Tricky Treats
by Gaby
For the last few days he checked and double-checked the names on their mailbox
before entering his home, just to make sure he truly was not mistaken. Because
for the last few days, Walter Skinner couldn't necessarily say he entered his
home from the changes the house was going through.
He had endured the fake spiderwebs that enveloped him as soon as he opened the
front door. He had ignored each and every single one of the many rubber spiders
and bats. Heck, he even enjoyed watching Elvis, their overeager puppy, wrestling
with one of the giant rubber bats. There were two new best friends if Skinner
ever saw some! He had drawn the line when he had opened the fridge only two days
ago, and triggered a very loud, blood-curling yell by it. He had almost dropped
the bottle of beer, so startled was he.
Krycek had gleefully informed him that it had taken the better half of the day
to install that little piece of art, and it was just so Mulder wouldn't be able
to steal any more of those M&M's which were Krycek's weakness. Ever since
Skinner had put his foot down and told Mulder in no uncertain terms that he was
to keep his fingers off any more sunflower seeds unless he'd learn not to leave
empty husks like a trail of breadcrumbs, Mulder had taken up nibbling on other
delectables. Like Krycek's M & M's.
Mulder, of course, protested loudly, accusing Krycek of lying.
Skinner had sighed dejectedly, ordered Krycek to make the horrific yell
disappear, told Mulder to go and buy an economy sized pack of M & M's as apology
pronto and then went and locked himself into his den where he nursed his beer
in beautiful, wonderful, perfect silence.
So, Skinner never really knew what to expect next when he came home from a long
day at the Hoover, exhausted and in need of some pampering by his two beautiful
boys.
What he most certainly didn't expect was to enter his house to total darkness.
Opening the front door, he stepped into the small foyer which led to the wide
entrance hall. Skinner loved that little room which was no more than four square
feet. There were photos of all three men hanging on the walls, welcoming him
home. He loved to enter the house and look at those pictures, imagining what his
subs, which were smiling at him lovingly from the walls, had thought up to
pamper their Dom after a long day at work.
Normally, the light from the entrance hall was enough to see the pictures on the
wall—or the floor, to see where one was going. Right now, however, Skinner
stood in total darkness. Somebody must have hung up a heavy, dark curtain,
effectively cutting off any light from the entrance hall. Skinner frowned, and
reached over to turn on the light switch.
It didn't work.
Frowning deeper, Skinner decided to slowly make his way further inside the
house. He slowly closed the door, trying to gauge how many steps he had to take
before he ran into the curtain, when a heart-stopping yowling caused him to jump
and slam into the front door. He clutched his chest, and fumbled for his gun.
At that moment, the heavy curtain was pushed aside, and his two subs grinned at
him.
"Wasn't that cool?" Mulder enthused. "Took us almost all day to teach him that
little trick."
Skinner, still breathing heavily, needed a moment until he realized that his sub
was referring to Elvis who was sitting in one corner of the small room, wagging
his tail happily. The black pup had been impossible to detect in the darkness.
"Everytime the front door closes, he gives that yowl. Perfect, huh?" Mulder
looked like a little kid at Christmas. "It'll scare the living daylights out of
the kids on Halloween!"
Skinner shook his head, sighing. Halloween. Why had he allowed his subs to turn
their beautiful home into a Halloween House, anyway? Ever since then, madness
ruled his life.
Mulder had finished his first novel and was now "between projects." Meaning, he
was bored senseless. Krycek, no matter how much time he spent volunteering at
the animal shelter, was bored as well. So, Halloween came as the perfect
distraction. When they had asked their Dom for permission to do something nice
for the neighborhood kids, Skinner had thought they would carve a few jack
o'lanterns and be done with it. He should've known better.
In fact, Skinner hadn't been too sure about his subs' project at first. He had
to admit that their neighbors were friendly enough towards them, even though
they were "three fags living together", but he still didn't spend too much time
socializing with them. Mostly because he wasn't home all that much.
Krycek, on the other hand, was the town's resident pet sitter ever since people
had heard about his love for animals. And he was really good at it, too. Old
ladies loved him because he took care of their cats or budgies with the patience
of a saint, little kids loved him because he taught them how to train their
dogs. Skinner still marvelled at the way people trusted the ex-assassin so
unconditionally. His sub wasn't a people person but he was perfect with animals,
and people immediately recognized that.
Mulder was the kids' favorite. Probably because he, too, was nothing but a big
kid. The man could spend endless hours playing with the town's children. He
babysat the younger kids, entertained the older kids with ghost stories, played
basketball with the teenagers, and—up till now but for not much longer,
Skinner was sure—resisted taking over coaching little league. Krycek loved
"corrupting" kids into playing soccer which Mulder thought was a sport for
wusses. Girls of all ages loved watching the two handsome men squabble with each
other.
