Dancing through life without a care in the world was hard to do in this day and age. Things were going wrong wherever you looked, no matter where you turned there was some turbulence or turmoil. The beauty and wonder of a child's fantasy was lost to the harsh, reality that could knock the wind out of your brain and leave it gasping for breath. The child's fantasy became the teenager's, which changed so drastically in just what it was and how it was formed that it left a young brain spinning, wondering what had happened in only a couple of years.

Toby was sixteen this year, his birthday four days past and his sister one day gone back to college. Even Sarah had left behind her stories and costumes for the life of an adult, and, as scary as it seemed, her little brother seemed trapped in the same lifestyle she had. Her old, red, leather-bound Labyrinth book had almost become his religion.

He found himself dressing in elaborate costumes, things unheard of in the early 2000's. Things that hugged his rear in all the right places, things that clenched around his chest and made it obvious that he couldn't be a girl, even if his hair was growing longer and hanging around his jaw bone instead of near his ears. It remained blond, but dyed black streaks ran through it. His eyes were still the crystal blue of his youth, and something about them made him gaze at them in the mirror for hours at a time.

People called him narcissistic because he stared at himself so often. But, when he stared into the mirror and watched the person within it, he hardly saw himself. There was someone else in there, beckoning him, something entirely different than what he had here that wanted him.

Leather-clad hands and hard muscle invaded his dreams, whispers and cries of the name 'Jareth' filled them, and sweat and uncomfortable coiling in his stomach was what he was left with when he awoke.

There was definitely something odd about him that he wanted to look into, but he didn't know how it would work out, or if he could even find a way to investigate.

Jareth sighed in frustration as he gazed into the ball in front of him. Toby. All he could think of lately was Toby. What more would it take to lure the boy who had grown into a handsome young man to this world. The seed was already planted with the dreams he had sent to him and the book of course. Ah, the book.

He felt his belly coil with rage as he thought of the way that foolish girl had bested him so many years ago. It was no matter, he would eventually have what he wanted. He always did. He had taken to watching Toby all the time. A cold smile appeared on his face as he watched the boy looking into the mirror. He had sent whispers to him and he knew that Toby would hear him and long for only him soon.

What more could he do...yes what more. Perhaps he should go with a more direct approach. Obviously the words Sarah had used to enter the world of Labyrinth would't work since Toby didn't have a little brother or sister. He frowned as he thought on it. Drugs seemed to be popular in the other world. Maybe that could be a way. He tapped his fingers lightly as he thought on the problem. He longed for Toby, needed him in a way he had never needed anyone else. He was the Goblin King after all. He shouldn't long for someone like this but he did.

And Toby had never longed for someone quite as much as he longed for Jareth. Even staring into the mirror, he could see those gleaming blue eyes in place of his own, and he purred every time he caught a snidbit of the other's face. Even if it was a bare flicker, it made him happy and he would just stare all day long.

His body seemed a little upset with him, though, for standing in one place for too long. The tight jeans he wore bunched some as he moved to sit on the bath tub, baggy zip-up hoodie hanging off and seeming to pool beside him. His head rest in his hands, and his eyes felt like they would be overwhelmed by tears. He wanted it so bad, but it just seemed so utterly out of reach that he just didn't know what to do.

"I wish..." He began, licking his lips and looking up. "I wish...the goblins would come and take me away?" He tried the line he'd heard his sister used on him so long ago.

Jareth abruptly stood up and moved to the window, goblins scrambling to get out of his way. They knew better than to be his path when he was in this kind of mood. He looked out over his domain as the sun peeked though the dark clouds that hung in the sky as though they were waiting on something. Much like Jareth was himself although what he waited on was far more important than a few drops of rain.

Perhaps he should visit the boy. After all he had visited Sarah after she had said the words and his goblins had taken Toby as a baby. He hadn't flown in a while. He tensed as he heard whispers in the air. "I wish..." Did he really not need to lower himself to the drugs of the other world. All it would take would be the rest of the words, modified of course since Toby had no younger brother or sister that plagued him with incessant crying.

Quickly he searched for the goblins he had posted to watch Toby with his mind's eye. Ah, there they were. In place as was expected, just waiting for the right time and place. He watched them as they shushed each other. "Be quiet! I think he's going to say it!" They quickly grew silent as they strained for the rest of the words that would allow them into his world. "Come on...say it! Say the words!"

Jareth waited, his breath held in as he too, waited for the right words. He let out a growl of frustration as Toby spoke the right words but not in the right way. It couldn't be a question. He had to be forceful about it and mean it with every inch of his soul.

He felt his loins tighten as he saw the tight fitting clothes Toby wore. There was no other word for it. Toby was beautiful. He longed to run his fingers through that blonde hair and pull him close as he sought to claim the other's lips to his own. Jareth shuddered slightly as he thought of what he wanted to do to the boy but brought himself back quickly. No need for his subjects to see him longing for a human so.

Perhaps it would be better if he was to claim Toby himself after he said the words in the right way. In the blink of an eye he stood before the goblins he had put to watching Toby. "Make sure as soon as he says them right, that you wait for me. You will simply hold the door open for me as I go to claim my prize," he said in a cruel cold voice that reminded the goblins just who was their master.