A/N: This was originally posted as a response to the following prompt on the Skulduggery Pleasant kink meme on Dreamwidth:

"Valkyrie confronts Skulduggery about his acting 'weird' and differently since she turned seventeen.

The day he's been scared of for ages has come: when he can't walk OR run from his feelings. Eventual required Valduggery, please."

Mild spoilers for Kingdom of the Wicked.

Disclaimer: Characters, settings, or basically anything you recognise are not mine but belong to Derek Landy. I make no money from this.


Valkyrie kicked the dead vampire on the ground in front of them one more time for good measure.

"That's another one dealt with," she remarked, casually adjusting the remains of her black T-shirt and wishing, once again, that she hadn't left her jacked behind. True, it was supposed to have been just a short walk to the shop for some milk, and she hadn't actually expected to be ambushed, but these days, one never knew.

It was a good thing, all things considered, that Skulduggery was there to give her a hand – she didn't much fancy her chances against a vampire on her own. Especially when not wearing her jacket.

Come to think of it… why was he there, anyway? They weren't working on a case. The daily training sessions were over hours ago. She hadn't even had time to ask, being only too happy to see him.

"Skulduggery?" she asked, raising her head to look at him.

He wasn't wearing his façade, so she couldn't tell exactly what he'd been looking at, but from the angle of his skull… Valkyrie shook her head. Impossible. Skulduggery wouldn't be looking at whatever the ripped-up top wasn't covering. Would he?

Skulduggery looked up quickly, his hollow eye sockets meeting her eyes. "Yes?"

If Valkyrie hadn't known any better, she'd have almost thought he sounded embarrassed. Awkward. Except that Skulduggery was never embarrassed.

Except for the time she'd caught him meditating in her back garden.

And except for the time she'd walked into him, literally, in her underwear, in the house on Cemetery Road, that night two weeks ago when it had been too late for her to go home.

And except for the time…

Valkyrie paused. Apart from all that, he'd been acting a little… odd, around her, for a while now. Thinking about it, he'd been acting differently around her at least since that whole Argeddion affair, months ago.

"Not that I don't appreciate your help, but… what exactly were you doing here? Do we have somewhere to go? Did you come to pick me up? It was my evening off, wasn't it?"

Skulduggery shrugged, the gesture oddly jerky. "I just happened to be in the neighbourhood. I'd heard of some vampires roaming around here and I thought…"

"You just decided to roam around with them? Without telling me?"

"Yes."

"I'm not convinced."

He straightened his tie and flicked a dead leaf off the cuff of his jacket. "I don't know what you mean."

"You could have rung me, asked me to come with you. Warned me."

"I didn't think you'd want to deal with vampires. I thought... I'd take care of them, make sure they don't get in your way."

Valkyrie tilted her head, gave him a long look. "That's actually quite sweet of you."

Skulduggery nodded and turned to leave. "You'll find your own way home, I trust. I'll see you tomorrow."

Valkyrie hesitated. They hadn't really had a chance to talk, properly, for a while now. True, they met every day, to train or take care of Sanctuary business, but he was all business. Even the flirty banter, which she'd come to enjoy these last couple of years, was all but gone.

"Wait," she said.

He stopped. Didn't turn around. "Yes?"

"Is everything OK?"

He looked at her now. "Yes, of course. Why?"

She gave a slight shrug. "I don't know. I've got the feeling… I can't really put my finger on it, but... Has something changed? Are you mad at me for some reason? You've been avoiding me for a while now."

"Don't be silly. We see each other every day."

"I didn't mean that sort of avoiding. We used to have fun together, but now you just rush off whenever we're done training or have finished work for the day. You don't tell me when you're in Haggard. You've even taken to keeping out of my way whenever I'm staying over."

"Have I? I can't say I've noticed. If that's all—"

She swallowed the growl she'd almost let out and caught his arm. "No, it's not all. Talk to me, Skulduggery. If it's something I've done, I want to know. Is it Darquesse?"

He laughed; a low, bitter sound that she'd never heard from him before. "No, it's nothing you've done."

Valkyrie felt like beating her head against the nearest tree. "What is it then? Look, I know you've kept secrets from me before, and that there are still things you haven't told me, and usually I'm fine with that, or at least pretend to be, but now that I've noticed, can't you at least give me a hint?"

"Oh, Valkyrie." He tilted his head, his hat – dark grey this time, she noticed – sitting at a perfect angle as usual. "All these times you've saved the world, and yet still so innocent. You don't want to know. Just take my word for it. Now if you'll excuse me—"

This time she did growl. "I'm going to punch you if you keep doing that."

"Keep doing what?"

"That— That turning to leave thing. Pretending we're done with this conversation. We're not."

"I am. Also, you wouldn't punch me."

She closed her eyes. Patience. Not her strongest skill. "Try me."

"Do you really want to know?"

Valkyrie gritted her teeth. "Yes."

"And if I tell you, and you don't like what I'm going to say, which will almost certainly be the case, will you still be my friend?"

"I'm always going to be your friend." Valkyrie shook her head. "Whatever it is you have to say… It can't be worse than that Vile thing. Can it?"

"You tell me," he muttered so softly she could hardly hear the words. "I… It's not you, Valkyrie. Well, it is you. The problem. It's not something you have done, as such, but it's very definitely you, and no one else but you."

"You're not making any sense."

"What I'm trying to tell you is that the problem is that you're you."

She raised an eyebrow. Waited.

Skulduggery let out a sigh. "You're you. Valkyrie Cain. The most irritating, annoying, impossible, headstrong, tactless, aggravating—"

"You can stop complimenting me any time now."

"—beautiful—"

"On second thoughts, you can go on."

"—amazingly talented, powerful, funny, lovely partner I've ever had."

"And that is a problem?"

Skulduggery's head drooped. "I never thought it would be. But yes. Yes, it is."

"Oh. Ohh." Realisation dawned, slowly but surely, and she blinked. "But that is… You're telling me that you—"

"Yes."

"You—"

"Yes."

"Me—"

"Yes."

"I don't know what to say." She sat down on the ground, her legs suddenly weak. "But—"

He sat down next to him, leaving a careful distance between them. "I apologise."

"Why?"

Another shrug. "Won't it make things, I don't know, awkward? If you know that I… That when we're together… That when I look at you…"

She nodded, slowly. "I see what you mean."

"That's why I didn't want to tell you."

She patted his arm. "We've been through worse things together. I need some time to digest this, but I'm sure we'll manage. One way or another."