After a minute or two to take care of locks and lights, Skinner took Mulder wordlessly by the hand and led him up the stairs to the bedroom. He gave the younger man a quick kiss, and then moved past him to turn on a small light on the nightstand nearest the door. Shadows jumped and flickered as he walked back to Mulder and took his hand again, guiding him to the bed.

Both men were breathing rapidly from their earlier activities on the couch downstairs, and Mulder was gazing at Skinner without any of his earlier trepidation as the older man caught him up in a fierce embrace next to the bed.

Skinner pressed his lips to Mulder’s temple, trickled kisses down the side of his face, and groaned when Mulder shivered as he bit at his earlobe, then licked same.

“Thank you, Mulder,” he whispered.

Mulder pulled his head away to give the man a confused frown. Skinner kissed it away, and then was back on his ear, nibbling at it to feel him shiver again. Holding him firmly, he spoke again.

“This means everything to me.”

He pressed his body to Mulder’s and their hips touched, their cocks, still clothed in pants and undergarments, met for the first time. Suddenly the room was that much warmer. Mulder pulled away again, smiling this time and licking his lips as he threw Skinner’s words back at him.

“Show me.”

Moments later they were kissing again, as they pulled at one another’s clothes, each man giving as good as he was getting. Skinner was at a momentary disadvantage, his shirt having been skillfully opened by Mulder earlier, but it didn’t take him long to catch up, and as soon as they were both shirtless, Mulder felt himself being pushed back on the bed. He remained sitting up only by wrapping his arms around Skinner’s neck as the older man knelt before him. Mulder was distracted by Skinner’s tongue wrapping itself around his own, and he barely noticed when his belt was unclasped and the zipper on his pants opened.

He gasped as Skinner pulled his cock roughly out of his pants and stroked him quickly and expertly. He squirmed under the delicious assault and tried to pull the older man away, afraid he was going to cum too soon.

“Ohh…” He fell back on the bed, bringing Skinner with him, had a moment of doubt when he felt the press of Skinner’s weight on him, and then, as he felt that strong hand slip down his erection to gently cradle his balls, he groaned and reached for the front of Skinner’s pants.

Linen and wool were still hopelessly tangled around ankles as they moved further up onto the bed, and Skinner reclaimed Mulder’s mouth, his tongue moving slickly over the younger man’s teeth and the roof of his mouth, trying to taste every inch of that warm wet space, while Mulder’s hands cupped his ass and pulled their groins into close contact. Skinner slipped his hand further back, stroking the cleft of Mulder’s buttocks, and their cocks slipped and slid and clashed with one another as they struggled to find a comfortable position and lose their pants in the process. 

Mulder felt his hips buck almost involuntarily, thought he heard the jangle of belts and pocket change through the roaring in his ears as their pants dropped to the floor, and he tightened his grip on the other man and spread his legs just enough for Skinner to settle comfortably between them.

Both of Skinner’s hands came up to grip the sides of his head, holding him firmly as he plundered his mouth relentlessly. Again Mulder felt himself coming perilously close to orgasm from the simple stimulation of someone else’s hands on his body, and he struggled to breathe, turning his head away from Skinner’s questing mouth with a tremendous effort.

“Mulder…?” He could feel Skinner’s hot breath in his ear, and was pleased knowing he was the cause of the other man’s breathlessness. “Are we good?”

“Yeah, I think so,” his own words came out rough and gasping. “I want—I need to touch you.”

He felt Skinner’s breath catch in his throat, and then the man was moving off him with a sigh and a groan, lying next to him on his side and he let himself be turned to face him. A soft kiss, not unlike their first one, and then both men were looking down as Mulder reached out and tentatively put his hand on Skinner’s cock.

A shudder wracked Skinner’s body, and his hips thrust forward a little, and then he was wrapping his big hand around Mulder, mirroring the younger man’s movements, both of them watching the actions of the other and gaining increased stimulation from it.

A soft stroke down Skinner’s impressive erection, and Mulder shivered at the silken feel of the hot flesh in his hand. A little moan escaped him as Skinner did the same thing. It didn’t take long for them to establish a rhythm that suited them both, and they looked up at one another at the same time. 

