, she thinks his idea to exchange gifts was a ruse to stay with her. That’s only half the truth. His hand slips into his pocket as they make their way into her building. It’s still there. The same way it has been for a while. There’s no reason for him to carry it around. He knew they wouldn’t see each other over Christmas. This year, however, they didn’t even pretend they weren’t going to do gifts. They’re past that.
“Mulder, I feel like I should check you for a head injury,” Scully says as they walk into her apartment. “You haven’t stopped smiling since we left the hospital.”
“Can you blame me?” They’re standing close, neither of them making a move. Not away from each other, but not towards each other either. A stalemate. “Check me all you want, doc. That zombie attack has nothing to do with the smile on my face.”
“I know,” she admits quietly. “You wanted to exchange gifts?” He just nods, and unable to stop himself, leans forward to press a kiss to her cheek. Scully takes his hand and leads him over to the couch. He follows willingly.
“I got you this.” When she hands over the neatly wrapped, small gift, she looks almost shy.
“Thank you,” he says, carefully unwrapping it. “It’s a- a compass?”
“You have a tendency to get lost,” she explains with a playful smile. “It will come in handy if you ever plan more nice trips to the woods. And I know you, Mulder. I know you do.” He smiles down at the beautifully crafted compass. Then he lifts his eyes to look at her. His real compass. His true north.
“Thank you.” Braver now, he kisses the corner of her mouth. “You probably think I don’t have a gift for you. But I do.” He reaches into the pocket and takes out the small box. Unlike hers, it’s not wrapped.
“Mulder.” Scully stares at him wide-eyed.
“It’s not what you think,” he says. “Well, not exactly what you think. Open it.” Their fingers touch when she takes the ring box from him. It opens with a soft pop and Scully falls speechless.
“It’s a gumball machine ring.” He can’t tell if she’s surprised or annoyed.
“Told you it wasn’t what you thought.” She takes it out and inspects it. Much like he did when he came upon it. The simple band shimmers golden and the small, blue stone catches a stray ray of light. He sees Scully smile at it, and something inside him blooms. She puts it on her finger and chuckles before she looks at him.
“Thank you, Mulder,” she says, her voice soft.
“It’s a placeholder, you know. There is- I have a real one at home. The real thing. I don’t think we… you know. But I wanted you to have this one. As a promise. It was fate. Luck, maybe. Remember when we flew home from Chicago after the Henry Weems case?” She nods slowly. “I couldn’t find sunflower seeds at the airport and you said I should try gum. Except instead of gum, I got this ring. When I got back, you’d found sunflower seeds. I wanted to give you the ring as a joke, only I realized I wouldn’t be joking.”
“Mulder.” His name is no more than a whisper from her lips.
“Is it too silly?” he asks. She glances at the ring on her finger and then her eyes are on him. She gets up from the couch, and for a split second, fear runs through him.
“How is your arm?” His brain needs a moment for the question to sink in.
“It’s- it’s okay. I don’t really feel it.” There have been moments in his life when he thought he’d lost his mind. This is another one. Without taking her eyes off him, Scully slips into his lap. She’s mindful of his arm, keeping a distance. His breath catches and she just smiles at him, her hand smoothing his hair. Or looking for that head injury she might still think he has.
“Thank you for my gift,” she says before kissing him. This is not a first kiss, a tentative attempt. Scully knows what she’s doing. She knows what she wants. Her tongue asks for entrance, and he grants it. He loses himself in the sensation of getting to know each other in this whole new way. His good arm sneaks around her back and his hand takes liberties. So does Scully. Trying to make it easier for him, she leans forward and he winces. Her lips disappear and he groans.
“Your arm,” she says, licking her lips.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“I have an idea.” She gets up from his lap and he wants to complain, but she reaches out her hand. “Come on.” He looks at her, surprised. They waited all this time to kiss and now there’s no more waiting at all. “Unless you don’t want to-”
“Scully, I want. I want this – you – so much.”
“This will only work if you listen to what I say, okay?” He nods. “Mulder, I mean it. We have to be careful with your shoulder.”
