Title: I Always Dreamt You Would
Author: Arsenic
Rating: NC-17 (SLASH)
Characters: Methos/Mulder/Krycek
Archives: Seventh D, anyone else who asks
Keywords: XOVER (HL/XF)
Summary: Epilogue in All Men series. Coffee and sap.

Disclaimers: Mulder and Krycek are the property of Chris Carter and 1013, Methos of R/P/D, the title belongs to David Mamet from his play, "All Men are Whores."

Thanks: To Cin for doing both betas and going all the way with me on this year-long project.

Dedication: To Erika, for being so loyal in feedback sending and general encouragement on this particular project.

A month after the last section:

Large flashes of bluish-white electricity ignited the sky as Alex fumbled around with the gas fireplace until he had managed to light a fire. He was pleased to note that the flames weren't blue or terribly unrealistic in any other sense. The smell of almost-made Brazilian coffee hit him, and he stole into the kitchen to see if Will had made a whole pot.

"Have enough to share?" The younger man went to the cupboard and pulled out two cups without waiting for an answer.

"What will you give me in return?" Methos turned to stare expectantly at the man searching the 'frige for milk. The question was more to distract Alex than anything else. The younger man shifted from foot to foot while he was searching and jumped at the sound of his lover's voice. During the first storm they had gone through together, Alex's outright unease had thrown both Methos and Mulder. Now it was something they just counted on, if not accepted.

Alex found the milk and set it on the counter by the cups. "Well, I have been told I give excellent foot massages." Methos had informed him of this fact a few nights before.

The older man did his best to look unsatisfied with the answer. "I roasted the beans myself; you can do better than that." Methos had learned from experience that the more Alex concentrated on something, the less frantic he acted.

"Hm." Alex went to the pantry and fished out the bag of brown sugar. "I could allow you to break in the toys we bought on me."

Methos smiled wickedly, but was glad to see that Alex was sharp enough to crack sexual innuendoes. "Those are a surprise for the prude of the household, and you know it."

Alex smiled in mock disappointment and lowered his head to chuckle at Will's reference to Mulder. "Okay, okay. How about...we wait until Mulder gets home, which should be in about half an hour, and I'll tell you both an Alex story."

Methos considered this. Percentage-wise, Methos had probably told the two men he lived with the least about his life, but then, he had the most to tell. Alex on the other hand had the fewest years to relate out of any of them and opened his mouth the least. Methos let his curiosity get the best of him and reached out to grab both cups from Alex. "If I'm not thoroughly satisfied with the outcome, I'm going to lock you in here until you learn to roast coffee beans all by yourself."

Alex affected a look of terror. Last time Methos had tried teaching him that particular skill, they had ended up having to deal with two fire trucks and one very amused policeman. "I'll think up something spectacular; I promise."

Mulder came home late, which surprised neither of the men sitting at the table, waiting for him. He found his way into the kitchen, settled into the unoccupied chair at the table and made an announcement. "There's a baby sea monster living in the lake at the front of the sub-division."

"Was it abandoned?" Alex offered up the question with a completely straight face.

"No, I stole it from its mother who lives in the pond two neighborhoods over. I am hoping that when it grows to full size it will eat the people who can't figure out how to use their ID to open the gate."

"Good thinking, assuming the mother doesn't want revenge for the kidnapping." Methos didn't bother holding back his amusement at this assessment of their neighbors.

"I talked with her about it; she wants her child to know the same joy she has picking off idiot yuppies one by one."

All three men nodded at this, and Alex leaned over to give Mulder a hello kiss. Mulder was surprised at this, not because it was unusual on a daily basis, but during storms, Alex almost never attempted to initiate affection. It was the one time when Alex showed that he still wasn't certain where he stood with Mulder. Alex voiced his next question softly. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, anyone have any ideas for dinner?" Mulder didn't bother to look anywhere but at Methos.

Alex spoke before the older man could respond. "We're ordering out. There's a Vietnamese noodle shop near here." He stopped, and his eyes widened slightly as if he had only just realized that he had given an order. "I like soup when the weather gets like this." His tone was so apologetic that Mulder couldn't resist kissing him quickly.

Both men were sent into silence by the awareness that Alex had just offered up personal information. Mulder found a response first. "Why haven't you ever told us that before?"

Alex shrugged. "I made a deal with the devil that I would tell him an Alex story for a cup of coffee." He looked pointedly at Methos. "Besides, it's just stupidity. I came down with the cold from Hell after...a storm, one time." Both men listening noticed the broken cadence of his speech, but chose to ignore it for the time being so that they could hear what came next. "There was this maid who worked at the school, and she said I reminded her of her son. She brought me soup to get better. It was one of the only times someone ever really went out of their way for me. So soup during storms is like a tribute to her, I guess."

