Living with his sister could be cool, Toby would admit grudgingly and never in Sarah's hearing. Most days, he was fairly happy that his father had accepted the transfer to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He missed his mom sometimes, of course, but knew perfectly well that expecting their parents to stay separated for an indefinite period of time would be like asking a PETA member to eat a kitten. Sarah's mom checked in on them fairly often and Toby liked her, the first Mrs. Williams was glamorous, always smelled of sunshine and ruffled his hair companionably with her scarlet talons. She was practical too and always managed to make sure that a head of cabbage and some carrots were present in the fridge, despite Toby's best machinations. All in all, there were worse ways to be spending the last year of high school with your older sister – even if she did think that being an English major in her second year, whoo boy made her queen of the universe, even if she had once wished you away to the Goblin King – who snored, incidentally –
"How's it?" inquired his friend Robin Hob lazily, pushing his math homework towards Toby. "No, man, take it. Judging from your face, I don't think you got much homework done. There's an 'oh shizzit' glaze about your eyes."
"Thanks," said Toby gratefully, flipping open the pages and starting to write.
"Faster than that. Hardcastle's being himself today, only more so." And Robin laughed to see Toby's writing speed up to the point where Toby had to leave off for a few minutes, panting and massaging the cramp in his hand. Toby shot his tousle-haired friend a look which Robin answered with a grin that crinkled up his pansy eyes and the bridge of his big nose. "What's up with you anyway? You're jumpy."
"Am I?" demurred Toby, and then seeing his friend's eyes still fixed curiously on him, he shrugged. "Nah, it's just," there's this Goblin King, see, who thinks I should be about five, "Sarah and I had a bit of a talk," about that time she wished me away, "and I couldn't sleep too well after that," because aforesaid Goblin King is asleep on my bed and I had to use the couch, "nothing big."
"Cool," nodded Robin. And then Hardcastle swept into the room looking like all his PMSes had come at once and Robin hurriedly snatched back his homework as quickly as Toby was still trying to copy it and both of them got yelled at.
Despite his burning ears, Toby felt himself grateful for this semblance of normality. It was something that had been severely lacking the night before.
**
"I didn't call him, Toby," Sarah said quietly, closing the door softly behind them.
"He said you did," snarled her brother, whirling on her. The look on Toby's face made Sarah's heart ache with an entirely different feeling from when she had watched Jareth slip into sleep. Her brother's face looked like she had bleached all the color from it, except for the two livid red spots that had crawled up into his cheeks. His eyes were very dark, very scared and hurt."You don't have to lie to me, Sarah! But – smokin' oaks! – what did I do?"
"Nothing! Toby, you're my brother, I couldn't - I wouldn't -" Sarah stopped short, remembering that she could, she would – once – and she had. Toby's eyes were laughing unpleasantly at her and she could tell that he was thinking the same bruise-purple thing. Sarah took a deep breath and placed her hands gently on her brother's shoulders, "Toby. I know I did it once. And I'd never do it again. I mean – despite everything," she took a deep breath and looked her brother in the eye. Uncomfortable as she was with demonstrations of affection, Toby's eyes were so pained and pleading, wanting so badly to be convinced, "even though you like talking like a child on a bad Eighties' sitcom, and even though you hog the bathroom and leave your underwear all over the place – I promise you, I'd go through hell and back for you."
"But he said-"
"Toby, I think he's confused – maybe someone else called him and he got mixed up. He doesn't really remember us that well," here Sarah looked away, and Toby didn't see the look in her eyes. "He thinks you were a baby when you were – kidnapped."
"But I wasn't-"
"I know. And Toby, I'm – I'm sorry. I don't know if I ever told you. But I'm sorrier than you'll ever know."
Sarah's hands were clenched tightly into the cloth of his t-shirt. Toby could feel her fingers pressing right into his bones and when he looked at her, there were tears in her eyes and that took all the wind out of his sails. "Er. Well. Okay," he said. "Okay. I believe you. Sorry. Jeez Louise, you can let go of me now. Er."
Sarah sniffed damply and turned away. "Good. Anyway," she was brisk and sharp. "We're going to have to figure out what to do with him."
"You're not going to toss him out, are you?" gasped Toby, horrorstruck. There was no doubt in his mind that the Goblin King would never survive the night without getting run over. Even if the man – if he was a man - could stand, something that didn't seem to be likely to happen any time soon, it was all too likely that he would get run over by a truck. Jareth probably thought that arching an eyebrow, tight pants and glitter and all, with a commanding "Cease" would stop a car. Maybe in his own world it would – if they had cars there – but definitely not here, and with Jareth in such bad shape, it was doubtful he could have stopped a chicken.
Sarah looked very, very tired. "No," she almost whispered. "We can't do that. He's in absolutely no condition to do anything besides sleep." She put a hand to her head and closed her eyes. "Right," she said, as commandingly as she could, eyes still closed. "I don't think there's anything else we can do right now so we might as well not worry about it. You've got school tomorrow so – shouldn't you be doing your math homework?"
Toby pointed at the room they had just left. "My stuff's in there," he said laconically.