Skinner agreed that it might be a good idea to give the town's kids a place
where they could have a good scare and receive some safe candy without their
parents having to be afraid of madmen poisoning the chocolate or hiding razor
blades. The big man shook his head. How sick must a person be to endanger
children like that? No, let his subs create a House of Horrors for the children.
That should keep them from doing nonsense and getting into trouble.
Or so he had thought.
That was around the same time he lost control over everything. Because Mulder
and Krycek, in their usual overzealous and excited way, went the whole nine
yards.
A yowling Elvis was the latest touch.
Skinner shook his head, unbelieving. He opened the front door again, watching
the pup avidly. Elvis calmly looked back, not moving, even his tail wasn't
wagging so people wouldn't be tipped off that he was sitting in the dark corner.
As soon as the big man closed the front door, Elvis raised his head and gave a
soul-breaking yowl, looking like a wolf howling at the moon. Skinner shuddered.
Mulder grinned happily and petted the pup's head. "Well done, El," he praised.
Then he looked up at his Dom. "The kids are gonna love that, dontcha think?"
"Oh yeah," Skinner growled. "And I'm sure gonna love that the first time you
haul your insomniac self downstairs and outside at six in the morning to grab
the Sunday Times, and Elvis responds with that yowling."
"Don't worry, Walter, Elvis won't know the front door closed. He's gonna be
upstairs in our bed." Krycek piped up helpfully.
Skinner fixed him with a glare. "How many times do I have to tell you boys that
Elvis is not sleeping in our bed?" He heaved a deep sigh. "Ah, why do I even
bother?" he muttered to himself. Then he looked at his subs. "Is it safe to go
inside, or am I going to be attacked by the Swamp Thing?" When Mulder's eyes lit
up with obvious glee, Skinner shook a stern finger in his face. "Don't even
think about it, Fox! No mud in the house!"
The big man purposefully walked into the entrance hall, relieved to see nothing
out of the ordinary. Except for all those fake spiders and bats and spiderwebs
and jack o'lanterns and paper mache witches and skeletons and ghosts
and...Skinner sighed again. Could life get any more bizarre?
"What's for dinner, boys? I'm starving."
"Dinner?" Krycek and Mulder looked at each other, ignoring Elvis who had decided
he wasn't needed as yowling machine anymore and therefore played gleefully with
the giant rubber bat again, throwing it across the room and then sliding after
it on the marble floor.
"Sorry, Walter, we were so busy...uh...want Italian or Chinese?" Krycek held up
the phone while Mulder went in search of some menus from their favorite take out
places.
Skinner sighed again. When would that lunacy finally be over? "Whatever you're
having," he mumbled defeated and climbed the stairs, hoping that a hot shower
would revive him a little. And hoping he wouldn't find any more "surprises"
upstairs...
At least they remembered to order extra mushrooms—his favorite—for the pizza
and made sure that Skinner had his creature comforts around him while they ate.
The two younger men were doting subs, the way they were supposed to be. Until
the last bite of pizza was devoured. They immediately jumped up, quickly cleaned
up, then ushered their Dom into the living room and settled him down on his
beloved white couch—Elvis immediately jumped up and curled up on the folded
quilt in the corner, happily ignoring Skinner's warning that he wasn't allowed
on any furniture. Mulder fetched the big man another beer while Krycek brought
him a glass of whiskey and the remote. They gave him a peck on each cheek, and
then ran off to further decorate the basement. Halloween was, after all, the
next day!
Skinner shook his head ruefully, remembering how it had all started. Mulder,
with nothing to do after finishing his book, spent most of his time surfing the
net. He found a site about Halloween traditions, legends, and other assorted
little gems, and told his lovers about the house of one Richard Garriot who
supposedly took Halloween to the nth degree and turned his mansion into a theme
park, complete with monsters and sorcerers and what-nots.
"His mansion was gigantic, Walter! 4,500 square foot, and three surrounding
acres of land! There was a dungeon, a hidden library, trap doors, secret
passageways, a rooftop observatory, even an indoor tropical rain forest! Every
other Halloween between 1988 and 1994, he would spend more than $ 100,000 to
turn his mansion into the ultimate Halloween attraction!"
Skinner had raised a doubting eyebrow but Krycek had the same gleeful and happy
look on his face as Mulder had, so he decided to keep on listening.
"Only 200 people were allowed inside, even though thousands of people lined up
each time. The tour was for free, but people tried to bribe others to give up
their place in line with up to one thousand dollars! There were no takers
though. That's how popular and brilliant the theme park was!"
