"Jareth."

"Yes, precious?"

"First off, stop calling me precious, you sound like the fucking Gollum."

"Your wish is my command."

"Second..." Sarah gave her friend a suspicious up-and-down, "You look like a stripper."

"And I am a stripper. Your logic is flawless."

Sarah threw her head back and glared pointedly at the sky, "I don't know you."

"Oh, yes you do," said Jareth smugly, "I'm your date."

"Fuck you."

"Right here, right now? Precious."

Sarah stared off into the distance, putting on her best when-will-my-husband-return-from-the-war face. Jareth smiled a self satisfied little smile and patted down the excessive ruffles on his shirt. The pair had been standing outside of the designated restaurant for at least five minutes. It was a nice day in the middle of a rather quiet, hipster sort of section of town. Shops, art galleries, cafes, and restaurants snuggled side by side along a narrow street. Holiday lights were strung between the buildings, so they netted across the street. Probably a left over from Christmas, though they could have been a regular instalation.

Sarah and Jareth were in front of one particularly pretentious looking food place, trying to look like they belonged. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Jareth had been asked "how much?" at least twice.

Really, Jareth's entire outfit was rather... much. His frilly white poets shirt with a cleavage going down practically to his belly button was probably the most... problematic part of the outfit. The too tight jeans and high heeled boots didn't help much. Nor did the random splashes of glitter all over, making it look vaguely like he'd grabbed handfuls of glitter and tossed them at his face. Which was exactly what had happened, but nobody needed to know.

Sarah looked quite tame in comparison. She'd gone, quite wisely, with the timeless little black dress and heels, and had managed to bullshit the traditional "femme fetale" look. Which, she'd realized upon arrival, was still too much for the rather casual situation. People were staring, and it didn't help that over the car ride here, some of the glitter had gotten on her. Ok, a lot of the glitter. She was practically the glitter queen.

"We look like something out of a cartoon," Sarah said, pulling out a little round mirror out of her purse too make sure that her bright red lipstick was still in place.

"At least we look like a couple," said Jareth, looking completely comfortable in his skin and his outfit.

"Only because the last twenty people we saw were wearing plaid," Sarah muttered, crossing her arms and glaring around, "Why are we standing here anyways?"

"Because this is an excellent vantage point from which we can see the entire street from here and Morgan and the Consort can't escape us this way."

"Who can't escape what now?" came a smooth, mild, female voice from behind Jareth's back.

A shadow of panic flitted across Jareth's face, so brief that Sarah barely noticed it, as it was quickly covered up with the stripper smile. Behind Jareth stood two women, a blonde and a redhead, hand in hand. Both were dressed simply, if stylishly, and Sarah only recognized one of them from their brief meeting the day before.

"Morgan!" Jareth exclaimed, pivoting around on his four inch heels, "How delightful it is to see you! Sarah, I don't believe you two have been officially introduced. This is Morgana Fay-"

"Just Morgan," said the woman easily, sizing up the couple in front of her.

"Just Morgan, then. She has red hair and opinions. That's the Consort."

"I have a name, you know," said the other woman, sounding mildly annoyed.

Jareth raised an eyebrow.

Morgan rolled her eyes, "This is my wife, Titania."

"I go by Tanya, thanks."

Sarah smiled and murmured to herself, "Then I must be thy lady: but I know when thou has stol'n away from fairy-land, and in the shape of Corin sat all day-"

"And that's exactly why," said Tanya sharply, cutting her off, "I have enough butchered Shakespeare at school to deal with it outside of that."

"Butchered Shakespeare?" Sarah inquired, rather stonily. Practically a mortal offense, there.

"I teach a course on Shakespeare in the local high school."

Sarah tilted her head slightly to the side, eying the regal lady up, "Worst decision of your life?"

"Other than this date, yes."

"Ooh," Jareth, seeming enraptured in the look of his nails, drawled out, "Burn."

Tanya shrugged, "I should be grading papers."

Morgan glared at her, "Honey, we both needed some time off."

"With your friends from the mental hospital?"

Jareth clutched at his chest, looking mortally wounded, "I will have you know that we've never been institutionalized!"

"Speak for yourself," Sarah muttered, crossing her arms.

Morgan smiled apologetically, "She's just cranky because I pulled her away from her valuable sleeping time."

"I need my beauty sleep, Morgan," said Tanya.

