Hint

Jareth and Sarah are meant to be together; they just don't know it. The Labyrinth knows, but unfortunately they just won't take the hint.

It happened while Sarah was in the bathroom.

Dressed in a baggy pair of sweats and a worn vest top she was getting ready for bed. Her face had been exfoliated, cleansed and moisturised, her hair swept back into a messy bun and her eyebrows meticulously tweaked. She was now reaching for her toothbrush. Sarah had just squeezed the toothpaste out onto the multicoloured bristles and inserted them into her mouth, furiously working up a white froth, when she felt a jolt of static against her skin. Her exposed hip had casually bumped into the basin and received a shock in return. Scowling at the offending piece of porcelain Sarah reached for the cold water tap. As soon as her fingers brushed the metal however she seized them back with a muffled yelp.

Slow realisation kicked in when an unnatural spark touched the back of her neck sending an unusual, but not wholly unfamiliar, sensation skipping throughout her body. Sarah swatted automatically at another spark as it landed on her arm and jumped when her foot connected with the floor, earning itself a spiteful sting. Catching the sight of several tiny silver specks on her skin Sarah heaved a sigh, meeting her own exasperated gaze in the mirror.

"Agww cwap," she muttered. Right before she disappeared.

When she reappeared Sarah was in no way surprised to find herself standing on a sandy stone floor surrounded by equally sandy stone walls. She was also not in the least bit surprised to find herself in the somewhat overbearing presence of the all powerful Goblin King. She felt her shoulders slump slightly and a rather undignified groan escaped her lips but otherwise she did nothing. Just stood there, patiently waiting to be acknowledged.

Upon her sudden entry the Goblin King glanced up, wine goblet frozen on the way to his lips, as he took note of the uninvited stranger in his quarters. However, upon discovering that it was Sarah and not someone of profound or otherwise immediate importance he returned to his previous occupation without so much as a second glance.

"This really is becoming quite tiresome," he remarked conversationally after a few minutes of silence, turning the page of his book and sipping casually at the goblet.

Agreeing wholeheartedly, Sarah mumbled something quite unintelligible in reply, standing with her hands on her hips and a toothbrush hanging out the corner of her mouth.

"What was that Precious?" Jareth asked, flicking his gaze upwards and raising an eyebrow when he noticed her odd predicament. Tactfully he drowned the last of his wine and extended the goblet in her direction. "Spit," he instructed.

Sarah spat, gargling her thanks while wiping the remaining foam from her lips with the back of the hand.

Jareth repressed a smirk. "You are elegance personified my dear. A true lady."

"Hardly," Sarah responded without missing a beat, dropping her brush into the still proffered cup and smiling sweetly, her teeth practically glowing in the eerie light. "Still, at least I'm minty fresh."

"Quite," the Goblin King agreed, placing the now makeshift toothbrush holder on an oak table next to his recliner. With that done the two then turned to inspect each other, both wearing a tired and vaguely resigned expression.

"I really must speak to the housekeeper about having a room set up for you," Jareth commented thoughtfully, making a mental note as Sarah settled herself in the plush chair opposite. "There are more than enough to spare but I doubt any of them are habitable at this precise moment."

"That's alright," Sarah yawned, curling up in the warm glow of the fire that had appeared in the hearth when only the mildest thought of being cold crossed her mind. "I'll just sleep here if that's alright?" Her eyelids began to close more heavily. "I probably won't be here all that long. A couple of hours maybe?"

"As you wish," the Goblin King replied, shrugging his shoulders in an impossibly graceful gesture before returning his attention to the book that lay in his lap. When he glanced up only a minute or two later Sarah was asleep. Hardly surprising, he thought. Travelling between dimensions could often leave you quite tired, even if you weren't the one who had exerted themselves in order to transport you.

Neatly folding his book shut Jareth placed it on the side table and sat back, making himself more comfortable. He glanced out of the window, taking in the darkened sky, before returning his attention back to Sarah. He sat there, elbows resting on the arms of his chair, gloved fingers linked and his face settled into a thoughtful expression. The stillest hours of the night passed him by, as did the coming of the dawn.

Only when the bustle of a new day was beginning far below did the first spark appear; bursting as it touched her cheek and leaving a tiny eruption of glitter in its wake. Within the space of a few seconds she was gone. The Goblin King then stood, stretching his cramped muscles as he retired to his bedchamber.

