GK Birthday

It was 11:32 P.M. and September had almost reached it's conclusion. But instead of being excited for the arrival of October and November, Lyn Harkeran was violently mourning the passing of the first month of Autumn. Instead of looking forward to the future and moving on, she wished more than anything that she could turn back the hands of time and fix her miscalculation. But alas, time was fickle and had no intention of stopping; so the melancholy writer was stuck with her lot.

The reason for Lyn's anxiety was simple: in little less than an hour, her friend's birthday would be over, and she had yet to start a birthday present.

The flustered wordsmith currently sat within the recesses of her room, tapping her worn out pen on top of her desk, as she struggled to come up with an idea for the birthday fanfic. One would have thought that a simple short story would have been a piece of cake, but with a severe case of writer's block and a bored muse, writing anything was absolutely impossible. So it would stand to reason that all seemed lost, and the apocalypse was nigh. (Of course the world wasn't actually coming to an end, but it certainly felt like it!)

After several more minutes of silence, Lyn let the uncapped pen fall from her fingers, released a string of nonsensical curses, and slammed her head against the hard surface with a loud thunk of defeat.

Her muse, who was currently laying on her bed, looked over at her with unreadable, mismatched eyes. "Knocking your brains out won't help you write any faster, dearest."

The disgruntled woman peered at him through a curtain of puffy hair and moaned. "Are you sure you don't have any ideas, Jareth? Cause I could seriously use some prompting right about now."

The Goblin King shook his head once in the negative, and all Lyn's hopes went out the window.

"If I had the means to help you, Lyn, I would have done so by now."

Lyn sighed in frustration and finally raised her head from the desk. "Sorry Jareth. I know you would. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. You've never failed me yet." At this the Goblin King smiled. "But what am I going to do? I promised my friend a story for her 18th birthday."

The lithe Fae propped himself up on his elbows and studied the very anxious young woman before him with a calculating gaze. Lyn Harkeran had been writing for many years, and since the very beginning Jareth had been there, in the acting position of an Elite Muse. Through thick and thin, the Goblin King had aided the girl, and he wouldn't disappoint her now. Not when success meant her making those delicious, homemade brownies or special recipe cookies. So Jareth momentarily dropped his indifferent facade, and put the dry sarcasm on hold. He steeled himself for what awaited him, and then asked a sincere question about the mortal he had never met.

"What is your friend interested in, dear one?"

Lyn thought about this before answering slowly. "She's into a lot of the same fandoms as me, actually. . ."

Jareth rolled his eyes; his human could be really thick sometimes. "Specifics, dearest. What is her main obsession at this particular point in time? What is it that makes this . . .fangirl . . .tick?" The Fae said 'fangirl' like it was choking him, but he quickly recovered when his attention was drawn to Lyn's reaction. The writer had gone from her regular creme brown shade, to a blotchy reddish chocolate color in a mere matter of seconds. Embarrassment radiated through the small room, until it nearly suffocated them both, leaving a large white elephant in the already crowded room.

Jareth finding amusement in his human's discomfort, leaned forward, intrigued. "Come now, my dear. Your friend's interests surely can't be so horrible that they would warrant you to blush. I thought as a fanfiction writer you were past all shame?"

Lyn laughed nervously as she turned her body in her chair to fully face him. "I never said I was past shame, Jareth. I usually just block out the stuff that makes me squirm."

Jareth waved his hand impatiently for her to get to the real topic, and Lyn wiggled in her seat.

"My friend's main focus isn't 'bad' per say, but I'm not sure how you'll take it."

"Do tell," came the simple reply, to which Lyn took a deep breath to gather her nerve. Then before she could think better of it, the young woman rushed through her embarrassment and gave Jareth his answer.

"Niki loves you!"

Whatever the Goblin King had been expecting, it hadn't been that.

"Pardon?"

Lyn blushed an even deeper red than before.

"Niki lovesyou. . . She originally wanted me to write a story about her encountering the infamous Goblin King, but my ideas aren't flowing! I've got nothing!"

Jareth's eyes grew wide for a brief moment, before his trademark smirk began to form on his lips. His eyes twinkled with undisguisable mirth as he laid back down on Lyn's bed, and propped his boot clad feet on her pillow. "Tell me more."