It was obvious to Skinner that Mulder would have been first in line if he had
known about that attraction sooner. And he was glad this Garriot fellow had
stopped that nonsense by now.
"Garriot moved out three months prior to Halloween because the remodeling was so
extensive. Can you imagine that?"
The big man looked at Mulder who was practically bouncing up and down with pent
up energy. Krycek, his beloved stoic, emotionless rat, could hardly sit still
either, a huge silly grin spreading his face in two.
"Okay," Skinner finally conceded. "You can go ahead and create a House of
Horrors for the neighborhood kids. But I'm not moving out!"
Back then, all three of them had laughed about the joke.
Now, Skinner wished he had taken a room in a nearby hotel.
He sighed, and looked around the living room which was crammed full of
decorations. It looked...nice. Scary. The kids would love it. Elvis was
trustingly resting his head on Skinner's thigh, offering his belly for a nice
rub which the big man gladly delivered. He had a cold beer in his hand, the
remote all to himself, and a day off tomorrow to look forward to.
Life wasn't too bad.
"Oh, and Walter?"
Skinner startled out of his reverie and looked up to see Mulder's head poking
around the corner. "Yes?" he asked with trepidation.
"Could you, uh, organize a real skeleton from Quantico for us tomorrow?
Shouldn't be too big a problem for a mean lean ex-Marine AD like you, right?
Thank you!" And with that, his sub blew him a kiss and then was gone.
The big man stared at the empty doorway, open-mouthed. Then he groaned and
buried his face in his hands.
Skinner almost caused an accident at an intersection when the people in the
other car saw a skeleton sitting in the passenger seat of the AD's jeep. Well,
damn it, there was no other way to transport a life-sized skeleton, Skinner
argued inwardly, and the darn thing was pretty expensive as well. He wasn't
going to take any chances with it, so he had securely belted it in next to him.
If other people had a problem with that, so be it. Besides, it was Halloween.
Stranger things than a skeleton taking a joyride had happened on a day like
this, Skinner was certain of it.
His struggling to get the skeleton out of his car and into his house drew some
of the neighborhood's kids near. They gaped at him open-mouthed, looking forward
to an evening inside Alex's and Fox's House of Horrors more than ever.
"Is that a real dead guy, sir?" a young boy piped up while Skinner wrapped the
skeleton's gangly arms around his shoulders, trying to shut the passenger side
door of his jeep at the same time. The big man looked like he was going to dirty
dance with the skeleton. A few girls giggled.
"No, it's made of some kind of plastic, Kenny," Skinner replied, hoping that he
remembered the kid's name correctly. Maybe he should spend more time at home.
If his memory didn't fail him, the boy was a really good soccer player and had a
dog. Elvis loved that dog.
"Oh," Kenny mumbled, obviously disappointed. Then his face brightened. "But
you're gonna have some dead people inside tonight, right?"
"To be honest, I have no idea. I wouldn't put it past Fox and Alex though,"
Skinner muttered, wrestling the skeleton towards the front door. "You just wait
and see what we have planned for you, okay?"
Skinner was almost at the door when a little girl of perhaps six walked up to
him and tugged on his sleeve, almost causing him to lose his precious hold on
the skeleton. "Thank you for doing this for us, sir," she said, a slight tremble
in her voice. The big surly man scared her a little. "It really means a lot to
us. All the kids are looking forward to tonight." She gave him a brilliant smile
before running away again. Skinner stared after her for a long moment, a grin
splitting his face in two. He should most definitely spend more time at home.
As soon as he had managed to get the skeleton inside the house, he had to face
the next problem.
Elvis, seeing the skeleton, immediately dropped his beloved rubber bat and came
running over. Talk about a whole bag of new bones to chew on!
Skinner rolled his eyes heavenwards. As if his subs weren't enough hard work, he
now had a bone-crazy pup on his hand as well!
The big man sighed. Actually, he had been glad to escape from home for a couple
of hours after what had happened all morning. For whatever reason, Mulder kept
daring Krycek to try some chants in the spirit of Halloween, summoning the
devil, a witch, or some other rather unpleasant individual that way. Krycek did
what Skinner suggested he should do—"just ignore him, Alex"—until Mulder
started to imitate a chicken every time he saw the younger man.
Skinner had fled from a house that didn't look like his home anymore anyway, a
clucking Mulder, and a murderously glaring Krycek, desperately hoping they
wouldn't kill each other while he was gone.
The fact that it was now eerily silent in the house unsettled Skinner slightly.
He didn't see or hear anything or anyone.
