A/N: I've been thinking of writing a sequel to Quiet and Bookish about since I posted it last year. Maybe even before that. I wasn't going to do it originally, both because I felt the story was good enough as it was and because at the time, I only have a few vague ideas about what I would write, nothing concrete.
After a year, though, I think it's time to go ahead with it. This will be a two part story as with the first one, and as I'm sure you can already tell, it's going to be a long one.
I'll see you when Part 2 is posted! I'm shooting for the end of the month.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Williams request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter-
Sarah Lynn
To
Mr. Jareth King
Sunday, the 31st of October at 4o'clock pm
RSVP
Sarah read the invitation again. It was as difficult a feat as it was the first time around. Karen's mindset when picking out the font seemed to have been 'the loopier, the better.' She got through it once more, then dropped it back on top of the pile.
"Do you think these are too formal?" she asked.
She leaned back into a warm chest as unbreakable arms wrapped around her. Jareth lowered a kiss to her forehead, lips lingering for the longest time. It filled her with warmth so great, not even a certain someone's exaggerated gagging couldn't ruin the moment.
"Formal?" Jareth said. "However do you mean, dearest?"
Sarah shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, the wording is straightforward and that's fine. I guess it's the design that's bothering me."
She reached out, but Jareth wasn't ready to let go of her yet. She edged the invite closer so she could grab it, and just knew he enjoyed watching her struggle. She got it in her hands and flipped it around a few times, examining every lacey edge and flowery border with a critical eye. She turned it on its side, then back around, not knowing what she was looking for, but never stopping until Jareth plucked it from her grasp.
"Hey!" she protested. She made a grab for it and he playfully held it out of her reach. Raising his head high, he looked over it himself.
"It seems fine, if a bit plain," he observed.
"Hmmm… I think that's the perfect way to describe it," Sarah answered. She had a thoughtful hand on her chin and appeared to draw into herself and her thoughts as Jareth slowly lowered his hand. Sarah saw the opportunity and pounced, snatching the invite away and holding it to her chest. As he sputtered, she giggled.
"Oh, really now," he said with a wolfish grin. Sarah pretended to try and free herself, allowing him to tighten his hold and capture her lips in a possessive kiss that she returned whole-heartedly.
A little hum reverberated in the back of her throat, filled with passion and joy and a total contentment with her life as it was, and would continue to be for years to come. She was not a little girl anymore, her days of make believe in the park long behind her. Her heart was not gone, though, it had only grown larger. Her fantasies had become reality, in more ways than one. True, it was not perfect. Nothing was ever perfect, even when your fiancée was literally something out of a fairy tale. Maybe if he'd been the handsome prince instead of the evil yet sexy wizard who loved to tease her endlessly. Such is life, and Sarah couldn't complain. Even on the days when she wanted to dangle her dearest love over the Bog of Eternal Stench by his toes (and she was sure there were days when he felt the same about her).
"Wow, that's charming," a voice drawled from the corner. "Think you guys could get your tongues ever farther down each other's throats?"
Sarah both felt and heard Jareth's groan. She broke away, putting a few inches of distance between them; he looked as disconcerted as she felt. Meanwhile, the boy in the corner was still watching them. His blonde hair- badly in need of a cut- fell before his eyes, which shined brightly with mischief.
"You could leave, you know," Sarah said. She went ahead and spoke harshly. It wasn't like her little brother couldn't give as good as he got. Oh boy, could he.
Toby pursed his lips and turned to lie on his back. His head dangled over the armrest of the easy chair he had commandeered. It got the hair out of his eyes, but that just made his stupid smug face easier to see.
"After that display, I'll probably have to go and run straight to the shrink's office," he said. "Aren't you a responsible adult now, Sarah? You should know better than to fornicate with your fiancé in front of an impressionable child such as myself. You could have traumatized me for life. Just picture me forty years from now: alone, disturbed, lying on the couch and relating my latest pickle or sausage based nightmare to my fifty bucks an hour shrink with sideburns and halitosis who nods his head a lot and never says anything useful that doesn't involve prescriptions. All because you two couldn't control your primal urges in the bedroom."
Following a long pause, Sarah turned to Jareth.
"What the hell have you been teaching him?"
He put his hands up in surrender, but still with a smile coating his features.
"Now, Sarah, we both know what a bright boy Tobias is. As he is going to succeed me as King someday, you should learn to expect it."
"Being your heir has nothing to do with… this," Sarah waved her hand in the air when the right words wouldn't come to her. "And when did we decide on this 'heir' business anyway? I don't remember that conversation."
Jareth's eyes flicked over her head to Toby. His attention had been taken once more by one of his handheld video games.
"Tobias," Jareth said with a nod in his direction.
"Yeah?"
"Would you care to become heir to the throne of the Goblin Kingdom and future lord of the Labyrinth?"
"Bitchin."
"Toby!"
The two of them hid their faces from view, but their shaking shoulders did a perfect job of making Sarah feel more irate. Oh yeah, he was going in the bog for this one. That was for sure.
Before Sarah could think of any more perilous situations to put him through, Jareth's arms around her went taut and she found herself surrounded once again by his warm body. His breath and his heartbeat calmed flames of her anger until they were completely doused. All Sarah could think now was how amazing he smelled and how wonderful it felt to be with him like this and how really freaking annoying it was that he could always do this to her no matter how pissed off she was.
"You're such a jerk," she murmured into his collar.
"Darling, you must relax," he said, dragging out the last word in deeper voice that made her toes curl. "This is a joyous time for us. Just another month before we are man and wife and you will take your rightful place by my side as Queen."
He pressed a kiss into her hair that Sarah answered with a squeeze of his hand. In spite of herself, she smiled.
"Well of course I'm excited about that," she said. "It's just all this planning has been getting to me. Everything has to be just so: the dress, the invitations, the napkins. I swear, I've had enough of all that to last a lifetime."