A flash of annoyance crossed Sarah's face as she opened her eyes and glared at her brother with half the heart and half the venom. "Don't get used to using him as an excuse, buddy," she advised. "Things aren't going to stay this way for long." The unspoken warning was, I'll see to that.
**
Sarah was puttering about the kitchen, uneasily putting things away. Every creak, every squeak, every infinitesimal noise of the house made her whirl around, half expecting to see a tall and glorious Goblin King who would promptly pin her up against the fridge and ravish her on the kitchen table – somehow, in Sarah's confused imagination, he always managed to do both at the same time. Normally on days when she didn't have classes, Sarah would be hunkered down with a thick book or fervently trying to memorize concepts like 'romanticism', 'ut pictura' and 'ekphrasic' but it was simply asking too much to her to concentrate today. All of her seemed jammed into that little closet Toby called a bedroom, waiting for Jareth to awake.
And when he finally deigned to do so, it was hardly in a blaze of glory either. Sarah looked up to find him staggering from the room, looking left and right furtively and blearily as if he was waiting for great, black spiders to emerge and eat him. He almost looked as if he would be grateful for this; maybe the horror of being masticated slowly would jolt him awake from this nightmare. The expression was hauntingly familiar, and Sarah realized that her own face had worn that look during her adventures in the Labyrinth. Only she hoped she hadn't looked half as terrible as that.
"Good morning," she said softly.
Jareth jumped, looked at her and then closed his eyes and groaned.
Sarah scowled. "Good to see you too," she said tartly. "Pleasant morning, isn't it? Or should I say afternoon."
Jareth appeared to be slapping himself around the face and murmuring, "Wake up, wake up, wake up…"
"I'm still here," Sarah reminded him.
"And you're still wearing clothes," said Jareth, distraught. "That proves I'm not dreaming. Damn!"
Sarah's face went hot and red, but most of all, she was shocked at the sudden and stark jump of her hormones at his words. The little downy hairs at the back of her neck and on her arms stood up at the thought of being naked in front of Jareth, having him touch her lightly with those leather gloves still on, looking up and seeing her desire mirrored in his mismatched eyes. And then he would move in and close whatever distance there was between their two bodies and of course his clothes would mysteriously melt away and then they would –
… Steady on, girl!
"What did you say?" Sarah heard her own voice as if from far away. She looked up from her lap and met Jareth's quizzical eyes. But instead of giving her a knowing smirk or a leer, he looked merely impatient as he repeated the question in an insultingly slow manner:
"I said, I was hungry. Get me something to eat."
Sarah's eyes were starting to flash when at that propitious moment, Toby burst into the house. He made a great deal of clattering as things – presumably his bag, books and shoes – went flying and he burst into the living room. "Sarah, I'm starving, do we have anything in the fridge – oh," he said stupidly. "Hullo. I didn't think you'd be up yet. Er…"
"Hello, Sarah," called a reserved voice from the hallway.
"You. Brought. A Friend. Home?" hissed Sarah.
"Er, well," Toby started to say, beginning to look hunted, "I tried to stop him, but Robin insisted on coming with me and I just couldn't say no-"
"Couldn't say 'no'! Here, I'll teach you! Repeat after me, EN-OH. NO!"
"Sarah-"
"Toby-"
The tension in the room thickened almost audibly. Sarah and Toby nearly swallowed their tongues at the sharp and sudden intake of air from either Jareth or Toby's friend. Shooting Jareth a quick, alarmed glance, Sarah noticed that Jareth was suddenly all Goblin King. His chin lifted regally, his eyes were cool, imperious, haughty and he was dangerous again, old and elven and nothing her human mind could comprehend anymore. Toby, staring at Robin, gulped at the sight of his friend's face - always sharp and laughing, there was no longer anything human about it in a way that Toby couldn't pinpoint. Those great, velvety eyes were still the same - but deeper somehow, and clearer and more knowing than any mortal's eyes had any right to be.
"Robin Goodfellow," Jareth said icily.
"Goblin King," and Robin Hob bowed. Toby's heart began to race as he noticed for the first time that his friend's ears were just a little pointy.
"…uck," swore Sarah, looking first from Jareth to Robin. Toby shot her a confused look.
"Why'd you-"
"Puck," repeated Sarah. "'That merry wanderer of the night…'"
"Is that what your lot think of him?" snorted Jareth. "Funny. It's more like homicidal psychopath where we come from."
Robin straightened up and his smile was the most beautiful that Toby had ever seen. "Fancy meeting you here! Quite the coincidence, wouldn't you say, sire?"
In two strides, Jareth was across the room and both Sarah and Toby's eyes widened. This man weak; this man whimpering? There was no connection between the stumbling, exhausted Jareth of last night to this magnificent, frightening Goblin King who was furious with all the cold rage of an ice storm. Robin tried to dodge, but in a slice of a second, Jareth had him by the collar in one swift, terrible move. And still Robin – Puck – laughed.
"What do you have to do with this, Robin Goodfellow?" drawled Jareth, with a smile like a dagger playing about the corners of his long ironical mouth.
"Oh nothing, my lord," purred Robin, "I did nothing."
And just before Jareth tightened his hold dangerously, the sprite winked at Toby. "But know everything," he chuckled, soft and low.