I do not own Skulduggery Pleasant or any of its characters. Okey-dokey?

It had been a month, and Valkyrie had all but moved in with Skulduggery. It was much easier that constantly sneaking out and calling out her reflection. So her reflection was at home, living her life, while she was out on adventures. Things had been pretty dull, lately, though.

Fletcher had a habit of 'popping in' for a visit, and sometimes Tanith or Ghastly stayed with them for a few days.

Today, it was all three.

Skulduggery never really expected to have four other people staying at once, so there were only three rooms. Tanith was happy to share a room with Valkyrie, and Skulduggery had enough mercy on Ghastly to use his room, since he hardly ever used it himself, leaving Fletcher with his own room.

That night, since no one wanted to cook, Valkyrie just ordered a pizza. While they waited, the boys were in Skulduggery's room, which, naturally, made the girls curious as to what they were doing.

"Should we go check on them?" Tanith asked.

"Nah," Valkyrie responded. But they quietly climbed the stairs anyway.

Both girls sat on either side of the closed door, listening closely.

"Tanith and Valkyrie are pretty cute," Fletcher said. "Don't you think?"

Valkyrie clenched her hand into a fist to prevent her from busting the door open and throwing a fireball at him. The door was open just a tiny bit, so Valkyrie looked in the see Skulduggery and Ghastly reach their arms out. Fletcher went flying, and they heard a crash against the wall, and Fletcher disappeared. Tanith and Valkyrie had to resist the urge to laugh.

They immediately stopped, however, when Skulduggery spoke.

"So," he started. "What do you think of Tanith?"

Ghastly was silent for a moment. "She's okay, I guess."

"Just okay?" Skulduggery pried. "You don't have any special feelings for her?"

"Well…" Ghastly said, clearly feeling pretty uncomfortable. Valkyrie glanced over to see Tanith's face turning bright red. She giggled quietly. "I suppose… Yes. I do," Ghastly admitted, and Tanith gasped quietly.

Valkyrie smiled for her friend. She knew Tanith had a crush on Ghastly, so that was probably a very nice thing to hear.

Ghastly spoke again. "What about you and Valkyrie?"

The smile fell from Valkyrie's face as she listened closely.

"She's my partner," Skulduggery said with a shrug.

"Don't give me that," Ghastly said. "Fletched can't hear you now."

"Okay, a friend."

The girl in question frowned. So that was it, then. He saw her as just a friend. Oh well, it could have been worse. He could have seen her as just an annoying tagalong.

"You wouldn't risk your neck for just a friend as much as you do for her," Ghastly said. Skulduggery was silent. "I'm right, aren't I?"

After a minute, Skulduggery sighed. "You've known me too long, my friend. Yes, I suppose. She really tends to grow on a person. I don't deserve someone like her, though."

Ghastly rolled his eyes. "When has that ever stopped you from taking what you wanted before?"

"I'm just happy with having her here. That's enough, really," the skeleton replied. "After all, right now, I don't want to imagine life without her."

Valkyrie realized that he face was wet, and wiped her eyes to find that she was crying. Skulduggery cared for her, he actually cared.

The doorbell rang, and both girls stood hastily, but they couldn't get downstairs before Ghastly opened the door.

Both men looked at them before Skulduggery spoke. "How long have you been standing there?"

Tanith turned. "Oh, from about 'she's okay, I guess…"

"To 'I don't want to imagine life without her'," Valkyrie finished. She knew they could see that she was crying. She was too happy to care.

Good? Bad? Please tell me. PS: I wrote most of this during my math class. I keep up with the notes, and am a good math student, so my teacher basically just lets be do whatever. There was one time I was working on a project thing for my friends, where I had to highlight different parts of a script in different colors, so I had papers strewn all over my desk, and he just overlooked it. I love my math teacher. He rocks.