Weft - Going
by Amirin
"Care to share with the rest of the class?" I asked, less pissed than
amazed that he could laugh like this, with me, here. In a hotel room, in
a bed, still mostly-dressed, sticky and cooling against each other, and...
I guess it was pretty damned funny, after all.
"Oh, Christ," he gasped, breath hitching and uneven as he rubbed a trickle
of sweat off on my shoulder. He fumbled behind himself for the twisted
mass of sheet and wiped his hand off, then tugged on more of it to clean us
both up. Or tried to. The effort was appreciated, anyway.
I reached over and grabbed the now-cool towel, still damp enough from
earlier, and did a slightly better job.
He was mostly clean, more so than I was, but I had clothes to change into,
something I hadn't really thought about until then.
"We need to get you something else to wear," I mumbled, pitching the towel
on the floor and rewrapping my arms around him.
"We can shop later, after lunch," he mumbled back, doing something I'd
almost call 'snuggling' if I weren't talking about Alex Krycek. "Of
course, Chae will probably offer to do my laundry when we get there."
I snorted. "Does he do that often?"
"Always. Habit," Alex answered in a voice that sounded too relaxed to be
called short.
"Bet he knows a dozen different ways to get rid of bloodstains," I sighed,
my fingers combing through his hair.
"At least," Alex nodded against me with a slightly-blunted version of his
usual sharp grin.
"About the bullet wound..." I started, but he didn't offer anything. And I
knew he wouldn't, couldn't. I might get him to confirm or deny, if he was
feeling generous, but he wasn't going to just tell me, like...
"Jesus fucking Christ, Mulder, ask me already. Before you sprain something
vital," he rumbled, blinking up at me with drowsy irritation.
"How'd it happen?"
I thought that was easy enough. He could tell me as much or as little as
he wanted to. His choice.
"With a gun."
I waited. And was just about to get a little hot when he started shaking
again.
"Asshole," I snarled without heat, after all.
"Shit, Mulder..." he started, a snort escaping around the words.
"What happened to 'Fox'?" I interrupted him, this suddenly more important
than why and how he'd gotten shot. And I knew it was important, because
the shaking of his not-exactly-laughter abruptly stopped.
"You don't like it," he admitted quietly and heaved a heavy sigh as he
pulled away from me and righted himself slowly, getting his clothing back
in order.
"That's not it," I argued, barely aloud, but he heard me and froze. "You
called me 'Fox' in Boston. Hell, you called me 'Fox' last night."
"I don't want to piss you off."
"Bullshit. Since when has that ever stopped you?" I zipped my jeans with a
sigh and sat up next to him, near, but not close, and wondered what the
difference was, between then and now, until I saw his eyes flicker toward
his jacket.
"Naked," he mumbled and shrugged again.
"What, you feel naked without it?"
He shook his head. "Them," he stressed with a smirk, his hand going
through his hair.
"You're not armed," I said with a frown and a slow nod.
"Mind like a steel trap," he rasped softly. He wasn't exactly smiling.
"Rusty and illegal in seventeen states," I muttered back and he looked at
me, confused, before a weak grin crossed his face. "You can call me 'Fox',
Alex. Even if you're not armed with enough weaponry to liberate a small
country from the grasp of an evil dictatorship. Okay?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," I shrugged, getting up slowly and stretching. "Everyone I met in
Riverview was calling me 'Fox'. You'll just confuse the hell out of them
if we ever go back there."
I headed to the bathroom and looked back. His eyes were frowning, but his
mouth was grinning. Sort of.
I'd take it.
Getting cleaned up again didn't take long and little was said until we were
back in the Auburn and heading for the park. Alex seemed tired and I was
just feeling... hell, I didn't know what I was feeling.
Dammit, we'd had sex. Basically. Pretty much.
But apparently we couldn't talk to each other without a time zone between
us.
It wasn't like I expected it to mean everything, but if it had meant
something more than nothing, I'd be a whole lot happier.
I probably wouldn't be making any more sense, but I'd be happier.
"Why are you thinking, again?" Alex whined from the seat next to me, head
rolled toward me, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, hands hidden in leather
gloves like the jacket he wore that matched my own. "You shouldn't do
that. It's bad for your health."
"Is that a threat?" I snapped without really meaning to and I know damned
well his eyes narrowed, even though I couldn't see them.
"Are you trying to start an argument? With a man carrying enough weaponry
to liberate a small country from the grasp of an evil dictatorship?"
I so love that amused sarcasm.
Not.
Shit.
I sighed and shook my head as I pulled into the park entrance, going around
the lake to the same lot I'd used last time, near the same tree. I threw
the car into park and killed the ignition and sat there, knowing he was
looking at me, not knowing what the hell to do next.
He had his hand on the door handle and with a, "It never has to happen
again, Fox," he was out the door and headed for the trail.
It didn't take me long to catch up with him but I think he let me.
"I don't want that," I practically spat at him and he shrugged.
"Like I said..."
"That isn't what I meant, Alex. Stop, okay? Just... stop," and I reached
out a hand to halt his stiff stride. "I'm not trying to play the ravished
virgin, here, all right? I started it, for god's sake."
"Well, I wasn't going to mention that..." he trailed off, hands in his
pockets and head down.
"Alex."
"It doesn't have to be more than it is," he offered quietly, looking back
up at me. God, I wished I could see his eyes. "Just quit thinking it to
death, all right? Shit."
"I want you," I said softly, more just trying out the words to see if they
fit than confessing anything. I think I startled him.
"Walk with me; we're starting to draw attention," he muttered and I wanted
to take the shades off him but I knew he'd flinch away and it would look
damned strange to anyone looking.
We walked in silence for a while until we entered a small wooded area,
unpeopled at the moment, and I was just about to open my mouth when he
grabbed me and then my back was up against a tree and all I could do was
hold on when his mouth came down on mine. I tore the sunglasses off him
but it didn't even slow him down, he just kept kissing me, relentlessly,
gloved hand behind my head, shielding me from the roughness of the bark,
even though there was no protection from the roughness of his kiss, and it
went on and on and I couldn't breathe and almost panicked and he knew and
gentled immediately and what had been harsh and hot became warm and soft
and wet and... God.
He buried his face in my neck, breathing heavily, and my arms went around
him, holding him far too tightly.
"Stop thinking," he ordered softly into my ear. "Let me do the thinking
around here, all right?" And he eased away with a swipe of his hand over
his mouth, red and bruised-looking. I bet mine looked the same.
"That's not going to work forever," I caved, panting, leaning back. Jesus,
I'm easy.
"It doesn't have to work forever," he assured me with a touch of a gloved
hand to my face.
It didn't even occur to me to flinch. Christ, he's gotten me soft.
And hard.
Shit.
I just watched him as he stooped to pick up his shades and put them back on.
"And another thing," he stated in his warning voice as he pinned me back
against the tree with a rock of his hips and a hand tangled in my hair.
"Do not ever tell me you want me when I can't do a fucking thing about it
without embarrassing the two of us. Got it?"
I snorted before I saw his lips twitch, which seemed to please him, that I
knew he was joking, mostly, even though I couldn't see his eyes.
"We've got some time before we're due at Chae's," he murmured with a smirk
broken only by his lips on mine. "Any ideas?"
"Maybe," I shrugged, chest heaving against his, leather squeaking on
leather. And remembered Boston. And the frog. And couldn't help laughing.
"Christ," he groaned into a chuckle. "We're both demented."
"Maybe," I agreed. "Mating frenzy..."
He laughed roughly and shook his head as he kissed me again, fast and hard.
"I guess that's one way to put it."
I just held him in silence until he looked up at me and snickered.
