Author's Note: These next couple of stories were inspired by an event the people in housing held in my dorm building. One of the activities in this event included water balloons. I've rarely ever had an actual water fight so I thought to give the experience to our friends within this story. This is a companion piece to "Wet" and while they aren't really connected, they are essentially the same scenario, just in different worlds and with mostly different people. Also, this is not a continuation of my "Leather" series even if it is set within the GND universe. So, without further ado, "Sopping."

Sopping

"Please!" Begged one.

"It'll be fun!" Wheedled the other.

James, Javert, and Erik all stared in open dismay at the two siblings standing outside their door; begging them to come outside to play with them. Toby had come to visit his sister over his summer break but it had been too hot to really do anything. As a result, the siblings had been forced to stay inside for the better part of their days to avoid the heat stroke they would surely incur if they went outside to play.

Christine had been the one to spark the idea in the siblings' heads when she'd made a comment about how it was too bad they didn't have a pool, otherwise they could all have gone swimming. Sarah and Toby had looked at each other for a moment before identical grins of delight had crossed their faces. Christine was a little leery of those smiles. She'd had some not so nice experiences with those particular grins before and she shuddered to think what those two had thought of now. However, once the siblings had explained their idea, Christine was as eager as they were.

The threesome had then immediately set out to recruit others to join their cause. Once they'd gotten a good group together (everyone else being as thoroughly sick of the heat as they were), Christine had taken them outside to start setting up while Sarah and Toby went to the boys' apartment to rope them into their fun. They'd intentionally saved them for last (mainly because Sarah wasn't sure whether Jareth had returned yet or not and she wanted to avoid him as long as possible). Now, they stood in the hall in front of three rather perplexed men, who were trying to figure out whether joining in the siblings' fun would be detrimental to their health or not.

Seeing that she wasn't going to get anywhere with them anytime soon at this rate, Sarah decided to play dirty.

"You'll get to see Christine in her bikini," Sarah remarked casually to Erik.

Erik blinked before a slow smile spread across his face at the images that comment called up.

"Allow me to grab my own swimwear and I will join you soon," Erik replied promptly before disappearing into his room. James and Javert glanced at each other, their faces unreadable, as they waited for the other shoe to fall. Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on you guys," She said in exasperation as Erik came back out dressed in a pair of black swim trunks and black t-shirt with a towel thrown over his shoulder. He made his way past them and down the hall with Toby (who had decided his sister could handle getting the other two to agree to their plan and as such, not needing his help) trotting at his heals, "You know you're just as miserable as the rest of us and it's not like this is anything dangerous. We're just going to be playing in the water."

The two men still looked a little dubious but Sarah could tell they were starting to warm-up to the idea so she pulled out her trump card.

"Valjean and Eponine have agreed to go."

"We'll meet you down there," James said quickly, Javert grunting in agreement, as they rushed to their own rooms to put on their own swimwear. Sarah laughed in response as she made her own way down the hall to help everyone set up. Javert paused in the middle of changing as an idea occurred to him.

"James!" He called.

"What?!"

"What the hell is a water balloon fight?"

Shrieks and laughing drifted in through the window as the Fae appeared in the empty apartment he shared with James, Javert, and Erik. He'd just gotten back from taking care of business in the Underground and had been looking forward to seeing everyone again since he'd been gone for a couple weeks. Glancing around in puzzlement, Jareth went to the window to see what was going on outside that could account for the noises and the absence of his friends. Jareth tilted his head in confusion as he watched the residents from the building attacking each other with water hoses, buckets full of water, and what looked like colorful balls that burst on impact and drenched whoever they hit. His curiosity getting the better of him, Jareth decided to go see what was going on.

Sarah shrieked as Legolas managed to dump a whole bucket over her head from where he sat in the branches of the tree she'd decided to hide behind. She glared up at the laughing elf before smirking as an idea ran through her head. Legolas missed the smirk else he would have been long gone. As it was, the balloon caught him square in the face, knocking him out of the tree on top of Crowley who had been in a rather heated battle with Javert involving Super Soakers. Az floated over to make sure the two were alright while Sarah doubled over from laughing so hard. The look of shock on Legolas' face had been priceless.

Dresden was taking cover behind a picnic table as he levitated a pile of balloons towards where Erik was hiding. The wizard grinned in wicked glee as they got closer to his target.

"Hurry up, Dresden!" Said the skull sitting next to him, "I want to see the look on his face."

"Patience is a virtue, Bob," Dresden muttered as the balloons inched ever closer. He was so focused that he didn't notice the danger sneaking up on him. But Bob did.

"Uh. Dresden?" Bob said worriedly.

"Shut up, Bob."

"But Harry!"

"Hus-AW SHIT!"

Toby, the little imp that he was, had snuck up behind the wizard and dumped a full bucket of ice water over his head. This caused Harry to lose his focus over the levitating balloons and they promptly dropped…right on top of Christine's head. Christine shrieked at the sudden deluge that soaked her even worse than she already was. Erik whirled around at Christine's shriek, distracting him from the attack James and Eponine launched at him. He cried out in surprise as the buckets of water splashed across his back. James and Eponine crowed their victory, unaware that Puck had decided to join the fun. Everyone watched in dismayed surprise as what looked like a whole pools worth of water fell over the couple.

