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“Oh!” Sarah chirped, as her cursor came to hover over The Descent. “I saw the trailer for that one! It looks good! I think it’s about a cave or something. Anyone wanna watch that?”
Once again, the room erupted with chatter.
“I don’t care, man.”
“My great-great-grandmother lived in a cave!”
“I’m claustrophobic—“
“You’re everything-phobic!”
Crows of raucous delight filled the room. Peering from one side of the couch to the other, seeing all her best friends look decidedly ruffled, Sarah decided she would have to get the Fire Gang to settle down before they got riled up and started tossing their heads around.
Again.
But how would she—
“If I may,” Jareth began, stern voice rising over the din and at once bringing it to a halt, “I’ve seen that film already. The acting is horrendous. Not even to my worst enemy would I recommend it.”
The other guests stared at him in stunned silence. Sarah blinked.
“When’d you see it? I didn’t think you were the type to go out and watch movies.”
He scowled at her. “Why, when it came out, of course. You underestimate my ability to keep with the times.”
“For good reason,” muttered Hoggle, at which Sarah nearly spat out a sip of her drink.
And with that, she returned to scrolling.
This time, it was a sleek goblin who piped up. “What’s a Pet Sem-a-tar-y? That’s not right, is it?”
“You can read?” snarked a tusked goblin. There was a clang, then a yelp.
“I’ve seen that one, too.” Jareth sounded agitated now. “It’s just as bad as the previous, if not worse.”
Sarah sighed. Hoggle was right after all; with the Goblin King around, it was going to be a long, difficult night. “Fine,” she said. “What about a classic? How’s The Exorcist sound?”
Everyone else murmured among themselves, but Jareth shook his head. “Abysmal.”
“Halloween?”
“The scariest thing about that sorry excuse for a film is its production value.”
“Alien? You can’t go wrong with Alien.” Did he just…shudder?
“You can, indeed,” he contested, shoulders visibly tensing. “The screenwriters went wrong when they decided to put such a…thing…to paper at all.”
As fussy as he was, she had to award him some points for his creative insults. The idle chatter among her friends continued as she passed over film after film, Jareth refusing every single one. She had reached the bottom of the barrel and was considering playing Sharknado 2 whether he liked it or not, when a high-pitched voice nearly startled the remote out of her hand.
“Sire—“ Sir Didymus had curled up beside Ambrosius, using his mount as a pillow “—surely there is no way thou hast seen all of these, and not one of them is to thy liking. Why, there must be a veritable hundred of these films.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna agree with Didymus here.” Sarah had had enough. “I think there might be something you’re not telling us.”
Dryly, Hoggle concurred, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were scared.”
The three of them looked over to Ludo, as though asking for his opinion. He only gave an oblivious smile as a small flock of Fireys clumsily attempted to braid his fur, a goblin or two weaving out the tangles whenever it was deemed necessary.
The agreement of three, however, was enough to get under Jareth’s skin. His hair bristled even more than usual. Voice taut with suppressed anger, he turned his back to the trio and said, “I am not scared. Are you three going to taunt me throughout this entire get-together? Because if you’ve invited me solely to mock me, I’ve half a mind to leave.”
Hoggle groaned. Burying her face in her hands, Sarah rolled her eyes. Didymus’s furry tail twitched against her in indignation.
“No, Jareth,” Sarah said, voice muffled and eyes still obscured by her hands. “No one is mocking you. No one is out here to spite you. Okay?” She raised her head to look at him. “I invited you here because I want you here.” Although I can’t speak for everyone else. “You know. As a friend.”
He made a disdainful noise.
“Look at me.”
After a few seconds, he slowly turned around—not quite to look at her, but rather to glare.
“Listen. I want you to have fun here, okay? I want everyone here to have fun. If you don’t want to watch any of these movies—“ she hovered over the horror selection again “—we can watch something you’d like, instead.”
And just like that, she could see his mind going blank.
For the first time, at least in Sarah’s memory, Jareth fumbled with his words. “I…I—well, I…see, I don’t really watch…films.”
“Then how come you’ve seen all of these?” she asked, voice soft with genuine confusion. “I watch movies all the time and I still haven’t seen a third of them.”
The tense silence between them drowned out any background noise around them. Jareth grit his teeth. Something shimmered in his eyes. Then—
“Fine!” he spat, drawing the whole room’s attention. “I—I’m nervous! Alright? I’ve never seen any sort of…feature-length…anything, let alone one designed to scare me!”
Sarah admonished the goblins with a glare before they could even think about laughing. Turning back to him, she gently took his hand. “You wanna hear a secret?”
“What?”
“That’s exactly what makes them fun.” He only gave her a bewildered look. “And because the point is to make you scared, there’s nothing to be ashamed of if you are.” Minding Sir Didymus, whom she knew would be flabbergasted at the suggestion that he could fear anything, she added, “If you aren’t, that’s fine! But being startled or nervous doesn’t make you any less kingly. Got it?”
Hesitantly, Jareth nodded and let go of her hand.
“Now, having that said, what do you wanna watch?” She grinned, and the rest of her friends followed suit. “Just ‘cause it’s Halloween, it doesn’t have to be—“
“Give me the remote. We’re watching Alien.”