Work Text:
One
The first time he saw his parents kiss was on the first day he stayed at their place.
It was still dark in the morning and he just woke up from an endless night during which he hardly slept. He didn’t think anyone would be up yet and ventured downstairs for something to drink. He was a few meters away from the kitchen door when he saw them. It was nothing dramatic or out of the ordinary, just his dad holding his mom close, planting soft kisses on her forehead while she nestled close in his arms. Her face was half hidden in the auburn hair but her occasional shivers and the troubled look on his dad’s face were more than enough to tell William she was crying.
He stood there, dumbstruck. He felt as if he just invaded something sacred, a trespasser on his parents’ intimacy and raw emotions. An outsider, almost.
He rushed upstairs, confused and bewildered, his heart beating like a soldier’s before a battle. He started to wonder where, and if ever, he would fit in their life, and how they would in his; questions he never asked himself before. They were drowned out by the longing, the excitement and the curiosity he felt about reuniting with his biological parents. Now that he had met them, what’s next? They were leading their own life as he was living his. He felt certain that he was the reason his mom cried. The idea of bring on his mom’s suffering made him sick to the stomach. What if seeing him again is causing them more pain than joy? What if his sudden re-appearance in their life has twisted them all in a knot from which none of them knows how to disentangle? What if he was not meant to see them again and all this suffering is a consequence of his defying fate? What if his coming here was a mistake? What if he himself was a mistake?
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Two
The second time William saw his parents kiss, it was a warm evening in June.
Only six months have passed since the night he appeared at their door out of the blue, and yet so much has changed. All three of them were still trying to wrap their heads around the too-good-to-be-true reality that they were together once again, but the awkward tension has gone and they no longer felt like treading on thin ice whenever the other is around. Though William still felt rather strange and hesitant to call them mom and dad at times, he didn’t feel like an intruder in their house anymore. There was still a lot he hasn’t learn about his parents and they about him but there is still time. William was confident that soon, they would find the way to ease into each other’s life again, now that they have talked many things out.
The weather was lovely and they dined in the backyard today. Dinner having been finished, William collected his plates and headed towards the kitchen. As he was turning his back from the table, he caught glimpse of Mulder pursing his lips at Scully and blowing her an air kiss. Scully seemed to ignore it at first but as Mulder persisted and leaned closer, her face cracked into an amused smile. She slightly air-kissed him back and her blue eyes twinkled. Love, relief, contentment and a thousand other emotions danced in their eyes. An electrical exchange of countless thoughts and feelings basked in affectionate tension, all without a single word and no more physical contact than simple holding hands. A precious moment captured in time.
This time, William didn’t run away. Nor did he stand there unable to move and feeling like a trespasser. He quietly headed towards the kitchen, but not before taking a mental photograph of that moment in his mind. The sight brought on an array of emotions in him: a mixture of fascination, surprise coupled with a comforting sense of pleasure. He was awestruck by the love in their eyes, surprised by the naturalness of their intimacy and by his own reaction to seeing it. That little domestic scene, mom and dad blowing kisses after dinner was heart-warming and strangely reassuring to William. It told him they were happy, even when he was here. And who knows? Maybe his being with them was part of their happiness as well, if not the reason itself. His mom seemed to smile much more, and dad certainly showed off more of his dry humour as William’s stays at their place grew longer.
At any rate, now he knew for sure they loved each other and it was all that mattered. This knowledge put him at ease, if not made him feel a tad lucky. He has heard quite some unfortunate stories of his classmates whose parents were separated, divorced or living together but not without rows every night. After all, William is still a child, albeit a teenage one. Knowing his parents loved each other, knowing they were happy and that he was a central part of their happiness, this brought him immeasurable joy and most importantly, a sense of security. William suddenly felt a flush of pride and newfound affection for his biological parents. And for the first time since he could remember, William was content. This is home. He has found it, at last. A place where he belonged.
William kept the memory of that second kiss close to his heart. The three of them had taken quite some photos with each other on the trips or different occasions during the past six months and continued to do so as he spent increasingly more time with them. But for William, the photographic memory of his parents air-kissing and gazing at each other in the fading twilight would always remain his first and favourite family portrait. He did not see himself physically in the shot, but he could feel himself there: loved and protected, his existence woven and held dear in their gaze.
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Three
The third time William saw his parents kiss, he was coming downstairs looking for Scully because he needed help with his science homework.
He found them on the couch in the living room. Mom was peering at dad’s laptop as he showed her his newest Mountain Light theory and some grainy images on the screen. There it is again. His dad coming up with the wildest ideas while mom probing him for scientific evidence and giving him a multitude of sarcastic gestures, which his dad adored and William himself has come to love. More than twenty years together and Mulder is still in love with these ‘arguments’ of theirs and the sight of Scully counter-attacking his theories still excites him every single time. Mulder never admitted to Scully that there have been times when he made up some outrageous random ideas just to see her smirk and roll eyes at him. Scully barely had time to voice her argument when Mulder chuckled and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her and kissed her on the lips. She did not protest.
Well, this time William simply burst out laughing: ‘Come on mom, dad! Get a room already!’
He knew mom would be reprimanding him for this later but oh well, this sight is too precious not to comment, consequences be damned.
Mulder and Scully almost jumped from their seat as they broke the kiss. They looked at their son, embarrassed and rather sheepishly. Scully’s face was pink with blush. They reminded William of the time he was caught wandering around the school’s playground at 11pm following the UFO forecast in the area that night.
It was William who first found words to break the awkward albeit funny silence: ‘But not before mom’s helped me finish this chemistry assignment.’
And they all laughed.
- The End -