Of course, this was not the first time Sarah had unceremoniously appeared in the Goblin Kingdom, nor was it to be the last. It had all started some time ago, exactly thirteen months after Sarah's first official visit, in which she had bested the Labyrinth and won the right to reclaim her brother. As one might imagine, the initial meeting of the Labyrinth's ruler and its conqueror was not quite as agreeable as it could have been. Brilliantly coloured insults were hurled across the throne room as dim witted goblins were bowled in return. Luckily this incident only lasted for a handful of minutes as Sarah departed just as quickly as she had arrived. Both parties then believed that that was the end of things.

Unfortunately, it was only the beginning.

The Goblin King was overseeing the reconstruction of the west tower. Apparently, or so the survivors claimed, there and been a rather dramatic episode involving a great deal of alcohol, several epileptic goblins and a disgruntled chicken that also happened to be on fire. Having heard that much, Jareth didn't ask for the details.

He had called in Ludo and a few of his extended family members to help repair the damage. He was just in the middle of directing the unfortunate clean up crew when he let out a somewhat unbecoming yelp, quickly masked, and smacked a hand to the top of his scalp. All the goblins stopped and turned to stare. Jareth returned their fearful gazes and steadily brought his gloved hand down in front of his face. It was covered in glitter.

The Goblin King sighed as an all too familiar feeling started to spread throughout his limbs.

"Not to worry," he assured his subjects. "I will return." Then he vanished. The goblins stared at the empty spot their King had just vacated and as one let out a great whoop of laughter.

No King meant no work. And no work meant more time to drink.

When Jareth felt himself materialise once more he found himself standing in a now somewhat familiar dinning room. A family was gathered round the table, making the most of their early evening meal. When he entered however, they all stopped at once and turned to look at him. There was a moment of disgruntled silence.

"Jareth," Sarah said cordially, nodding in his direction.

"Sarah," Jareth acknowledged with equal politeness. "Forgive my intrusion."

"Not your fault," Sarah shrugged dismissively, turning her attention back to her food. The rest of the family did the same, although the small blonde haired boy kept on glancing at him, trying to hide his grin.

"Can I get you anything Mr Jareth?" Karen asked eventually, her need to be a good hostess overcoming the awkwardness of the situation. "I may be able to scrape enough together to fill another plate," she said, even though really doubted that she could.

"I thank you but no," Jareth replied, bowing in her direction. "I have eaten quite recently," he lied. "Although, might I be allowed something to drink?"

"Of course you may," Karen insisted, feeling only mildly offended that he still felt he had to ask for something so trivial in such a manner. She started to rise to her feet. "Let me just-"

"I got it," Sarah interrupted, beating her stepmother to it. "I'm finished anyway." She grabbed her plate and started heading for the kitchen. She gave the Goblin King a swift signal and he wisely followed along behind her, bowing once more before he left.

"So, what can I get you?" Sarah asked, casually dumping her plate in the sink, already filled with foamy water. "Wine?"

"Please."

"I'm guessing red." Sarah reached into a cupboard and pulled out an unopened bottle. "Karen has you figured for a white wine kind of guy but I said not. I reckon she bought this for you." She popped the cork and poured the liquid into a large glass. "No goblets, sorry." She smirked.

Jareth did the same. "I'm disappointed Sarah," he mocked.

"Well, can't please them all can you? You hungry?" she questioned knowingly.

"Ravenous," he admitted, suppressing a guilty little smile.

Sarah understood but didn't comment. "They'll be heading to Church in a bit. I'll fix you something when they're gone."

"A very wise idea," Robert remarked, coming into the kitchen and giving the pair a long, hard stare. "Don't let Karen hear that you refused her food without good reason. Your life wouldn't be worth living my boy," he told Jareth quietly before a thought seemed to occur to him. "There's a stack of old newspapers in my study, kept them for the crosswords, feel free to help yourself."

"Thank you sir." Jareth bowed again.

"Oh, stop being so formal," Sarah's father groused. "This is America not wherever the heck it is you come from."

The Goblin King's eyes widened and Sarah had to muffle a snort at his vaguely stunned expression. He recovered quickly though.