Jareth chuckled. "It's not over yet, you know."
"Don't remind me," Sarah moaned. "Why are we having two weddings again? It's not like your family can't travel through different worlds like you can."
"True," Jareth conceded. "But this is no ordinary wedding, Sarah. It's a royal wedding and we cannot be legally recognized as husband and wife until the ceremony occurs, and it cannot be on foreign soil. We're lucky my sister agreed to do most of the work for us, because if this exhausts you, you don't want to know what goes into planning a royal wedding."
He said it all without humor or jokes at her expense, but Sarah still huffed and crossed her arms. She knew he was right; marrying him was essentially marrying an entire kingdom. The idea of being a Queen wasn't new to her. Jareth had made it abundantly clear to her what being his wife would entail before proposing. What he didn't know was that she'd already spend many days reflecting on it. Could she do it? Was she capable? Did she love him enough?
The third question was always the easiest. Jareth could be doing nothing but sitting down with a book, or he could be leering at her the way he did right now and then pulling her back into the circle of his arms so the scent of his leather jacket could intoxicate her some more. She always knew the answer.
"Now that we've settled that," he said huskily. "I believe we were in the middle of something."
He pressed his lips to her ear, and something icy and delightful shot through her. Sarah forgot everything except him, and even when Toby looked disgustedly at them, she couldn't have cared less.
"Seriously? You're doing it again?"
Jareth barked a laugh. "Oh, Tobias, Tobias… still so young and naïve. You haven't an idea the full scope of the activities Sarah and I have engaged in when alone."
Toby's jaw went all the way down. Even in her fog, Sarah couldn't ignore how funny he looked.
"Geezus, Jareth, that's my sister," he cried out, horrified.
"Mmmmm…" Jareth's answer was muffled as he buried his face into her neck and let his tongue run lightly across the unblemished skin there.
That was enough for Toby, who scrambled out of his chair- nearly falling on his behind in the process- and out the door, slamming it behind him. His chokes and retching soon died away.
Jareth hummed. "Alone at last."
"You did that on purpose," Sarah said teasingly.
"And you're complaining?" Jareth countered in between pushing at the much too thick fabric of her sweater. Sarah pulled it off over her head to reveal a white t-shirt that did doing a piss poor job of concealing her bright purple bra underneath.
The rest of their clothes soon went flying and it was safe to say neither of them had anything to complain about.
As this was going on, invitations were being delivered all across the coastline. Some of them went to relatives, others to friends of Sarah's from college. A few went to friends of Robert and Karen, but only two found their way to people Sarah had known since High School.
One of them had just gotten out of the shower when it occurred to him that he'd forgotten to go get his mail. After hastily drying his hair and throwing on jeans and a t-shirt, he exited his apartment and jogged down several flights of stairs to the lobby. Living on the second floor made elevators kind of obsolete.
With his blond curls sticking to his forehead and hands only dry from rubbing them off on his pants, Tommy Williamson pulled three letters and a penny saver out of his little mail slot. Whistling a tune, he disposed of the penny saver in a nearest trash can, and then did a quick flip through the letters. Electric bill, junk mail…
He stopped at the final letter. By that time, he was back in his apartment, walking across the kitchen to the living room. He dropped the first two letters on the kitchen table for later. A bunch of other papers cluttered it, and Tommy hadn't actually had a meal on that table in several weeks. As always, he completely ignored it. Flopping down on the couch, Tommy threw his feet up onto the armrest. His mother used to lecture him about that when he was a teenager. Over and over again he'd hear the same speech about how rude it was. Naturally, when he moved out on his own, he bought a re-upholstered couch secondhand and gradually wore leg prints into it.
He read over the little card. It wasn't easy, what with the incredibly flowery print everywhere. What made Sarah choose a font like that anyway?
The cordless phone rang above his head. Tommy grabbed it and answered it, not bothering with the call ID. He already knew who it was.
"Morning," he said. "I'm guessing you've checked your mail today."
"And I'm guessing you have your feet up on the couch again," Nat's tinny voice said.
"Who are you, my mom?"
There was laughter on the other end.
"You're lucky I'm not," she said slyly, "because if I had to deal with a pain in the ass like you 24/7, you'd have been in military school by your seventh birthday."
"Seven, huh? Wow, I didn't know you could last that long, Nat. I guess I'm more irresistible than I thought."
"That can't be saying much."
Tommy grinned, so wide it made his face hurt, the way only Nat and one of her playful jabs could make him. He sat up, switching the phone from one hand to the other. He wandered back into the kitchen toward the fridge.
"I'm gonna need a new suit, mind going with me?"
He pulled out a carton of milk. He went grocery shopping just the day before, and the carton was so heavy, he almost dropped it. The few drops that made it to the floor, he'd deal with later.
"What's wrong with your old one?" Nat asked.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten." Tommy paused to pull a box of Peanut Butter Crunch out of the top cabinet, along with a bowl and a spoon. "Last year? Your grandma's 80th birthday? Your bratty little cousins stealing my suit jacket and pouring bleach all over it?"
"Oh right," Nat said after a beat. Tommy pictured her now, sitting on her bed in her own apartment five blocks over, a soft redness creeping over her cheeks in the most adorable way. He could never tell Nat how cute she looked when she was embarrassed. Her retaliation would undoubtedly be the swiftest and most glorious snark fest the world has ever known. If Tommy wasn't so positive that he wouldn't survive the onslaught, he might have tried.
"Apology accepted," he drawled. That would bring her back up to task. Indeed he could hear her scoffing. "You can make it up to me on their behalf by coming with me today to get a new one."
"What makes you think I know anything about picking out clothes?" she asked, indignant. "Is it because I'm a woman?"
"No, it's because you helped me pick out the first one."
"Hmm, point taken."
"I drive or you drive?"
"I'll drive. I need the practice. Pick you up in an hour?"
