Top 6 Short MSR Fanfics
Ranked by AO3 kudos. Mid-length MSR fics — 10,000–50,000 words.
Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic
by SilhouetteOfACedar
The Unauthorized FBI Guide to Seducing Your Platonic Colleague
Incrementum
by lepusarcticus
They’re just worked up from the case, he tells himself. They’re just blowing off steam. Just this once.**On temporary hiatus**
Territorial Pissings
by OnlyTheInevitable
After being repeatedly flirted with while working a case, Scully gives Mulder permission to be openly territorial and possessive of her in the hopes of scaring off her suitors. A task he is more than willing to help with.
Nurse Mulder
by OnlyTheInevitable
When Scully gets injured on a case, she tries her best to hide it from Mulder, but he inevitably finds out and it turns out Scully needs more TLC than she initially assumed.
Five Years and a Lifetime
by MonikaFileFan
Dana Scully is an award winning pediatrician who meets Fox Mulder, a gifted child psychologist at a medical conference where they spend one steamy night together. Five years later their worlds collide once again, forcing them to face the past that will change their future in ways neither could have
Be Kind, Rewind
by OnlyTheInevitable
Mulder and Scully are tasked with watching porn together while researching a case, but it doesn't take long for the conversation to stray from professional observations to personal revelations.
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Why Read Short MSR Fics?
Novella-length MSR fics — roughly 10,000 to 50,000 words — let writers fully develop a single AU, trope, or relationship beat without sprawling. Plenty of time for setup, payoff, and a satisfying ending; not so much time that you're juggling fifty bookmarks.
Great for trying a new author or testing whether you'll enjoy a sub-genre before diving into something longer.
About This List
This list of 6short MSR fanfics spans 155,068 total words. Kudos range from 1,649 on the newest entries to 3,782 on the most established. Nearly all (83%) are complete, so you can start any of them without WIP anxiety. The most common rating is Explicit (5 of 6 fics).
Recurring tags across this list: Angst · UST.
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