"As you wish."

Robert sighed in exasperation.

"Give it up dad," Sarah advised, leaning against a counter. "He's probably got a good few centuries of culture and breeding behind him. He's not going to change just because you tell him to."

Robert didn't reply, only gave his daughter's uninvited guest a deep, speculative stare before marching out the door, calling his family to order as they assembled for Church.

Once the three other members of the Williams household had departed Sarah noticed Jareth relax visibly. His shoulders dropped ever so slightly and he took what she supposed was a deep calming breath. Sarah smiled.

"And you wonder why I was such a spiteful little brat?" The corner of Jareth's mouth twitched but he said nothing. "Go sit in the lounge. I'll whip something up and be with you in a minute."

"Thank you," Jareth said, with a surprising amount of sincerity before he drifted off into the rest of the house.

Sadly, by the time Sarah had thrown together a tried-and-tested Goblin King sandwich, accompanied by another glass of wine, said Goblin King had already disappeared, leaving nothing but a handful of glitter sprinkled over the back of an armchair.

As if Sarah's increasingly more frequent visits to the Underground hadn't been bad enough, when the tables were turned things started to get really messy. Sarah already had a hard time trying to explain to her parents why she disappeared on various occasions but imagine her having to explain the Goblin King when he materialised one day in the middle of the kitchen. The 'conversation' that followed had not been an easy one.

Sarah's parents just didn't seem to understand that neither she nor Jareth had any control over the matter. They had worked out quite early on that in fact it was the Labyrinth that was carting, first Sarah and then Jareth, backwards and forwards between the worlds. What they didn't know was why. Naturally they had asked and unsurprisingly they had received no answer. Jareth had insisted, demanded, pleaded and commanded the Labyrinth to stop but She simply took no notice.

And so they had no choice but to accept the situation. All of them.

The Goblin Kingdom was throwing its annual Ball. Had it been up to the King to decide on whether or not the ball was to take place he probably would have passed on the opportunity; unfortunately for his Majesty however, it wasn't. The Ball was a tradition that had been started almost a millennia ago by the very first Goblin King and had since then evolved into an unwelcome institution rather than an eagerly awaited event.

Creatures of all shapes and sizes were invited to attend and most of them did, meaning that the Castle-Beyond-the-Goblin-City was overrun for the best part of one evening and the Goblins spent the next week tidying up while trying to get over their extensive hangovers.

As part of the occasion Jareth was decked out in his full Goblin King regalia, draped across his throne in a position somewhat unbecoming of royalty and yet he couldn't find it within himself to care. One part of his mind was politely acknowledging the Lords and Ladies who came forth to introduce themselves to him while another part was idly admiring a Goblin as it valiantly tried to devour a five foot train of velvet that extended from the back of one Lady's dress.

It was in the middle of all this commotion, with fairies flitting this way and that, the nobles bickering snidely amongst themselves and the fireys playing keep away with any detachable limb they could lay their hands on, that Sarah appeared.

One minute she wasn't there and the next minute she was, standing in the middle of the throne room, sopping wet and dripping all over the flags. She was laughing, bent over double, but stopped abruptly when she seemed to recognise the stunned silence that surrounded her. She glanced up, pushing the soaked hair out of her eyes.

"Oh," she said, letting her gaze wander round the room and having it returned by a group of dumbstruck faerie folk. "Did I just crash your party? My bad." Her eyes swept over the dazed faces, looking for someone she recognised. She didn't find him but the residents of the Labyrinth soon found her.

"Hey pretty Lady! How you doin'?" called one of the fireys, springing over to her with his head tucked under his one remaining arm. "Where you been? We no see you in ages."

Next came the goblins running out from under the feet of the Fae nobles and then jumping up and down around Sarah's ankles, pawing at her jeans. "Girl come back, girl come back," they chorused.

Sarah smiled awkwardly, holding out her hand for one of the fairies to land on but she was still very aware of all the strange gazes fixed upon her. Eventually the silence of the higher life forms broke.

"Who. Are. You?"

"Yes human, who are you?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Humans are not welcome."

