A short story of Valduggery :) I got the inspiration to writing this story when I was re-reading the books. In book 3 Valkyrie is taking a shower and says to herself that she could really use a massage and that she will ask China about it. That kind of stuck in my brain, so I thought to myself: "What would happen if Valkyrie asked Skulduggery to massage her?" And this is the result :) Hope you like it!
"God, I'm completely exhausted!" Valkyrie Cain threw her black-red coat on the floor and then sat down on the couch where she took a breath of relief.
Skulduggery Pleasant picked up the coat and hung it on the clothes hanger that was in the hall. He turned to Valkyrie where she lay in his couch and could not help shaking his head.
So typical Valkyrie, he thought while smiling to himself.
They had just come back from a case that meant a lot of running, chasing and fighting. The reason Valkyrie was so tired was because she had lungs that needed oxygen, while Skulduggery (who was a living skeleton) did not have any lungs to breathe with, which meant he could not get tired.
"What are you looking at?"
Skulduggerys thoughts were interrupted by Valkyrie's voice and he returned to the present. "Oh, nothing special. I just once again came to think about the advantage of being a living skeleton. I can see you are jealous of me right now because I do not have to worry about getting out of air or getting tired of running longer distances."
Valkyrie snorted but could not help but laughing at Skulduggery. He was always so self-righteous and knew exactly what he would say and do to get on her nerves for the next moment make her laugh.
"I will admit that during such days as we have had today, I would not have anything against losing my lungs, but at the same time I'm glad that they are there. They remind me that I am alive and feel good." Skulduggery did not answer and Valkyrie felt how she became ill at ease.
The silence fell over them and Valkyrie became more and more embarrassed for every second passing.
"Sorry, poor choice of words..." she murmured and looked down at her knees.
Skulduggery came over to her and sat down on the couch next to her. He gave her shoulders a soothing touch. "Valkyrie, I did not get upset. You know what I have said about that. I have been dead for so long by now that I have begun to prefer this than being a living person again. You know that the only thing I miss is my hair and that I'm doing very well without a body. After all, I can feel pain and when you can feel pain, you know that you are alive."
Valkyrie smiled and leaned against Skulduggery. When her cheek came into contact with his thorax, she closed her eyes and sighed of relief. Skulduggery always knew what he would say to make her feel good and she knew that he knew it. It did not take a single day without her being reminded of it in one way or another.
Skulduggery laid his bony arms around Valkyrie and so they sat while the sunset made way for the night.
"Skulduggery...?" Valkyrie whispered without looking up or moving. She loved the feeling of his bones against her body.
"Yes, Valkyrie?"
"I could really need a massage... I'm so stiff and tense in the body, especially in my shoulders and back."
"Valkyrie, do I look like a person who give people massage?"
"Not because I know if I would call you a 'person', since you're a living skeleton, but yes, I think if you just want to, you're a really good masseur. You always say that there is nothing you're not good at."
Skulduggery laughed low and shook his head. "Valkyrie, the reason why I say I'm good at everything is because I'm good at everything."
Valkyrie opened her eyes and looked up in Skulduggery's eye cavities. "Well, prove it then! Give me a massage."
"Sometimes you can be so annoyingly stubborn..." mumbled Skulduggery and released his grip of Valkyrie. "Okay, I'll give you a massage. However, I hope you realize that this is a one-time occasion and that it will not happen again."
Valkyrie just smiled and sat up in the couch. "Where do you want me?"
Skulduggery did not answer but pointed to the carpet below them. Valkyrie sat down on it with her back to the sofa and she felt how Skulduggery positioned himself behind her. He made his long legs lay down along Valkyrie's and stroked away her hair from her neck so it fell like curtains alongside her cheeks. Valkyrie shivered when she felt Skulduggery's hands touch her naked neck.
"This probably sounds like a strange request, but could you take off your gloves? I want to know how it feels to be massaged by a pair of skeleton hands plus I thought it might be easier for you...?" Valkyrie heard herself how pathetic she sounded and what an odd request it was, but now that it had been said she held her breath while she was waiting for Skulduggery's answer.
No response came. Instead she heard the rustle when the gloves were pulled off from Skulduggery's hands and then she felt the cold from his hands as they lay over her neck. Slowly he began to knead and Valkyrie sighed with relief when she felt how the knots and tension slowly disappeared under Skulduggery's gentle hands.
"God, Skulduggery... This I really needed..." whispered Valkyrie and moaned when Skulduggery reached a sensitive point in her shoulder.
