The way this will work is that each chapter is one day leading up until New Year's Eve I think? Something like that and maybe a an epilogue. I may post one chapter a day or something like that, it depends on how many people review though I'm not completely finished with writing this, it should be done fairly soon! This is a fluffy story and I hope you will enjoy it!
December 19th
"Are we done yet?" Jareth grumbled. "We've been here for a good two hours."
Sarah turned to him and put her hands on her hips. "And whose fault was that?"
Jareth went silent.
"That's what I thought." She plunked in a bag of spices into the shopping cart. "If you had clarified to the goblins to stay Underground-"
"I get it." He rolled his eyes. "I am sorry about the mess they made. But you take so long and you already know the recipe!"
"They have different things here, only a few of the old species and ingredients are here." She picked up a few cans of pumpkin sauce. "Ugh, I don't know if these will taste the same though."
"I'm sure they'll still taste good no matter which type of can you choose." He leaned on the shopping cart lazily and ran his fingers through his hair. While he looked very nice, Sarah loved his usual hair. This one had a mullet almost swept up and back, kind of like David Bowie's 1985 hairdo.
"You're only saying that so I can hurry up." She smirked at him.
"You know me well, Precious." He winked.
Sarah shook her head. "You're impossible."
Sarah rang the doorbell of her childhood home, a grocery bag in her arms and another in Jareth's. A moment later, her father answered.
"Hi Dad!" Sarah greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.
"I take it shopping was successful?" He asked her.
"We'll see, hopefully the new kind of pumpkin sauce will work." She beckoned Jareth in and they set the bags down on the kitchen table. "Dad, this is my friend Jareth." She gestured to him.
Jareth held his hand out, shaking hands with Robert. "How do you do sir?"
Robert was instantly charmed by Sarah's friend and his manners. "Robert. I'm well, thank you for asking. Do you guys need anything? I have to go and get ready to pick Toby up."
"We're good." Sarah reassured him. "We'll see you at the bazaar?"
"Perfect." Robert gave them both a thumbs up. He pointed at Sarah and raised his eyebrows. "Don't burn the house down, young lady."
"Hey, I set the stove on fire once!" She glared at him.
Robert gave her a pointed look.
"I was ten!" She threw her hands in the air. "It hasn't happened since!"
"Now I have to hear this story." Jareth said with amusement.
Robert opened his mouth as if ready to share all the juicy moments but Sarah grabbed Jareth's wrist and dragged him to the pantry. "Not another word! We need to get working."
"Some other time." Robert promised Jareth. He chuckled and waved at his daughter. "Be good, both of you!"
"Bye Dad!" Sarah called.
Once the door clicked closed, they began to work.
After Sarah beat the labyrinth, she found a few goblins following her around here and there. At first it wasn't too bad as they were able to hide and go away when she told them to, but more and more started to bother her. This was to the point of them trashing her parent's room, much to Sarah's dismay. She was screaming and crying, worried out of her mind what she would say to rectify the situation. Goblins, being goblins, didn't really know how to clean that well unless it was at the instructions of their sovereign. The goblins felt so bad that they got Jareth to come clean for them.
Jareth was not happy about having to clean after their messes and even less happy that Sarah was involved. After he helped to clean though, Sarah felt that she should thank him. She called him back and offered him some brownies, unsure of how he would react to it. But he took it well and thanked her for them. This was when she was 17.
As the goblins kept visiting her, so did the king. They became fast friends and enjoyed each other's company for four years now.
Sarah is currently studying neurobiology and minoring in music. A talented clarinetist, she joined the most talented wind group in her university and even went to China to perform with them to debut a composition by a very prestigious classical composer. A group of friends and her wanted to play some Christmas music for the holiday season and founded a small ensemble at their university. Unfortunately, a friend of theirs who played piano transferred out so for this year, Jareth stepped in to play piano. Sarah told her friends at home and her family that's how she and Jareth met, the ensemble.