Many of the Fae nodded their heads in agreement with the last statement but the creatures of the Labyrinth reacted very differently. They turned away from Sarah to face the gathered crowd. They encircled her, their friendly, playful faces melting away to be replaced by glinting eyes and bared teeth. Sarah blinked, gaping at the transformation as a collective shudder passed through the crowd of nobles. They all knew the damage an angered Goblin could do. Some had learnt from experience.

For a long, taut moment there was silence.

Then one man, fool that he was, let out a muffled cough. All hell broke loose.

The fairies descended on him in a swarm, attacking any available inch of skin, and while the gentleman was thus distracted one of the fireys stepped forward and set the tail of his jacket alight. Screams went up from the women as they tried to stumble out of the flailing man's path. One moved too late and the skirt of her dress caught fire. Desperately, she waved her fan at it but that only caused the flames to grow higher. The fireys cackled and the goblins shrieked as they dotted in and out of the crowd while everyone scrambled around in a mad search for water.

The Goblin King, who had been watching the entire proceeding but had purposefully chosen not to intervene, took in the scene and threw back his head in roar of laughter. Sarah, who had unintentionally caused all the mess, was still stood in the middle of room, only having to sidestep on occasion when a screeching woman or bellowing man came tumbling out of the mass in her general direction. When one man got too close a group of hobgoblins, who had been perched lazily in the corner, launched themselves into the fray, tackling said man to the ground.

It was only when one Lord, his arms swinging wildly as he tried to dislodge the fairies from his powered wig, came within accidental striking distance of Sarah that Jareth stepped in.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he remarked, sounding casual enough if it weren't for the fact that he was close to breaking the man's wrist. "Sarah is my guest. I will not have her harmed."

The Lord looked up, confused and somewhat distracted by the rather persistent pests clinging to his scalp. He seemed about to say something but a single glance from the King was enough to silence him. Then Jareth released him and watched as a dwarf came barrelling out of left field and took his legs right out from under him.

Jareth and Sarah turned to look at each. Sarah raised her eyebrows in a silent question and got nothing but a grin in return.

"Shall we go?" Jareth extended an arm. Taking a swift look around and nearly getting smacked in the face for her trouble Sarah quickly accepted.

The King politely helped her hop over the Lady with the now somewhat less than five foot velvet train, who had seemingly swooned right in the middle of the throne room. Then the pair of them strolled casually out the door.

"I do believe that's the most fun the Goblins have had at a Ball in years. It's certainly the most fun I've had." Jareth declared brightly.

"You aren't angry?" Sarah asked, turning to look up at him as they walked.

"Why should I be?"

"I ruined your party."

"Hardly," Jareth snorted, sprawling himself on the ground next to a stone bench just outside the Castle walls. Raising an eyebrow at this very 'un-kingly' behaviour Sarah sat above him, squirming to try and make herself comfortable. They had wandered into the Castle gardens, Jareth giving her his cloak since she was still dripping wet. In her world it was raining and she had been playing outside with her brother before she got pulled away. She hoped the neighbours hadn't been watching.

The night was warm and oddly quiet so both mortal and immortal took a moment to appreciate the tranquillity of the landscape.

"Is the moon always that big?" Sarah wondered aloud.

"I presume so. I've never taken the time to check."

"No I guess you wouldn't, busy being King and all." Sarah glanced down at him as a sudden thought occurred to her. "What's it like? Being King?"

"Tedious mostly," Jareth replied, still staring up at the sky. "Annoying, repetitive, not really as exciting as one might think. Lonely."

"Lonely? What about all your subjects?"

"You mean my subjects who have the collective intelligence of a pinecone?"

"Fair point," she conceded, trying to keep the smile from quirking the corner of her lips.

They sat for a while in silence once more, then Sarah said: "Have you ever thought about trying to get together with someone? You know, maybe getting married? You do do that down here right?"

"Yes we do and no I have not. Well…" Jareth paused and dropped his gaze to his hands, running his fingers over his knees distractedly. "No that's a lie. I have thought about it. Once or twice. Hardly surprising considering how old I am. Most of my people have already settled down and had children by my age."

"Huh," Sarah replied, trying to imagine a tall, elegant Mrs Jareth with lots of small, blonde haired children running around her feet. The image didn't quite seem to fit. She shifted awkwardly in her damp jeans and pulled the cloak a little tighter around her shoulders. It smelled like him.

