Ravenwisker and MissSkulduggeryPleasant both requested I do a drabble about Skulduggery's b-day. I've wanted to, but never had a good enough idea. BUT. Ravenwisker helped me out :D
Skulduggery Pleasant dreaded December 31st. It was his least favorite day of the year, besides April 1st, for slightly obvious reasons (those being Valkyrie playing trick after trick on him).
Though he had asked everyone that he knew if anyone was doing anything for his…birthday. A few said they had no idea, a few more said no, and then his and Valkyrie's close friends had refused it profusely.
Of course, that meant something had to be happening, good or bad. But nothing good ever happened when it concerned birthdays.
Skulduggery reluctantly parked his Bentley on the curb by Gordon's house, climbed out of the sleek car, and as slowly as he could go, walked up to the front door. He knocked and sighed, fearing the worst. Valkyrie's silhouette appeared on the foggy glass, and she opened the door quickly.
She looked confused. "Any reason you're here?" she asked it like she really had no idea why he was there.
"U-Uh. No, I guess not, then." Maybe they weren't doing anything this year.
Skulduggery thought about that again as he stepped into the house. Fat chance, he thought. Valkyrie smiled and bit her lip, like she knew something he didn't (which was more than likely). She walked on ahead of him, skipping, which was particularly unusual.
"Valkyrie?" he asked, a bit frightened. "Are you excited for something?"
"No," she said. "I was just out training with Tanith and the adrenaline is still running through me. That's just it."
He nodded, beginning to understand it. "That makes a bit more sense," he agreed.
She grinned. "We were talking about you. Tanith said she hadn't seen you in a while," Valkyrie replied casually, leading Skulduggery towards the back door. "Want to say hi?"
He shrugged. "Why not?"
She nodded and opened the door slowly.
Immediately Skulduggery bolted away, but someone slammed into him. He shook his head, and then was instantly outside, in a huge crowd of people. Fletcher Renn was standing beside him, grinning like an idiot.
Around the skeleton were tables and chairs and quite a large gathering of people. There were a few balloons scattered around the place, all different colors and shapes and sizes. There was one table with a chocolate frosted cake, with three numbers on it. A four, a six, and a seven.
"No one really knew how old you are," Valkyrie muttered from beside him suddenly, "but China said you're probably around 467 years old. She said she was around twenty when she first met you, when you were just a little sixteen year old boy."
Skulduggery would have frowned. His eye sockets scanned the crowd until he caught the piercing blue eyes of China Sorrows and her brother, Mr. Bliss. China smiled cheekily, eyeing him in a different way than he ever saw. She gave a small wink, and disappeared through the crowd with her brother, who smiled at him as well.
"I love how China's older than you!" Valkyrie giggled, punching his arm playfully. "But you said that you were both the same age!"
He paused. "I am mentally older than her…" he mumbled.
Valkyrie chuckled. "Alright then. But, I thought you were the oldest thing on the planet. I guess not."
Skulduggery snorted. "I am not that old, Cain!" he growled playfully. Valkyrie stuck her tongue out and bolted away from him. She ran to Tanith, who giggled along with her and smiled at Skulduggery. Ghastly was by her side. He shrugged and smirked. Fletcher titled his head to the side, giving the thumbs up sign, again, like an idiot.
"Valkyrie," he groaned, as he walked up to them, "I thought I told you I'd kill whoever threw me a birthday party."
"Oh yeah, I remember!" she told him. "But see, Gordon actually planned everything; we all helped!"
Skulduggery frowned. "That's not fair,"
"Oh you'll have fun."
Well, he thought, maybe he could attempt to enjoy this.
The party went on as normal, or as normal as a party involving Fletcher could. There was the bit where everyone began throwing cake, but that's a different story.
Everyone forced him to blow out the candles, and Skulduggery couldn't help but feel a little bit older. It was an hour after everything had officially ended, when Kenspeckle approached him.
"As per request from Valkyrie," he explained, "this is from all of us. Why she made me give it to you, I'm not sure. But here." In his hands was a lumpy present, wrapped in last week's newspaper. Skulduggery unfolded the paper and saw it was a stuffed dog.
"Since we all know how much you like dogs," Kenspeckle smirked, a little twinkle in his eyes. "Anyway, I guess happy birthday…" he said and quick walked off. Skulduggery stood staring at the dog. It was black, with pretty brown eyes. He had soft, floppy ears and shiny fur.
"Seriously?" he sighed at Valkyrie, who was giggling from across the backyard. "A stuffed dog?"
"I thought you'd enjoy it!" she called back. "You love dogs, right?"
He groaned and turned to head back into the house. He could hear Valkyrie laughing along with Fletcher as cake went flying again.
Skulduggery looked down at the dog and smiled. It was, surprisingly, a good day.
Meh. I some fun with this. Was it too short? I can possibly do a follow up…? I've been at a pretty big loss for inspiration lately...
But thanks for reading and sorry for any mistakes! :D