And then all hell broke loose. There was a loud yell, and Krycek came running
out of the downstairs bathroom, white as a sheet. A second later, they heard the
unmistakeable and slightly hysterical laughter of Mulder coming out of the same
bathroom.
Skinner ignored Elvis and the skeleton, and grabbed his shaking sub instead.
"What's wrong, Alex?" he asked, worried. He had never seen the man that scared
before.
"That goddamned son of a bitch, I'm gonna kill him. Slowly and painfully. I know
how to do that, Walter. Used to be my job. Just lemme go and I'll finish him
off. I swear to you, he's gonna suffer. He's gonna suffer bad!"
It became obvious that the initial shock had worn off. Instead of being scared
shitless, Krycek was fuming. His beautiful green eyes flashed with a lust for
killing.
Skinner swallowed nervously. "No, Alex," he said in his sternest voice which
brooked no argument. He gave the younger man a hard look and a shake to make
sure he realized he was supposed to stay rooted to the spot, then let go of
Krycek—ready to pounce as soon as his sub so much as moved a muscle. Since
Krycek did respond to a masterful Skinner in every situation, the younger man
obeyed and patiently waited in the entrance hall while Skinner walked towards
the bathroom to investigate.
Mulder was sitting on the closed toilet lid, tears of laughter running down his
face. He was doubled over, holding his sides, obviously in pain from laughing so
hard. The small window was covered with a piece of heavy, dark velvet curtain,
like the ones they had hanging all over their house in order to make it more
spooky and create an eery atmosphere. The room was in complete darkness except
for the two candles which were framing the small mirror above the sink.
"What the hell is going on here?" Skinner bellowed, deciding that he might as
well turn all Dom on the hapless man in front of him.
"Uh...Alex saw...uh...he summoned the devil..." Mulder smirked, totally
unrependant.
"Devil's right, you bastard," Krycek yelled, storming into the small room which
was already crowded with just two people. "He scared me to death!"
Skinner realized it would take more time to get the story out of Mulder than out
of Krycek, and he really didn't have the energy to wrestle Mulder into
submission right now. So, he turned to the fuming man in the doorway. "Okay,
Alex. What happened?"
"He's a bastard, that's what happened," came the sullen reply. Mulder's smirk
got bigger. He was rather pleased with himself.
Skinner scowled for a second, then decided that his sub most definitely needed
to be taken down a peg or two. He grabbed the surprised man, bent him at the
waist and secured him under his strong left arm, and used his right hand to pull
down sweats and boxers. Then he proceeded to rain down a series of hard swats on
the now struggling sub's bottom. "I'm still not entirely sure what you did, Fox,
but I just know you deserve a spanking," he explained, ignoring the cries of
outrage from his sub. When the butt in front of him was nicely pinked up, he let
Mulder go.
The younger man pouted furiously while adjusting his clothing, but refrained
from commenting.
"So, why did I just spank you? Or do you want me to ask Alex again?"
After a long moment, Mulder gave a put-upon sigh, and muttered, "I just
challenged him to summon a vengeful spirit, that's all. He wouldn't though. Cuz
he's chicken!"
Krycek lunged forward, stopped only by the brawny arm of his Dom. "He kept
telling me to go to the bathroom, light the candles in the darkness, and then
chant "bloody Mary" seven times. I would see the devil in the mirror. I told him
that was humbug. He accused me of being chicken. You were there all morning,
Walter." Skinner nodded, sighing. Mulder could be such a baby sometimes!
"Anyway, I didn't believe any of that crap, but after you were gone he kept
bugging me. I tried to ignore him the best I could but it was hard." Skinner
sighed again. Oh yes, he knew how hard it was to ignore a Mulder who was on a
mission. "So, he finally leaves me alone and tells me he was going for a run.
I'm relieved to finally have him off my case, but after I hear the front door
close, I kept thinking I could try this stupid chant and prove to monster boy
once and for all that he's full of shit!"
This time, Mulder lunged at Krycek. Skinner had a hard time separating his subs.
He gave both of them a stinging swat. "No cursing, and no name calling. You know
the rules, boys!"
Krycek glared a little but muttered an apology. Then he continued. "Anyway, so I
go to the bathroom, darken it, light the candles, start the chant. 'One Bloody
Mary, two Bloody Mary' and so on. I know it was silly. I knew it wouldn't work.
Then I suddenly feel as if someone is with me, in the same room, just as I'm
about to say 'Bloody Mary' for the last time. I'm slightly nervous all of a
sudden, and when I look in the mirror, I see a horrific face staring back at me.
An ugly grimace. It was him!" Krycek pointed an accusing finger at Mulder. "He
hid in the corner, behind the commode. He knew all along I would come in here
and do the chant as soon as he was gone. He scared me shitless!"
