Fanfic Challenge 3: Someone wears this dress to a soiree.

Length: 500-2,000 words.

TITLE: Fashionable

“We should go to the summer festival.”

Mulder looked at Monica as if she’d sprouted a third head, “I thought you’d be avoiding that thing like the plague. I thought Folmer was trying to pressure you into going.”

“He’s been pressuring me into going with him. So I’m going with you,” she twirled her pencil between her fingers like a baton. “You’re not going to make me go alone, are you?”

He shook his head, “No, I can’t make you go alone. But we don’t have to take it seriously, do we?”

She smirked, “You don’t think I take that kind of camaraderie-building crap seriously. You set aside the date, I’ll take care of everything else.”

“I don’t know if I like the sound of that.”

“What’s the matter, Partner, you don’t trust me?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Monica, it’s just that, well, since you and I have been partnered, my frequency of being suspended without pay has doubled.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have married Dana. You and she could’ve stayed partnered.”

“Yeah, but there are other definite benefits.”

Monica raised one eyebrow, the right eyebrow, a fraction of an inch, “Well, then, I don’t want to hear you complain about being my partner.”

“You’re not hearing any complaints from me. We work great together. So, are Scully and Doggett planning on coming to the festival?”

“I think so. Why don’t you ask?”

He looked across the tiny office, “Are you two going to the summer festival?”

“Yep,” Scully answered succinctly, not looking up from her paperwork.

Doggett slid the file cabinet drawer closed and tossed a manila folder onto his desk, “If you two are coming, we might change our minds, though.”

Monica snorted, “Nice, John. Listen, Mulder, I’ll take care of anything. Just meet me at my place at seven next Wednesday.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. Don’t forget, Mulder. I’m warning you.”

He looked up at his partner, “Me, forget? Never. Remind me when we leave work next Wednesday.”

“I’ll remind him,” Scully said, still not looking up from her paperwork.

---

Mulder let himself into Monica’s spacious studio apartment. She lived in an area almost as bad as where he used to live, before Scully demanded they pool their resources and get a real home when they married. But Monica seemed oblivious to this - probably because she seemed to be friends with every miscreant in a square mile radius. He had to admit to himself it was impressive.

A garment-bag hung on the wall, hiding her dress from sight. She was in the kitchen, “The elevator didn’t give you any trouble, did it?”

“Not really, no. It had an out-of-order sign on it, so I came up the stairs.”

“Again?” She handed him the mug of coffee, “Come on, let me show you what I picked out.”

He followed her around the counter to the garment bag, and waited patiently while she opened the zipper and shook out a dress, “What do you think?”

“You’re gonna look great in it,” he said as if by rote - uncertain and unenthused.

She laughed, “Silly man - this is yours.” He looked at her, surprised. By the look on her face, she wasn’t joking. “Hey, you’re always talking about how you used to crossdress at Oxford. Put your money where your mouth is, College Boy.”

He laughed, “I don’t have shoes, and I’ll have to shave my legs.”

“You’re a good sport.” She gestured to the bathroom, “I’ve got a pack of unused razors under the bathroom sink. And don’t worry, I’ve got the perfect shoes already picked out for you.”

He chuckled, amused, and disappeared into the bathroom. Emerging a few minutes later, he found that she’d already changed, “I thought that was my dress. Did I just shave my legs for nothing?”

“Oh, no, Mulder, I’m two dress sizes smaller than you. I bought them to match. You know, to show our solidarity.”

He sighed loudly, “I am so appalled. You knew I was going to wear this dress, and you decided to wear it anyway. You are so not my friend any more.”

She threw the dress at him, “Go change, Mulder.”

Step 1. Serve
Step 2. Resist from Within