Toby was finding it extremely difficult to take his eyes off the vision of beauty that was sitting beside him, gazing down studiously at her textbook, as he should have been doing. Everything about her was perfect. Her button nose that was covered in freckles, her smooth, baby-soft porcelain skin than always smelled so good, the way dimples appeared on her cheeks every time she smiled, her beautiful fiery-red wavy hair that seemed to glow in the sunlight.

Perfect, he thought.

And her laugh. God, how he loved nothing more than the sound of her cute little laugh. It meant she was happy, and her happiness was very high on Toby's list of priorities. They had only been dating for six months, but he felt like she was his whole world.

"Toby? Hey, are you listening to me?" A sweet, delicate voice snapped him out of his thoughts and brought him back down to planet Earth. She was giving him that concerned look again

"I'm sorry, Scarlett. Was I doing it again?" He asked, knowing full well what the answer was.

"Come on, stop messing about." She replied a little sternly, yet with a small smiled on her face. "Our Chemistry test is tomorrow, and you know how much of a tough grader Mr. Bennett is."

Toby puffed out his chest in a macho sort of way, letting his girlfriend know he wasn't worried.

"Ppffftt I'm not scared of Mr Bennett." He scoffed defiantly, throwing his arms behind his head, showing how relaxed he was. No teacher was going to push him around. Even if said teachers was, in Toby's view, out to get him.

"No," Scarlett replied, "but your sister did say that if you failed another Chemistry test then you would…what was it...?" She looked up to the air and placed her index finger on her chin in mock thinking. "Oh yeah, never see the light of day again."

Toby laughed at the idea that Sarah would ever hurt him. It was simply a ridiculous concept. She had raised him since he was three years old, and though she could be strict at times she would never be cruel.

Tragically, their parents had died in a plane crash while attending a wedding on Karen's side of the family overseas. It was extremely unfortunate, and what's even more chilling was that Toby was meant to go to that wedding with his parents. It was only for the bride and groom changing their mind about having children attend the wedding. Sarah had professed to him how thankful she was that they did.

Toby didn't have any memories of that fateful day, and he could only imagine how heart-breaking it was for Sarah when she was told the awful news. She was only eighteen years old and suddenly had a toddler to look after, a house to run, bills to pay and everything else that comes with adulthood, thrust upon her with no choice, and no other family to help her. He would of course never admit it to her face, but Toby thought his big sister was remarkable and would always be grateful for what she did for him.

"She doesn't scare me either." He said rather riskily, moving his eyes shiftily round to room to check Sarah hadn't slipped in from work unnoticed. "Besides, it's your fault I keep getting bad grades in Chemistry."

Scarlett made a little "uh!" noise and threw her pen down at the dining table in protest. She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest. Toby noted how adorable she looked when she was annoyed at him.

"Oh really?" She pouted "And just how exactly is you failing Chemistry, my doing?"

Toby smiled and moved in closer to her. He gazed into her dark blue eyes. They were like twinkling sapphires that glistened.

"Because you're far too pretty for me to focus on anything else."

Those sapphires immediately lit up and a bashful smile took form on Scarlett's lips. Man, she was so amazing. Toby took this perfect moment to deliver her a small, but meaningful kiss, which she sweetly returned. They were just seventeen, but he already knew he loved this girl. She was intelligent, funny, beautiful and she always made him feel good. He was completely smitten. Though he would never let his friends know this. He did have a rep to uphold.

"Ok, Romeo." She smiled as she closed her chemistry book and put it into her school bag. "I have to go now. My mom and dad have this big fancy dinner tonight with one of my dad's clients. As usual, I get stuck babysitting."

Toby regretfully helped her gather up her belongings and walked her to the front door. He did wish she didn't have to babysit her two sisters so much.

When they got to the front door Toby opened it for her as she put on her cardigan.

"I could come over if you like. We could take the study session to your house when the kids are in bed." He offered.

Scarlett smiled at him and shook her head, causing her curls to fall over her face.

"I think you'd better stay here and study" She said, adjusting her hair. "If, as you say, I am such a distraction."

Toby frowned. He really didn't want them to be done for the night.

"Damn, I knew I shouldn't have revealed my secret. Of course, you would use it against me."

Scarlett giggled. "It's no secret that you suck at Chemistry." She laughed and Toby couldn't help joining in on her laughter.

"Oh yeah, well…I'll show you just how much I suck at chemistry." He said.

The door was pushed shut again and he took her into his arms and kissed her more passionately than he ever had in his teenage life. When they came up for air, Toby noticed her cheeks had started to blush. She looked even more adorable.

Wow, he thought. That was wonderful.

