The tea is still steaming when I sit down at my desk, ready to work. I check my mail and any midnight IM's that might have arrived while I slept. My notes on DA are empty, but the new deviations are piling up again so I switch over to clear out a few. Immediately, I sense trouble. Half a dozen new Labyrinth submissions are sitting there, waiting. I hear a noise behind me but studiously ignore it. I begin deleting quickly, hoping no one will notice.

Unfortunately, it's not to be.

"You know," drawls that lazy, sharply accented voice behind me, "it's been an awfully long time since you last painted me."

"Go away," I say without turning around. "I'm busy. I have a book cover to paint, a page of logo concepts to put together, business card layouts, and I still have to redesign my new site. I don't have time to paint you."

"That's patently untrue," he says. "The book cover is flying along and the deadline isn't for another couple of weeks. You were going to procrastinate on the website anyway, and the buisness cards and logos can wait. However THAT," my screen flicks over to show the contest deadline for the Labyrinth Club's Seven Deadly Sins Contest. "Won't. Time is short." He's mocking me, but I refuse to budge.

"Go away, Jareth. You don't need me to paint another portrait of you."

"Of course I do," he's nearly purring. He wants me to turn around and look at him, but I can see a vague reflection of him in my monitor screen and that's bad enough. "Look at all those Lust entries. Didn't you tell someone you had an itch to paint me angry? Wrath's a sin, too, love. And I can be wrathful. In fact," he says, "I rather think I look my best when furious." I don't comment. He's already dripping sexy all over my carpet, and I don't need it to turn into a full fledged flood.

"Fine," I say, a little desperately. "I'll make you a deal." I can practically *feel* his grin of triumph, but stupidly I rush ahead to my doom. "I'll do a quick sketch of my idea. If the very first sketch I put on paper for this isn't paint worthy, I'm going back to my to-do list and you'll go away."

"Agreed," he says. Worry takes a quick dive into the pit of my stomach, but I ignore it, pull up a new document window and start sketching.

Five minutes later...

"This isn't fair," I say.

"Very little in life is, Melissa. Now, would you like me to pose or can you do this from memory?"

"Why do I have to be the official goblin court painter?"

"Because no one caves quite as easily as you. Now where would you like me?"

I don't have the guts to answer that.

_________
Later:

Me: *paints*
Jareth: *leans over my shoulder* Not bad, love, but it should be larger.
Me: *blushes furiously* It's large enough. Any bigger and it'll look ridiculous.
Jareth: *patiently shaking head* It's all in the perspective. From that angle it should be larger. Here, I'll stand in that pose and you kneel down and then you...
Me: ....
Jareth: What are you doing?
Me: Dying, I hope.

_________
Not dead, apparently. And finished it in record time (just under six hours) which means I can now go back to my regularly scheduled life for another month or so before he gets twitchy again.

Humbly submitted before the goblin court for the Seven Deadly Sins Contest. And dedicated to who's comic inspired it.

Now leave me ALONE, Jareth.