Mulder had to keep himself from dropping his jaw in sheer amazement at the flood of information. Instead he decided to refer back to Alex's first comment and said mournfully: "New low even for you."

Another shrug came from Alex, who was immediately aware of what Mulder was responding to. "Yeah, well, I'm going to tell you guys why I don't like thunderstorms. So I figured if I was going to spill on that I might as well mention the whole comfort food issue."

Methos went and retrieved the phone book from its spot in the office and set it down in front of Alex. Alex flipped through and found the number he was looking for, then pointed it out to Methos. The older man made the call and ordered for all three of them. Neither Alex nor Mulder blinked when he did it in Vietnamese; they were used to the other man's seemingly endless odd abilities.

Alex got up to grab each of them a glass and some utensils, just in case the delivery service forgot, then sat back down as Methos hung up. Excess energy poured off of him in nervous waves, resulting in the rhythmic tapping of two forks against the table's surface. As they waited for the food to arrive, they let Mulder complain about Bureau politics and Scully's new boyfriend. Alex strongly suspected that the latter was not as evil as Mulder painted him. Then again, if two partners had ever had the talent for attracting demons and other various forms of disaster, he would have suggested it was Mulder and Scully.

The food arrived and Mulder paid, which earned him strange looks from both Alex and Methos. Things were silent for the first few minutes with everyone swapping bowls and maneuvering chopsticks. Methos was the first one to pause in-between bites. He didn't say anything, just stopped to look at Alex, silently working his way through the rice noodles with tiger shrimp in broth. Alex felt the stare, and his chewing slowed. After a few moments, he gave a nod and swallowed.

"I went through this stage when I was about ten. It was kind of like the stage that most kids go through during the teenage years, only it came early and didn't last very long. Up until that point, I had been a pretty quiet kid. I did as I was told, tried not to think about things too much, just survived." He took another bite but didn't wait until he had swallowed.

"This other kid got shipped in that year, Valery. He was three years older than me and had an attitude that could fill a conference room and spill over into the offices next door. I was completely in love with him. I didn't really think of it in that way then." He smiled. "It sounds weird to say I was na1ve, but I think in some ways, I still was. I just worshipped Val in the same way that some people worship Jesus." Alex leaned over and stole from Mulder's bowl. Mulder gave the retreating arm a half-hearted slap. "Anyway, one night we were playing a prank on one of the instructors. He had yelled at Val that day for something, I don't even remember what, and thirteen year old honor demanded retribution. It was raining cats and dogs, so we broke into the guy's house with skills he had probably taught us somewhere along the way and opened up every window plus the screen as we went through the house. Of course, being that he had taught us how to get into places unseen! , he caught us halfway through our little prank." Alex was surprised when Mulder grabbed his left hand. He was even more surprised to realize he'd been using it to dig holes in his right arm with the pointed end of one of the chopsticks.

Methos swallowed what he was chewing and set down his utensil. He wasn't sure how appetizing this next part was going to be.

"He said something about seeing how funny getting all wet was and marched us out to the fields that pretty much surrounded the complex. They were redoing the chain link fence that had been out there, so pretty much all that was standing were the separate poles that link the fence together. He cuffed our ankles and wrists around the poles, each of us one pole apart. We laughed at him because we could have cared less about getting wet, you know?" Alex licked his lips with a dry tongue. Methos noted with distaste the sickly pale hue that the younger man had taken on. Mulder just held onto Alex's left hand like the survival of the world depended upon that action.

The question Alex had ended on, rhetoric as it was, brought a nod from both men listening.

"Only he didn't come back when the seconds between the lightning and the thunder got to be less and less. We were both trying our hardest to get out of the cuffs, but the guy had known what he was doing; he had checked us for anything that could have aided with that before leaving. I was yanking at the pole when all of a sudden things got really bright. Next thing I knew I was waking up, kind of woozy, still chained to the pole. I yelled for Val, but he didn't answer. It was still dark, and all I could really get were glimpses of him when lightning would make everything flash for a moment. He was in a kind of heap at the bottom of the pole, but I figured he was just knocked out -- like I had been." Alex paused to slow his breathing and comb his right hand through his hair in a nervous gesture.

Methos abandoned his food completely to stand behind Alex and rub his shoulders.

