rockabillyboy | AU

"You make it sound like you don't usually look good too," he says, eyebrows raised. He produces a carefully folded paper rose and holds it out to her. "Didn't want to break the habit."

"Well, I won't deny looking good. That would just be silly, wouldn't it? But you actually bother to do something to make it even better." Valkyrie still doesn't really know what it is she's trying to say, other than that it should be a compliment.

She does take the rose, tucking it behind one ear gently enough so as not to mess with the folding. "I assume you made this one yourself?"

"Thought I'd dress up for you," he says, straightening the knot of his tie. He nods. "Yeah, I did. I'm better at cranes, but I learned to make roses just for you."

The smile reaches her eyes, and she embraces him without warning. "You're too good to me, Jack. Have been since I got here. I'm...you know there's more to me. There's a lot of dark. Too much of it sometimes. But you're bright, and it keeps that at bay."

Jack blushes at what feels like a very genuine compliment. He ducks his head and slips his arms around her shoulders, returning the hug.

"Anything I can do for you, you know I would, Val. Any time."

"The worst part is, I know you don't lie to me, so I know you mean it, and I can't even brush it aside with a joke because it feels rude. Dammit, you've broken my snark generator," she mutters into his shoulder, but doesn't let go. Not just yet. Instead, she lets her head rest against him, and for a few seconds, manages to forget everything else.

Jack gives a little crow of victory, keeping his arms firmly around her shoulders. She feels, he realises, good where she's pressed against him. He could get used to this, he thinks.

Almost reluctantly, she pulls away again, but keeps a fairly firm grip on his hand. She's done with letting go, figuratively and literally in this case. Besides, what was she going to do? Mope around forever like some listless romantic interest in a bad movie?

"Hang on, I've got something for you too. Just stand still and don't move around too much, okay? It's a bit of a new thing."

Jack shifts his hand in her grip, but only so that he can thread their fingers together, squeezing her hand. He gives her a slightly dubious smile.

"Do I need to close my eyes too?"

"No, you don't. In fact, it'd be a shame if you did, 'cause if this works, it's going to be awesome."

She goes quiet and starts concentrating. It's a trick she thought of recently, something to give her an edge in future fights. A simple logical step, really - if she can make solid barriers that can absorb heavy impacts, what's to say that same solid energy can't be used to lift as well?

And so the ground under Jack's feet begins to blow, raising him up just a little at first, at which point she pours a bit more power into it, a bit more strength, and then starts to lift him up on a floating disc of white light. Once his feet are at about head height, she stops.

"How's that feel?"

It's only through force of will that Jack doesn't fall over altogether. His eyes go wide and he flails a little bit.

"I...Wow. I'm...Yeah. I'm not sure that I like it."

"Takes a while to get used to not being on the ground," she says and lowers him again. "I'm not sure I could carry you with just my own bit of levitation, so I tried something else. We can work out the kinks later."

"Should I worry that you're working on getting me off the ground?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. Once he's back on the ground, he leans in and presses a kiss against her cheek.

Valkyrie doesn't mind the kiss, not one bit. Seems like a fair payment, even if he doesn't look like he was all too thrilled with it.

"Everyone wants to fly, right? So if I can't give you flight, I can do this for you at least - and you get to feel like you're being carried on a palanquin or something."

"I'd genuinely prefer to keep my feet on the ground," he says, laughing, but he keeps his arm laced around her shoulders, keeps her pulled in close.

"All right, I'll have to think of other ways to impress you in that case. Something that doesn't involve magic, because there's only so much I can do with it that won't hurt you." She lets her forehead rest against his and eventually pulls out of the embrace, reluctantly so.

"Do you want to find a quiet rooftop, gaze up at the stars for a bit? I haven't done that in so long."

Jack smiles; it sounds like something out of a movie and that? Makes it just about perfect. He nods and offers her his hand, wiggling his fingers.

"Let's do it."

She pokes him in the palm, playfully, then takes his hand. Valkyrie's grip is fairly tight, intentionally so. She doesn't want to let go anytime soon. For a short while, she scans the skyline, trying to find the best building, before turning to Jack.

"You probably know this by now - what's the best tall building with a flat roof? And have you painted anything on it?"

"Arch Studios is pretty good," says Jack, squeezing her hand back, pointing. "And, yeah, I did. It says 'SING' on the other side of the building. It's one of the bigger ones." He has the good grace to look slightly embarrassed.

"Lead the way, then, Gandalf. Well, maybe not Gandalf. You don't have the..." she says, miming a long beard, with a bit of laughter as the mental image takes hold. "That's probably a good thing. Okay, definitely not Gandalf. I'll think of a better one on the way."

