"Come with me."

Toby looked from the hand held out to him to the fae looking up at him, a teasing smirk on his face. He disliked those words immensely. They usually meant doing something that would disrupt the rest of his life. "No," he replied firmly.

"What have I done this time?"

Toby glowered at him. "You made me the unwilling bodyguard of a very unwilling female fae that could certainly best me in any fight. What use am I supposed to be?"

"Toby, we have been over this," Jareth snapped, "I said what I said and I will not unsay it. You are being most unreasonable."

"I ?"

"Yes. Now, since both my mother and Jervohl have decided to assist Yava in some manner of cleaning marathon, I suggest we leave the Castle before I get roped in to do any more work than I already do."

"You do no work," Toby snarked.

"Exactly. And I plan to keep it that way. Will you come with me or not?"

Toby smouldered down at the fae. Jareth was in one of his contrary moods. It was impossible to tell how far he could push him. And resisting him always led to trouble. Just see what had happened when he'd attempted to talk Jareth out of this ridiculous bodyguard idea! The Goblin King had grown so soft and deadly that a goblin got its arm broken being thrown against a wall. But maybe…"I will not go along with this insane plan."

Jareth only rolled up his sleeves and pulled out a narrow band to tie up his hair. "Stop being so narrow-minded. I guarantee that you will enjoy yourself. I know I will."

Again. Toby cocked his head. It was strange to hear those words. From the look on Jareth's face, he didn't think he had said anything out of place. But Toby heard something else: he heard a reminder that the Goblin King had yet to be touched. An entire month had gone by and for some reason Jareth always manipulated his way into staying out of touch. It was most peculiar.

The mortal sighed. "Very well, then," he agreed, "I suppose it won't hurt."

"I am pleased to hear it." The hand dropped and Jareth paraded away out the door, completely unconcerned about whether his companion was to follow.

For the longest time that was exactly what happened. Jareth stalked around in front, meandering from side to side like a child too busy trying to see everything there was to see and trying to see it all now. Toby felt far too much like a parent as he followed less enthusiastically behind. What a thought! Jareth being over a hundred would make him old enough to be one of Toby's ancestors. But there he was, bounding around without actually bounding at all. It was most peculiar.

So deep in thought, Toby never even noticed what was happening before Jareth suddenly disappeared out from in front of him. A few moments later, he started out of his brown study to find that the fae's voice was calling him from somewhere just beyond the hedge to his right. He made his way through it and looked around.

Only to be pushed into a river.

He yelled, froze in the cold water and glared up at the now laughing fae that was sitting upon the bank.

Toby was not amused. He sloshed his way back to Jareth, grabbed him by the arm and the laugh petered out somewhat as the Goblin King raised an eyebrow waiting to see what his pet mortal would do. Toby had plenty of spine; he just never used it. Jareth was used to that. But now, there was a nice little spark in those burning blue eyes.

Toby grinned maliciously out of nowhere and yanked him with him back into the water. Jareth spluttered but laughed again and struck out, swimming cleanly to the other side. He got out, stripped off his wet shirt and boots and hopped back in. Toby couldn't help grinning, shaking his head at such juvenile antics. When a soft blast of magic jerked his knee out from under him, he went under with a gulp of water.

Another short surge, even though he couldn't feel it, took his shirt away and his shoes. Confronted with a completely serene blink of innocence from mismatched eyes, Toby swore vengeance. It was stupid and childish, but it had been ages since he'd played chase in a river. And it was all Jareth's fault so that was all right too.

They finally clambered out of the river a good hour later, thoroughly drenched and pleasantly relaxed.

Toby was a little less winded than his companion. Jareth, it seemed, had no stamina. He had short bursts of energy and then floated around contentedly with a far-away look on his face. He did that so often.

Blue eyes sobered at the thought, watching as the Goblin King threw himself onto the grassy bank with a sigh and then yelped, sitting up long enough to get the pebble out from under his back. Toby said nothing at first, of course; he waited for Jareth to settle down before voicing his thoughts.

"You spend a lot of time tapping into the magical currents," he said.

One eye- the blue one- opened and Jareth looked slightly puzzled. "I never know when I am needed."

"But every few minutes? Surely the land will tell you if something is wrong?"

"The land cannot always speak loud enough," Jareth replied, folding his arms behind his head like a pillow, "If whole ranks were to march past the borders dressed in armour and chanting war slogans, then yes. The land would tell me that. But if a single murderer spills blood on the soil, or a small forest fire begins… the entire land will not feel enough hurt to gain my attention. Especially if I am busy at the time."

"That makes some sense. It seems very strange, however. Why is it no one really knows what the kingship requires from you? Most people think you only drift from one day to next. It seems a little unfair to you."