Lyn visibly jumped at the enthusiasm that clearly reverberated from his deep voice, and looked at him with a slack jaw. Had Jareth just purred? . . . The writer fought back a giggle when he did it again, and knew without a doubt that the Goblin King was up to no good. But instead of being worried, the young woman just shrugged.

Whatever happened now, at least she'd have a good story to tell Niki about her favorite, yummy clad Fae. At least there was that.

Niki Noble sighed in relief as she left her last class of the day, and shouldered her heavy backpack. It had been a trying day. Between several exams, a book report, and a extremely tedious essay, she was about ready to strangle somebody. Why did her birthday have to land in the final weeks of a school term? Why couldn't she have a summer birthday so that she could enjoy it without class assignments ruining her day?

"Come on, Nik," she thought with resignation, fighting to cheer herself up. "Let's just go home, brew a large pot of chamomile tea, eat some birthday cake, and read some good fanfiction."

The girl nodded to herself; her plan sounded as good as any. And besides it was most likely the best form of celebration that she was going to get.

Niki strolled through the halls of her high school and watched with passive curiosity as her fellow schoolmates raced to get off the premises. It was quite funny, seeing teenagers scrambling to shut their lockers and heading off to their cars to beat the traffic. She shook her head as yet another couple sprinted outside. The girl laughed when she pushed past the double doors and exited the stuffy high school. "Well at least I made it out without being trampled."

It was a beautiful day outside; the typical breezy autumn afternoon. With the world chock full of bright leaves and a somewhat overcast sky, Niki felt the burdens of her arduous day begin to disappear. Besides having school on her birthday, the young woman really loved the Fall. It was a pleasant time of wet weather and calm conditions. It was the perfect time of year, where everything began to slow down before Halloween and Christmas arrived. And it was the best time to gather your thoughts.

Niki took a deep breath of the crisp air, before she walked towards the bus stop that waited several feet away from the main entrance. As soon as the bus line was fully in sight, the girl instantly began looking for the familiar face that would be waiting for her in the line.

It was comforting to know that some things never changed. Like every other day in recent memory, Sandra Ellis, her best friend and schoolmate, was standing by the parked school bus, so that they could ride home together. But to Niki's complete surprise, Sandra wasn't waiting alone.

Niki's eyes bugged out of her head as an acute sense of recognition sparked through her body. There was only one person in existence with hair like that. And only one person who could possibly be that intimidating and sexy with nothing more than a glance. But what on earth was he doing here?

Niki's mind was about to go into overdrive when Sandra finally caught sight of her and called out. "Oh, there she is! Hey, Niki! We're over here!"

Tall, tight, and handsome turned to look at her, and gave her a smirk and nod of acknowledgement. Niki felt her knees begin to buckle and had to fight tooth and claw to keep moving as she felt his eyes on her. Finally she made it to them, but not before she had embarrassed herself beyond repair and tripped a good dozen times. But as she came to stand across from her school friend and major crush, Niki's inner turmoil was put on hold. From what she could see, nothing was out of the ordinary. Other than the Goblin King standing in her school parking lot and Sandra nearly bursting at the seams with glee. Niki was startled out of her thoughts when her friend spoke in a high pitched squeal.

"Niki! Why didn't you tell me that your boyfriend was picking you up today?! And that he'd be in cosplay!"

Niki did a double take. "Boyfriend? Cosplay?"

Apparently, her bubbly friend thought that Jareth was merely dressed up for her birthday. . . Or something like that. But where in in All Hallow's name did she get the idea that the GK was her boyfriend?

Sandra frowned, but before she could say a word, said 'boyfriend' jumped in.

"Hello darling," the Goblin King swooped in and without a moment's hesitation, planted his lips on the girl's slightly parted ones. It would have been labeled a chaste kiss by most standards, but to Niki it was nothing short of fireworks and liquid fire. And when he pulled away several seconds later, the young woman would have sworn that she had died and gone to heaven. Hot damn, the GK could kiss!

Jareth looked down at the girl with unreadable mismatched eyes, and then for her friend to hear asked, "Did you have a good day, precious?"

