Skulduggery sat in the leather armchair, watching his partner-in-crime attempt to dry her hair. They were in Valkyrie's bedroom, one of them anyway. It was the master suite in Gordon's old house and was decorated to his tastes, all black with red accents. Hardly a thing had been altered since his death almost 7 years ago.

It was just the two of them today, no cases, no evil villains attempting to take over or destroy the world. It should have been peaceful. Except for one minor issue of a PMSing girl.

Valkyrie Cain stood in the doorway to the connected bathroom, a white towel wrapped around her slim form and both hands clenched in the air above her head like she was about to tear her curls out.

"Agh!" she cried, a scowl materializing as she let her hands fall to her sides, "This is impossible!"

Skulduggery tilted his head, hoping that by keeping quiet he could avoid being the target of her wrath.

As if he could have such luck.

"And you," Valkyrie whirled on him, the anger flashing in her eyes, "You've just got to sit there, don't you! Think keeping quiet will help you?"

Her eyes narrowed, "Well, why don't we try a new tactic? How 'bout coming over here and actually helping me for once?"

He angled his head toward her. "I'm sorry, are we a little cranky today?"

She glared at him, making a low sound in the back of her throat. Was that… was she growling?

"I am not cranky!" She bit out from behind clenched teeth.

Skulduggery leaned back in to his chair, unaffected. "Could have fooled me."

"I am not!" She threw her arms up in to the air, waving them about. "Oh my Gods, why do you always have to do this? You know how much I hate air stuff! I mean, would it kill you to lend a hand once in a while? I'm just trying to dry my hair!"

Skulduggery sighed. Did all teenagers do this freaking out thing? If so, then it was a miracle that any of them made it to adulthood. "You're supposed to learn how to do this. If I did all your magic for you then you'd never master all the elements." He paused before adding, "To be honest, I don't understand how you still have trouble with this water-"

"Oh shut up!" she spat, and a burst of air came rushing out from her fingertips, racing towards her damp hair. In an instant, it was dry again, and… and….

Valkyrie caught a glimpse of herself in the armoire mirror and shrieked. "It looks worse than Fletcher's!"

Skulduggery had to agree with her on that point. Valkyrie's hair stood up straight, reaching towards the heavens like raven coloured stalagmites. It was hideous. It was hilarious. He wasn't sure which one. Luckily, he had the good grace not to say either aloud.

He watched as her lip quivered and she subsequently burst into tears. She made a wild gesture at her Mohawk, desperately trying to flatten it. Her efforts were in vain.

"This sucks," she sobbed, "Now I have to wash it again!"

She spun on her heel with an effortless amount of grace, despite the state she was in. But then the knot on her towel came undone and it dropped to the floor, unravelling from her body faster than shadow.

Skulduggery reeled back in surprise at the sudden nudity. He had his spine digging in to the leather seat, and it only really registered that he should not be looking when Valkyrie gave a ragged scream and slammed the door shut. He quickly swivelled his skull in a too-late effort to prevent her panic.

Skulduggery was left with his head turned to the side for no reason. He felt tense.

"Well then." He said, as the rushing of running water made its way to his ears.

Valkyrie emerged half an hour later, sopping wet and blotchy faced. She clutched her towel tightly to her, as if giving it the equivalent of a death grip would counteract the embarrassment of its previous failings. If nothing else, at least that mishap wouldn't be repeated.

She gave off a quiet presence, taking small steps. Skulduggery stood to greet her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking down.

"That's alright," he told her, "Do you want me to dry you?"

She nodded, "Yes, please."

"Towel, off." He said, took off his hat. Skulduggery placed it in front of his face and held up one hand.

Valkyrie was dry almost instantaneously, and this time it wasn't a botched job. "One second!" she warned him, picking up the towel again.

Skulduggery dutifully obeyed, keeping his fedora in front of his eye sockets. "Can I look now?"

"Mhm."

He lifted his hat back to rest on his skull. Valkyrie was making towards the pile of clothes she had left out on her bed. She paused when she saw them, frowned. He noticed that when she did so, there was a little crease that formed between her brows, and he couldn't help but wonder if her face had always done that, or if was just a recent thing. He let the thought sit in his mind for several seconds before deciding it didn't really matter.

Valkyrie's hand lifted the fluffy pyjama bottoms up for inspection. "These aren't the clothes I put out." She turned a confused glance towards Skulduggery.

"They're your pyjamas. I thought that would be obvious."

She raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Yeah, but why are they here instead of my clothes?"

Skulduggery tilted his head. "I thought you needed a movie day."

And then he had the pleasure of watching the light in her eyes change, the misery dissipating into astonishment. Her mouth fell open.

Skulduggery sighed the sigh of one who had an important, yet tedious role to play. "Yes, I'm the best best-friend you could possibly ever have. Now put those on and come downstairs."

He was oddly surprised when she did so without further questioning, shooing him out the door with a thin trace of a smile.

When Valkyrie got to the first level, Skulduggery was waiting for her on the couch, a bowl of popcorn cradled in one gloved hand. He had been staring at it, she realized. She wasn't even going to try to fathom why. He looked up when he heard her footsteps.

"I figured I'd let you choose the movie."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Only because you're terrible at choosing them. All these silent films, jeez."

He cocked his head at that. "I'll have you know that my taste is impeccable!"

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. The last time she'd let him choose the DVD, it had been some incredibly old black and white film from the early twenties. Not inherently awful, but she hadn't been in the mood.

"And besides," he added in a last ditch effort for redemption, "I did take you to that Norse superhero movie, didn't I?"

"It's called Thor!" Valkyrie cried in exasperation.

He waved a hand. "Irrelevant. Sit down."

She smiled, settled down next to him. "Avengers good with you?"

"I've no objection, no."

The both of them leaned back in to the cushions, Valkyrie lying against Skulduggery's ribcage. They sat like that for an uncomfortable length of time.

"Oh hell," Valkyrie said. "Movie?"

Oops. He'd forgotten about that great 'putting the disc in so we can actually watch it' routine.

Valkyrie sat up suddenly, standing, then made for the cluster of DVDs that were strewn about the floor. She muttered curse words under her breath, rummaged around for the disc. When she found it she held it up in silent victory, before snapping open the case and popping the disc in to the player.

She went back to the couch. This time she didn't lean into Skulduggery. She picked up the remote from the table next to her seat and within a minute, they were enjoying wholesome Hollywood entertainment.

"Popcorn?" Skulduggery asked, holding the bowl out to her.

"Oh my Gods, give it to me." she snatched it from his hands, cramming her own fingers in to the dish, stuffed a palmful of kernels into her mouth.

The detective tilted his head at her bulging cheeks. "That is a very attractive look."

Valkyrie's eyes narrowed. She grabbed another fistful of popcorn, raised her arm...

And Skulduggery spent the next five minutes of the movie plucking popcorn from the crevices of his skull and ribcage.

AN- Hey, you know what would be really helpful? If you could review. Wow. Wouldn't that be amazing? Think of the decrease in world-suck you could do!