Valkyrie was late. Not that this shocked him in the slightest. Nothing could shock the great Skulduggery Pleasant these days anyway. Or so he thought.
On the horizon, a skinny silhouette of a girl wearing a dress could be seen, walking over to the pier. As she got closer, Skulduggery's jaw dropped further and further below. "Hey Skul. What's up? Too gobsmacked to speak then?" she asked when no reply came. Skulduggery seemed to, slowly, compose himself and sarcastically replied with: "I'm just not used to you actually looking presentable. And also, you smell nice for the first time ever. Did you finally have a shower? Oh, goodness, if you'd have told me you would try this hard for a ball, I would have had one every week after meeting you!"
After making a face, Valkyrie gestured for Skulduggery to link his arm with hers and they started to walk towards the Bentley in a comfortable silence. Being the gentleman he was, Skulduggery opened the door for Val and she got in, feeling herself melt into the relaxing seat.
When they arrived, Tipstaff had exclaimed that they looked like a very cute couple. Valkyrie's face blushed at this and Skulduggery tilted toward her. Willing her face to go back to its usual colour, Val tugged at Skulduggery's arm and they headed toward the ball room. Valkyrie had personally never seen this 'ball room' but according to Skul, they had past it many times on the way to Erskine's office. Heading down the twisted, similar-looking corridors, they stopped at a soundproofed door. Valkyrie took a breath and opened the door to reveal a disco party and Ghastly doing the douggie on the dance floor. Skulduggery chuckled and strode in, Valkyrie at his footsteps, and shook a few important-looking people's hands and went over to Saracen.
"Looking fine, Skulduggery! Are you coming to dance? Let loose?" asked Saracen.
"Oh no, I couldn'-"
"Don't be such a spoilsport! Come on, have some fun! Valkyrie, you'll dance wont you?"
Valkyrie started dancing and completely went crazy on the dance floor. Soon after, a slow song started playing. Skulduggery's hand crept its way up to her cheek and turned her head to him gently. "Will you dance with me?" Valkyrie nodded.
Val put her hands around his neck and he put his hands on her waist. The swayed from side to side and gradually moved across the dance floor, staring into each other's eyes/eye sockets.
Soon after, Skulduggery whispered in Valkyrie's ear: "I've felt this way for a long time now, so don't freak out when I say it... I really like you, Valkyrie Cain, and I hope you like me in that way too."
Val replied "Oh. I don't know. I'm sorry. A bit surprised, that's all." Her face flushing, Valkyrie ran out of the room and into the ladies' toilets. She sat in an empty cubicle and thought for a while. She wondered if all those times they had been having banter and Skul teasing her about boys, they might have been flirting. Those times Skulduggery had looked at her and tilted his head, and she blushed, maybe it had all meant something to him. She asked herself if she liked him back and the answer came instantly. Of course she did! He was the great Skeleton Detective- the guy she had been following around for 13 years.
As she walked back towards the party, she realised that she had butterflies in her stomach, and a fluttery feeling in her heart. She loved Skulduggery! China and Tanith had been teasing her for years, but she always brushed them off, thinking they were talking rubbish, and yet now they were right?!
She got to the dance floor and spotted Skulduggery in the corner. She ran toward him and she screamed, very loudly: "YES. OF COURSE I DO!" She attacked him, jumping on him with her arms around his waist and pressed her lips against his teeth. He put two fingers on his collar bones and activated his facade, pushing his new lips against hers, hungrily.
They ended the kiss and Skulduggery picked her up and took her to the car. They drove to Gordon's/ Valkyrie's mansion and Skulduggery told her they could resume what they were doing inside.
