36. Friends, Part 2

Day 2

Valkyrie woke up at just the right time, when the sun filled her room with a pleasant golden glow that made you feel all warm and content. What wasn't pleasant was Joshua sitting at her desk watching her.

Valkyrie shrieked, and threw her pillow at him. She then flew across the room and kneed him on the gut. Joshua doubled over, and she placed her foot on his stomach so that he couldn't get up.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?!"

Joshua coughed, and pointedly looked away. Valkyrie realized that she was wearing a large nightshirt that reached her knees. Except in the position she was in, it was more like mid-thigh. And she was only wearing the nightshirt. She blushed a furious red, then shoved him out her door. After she changed into a black tank top and jeans, she opened the door again. Joshua was standing right outside, so she grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him down to face her.

"Now, explain why a creep like you was in my FREAKIN' ROOM."

Joshua sputtered for a second.

"Skulduggery told me to wake you up! He said that he had important business to attend to or something. He left a note on the table..."

Valkyrie loosened her grip on his shirt slightly. It did make sense; she wasn't a morning person and let Skulduggery know on numerous occasions. But that still didn't explain why the sorcerer was watching her sleep.

"Then why didn't you wake me up?"

Joshua had the guts (or stupidity) to smirk.

"You're a lot prettier when you're sleeping."

Valkyrie socked him in the arm this time.

By the time Valkyrie got around to reading the note on the table (come to the Sanctuary by 10. Don't kill Josh. Use the window instead of the door. -SP), it was already 11:00. She purposely left through the door and accidentally left the door open just a crack (just because Skulduggery was four hundred years older didn't mean she would listen to him). She didn't do anything about Josh. He blatantly flirted with her ever since she woke up, so she wasn't going to move the unconscious boy onto the couch. He could stay on the floor. (Skulduggery's note said not to kill him. It didn't mention anything about hurling him into the door hard enough for him to black out.)

She took the bus to the Sanctuary since Skulduggery took the Bentley. She understood why Skulduggery hated the bus so much; there were too many people and not enough space. She was sandwiched between two huge middle-aged men the whole way. Along with a hold-up at the Sanctuary entrance (she had left her ID at Skulduggery's), it was 11:32 by the time she got to the office.

Skulduggery didn't even look up when she got there. He was sitting on the old leather sofa filling out some paperwork.

"You're an hour and thirty-two minutes late."

Valkyrie fell onto the couch next to him and scowled.

"Hey, it's not my fault that that idiot sorcerer didn't wake me up this morning."

"Well, now that you're here you can help me with," Skulduggery motioned towards a huge pile of paper on the coffee table, "this."

Valkyrie remembered why she hated her job so much.

Valkyrie ended up taking a bunch of the paperwork home. She took up residence on the lumpy sofa that nobody knew what the original color was and filled in page after page with pointless things like the precise time (to the second) of when they arrested a criminal. About halfway through the stack, Valkyrie checked the time. It was 10:45. She had spent the last four hours on paperwork, and she wasn't even done yet. She rubbed her eyes, and curled up into a ball on the sofa. She could finish this in the morning.

"Here."

Skulduggery handed her a cup of coffee. She sat up and wrapped her hands around the mug. She smiled. It was the she had gotten for Skulduggery this past Christmas and read 'Your Ego is not Your Amigo'.

"Thanks, Skulduggery."

She leaned back, and rested her head on his chest, but instead of a hollow rib cage she heard a heart. Valkyrie turned around.

"Joshua?"

The Filipino gave her a small smile and draped a blanket around her shoulders. She sighed. She was too tired to yell at him, so she decided to pretend like nothing happened and drained the coffee cup. She was starting to get drowsy, so she set the mug on the table and snuggled up with the blanket. Before she knew it, Joshua was gone and she was asleep.

Skulduggery walked into the living room, making sure that he was quiet in order to keep the sleeping girl from waking up. He gently picked her up, and carried her to her room. Halfway up the stairs, Valkyrie sleepily opened an eye and mumbled something like, 'oh, it's you,' then buried her face into his shoulder and fell back asleep. He tucked her into bed, then went back downstairs to the living room. He had some paperwork to finish.

Even in my drabbles where I try to give Valkyrie a new love interest I'm shipping Valduggery... -_-

EDIT: Thanks to Guest for catching my mistake!

-ravenwings52