It wasn't like she was about to tell them that he had been an antagonist in a crazy adventure she had when she was 15. Sarah wondered if Jareth felt something for her still. He got more flirty the older she got but was never inappropriate with her. They kept a safe distance from each other emotionally but still remained friends.
Honestly, they were a lot closer than just friends. They were more like best friends, the way they were there for each other and sometimes acted like they were a couple. It was an unsaid kind of agreement between them.
Jareth summoned Sarah's three friends at her request for they had quite a bit of work to do and goblins were NOT going to be the least bit helpful.
Sarah stuck the recipe for the pumpkin scones down on the table. "Okay, you three can start to fold the boxes for the scones. Jareth and I will start to cook."
Sarah frowned at the taste of the pumpkin sauce, and it took her longer than it should've to get the taste right.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Hoggle tried to comfort her. "Yer the best at cooking."
"Yeah but still." Sarah sighed. She dipped her finger in the batter and was about to taste it again when Jareth swooped down and licked the batter right off her finger. When his tongue came into contact with her finger, Sarah couldn't breathe for a moment. Then, he winked at her.
"HEY!" She swatted at him. "I can't believe you just licked my finger!"
"Gross." Ludo commented.
"Shut up." Jareth told the gentle beast. He winked at Sarah again. "It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "You have no basis for personal boundaries."
"You already knew that though." He chuckled. "By the way, it tastes good to me."
She glared at him. Still, Sarah dipped her finger in and actually was able to taste it. To her delight, it tasted just as she wanted it to. "I guess I did a better job than I thought."
Before Jareth could make some smart comment, she shoved the bowl to him. "Here, you stir it up."
"Yes my lady." He gave her a mocking bow and Sarah threw a towel cloth at his face but he ducked just in time for it to fly straight at Hoggle's face.
"Really?" The dwarf sighed.
When they finished, Jareth of course made sure to put some glitter on the boxes. "It looks prettier that way." He smirked.
Sarah thanked her friends for coming. "Thank you so much you guys!" She handed them each a plate of her pumpkin scones.
"I am always at thy service, m'lady." Sir Didymus made a very dramatic sweeping bow and nibbled on a scone.
"It was fun." Hoggle said sincerely. "Yer still the best cook."
"Sarah fun." Ludo gave her a very large hug.
Sarah and Jareth bid them goodbye and Sarah went to go change her clothes, changing out of her T shirt and jeans into something more festive.
She got on a red sweater and a black skirt with black leggings underneath along with black shoes. She also wore a Santa hat just because she could. Grabbing her car keys and wallet, she walked over to Jareth who was finishing putting away the boxes of pumpkin scones in the car.
"Ready to go?" She asked him.
Jareth ran a hand through his hair. "You know we could just transport."
"Yeah, and my parents will ask how the heck we got there without a car while carrying a million boxes of scones in the snow." She rolled her eyes.
"You could have just said 'no thank you' you know." He smirked at her. "By the way, you look lovely."
Sarah twirled around to see her skirt flaring out. "Thanks, Mom got it for me for my birthday."
"It suits you." He opened the door of the driver's side for her like a gentleman.
"Thank you. You look very nice too." Sarah slide in her seat.
Jareth always looked good and today he had on a green silk shirt underneath a black leather jacket and dark jeans. His ears were exposed from his shorter hair but Sarah knew better. His ears looked rounded but that was just an illusion just like his hair. He had pointy ears and she knew if he willed it, his hair would be normal and crazy again.
After arriving at the school, they set up their table. Sarah's pumpkin scones were famous in her small town and went away fast. It also helped that Jareth charmed people into buying them too.
"You are very convincing." Sarah told him.
"I can be charming when I want to." He flashed his pointy teeth at her.
"You were definitely not charming when we first met." Sarah poked his arm. "Acting all scary and mean."
"You say that, but you wanted the villain." He raised his eyebrow. "I never would've hurt you."
"I know that now." She said quietly and looked away from him.
They sighed inwardly. It would be nice to have a frank conversation but that could disturb their delicate balance. If things didn't work out... would they still have each other in their lives?
