#rain king

[tinfish]

Rain king (season 6 episode 8) is really just people telling Mulder and Scully that they are indeed a couple and need to get their shit together to finally kiss and I think that’s beautiful!

[dunhamhairograpy]

Rain King Cut Dialogue: Scully explains unrequited love... 💔

[cecilysass]

Happy Heart (-Shaped Hail) Day! Fic Recs for Rain King for Valentine's Day (or Any Time)

It's funny how in the fandom circles I tend to spend time in now, Rain King seems to be a pretty beloved episode: super shippy, romantic comedy, multiple fanfic tropes made canon.

When it aired, the online fandom's opinion of this episode was pretty mixed. There was a large contingent of fans who really hated it. (I remember this because I am 4,000 years old.) Season 6 had already been perceived as being too light in tone, and we'd already come off of a run of Triangle, Dreamland I and II, and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas. There was a lot of anxiety about the move to LA killing the show's dark and angsty feel.

Me, I always liked Rain King (and Triangle, and Dreamland I and II, and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas). And while I can identify the tone change in season 6, I don't hate it, nor do I think that the show really loses its darkness and angstiness (a lot comes back in the second half of the season). I'm also not someone who believes comedy is a de facto more stupid or less substantial genre than drama or suspense, so I think that's part of it.

Rain King has generated so, so much fanfic, and most specifically fanfic that zeroes in on this little fun fact: THEY CANONICALLY SHARE A MOTEL ROOM BECAUSE THERE'S ONLY ONE ROOM. Obviously many of the fics I'm recommending below are based on that premise. So here are my Valentine's Day recs based on Rain King. (Even though I think it's not actually set at Valentine's? Because the cold open happens months earlier? There's some kind of timeline hijinks, idk.) But anyway, it's the clearest Valentine's episode we have, so happy Valentine's Day.

Free Merlot at the Cool View Motor Court by Sarie_Fairy @sarie-fairy Scully tries a little experiment with Mulder after the reunion that gets rapidly out of hand. This is smutty fun—the kind of high end sexy times this author is really known for. Dating Kings and Queens - Baroness_Blixen @baronessblixen A pure romantic comedy style plot variation on the ending of Rain King. The agents discuss the last time they've been on a date. Turns out it HASN’T been so long for Scully. This is just so charming. 

Kroner by DM When Mulder finds out about the “flicked switch speech,” he deals with it in a flirty, somewhat less sentimental way that feels very in character to me. I like a fic with dialogue that feels like it goes a little unexpected.

No Big Deal by dreamingofscully @dreamingofscully Scully offers to help Mulder sleep in the hotel. This is UST, but deliiiiiiightfully so, and heavy on the complex feelings.

Can’t Fight This Feeling by mldrgrl  @mldrgrl A sweet and more subtle little feelings reveal after Rain King by an author who does this exact thing well. Also there is slow dancing to 80s music.

Time Enough At Last - baylorrific Absolute textbook classic one room trope, but it stands out for me because I like how it focuses on their mutual discomfort. They’re both so awkward here, even though it’s Mulder POV. I also like how the classic Twilight Zone episode Time Enough At Last is in conversation with what’s happening with the MSR.

There’s No Place Like Kroner - MonikaFileFan @monikafilefan You know what would make a “there’s only one room” Rain King fic extra fun? DIANA. Okay, okay, I admit I wrote this prompt for the exchange, lol, so of course I think it sounds fun. But Monika wrote the actual fic, and you don’t want to miss it.

Pillow Talk - Alelou This is a short piece about a chatty Mulder very carefully putting out feelers in the motel room after the reunion. Sweet and in character.

Land That I Heard Of Once in A Lullabye - leiascully @leiascully In Kroner’s tiny airport, Scully takes stock of where they’ve come from and where they’re going. I love this. It feels especially spot on character-wise for season 6.

