AN: This is a random fluffy (?) one-shot I wrote this evening for fun. Though I don't use names until the very end, you should be able to tell who I'm talking about just fine. Hopefully everyone likes it, even if the premise has been done before.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except a copy of the DVD.
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She was fifteen the first time he asked her to marry him.
Or did that count? She was obviously much too young at the time and the implications of his words didn't register for years after the fact. Even when they did, she disregarded them as a trick. It was a way to keep the baby, nothing more. She put the Goblin King with his wicked eyes and dancing crystals firmly out of mind and moved on with her life.
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She was fifteen the first time she rejected him.
Oh, he knew she would. She was blissfully unaware of what he was saying. Too old to turn, too young to keep, he always reminded himself. It still stung when she barely hesitated to banish him with the 'words'. Nonetheless, he was eternal and very patient. He could outwait her. Next time she would not be so quick with her denial.
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She was nineteen when she saw him again.
It was like a knife in the gut and like being awake for the first time in years all at once. It hurt and was the most glorious thing she could've imagined, but she had put her adventures behind her and moved on. She didn't want him there, but nonetheless he was. He challenged her and taunted her, using his constant offer of dreams to tantalize and tempt. She was shocked when he kissed her. She scrambled for the words and finally managed to remember them, but his laugh echoed in her mind.
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Nineteen wasn't too young still, was it?
He wasn't sure what had compelled him to seek her out. Maybe it was loneliness. Maybe he wanted to see if she still had the spark. He couldn't decide. The spark was most certainly still there; she proved that when she threatened him with an iron skillet. The thing was absolutely harmless to him and he found the entire affair rather hilarious. He suggested giving her her dreams again, but she obviously didn't like the idea. That told him then and there how this particular encounter would be ending, so he decided to make things a little more interesting. The shock and desire on her face after their kiss had certainly been worth the trip, and the disjointed way she worked to find her voice was charming. She sent him away again and he went willingly, already plotting his next attempt.
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By twenty-three, it had become routine.
He would crop up every few months and after a while she stopped fighting his arrival. He agreed to her ground rules out of a sense of curiosity, she could tell, but at least he kept to them. That meant no more crystals or surprise kisses, and he was NEVER to appear in her bedroom or put her in a compromising position. That didn't stop the visits from being interesting – she was fairly sure he came just to watch her flush in anger when he teased her. When he asked her to marry him again that year, she was so startled she thought she was going to faint, but his Cheshire grin gave her the strength to give him a sound scolding and send him away.
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When she was twenty-three, he was getting bored of the game.
That was why he decided to spice things up and press his suit again. He knew, as he always did, that she still wasn't ready to accept, but she was starting to regard him as more of a friend than anything else and that just wouldn't do. If she got too complacent she might start making room for another man in her life, and he was unwilling to share what he considered his. Her attempts at cowing him failed spectacularly and made the game worthwhile once more. He knew as he returned home that things were starting to change.
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At twenty-six, she didn't know why she bothered getting rid of him at all.
Instead of reappearing after month-long gaps, the Goblin King had taken to being in her living room when she got up in the mornings, lounging in her favorite chair and humming as he read whatever book she'd left on the table that night. It hadn't taken long for her to work out that banishing him upfront just meant he'd show up later that day in a more disruptive way. Her ground rules had only covered compromising positions, so he was free to infringe on her life most any way he wished. Instead she fell into a pattern of ignoring him as much as possible. That proved difficult when he was proposing almost every other day and was quickly escalating.
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Twenty-six, he decided, meant things had taken long enough.
He made himself a fixture in his life, until she was accustomed to his presence. Once she was, he started pushing harder. His constant trips to the human world were hard on him, though he would never tell her so, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up indefinitely. He still had a job to do, after all, but he was determined not to go about it on his own for much longer. It was time to bring his queen back with him. He bent his considerable charms to the task, making it as hard as possible for her to push him away, knowing she was falling for him and not his literary counterpart. He realized it wouldn't take him too much longer.
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She was twenty-seven when he proposed for the last time.
She listened in shock when he told her he was exhausted, that she was still forcing him to live up to her lofty expectations. He even looked it, with circles under his eyes. She felt terrible; she had never realized what it cost him to spend so long with her. Finally he said he needed her to either accept or send him away for good, because if she didn't they were both going to self-destruct. She couldn't find an answer for him and was hurt when he left, the first time she hadn't had to send him away.
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By the time she was twenty-seven, he couldn't take any more.
His kingdom was falling into disrepair from how little care he was giving it, and the goblins were growing surly and rebellious. It was time for him to let go, as terrible as it was. She was in love with him and they both knew it, but her stubbornness was a curse. The High King informed him he would block access to the human world for good if he did not resume his duties, so he gave her the ultimatum and left despite how it hurt. Her silent stare made him wonder if he had only imagined her softening toward him.
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She was twenty-eight when she proposed to him.
A year was too much for her to handle alone. The Goblin King had been her constant companion for so long that her life felt empty without him, and a number of her acquaintances noticed when she started losing weight and staring into the distance. It was her brother who finally told her that whatever she was trying to avoid was making her miserable and that she just had to up and do it before she made him unhappy too. She almost laughed at the irony of the child she'd wished away encouraging her to reach out to his kidnapper, even if he didn't know about any of it. When she got home that night, she made the wish for him to appear.
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She was twenty-eight when she made him truly happy.
He had responded to her call only because he was the granter of wishes and it was his job, even if he feared what he would find. He certainly hadn't expected the sight that greeted him – his beloved was kneeling with a small velvet box in her hands. The lights were dim and there were flowers scattered throughout the room. He took it all in, shocked, before turning his gaze back to her. A champion didn't belong on her knees.
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"I'm sorry," she said after a drawn-out silence. "I should have done this sooner. Jareth, I love you. I've been in love with you since we met. Will you marry me?"
For a moment, he contemplated rejecting her as she so often had him – he was cruel, after all – but he couldn't. "Do you know what you're asking, precious thing?"
Sarah swallowed but nodded. "It means accepting you. It means letting go of the walls and trusting you. It means letting you love me instead of being afraid."
"I am still the Goblin King. I will still 'steal' children."
"I know."
He caught her hand and pulled her to her feet. "You rejected me countless times. Why the change of heart?"
"I can't imagine life without you. This past year was terrible. All of the light was sucked out, and every day I would think of you and wonder what you were doing." She flushed. "Can you just answer?"
"Did you really have to ask?" he demanded before fusing their mouths together for a heart-stopping kiss. "You are mine, Sarah. You always were. I just needed you to admit it."
"Is that a yes?" she asked breathlessly.
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course. I would not have asked you to marry me so many times otherwise."
This time she pulled him in for a kiss as he took her home.
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AN: So I think that was cute and fluffy. I'm really not a good fluff writer, so I'm not sure. Which means I want you to tell me. I like hearing everyone's thoughts and feelings on a piece, so please review. Till next time!