"Puck!" Everyone yelled but the diminutive Fae just laughed at them before disappearing. There was silence for a moment before someone laughed, setting off everyone else, and play was started back up again.

The manager smiled indulgently as she watched everyone from a safe distance. She had no desire to get wet herself but watching all these soaking, scantily clad men run around was one thing she wouldn't say no to. She laughed as Nanny Og managed to finally dunk her cat in a bucket. He yowled in disgust before shooting towards the building as Nanny Og cackled in glee.

Valjean snuck up behind Legolas and Crowley, as they finally managed to disentangle themselves, and promptly burst two more balloons over their heads. He laughed at the look of total shock from Crowley and the dismayed pout from Legolas. As he laughed at them he didn't notice Javert sneak up behind him with a bucket of his own. Valjean cried out in surprise as the ice water drenched his back.

Az merely shook his head at their antics and turned away to go elsewhere when he found himself on the receiving end of his own bucket of water; courtesy of Crowley. The angel crossed his arms and glared at the demon, his hair dripping in his face, as said demon doubled over in laughter.

"That wasn't very funny, Crowley," said Az.

"I thought it was hilarious," Crowley replied as he grinned up at the angel but seeing that Az wasn't in the least bit amused, he folded his friend in a hug. Feeling the angel relax, Crowley promptly burst another balloon over Az's head. Az looked in shock at the demon before a wry smile crossed his face and he grabbed his own weapons to attempt to give at least a little back.

All this Sarah watched with a satisfied smile on her face. Toby came over and plopped next to her and the two siblings grinned at each other. The two rested for a moment before deciding to join back in. Toby ran off to daringly see if he could manage to surprise Sweeney, who had been forced outside by Mrs. Lovett, while Sarah filled another bucket with ice and water. Sarah hummed softly to herself as she waited for the bucket to chill to a satisfyingly freezing temperature.

It was around this time that Jareth appeared in the midst of all the shenanigans. He turned in a slow circle to take in all the different methods in which everyone was attacking each other with…water. Jareth felt his lip curl in distaste. He hated getting wet. This dislike for the liquid came, not from him being Fae, for he knew plenty who enjoyed swimming, but from the fact that he turned into an owl. Birds did not fly in the rain. Rain made feathers wet and heavy and very, very hard to fix back so that they were just so. Since Jareth changed into an owl, this hatred of getting wet tended to transfer over into his Fae form as well. Perhaps he should have simply gone back to his room but, spying Sarah to one side, he couldn't help going over to needle her a little.

He really should have just gone to his room.

"Hello Sarah," Jareth purred in her ear.

Unfortunately for him, Sarah had just picked up the bucket of ice water. You'd think Jareth would have learned by now that sneaking up on her was never a good idea. As it was, Sarah, startled by the fact that she hadn't known he was there and suddenly finding him so close, shrieked in surprise and promptly dumped the bucket of water over his head. A hoot of laughter sounded to the side as another pile of balloons landed on Jareth's head. Dresden had been making an attempt to drop them on Sarah but seeing her dump the bucket over Jareth's head had caused him too much mirth to allow him to concentrate properly and he'd promptly dropped them.

Az and Crowley, unaware of anything that had been going on on the ground, had been trying to soak each other. Sometimes they managed to hit each other while other times they missed and hit someone else. This was one of those times. Az chucked a balloon at Crowley who dodged, causing the offending balloon to hit Jareth in the back of the head where it exploded and sent ice water running down his back and legs. Subsequent waves of water hit him from all sides as others managed to hit him either accidentally or deliberately.

Toby managed to get the Goblin King rather well with the hose. He'd been chasing Erik and Christine with it when the nozzle broke; forcing the water out as fast and hard as it would go. Toby held the spray away from himself as he frantically motioned for someone to turn it off. James managed to oblige him rather quickly but not before Toby had been holding the spray directly in Jareth's face for a good ten seconds.

Sarah could only stare in shock, one hand over her mouth while the other clutched the bucket, as Jareth stared at her with an unreadable expression; water running in rivulets down his face. His hair was plastered to his face while his clothes ended up being even more indecent than usual due to the fact that he was soaked. Eventually, the hilarity of the situation hit her and she burst into giggles. Jareth ruffled in indignation at the situation, looking like everything like the wet owl that he was. He hated getting wet!

Jareth was too mad to do anything more than splutter indignantly and Sarah couldn't do anything more than laugh hysterically. He tried a few more times to get words out but failed miserably. Eventually, he gave one last glare to the gathered group before disappearing in a sullen puff of wet glitter. For some reason this only made Sarah laugh harder. However, once Jareth's indignant shout reached them Sarah wasn't the only one who could barely stand or breathe.

"I HATE GETTING WET!"