Her movement had caused Jareth to look up at her so when she asked her next question she was gazing directly into his unearthly eyes.

"How come you're still living the single life then? Couldn't give it up?" She smiled slightly and Jareth returned it. Neither one looked away.

"No," he replied slowly, as if he had to think carefully about his answer. "If I found the right woman I'd give it up in a heartbeat." There was a pause and Sarah felt herself drawn inexplicably closer to him, drawn in by the faint glow of his skin. Jareth leaned in too. Their noses were only an inch apart. "Maybe…" he began, trailing off as his gaze dipped almost imperceptibly to grace her mouth.

"Maybe…you just haven't found her yet?" Sarah whispered, unconsciously wetting her bottom lip as her breath hitched in her throat…

"Oh, for the Underground's sake! Will you hurry up and kiss already?" a chiming, female voice interrupted, an unmistakable note of exasperation present in her tone.

Sarah and Jareth pulled apart and turned to stare at the figure that had appeared before them. She may have sounded like a 'she' but she looked like an 'it'. A glowing, shimmering sort of 'it' that hung a few feet off the ground and bobbed slightly when it spoke.

"What are you doing Jareth?" it said, apparently on first name terms with the King. "Don't stop. Kiss her," it demanded.

"What is that?" Sarah asked, eyeing the talking cloud of light with a certain amount of suspicion.

"It's the Labyrinth," Jareth replied offhandedly as he frowned in the Labyrinth's general direction, not having any eyes to meet. "What do you mean kiss her? Who?" he enquired, talking to the cloud now.

"Sarah, of course."

"Me?" Sarah exclaimed in surprise. "You want Jareth to kiss me?"

Jareth's response was of a similar tact. "Sarah? Why would I kiss her? Why would you want me to?"

The pair turned to look at each other wearing equally perplexed expressions, as if the very idea was completely alien to them. Which it was.

The Labyrinth let out a despairing sigh, looking as angry as the glowing embodiment of a sentient maze could look.

"Hopeless. Both of you. Completely hopeless. I go to all the trouble of transporting you, bringing Sarah here-"

"Yes, you do realise that by doing that you may have started a war? The nobles weren't particularly happy to see her and things got slightly out of hand." Jareth said, thinking that 'slightly' might have been a bit of an understatement.

"Yeah and why do you keep bringing me here?" Sarah piped in, putting her hands on her hips, although the effect wasn't quite the same since she was still sitting down. "Do you know how hard it is trying to live a normal life when you could disappear in a puff of glitter at any minute?"

"Well it's not my fault." The Labyrinth cried, sending out an air of extreme frustration. "You only have yourselves to blame. If you two had just taken the hint in the first place none of this would of happened!" And with that She vanished.

The gardens previously calm and peaceful atmosphere was somewhat slow in reinstating itself. The Labyrinth's sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance seemed to have knocked everything slightly off kilter. Not that either Jareth or Sarah noticed at all. They were both lost in the maze their own thoughts, unaware of the irony, as they both sat still for a very long time, scared to make any sudden movements for fear of chasing away a possible revelation of some kind.

Sarah broke herself from the trance first, unconsciously reinstating normality as she did so. She shook herself and then asked: "What do you think She meant?"

"About what?" Jareth replied absently as a sudden crash was heard from somewhere inside the castle. He winced. That had sounded expensive.

"About us taking 'the hint'?"

Refocusing his attention on Sarah, Jareth turned, his expression vaguely puzzled. Their eyes met again, just like they had before and somewhere, not too far off, the Labyrinth held Her breath. So close. They were so close. Barely an inch apart...

Then Jareth shrugged. "No idea."

The spell shattered.

Sarah looked away. "Yeah, me neither."

And somewhere, not too far off, the Labyrinth began to scream.

Oh dear, the Labyrinth will be upset. And She tried so hard. Honestly, these two are as thick as two short planks. Maybe the Labyrinth should use said planks to knock some sense into them.

This is a one-shot that I've had sitting on my laptop for a while. It was written already and just needed a bit of tweaking. Sorry I haven't updated either of my longer Labyrinth Fics. I will get there eventually I promise.

Anyway, please read, enjoy and let me know what you think. My work has no beta so if you spot any mistakes feel free to point them out.

Nightzchild