"Sounds good, I'll be ready."
Tommy hung up and started into his breakfast, which was thankfully not too soggy yet. Finishing up fast, he carried the bowl to the sink and dropped it on the pile of last night's dishes, another trivial matter that could be handled later. As he walked to his room, he passed a line of framed photographs hung up on the wall. The very first one was of himself, Nat and Sarah, dressed in their graduation robes and hats, holding their diplomas up to the sky.
"So… Jareth," Robert Williams addressed his future son-in-law with all the apprehension and thinly-veiled animosity they'd all come to expect from him. "I notice your guest list is, well, rather small compared to Sarah's."
Sarah nearly slammed her fork on the table. Any second now, she was going to just drop it and start ranting at her father. Maybe she'd even throw the table over. It might seem like an overreaction to the outsider, but they hadn't heard this same damn thing tossed at their fiancée a hundred times like Sarah had.
Jareth, for his part, was completely aloof.
"It is most unfortunate, yes," he said between delicate bites of roasted lamb (he claimed it was the few delicacies that the 'mortal cooks' knew how to prepare properly). The fact that he was been watched like a bug under a microscope and his fiancée was ready to blow a gasket didn't seem to reach him.
"I wouldn't bring it up, except I was really hoping we'd get to meet your family," Robert went on. "After all, you and Sarah have been seeing each other for several years now, and we've only just found out your last name. I hope you don't mind me saying all this."
"Not at all," Jareth said, and then proceeded to take a sip of red wine.
Robert's own drink was untouched, as was most of his meal. He claimed it was a mild stomach bug from yesterday that hadn't quite gone away. Sarah was pretty sure eating would just distract him from interrogating/disapproving of her fiancée more. One look at Karen told her she was not alone in this. Her step-mother wasn't even bothering to try and eat anymore. She unceremoniously dropped her fork and rubbed her forehead. Every now and then she turned a nasty eye on her husband. Toby was the only one actually enjoying his meal, which he munched down like it was popcorn at the movies. Of course he would see this all as just a fun little game.
"There's also the issue of your best man," Robert went on. "We haven't heard anything from you about that."
Jareth looked for a moment ready to give another smoothly worded and cryptic response that would do nothing but exacerbate the situation and make Sarah hate him more. He paused, blinking his eyes a few times, which was the only way Sarah ever knew that something was bothering him. He told her once that he had been taught from childhood that such emotions were weak and unsavory and should be saved only for when one is alone or in the company of those they trusted implicitly. Sarah thought that was ridiculous. When she told him this, he said that he agreed and then carried on like the conversation never happened. How very like him.
As if on cue, Karen lowered her wine glass and cleared her throat. Only Sarah looked her way.
"Much as I'd like to say otherwise when my darling husband is making a scene, I have been wondering the same thing myself." Karen still paused to swat at Robert's arm. "It's getting close to the deadline for submitting the programs for printing. I'll need you to tell me soon, Jareth."
Jareth finally took the time to cease staring-glaring at his future father-in-law (what a laughable thing to call someone he was a hundred times older than) and address Karen.
"My apologies, Lady Karen, I didn't mean to ignore your concerns," he said kindly. Karen lowered her head to her plate and picked at it, like that was going to hide the blush creeping along her cheeks.
"We'd just like to know," Robert said, clasping his hands in front of his body. "Surely you have a good friend you can ask. Or perhaps a cousin? Or a brother?"
"Dad…" Sarah hissed.
Jareth placed gentle hand on her shoulder. He wasn't wearing gloves for once, so his skin felt impossibly warm and smooth against hers and loosened the tension coursing through her like magic, for lack of a better word.
"Calm yourself, dearest. Your parents' concerns are valid."
It didn't do what his touch could, and the scowl she gave him would have had ten kings kowtowing to her, as Jareth would often say. Her fiancée coughed and looked away, smiling graciously at his hosts.
"But I believe it's time we turned in for the night."
"Oh, but we haven't even finished dessert," Karen objected.
"Yeah and the fight was just getting good," Toby muttered, earning a glaring from Sarah that he answered with a raspberry.
While Robert busied himself scolding his son, Jareth and Sarah took their chance to slip away and out of the restaurant, getting halfway to the jam packed parking lot outside before, with a wave of his hands, Jareth transported the two of them to their subleased apartment. Sarah immediately pried herself from his grip and stalked into the kitchen, through aside her purse and pulling the decorations out of her hair, so that it flowed freely over her shoulders, a much better look for her if he did say so himself.
"I sense anger from you, darling," he said.
"Oh, you think?" Sarah stepped out of her shoes, kicking them haphazardly into the closet with all the other, neatly placed, pairs.
Jareth followed along with her movements, catching her in front of the bathroom. He pulled her back into his embrace and pressed gentle circles into her shoulders. She moaned in spite of herself.
"Don't try and get on my good side," she snapped, trying and failing to break away from him. He wasn't going to let up so easily this time. "I've told you time and time again not to antagonize my father. Why can't you ever listen?"
"Sarah, he provoked me," Jareth said defensively.
She rolled her eyes, softly slamming her fist into his stomach in a half-hearted attempt to make him let go. Instead, he rocked them back and forth slowly and hummed something under his breath that vibrated through his chest to her.
"That doesn't mean you have to go along with it," she answered, though with far less harshness than before, and Jareth smiled to himself.
He let her go then, sensing that the danger had passed. Sarah went ahead into the bathroom, closing the door gently behind her. Jareth stepped back, offering her enough privacy while also making sure they could still talk.
"Karen did have a point about the best man thing," she called out to him.
Now here came the part he wasn't looking forward to. Admitting any sort of weakness, even if just a lack of knowledge on what was most likely a very simple subject, was just so far beneath a king such as him. Even so, it wasn't like Sarah hadn't driven him to actions beneath him before.
"You must first explain to me was a best man is," he said in a hard voice.