"A lot of things seem unfair. It is simple strategy; even discarding the oath I take as the Goblin King. In the lonely depths of the Labyrinth, of course- no one must even hear the oath."

"Then why have I been told?"

The blue eye opened again, this time accompanied by a decidedly self-satisfied smirk. "You are not a citizen of the Underground."

Toby laughed and shook his head. "You," he pointed out, "Are a bad influence on an impressionable young man."

"And are you an impressionable young man?"

"Once, maybe, a few years ago. Not lately."

Jareth stilled for a minute and Toby saw him bite his lip, the tiny line appearing between his brows again. It meant he was either thinking very hard, or concentrating again. Silence descended for around fifteen minutes as the fae sorted out whatever it was that worried him. Toby held still and kept a watch out, ready to shake him out of the trance if he looked to be falling too deep into it.

The concern wasn't needed. In a matter of minutes the lean body melted back into the grass in its usual boneless way and the damp skin stopped papering bunched muscles.

Toby cleared his throat warningly. "Gone?"

"Barroom fight in the Goblin City," Jareth commented, seemingly randomly, "Too much use of the word 'revolution' and 'overthrow' for my liking."

"What did you do?"

"Threw a table at the lot of them. That should be enough."

Toby shook his head in exasperation. "And I suppose being harsh will endear you to them? You're as bad as Luka! His groom wanted to leave so he threatened to whip him until he saw sense."

Jareth snorted and shifted again. "Fool," he muttered, "Always said he was half-witted."

Toby ignored the comment. He didn't want to think about his former boyfriend. Not when, for the first time, Jareth's long body was laid out for him to examine at his leisure. Jareth somehow always managed to flit away in bed. But here he was, lying still in sunlight, wet breeches turning into nothing more than a second skin. Jareth was… well, wiry. He wasn't skinny, but he was certainly not large. No body hair, which was normal for a fae. His skin seemed soft, though Toby knew from personal experience that being pressed up against that chest was the very opposite of soft.

He didn't notice a very amused fae peep at him from below his eyelashes. It was an old trick Jareth made frequent use of. In this case, he was surprised to see a hungry look pass swiftly over the pleasant, honest face. How interesting!

Jareth turned his face up to the sun, his eyes heavy-lidded. There was a particular charm about sitting still in silence but right on cue, his ward had begun to fidget. He searched his mind for a suitable topic of conversation. He hit on one. It wasn't suitable, but it was something he'd been meaning to ask: "Tell me of Luka, Toby. It has been a long time since I last saw him. Is he still the same?"

The mortal started and looked up, clearly caught off guard with the question. "Luke?" he echoed, getting his mind back to reality, "Luke is fine, I guess. I have not seen him since... since he left a few months ago."

"I know that," Jareth said patiently, "I asked whether he is still the same as before."

"Since I don't know what before is, I can't tell you," Toby replied slowly, "But Lady Pandora says he has not changed much. Why? What was he like when you were friends?"

"An idiot."

"Jareth!"

The Goblin King laughed and rolled onto his right side, propping himself up on his elbow. His companion's muscular body was sprawling in attractive inelegance across the grass. No, the man was as far from Sarah as he was likely to get. But Jareth didn't necessarily hold that against him quite as much.

"I wish you would refrain from speaking of him like that. For all intents and purposes, he is still my boyfriend."

"Oh?" Jareth asked, sounding even more interested, "What would you do if I didn't stop?"

"I would have to protect his honour, naturally," Toby replied, "Is that not the way of it in the Underground?"

"No. Not if it is the truth. He was an idiot. I didn't say he remained so. Luka was young and foolish and too prone to extravagant displays of political intrigue and play-acting. He was amusing, until he began to grate on my nerves. He was also selfish."

Toby brought his knees to his chest, a defensive gesture that was not lost on the Goblin King. "I think you will find he is much improved," Toby said stiffly, "And even if you don't, what you think of him is not relevant. I happen to have feelings for him and I do not appreciate having someone I care about disparaged."

There! They were back to that stiff diplomacy again. Jareth was getting very tired of it. "I crave pardon then." He rolled onto his back once more, clearly bored. It certainly seemed as if he was not likely to get anywhere close to having a decent conversation with the young mortal, at least in the next few hours. Toby looked too insulted for that.

"I wish you wouldn't call him an idiot," Toby suddenly murmured. The anger had gone, leaving a sadly deflated tone.

Jareth cracked an eye open. The pleasant face was bewitchingly revealing. He sat up and then scooted closer, sitting down right opposite Toby and staring searching over every honest feature. "Tell me," he said again, "Why do you protect someone who has treated you so shabbily?"

Toby blinked, but the past month had at least relaxed him to the occasional close proximity of his guardian. "He did not mean to be hurtful to me. Certainly his trip meant a lot to him. How can I grudge him that? It's not as if this were a matter of death."

