A/N:
This takes place directly after chapter 3. Just a reminder, I added tags to the end of the last chapter in case you need a refresher on where this is headed.
Fade into You: Chapter 4 - However You Wish
Silence squeezed in around them, made worse by Jareth's exaggerated display of pained patience. His arms were crossed, lips pressed firmly together, and his eyebrows looked in danger of vanishing entirely in his hairline.
Sarah sighed in surrender. "Open that," she ordered, nodding toward the champagne and motioning for Jareth to follow her back into the living room. "And I'll tell you."
Jareth made no move to follow her. "See," he said with a disappointed pout. "I was hoping for more of a show-and-tell scenario." He flicked a hand at the bottle, sending the cork soaring into the tote bag. Sarah was sure he was trying to emphasize his complaint, but it was hard to take him seriously when the cork ricocheted cartoonishly and nailed him in the upper thigh.
She couldn't help but laugh as Jareth cursed and rubbed his leg. "Serves you right, Nosey McNoserson. Bring the bag with you, if you must. But let me give you a bit of a preamble before I show you."
Jareth snatched the tote bag and weighed it thoughtfully like a child with a gift on Christmas Eve when they think their parents aren't looking. He gave it a little shake and trailed behind her, his bruised thigh quite forgotten. "This is going to be good, isn't it?"
Sarah sent him a sober look. "You have no idea." She gestured to the sofa on her way to the kitchen, returning with champagne flutes and a carton of orange juice.
"I have many ideas."
"They are all wrong," Sarah said breezily, sitting beside him and handing him a mimosa. He clinked his glass to hers when she raised her own. "Here's to messy entryways and forgetting to put really, really dumb shit away after an ill-planned business trip."
Jareth cocked his head at her. "You haven't been on a business trip for two months."
"Exactly," Sarah confirmed.
His observation served as a reminder of how much more time they had been spending together. The way in which he so easily recalled the events of her life and what she shared with him warmed her. There had been a time, not long ago, when that feeling would have made her uncomfortable. Now, it made her want to let him in closer, to tell him more.
She wondered what had changed.
"Soooooo." Jareth dragged the word out like it was its own paragraph. "This intriguing mystery object-"
"Objects," Sarah corrected, resolute at this point to roll with it all because he wasn't giving her much choice. She'd rather own it than let herself stew in awkwardness.
"These objects"—his eyes crackled like she had added another branch to the fire within them—"have just been cheerfully sitting in a sack in your foyer for two months?"
"It would seem that way, yes." She took another sip and eyed him roguishly over the rim of her glass. She could turn this around—toy with him a bit for a change. "One could call my ability to completely forget about it impressive, but the real feat was figuring out how to fly home with it."
Jareth turned to sit facing her, tucking his legs beneath him—criss-cross applesauce. "You're actively attempting my early expiry at this point," he accused. "My investigation is still pending, don't forget."
"Early expiry?" Sarah queried with a quirked brow. "You're so unfathomably ancient I try to avoid thinking about it." She tapped her temple. "Fragile mortal psyche. Anyway, cool it on the threats, Lanks." Sarah took another long drag of her mimosa and wondered how miffed Pandora would be if she learned of the abandon in which Sarah was wrenching open her box.
Jareth smiled at the nickname, one he had at first protested half-heartedly. He'd been called worse things than Lanky Bastard, he'd told her once. Sarah knew that was as good as him admitting he loved it.
She smiled back at him, swatting his hands away from the tote as he prodded the lumps experimentally.
"As you know," she began, "I was in Los Angeles for a conference a few months ago."
"Where you met Pete's fleet of saccharine teets," Jareth supplied helpfully.
Sarah managed a glare through the smile that tugged at her lips. "Yep. Your memory is positively pachydermic."
Jareth tossed his hair proudly and signaled for her to continue.
"On one of the nights I was out there, my co-worker Sylvia invited me to a white elephant at her apartment. I…" She swallowed thickly, sipped, and started again. "I didn't know it was a passion party event. The vibe there turned out to be kind of culty, so I didn't stay long. It was very, 'If five of your friends buy five dildos, and then each of those five friends buy five dildos, blah, blah, dildo referral bonus tree, blah, entrepreneur, blah.'"
Jareth looked like he might implode from the suspense. "I understood half of that at best, but it was enough for me to be painfully intrigued."
"I didn't realize it was a kink toy roulette gift exchange," she added by way of explanation, knowing how little she was revealing. "I feel bad for the poor, disappointed soul who got my scented bath salts."
"Sarah, I am currently expiring." Jareth lamented, feigning a Shakespearean faint. "Farewell." With that, he disappeared.
"That's too bad," she said with a regretful shrug, reaching for the tote bag. "I was just getting to the good part."