Sarah was silent for a time, though he was certain he could hear some snickering.
"Seriously?" she asked, though not maliciously the way he often heard other mortals use the word. "Wow, and here I thought I'd told you everything you needed to know about our wedding traditions. That's a big one too."
'No need to rub it in,' he thought, shoulders hanging.
A toilet flushed and then the faucet turned on. Sarah finished washing up and exited the bathroom, still wearing her dress which look more rumpled now than when she went in.
"A best man," she paused, presumably to find the right words. "He's supposed to be a good friend of the groom's who stands with him during the ceremony, and then afterwards gives the toast and a speech about the married couple."
"He's a second in command of sorts," Jareth supplied.
Sarah thought about that, then settled for a nod.
"I guess… so is there anyone back home you can ask? Anyone would be fine. Maybe if you made him look human, Hoggle could-"
Jareth burst out laughing before she could finish. She wouldn't be happy about it later, but for now, he was far too amused by the mental images her suggestion brought up.
"Hogwart! You can't be serious, Sarah."
She gave him a look, but then seemed to think it over again and shook her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right. He'd hate the idea even more than you do."
"No doubt," Jareth answered distractedly. "What about Toby? I can't choose him?"
"He's the ring bearer," Sarah said, walking into their bedroom and pulling off her dress along the way. "And he's too young anyway."
She let the silky cloth pool around her feet, standing unashamed in her black bra and panties before him. It was a wonderful view that Jareth would have loved to enjoy uninhibited by an apparently very serious decision. She clung to the door, holding it halfway shut, but not covering herself.
"Just think about it, Jareth. There has to be someone."
She closed the door without another word, and without her to supply any delightful scenery, he was left to stare at the wall and its collage of photographs. Jareth never understood why Sarah insisted on taking them out when they would only have this apartment for another month. All she would say was that they made the place feel homier, and then go hang up a few more.
The one that really caught his attention was taken many years ago, when Sarah was still a teenager, and he'd been standing off in the shadows, watching his Beloved enjoy her final walk across the building she was educated in, side by side with the two closest friends she had made there, friends she still knew and loved to this day. The young man in the picture had a goofy grin and his arms around the two girls. Jareth examined the picture further, and he couldn't help but notice how much closer the boy held the second girl to him than Sarah.
He suddenly had the perfect solution to his little problem.
Natalie 'Nat' Hershel owned a secondhand car that she got from her neighbor. It ran well, but the paint job was horrible, and no matter how hard she scrubbed it, the dashboard always smelled faintly of tomato sauce. Tommy liked to call it her noble steed, but he was just a cheeky dumbass.
Riding with him was a surprisingly quiet experience. He substituted stupid jokes with bored humming while he ran his finger along that one stain on the window that never seemed to go away. In the back side, his brand new, hundred dollar suit was neatly folded in a light purple box with a big dark purple bow on top. Tommy had balked at the price initially, and he hated the box almost as much. Shutting him up took Nat dragging him around the Men's section and letting him see all the two to five hundred dollar suits she could have chosen for him instead. At least this one was cheap and looked good.
'Really good,' she thought to herself. She pictured Tommy twenty minutes ago, standing before the dressing room mirror, adjusting the tie and asking her if he'd buttoned his shirt properly.
He had, oh yes he had.
"Eh… it's okay," had been her answer when he asked. "You'll probably pass for classy."
She couldn't remember his snarky reply any more than she could remember anything else they said after leaving the store. Him and that stupid suit were on her mind the whole time, even as he superfluously held the car door open for her and bade her get in with a horrible fake French accent.
Sometimes, her best friend could be a real idiot.
Then again, she was the one who'd fallen in love with him. So who's the real idiot?
"That salesgirl was checking you out," she said to break the silence. It wasn't the greatest topic for discussion, all things considered, but it would do.
Tommy hummed under his breath.
"What? Nothing to say?"
"Not my type."
"Oh, you have a type now?"
"I always have."
"Yeah, right." Nat shook her head and concentrated on the road. Traffic was light this time of day, but she wouldn't take any chances. "High School wasn't that long ago, Tommy. Think I don't remember all your girlfriends?"
"Oh come on, Nat," he moaned. "I have way more standards now than I did then. I'm not just going to date every girl who eyes me anymore."
"I still say you were totally into that salesgirl," she said. Sometimes, it helped the stale feeling inside of her to make light of things like this. "Maybe I should have stepped out for a while, left you two crazy kids alone. You could've totally gotten some in the dressing room."
"Oh sure, absolutely," he shot back, crossing his arms over his chest with great pride. "Would've been fun, because you know when I kiss a woman, I knock her right off her feet."
"Suuuuuure you do."
He pushed his seat back as far as it would go, so that it gave a terrifying whine. She had scolded him for this many times before. God only knows how much longer those old seats would last and she did not have the money to replace them. He never stopped, though.
"By the way," Nat said after a while. "I got a call back yesterday about that job."
That perked Tommy right up. He sat up straight, sharp and at attention.
"And?"
Nat slowed the car to a stop at a red light, and then looked at Tommy. Her frown lingered just long enough for his face to fall, and then she burst into a massive grin and nodded her head. He blinked twice and then it hit him.
"What?" he choked out. "You got it?"
"I got the job," she said.
Tommy laughed and, without warning, reached over and hugged her as best he could. Nat went completely stiff, her face pressed awkwardly into his neck. She could smell his shampoo, something masculine she didn't recognize, that nonetheless made her whole body warm.
"That is fantastic, Nat! Oh my- why didn't you tell me about this before?!"
She pretended to look innocent. "I guess it just slipped my mind."
Tommy rolled his eyes, and Nat allowed herself a giggle as the light turned green and she revved the engine.
"Well, this calls for a celebration," he shouted. He pointed at the windshield dramatically. "Come on, let's get some dinner, my treat."
