Author's Note: A random chapter that I thought would sit well as a kind of momentary snapshot of life after The Agreement. Kind of kooky and mild. What can I say? I can't write dark and depressing all the time!
-----------------------------------------------------
"Listen," Jareth demanded, "Sitting cross-legged and hypnotizing yourself into the nether world is of no use here. Just listen."
Toby sighed but obeyed. He shut his eyes then strove to relax, to open his ears and skin and nose up to the various whispers of the world around him. It didn't work. He could hear, he could feel and he could smell. But before five minutes were over, he was distracted, trying to count time in his mind and think and wanting to groan in frustration because his mind went around in circles.
"Alright, stop." Jareth was standing, hands folded behind his back, a scowl on his handsome face. "It seems you still have no idea what it is you are doing so I suggest you stop wasting my time and yours."
"I never asked to do this at all," Toby pointed out, "It was no suggestion of mine."
Jareth's eyes kindled for a very brief moment and then Toby heard him striding away, obviously too annoyed to stay.
Toby shook his head and got up. Whatever it was that his educator was trying to show him, he was not even close to completing this lesson. Strange, he mused, when he had easily picked up all the others. He could see well enough that he didn't need to place a hand on Serenity's neck to be led back to the Castle. Once inside, he made his way to the room beside Jareth's study where the pile of goblin complaints had been dumped. The Goblin King had gotten his own back on that little interference- Toby had to sort through all of it and arrange it with Yava or Gonzo. Quite frequently, he had to mediate between both! That made for interesting afternoons and quite a few goblin fights.
He didn't see Jareth for the next three days. An old man was wished away and Jareth was apparently enjoying this new situation too much to keep touch. Which is not to say Toby missed him. Rather, he missed the peace of solitude when Jareth reappeared at the study door with not a hair out of place and a look of arch mischief on his face. Toby knew too well what that look meant, and he prepared for it.
"You can stay on the couch if you promise not to disturb me," he ordered, smiling to take the harshness away.
"What? Not even a proper greeting?" Jareth pouted, lounging on the couch with a soft sigh.
"None. I do not like my schedule disrupted."
"You have a schedule?" Jareth gave him a wry glance and then wished a book from the shelves to read. "I will attempt not to bother you… too much."
Toby counted slowly to ten and then counted backwards. He had just reached three when Jareth put down the book.
"Have you no other employment but dusty old books?"
The man never looked up. "These are your books. And I am trying to do your work."
"Mine, the Kingdom's… they are still dusty." A delicate sneeze sounded and Jareth looked very pleased with himself for having produced one on time without conscious effort. "There!"
"Your Majesty, if you distract me, I will never get this done and then I am liable to be here all night. In which case you will not be pleased because I will not be pleased."
"Then why bother with it at all? Leaveall thisand we keep our good temper. Come with me. We can explore the Castle."
Did he even realize, Toby wondered, how tempting that sounded? "Your Majesty, I am busy. You can enjoy yourself; I do not have that leisure."
"I do not see why. As your educator, I am giving you that leisure. In fact, I'm thrusting it at you."
Toby didn't believe Jareth could possibly use that word and not mean it in any sexual manner. He was right, if he could have seen that arch look deepen. Sharp teeth were shown off in a friendly smirk and Jareth was still lounging on the couch with his hands behind his head and his long legs crossed neatly at the ankles. "Thank you, but no."
The fae sat up with an actual pout. "Do you never allow yourself to have fun?"
"Yes. When my work is complete. You know, I am doing this at your request."
Thin lips quirked. "I should be so lucky. Every other request is blatantly disregarded."
"That is untrue!"
"Is it not? I had to drag you out to spend one morning swimming with me. I had to coax you not to be as stiff as a board in my bed. I had to ask you to call me by name and not title! And now this. I ask again- do you never enjoy yourself?"
Toby pretended not to hear.
"Toby, those complaints are going nowhere and you have the rest of the year to do whatever it is you need to do. They can be safely put away for a while."
"No. They cannot. This is important to the goblins and should have been done years ago," Toby retorted, "So leave me to my work and go do whatever it is you spend your days doing."
"That was rude. And uncalled for."
"I apologize. But you did provoke me."
"I merely asked why this is so important to you?" Jareth offered, "Is it perhaps the goblins? Because I tell you now this is a hopeless task. And even if it were not, what is one more day? This is not that pressing, surely?"
Toby looked up and couldn't help finding that perplexed concern utterly charming. Jareth really didn't understand that there was a time for work and a time for play. For him, things happened when and if he wanted them. Unfortunately, that was what made this all the more necessary. The goblins would work for their King no matter how shabbily he treated them. They needed a God, a Conqueror, and Jareth played that part with admirable aplomb. But it was unfair to make them work in conditions they were not happy in. And some of those conditions were horrendous! Most worked long hours with no extra pay and no leave. Rather, they were entitled to leave; they just had to ask Jareth. And that was a hopeless task.
What right had Jareth to tell him to put thepapers away? He bent down to his work with an annoyed click of his tongue. Nothing he said would make much difference anyway. The only time Jareth would go away was if he wanted to. "As I said before, I have work. Please leave."
