November 1999 Shopping: A Slip Interlude by Araxdelan Disclaimer- It's the season of kindness and giving. Hopefully CC, Fox, and 1013 will take the spirit of the season to heart. Rating- PG Summary- In an un-specified time in the Slip universe, the boys finally get pillows and a bed. Notes- This is an early Christmas present for Lone Gungirl, who is the best friend anyone could ever ask for. The story idea was hers, and came out of a discussion we had about Slip X. Merry Christmas, darling! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "I don't understand why you have so many bed sheets if you don't have a bed!" "I *do* have a bed!" "That bed was piled under so many heavy boxes that it collapsed!" "So, we got a new one, and now we don't have to buy new sheets." "It's about time. I wasn't going to sleep on that floor one more night." "What were you going to do? Leave me?" Krycek smiled. "I would have stayed at a hotel until you bought a bed." Mulder sighed. "I probably would have gotten one within the week." "Ha! A week? You wouldn't have lasted a day!" Mulder opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Krycek shouting, "Hey, we're here!" Mulder decided to be adult, and let Krycek's last comment pass. //Besides,// he thought, //there are many interesting types of revenge I can exact on him later.// Smiling to himself, Mulder pulled into a parking spot. The two exited the car, and strolled down the street towards their destination. After spending the better part of the afternoon shopping for a bed, they were on their way to the linen store, in search of new towels and pillows. Krycek had been very patient with Mulder. He understood that the man wasn't used to living with another person. And he had been pleased as he watched Mulder slowly but surely clean the apartment and take up more sanitary mannerisms. But after months of sleeping on the floor, using a make-shift pillow, and drying off with ratty towels, he had reached the end of his rope. Krycek demanded that Mulder clean out his bedroom and that they buy a bed. Luckily, Mulder was just as fed up with the floor as he was, and didn't put up much of a fight. Until he opened the door to the little used bedroom and surveyed the mess he was to clean. It was at this time that he stated that they should set fire to his room, and move out. There were times during the cleaning process that Krycek had almost reached for the matches. But, somehow, they had sorted through all the junk. Most of it had consisted of little more than boxes of old magazines and newspaper clippings of mysterious events that had piqued Mulder's interest. Krycek took an odd comfort in knowing that if they had decided to burn the whole lot, it would have lit up quite nicely. He managed to get Mulder to throw quite a bit of it out, but there was so much more that he insisted on keeping. Krycek had begged, pleaded, threatened, and offered to buy Mulder a storage locker, but the man wouldn't get rid of his junk, in the off chance that, "I might need it one day." Finally, pointing out that the junk had sat untouched in the back of the room for God-knows-how-long without Mulder ever needing it, Krycek convinced him to trash it. Then came an even more difficult task; Mulder's old bed. It turned out that, buried under piles of boxes, Mulder had a bed after all. But the bed was old, and after spending so much time underneath the boxes, the springs on the mattress had collapsed, and the slats of the frame were just about ready to go. It was a good thing that they had decided to clean when they did, because if the slats had broken, the entire stack of heavy boxes and the bedframe would have fallen to the floor. Considering the amount of weight and the fall, there was a good chance the whole mess would have collapsed the ceiling, and fallen onto the neighbors. After Krycek convinced Mulder that the bed was beyond repair and worthless, the two had the daunting task of disassembling the bed, and disposing of it. They struggled with rusty screws and took the bed apart, fit the parts into the elevator, and took it downstairs to the dumpster. They then dragged the mattress to the elevator, found it wouldn't fit, and had to push and pull it down four flights of stairs. Three days later they were informed by the landlord that the garbage collectors refused to haul the bed off. They would have to take it to the dump themselves. By some small miracle, a homeless person had dragged the mattress off, claiming it as their own and sparing Mulder and Krycek from having to tie it to the roof of Krycek's car. But they still had to load all the pieces of the metal frame into the car, and make the drive down to the city dump. Now, a week later, Krycek wondered if all the sore muscles and headaches caused by the cleaning spree were worth the luxury of sleeping in a bed. //I should have just bought myself a pillow and kept my mouth shut.