Defense - Requested by Anonymous - November 14th, 2019
Any Season - Catcalling

It was becoming glaringly obvious to her that Fox Mulder had never been in a catcalling situation.

"Come o'er here, Red! We wanna show you something," a booming voice called from across the street, accompanied by the poorly stifled laughter of his friend.

"Are they referring to you?" Mulder asked with a dawning tone of realization.

They were waiting for the light to turn so they could walk across the street and continue the trek to their car. The drunken pair across the street had been vocal for awhile, but she was busy tuning it out in favor of the cars passing by. She'd caught brief phrases like "honey" and "pretty," but she figured it wasn't worth her time to decipher meaning out of whatever nonsense they were prattling on about. Mulder, on the other hand, apparently had been listening and was none too pleased.

"Ignore them, they're drunk," she sighed, rolling up her sleeve and checking her watch. If they got to the car in the next ten minutes they could probably make it back to the sheriff's office before closing.

She rolled down her sleeve and realized Mulder'd asked her something. "What?"

"This is sexual harassment," he repeated. His irritation was evident, but she knew it wasn't aimed at her. She glanced over and up only to see him glaring daggers at the men across the street who were still hooting and hollering, clearly getting encouraged by her indifference.

She'd long learned that when picking and choosing what battles to fight, rarely were confrontations with drunks confrontations worth having. Engaging them would at best result in them learning a lesson that would be inevitably just become a hazy memory, and at worst result in a physical fight.

"I wasn't listening," she shrugged. "What're they saying?"

"I-they-," Mulder started and stopped. She glanced at him again and saw his jaw was set. Whatever they were saying were words Mulder couldn't bring himself to say to her.

"Your friend can join too!" the brown haired one screamed.

"Yeah, ya got enough holes for all of us," the dirty one added.

Her face involuntarily twisted into disgust and he nodded in response. "Just sentiments in the same vein as that," he answered.

The sign across the street lit up with the white fluorescent WALK letters and she tightened the sash of her jacket tighter as she started walking. "Ignore them," she sighed, bumping into him when he invaded her personal space.

"She got a real purdy mouth, ain't she!" She heard screamed as Mulder's hand came comfortingly on the small of her mouth.

"Pretty bad impression of a dumb hick for a dumb hick," she murmured begrudgingly.

"Do you want to walk the other way to the car?" Mulder murmured softly, leaning into her a bit. She was use to Mulder being close, but this was a little much. She was about to call him on it when she realized he was trying to shield her body from their gaze using his own. It was too endearing to chastise.

"What other way, Mulder? We don't know the area," she reminded.

"We could just walk around and find-" he started, only to get interrupted by her.

"That's sweet, really, but I'm not letting Beavis and Butt-Head dictate where I walk," she stated firmly.

In all honesty, she would have done exactly what he was implying if she had been alone. Hell, she probably wouldn't have even crossed the street. But she didn't want Mulder to see her back down, and with him firmly attached to her side, she knew nothing would happen to her. Not that she'd admit that.

Empty bottled clamoured against the damp concrete as the two men staggeringly rose out of their seated positions. All she and Mulder had to do was walk about fifty feet and they'd pass them and be done. She said nothing as Mulder removed one hand and replaced it with the other as she crossed behind her, effectively placing himself in between her and the hecklers.

The sound of her heels clacking against the pavement felt as if they started to beat in time with the onslaught of derogatory remarks being slewn her way.

"Curtains match the drapes?"

"We can loosen you up."

"Fuck, she's hot."

"Forget him."

"Look over here, baby."

"Show us those tits."

"Come on guys, lay off," Mulder's voice boomed, breaking the pattern of comments. They were only about ten feet away and she could feel Mulder tensing.

They just laughed at his request until they were about to pass, then the dirty one put out his hand as if making himself a human toll gate. "What? You can't share your bitch? Scared we'd fuck her better than you?"

CRACK

CRACK

She felt Mulder's body leave her own like he'd been blown away, and before she even had time to look over, he'd effectively punched the two men square in the face, resulting in them both falling to the ground while screaming.

Scully's eyes flickered from the pile of pain and looked up to see Mulder's eyes glaring holes into the men as his nostrils flared and his knuckles clenched white. She'd had a few people in the past call out shitty men around her, but never anything like this. Never such a display of brute protectiveness.

It was hot.

"Mulder," she whispered in surprise.

"Learn how to talk to women or keep your fucking mouths shut," Mulder shouted as the men started rolling up.

The men started grumbling in agitation and Scully remembered why she had a rule about ignoring drunks. "Mulder, come on," she rushed, tugging at his sleeve as she turned to jog away.

"You fucking-" one of the men began. Scully didn't hear the rest of it as Mulder grabbed her hand and started running with her down the street. Jogging side by side as they got away from the men, only stopping when the cacophony of anger was no longer audible.

They rounded a corner and skidded to a stop, releasing each other's hands as they caught their breath. When they locked eyes, the ludiciousy of what just happened dawned on them as smiles broke out across their faces.

"I can't believe you punched them," she exclaimed with a breathy laugh.

"Me either," he laughed, shaking his hand and clenching it experimentally.

"Let me see," she requested gently, smile still on her face.

He gave her his hand as he brushed his hair back with the other. "I just can't believe men like that really exist," he stated, lingering agitation making itself known in his tone.

"I wish it were more uncommon than it really is," she explained.

"I'm sorry men are awful," he joked.

She let her fingers run over his knuckles, which were just a little pink and otherwise undamaged. She looked up at him as she brought his hands to her lips and placed a loving kiss on his fist. "I know some good ones too," she murmured against his skin.