An unnecessary crack sounded on the other side of her as Jareth reappeared, seizing the bag from her hands. "Give me that, you evil thing."
She let the tote transfer to him and, with it, any hopes of living a single day without hearing about its contents ever again.
Jareth withdrew a crushed velvet pouch of a horrendous cotton candy pink shade. A fuchsia ribbon cinched it closed. Colors Sarah would have never chosen.
Jareth pulled a face. "Ew."
"Yeah," Sarah agreed with a giggle. "I know. It gets better, though. I have to say, I made out like a bandit compared to almost everyone else there. White elephants can be pretty cutthroat. There were several trade attempts." She waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively.
Sarah was sure she hadn't blinked, but the pouch was suddenly open and sitting between them on the sofa. Jareth held a clear bottle in his hand, tipping it this way and that. They both watched the viscous liquid inside spill back and forth.
"Lubricant. Oh, my," Jareth drawled, unimpressed. "This is quite a prize."
"J, skip the dry bagel joke I know you want to make and keep looking," Sarah ordered, though she could feel the indulgent smile on her face.
Jareth smirked at her. "You don't know for a certain fact I was planning any such jest."
"If you weren't, you would have said so. But you were, and you can't lie," Sarah pointed out matter of factly. "My lifespan could fit into a blink of your creepy eye, and this is how you're wasting it?"
He laughed and opened the pouch again. His mirthful expression drew into a scowl of confusion as he attempted to disentangle a leather harness. "You do not have a pet."
Sarah snorted. "It's for me, idiot."
If Jareth's head tilted any more severely, it would snap. "I…see."
He did not see. That much was evident as he poked an exploratory finger through the ring.
"I am unclear why you need a new hole."
"No, Jareth, that's not—" He looked so genuinely perplexed that Sarah burst into laughter. "That's where the attachment goes."
Jareth beckoned expectantly. "Please provide me with said attachment."
Sarah fished the final item out of the bag and relished the slap of silicone against his open palm. She laughed again when he instinctively gripped the dildo like his life depended on it before it could bounce out of his hand.
He looked at it for a long moment as it bobbed and eventually stilled. Then he threaded it through the harness ring, studying it. A slow smile stretched across his angular face.
"Put this on immediately," he demanded, thrusting it out to her.
"Absolutely not."
"Please." He pouted, glittery eyes locking with hers as his tongue painted a long stripe from root to tip. "Did you let him touch you like this?"
Sarah made a face and flicked the dildo so it booped him lightly on the nose. "Absolutely not," she repeated through a laugh.
Jareth narrowed his eyes at her. "But you've worn it."
She could deny it, but she knew it would be pointless. "I tried it on in my hotel. Alone."
He scooted closer to her, and Sarah wasn't sure he was even aware of it. His excitement was a barely contained buzzing she could feel in her body.
"Oh, Sarah," he crooned, drawing out her name like it was his favorite sin. "It's perfect for you."
"A bit of a power reversal kink, I think," he commented, a finger tapping thoughtfully on his lip. "I do wonder where that came from."
"Don't psychoanalyze me, please."
"If I were to have taken a Freudian approach, I would have suggested—"
"Don't even say it," Sarah said. "His work has largely been discredited. And if we're just throwing around people's kinks here, let's not forget your forbidden fruit kink."
Jareth barked a laugh, delighted. "A kink we share, perhaps."
"Perhaps," she replied noncommittally.
Jareth looked mollified for a moment before rekindled eagerness sparked in his eyes. "Please put it on. You'll be the unrivaled topmost favorite of all my beloved champions."
Sarah stood with a smirk and brandished the strapon at Jareth threateningly. "I'm your only beloved champion. The default topmost favorite."
She stepped into one of the leather loops with a stirrup-panted foot. Her hand reflexively found support on his shoulder as she reached down to pull up the second loop. Jareth watched her straighten and adjust the straps over her hips, shifting the dildo over her mons.
When she looked up, she was startled by the lack of a smile to match her own. Jareth's quiet assessment burned through her. Feeling suddenly all too exposed, she moved to take an instinctive step back. Jareth's hands were suddenly holding her in place. He locked eyes with her and slipped his thumbs beneath the harness at her hips. The pads stroked over the cotton of her leggings.
Sarah's breath lodged deep in her chest as they watched each other carefully. Jareth seemed unnervingly calm.
"Do you like this attention from me?" he asked with a gentle curiosity in his tone that mirrored his touch.
"I do," she admitted, though it was difficult as her body prioritized her pounding heart over breathing.
Jareth pressed into the dips of her lower back, and she gasped.
"Good," he said, his voice a low, praising purr. "But do you want it?"
Sarah stared at him, taken aback by being asked so directly. She wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to answer him—there was just more than one truth.
She went with, "I don't not want it."
"Well," Jareth said with an air of relief. "That's something."