// A little bell tinkled as Mulder opened the door to the store. He held the door open for Krycek, and the two walked in, surveying the wide selection of towels, sheets, pillows, and home accessories. They knew they were way out of their league. They wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes before a salesgirl walked up and introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Caroline. Can I help either of you with anything?" Mulder swallowed his pride, and admitted defeat. "Yeah, I think we definitely need some help." Caroline smiled. "Great. So you're both shopping today?" "Yeah." Krycek said. "Actually," Mulder corrected, "we're not *both* shopping. We're together." Krycek turned to Mulder, surprised. It was the second time that day that he had publicly admitted they were a couple. It had never really come up before, but between the furniture store and the linen store, the topic had been raised. Krycek was pleased that Mulder was being so open, and smiled at him. Mulder smiled back. The salesgirl had looked confused for a moment, but the smile once again returned to her face as she realized what "together" meant. "Oh... *together*. Well, that's cool. You two make a cute couple." She blushed a bit, before continuing. "So, what are you guys looking for today?" Mulder and Krycek both began speaking at the same time. "Towels." "Pillows." Mulder looked confused. "Pillows? As in more than one?" "We have a bigger bed now. We'll need more pillows." Mulder rolled his eyes, before turning to Caroline and saying, "All right. Towels and pillow*s*. Can you help us?" "Of course. Come this way." She led them past shelves full of things they couldn't identify, many covered with frills. Then past two displays of shower curtains in every color and pattern imaginable. Finally their journey ended in front a giant pile of towels. There were at least fifteen different kinds of towels in a dozen sizes and every color of the rainbow. Mulder and Krycek looked at them in awe, wondering why in the world anyone would need such a large selection. The salesgirl turned to them and raised her eyebrows questioningly. The boys wandered around, fingering the different towels for a minute. They then turned and looked at each other, both coming to the same conclusion. Krycek looked over to Caroline. "Help." Being used to confused male customers, she calmly explained the differences between the brands of towels. How the more expensive ones were made of better cloth, and had higher thread counts. Mulder threw his hands up in frustration. "Does all this even mean anything? Aren't towels towels?" "Not really. Here, feel this towel." "Feels like a towel to me. Alex, what do you think?" Krycek fingered the towel, and then shrugged. "Feels like a towel." "That was one of the less expensive towels." Caroline turned, and chose another towel from a different shelf. "Now, feel *this*." Mulder was the first to touch the towel. His eyebrows shot up. "Wow. That's *soft*." Krycek took the towel from Mulder, and ran it through his hands. "You're right. Imagine that rubbing all over your body." Caroline smiled smugly. "That's our most expensive towel. It's much better quality, as I explained." "Fox, I want those towels." "But they're so expensive..." "So? We have money. We can afford the best." Mulder sighed, picking up a small hand towel. He rubbed it against the back of his hand. He did admit that it felt rather pleasant. And it would be so good to have Alex dry him off with one of these... "Okay. We'll take them." "All right. Would you like a full set of sizes? And how many of each? What color scheme do you have in your bathroom? We have a wide variety of colors..." The boys sighed. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Twenty minutes, a shopping cart full of towels, and a new shower curtain (because theirs "just didn't match anymore") later, the trio was in front of a display of pillows. The pillow display was just as overwhelming as the towels, so Caroline immediately began her explanation of them. "Pillows come in two different varieties, based on their filling. Feather and synthetic." Mulder and Krycek breathed a sigh of relief. "But there are many variations of the two." Their faces fell. "Synthetic pillows general come in either foam or loose filling. Foam is more supportive, and for people with bad backs or sore necks. Loose filling feels more like feather pillows, but is usually more firm. It is sometimes made of cotton, but nowadays it is usually made of nylon fibers." Krycek began getting bored. His mind wandered away, towards naked images of Mulder. He imagined him lying on their new bed. Flushed. Lips parted, breathing heavily. Begging... "...so on hundred percent down is better, because you don't get the feathers with the sharp ends that poke out of the pillow. But down is more expensive. Which means the pillows with the most feathers are the most expensive. But they're not necessarily the best, because they're *too* fluffy for some people. Makes them feel like they're being smothered in their sleep..." Mulder was also having a hard time concentrating. All he could think of was the way Krycek had looked that morning. Sleeping peacefully, sunlight streaming through the window and falling over his face. Gently softening his features, making him impossibly more beautiful. And then his green eyes had blinked open, seeing Mulder. He smiled and stretched, the sheets falling backwards and exposing his morning erection... "The larger pillows are good to place in back of these medium sized pillows. Since they're meant for support, I'd choose a firmer pillow for the back. Good for sitting up in bed to read or watch television. The medium pillows are for your head, so they should be softer. And since you have a firm back pillow, you don't have to worry about support! Now, the smallest pillows are just for decoration, or for couches or chairs. And travel. They make lovely travel pillows. But you probably aren't interested in them." She paused, and looked at the men before her. Their eyes were glazed over, and they hadn't noticed that she had paused her monologue. Deciding that they just weren't interested in *any* kind of pillow, she cleared her throat. "Hmm...?" "Huh? Oh... yes?" "Have you made any choices?" "No." "Not really." She shook her head, and bustled about, gathering the pillows she herself would buy if she had as much money as the men apparently did. When she was done, she dumped them into a second cart (the first being filled with towels), and presented it to her customers. Mulder and Krycek examined the pillows in the cart, squeezing them and lying their heads upon them. Deciding that they were pleased with the selection, they smiled their thank you's at Caroline. //I knew there was a reason I took this job,// she thought, as she grabbed each man by an elbow and helped them towards the cash register. