Traffic [Valduggery, Skulduggery Pleasant Fanfiction]

Coffee

"If you keep looking at me like that we won't make it to a bed."

Skulduggery looked at her. "Sorry?"

Tanith managed a smile. "Nothing."

The café was dingy and really pretty almost entirely awful. Tanith sank down in her seat, and she might have been pouting a little bit.

But why couldn't they have gone somewhere not terrible? She understood, of course, that maybe Val wasn't up for it. There was something about a bright, sunny café that could make you feel empty inside. Like you didn't belong, quite. She got that.

But hadn't Val spent enough time moping?

"Hasn't she spent enough time moping?"

Skulduggery gave her another look, raising an eyebrow. "Is that what you're calling it?"

"Is that what you're not calling it?" Tanith wished a waiter would come up and ask them if they would like a coffee. A waiter didn't. "Just... why did she have to pick here? I mean, it's not like people aren't going to know her."

"She picked where she felt comfortable. It's not our place to judge where she wants to grab a coffee, of all things, Tanith."

She hated that. He talked down to her, a little bit. Then again, he talked down to most people.

She made a list in her head of the people he hadn't talked down to.

Valkyrie. Ghastly.

She felt a little triumphant she couldn't come up with more people. And then she felt a little sad, so she jiggled her foot and wondered when the last time someone had run a clean rag over this tabletop had been.

"If you're going to be like this—"

"Like what?" Tanith snapped. "Angry?"

It was bizarre seeing irritation flash across Skulduggery's face. The façade was bizarre. She thought it was creepy, not quite right. But it was nice to finally know what he was thinking.

"If you're not even going to attempt to understand why she left, then what was the point of even agreeing to see her?" Skulduggery was too used to having a blank skull, and Tanith could see as his eyes kept flicking to the door over her shoulder.

"I'm not angry she left. I'm angry she didn't even call. I'm angry the only one she told about it was you. I'm angry the only one she called was you. I'm angry she got to disappear off the face of the Earth, while—"

"While you were the only one being judged for actions you had no control over?" Skulduggery was looking over Tanith's shoulder. "You went away for a few years too, Tanith."

Tanith grit her teeth, wiggled in her seat, and she forced Skulduggery's eyes to meet hers. "She's my friend, too, Skulduggery."

"You're jealous?"

Tanith let out a little laugh. "No. No, I couldn't even touch you, Skulduggery. And I'm fine with that. But we could have helped each other. Talked it through. She could have told me, instead of me hearing it second-hand. She didn't have to run away and face it alone."

Skulduggery didn't answer.

Tanith reached up to pull a hand through her hair, came up with air. She had thought a haircut would be good. She had read that somewhere, or maybe someone had told her. Maybe it had come through in one of those little flashes of other Tanith's life.

Skulduggery's fingers tapped against the tabletop.

Tanith's leg jiggled, and she wished she hadn't left her sword in her car. She wished she hadn't sold her motorcycle. But it had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. It made her sad, so she had sold it. But now she missed it.

Maybe Valkyrie had bought a motorcycle. Not that Tanith knew.

"Well, she didn't face it alone," Tanith muttered. "She had you."

"Are you faulting me for that?"

"I'm guessing you didn't exactly encourage her to reach out to anyone else, did you? Fletcher thought she killed herself. She said she's going on a trip, and then she doesn't call for a month, and he asks her family, and they won't say a fucking word about it."

Skulduggery's mouth tugged up in a faint smile. "She would never kill herself."

Tanith wanted to punch him. "Maybe this isn't about her!"

"And it's about you?"

"It's about more than the two of you!" Tanith lowered her voice, feels the stares of the other patrons leave the woman with the short brown hair and the man with an unremarkable face. "I'm sure you don't understand."

Skulduggery tilted his head, eyebrow raised.

"She's never cut you out of anything. You've always known. Me? Fletch? Her family? We've always been playing catch-up."

Skulduggery closed his eyes when he shrugged. "You haven't dealt with anything remotely close to what she's had to."

Tanith barked out another laugh, shook her head, crossed her arms.

A part of her—that part deep down, the part she ignores—aches.

Oh, no, she hasn't had to deal with a single thing like Valkyrie Cain has. Hasn't had to keep her head down and go on trial and deal with people whispering. Hasn't had to run away and hate herself for something she had no control over.

Not as deep as Valkyrie.

"You know, you're a real—"

"Valkyrie," Skulduggery said, smiling.

Tanith turned.

And it's Val. A different Val. Not as strong, arms no longer powerhouses, not even in a suit. Just a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. A hesitant smile.

Tanith wished Skulduggery wasn't there when she jumped up and pulled Val into a hug.