"Tommy, you can't-"
"Of course I can! My best friend in the whole world just got the job of a lifetime and I'm supposed to just let it slide like it's nothing?"
He sounded genuinely offended, and Nat didn't know how to take that.
"It's not that great of a job," she said softly, bringing her hands closer together on the steering wheel. "I mean, it's a start, but it'll take a few more years before I'm really where I want to be-"
Tommy gave her the most intense look he was capable of, the kind Nat could never say 'no' to no matter how hard she tried. How he could do that, and be so damn goofy the rest of the time, she would never know.
"Natalie Evelyn Hershel, I will not take no for an answer," he said firmly, arms crossed over his chest.
Nat scoffed, feeling much more at ease after that. "Well, Thomas Christopher Williamson, if you insist. I just hope you're ready to cough up what's left of your wallet."
"Yeah, we'll see," he said.
He guided them to the nearest restaurant, an old favorite spot of his. It turned out to be a sport's bar, which was weird because Tommy rarely drank.
"This place has the best burger's," was his explanation when asked.
One bacon cheeseburger later and Nat wholeheartedly agreed with him. She was in the middle of her fries when Tommy excused himself to the restroom. After fifteen minutes without his return, Nat began to wonder if he'd been kidnapped or gotten his hand stuck in the sink like that one time when they were teenagers.
'Maybe a cute waitress got his attention,' said the evil little voice in her head. Nat ignored it and the way it made her stomach turn, but she was still relieved when he came back moments later, alone.
"That was fast," she quipped as he took his seat. "What was that all about? Are you not chewing your food enough or something?"
"For your information, I stopped to check my messages," he answered. "I got a call from Jareth."
Nat lowered a half-eaten French fry away from her mouth.
"Jareth? Sarah's fiancée Jareth?"
"You know any others?" Tommy started into his unfinished burger and made a face at how cold it was. "Weirdest thing, when I called him back, he asked if I could meet up with him tonight. He said it was important wedding matters or something."
"That is weird," said Nat. "I didn't even know he had a phone."
"Yeah, he's an odd one…" Tommy said, slightly distracted. "Good with Sarah, though. I can tell they're really happy."
"You're certainly taking it well."
"What?" Tommy nearly spat out his burger laughing. "Nat, come on! That was ages ago, and I barely even knew her anyway. Come on, you know that."
"Yup," she said and stuck her fork into the tiny container of coleslaw on the side of her plate. "So what's he want? Is it about the seating arrangements or something, like if you're bringing a date?"
"I don't think so," Tommy said. "I mean, you were invited too."
Nat glanced up at him and his unaffected face while her chest constricted horribly. "What?"
He shrugged a third time, and he really needed to stop doing that.
"You and I are going together, right? Unless you have someone you wanted to take."
"No!" she shouted, making him, along with the family at the table behind them, jump. "I mean… well, no. I don't. I just thought maybe… I mean you'd have no trouble if you wanted a date, you never do…"
He leaned in like he couldn't hear her, and it was true, Nat was mumbling at this point and couldn't bring herself to speak up. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this mortified, especially not around him of all people.
"Nat?"
She hated when he said her name like that, it did the absolute worst things to her. She took a deep breath and tried again.
"I just, uh…"
'I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you…'
"I wouldn't want to impose on you or anything, in case you wanted to bring someone yourself."
He looked suspicious for a moment, then shook his head and sat back.
"I already said, I want to go with you," he told her in no uncertain terms. "It's much easier and we'll both have more fun that way."
Nat nodded her head, having nothing that she could add to that and wanting to get as far from this topic as humanly possible. She'd go back to that salesgirl eyeing him if it meant something that wasn't this. Unfortunately for her, Tommy had other ideas.
"I don't mind if you don't want to take a date, though."
She closed her eyes and tried not to scream. "I don't, Tommy. Don't worry."
He watched her carefully, possibly searching for some sign that she was lying or just not entirely truthful. She supposed she didn't blame him. Her last serious relationship hadn't exactly ended well, as they both knew. Since then he'd always been a little bit more protective of her, making sure that the few times she did go on dates, that she was really okay with the guy and didn't need him to follow along in case things went sour. She couldn't imagine what he would do if she ever got a new boyfriend.
'If only I could,' she thought sadly.
Tommy eventually accepted her answer and went back to his meal, obliviously sipping his soda while Nat's wandering eye found what appeared to be a young couple getting ready to leave. The man helped the woman into his coat and was rewarded with a peck on the lips, which soon became a full blown kiss.
Nat looked away. She didn't need to feel any worse.
Jareth didn't care for aboveground alcohol. It was certainly potent enough (oftentimes more than and he spent the morning after questioning the mortals' sanity). It was more to do with the taste of it and the general atmosphere of the places where one procured it that earned his disdain.
The absolute worst were bars like this one. The people were either obnoxiously loud or too miserable with themselves and their meaningless lives to hold a conversation. A group of half-drunken men hollered like wild beasts fighting over dinner. The target of their ire was one of those small TV screens attached to the wall, where another group of men in barely sufficient armor were running around and attacking each other over an oval shaped ball. Toby once explained that it was called 'football,' and may have also mentioned the rules of the game and how one wins it, but Jareth hadn't cared enough to commit any of it to memory.
He glanced at the clock, wishing he could simply re-order time and make all this waiting a little faster. Sarah would never approve, though. That, and he'd probably get into some trouble for it back home.
He watched a slobbering, incoherent man get dragged out on his behind by his more sober friends, feeling bored as all hell.
"Hey, is he here yet?" asked the tiny voice of Toby in his ear.
Jareth frowned and rubbed at his earlobe, the volume should have been much louder than that. He said a spell in his head to increase the volume. This communication spell would have work perfectly on someone older and more experienced with magic. Toby had great potential, but he was still just a boy and there was still the matter of convincing Sarah to let him learn more. This was the best he could do for now.
"What's going on in there? Answer me!"