A hand slid from hip to shaft and squeezed at the base. He pulled her closer, bringing her between his knees.
Sarah tracked his hand as it stroked the length in time with a caress at her hip. It unnerved Sarah as much as it excited her. His eyes dropped down to the strapon and flicked back to hers.
"Have you ever wondered what it would feel like?" Jareth leaned in and pressed his lips to the tip. "To have this done to you? We could try that, too, you know."
Sarah broke from her numb stare. "Too?"
He leaned back against the couch cushions. She followed him forward, noticing only after that he hadn't tugged her along. When her legs hit the edge of the couch, she fell forward, bracing herself against his shoulders again.
A flash of a satisfied smile split Jareth's face. "It's possible I haven't made myself clear," he said, his face so close to hers that she could feel the warmth of his breath. "Let me remedy that."
His typically over-bright eyes were heavy-lidded as they skimmed every inch of her face. His gaze hovered over her lips for a long moment. Sarah was sure Jareth was going to kiss her. It felt impossible that he wouldn't. Her lips were parted and moistened, and she realized she must have licked them in anticipation.
Instead, he said, "I want you. In every way, I want you. Fuck me the way you think I deserve to be fucked. Fuck me like you want to be fucked. Fuck me however you wish." Jareth's hands slid up her arms and grasped her elbows, bending them slightly to lean her closer. "But you will initiate it, or no deal."
Sarah snorted but didn't move away. "Oh, we have a deal, now? I wasn't aware." Her hand had slipped to cup his face as she considered him. "What about kissing?" she asked, her thumb brushing his lower lip. She smiled when he did not attempt to hide his shudder. "Is kissing a part of this deal?"
"The same terms apply," Jareth said, his tone both playful and sensual.
It felt natural to crawl on the couch and plant her knees between his thighs. She did so before actively deciding to. His fingers found her hips again as he watched the dildo bounce with her movements. She wanted to swallow the small groan he let out.
She was pulling his face to hers when a loud bang startled them both. Their eyes flew open and looked toward the front door, where the first bang was followed by several more.
"Sarah!" came a voice from behind the door. "Are you home? Is Jareth there? Did you make french toast?"
Jareth and Sarah stared at each other for a long beat, under a silent agreement to pretend they were unquestionably not there.
The knocking came again, a lighter staccato. "Jareth! You said we could practice juggling. I know you're in there."
"It appears your protegee has arrived, as per your invitation," Sarah whispered, stifling a giggle.
"Who gave the infant a driver's license?" Jareth's head fell against the back of the couch in defeat.
There was another knock before it abruptly stopped. "Oh, wait," said the voice. "I have a key."
"NO!" Sarah and Jareth yelled simultaneously.
"Tobes, hold on a sec!" Sarah added with a hint of hysteria in her voice as she struggled out of the harness.
A key rattled in the lock threateningly. "Do you guys need a countdown?" Toby shouted through the door. "If you're finally an…item…or whatever, first of all, ew."
Jareth grinned at that as he helped Sarah hide the last of the items in the tote. He hastily stashed it under the sofa as the door flung open.
"And second of all, cool. I guess." Toby walked through the entryway and looked between the two of them suspiciously. "Why do you two look like I just walked in on you burying a body?"
When neither Sarah nor Jareth said anything in reply, Toby went on, "Aaaaaaanyway, where's the cinnamon egg bread? And why are you listening to S Club 7?"
A/N:
Alternatively Titled: "Sarah Escapes an MLM Mayhap and All She Got Was a Clutch Strap-on'
I purposely did not describe the attachment in detail. Let your imagination run free! The harness had to be leather, though. I mean. C'mon. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I hope you're enjoying this! I'm sorry this chapter took much longer to finish than anticipated. Lots of life stuff did the life thing. BUT! The next chapter is already complete and edited. I will post it soon as penance. I can't wait to share it. *Lucille Bluth wink*
Other fic updates: I guess not much of an update, but I did want to share with anyone reading my other stories that I am prioritizing this one until it is complete. After that, I will finish a longer, twisty-turny plot-heavy fic that could not be more different than this one. I'd been writing it for months and needed a bit of a breather; hence, this silliness was born. Most of that heavier fic is already written, so I'll probably post very regularly once it's totally finished. It's just not the kind of fic I could write and post, write and post.
After I complete that story, I'll start updating Dandelion Tea again *hopefully* until it's finished. I know I haven't updated Your Power is Yours to Give in a long time. I haven't abandoned it, but I did need to take care of myself and exit that headspace for a while. That story deals with themes that can be both therapeutic to write and difficult to revisit. But it holds a special place in my heart, especially as my first Labyrinth fic. To anyone who has read any of those stories and waited patiently for updates: Thanks for not abandoning them. I appreciate you very much. 3