BACCARAT PIECE: COMEDY CENTRAL
By Sean Spencer
seans13@hotmail.com

CATEGORY: VRH

RATING: R

KEYWORDS: Mulder/Skinner, Slash

SPOILERS: None

SUMMARY:  Someone's hooked on television.

DISCLAIMER:  Fox Mulder and Walter Skinner are the
properties of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and Fox
Television.  No copyright infringement is intended or
implied in their use in this work of fiction.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  My shortest piece yet. I remember this
television event occurred a few years back on a Thanksgiving
weekend.  A similar thing happened to my friend Kristina
recently when she got hold of the whole set of first season
XF videos.  Hej, Kristina!

.......................


Both of them fell back onto the pillows, a sated tangled
heap of languid arms and legs.  Skinner turned to Mulder and
took him in his arms, fully expecting the agent to fall
asleep like always.  Once Mulder regained his breath,
however, he stood up, got cleaned up in the bathroom and
went back to bed.

For a minute, Skinner wondered why.  He got his answer when
Mulder turned on the TV with the remote and switched it to
Comedy Central.

"I don't want to miss this," the agent said a bit
apologetically.  "They're showing Soap the whole weekend on
Comedy Central, in order.  I missed some of the episodes
back then.  This is really funny, Walter."

Skinner just humphed sleepily and cuddled up to Mulder.
This time, it was the AD who fell asleep.

When Skinner slept, usually nothing really disturbed him.
He wasn't really a light sleeper but somehow, tonight, he
awoke in fits and starts.   Mainly, it was due to Mulder's
shaking the bed with his attempts to muffle his laughing and
giggling.  Occasionally, Mulder would really let out a
guffaw.  Subliminally, Skinner heard it all.  It seemed
every time he opened his eye a peep, the flickering of the
television would tell him that Mulder was still at it.

Finally, Skinner had enough and just woke up.  He fumbled
for his glasses and looked at Mulder.  The agent was fully
engrossed in the show and only acknowledged his lover's
waking up by absently running a hand on his arm.

Skinner's bedside clock said it was a little bit past
midnight.   He tried to watch as well, but the plot was too
convoluted by now and he didn't want to figure it out this
time of night.  Mulder laughed to himself uproariously again
and even slapped his thigh.  Skinner just looked back at him
peculiarly for a minute, removed his glasses then put a
pillow over his head.

The AD woke up the next day.  It was a nice winter morning,
from the looks of the clear blue sky.  Then he heard the
television.  His head snapped in Mulder's direction.  Now
that he was fully awake, he noticed that the younger man was
curled up at the foot of their bed so that he was nearer the
television with his arms wrapped around a pillow.  No wonder
Skinner's feet kept bumping into something throughout the
whole night.

"You've been awake the whole night?!" Skinner couldn't
believe it.  It was more of a rhetorical question because
Mulder's eyes were bloodshot and there were deep circles
around them.  But he was still laughing albeit weakly at the
punch lines.

"I told you I didn't want to miss this," Mulder said.

"How long is this Soap special anyway?" Skinner asked.

"Two days."

Skinner rolled his eyes.  Did he want to know if Mulder
intended to stay awake the whole time?  No, he didn't want
to know.  So the AD just got up from the bed and started
another Saturday in the cabin by the lake.


END OF BACCARAT PIECE: COMEDY CENTRAL

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"A beacon in the night."
                     Mulder in reference to Skinner
                  Nisei
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