And then there was the fact that Jareth had no idea if Sarah even felt that way towards him and Sarah had no idea if he felt the same way towards her or if he was just being a massive flirt.
Her family came to visit them. Karen waved at Sarah. "Oh my, your scones are selling out fast!"
"Can I have one?" Toby reached for a box but stopped at Sarah's look.
"I made a bunch at home, you can have those." She told him.
Toby frowned. "But I want one now."
Sarah tried to not roll her eyes. He was only 6 years old and was so demanding. "Toby." She said sternly.
"Okay." He moved back. Seeing the man next to her, he peered at him curiously. "Who are you?"
"Manners, Toby." Karen reminded her son. She smiled at Jareth and stuck her hand out. "You must be Jareth, Sarah's friend."
"Pleasure to meet you and you must be Karen." He gave another charming smile. "And don't worry about Toby, I have worked with children and he's just curious."
"How old are you Toby?" Jareth asked him.
"I'm six!" He replied enthusiastically. "What's your favorite dinosaur?"
"Pterodactyl because they can fly." He looked at Sarah knowingly.
Sarah tried to not roll her eyes. Of course he'd pick an animal that would fly just like an owl.
"I like T-rexs because they roar really loudly!" Toby let out a growl.
They went on and on, talking about many different things and the family had a lovely time getting to know Sarah's friend. Karen had an inkling that from the way they were looking at each other, maybe it was a little more than just friends. She said nothing though, letting them take the reigns in whatever was happening between them.
Soon after, they left since Toby was a little agitated from sitting and he wanted to look around at the other vendors.
Jareth took a short break, but it turned out longer than Sarah had expected. He came back with a smile on his face.
"What were you up to? I know that look." Sarah teased him.
Jareth showed her a knitted hat. "I won a competition that I couldn't pass up on. There was a puzzle box and the vendor gave me a discount on her knitted hats."
"Are you going to wear that?" Sarah asked him. It wasn't something he'd wear. It was something she'd wear though.
"No, this is for you." He handed the cream colored hat to her.
Sarah laughed but put it on anyway, taking her Santa hat off. "You didn't have to get it for me."
"I know, but I wanted to." He beamed at her sincerely. "You can make it up by teaching me how to knit as you've been promising me." He winked at her.
"I will." She laughed.
After the bazaar was over and Sarah had a very successful night (with all of her scones being bought), they walked back to her car and she dropped Jareth off at the park so he could just transport home without being seen.
"Thanks for helping me." Sarah said.
"You're welcome. I had a lovely time." He smiled at her.
Sarah loved his big, genuine smiles. The way it pulled on his eyes and the way his cheeks seemed to have more color in them.
She reached for their usual hug and Jareth reciprocated. For a whole year, they didn't hug each other after becoming friends then Jareth noticed that she would give her friends a hug goodbye and made an off hand joke about it. Sarah gave him a hug right after that and it became their thing ever since.
Jareth loved the way her head was right under his chin when they stood up for a hug. It sparked something masculine in him, a desire to hold her and to protect her even if she was a very smart and capable young woman in her own right.
But there was something about her hugs that made him feel soft. Like the walls around his heart could be broken down, his vulnerability shown. Everything wrong seem to melt away and everything right was there with them.
"You'll come for Toby's choir concert? You don't have to you know." Sarah tilted her face up at him, arms still around his torso.
Jareth couldn't help it. He poked her cute button nose and grinned. "He seemed very excited about it, how can I not?"
Sarah gave him an appreciative grin. "In that case, I will see you tomorrow." She released him.
Jareth took her hand and kissed the back of it like a gentleman. He did it when he was feeling especially affectionate towards her. "Tomorrow then, Precious."
As Sarah walked back to her car, both had a dreamy look on their faces.
Just so you know, except for minoring in music (and I'm a biochemistry major unlike Sarah who is a neurobiology major) and being in some Christmas ensemble, all of that about Sarah playing clarinet is actually true for me! I thought it would be fun to add some real stuff in here. I actually did go to China and play with some of the most talented musicians but stopped after my first year as I started to major in biochemistry and the workload was too much for me.