“I will do whatever you say, Scully.”
He kisses her again, impatient as ever. But for once, she is too. She pulls him into her bedroom, grabbing at his clothes.
Happy fucking new year, he thinks, before he doesn’t think at all anymore.
Scully has just joined the FBI and begrudgingly attends the office Christmas party, where she encounters Mulder, a mysterious bartender.
Read on AO3
@today-in-fic
Extract:
Her eyes moved up to his face. He wore a calm but focused expression, the corners of his mouth curving upwards enough to be the start of a smile, but nothing surer than that.
He paused briefly to drop some coins in a tip jar. He looked up from the bar, straight at Scully.
She gasped as he caught her eye. His hand reached for a nearby whisky bottle and he slowly poured a measure for the next customer, his eyes still fixed on hers.
She swallowed.
Suddenly the row of people cleared, and she found herself standing right in front of him.
chris "they should just be friends" carter within the first 13 episodes of the x files: yeah let's have her strip half naked in front of him. nono but to even it out we can just cut directly to him telling her about his deepest trauma. nice nice ok now let's have him fondle her necklace then walk away to leave her visibly shaken. mhm ok now let's make him upset that she's on a date cause that's normal. yeah. and then she'll actually leave it to talk to him cause that is too. sweet. ok now make them touch each other's necks in a closet. yeah make it really really overtly heated. ok now what we do is make her hate his ex girlfriend with every fibre of her being right. perfect guys. okay so now we're gonna get him to hold her face in his hand. yeah nice good job guys
Hey you
A touch of your hand
On my shoulder
Fluff, on your jacket.
Hey you
A sideways glance
Lingering there
Just stretching my eyes.
Hey you
Your hand
On the small of my back
As we enter the room
Just guiding you in
Or ladies first
Whichever you find
Most believable
And least offensive.
Hey you
Your breath
Against my neck
Hot and dense
There’s not enough room
In these elevators
And
Also
You’re short.
Hey you
Your fingers curled
Around my necklace
Grazing my skin
You daren’t look up
Is this real gold?
Hey you
Unravelling in the hallway
Hands at my neck
Eyes on my lips
The space between us
Isn't big enough for your excuses now.
Hey you
A touch of your hand
On my shoulder
Fluff, on your jacket.
Hey you
A sideways glance
Lingering there
Just stretching my eyes.
Hey you
Your hand
On the small of my back
As we enter the room
Just guiding you in
Or ladies first
Whichever you find
Most believable
And least offensive.
Hey you
Your breath
Against my neck
Hot and dense
There’s not enough room
In these elevators
And
Also
You’re short.
Hey you
Your fingers curled
Around my necklace
Grazing my skin
You daren’t look up
Is this real gold?
Hey you
Unravelling in the hallway
Hands at my neck
Eyes on my lips
The space between us
Isn't big enough for your excuses now.
Chapters: 1/22
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Time Travel, Alternate Universe - Regency, Alternate Universe - Historical, First Kiss, UST to RST, MSR, Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s07e17 All Things (X-Files), Episode: s07e15 En Ami
Summary:
When Scully puts aside her better judgment to join Mulder in search of crop circles in England, a far wilder journey is about to begin than either of them could have imagined. Flung into a reality where every aspect of life is altered, knowing there may never be a way back home, they have no one to turn to but each other - and must put faith in the most extreme possibilities to keep hope alive.
Thought I spotted Scully smiling during a (very much not fun) car chase in Tempus Fugit, so I went back and lo and behold she’s grinning away like she and Mulder lifted that car to do some sick burnouts on the airport runway.
His excuse is that someone took some polaroid of Scully and gave it to Mulder because he was closer and Scully was distracted by a crime scene and he knows she wouldn’t want him to hand it to her in front of the other officers like a kid being handed a lollipop, so he needs to pocket it but then he worries that he’ll crinkle it so he stealthily pulls out his wallet to put the photo somewhere safe and if he puts it in the little photo holder then he doesn’t run the risk of scratching it up with a card.
But then he just. Leaves it there.