"You're so easy, Alex. You're like an open book to me. Isn't difficult at all to
profile you," Mulder smirked.
"I don't want you profiling me! Stay out of my head, asshole!"
"Hey! You called my face an ugly grimace just now! Who's the asshole, huh?"
Both subs yelped when they received another couple of hard swats. Skinner glared
at them both until they grudgingly apologized. "Good," the big man growled. "I
knew there was a reason I spanked you, Fox." Mulder glared at his Dom. "That was
a childish prank. I don't believe in any of that mumbo-jumbo but just to be on
the safe side, I don't want either one of you to ever do anything like that
again. Is that understood?" After a long moment, both heads nodded. "Good. Now I
want you to shake hands." His subs looked up at him, surprised. Hesitantly, they
extended their hands and then shook them. "Good. Now I want you to kiss and make
up." This time, his subs gaped. "Now, boys," Skinner said sternly. "We don't
have much time. Preparations are waiting. So get cracking. Kiss and make up.
With feeling. Move!"
Mulder and Krycek glared sullenly at each other but after another encouraging
swat to their butts, they moved closer and gave each other a half-hearted peck
on their mouths.
"I didn't see any feeling, boys," Skinner threatened, raising his hands for
another couple of swats.
His subs sighed and moved closer, this time really kissing. The perfunctory kiss
slowly but steadily turned into more, much more, and soon they were sucking
faces with the best of them, legs and arms hopelessly tangled around their lithe
bodies.
Skinner grinned. "Now give me a kiss and then get going. Party's starting
soon, boys!"
The younger men smirked and, with swollen lips and slightly glazed over eyes,
descended on their Dom to kiss him stupid.
When they walked out of the bathroom, Krycek promised himself to get back at
Mulder before the night was over.
The opportunity came sooner than Krycek thought.
He and Skinner went into the basement to set up the heavier equipment while
Mulder remained on the first floor and added finishing touches to their already
scary decorations. The fog machine was the ultimate kick for Mulder, and he
loved the eery lighting they had set up.
After checking and re-checking everything, Mulder went upstairs to change into
his costume. He was going as Elvis. When his lovers had seen the hideous white
suit with silvery glitter, the ugliest sunglasses known to mankind and the huge
fake sideburns for the first time, Krycek had drily commented that this outfit
would scare the kids more than the rest of their House of Horrors. Mulder had
ignored the other man, thinking that he would make a better Elvis than the King
himself had ever been.
Watching himself in the mirror now, decked out in full costume, Mulder nodded
happily. Yes, he was the ultimate Elvis all right.
Elvis, the pup, came running into the master bedroom, viciously shaking his head
from side to side as if trying to kill the rubber bat he was chewing on, and
Mulder bent down to give him a pat. His lovers had looked at him in total shock
when Mulder had suggested finding their pup a fox costume—it would be the
ultimate cross-dressing event, he had argued, with him as Elvis, and Elvis as
Fox. Neither Skinner nor Krycek had found that funny.
"Your other masters are dull and boring, El," Mulder informed the pup while
walking down the stairs again. "You'd better stick with me, pal."
Elvis, still not entirely sure whether or not the strange man in the hideous
white suit was one of his sub-masters—though he did have his voice and his
smell—decided that this delicious looking skeleton in the entrance hall was
more enticing, and left Mulder to his own devices.
"Traitor," the man called after him, smiling. He watched Skinner busily hauling
a cardboard coffin into the living room. The big man would jump out of it as
soon as the kids were close enough. So, the basement should be ready and set to
go, Mulder concluded, and walked downstairs to take a look around.
What he saw in the dimly lit basement hallyway made him cry out loud in complete
horror.
They had decided to use the wooden frame from their playroom and turn it into a
gallows of sorts, with a life-sized doll hanging from it. Unfortunately, the
person dangling from the rope was Krycek.
"Alex!" Mulder yelled, out of his mind with worry when he realized that the man
wasn't moving at all. "Walter, help!"
He heard footsteps on the stairs while he was busy holding the lifeless body of
his lover, trying to loosen the noose around the graceful neck. When he felt
soft lips brush his ear, Mulder almost entirely freaked out. "You're gonna kiss
it all better, King?" he heard a throaty voice whisper into his ear.
"Fuck you, Alex," he yelled just as Skinner came to a skidding stop behind them.
"What's going on here?" the big man bellowed. He really had enough of his two
boys bickering.
"Alex played hangman. Scared me shitless, that bastard," Mulder fumed.
Krycek grinned unrependantly. "I thought that's part of Halloween, being
scared," he replied innocently. "And anyway, maybe it was the evil spirit who
made me do it. You know, the one I summoned after you forced me into chanting
Bloody Mary seven times!"