Jareth visibly winced. He performed one more spell to lower the volume a tad before answering.
"He has yet to arrive. Can you hear anything aside from me or just my voice?"
There was a short pause, during which the beer guzzling fools behind him let out a collective whoop that could have shattered the windows.
"Yeeeep, I hear it alright," Toby said.
"Excellent. Now Tobias, do you remember what we discussed?"
"Don't tell Sarah anything about this."
"Good boy. Now keep silent for a moment. He's just walked in."
Tommy Williamson stepped into the bar and immediately caught the attention of a drunken woman giving him the eye. Jareth could relate, he'd gotten the same when he first walked in. Tommy casually stepped away from her as best he could, glancing around the room until he caught sight of Jareth, who waved him over.
"Good evening, Thomas," he said as the younger man sat at the adjacent seat.
Tommy coughed. "Uh, just Tommy, please."
"If you insist."
The barista came over to greet them and take away Jareth's empty glass (the contents of which he'd magicked away ages ago). Tommy ordered a light beer.
"So," he said after taking a small sip and putting it aside. "I was surprised to get your call."
"I can imagine," Jareth answered. "I sorry to say it, but we really haven't gotten to spend much time together. I will soon be married to a close friend of yours. It doesn't seem right to me."
Tommy fidgeted a little under Jareth's gaze. "It's not a big deal, I know you're busy. You run your own business or something, right?"
Jareth quirked an eyebrow. "Is that what Sarah told you?"
"Yeah."
"Then that is indeed what I do."
Tommy looked nonplussed, while Toby's voice snickered in Jareth's ear underneath all the other mind-numbing sounds surrounding him.
"Alright, enough about me," Jareth said, going back to a friendly, more approachable tone of voice. "I wish to discuss you, Tommy."
Tommy blinked. "Me?"
Jareth's mouth curls into a smile. "You sound surprised, don't be. I have an offer of sorts to make you, my friend."
He waited to see if Tommy would ask him what it was, hoping he would do just that. The young man was silent though, and waited expectantly while Toby feigned snoring to express his own impatience. Jareth's long practiced neutrality kept him from reacting.
"I have been discussing wedding plans with Sarah, are you planning to attend?"
"Of course," Tommy answered quickly. "I just bought a new suit and everything."
He then started mumbling something about money that Jareth paid no mind.
"I hope it was a nice one," he said. "Because the reason I asked you here today is that I'd like you to be my best man."
Conversation halted there as Jareth's declaration was met with a stunned silence. Even Toby, who demanded only once to know what was going on and why nobody was talking, seemed to figure out pretty quickly that now wasn't the time to start complaining.
"Ah… I'm sorry, what was that?" Tommy asked after a while.
"I believe I've made myself quite clear."
Tommy opened his mouth, closed it again, then sucked in a breath and nodded.
"Okay yeah, I guess you have," he said. "I'm just… really surprised. I mean, you said it yourself, we've never really spoken much, so this seems a little…"
He trailed off when the right word wouldn't come to him and Jareth frowned.
"Are you declining my request?"
"No," Tommy answered tentatively. "Not exactly, I just don't understand why you'd want me. I mean, what about your friends? One of them would probably be a much better choice than me."
"I have few close friends. In my line of work you are better off placing your trust in a select few. Those I do consider friends will not be at the wedding, as they have business of their own to attend to."
Tommy glanced away for a second as if trying to process all of this. Jareth tried not to smile at his confusion. For all that he was trying to be nice and friendly, it was such fun to tease humans. He waited another moment longer before adopting an even softer tone.
"I also believe that this will be a good opportunity for us to know each other better. I truly regret not having done so earlier, seeing as you are the reason Sarah and I found each other again in the first place."
Tommy chuckled. "What, that? I just gave her a little advice when we were teenagers, it's not-"
"It is a big deal, as you would say," Jareth interrupted. "I wish you wouldn't belittle your own contributions to mine and Sarah's happiness. All I'm asking for now is that you make one more. So do you accept?"
He waited patiently for Tommy to reply, and was the only one to offer him this courtesy.
"What's going on over there? Did he pass out from the shock or something?"
Toby then yelped when Jareth sent a very loud thought his way. Unaware of this, Tommy rubbed at the back of his shoulder sheepishly.
"Well… I guess if you really need someone, I-"
"Splendid," Jareth said. He pulled another drink glass from behind him, so that Tommy would not have seen him conjure it. He still blinked in surprise and didn't realize at first that Jareth had raised it in the air. "Let us drink to it!"
Tommy hesitantly brought his glass up and clinked it against Jareth's. In that split second, Jareth focused on the sub-par liquid in Tommy's glass and whispered a spell. The glass emitted a glow too faint for a mortal man to see. Tommy took a sip, his eyes went wide and then he drank some more.
"Wow," he said after finishing the whole thing. "That is the best beer I've ever tasted, and I don't even really like the stuff."
"I'm very glad you approve."
"Enough showing off, get on with it already!"
Jareth's mouth hardened, but Tommy was too busy ordering another drink from the perky barista to notice. He quickly enchanted the bar's entire supply of alcohol so he wouldn't have to worry about it later.
"Well, now that we have that settled," Jareth said conversationally. "Let's talk about you."
Tommy took a drink from his second bottle, eyebrow raised.
"Me?"
Jareth nodded. "Tell me about how you've been doing in recent years."
Tommy shrugged. "I've been okay, I guess. Been pretty quiet since finishing college. I figured a BA was good enough so I got right to work."
"And do you enjoy it?"
"I enjoy getting paid," he joked, though there was somberness to it. "I'm in marketing right now, and it's… okay, I guess. It's better than doing nothing."
"That seems rather complacent of you," Jareth observed.
"Who says I'm going to be doing this forever?" Tommy asked. He sounded vaguely offended. "I'm at a better place now than I was in college. I didn't know what I was doing then."