"Point taken." She whispered with another giggle, once again pushing her hair behind her ears. "Now I really do have to go. Bye, baby."

"Bye, Princess."

He opened the door once more and she left. Toby watched protectively as she got into her car and gave him a little wave as she drove off.

When she was out of sight Toby closed the door and sighed. That girl literally took his breath away.

"Ah, young love." Came a British male voice behind him.

Caught off guard, Toby jumped and spun round. Though he knew instantly who the voice belonged to.

Toby was quite used to having Jareth show up at their home at any given moment. He had known him for a very long time, in fact, as long as he could remember. Growing up, Sarah had told him all about The Labyrinth, the Goblin City and of course, The Goblin King himself. He didn't know why, but Toby even from a young age knew that magic, faeries and faraway lands really did exist. They weren't just from fairy tales, as human children were usually taught. He believed and accepted that Sarah was telling the truth. She was very open and honest about it all, even the wishing him away part. He didn't even mind, if he were honest. Jareth had shown him the Labyrinth on a few occasions, and it was a pretty neat place. Toby, as a result of this had bonded with Jareth over the years and had a very high opinion of him. He was sort of like a father figure, with a distinctive sense of style and a cool accent. And, oh yeah, he was a freaking Fae King.

"Woah, hey! Jareth. You scared me there." He half laughed half sighed with relief.

"Really?" Jareth asked, a tad confused "I would have thought after all these years you would be accustomed to me popping in unannounced. Although…" He raised an eyebrow and Toby saw a ghost of a grin flicker on his lips. "I see that the majority of your attention was consumed by a certain young lady."

"Oh, uh, Scarlett? Yeah, she's alright, I guess." He answered calmly, trying to downplay the utter adoration he actually held for her. He knew Jareth wasn't stupid and he couldn't outwit him.

"I see." He grinned. Toby felt his face beginning to flush a bit and cleared his throat a few times.

"Umm, if you're looking for Sarah, I'm afraid she's not here. She called a little while ago and told me to tell you she had to work late tonight."

Toby noticed Jareth immediately frowned and placed his hands on his hips, cocking his head to the side. He looked quite irritated.

"Again?" He asked with a sigh. "That's the third time this week. Does that woman ever partake in anything in addition to work?

"Yeah, she's been pretty busy lately." Toby said absentmindedly. But then an idea popped into his head. "But, you know, if you have some time to kill, I'm not doing anything. Perhaps I could go visit your kingdom with you." He said hopefully, knowing that he was chancing his arm, as he reminded himself earlier, Jareth was not stupid.

Jareth chuckled lightly and crossed his arms. A few tuts escaped from his mouth and he shook his head slowly and pityingly.

"A rather good attempt, my dear boy. But your sister already informed me that you have an important exam tomorrow and are to throw yourself into your studies tonight and participate in no other activities."

Toby rolled his eyes. He might as well just be arrested by the fun police and be flung into jail.

"Fine." He said gingerly, crossing the room to retrieve his Chemistry book from the dining room where he and Scarlett had previously been using it. He flopped himself down on the sofa and opened the book

"I'll just sit here for all eternity reading this useless book filled with useless information that will have no bearing on me whatsoever when I graduate, until I die of boredom." He said.

"That's the spirit." Jareth said jokingly. "Oh, and before I depart, I must warm you not to disobey Sarah's orders. If you attempt to visit that enchanting young lady, I shall know about it, and I need not say more about how Sarah would feel about that?"

He held up a crystal ball in his gloved hand before throwing it into the air and disappearing in a cloud of glitter and magic.

Toby sighed and looked down at his book trying to concentrate on the blasted contents.

"Man, I wish I had magic." He said longingly to himself. "Then I could do whatever I wanted. And the first thing I would do is ban Chemistry for good!" He snickered to himself. "Ooh, then I would conjure up a huge mansion with a heated pool and a gigantic tv with every channel, and a"-

"I don't see any studying." Jareth's voice, now slightly sterner than before rumbled through the air and made Toby jump.

"Ok, ok, I'm getting to it now, jeez."

He very reluctantly forced himself to start taking in what the darn Chemistry book said. Copper this, and Zinc that. It was all just a bunch of nonsense that he didn't care about and had no desire to analyse further. Despite his unfavourable opinion, he couldn't help but smile to himself. Jareth really did care about him, just as much as Sarah did. His mother and father may not be here to love him, but at least Toby knew there were two people in his life who he could most definitely rely on.

A/N- Thank you for reading! I have never written a fanfic where Toby is older, I hope you are enjoying it. I am planning to write the story from multiple POV's to keep it interesting. I also imagine it will be a shorter fic. If you'd like me to continue, let me know!