"He doesn't mind that I touch you intimately?"

Toby blushed a little but shrugged. "Since circumstance made it a necessity, I don't see that he should. Besides, what we do is have sex. What Luka and I do is something a bit beyond that; more meaningful."

Jareth tried to see beyond the honesty in the blue eyes. There had to be something deeper to such laid-back logic. Surely love could not be logical? "How romantic," he remarked, barely keeping the dry irony from his voice, "Tell me how meaningful it is. I'm sure Luka has shown his love in other ways, hmmm?"

Toby looked confused.

"Does he give you presents, flowers, things of that nature? Does he wake you up in the morning to see the sunrise? Does he know what your favourite music is? What you enjoy eating? What colour most of your shirts are? Your favourite smell?"

Toby frowned in thought. "I suppose so. We never bother with things like that."

"I see." Jareth nodded to himself. "Tell me, does he at least know why you practise so hard with the sword?"

"… I don't know."

Jareth nodded again, this time decisively. "Sarah hated mornings, so she would have refused to be woken up anytime before eight. But she loved night trips to the beach. She loved the smell of jasmine and hot toast. They made her think of hotels and honeymoons. She loved ballads. Most of her clothes were white and blue. She had one formal dress, however, that was green."

The Goblin King stopped for a minute.

"I never saw her in that dress. And she genuinely liked your mother, though she did resent her marrying your father. She didn't hate you; she was upset because she couldn't see you grow up. She wanted to go to a drama academy in Los Angeles. She thought ice cream was just cold cream with a flavour. She doodled on every notebook she possessed. She brushed her teeth before she took a bath. She…"

"I am well aware," Toby said sharply, "That you spied on Sarah to the exclusion of ever other duty in the Underground. What is the point?"

Jareth let the insult pass. "The point is that I loved her. How much do you know about Luka?"

"I don't," Toby said quietly, "But love is not all about sunsets and sweet kisses. It's about trust and companionship and understanding. I have that with him. You cannot make me doubt him, Jareth, so don't try."

"No. No, love is not sunsets and kisses. I fully agree. But sunsets and kisses are a key pleasure of it. Is there no romance in your life, Toby? No… passion?"

The mortal floundered helplessly as feather-soft fingertips touched his knee. Passion? It was ludicrous considering what they got up to every night. "Yes! Yes, there is passion in my life, though it is hardly any of your business." He took himself well in hand and stopped the raging in his blood. "I think we should end this conversation."

"Why? Does it bother you?"

"It angers me that you try to run down a relationship that is special to me. Have you so little tact?"

"Tact has no place in this conversation," Jareth dismissed, "The truth is the truth."

"Really? Then it might please you to know that I consider my relationship with Luka a much healthier one than the one-sided obsession you had for my half-sister."

That tore it. Something fundamentally controlled in Jareth's eyes snapped and the most powerful anger Toby had ever seen on another person's face was now confronting him.

But Jareth didn't attack him; he merely looked at him. And when he spoke, his voice showed no emotion. "Practicalities of life- paying the bills and buying groceries- those vanish in seconds. You won't remember them in twenty years. You will remember if Luka were to suddenly give you a box of your favourite chocolates and then feed them to you in the sun. You'll remember that he put out all the lights in your home one night and challenged you to a game of chase. You'll remember when he lies hard beneath you, aching for your touch because he can't bear to be without you one more minute."

"And you?" Toby had no idea what he was asking. "What do you remember that makes you an expert?"

Jareth gave him a mirthless smile, just as spiked with anger as the rest of him. "I remember Sarah murmuring my name in her sleep. She once bought a shirt because it looked somewhat like one she saw me wear. It stayed in the back of her closet but she would take it out at times to stroke and touch. I stayed with her as she died though I don't know if that counts."

Toby felt foolish. The maybes of that doomed love affair did seem far brighter than the amiable realities of his own. Jareth had every right to speak as he did. "I apologize," the mortal whispered, looking genuinely concerned, "I didn't realize it cut so deep. But you have to understand that different people want different things. Luke does not change my life; he makes himself a part of it. And I like that. Besides, it is not as if Luke deliberately sets himself out to know so little about me. I never tell him things like that."

Jareth sighed and left his place, getting up to go back to sleeping in the grass. "Sandalwood," he said unexpectedly, "You like the smell of sandalwood. It reminds you of that carving in your parents' house, when you were a child. And you love melting sugar cubes on your tongue. Oh, and I believe your favourite music is anything played on the harp. I haven't yet decided if your favourite colour is green or grey."

The Goblin King shut his eyes once more.

Toby stared at him with an odd little shudder of revulsion dancing down his spine. It was revolting, revolting that the Goblin King of all people knew those things about him and that Luka hadn't really seemed to.

Toby didn't say anything else for a long time.