Val is fifteen and kinda childish in this one, so no romance. Just non-romantic fluff.

The skeleton glared at the young woman sitting across from him. One might think it hard for a skeleton to glare, but Skulduggery Pleasant defied nearly every expectation of him.

He was an absolute expert in glaring.

"This is so much fun!" She squealed. They were sitting in a Ferris wheel seat, and it was swaying.

"For you maybe." Skulduggery grumbled. His gloved hands gripped the rails tightly. "Maybe you should stop rocking it now."

Valkyrie stared at him incredulously. She had insisted they go on together to look for their prime suspect in a case. Why she was at a fair was beyond either of them, but they were looking nonetheless.

"Skulduggery, you can fly! We'll be fine no matter what."

He continued to glare.

Her grin widened.

"You're scared of falling, are you?" There was a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I-am-not!" He hissed in his velvet voice.

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"I'm not scared."

"Yes, yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Fine." She said smugly. She would enjoy this.

She shifted sideways and leaned back to the right.

Back and forth.

Faster and faster.

The seat was rocking back and forth as the wheel brought them up to the highest point.

"Stop it!" He finally commanded. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"

"Hmm. Dangerous enough that we could-" She paused, leaning in. "Fall?"

Valkyrie watched closely as he stiffened, and she started snickering.

"You are scared, aren't you?"

"I'm not scared." He repeated through gritted teeth, still stiff. "Like you said, I can fly. You, on the other hand, not so much."

Valkyrie made a little hmph noise but stopped rocking.

"Come on," she said, back on track. "Let's catch some bad guys."

Skulduggery smiled to himself.