Skinner zeroed in on Mulder’s mouth again, slipping his free arm around the other man’s neck to hold his head firmly, although his kisses were less fevered as he was growing more and more distracted by Mulder’s increasingly bold strokes up and down the length of his cock. He pushed his cock through Mulder’s fist and his tongue into Mulder’s mouth, and then let Mulder do the same.

He groaned around Mulder’s tongue as the hand between his legs stilled, and then was removed.

“Wha--? Ohh…”

“Walter, I need to know…” Mulder’s breath hitched as Skinner stroked more firmly, trying to set an example for the younger man.

“Walter, please…” He didn’t know if he was pleading for him to stop or begging for more, but something in his voice must have alerted the other man. He didn’t release Mulder’s erection, but his hand stopped moving and he gave him a level look.

“I need—I—is this enough?”

“What do you mean, Mulder?”

“I mean I wasn’t kidding when I said it had been a long time. Too long, maybe. But…” His voice trailed off and Skinner frowned at him.

“Is there something else you’d rather be doing, Mulder?” A quick vision of himself thrusting into Mulder came and went so fast that Skinner startled violently and his hand involuntarily tightened on Mulder’s cock, making the other man whimper and thrust his hips forward.

“Oh-oh-I-what I want is…” he paused a moment to kiss the concerned crease in Skinner’s forehead, then hugged him tightly. “I need to know if there’s going to be a next time.” He seemed to be forcing the words out only with tremendous effort, although his erection never flagged, and he was touching Skinner’s cock again. “Because I think maybe you want something that I’m just not ready for.”

Skinner slowly resumed his stroking, running his thumb over the large head of Mulder’s cock, feeling it grow slippery in his hand as Mulder’s need intensified. He let Mulder’s words roam around in his increasingly foggy mind for a moment, got that picture in his head again, and understood completely.

“Tab A Slot B,” he muttered stupidly. He let go of Mulder’s cock and brought his hand up to rest on Mulder’s chest, feeling the rapid heartbeat beneath his breast.  He found Mulder’s hot spot behind his ear with his mouth, nibbled there until Mulder groaned, and then whispered. “I wouldn’t ask you to go all the way on the first date.”

Mulder was surprised into laughing, and surprisingly enough it did nothing to decrease his arousal. If anything, the whispered words gave him some sense of control, some measure of safety that he hadn’t even realized was missing, and it increased his ardor.

“And Mulder…” Skinner was speaking again, now into the joint between his neck and his shoulder. He bit and Mulder gave a yelp and his cock twitched helplessly. Skinner’s hand made it’s way slowly back down his body, fingers splayed to twirl through sparse body hair, tickle at his navel, tease the crease where his leg and body met, and then grip his cock with renewed vigor combined with a new sense of tenderness.

“Fox…” he continued speaking, his words muffled, his breath steaming hot on Mulder’s skin. “I’m telling you this: there’s going to be more ‘next times’ than you can imagine.”

“I don’t know, Walter, I can imagine quite a bit.” The cultural reference was lost on Skinner, but when Mulder found their previous strong stroking rhythm again and turned his face to recapture his mouth, it didn’t matter.

It became a contest of sorts, a race, as they learned each other’s bodies, and strained for completion. Mulder’s cry of victory was drowned out by Skinner’s roar of release as he came with abandon, wetting Mulder’s fist and belly, and his own hands clamped down on Mulder. The sudden added pressure sent Mulder over the edge, and he exploded noisily himself a moment later, invoking the names of deities he didn’t even believe in.

They clung to one another desperately for several minutes, sweat and cum mingling between them as they shared oxygen-giving kisses designed to comfort and rejuvenate, rather than arouse.

Mulder pulled his mouth off of Skinner’s but didn’t relinquish his hold on the other man, although he suspected a shower would be in order soon.

“Walter,” he murmured.

Skinner grinned sleepily at him “Mulder…” 

He thought about the way his given name had sounded coming from Skinner, thought he liked it, thought it was a conversation they could have another time. There was something more pressing, more important, that he had to say now.

“Walter,” he said again. “Thank you for the flowers.”