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It took three trips before all the bags were in the car. They filled the trunk, and half of the back seat. When they arrived home, Mulder and Krycek decided it was ridiculous to take six trips in the elevator. So they deposited bags in the building's lobby until the car was empty. Then Krycek held the elevator door open while Mulder loaded it with bags. When they reached the fourth floor, Mulder held the door while Krycek carried the bags into the apartment. Finally Krycek dropped the last load of bags onto the floor, and Mulder shut the door. Mulder and Krycek came together and shared a kiss, before Mulder pulled away and sighed. "What's wrong?" "We still have to put all these towels away." "Don't be silly, Fox." "What do you mean? Are we just going to leave them here? I wouldn't mind, but I thought you'd get pissed off if we just left them on the floor." It was Krycek's turn to sigh. "What am I going to do with you?" Mulder waggled his eyebrows. "I have some ideas..." "That's not what I meant. I can't believe you don't know that we have to wash these towels before we put them away." "We have to *what*?" "Wash them, of course. You have to do that with all new towels." "Why?" "Because people at the store and the towel factory have had their hands all over them." "All of this is so much trouble." "I know, but we have to do this if we're going to make a home together." "I know." Mulder wrapped his arms around Krycek, and Krycek's arms came up to embrace Mulder. They stood that way, enjoying each other's warmth, until the doorbell rang. Krycek broke away from the hug and checked his watch. "That's probably the delivery men." "They're not just going to drop the bed off, right? They're going to be putting it together?" "Yup. It cost extra, but I knew neither of us was up for more work. They'll put the bed together, and then we can relax and enjoy it." Krycek opened the door and showed the delivery men were the bed would be going. Soon they were carrying the box containing the bedframe, and the mattress into the bedroom, while Mulder and Krycek watched. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Mulder tipped the delivery men and walked them to the door. Once they were gone, he turned the lock and went to join his lover in the bedroom. Krycek was bent over, tucking the elastic of the fitted sheet under the new mattress. Mulder leaned over and kissed the back of his neck, before going into the living room to retrieve the pillows. To pass time while waiting for the bed to be finished, the two had put covers on all of them. Mulder dumped them all on the bed. Krycek rearranged the pillows into something resembling order, and Mulder spread a light sheet over the bed. When they were done, they stood back and examined their new bedroom. The bed, with it's tall headboard was quite tasteful. The headboard's gently curving side supports were made of rich, deeply colored wood, while the center was covered in brown leather of the same dark shade. The rest of the bed was a simple box frame, hidden by the dust-ruffle. There was no footboard, making it wonderfully easy to throw someone down on the bed. The bed was queen-sized, and took up a great deal of the room. But the room had no other furniture, making it look empty. Mulder, after taking a good look around, turned to Krycek and said, "I guess we'll have to go shopping for more bedroom furniture." "Yeah. We'll probably need a bedside tables, and lamps." "And maybe an armchair. And some pictures. The new paint looks nice, but the blank white walls look odd." "Yeah. Fox?" "Yes?" "I'm sorry about all of this. It's been so much trouble and money, and I've been upsetting your life..." Mulder cut him off. "Don't be sorry. Before, this place was only an apartment. Now we're making it into a home. I get annoyed with the shopping and cleaning, but I really love making this place ours. I love you, and everything you're bringing to my life." Krycek smiled brilliantly at Mulder. No matter how many times or in how many different ways he heard those words, they never lost their impact. "I love you too." He put an arm around Mulder and kissed him, licking at his lips. he pulled back, and his smile turned sultry. "Wanna try out the new bed?" "I think we deserve some rest after the week we've had..." ^^^ The End ^^^ More notes: Mulder and Krycek's bed actually exists. It's available at Pottery Barn, and it's called "Leather Headboard". For those who like visuals with their stories, it's on page 48 of their holiday 1999 catalogue. I also have a copy of the picture on my site. The URL of the pic is- http://araxdelan.tripod.com/Araxdelan/bed.jpg