All things considered, it would have been easier if Sarah and Jareth had just simultaneously passed out from exhaustion. But unfortunately, the universe is a cruel and unusual place and that didn't happen. At all. So there the two of them stood, dressed in their pajamas and staring skeptically at the large-but-not-quite-large-enough bed in front of them.
"This shouldn't be that hard, you know," sighed Jareth, crossing his arms over his white wife beater.
"I'll rock-paper-scissors you for the right side," said Sarah darkly.
"No. I'm tired and you always win."
"Is that you forfeiting without a battle?"
"Why are you so set on the right side?"
"The left side is next to the window and the sun rises from over there, Socrates. Now give it up."
Jareth stared Sarah in much the same way a bachelor's roommate stares at their friend's last month's one night stand that just showed at the door with a positive pregnancy test. In short, slightly horrified, curious, and impressed that she managed to find the address.
"Sarah," he said slowly, "You chased me all around the room with a hair straightener... Because you wanted the sun to not get in your face in the morning?"
"Well, yes. And you threatened me with the same when you found out I took your leotard to the drycleaners."
Jareth sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ludo didn't have this problem. Ludo was already sprawled out, snoring on the floor.
"Just get in the bed. Choose any side. Why do I even put up with you?"
"Because you're an asshole," said Sarah, flopping onto the bed, "And I tolerate you."
"Really?" said Jareth, going over to turn off the light, "Just tolerate?"
"On a good day."
"And on a bad day?" he said softly.
The lights clicked off.
"On a bad day people think we're a couple. Now get in bed. It's cold as balls and no one here knows how to turn the heating system on."
"You're so demanding, Jesus."
"Hypocrite."
"I never said it was a bad thing."
"Just shut up and get over here."
xxx
Jareth woke up first. His first thought, half formed as it was, was something along the lines of "Dear God help me I'm drowning." After a few moments of slowly blinking his way into the real world, he came to realize that a) he'd used God's name in vain, b) he definitely wasn't drowning, and c) he wasn't remotely Christian enough to worry about using God's name in vain.
Carefully, he reached up and brushed the blanket down off his face, only to be greeted by more darkness. The weight on his chest stirred and muttered. Ah, yes. That would explain why the entire right half of his body was asleep. Jareth slowly moved the blanket aside again and was greeted by a huge tangle of black hair. She was sprawled out across him, her face on his chest and her hands casually draped over his body.
Sarah shifted around and attempted to burry her face deeper into Jareth's chest. And maybe she succeeded, because the man felt something in his ribcage clench and his throat tighten. A myriad of questions tumbled through his mind and he didn't have the words or the nerve to shake the girl awake and voice a single one of them.
"I can hear you thinking," mumbled Sarah, raising herself slightly off the bed.
"It's nothing," whispered Jareth, "Go back to sleep."
The woman's body slumped back down and within moments, she was asleep. Jareth followed suit.
xxx
The next time either of them woke up, the room was bright with light. Sarah slowly blinked the sleep out of her eyes, trying to figure out where she was. It took her a few seconds to figure it out and groan, flipping herself off of Jareth and burying her face in a pillow. Next to her, the man shifted, rolling himself onto his side. Sarah deigned to lift her head slightly off the pillow to glare sleepily at the man with one eye.
"Hello," he said, propping himself up on one elbow, "I love you."
Sarah's heart stuttered slightly, and she buried her head back in the pillow, mumbling something.
"What was that?"
More unintelligible noise.
"Excuse me?"
"I love me, too."
Jareth threw his head back and laughed.
"And here I thought we were having a moment," he said fondly.
Sarah rolled over to face Jareth, mirroring his position.
"We were," she said, smiling, and reached over to stroke Jareth's hair.
"And you just let it fly away?" Jareth asked, leaning into her touch, "I'm offended."
"Expecting me to say something else?"
"Of course," he sniffed, "I thought we had something special."
Sarah snorted in a decidedly unattractive way and leaned in, pressing her lips to Jareth's for just a few seconds.
"I love you, too," she whispered in his ear.
For a couple of seconds, everything was blissfully quiet and there was some truly sappy eye contact. Then, something outside the room crashed and banged and probably broke and went off to a better world with less small children.
Jareth swore. Sarah groaned.
"How much more of this is there?" she asked.
"Just a couple of days before it's socially acceptable to leave," Jareth replied, slumping onto his back.
"Great," said Sarah, rolling out of bed.
Jareth sat up, wrapping the blanket around himself. Sarah lay on the floor for a couple of seconds, then slowly stood up and leaned on the mattress, arching her back in a cat-like stretch. Her over-sized t-shirt slumped off of one shoulder, and the word "BABE" on the front scrunched and stretched slightly.
"You know you're going to have to meet my family, right?" she asked.
"Oh, god," muttered Jareth, "Are they better than mine?"
"Depends what you mean by 'better,'" Sarah said.
Jareth swore again. Sarah burst out laughing.
Author's Note:
Well, that finally happened. I'm so sorry I haven't been updating. Convention ended, and I really have no excuse. I'll try to get in a chapter a week from now on, at the least.
I did do some shitty art of one bit in here, so if you guys want to take a look, the link to the image is in my profile, as apparently it didn't work very well with the cope-paste.
I love you all.