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“Achoo!”
Mulder wrinkles his nose and screws up his eyes as yet another sneeze struggles it’s way to the surface.
“Achoo!”
He can feel Scully’s gaze, can feel her attempts to cover her concern but he can’t comment over the next impending sneeze.
It erupts from him with just as much force as the last thousand sneezes he’s suffered through today.
“Mulder--”
“M’ Fine, Scully,” He cuts her off before she can voice her worries over his health. He’s not lying; he really, truly is fine.
The next sneeze doesn’t help his cause.
“Mulder, if you’re sick…” She trails off, her face a picture of disgust as he loudly sucks the snot clogging his nose.
‘I’m not sick, Scully. My nose tickles,” It’s the truth, not that she’ll actually believe that. Every breath he takes catches and releases in the form of a violently loud sneeze.
Mulder glances up, frowning, as Scully stands and strides to his side of the office. She raises her hand, intending to press it against his forehead in search of fever, when Mulder startles her into a stop as four consecutive sneezes burst their way into the world.
“Stop!” Mulder whines, his eyes screwed up against the pressure in his nose. “It’s you!”
“Excuse me?” The confusion is evident in her voice but she makes no effort to come closer. Her raised hand lowers to rest on her hip.
“It’s you, Scully! You smell-- not a bad smell, but it tickles!”
He forces his watering eyes to open and meets her confusion-mixed-with-concern gaze.
“My smell?” She says, cocking her head to the side. “It’s a new perfume. Is it bothering you?”
Ah. The truth comes out. New perfume, new allergies.
“It tickles.”
“So you’ve mentioned. Do you think it’s an allergy?” She asks, moving back to her own seat on the other side of the desk and grabbing a wad of tissues from the box on the corner.
“Could be,” Mulder says, gratefully accepting the tissues.
“Bummer,” Scully says, grimacing as he blows his nose. “It wasn’t cheap.”
“If it’s any consolation,” Mulder says, giving her a wet eyed, red nosed smile. “It does smell good.”
She smiles as he sneezes once again.