Lunch was spectacular (and enthusiastically carved by Dîakon), not to mention copious to the point of stomach-ache inducing.
They'd danced it off to Christmas music blaring from Sarah's boombox pulled through the throne-room mirror from her apartment, powered by an extension cord that disappeared into the mirror's bubbly surface back into her living room. Jareth twirled her, dipped her, held her close at all the cues, and for the slower songs rested his hand just above her hip in a way that felt all too familiar, sending an electric thrill from her gut to her heart.
After exhaustion finally sunk in—and the day stretched into its twilight hours—Sarah reclined as comfortably as possible on the throne room floor, propped up against the base of the throne with her legs stretched out and crossed in front of her, deep in a game of Scrabble against Didymus and Hoggle.
Around her, goblins were playing whatever board games she'd had in her cupboard, and—from what she could gather by the occasional squabbling and brandished battle ax—cheating frequently. Though Jareth stepped in when a disagreement over the rules threatened to become too volatile.
"I had no idea you were so paternal," she observed with a smirk as he took his seat on the throne again after breaking up a Monopoly-induced brawl.
He smirked back as he swung his legs over her head to settle back into a lounge.
"My angelic nature knows no bounds," he replied, earning a brief glare from Hoggle.
His boots dangling over the side of the throne as he read one of her books; a dark romance, though Sarah hoped he wouldn't get far enough into it to figure that out. She'd tried to persuade him into something else and that—annoyingly—seemed to have sealed the deal.
Though how he could concentrate over the endless goblin chatter and Didymus and Hoggle's frequent bickering over spelling she had no idea.
"Hoggle, you don't spell 'squeeze' with an A," she admonished as the dwarf poked his letters into place.
"Yer don't?" Hoggle asked, his protruding brow furrowing.
"And you can't use the Q from my 'quickly' because Didymus already used the U for rush, and 'uuh' isn't a word," she added.
"Though it is one I've heard you utter," mumbled Jareth, quietly enough so only she heard him. She turned to glare at him, his sparkling eyes only just visible above the paperback. "Repeatedly," he added from behind it.
"Enjoying the book?" she asked, hoping the underlying warning would land.
"Immensely," he answered without looking down, turning the page under his thumb. "Very informative." He visibly held back a smirk and Sarah cursed under her breath.
"Fi, Hoggle," remarked Didymus, leaning around the board, "thou'st could spell 'suck' and take the triple letter square!"
Sarah bit her cheek and glanced up at Jareth again who didn't even smirk, merely remained sadistically quiet as he flicked to another page (halfway through the book Sarah noticed with suppressed horror).
She played 'wings' off of the 'weak' Hoggle did play, leaning her head back onto the throne's seat as Didymus played 'game' for double points.
A soft hand caressed her shoulder, bare fingers just gently brushing across her skin where Jareth had let his hand fall as though by accident (and oh so innocently).
She leaned into the touch, letting his hand rest more fully against her shoulder as she rummaged in the letter bag for four replacement letters.
K–I–S–S spelled the letters as she dropped them onto her tile holder.
Sarah risked a glance back at Jareth again but his eyes were still firmly on the book in his hand.
Could be a coincidence, she thought, but as Hoggle's gaze was drawn to the board and Didymus was briefly distracted with insisting Ambrosius cough up that length of tinsel ("this instant, I say!"), she picked Jareth's hand off her shoulder and laid a brief kiss on his palm.
He smiled an unusually angelic smile and squeezed her hand back.
Sarah played 'hissed' using the E of Didymus' 'game' and reached into the bag for another five tiles.
A–G–A–I–N
Sarah rolled her eyes in amusement just as Luobö bustled into the room, carting a small wheelbarrow piled high with steaming spiced buns, followed by a drinks trolley pushed by Minöwasë. Despite the overindulgence of a few hours prior the goblins rushed the cart, grabbing armfuls before Luobö menaced them back with his lance and wheeled the remaining bun tower over to Jareth who accepted a bun graciously.
"Thank you," Sarah replied for them both as she took one, and then on Luobö's insistence, another three. She bit into it and almost groaned from the wondrous flavor of cinnamon, raisins, walnuts, and vanilla flooding her mouth.
"Oh my God, what is this?" she asked as a steaming mug of cocoa was passed down to her, forcing her to drop some of the buns into her lap to free up a hand.
"Sneakin'," replied Jareth as he bit into his bun elegantly. "So named because if you don't sneak seconds it is an insult."
"You only took one," Sarah accused.
"It's true, I am an odiously insulting king," agreed Jareth as he took another bite and turned back to his book.
She chuckled, finishing one bun and starting on a second as Hoggle played 'bun' unimaginatively for five points.
After the buns had been devoured, the cocoa drunk, and the sticky glaze sucked off her fingertips as best she could, the games wound on until the thirteen-hour clock ticked upwards towards late evening, threatening to spill over to early morning.
Sarah could barely keep her eyes open. The cocoa had seeped the last of her energy hours ago and left her slumped further down against the seat of the throne, blinking slowly with her head propped on her wrist and beginning to long for a soft bed and not a hard castle floor.
Before she could slip fully into uncomfortable unconsciousness strong arms were scooping her up.
"Come to bed, precious," Jareth hummed in her ear as she wound her arms around his neck.
"Willingly," she murmured back with a yawn, casting an eye around the room.
Light snoring echoed from the happily dozing heaps of goblins. Didymus' mustaches fluttered at each snort inwards and each sigh outwards, tickling Ambrosius' nose until he sneezed in his sleep. Ludo slept soundly curled underneath the Christmas tree, spooned around Hoggle who was using his enormous arm as a blanket.
Jareth made to carry her through the mirror, bowing his head to duck beneath its arch. Sarah leaned up before he passed through, brushing her lips against his cheek and up to his ear.
"Can it be your bed?" she whispered.
He stopped, and turned to take in her expression; drowsy but no less persuasive, and a little smug at having surprised him. He was deadpan for a heartbeat, considering an intimacy he hadn't reckoned on yet, before he pressed a warm kiss against her lips, arms squeezing her middle and her legs tighter before stepping beneath the arch of the frame.