"Skulduggery... What're you doing?"
Skulduggery slammed his laptop shut and snatched a random folder on the couch next to him. Valkyrie was standing in the doorway, a bemused look on her face. She had stayed over at his house last night, so she was wearing a tank top and red plaid pajama bottoms with a cup of coffee in her hand.
"Oh... I was just looking at some cases."
Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. Skulduggery cursed silently. He knew that he shouldn't have used the computer! He never did, and now Valkyrie would be getting suspicious. Valkyrie set her mug down on the coffee table, and plopped down onto the sofa next to him. She plucked the papers from his hand, and quickly skimmed its contents.
"Serial killer... Teenagers... Female adept... Skulduggery, this is a case from two years ago."
Skulduggery tried to think up one of the on-the-spot lies he was famous for, but his mind was blank. It didn't help that Valkyrie was leaning on his shoulder slightly, and that her hair had a slight coffee scent.
"I was... Doing some light morning reading, that's all!"
"You were reading about eight teenagers being brutally murdered by a female adept with a butcher knife at six in the morning. For fun."
"Yup."
Valkyrie looked at him skeptically, and got up. Papers fluttered onto the floor, adding to the piles of paperwork next to the coffee table. She picked her coffee up and took a sip.
"Well, I'm going to go make some toast..."
She walked into the kitchen. Skulduggery heard the sound of plates clinking, and let himself relax. He opened up his laptop again, and continued his work.
Suddenly, Valkyrie grabbed the laptop from him and ran upstairs. Skulduggery got up quickly, and chased after her.
"Valkyrie, give that back!"
"Then tell me what you were doing, using a laptop of all things, at six o' clock in the morning!"
"No!"
Valkyrie dashed into her room and locked the door. Skulduggery banged on her door desperately.
"Valkyrie, please give my laptop back! I have important things on there!"
Valkyrie's voice was muffled by the door, but the venom in her voice was still evident.
"Important enough that you won't tell me?"
Skulduggery groaned, and leaned against the door. Inside, Valkyrie was shouting at him.
"John Watson? Were you running a background check on him? Skulduggery! John isn't a murderer or anything! I can take care of myself, and I don't need you to look up every guy I interact with to see if they have a criminal record! Just stay out of my love life!"
At the last bit, Valkyrie yanked the door open, and Skulduggery fell into her room. Valkyrie was waving his laptop around. Skulduggery winced. The screen showed a picture of John and his background. There was information about practically every aspect of his life, including every girl he had ever dated and his diet.
"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!"
Skulduggery dealt his final card.
"Sorry?"
It didn't work.
John woke up sleepily as the morning light hot him full force. He had an awful crick in his neck, and his whole body groaned as he got up. He must've fallen asleep in his chair. Again.
Sherlock was fiddling with his computer at the table, fingers flying across the keys.
John stomped over to him.
"Sherlock! I thought that we had an agreement about personal belongings!"
Sherlock looked up, clicking the mouse one last time.
"Hmm? I must've deleted it."
John just glared at him and snatched his laptop back.
"They Walk Among Us: The Sorcerers in our Midst. Really, Sherlock? Next thing you know, you'll be trying to track down the Doctor. Just accept the fact that they're magical and get on with life."
Sherlock scowled.
"But this is the first interesting case I've had in months!"
"Valkyrie and Skulduggery are not a puzzle to be solved."
Sherlock stood up, and walked to the couch. He tripped on a pile of books, the crash loud enough to mask the small beep of the phone as Sherlock sent a text. Sherlock slid John's phone underneath the couch, making sure to mask his smile before getting up. He walked out the door, grabbing his cost as he left.
"I'm going to... The place for the thing!"
John sighed.
"All right. I'm going to be at work for the rest of the day, so don't call me unless it's extremely importa- Sherlock? Sherlock!"
John's phone rang. The blogger listened carefully before reaching under the couch to retrieve his phone.
Gone to Cross Cafe. Will be out late.
-SH
John resisted the urge to confiscate Sherlock's nicotine patches for a week. That man really would be the death of him.
Valkyrie's phone beeped. Skulduggery peered over her shoulder from where he was sitting on the sofa.
Hey, Valkyrie!
Meet me at the Cross Cafe in an hour.
-JW
Valkyrie dashed into her room, and came out wearing lip gloss.
The skeleton looked up.
"I presume you are going on a date?"
"Hmm? Yeah."
She grabbed her keys off of the nightstand.
"You might not want to leave just yet..."
"Are you saying that I don't look nice?" Valkyrie demanded.
"No, no! I wouldn't dream of it, especially after this morning. You look lovely, but I'm not sure that you want Joe see you in your pajamas just yet." Skulduggery got up quickly to avoid another outburst from Valkyrie after he intentionally forgot John Watson's name. Again. Fortunately for him, Valkyrie was too distracted grabbing a black button down shirt and her boots to pay attention to his small mistake.
Valkyrie left once again, this time properly dressed with her hair up in a ponytail.
"I'll be back soon!"
The door shut behind her, and Skulduggery decided that it would be better if he didn't tell her that she was wearing her pajama bottoms still. She would find out soon enough.
True to his predictions, exactly two minutes and forty-five seconds later, Valkyrie came clattering in. She stopped just long enough to slip into a pair of jeans, then stole his favorite hat 'because you didn't tell me I was still in my jammies'. Then she ran out the door one last time and the house was quiet.
Skulduggery sat down in the house. Finally, he could have some alone time. Now it was just him and- Oh. He was by himself now. No worries. He had gotten along just fine without Valkyrie for the last few centuries or so; he would continue to be fine. Besides, it wasn't as if she wouldn't be back soon.
But something else was bothering him. In the very back of his mind, something was screaming and shouting and telling him to get up and follow her even though she would get mad.
Skulduggery pushed the voice away.
He was not jealous.
So... Skulduggery's jealous, Sherlock's up to something, and Valkyrie... Well, Valkyrie's blissfully unaware of the lovely tangled mess I'm about to stick her into.
Until next time!
-ravenwings52