"Oh dear! The consequences if you were ever to enjoy yourself," the other male mocked, "Toby, not even my mother is so stiff-necked. Tell me, when was the last time you romped with someone in a spirit of fun and hilarity?"
"Leave the Lady Pandora out of this," Toby snapped, "I simply have no interest in going with you."
The Goblin King shrugged without the least show of apology and contented himself with reclining on the couch. He let the mortal get on with whatever it was that Toby was occupying himself with and said nothing. Only, an idea began to grow. And that desk was very tempting.
Toby looked up when Jareth vanished out of the room. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked down, only to yelp when sharp teeth closed on his shoulder. He scrambled away in shock, his heartbeats quickened and his breathing shallow.
"Surprised?" A dark brow lifted. "One day I will make more of a game out of it. For now…" He pressed closer with a mischievous smirk and purred.
Toby placed firm hands on his chest and pushed. "No," he demanded, "I am working and you are insatiable. Go away and leave me the hell alone!"
"You're delightful when you try to resist," the fae grinned, sending his long, ungloved fingers walking down the demure grey shirt. "Very well, then. I see you want nothing to do with me now." His smile broadened when Toby breathed a sigh of relief. He continued with the charade, moving a step away and shaking his hair out of his face. "Which leaves us with a problem, since I want quite a lot to do with you."
Toby stopped breathing altogether.
"The brat is shocked," Jareth commented aloud, waving a hand over the stiffened figure before him, "I tell him I desire him and he proceeds to hyperventilate into unconsciousness. Breathe!"
The 'brat' accordingly sucked in a breath. It restored some of his brain to proper working order. "Your Majesty, you are going to have to take care of it yourself. I have work to do and I cannot do both!"
"Then by all means forget work."
"I would prefer to forget you." The tone was mild, but only because the words stung.
Jareth actually- for one bare moment- felt a pang of disbelief and rejection. For one very small moment. And then his able mind twisted the impression the right way around. He held his tongue and let a confident stare settle into his eyes. Toby would bend to his wishes; and the mortal should thank him for it!
"What do you want from me?"
That flashing smirk was back. It made Toby think that softening his voice to resignation had been far too premature. Jareth didn't break that easily. He made a mental note of that fact even as a burning hot, supple palm rose to cup his jaw.
"I want you to sit down. Keep working," Jareth said unexpectedly, "See if you can forget everything about me."
Toby was beginning to think himself a fool for walking into this trap so easily. "That shouldn't be hard," he remarked, "But what are you going to do? Hold an orgy in here just to throw it back in my face?"
"Use other people before you?" The Goblin King looked suitably shocked. "How impolite of me. No, I shall make do with what I already have."
"I see." Toby let himselfbe pushed into the chair. The carefully constructed wooden stem allowed him to swivel, sending a hazy flash of memory ricocheting through his mind about the swivel chair in his father's study. The way he'd stood in the doorway and chattered about something and his father would swivel around and long-sufferingly placate him before chasing him off. Returning to the present, he almost expected Jareth to sit himself down in his lap. "You mean to put on a show for me?" The couch was right in his line of vision.
Jareth allowed the blue eyes to slide away to cast a speculative glance at the couch so admirably in view. And he was tempted. But he was not that sort of person. Instead, he put out a hand and drew the mortal's face gently back around to look at him. "How big do you think the space under the desk is?" he chuckled.
Toby turned pink and felt his jaw drop. But not before the Goblin King stripped off his coat and tosseed it away, dropping so gracefully to his knees that he might have been perfected only for that one action. Then he disappeared from view altogether.
Slender, beautiful hands reached out and grasped the legs of the chair, pulling it closer on its castors, one hand rising to swivel the creaking wood the short distance necessary to fit properly into the dark niche.
"No, no, no! Not so close. For pity's sake back out a little," Jareth's laughing voice enjoined.
Toby complied, finding the light words reverberate somewhere inside him. Something twisted in his mind, in his soul, turning the shock and the uncertainty to a slightly more uplifted incredulity. Only Jareth. Luka's fertile brain would have suggested sex on the desk, perhaps with the fae doing the thrusting. But Toby was willing to bet that Jareth hadn't even considered it.
"I really must ask Yava to clean under this desk. The cobwebs are terrible."
Toby felt a laugh bubble up. "Jareth, get out of there. You should not be there at all! You're a bloody King!"
"And the King may do as he likes," Jareth's voice floated up, "And what I like is… this." A wet kiss was bestowed and vocally appreciated. "See? Continue with your work all you like. I shall stay here and amuse myself."
"Jareth! This- this is… weird!"
"Alas, such is life." The mock sadness almost made the mortal burst into adrenaline-fed laughter. "Do you have any appointments, today? What if someone were to enter?"
Toby reached down and felt around until he had a fistful of hair in his hand. "Try it and I will gag you," he threatened.
"Yes, you are in the perfect position, aren't you? Do you know, I cannot see a thing down here. What exactly am I doing?"
Toby lifted his eyes to the sky. It sounded like his educator was in the mood to play. And heaven help anyone who wanted to do otherwise; they were ruthlessly pursued by this manifestation of the small child that lived in the man that would clamour for their attention until it was grudgingly bestowed. And Jareth being as Jareth was, they wouldn't even keep the grudge very long.
"Keep going," Toby sighed, "You're doing just fine."