"By the time it started getting light, I was screaming practically silently because my vocal chords weren't working any more. I saw the charring on his body then. I knew he was dead, but I couldn't stop trying to scream. I don't know how long it took them to come and get me, but when they did, they had to sedate me for several days straight. I think if I hadn't calmed down around the time I had they would have just given me an overdose and figured that was that." Alex got up shakily to stick the leftovers from dinner in the fridge.

Mulder came up behind him as he was closing the door and wrapped his arms around the younger man's waist. "I think that one deserves a reward even better than Will's coffee."

Alex let himself be led by the hand into their bathroom. Methos went around the house, closing all the shutters, while Mulder left Alex alone for a few minutes to set things in the family room up. The both returned at the same time to find Alex standing exactly where Mulder had left him.

Methos reached into the shower to find the right temperature of water while Mulder dedicated himself to getting Alex's clothes off. Alex reached down to help, but Mulder pushed the hands away and shook his head in a manner that indicated he would do it by himself. Methos came around from the back and helped. When they were done, they quickly rid themselves of clothing and stepped into the shower, Alex in tow.

Alex started when the water hit him. Methos, who was behind him, ran soothing hands over his lower back and ass. The older man ran his tongue in the crease behind Alex's ear before whispering, "Relax; we're going to remind you that getting wet can be fun."

Taking his cue, Mulder took Alex's chin in his hands and began kissing him. The kiss was gently passionate; there was to be no aggression this evening. Mulder kissed him long enough to leave Alex gasping for air and whimpering when he broke away. Reaching behind himself, Mulder found Alex's toiletries. He handed the shampoo to Methos and kept the soap for himself. All three of them moved out of the stream of water.

Methos started first, putting a dime size amount of the shampoo in his hand and lathering it into Alex's hair. "Feels like our first night together, huh?"

It took Alex a moment to realize Methos was talking to him, caught up as he was in the sensation of having his scalp massaged in the steam in the heated shower. "No, this is better."

"Oh?"

"That time you did it because I was dirty; this time you're doing it because you care."

Methos chuckled at the observation and kept on rubbing the shampoo in. Mulder had lathered the soap in his hands and had begun caressing it over Alex's neck and across his shoulders. He moved down slowly, circling the nipples when he reached them, fondling the balls, rubbing suggestively at the ass crack, kneading the muscles of the legs until he reached the feet. When he was done, they moved back under the water, and each man took his time making sure each trace of soap and shampoo was gone from Alex.

Alex felt movement behind him, but before he could turn around to see what had happened, he felt Methos's tongue lick up one ass cheek, and he jumped at the intense sensation right into Mulder. Mulder steadied Alex while Methos took his time exploring all of Alex's ass with his hands and mouth. When he was sure that Alex could stand on his own, Mulder lowered himself to his knees and kissed the tip of Alex's cock. He licked once all the way up the shaft, and both men reached up to support Alex before he fell.

With Alex held in both the front and the back, Methos began sucking at the asshole before sticking the tip of his tongue inside. Alex screamed in pleasure. Mulder was working his way down Alex's cock, trying to take all of it. He finally managed and swallowed a few times, his throat muscles squeezing at Alex's erection. Alex's eyes nearly swam into the back of his head at the feeling of it, but he managed to stay conscious, unwilling to miss the rest.

Methos worked his way deeper inside, still sucking at the rim, massaging the inside of Alex's ass with his tongue. Mulder was rhythmically withdrawing and then going back down on Alex's cock. Each man had reached in-between Alex's legs to grab hold of the other's erection and gently stroked back and forth. Alex's breathing became even faster as the two older men increased the speed of their ministrations, and Alex came, prompting Methos and Mulder to follow suit.

When they were finished, Methos and Mulder unsteadily rose to their feet, washed themselves and rinsed Alex off. Mulder flicked the water switch off, and Methos stepped out of the shower to dry and wrap Alex who followed in a large towel. Mulder came out behind Alex and dried himself off while Methos did the same.

His two lovers led Alex out in front of the fireplace where Mulder had made an impromptu bed of stray pillows and blankets. Methos took Alex's towel and Mulder situated the younger man among the blankets. The older man grabbed Mulder's towel as well and threw the wet material into the bathroom before returning to the makeshift bed. Mulder had lain down behind Alex so Methos crawled in facing him.

Alex stared at the older man in a drowsy fashion and snuggled even closer. He found Mulder's hand and entwined his fingers in it tightly. "That's the first time anyone has bothered to try and make me not afraid of something."

Mulder squeezed the hand that held his in a death-grip. Methos smiled. "There are at least twenty more cups of coffee left in that one bag alone. It won't be the last."