Mulder made a grab for the other man, but Skinner intervened. "Okay, that's it.
Stop it, both of you. I've had enough! What's wrong with you, anyway? I thought
we were going to have a good time today, doing something nice for the kids.
What's gotten into you two lately?"
The two younger men obediently took a step back, looking at the floor.
"Alex, you just wanted to get even, didn't you? For the bathroom prank?" Krycek
nodded. "It wasn't funny, Alex. You shouldn't have done that."
"It was just a joke, Walter!" Krycek argued, but when he saw the thunderclouds
on Skinner's face he added meekly, "Sir."
"It's not a joke, Alex," Mulder yelled hotly. "This can go wrong so easily. I
read about a teenaged kid that hanged himself when he attempted something like
this once. Nobody thought this could happen. They thought the gallows and the
noose were fool-proof. And still he died. You could've died, idiot!" His voice
slightly wavered, indicating how shaken he truly was.
Krycek bit his lip. "Sorry, Fox. It really was just a silly prank. Nothing
would've happened. See, here?" He pointed at a black beam connected to the frame
at the height of his upper thighs. "I'm resting my butt on it. That way I can
dangle my legs a little, making it look like I'm actually hanging from the rope.
But I'm not. It's safe. Really."
Mulder inspected the beam. He hadn't seen it, in front of the dark background.
And he realized that even if Krycek did fall off the beam for whatever reason,
the rope was too long for him to get strangled as long as he stood on his feet.
It really did seem safe. But it had looked so real. Which, he thought idly,
was the purpose of a good Halloween scare...
"Walter even allowed it! He said it was okay. Didn't you, Walter? Sir?"
Skinner frowned slightly. "Well, yes, I did. But I thought you would tell Fox.
Not use it against him."
Krycek bit his lip again nervously. He was treading on thin ice right now, he
realized. So he tried to distract the other two men by pointing to the ceiling.
"See this, Fox? Walter and I, we've hung the doll up there and rigged it so that
it'll drop down in front of you while you're walking downstairs. All you have to
do is pull the lever over there." He pointed again. "The kids are gonna love it,
I'm sure."
Mulder grinned. He already loved it. He was sure the children would have a
blast. Especially when they would see Alex dangling from the gallows only a few
feet away.
"Once they're in front of me, I'm gonna make a grab for 'em," Krycek continued.
"Oh, and here's the icing on the cake!" He bent down and picked something up
from behind the wooden frame. It was a fake severed arm, including a bloody end
right above the elbow, and a twitching, battery-driven hand. "I'll put it down
on my left side. I think it looks pretty real, at least in the dark." He
smirked.
The town's children knew about his amputated left arm though he had never
bothered to tell anyone how he had lost it. Since they didn't know him any
differently, the kids didn't mind either way. Alex only had one arm. So what? He
was still their Alex. The fact that a fake arm would suddenly be twitching next
to him would probably have them all shriek in gleeful horror.
Skinner smiled inwardly. Krycek had totally and completely distracted Mulder
from being angry with him. Didn't mean he would ignore the mean prank so
quickly. He had punished Mulder for the bathroom incident, he would punish
Krycek for the gallows incident.
"Fox, your belt, please," the big man said calmly, never taking his eyes off his
youngest lover. Krycek gaped at him. "Alex, what you did was wrong. Getting even
like that is childish and immature. You know better than that." Skinner grabbed
Mulder's wide, white leather belt, and looked at Krycek expectantly. "Bare it,
Alex," he ordered.
Krycek sighed, but obeyed. The belt was wide enough to not inflict too much
sting. To be honest, he preferred the dull thud of a belt to the sharp slap of
Skinner's hard hand.
"The beam is really convenient, isn't it?" Skinner chuckled, helping his sub
bending over it. Krycek's bottom was raised high. "Five strokes, Alex. Hold on
tight."
Five strokes? Krycek bit his lip, trying not to laugh out loud. His prank was
meaner than Mulder's had been, and all things considered he got off way easier!
Mulder had received a pretty thorough hand spanking—it had only turned the
other man's butt rosy pink but he was sure it hurt more than five quick strokes
with a wide belt would.
That was until Krycek realized with a certain shock that Skinner landed each of
these five strokes exactly over the spot he would be perching on later, on the
beam. Damn! Playing dead would be rather...unpleasant now.
Once the punishment was over, Mulder buckled the belt again while Krycek
sullenly pulled up his pants. "That was fiendish, Walter," he muttered, pouting.
Skinner merely grinned at the younger man.