"Shut up. You're gorgeous even after an all nighter."

"You flatter me."

"This isn't flattery yet."

Jareth and Sarah exchanged a glance.

Sarah mouthed "Goddamn married couples." at Jareth, who made a face in return.

"If you're done flirting," said Jareth, turning to the two women, "Would you be so kind as to accompany us inside?"

The married couple grumbled, but agreed.

xxx

The game of Gestapo started shortly after they sat down.

"So, Sarah," said Morgan, ever so sweetly, "How long have you known Jareth?"

Tanya rolled her eyes and muttered something at her menu.

"A couple of months now," said Sarah, matching her tone exactly.

"And how long have you two been dating?"

"Oh, a couple of months now."

Tanya snorted, earning a glare from her wife. Jareth looked vaguely concerned.

"So how's your porn career going?" asked Morgan nonchalantly, waving over a waiter.

If Sarah was drinking water, she'd have choked on it. Well, if she was a good ten years younger and utterly naïve, she would have. But years of theater experience, the fact that this wasn't the first time in the last month that she had been asked that question, and a general disillusionment with society stopped her from being even the least bit surprised.

"Oh no," she said, deadpanned, "Who told you?"

"It wasn't me," said Jareth in much the same manner, not looking up from his menu.

"Of course it wasn't you. Not that you don't have the balls, but I'm sure you wouldn't want competition."

The waiter looked vaguely distraught, but nonetheless put on a smile and fired out the customary speech, "Hi I'm Steve I'll be your waiter today what would you like I'd recommend the chicken pesto combination it's very nice."

"I'll have that then," said Sarah

Morgana looked a little put out.

After the waiter hurried off, Tanya turned to Sarah and grinned, "On second thought, I like you."

"Let's work on making that feeling mutual."

"I'll have to write that one down."

"Tanya, stop fraternizing with the enemy!"

"So you DID drag me here for a stupid bet! And let me guess! You're paying?"

Jareth smiled blissfully as the two started arguing, and leaned over to put his head on Sarah's shoulder.

"I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu," he said.

xxx

"Ok, but all joking aside, what do you do?" asked Morgan, taking a dainty bite of her pizza.

"I'm an actress."

Tanya looked mortified, "Shakespeare?"

"If it's available."

"That explains why you're pissed off."

"Yes."

Tanya laughed. Morgan looked utterly pissed off and downed another glass of wine.

"Woah, slow down there, fair maiden," said Jareth snidely, "What would the school think of your drinking habit?"

"What would you think about your smoking habit?" spat out Morgan.

Sarah cast the woman a sidelong glance, "Is she always that bitter?"

Tanya smirked, "That's just how she communicates. The more snide remarks she makes, the more she likes you. You should have heard her after our wedding."

"No, thank you," said Sarah curtly, and pretended to be really interested in her pasta.

Morgan sighed, looking slightly put out, "So, what are you working on right now, Sarah?"

"Um," said Sarah, trying to figure out a way to word this, "It's a post-modernist, glam rock, take on the traditional story of Cinderella, experimenting with gender and sexuality, and introducing an eye opening shock factor."

Tanya raised her eyebrows. If someone raised another one of those that evening, they might fly away and start their own civilization.

"What she means," said Jareth, pretending to look rather bored, "Is that some brilliant mind decided to crossbreed Rocky Horror Picture Show and Cinderella, and came up with this monstrosity."

"It's not that bad," protested Sarah.

Jareth cast her a withering look, then shrugged, "I admit. The script was decent. I particularly enjoyed the part where the evil stepmother tears off her gown and breaks into a burlesque sort of song and dance number."

"Hmmm..." Sarah hummed, "You're right, that was... interesting."

Wordlessly, Morgan slid over two twenty dollar bills.

xxx

Upon exiting the restaurant two hours later and terrorizing some tourists, the group decided that it was an evening well spent. Tanya told Morgan to pretend that the lost forty dollars was payment for the show that came with the dinner.

Author's Note:

So obviously, this was grossly overdue. What can I say. School year's coming to a close, it's a hassle to keep grades up... A lot of things happened. But here it is now, so, you know, all's well that ends well. Except this isn't the end. I still have ideas for a good... oh, four chapters?
I am, unfortunately, getting less creative with the titles. So if anyone has any suggestions, for titles or just utterly random ideas, I'm all up for considering those. Enjoy.