Skulduggery leaned closer to her, and Valkyrie could not help but feel how close they were to each other. She felt how his chest squeezed against her back, causing her to blush. Not because she felt uncomfortable, but because she... liked it. "I said I was good at this, did I not, Valkyrie?"
Valkyrie became even more red on her cheeks and felt how her whole body was filled with a heat at the same time as Skulduggery's whispering, velvety voice touched her ear. He sat so close, she could feel the contour of his body against hers and was she imagining, or had Skulduggery pushed his legs closer to hers?
Skulduggery continued massaging her shoulders without saying anything more, but without moving away from her. He was still as close to her as before, and Valkyrie found herself breathing in short, blustery breaths, instead of long, relaxing breaths as she had done when Skulduggery had started massaging.
What's up with me? He just gives me a massage just like I asked him. Sure, he's really good at it, but what did I really expect? It's Skulduggery I'm thinking about. If he gets into something he always does it good, does not matter what it is, Valkyrie thought for herself while trying to get her breath under control.
"Relax, Valkyrie", said Skulduggery while bending her forward so he would be able to reach her back. "I will not be able to get rid of all the knots and tensions if you continue to hyperventilate like that."
Valkyrie realized that Skulduggery was teasing her and she really was trying to relax, but it was as if the more she tried, the more difficult it became. She simply could not let go of the thought of how close, how intimate, they sat. She had never felt like this with Fletcher or Caelan...
Where had that thought come from? What was wrong with her, really?!
None of them said anything. Skulduggery continued massaging Valkyrie's back and Valkyrie did everything she could to not start moaning at how nice she thought Skulduggery's treatment of her was. She was afraid that he would misunderstand her groaning and if it something she did not want, it was to make Skulduggery think such thoughts about her. Especially considering how red she was in the face, which she knew he had seen...
No matter how much she tried, she could not hold back all the moans, and from time to time there was one who escaped her. Each time it happened, she was quick to bite her lip to dampen it.
She felt how Skulduggery once again bent towards her. When his chest touched her back once again she could not prevent a shivering from propagating along her spine.
"Valkyrie, you do not have to hold back. If you like what I do, I give you my full permission to show it as well. Believe me, I can actually distinguish a moan of common pleasure and one of sexual pleasure."
Valkyrie opened her eyes and turned her head to see Skulduggery in his eyes. "Skulduggery, what say... I..."
Skulduggery put his index finger on her lips and it caused Valkyrie to stop babbling. "You do not have to explain to me, Valkyrie. Believe me when I say that I know you both inside and out. I think no bad thoughts about you just because you give away a moan of pleasure when I massage you. I feel that you're tense and that you really needed this. Do you trust me?"
Valkyrie nodded. She dared not say anything since she was afraid she would start babbling again.
"Alright then." Skulduggery nodded and turned her around again. "Let us continue, then."
This time, Valkyrie gave out small moans of pleasure when Skulduggery came to an extra sensitive point and she noticed how she relaxed more and more the longer Skulduggery massaged her. She bowed her head backwards and a little to the side when Skulduggery's hands found her lower back. "Oh..."
Skulduggery's hands continued massaging her. Valkyrie was just going to tell Skulduggery that he could stop now if he wanted to, when she felt how his teeth lay around her neck and how he bit her carefully.
The feeling that passed through her when Skulduggery's teeth grabbed a hold of her naked skin got Valkyrie to first scream in surprise, but soon it turned into a gasp and then a sigh of pleasure. Her entire body trembled and she was pierced by a heat propagating from her neck down to her middle diaphragm and eventually stopping between her thighs.
"Skulduggery..." was all that Valkyrie managed to say and turned her head against him the moment he opened his mouth and let go of her neck. In his face, she could see that he was extremely pleased with himself and that if he had had lips he would have been smiling mischievously.
"I thought I would be a real gentleman and give you a 'happy ending'."
At first, Valkyrie could do nothing but stare at Skulduggery, but it did not take long before a smile could be seen in her face and soon she laughed. "If so, I will have to thank you for the massage and your 'happy ending'. If you, on the other hand, think you will get away with this, you think wrong... "
Before Skulduggery had time to respond, Valkyrie had turned around, sat down in his fathom and had laid her arms and legs around him to then bite him in his neck vertebrae. She could feel how Skulduggery shook under her and how he laid his arms around her in a tight embrace. Valkyrie smiled at herself and then gave Skulduggery's neck vertebrae a light kiss before laying her head against his shoulder.
"Revenge is sweet, or what do you say, Skulduggery?"