"You both have learnt your lesson, haven't you, boys?" the big man asked. Mulder
and Krycek nodded. "So, no more pranks? Will you behave for the rest of today?"
At his boys' raised eyebrows, Skinner added chuckling, "I'm not holding my
breath on you behaving for the rest of your lives. I'll settle for today."
Mulder and Krycek grinned, and jumped their Dom, smothering him with kisses.
"Okay, okay," Skinner laughed. "Now let's get cracking. The children will be
here in a few minutes, and we're not finished yet."
"That's right," Mulder nodded. "Come on, Alex. Help me turn this old man into a
mummy, and let's stuff him into the coffin." He grinned cheekily and ran up the
stairs, away from Skinner's swatting hand.
The House of Horrors was a total success.
When Mulder opened the front door, he was surprised—and immensely proud—to
see more than two dozen kids of all ages waiting on the front porch.
They agreed to go in groups of five, with the older kids waiting and watching
the younger kids outside while Mulder took the first group of children on the
grand tour. Everyone, including the kids still waiting, shuddered when they
heard the welcoming howl from Elvis for the first time.
Everyone loved the imaginative decorations in the entire house. The kids
couldn't get enough of being chased out of the living room by a mummy, they
shrieked gleefully when they saw Alex and his severed left arm, and they stared
in awe at all those heavy chains and whips hanging from the walls in the
basement—courtesy of the men's playroom.
During the entire tour, Mulder was whispering to the group in a stage whisper,
warning them of impending doom, preparing them for the next catastrophe. He had
them so conditioned that by the time he merely flicked a light switch or touched
their shoulders, the children would jump and yell. Mulder enjoyed himself
immensely.
Even old and boring tricks like the wet noodles—"Alex's brain... he doesn't
need it anymore anyway"—or a bowl full of grapes—"hmm...eyeballs...tasty,
don't you think?"—worked like a charm by the time the group had finished the
tour in the kitchen.
The following groups were told that those were the eyeballs of the kids who had
already finished the tour, causing them to shriek again.
Mulder then presented his favorite part of the tour: several pots full of
bubbling, steaming water in the brightest colors imaginable. "That's where I'm
cooking the rest of them right now... I love kid stew. Want some?" And he then
proceeded to pick up two silver domes on the table, reveiling a large bowl of
soup in which a fake hand was swimming, and a severed head on a plate.
Both Skinner and Krycek had a hard time playing dead while they heard Mulder
rattle on like that. The man was on a mission, and nobody could stop him. Since
Mulder never shut up in normal life anyway, it had made perfect sense to let him
play emcee to their House of Horrors tour. Besides, he was the kids' favorite,
and they had long bonded with him.
Once every child—and everytime Mulder went outside to pick up the next group
he realized more kids had arrived—had taken the grand tour, the three men led
their guests outside into the huge garden.
They had prepared it with the fog machine, added eery sounding wind chimes, jack
o'lanterns, and hung bed linen in the trees, which the wind made look like
floating ghosts. Dimly lit witches made out of cardboard as well as low-hanging
rubber spiders and bats completed the atmosphere.
"There isn't a cosier place on Earth," Mulder announced, flopping down on the
ground. There were several thick blankets spread out, and the entire group sat
down around a fire where they proceeded to roast marshmallows, eat pumpkin pie,
and tell each other ghost stories.
But all good things must come to an end, and when it was obvious that the
younger children really got tired, the entire group agreed to call it a night.
The men brought each and every single child home, taking the opportunity of a
late-night walk through town to work off the extra calories from all the candy
they had indulged in. The children chattered happily with the men, thanking them
again profusely for creating the House of Horrors, and making them promise to do
it again next year.
Elvis, the pup, was happily trailing along, his beloved rubber bat safely
between his teeth, making sure that his masters and the children didn't get
lost. Humans were really silly like that sometimes.
Krycek couldn't keep from chuckling at the dignified way his Dom was walking
down the street. "We should really take a picture, Walter. You as a mummy. And
then send it to everyone at the Hoover." He grinned.
"Yeah," Mulder chimed in. "Then everyone would see how old you really are!"
The two younger men stumbled they were laughing so hard. Skinner scowled.
The little girl who had thanked him with a trembling voice in the afternoon,
walked up to the men and glared at Mulder and Krycek. She had realized that the
big surly man wasn't so scary after all, and had decided to become best friends
with him. So, she slipped her small hand in Skinner's big paw, and pointed a
stern finger at the other men. "Show more respect for your elders! You should be
spanked!"
Mulder and Krycek stopped laughing instantly. Skinner smirked, and settled the
girl on his broad shoulders. "You're right, Lisa," he commented. "They should."
