In Between

In Between Chapter 45

I read this head canon on tumblr somewhere. (And I've never watched High Society before. So sue me.)

45. Grace Kelly

Skulduggery was watching High Society with Valkyrie. Valkyrie had protested, but after bribing her with popcorn they were now situated comfortably on the couch.

It was just getting to one of his favorite songs, when Valkyrie, absentmindedly chewing, said:

"You know, Grace Kelly's face is a little bit like China's."

Skulduggery made an awful choking noise, and Valkyrie pounded his back. Hard.

"You all right?"

Skulduggery coughed into his hand, and straightened out his tie.

"Just choked on a popcorn kernel."

Valkyrie gave him The Look.

"Skulduggery, you can't eat popcorn."

"Oh, here! This is my favorite part. Valkyrie, look!"

Valkyrie didn't look.

"It's just some guy singing about how sensational some girl is."

"Don't diss Frank Sinatra."

The conversation dwindled from there, but Skulduggery couldn't focus on the movie anymore. China Sorrows look like Grace Kelly? Preposterous! Well, technically, Grace Kelly looked like China, since China was much older... Anyways, the point was that his crush on Grace Kelly had absolutely nothing to do with whether her face looked like China's or not.

"I didn't say that it did," Valkyrie said.

Skulduggery realized that he had said that last bit out loud.

He shut his mouth abruptly, his jawbone rattling slightly from the force.

Valkyrie looked at him curiously.

"You weren't... No. It can't be. You didn't like China or anything, did you?"

Skulduggery stiffened.

"I was young, she was young, we were both intelligent, young sorcerers..."

He was interrupted by the teenager bursting into laughter.

"You... You liked China? China Sorrows? How-"

"You were involved with a vampire," Skulduggery muttered irritably.

"Don't make me take your skull, Skulduggery."

"You promised you wouldn't!"

Valkyrie leaned over and reached towards his head. Skulduggery ducked, dislodging the popcorn bowl. It all spilled on the ground, and they both froze.

"You spilled it," Valkyrie said.

"You need to practice your elemental magic," Skulduggery replied.

In the end, Skulduggery ended up sweeping it all up with a well-placed breeze. By then, the movie was already over, and the subject was dropped.

Until the next day.

China did find out about the incident, and for the next month she would have an amused look on her face every time she saw him. Somehow, Valkyrie persuaded her to dye her hair blonde, so that the similarities between her and Grace Kelly were even greater.

And nobody ever found out about China's tiny crush on Benedict Cumberbatch.

-

This is probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever written, but...

And I like to think that Skulduggery had eyes like Benedict. So sue me.

To make things clear: I don't ship Chinduggery. But I think that they did like each other just a teensy bit before Skulduggery met his wife.

Please review!

-ravenwings52