"Oh?"
Tommy's shoulders slump a little, and he doesn't seem to like his drink as much anymore. "Yeah, I was pretty stuck for a while, and my parents didn't help much. My mom always wanted me to be a doctor, because she and most of the people in her family were doctors. I can't stand blood, though. Plus, I get kind of nervous around sick people, unless I know them. Then there was my dad, he wanted me to be an accountant, because he and everyone in his family were accountants."
He sighed and rested his elbows on the bar, drink in hand, but untouched since his first sip.
"I guess I'll figure it out someday, but for now I need to pay the bills. We can't all be lucky like Nat…"
Jareth grinned while Toby sighed with relief in his ear. Finally, they were where they needed to be.
"So your friend Natalie is doing well for herself?"
"What?" Tommy said dumbly. "Oh, right, sorry. I guess I kind of went off there…"
"It's alright," Jareth said reassuringly. "Now, you were saying?"
Tommy took another drink before answering. He moved himself further into his chair like he was close to falling off.
"It's just that Nat basically got her dream job today. She's going to be working for a publishing company and she hopes to one day branch off on her own as a literary agent. She's always loved books, but she's never been comfortable writing. She seems pretty nervous, but I know she's going to blow them all away."
Jareth nodded approvingly. "I hope you'll do what you can to convince her of this. She'll need someone like you, who loves her so much."
"Yeah," Tommy agreed right away, and then went so red Jareth almost wished Toby were physically there to see it. Actually, better that he wasn't, the boy would've surely laughed in Tommy's face. "I mean- as a friend. She's my best friend, but she's not- I mean, I don't-"
"Calm yourself, Thomas," Jareth said, switching back to the formalities as if that would soothe him. "I do not mean to make undue assumptions, only to note that you are both fortunate to have each other in whatever capacity."
"Okay," Tommy said, more relaxed than before but still a hint on the edge. "It's funny, though, you wouldn't be the first person to make that kind of mistake."
"Gee, I wonder why," Toby drawled. "No, seriously, you know how many times they've been over to the house and I've had to watch this moron be completely oblivious to the way she's always a second away from jumping him? How stupid is he?"
Perhaps Sarah was right about Toby needing some sort of manners tutor. Jareth made a quick note of that and went back to the subject at hand.
"I mean, even when one of us is dating someone, as soon as the two of us go out on our own… that's why I used to suggest double dating."
"And that worked well for you?" Jareth asked.
"We never got around to it," Tommy said, frowning. "That was about the time things went south between Nat and her boyfriend, so by then it didn't matter anymore."
"Hmmmm…" Jareth said. "I take it things didn't end amicably between them."
Tommy snorted. "You got that right."
He didn't go on, but Jareth wasn't about to let it end there. "Is it a private matter, if you don't mind me asking?"
"No, not really," Tommy answered, looking away. "It's just not an interesting story, or a good one."
"But I'm afraid you've gotten me curious."
Tommy eyed him, but did nothing to indicate that Jareth had stepped out of line. After a moment, he exhaled and put down his drink for good.
"She was with this guy named James," he began. "She'd had boyfriends before, but he was the first guy she was really serious about. A year and a half they were together and I'd never really liked any of Nat's previous boyfriends before. There was nothing wrong with them, they just… weren't good for her. I felt the same way about James, but Nat really seemed to like him. I was just happy she'd finally gotten over her mystery guy."
This piqued Jareth's interest, leading him to interrupt, as he'd promised himself he wouldn't do.
"What's this about a mystery man?"
Tommy blinked. "Oh, that? Nothing, just some guy Nat liked back in high school. I never met him and Nat would never tell me his name. She said he was a friend of hers, but who knows? Might have just been some guy she knew from class or something."
"…oh my god, he is that stupid. Like- I think I just got cancer from the sheer force of his stupidity."
"Anyway, she seemed to be really happy with James, and I didn't want to ruin that for her because I was paranoid. I know now that I definitely should have said something, but… do you really want to hear this story? It's just the same old stuff you see all the time in movies."
"I do not watch movies," Jareth said.
"Well maybe not now but you have seen one before, right?"
Jareth said nothing and his face did not change, until Tommy got the message and looked more uncomfortable than ever before.
"Where did you say you were from again?" he asked, but right as Jareth was about to answer, he shook his head. "No, nevermind, I don't want to know. What happened was that the three of us were going to this party thrown by a friend of Nat's who I didn't know. My car was in the shop and Nat didn't drive yet, so James was supposed to be our ride. About an hour before the party starts, Nat gets a call from him, and he gives her some crap about needing to help his grandmother buy groceries or something, so now he can't take us. It looks like we won't be going, until Nat calls her friend to tell her and she sends her cousin to pick us up.
"So we get to the party, and for a while, we mostly stay downstairs and keep to ourselves. Then at one point, I needed to use the bathroom, so Nat brought me upstairs to find it. We walk down this long row of doors and there's one that's all the way open. Inside, we can see shadows on the wall and there are these two voices, male and female, so it's obvious what's going on in there. We tried to ignore it, but then the male voice laughed, and you have to understand something about James, he had a very distinctive way of laughing."
Jareth nodded, and just as Tommy said, he knew right away where this was going.
"Well, I was completely frozen, and so was Nat. She recovered faster than I did, and she ran into the room before I could stop her. I went in too, and there's James with some half-naked redhead on top of him. I swear, even though I knew from the start that he was no good, it was surreal. The worst part was how Nat reacted. She couldn't even move while James was trying to get up and explain himself, and then she just… ran. She ran right out of the room and down the stairs, and all I could think about was her face. She was crying."
Tommy paused in his story to take a drink and to breathe, but he was on a roll and not stopping there.
"And she never cries. I've known her since the eighth grade and the only time I'd ever seen her cry was when her dog got sick and had to be put down, but she was crying that night. And here I am just watching her go, and here's James, the entire reason she's in pain, running right by me after her, and I… Well, I just grab him and…"
Tommy made a fist and said no more, but they both knew he didn't have to.