Niki gave him a goofy grin, "Hahahhah! Yeah, it's been a real winner!"

His smirk grew, before he turned back to Sandra. "I hope you don't mind me stealing Niki away, Miss Ellis. But I promised to fulfil a birthday wish before another day had passed."

Sandra, who was trying to covertly check Jareth out, nodded eagerly. "Of course! I'm just glad that she's got plans for her big day. She hadn't said anything about it, so I figured she was gonna go home and chill online."

"Well," Niki said in a daze. "I suppose it was a last minute kind of thing. . . I guess."

Sandra beamed, "Like a surprise?"

Niki spared a glance at Jareth who stood next to her and nearly had a heart attack. He was so damn yummy! If he didn't stop looking so handsome she was going to end up tackling him to the ground.

"Yeah, a total surprise," Niki said with a laugh. "Best bloody surprise of my life!"

Sandra gave her a quick hug, as the busdriver glared at them. "Well I'm glad that you're going to have a good time Nik! Make sure to have extra fun for me!"

"We most certainly will," Jareth vowed with a inclination of his head. "Fair travels, Miss Ellis."

Sandra blushed before giving her friend a 'you will tell me everything later' look, and climbed onto the bus. Niki watched as her regular way of transportation drove away, feeling more excited and scared than she could ever remember. After taking several moments to compose herself, the young woman turned around to face the Goblin King.

"Boyfriend?"

Jareth chuckled. "It was the only excuse that your friend would accept. Not that it's an unpleasant notion; you are quite a pretty little thing."

Niki blushed at the compliment, and rushed to change the subject.

"So, GK," his eyebrow raised at the nickname. "What brings you to the Aboveground. . . to my school. . . on my birthday. . . standing next to me-?"

Jareth interrupted her by placing her arm in his own and beginning to walk away from the school parking lot. "Right to the point I see. Well, I was warned that you might be alarmed by my presence."

"Uh, yeah. Most people don't get visited by the King of the Underground on their birthdays."

Jareth chuckled at this, before saying simply, "Lyn sent me."

Niki's studied him for several seconds before she began to bark with laughter, giving the Goblin King pause. He lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "Is something amusing?"

Niki laughed harder at his expression and was lost to her gales for several more minutes. But when she had finally caught her breath, the woman was positively glowing.

"I can't believe it! Lyn sent you? Why and how?"

"Lyn was unable to write you a sufficient gift, so she sent me to help you make a decent memory. She said that an actual encounter with me would be far more memorable than any fanfiction story." Niki beamed at this, grinning from ear to ear.

Then Jareth added, "She sends her love and hopes that today will live in your memory as a keystone of happiness."

Niki felt several tears arise in her eyes, but pushed them back. She had never been so grateful for an online pal in her life, and knew that because of this special encounter, that this day would rank as the best birthday she'd ever had.

"So how do we go about making a 'decent memory'?" She asked through the smile that was threatening to break her jaw.

"Lyn told me that you've always wished to see the Underground." The following gasp to this comment was answer enough and Jareth smirked. "For thirteen hours, you may explore my realm with me as your guide and escort. I am bound as your companion until the clocks final chime."

Niki grinned wickedly as she hooked her arm around the Goblin King's waist. This was truly the best day ever!

"Well we had better not waste any time, GK!"

Jareth lifted an eyebrow before he summoned a crystal into his hand. "No, my dear. For time is precious, and there is much to do."

Then in a flash of glitter and a flutter of fabric, the two were gone, leaving behind a very heavy backpack and a shimmering, white owl's feather. And a birthday that had started out as bleak, turned into a full fledged joyful occasion.

A/N:This was a late birthday gift to my friend on Deviantart, NikiMaweird. She's one of the biggest Jareth fans out there so I thought I'd write her a fun little tidbit for her special day!

Also, Lyn -the writer in this story- equals me. I cannot tell you how many times Jareth has propped his feet on my pillow and shed owl's feathers all over my comforter while helping me write! XD It's ridiculous! Hahahahaha!

Anyway, thanks for reading guys! I apologize if Jareth seemed a little shaky in places, but the damn bugger was fighting me every step of the way with this fanfic! XD

~Lyn Harkeran