Before he can turn away, and before the slight blush can subside, she gives him a kiss on the cheek again. "You're all right, Jack. You're...just right."

It's an odd sort of compliment, as compliments go, but Jack finds himself glowing, all the same. With her hand in his, he leads her in the direction of Arch Studios. He doesn't think Kavinsky will mind him taking advantage of the spare key.

"You're not so bad yourself."

"I kind of thought, when I got here, that I'd be alone again. It's not my first jump to another world, after all." She'd probably told him so before, but it felt worth repeating.

"Being proven wrong is, for once, something I'm enjoying." And now she's getting too close to sappy.

"Just don't get in the habit."

"Of proving you wrong?" asks Jack, grinning as he lets them into Arch and keys in the familiar keycode. "I wouldn't dream of it. I value my zen too much."

"Good. Besides, it'd be a difficult habit to keep up." She follow him into the building, almost skipping ahead. It's definitely exciting to be breaking rules again.

"I'm right so often, after all."

"Its true," says Jack, grinning. He grabs a couple of beers out of the fridge, knowing how well Kavinsky keeps it stocked and then nudges Val towards the door that leads to the stairs up to the roof. "C'mon. I promised you starlight."

"You did, so if it's gone cloudy, I'll be demanding compensation. Maybe a custom graffiti. That'd be nice."

There's a smirk on her face, partly because she knows she could talk him into it, but also because he probably wouldn't need much pushing anyway.

"I've no idea how many constellations I can even recognise."

"You know I'd paint anything for you," says Jack, as he puts his shoulder to do the door out onto the roof. "Or you could model for me. Always looking to work on my life drawing." He grins. "Clear sky, look. Do I win a prize?"

"I can never decide on what I'd want you to do for me. It would have to be cool, of course. That's the priority here." She follows him outside and holds him from behind, resting against him a bit.

"All right, fine, it's clear. Your prize is, you get to use me as a pillow."

"Everything I do is cool," says Jack grinning. "I don't even have to work at it. It's an innate gift." He leans back into the press of her weight against his back for a moment. "Fair trade."

"Jack, I hate to tell you this, but when you've saved the world fighting back-to-back with a skeleton who can throw fire from his skeletal hands, the bar for what's cool is set pretty high."

As she says it, she walks over to the most open spot she can find and slowly sits, pulling him down as well. Carefully.

"You'll probably do fine, though. You are pretty good at being cool."

He waits until Val settles herself and then he sprawls next to her, pillowing his head on her lap. He lifts one of the bottles, offering it to her, lifting his head enough so he can sip from his own.

"I'll make my peace with coming in second place," he says.

Her hand closes around the offered bottle, though she sets it down for the time being. Instead, her fingers start running through his hair in gentle movements.

"Wait, who said anything about second place? This just means you have to give things a bit of extra flair for me. You and the skeleton are way different sets of my life."

Jack's eyes drift close, the double line of his eyelashes a smudge against his skin in the dark.

"I'm starting to think I'd give you anything you want, Val," he says, his voice barely louder than murmur in his chest.

"For the time being, I'm happy enough with just this," she reassures him, "and if I start to want anything more, I'll let you know."

She can feel her body slowly relaxing, the tenseness in her muscles washing away and ebbing more with every breath, every rise and fall of her chest with the weight of his head resting against it.

Jack's fingers stroke idly against Val's leg, tracing the shape of her knee cap. He opens his eyes and looks up at her.

"What're you thinking about?"

The answer's clear, and yet, she's still got to push herself to say it, worried that actually airing her thoughts will just lead to things being shattered.

"Nothing. For the first time in a hell of a long time - nothing at all. And you know what?" she asks, not even as a proper question, but more as a statement. "It sure as hell's nice."

Jack grins, broad and bright, an utterly genuine smile.

"Good," he says. "I'm glad. I'm glad I could be a part of that."

"Honestly, Jack, I don't know if I could have gotten this far without you. You're a very calming presence. Like a nice relaxing tea, but in a person body." Her face screws up a bit, then she starts to laugh. "I have a great way to express myself, don't I?"

"I don't know how flattering that is," he says, grinning. "Sort of like calling a person nice. It's sort of damning with faint praise, isn't it? Hey, Jack, you make me feel like tea does. Don't get me wrong, I really love tea, but..."

She smacks him in the arm for that, gently enough to make sure it doesn't hurt. "I'm trying to compliment you here, give me a break. There's only so much sappy sentimentalism I can do in one day."

AU - Val

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