All that Lights Upon Us - wonderland @amplifyme This is a very different kind of Rain King fic, part of a series, although it can be read alone. During the events of Rain King they share a first kiss, but this fic is about their conversations afterwards (Mulder and Scully, as well as Mulder and Maggie). Gentle affection, and the process of taking little steps towards one another.

On the Flicking of Switches - SisterSpooky1013 @sisterspooky1013 Mulder initiates an awkward conversation in the motel room after the reunion. SisterSpooky1013 always has her characterization shit together, but I think this is an especially compelling character sketch of season 6 Scully.

Break in the Weather - ATTHS_TWICE @atths--twice Mulder and Scully can’t fly out another night in Kroner, so they kill time by going to a drive-in movie. Honestly, this is just adorable.

Still Raining - Donna When Sheila sends them both a letter a few months later, she alludes to what Scully told her in the bathroom. This raises questions for Mulder.

Stop Me - Gina Rain A little seduction by Mulder in the Kroner motel room. It starts with her feet, if that’s your thing. But it’s not exclusively about feet, if that isn’t lol.

They're SOOOOO MANY great Rain King fics, so drop any I missed in the comments! And if you want to read my Valentine's Day recs last year based on Milagro, they're here.

[randomfoggytiger]

"In the Rain"

Fluffuary Days 14-16: Not Actually Unrequited Love, Caught in the Rain, Feelings Realization

[Ao3]

*-*-*-*-*

This downpour was six years in the making.

That first drenching, that first shiver in Oregon near the excavated graves of the dead, had sunk deep into her bones. Smiles of madness, of enlightenment, a knock of shoulders in quest of the truth, soaked into every crevice that ached to be filled with wonder. With the impossible. They were young enough then not to care about soggy hair or dampened ideals-- not to consider the consequences of their mutual intensity.

Now, Kansas gymnasium awash with light and lilting love songs, Scully watched another couple-- one, too, with years of affection between them-- float closer, hint mischievously, "You should try it sometime," and glide away in a haze of happily ever after. Her partner, face carefully neutral, glanced from the watermarks dotting her makeup to his dripping shoes to the dance floor.

She waited, noted the true rain king's head bobbing above the sea of dancers. Sighed as the rush of impulse, so often muted by time and old patterns, began to fade into practicality: they needed to shower, get changed, check when they could fly out tomorrow.

Mulder's eyes caught hers. Lips quirked in acceptance, if also a brush of disappointment, he asked, "Another time, Scully?"

Safely back on solid ground, she squeezed a damp sleeve, flicked drops from her fingers. "You owe me, Mulder."

"I do," he promised.

*-*-*-*-*

The rain visited them again, months after the millennium had turned, weeks after their initial journey had concluded. After they created new lines, vanquished old fears. The truth in its various forms was out there, dug up before the world, resting in the stars, sealed between them.

He'd kept his word when the world didn't end. He'd led and she'd followed, until they'd parted ways one weekend over crop circles and matters of the heart.

Yet when she woke to the sound of fate pattering down the apartment window, partner still sleeping in the sheets she'd vacated, Scully realized the storm was revelation: a brew of clashing opposites and passionate integrity. A force that echoed, not preceded, their choices.

The rain had waited until they marked and walked their own path.

*-*-*-*-*

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

Tagging @today-in-fic.

[skelethalprism]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/9 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Holman Hardt, Sheila Fontaine Additional Tags: MSR, Post-Episode: s06e08 The Rain King Summary:

When an unusual streak of devastating weather events hits northeast Kansas, the potential for another chapter in the casefile they closed a year ago brings Mulder and Scully back to Kroner.

In the midst of a new investigation, old memories arise: of a shared motel room, and a night they never spoke of...

Tagging @today-in-fic - thank you!

[basementcherub]

One night, Scully looked at Mulder and thought to herself "I can't imagine my life without him."

[scullysbagelbites]

Just watched “Rain King”…… oh this is happening happening … 😳

[spookydanamulder-multifandom]

HAPPY RAIN KING S06E08 DAY Y'ALL