The case was long and difficult and so Mulder doesn’t want to give it to her lest it become a mere reminder of a shitty case. But the longer he puts it off the more suspicious it is that he still has it and it’s weird to just be like “hey here’s this photo of you I’ve been hoarding for since that once case.” It devolves into Mulder being comically guarded about his wallet around people.
Scully naturally gets suspicious when they go out for food on cases and he goes out of his way to make sure she can’t see inside his wallet.
His wallet slips out of his pocket while in a meeting with Skinner and not five minutes later he nearly gets a bullet to the face when he bursts into Skinner’s office all panicked.
He’s at a Scully family dinner for like Thanksgiving or something and loses some bet against Bill and nearly has a heart attack when his panic-rushed hands drop his wallet.
Eventually he runs into Maggie at some store or another when she’s forgotten her wallet and he offers to pay and it’s been long enough that Mulder has forgotten to be sneaky about the wallet when around grocery store checkouts and so Maggie spots the picture and Mulder realizes when he sees the look on her face and he immediately fumbles to explain himself but Maggie just smiles at him.
Following an indiscretion in the cab, our tormented duo unravel in the summer heat.
Inspired by the heatwave we’re currently having in the UK. And because I wanted to use the AO3 character tag for Fox Mulder's fish.
Read on AO3
The afternoon sun spills through the window, resting on the nibbled surface of a time-eaten rug. Particles of dust dance on the beams, ethereal and undisturbed. The only sound comes from the corner of the room, where a goldfish swims its familiar path, a stretched figure of eight. A delicate trail of bubbles swells and then dissipates in its wake.
The apartment waits patiently. It sits still and humble. A poised stage. The furniture, present and correct. The stiflingly hot air thick with anticipation.
And then, the footsteps.
The fish stills.
A shadow under the door. A squeak of the handle. The players are here.
Mulder bursts into the room, flanked by Scully as she topples against him and grips his shoulder, steadying herself. Their breaths come in short, sharp bursts, filling the air with moisture.
Mulder reaches around her and pushes the door shut. He keeps his hand there, arm outstretched, as he catches his breath.
Scully’s eyes burn into his. Her chest heaves as she tries to speak. “Mulder…”
Mulder meets her gaze. “Scully,” he pants. “In the cab just now…”
“That was reckless,” she replies.
Mulder nods, his hand rising reflexively to the patch on his neck where her mouth had been moments ago. Her eyes follow. She can still taste his salty skin.
Blinking away the memory, she takes a step backward. This is okay. She is Dana Scully. A level-headed, measured, methodical person. In the cab she was a confused, tired, irrational mess.
Slowly and thoughtfully, “I think we're just really jetlagged.”
“So jetlagged.” Mulder nods his head rapidly in agreement, grateful for the reprieve.
Scully feels reassured. They had just travelled for 13 hours straight. Anyone would feel this way on so little sleep.
She watches his mouth curl into a schoolboy smile.
Anyone. Even… Skinner. Yes, think of Skinner.
“What are you thinking about?"
“Skinner.”
Mulder's eyes narrow.
Scully starts to speak, then suddenly she's reaching for a smudge of lipstick on his face. She grazes her thumb over the skin below his eye, like she's wiping a tear.
Mulder tingles under her touch. His mind is back in the cab too now, their hands everywhere, his body pressed against hers, devouring each other like water in the desert.
He closes his eyes, trying to detach himself from the moment but it only makes the flashback more intense. How did it even start? Did he initiate it or did she? It didn't seem to matter because their trains were on the same one-way track, there was no dispute at all, no room for blushed faces or frantic apologies, just a jumble of limbs and heat and desperation and the cab could have been on fire while they merely fanned the flames.
Back in the present, Mulder turns his face into her hand. He inhales and gets a rush of vanilla and coffee and what must to hell be some sort of aphrodisiac body spray or some other witchcraft, and honestly how long does it take to wipe some make-up off a person's face anyway?
He remembers karate classes in sixth grade and ‘kime’, meaning power and focus, a decisive moment of control. He's got this. He's got kime.