"It's kind of funny," he says with an empty smile. "Nat used to joke about how I could never win in a fight, but I know he didn't get a single hit on me that night."
"You were fighting for your lady's honor," Jareth says. "Against that, the boy had no chance."
"That's reassuring," Tommy ran his hands over his face, pulling it down so that the whites of his eyes showed. "I will say that blackening both his eyes and breaking his nose in three places was well worth the price of a few bruised knuckles."
"I can imagine," Jareth said, and the two shared bloodthirsty smiles.
The clock struck ten, with loud and long beats to mark the hour. Tommy got to his feet as if on cue.
"Well, this has been fun," he said, pulling his coat back on, "but I have a best man's speech to write and work in the morning."
"Wait, you're letting him leave? Do something!"
'Patience, Tobias,' Jareth telepathically sent to him. 'I have everything under control.'
"You'd better. I'm missing Dragonball Z for this."
Priorities were yet another thing Jareth would have to teach the boy one of these days.
"Surely you will indulge me in one more toast?"
It was an innocuous request, one Tommy couldn't in good conscience deny. Jareth smirked inwardly when Tommy picked up his glass, already laced with a brand new spell.
"Cheers!" Jareth said, downing his drink while watching closely as Tommy drank his. Immediately after finishing, he started blinking heavily.
"You didn't say what we were drinking to," Tommy said. He then stifled a yawn and leaned against the bar for support.
Jareth grinned evilly. "Why, we're drinking to you, my boy, you and your lady."
Tommy started to mumble a reply, but the sleep spell took effect over before he could. Jareth caught him by the arms before he could hit the floor, and hoisted the limp body over his shoulder. The barista chose now to walk over to them and gasped at what she saw.
"Oh wow, I hope I didn't give him something too strong by mistake."
"You need not worry, dear," Jareth said. "He is not usually one to partake. He lasted longer than I expected, in fact. I'll just be taking him home now."
And Jareth exploded into a ball of glitter and light, leaving nothing behind of himself or Tommy, save their abandoned glasses and a barista who was just about to scream when the magic took hold, and then she was at the opposite end of the bar, mixing drinks without any knowledge that they had ever been there.
Jareth opened the door to Tommy's room and laid him out on the bed. The boy slept soundly, and did not snore or even breathe loudly as Jareth magicked the blankets on top of him.
"Tobias, do you remember what we talked about?"
The voice in his ear groaned in annoyance.
"Don't tell Sarah anything."
"I really mean it, Tobias."
"I know already! Geezus…"
Jareth smiled.
"Good boy."
And he placed his hand atop Tommy's forehead.
The alarm clock went off like a banshee's screech, jarring Tommy from a peaceful slumber and beautiful dreams. He shot out of bed, both sleep and dreams forgotten in an instant. Fumbling about, he found the snooze button and slammed his hand down on it multiple times, even though it only took one. The strange part came when he checked the time, and for a moment thought it was his mind playing tricks on him.
"Three in the afternoon? I could've sworn I set it for nine."
He rubbed his eyes and unwrapped himself from the sheets, trying to see through the blinding pain in his head.
What had happened last night?
Tommy was still trying to figure that out while he was fishing through his medicine cabinet for the ibuprophen. He found it lodged in a corner for whatever reason, behind some unused bandages his mother made him buy 'just in case.' He swallowed the pill dry, and almost gagged at the bitter taste. Chugging down an entire water bottle mostly eliminated it, and by then, his headache was gone and his mind was clear.
Last night, he'd stayed in to work on his best man speech, same as he'd been doing every night for the past month since Jareth gave him the job.
It hadn't come nearly as easily as he'd hoped. Maybe if Jareth was actually a close friend of his (or a friend at all) he'd have some idea of what to say. Embarrassing stories were out since Tommy didn't have any and he doubted Jareth would've appreciated it anyway. Talking about Sarah and Jareth together was an idea, but where would he even begin with that? He barely knew what they were like together.
It was getting so bad, Tommy had started to neglect a lot of his usual hobbies. He hadn't even spoken to Nat in the last week. Of course, she was busy with her new job, so it wasn't like she was just sitting around waiting for him to call like a love-struck teenager, funny as that would be. He'd have to ask her later when he was picking her up for the wedding. The look on her face was bound to be…
Wait a minute.
Tommy grabbed the calendar on the wall, following the rows of Xs to the current, circled date.
"Holy shi- the wedding's TODAY?!"
He dropped the calendar and ran like someone had lit him on fire. Within twenty minutes, he was forcing on his suit jacket and straightening his tie in the mirror. His hair was messy, but it had for the most part retained its youthful curliness, and didn't need more than a couple of quick brushes to look presentable. He was out the door by four, with just an hour to spare before he had to be at Sarah's place.
He drove as fast as he could with his foot firmly off the gas. Regardless, it took him far less time than usual to get to Nat's building. It was strange that there weren't more cars on the road on Halloween of all days…
He was even faster getting to Nat's apartment on foot. She was on one of the highest floors, leaving him stuck in an elevator, all jittery and sweating and getting odd stares from a portly, middle aged woman carrying groceries. He got to her floor and ran, grabbing the spare key she'd given him out of his jacket pocket. He unlocked the door and threw it open.
"Nat! I'm here! Sorry I'm-"
The final word of that sentence, along with what he was going to say right after and most of whatever else he'd planned to talk to her about died in his throat when he saw her: sitting on the living room couch, wrapped in a passionate embrace with a man he'd never seen before.
Nat pulled away, her hair mussed and her eyes unfocused. When she saw Tommy, they went wide in a perfect 'dear in headlights' fashion. She adjusted herself so that she was facing him and the man could still wrap his arms around her.
"Hi Tommy, I uh- I want you to meet David."