"Feel free to stay the night, guys. Dad took Karen and Tobes to Aunt Shelby's for the night, so I have the house to myself." Sarah said, collapsing onto her canopy bed and beginning to untie her shoes.
"I fear I will be unable to stay, dear lady," Sir Didymus replied ruefully. "His majesty has requested that all members of the guard report to the castle. I believe my next noble task will be to train the newest Fae recruits, apparently an exercise in patience, according to his majesty."
Sarah giggled prettily at the joke Didymus himself didn't understand, even the corners of Hoggle's crinkly mouth turned up in amusement.
"Well," Sarah said, still racked with the occasional fit of giggles, "That sounds most prestigious a task, noble knight. It would be irresponsible of you to stay p up half the night to engage in frivolity when you ought to be resting for a hard days work. I bid you farewell. Give my love to Ludo when you see him." The furry oaf had a habit of wandering around, so Sarah didn't see him as much as the others.
"And a good night to you, fair maiden," Didymus said, hopping onto her vanity, "I trust I will be finished with my duties in time for ale tomorrow night, brave Hoggle. Adieu."
The goblin and the girl turned to each other and laughed fully. Wiping tears from the corners of his big eyes, Hoggle said, "Can yah belive tha'? An exercise in patience. An' tha poor lil' guy hasn't got 'imself ah clue."
Sarah shook her head, thinking of the Goblin King. They'd come to a sort of truce, the King and her. He allowed her into the Labyrinth whenever she pleased, so long as she didn't interfere with – help any of the Runners. In the six years she'd been going there she'd only met a handful of them, and frankly, judging by the moral standards of these people, there babies were probably better off with the Goblin King. Especially since she found out he usually gave them to a Fae family.
"I almost want to tell him he's being made fun of, but he's so happy this way…" She trailed off, tugging at her sweatshirt, trying to peel it from her body.
Ah, and what a body it was, Hoggle marveled as he looked at her, knowing, from sarah;s lack of dexterity and the sweatshirt firmly over her face, that it would be awhile before she could see again. All Hoggle saw was creamy white stomach, flat and smooth, and so soft looking, he almost wanted to make a pelt out of it.
Jerking her elbow, trying to dislodge it from the jacket, she revealed a lacy black bra hold up a glorious pair of large, firm, perky breasts. Hoggle almost felt guilty looking at his best friend like this, but he couldn't bring himself to look away.
"Thank god," Sarah muttered, flinging the sweater into a corner angrily, as if it attacked her. "I thought I was going to suffocate in there." She turned toward the bathroom, her back facing Hoggle, and shimmied out of her jeans.
Did she think he was incapable of being attracted to beings other than goblins? Because goblin women were not attractive. And if anyone could understand lust for someone out of their species, it had to be Sarah. She'd never admit it, she wouldn't even say his name, but the Goblin King weighed heavily on her mind. All the time.
But that had to be it, Hoggle concluded. Sarah may flirt with her little humans, and even the occasional Fae guard she came across in the Labyrinth, and ahem—the Goblin King—but she wasn't actually a flirt. The goblin was certain that if she knew how seeing her perfectly round ass in hr tiny lacy black underwear affected him, she wouldn't let him sleep in her bed on nights like this, much less undress in front of him.
This is why he had to rip his watery blue eyes away from her hourglass curves and onto the flashing 'tellie-vishion' screen that was on blaring away on her dresser. Sarah didn't live at home anymore, but she did go to a 'colledge' not to far away from here, so she tried to spend at least a day a month with them.
"I'll be out in a few, Hoggle." She said wrapping a robe around herself. "You look beat though, if you just want to curl up while I'm in there that's cool too." She didn't mean beat as in hit, Hoggle knew. It meant tired. But she was obviously mistaking the look in his eyes for exhaustion, and he wasn't going to correct her.
He rubbed his eyes and nodded, mumbling, "Nigh' Sarah," as she stepped into the bathroom. He lay in the bed, taking up a little more space than he needed, just so he could feel her smooth skin on his gnarled flesh, and know, deep down, that it didn't bother her.
But he didn't get to rest that night. Instead, just after Hoggle heard the water from the shower turn on, he heard the tell-tale clap of thunder, signifying the entrance of his king. Now, Hoggle knew full well the Goblin King could appear in silence, but nooooo, had to have a big fancy entrance.
"Hogbrain, do you remember what I told you all those years ago?" The Goblin King asked, wearing what he always wore when he appeared Aboveground, now that Sarah had outgrown the more ridiculous of his costumes. It suited the King just fine, in fact, his boots, leggings, poet's shirt, and vest was practically the staple of his wardrobe. Unless there was some unavoidable function to be attended, he would wear some variation of this around the castle.
Not that Hoggle cared or anything.
"Ah 'av no idea," Hoggle said, sitting upright under the covers. "Don' usually 'member things tha' people say to other people. My names 'Oggle."
"This one concerens a Prince of the Land of Stench."
"'Ah," Hoggle said, suddenly remembering, "'Tha 'un."
Jareth smiled, that predatory smile that Hoggle always noticed made Sarah go shivery all over. He just thought it was weird. And creepy. Maybe mildly scary. "I though you would remember," Jareth said, putting a hand on his hip, bringing even Hoggle's heterosexual eyes to his ah… pelvic region.
"While the terms are not quite the same, the conditions remain. Do you understand, Higgles?"
He gulped. "Yea.'"
"Good." Jareth said, surveying Sarah's room. "Now be a good boy and don't let the Lady know I was here."
Mockingly, he said, "Enjoy your slumber party."
Suddenly, Hoggle thought that maybe staying the night at home wasn't such a bad idea.