And the evil smirk he gave his boys promised that he might just do that once
they got back home.
But, truth be told, the men were just too exhausted when they finally arrived at
their house again, so they merely undressed and fell into bed.
Skinner lay in the middle of their huge bed, with two arms full of beautiful
subs. He had to admit, he had enjoyed himself immensely. The kids had been a lot
of fun, and it was wonderful to see his subs in action like that. The big man
realized that he was missing out on a lot while slaving away at the Hoover. He
often came home to tales of another street hockey game where Mulder had gotten
his ass kicked by a seven-year-old, or of Krycek rescuing Little Cindy Larson's
kitten from the tree, earning himself eternal gratitude from the five year old
girl. He didn't just want to hear about this anymore. He wanted to have a front
row seat.
Maybe it was time to retire. Skinner sure as hell wasn't working for the money -
he had enough stashed away, and his boys weren't poor either—and he really got
tired of the backstabbing, the politics, and the ass kissing he had to do. Yes.
Maybe he really should spend more time at home with his boys.
Then again, Skinner had to admit that having a regular desk job also had its
advantages.
"I want this house to be in tip-top condition by the weekend, boys," he
announced, grinning happily. The House of Horrors had been his subs' idea. He
had been glad to help out a little but he wasn't going to slave away cleaning
the pig sty now.
Krycek groaned, and buried his face in his Dom's furry chest. "Can't," he
mumbled. "I'm dead, remember?"
Skinner gave him an encouraging swat on the butt. "So is Elvis, Alex. Live with
it."
"How can you say that? The King's not dead!" Mulder exclaimed, aghast.
"Philistine!"
Skinner now gave Mulder an encouraging swat on the butt.
"Okay, okay, we'll have the house in perfect condition by the weekend," the
pouting ex-King grumbled, and Krycek nodded dutifully.
Just as Skinner thought they could fall asleep, Mulder raised himself on one
elbow and looked at his lovers. "It was a lot of fun today, wasn't it?" he
asked, a gleam in his eyes.
"Shut up, Fox," Krycek muttered. "Normal people are trying to sleep here."
Mulder happily ignored him. "Maybe we could do that again, for Christmas. You
know, create a real winter wonderland." He looked at his lovers expectantly but
wasn't too perturbed when they didn't react. "The kids would love it," he
wheedled.
"Yes, especially when it's not snowing. There goes your wonderland, Fox,"
Skinner grumbled, thinking that would be the end of the discussion.
How wrong he was. Now, Mulder really began to get creative.
"Nothing a few tons of fake snow couldn't rectify," he cheerfully informed his
lovers. "Then we'd need a million or so of those cute little twinkling lights in
different colors to decorate the house and the garden. Walter, you could play
Santa Claus. And Alex would be your elf." Mulder stared at Krycek's ear. "For
obvious reasons," he added, smirking.
Krycek opened his eyes to glare at his lover, and made a grab for him.
Strangling the babbling man seemed to be a real good idea right about now. But
Skinner stopped him just in time.
Mulder didn't even seem to notice any of this. "Or we could be the Three Wise
Men," he rattled on. Then he looked at Krycek again. "Or, the Two Wise Men and
One Village Idiot," he giggled.
This time, Krycek managed to close his hand around Mulder's throat though
Skinner prevented him from squeezing.
"Walter, you're good with wood," Mulder went on, slightly out of breath but
otherwise none the worse for wear. "Think you could make a huge sleigh for us?
To put on top of the roof?"
Skinner finally had enough. Mulder wouldn't stop talking till the wee hours of
dawn, so he did the only thing that would shut the younger man up.
He kissed him. Long and hard.
Mulder had a slightly glazed over look on his face when the kiss ended, and it
was obvious that he was trying to remember how to blink. Or swallow. Or breathe.
Skinner sank back into his pillows, pretty damned proud of himself. But just as
he was about to gather his subs in his arms, Mulder seemed to snap out of his
dazed and confused condition because he turned to Krycek and asked, "Say, Alex,
do you have any reindeer at the animal shelter?"
This time, Krycek tried to shut his lover up. There was one tongue-battling,
lip-nibbling, tonsils-licking special called The Krycek Kiss of Death, which he
only used in times of dire need. Now was such a time. And, like always, it
worked.
Their Dom fluffed up his pillow, and rested his head in his hands to enjoy the
show that went on over his torso. His subs were putting on a hotter show than
any porn stars ever could, and he had a front row seat.
Perfect.
He would allow Mulder to create his winter wonderland. Should be fun.
But he would move to a hotel in the meantime.
alter Skinner wasn't entirely sure when he had lost control of his house, his
subs—and his life, for that matter.
