#beaboleyn

Thank you so much! What a sweet message to wake up to. This really means a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. 

Thank you ❤

52. AccidentallyWitnessed kiss

This got kind of long so more under the cut! Set in early season 2. 

Tagging @today-in-fic

In the last few weeks this has becomeher favorite, guilty pastime: watching Mulder. Scully rationalizes it away -missing him - in the beginning. The only solid, clear-cut reason being thatit's just the work she's missing and not him at all. That's what she tellsherself, at first. The thrill of it is gone. No more nighttime calls, no crazygoose chases. No monsters to be seen or to be caught. That's all she's missing.Isn't it? 

She goes to work at 9 am and leaves at5 pm, on the dot every day. Her life has a routine, is so predictable that shecan see her friends after work, can spend time with Ellen and her godson. Butshe misses it. She misses arguing with Mulder. The mental challenge every workday provides. She misses the sound of Mulder cracking sunflower seeds. Thecrunch of accidentally stepping on the empty shells, because he can't bebothered with them. She misses his smile. The way he invades her personalspace. The way… the truth is, and she hates to admit it to herself, she doesmiss Mulder, all of him. It's as simple as that.

Thank you! Prompt was: First time they rented a movie together. This is probably notexactly what you wanted, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. Hope youenjoy anyway. 

Set after season 11. 

Tagging @today-in-fic

They look, Mulderrealizes with a sense of pride, like a normal, average family. They're nothingbut a set of parents and a sulking teenager a few steps behind them, staringinto a screen. Sure, if anyone were to look closely, they'd see the hint of ababy bump hiding under Scully's sweater. They might wonder about their ages;their hair speckled with grey, their eyes conveying all they've seen in thislong, exhausting life. But no one is paying them any attention. Right here,right now, they're nothing special, nothing much to look at – and Mulder lovesit.  

These past few weeks, almost threemonths, have been nothing but normal and slow. The pregnancy is, against allodds, progressing smoothly and without complications. A few days after ithappened (they only refer to the night on the docks as 'it', an undefinedmoment in time, one they keep trying to forget), Jackson showed up at theirdoor. His hands deeply buried in his pockets, he was cold and shivering. Hiseyes red-rimmed from crying, he looked young and broken. They let him in andthen never let him go again. Weeks of good, healthy food and a haircut havetransformed the young man, who in many ways is still just a teenager. Mulderturns to him sometimes and he's no longer the lost boy he stumbled upon thatday; their son is found, is home.

"Can we go home now? I'mhungry." Jackson, looking up from his phone, says. Moments like these makehim look so much younger than his years. He brushes an invisible lock of hairoff his forehead, once again forgetting that his hair is much shorter now.Jackson looks at Mulder, then at Scully. 

"I think we're done here.Mulder?" He's just about to answer and say that yes, they can go home nowwhen he gets an idea. Without a word of explanation he walks towards the redbox that's captured his attention.  

"Why does he always do that?"Jackson's groan fades into the distance. Mulder stands in front of the DVDXpress Kioskand grins. A moment later Scully and their son join him. 

"Mulder?" 

"Scully, look." He is wellaware that he sounds excited as he points at the touch screen. His fingerpresses a button and small movie icons begin to dance over the display."You can rent DVDs".

"You can also use Netflix like anormal person." Jackson says while taking out his phone again. He stepsaway, pretends not to know them while still glancing over every once in a while. 

"Remember when there wereBlockbuster stores everywhere? You could just walk into one and get the latestmovies."

"I didn't know you cared so muchvideos," she leans closer to him and lowers her voice, "except forall those you claimed weren't yours." They grin at each other, chucklesoftly. There are still some of these tapes around the house; Mulder isnotoriously bad at throwing things away, even vintage porn from the 90s.  

"We never did this, Scully."He swipes along the titles, sees movies he's never even heard of. How are thesethings fresh and new? He squints his eyes, tries to recognize something orsomeone. He should have brought his glasses with him. 

"Did what?"

"Rent a movietogether." 

"I recall movie nights."Scully's eyes are soft, her expression warm. He recalls those nights, too. Onein particular. A quick glance over at their son, who is immersed in a digitalworld or maybe even making plans to have a movie night of his own. Netflix andchill, he'd call it. Mulder is thinking more along the lines of VHS and chill,back in the day. 

"Think they have Caddyshack?"Mulder chuckles. They have the movie at home, too. The tape is worn, old. Whenit seemed like the band wouldn't hold much longer, Mulder caved and bought the DVD.It was a comfort many nights when Scully was living her own life away from him.He'd think of that night while watching by himself in the darkness. He'd thinkof that one precious night when they watched that movie. Or rather didn't watchit. "But that's not... we never rented one together. Like acouple." 

"Mulder, we have DVDs athome." 

"I know," he sighs; shedoesn't get it, "but this. We never did this. We never strolled into aBlockbusters holding hands and sneaking kisses in the romance section. We neverfought about which movie to get and I never got to give in and let you pick themovie. We never did that. We never really got to be that kind of couple.Normal, you know?" Tears pool in her eyes as she tries to smile, her lipsquivering. The hormones. He keeps forgetting that the smallest notions make heremotional these days. Gently, he cups her cheeks and wipes away the two straytears that do escape.

"There are no more Blockbusterstores, Mulder." Now is not the time to tell her she's wrong. He doubtsshe'd want to travel to Alaska with him just to make this particular dream, thismissed opportunity a reality anyway. So he just nods, lets her believe she'sright.

"No, but there'sthis." He points to the red kiosk. Scully's expression is her famous 'youcan't be serious, Mulder' look he can't help but love. He grins sheepishly ather, takes her hand into his. "I know it's not the same, but… please renta movie with me tonight, Scully?"

"Mulder, you'recrazy."

“So you've toldme a million times. What do you say? It's Friday night and I think ouroffspring has other plans." Jackson makes noise that's half groan and halfaffirmation. "Please say yes, Scully. Please."

"Allright." Mulder grins before he leans down and kisses her softly.

"Can you guyslike not do that in public?" Jackson says looking around nervously."At least not when I'm around. You're not seriously going to rent a movie,are you?" When their son says it, the plan does sound crazy. As if thatcould stop Mulder, though.

"We are. Pickone, Scully."

"I thought it wasabout us renting one together." With a loud sigh, Jackson starts lookingthrough the selection. It goes too fast for Mulder to see anything. It's a blurof pictures and colors.

"Get thisone."

"The GreatestShowman?" Scully reads.

"You're going tolike it." Mulder shrugs, wonders briefly how his son would know that. Buthe doesn't question it. "It's like romantic and… stuff."

"Scully?"She nods and Mulder swipes his credit card. The kiosk beeps and rumbles beforeit spits out a DVD at them. "Nice." He says and picks it up, checksit out as if it were a piece of evidence.

"Can we go homenow, please?" 

"Yes."Scully answers and takes Mulder's hand to drag him away from the kiosk. Just incase he decides to get another movie. One is enough. Scully will most likelyfall asleep halfway through it. He might, too, if he's being honest. So one isdefinitely enough.

"Look, our firstrented movie." He says with pride in his voice, holding the DVD case upfor the whole world to see.

Thank you :) I’m in a reading slump lately too as much as I love reading. I can no longer sit down and just read. I used to read like four or five books a week! I’m planning on reading more again. As for your question, the answer really is I used to read a lot. I still read a lot of fanfic but books? That’s harder. Hm, what do I like to read? It’s the same as with music: I like everything I like and dislike everything I don’t 😁 It’s mostly feel-good stuff. One of my favorite authors is Dorothy Koomson. I read every book she writes. Other than that I tend to just read the blurb and decide if I want to read it or not. 

Is it weird that I'm having more fun reading the prompts than the actual fics? - An eternal question ��