Chapter Text
Jaskier and Geralt didn’t talk anymore after the hunt. Jaskier spent way too long in the hot springs and only got something to eat quickly and vanished into his room. The next day when they sat together in the afternoon, Geralt came up to Jaskier and sat down next to him. Jaskier was surprised about this. Despite Geralt apologizing, he hadn’t expected this.
“Can we talk?” he asked quietly. Jaskier turned to him and nodded. He was surprised that Geralt was apparently making a step towards him.
“Do you hate me for what I did?” Jaskier looked at Geralt confused. He had been mad, still was mad but he could never hate Geralt. He shook has head.
“I’m hurt,” he replied. Geralt nodded.
“I didn’t know if I was allowed to talk to you,” Geralt explained. It was clear that he was struggling, talking about this honestly. He hadn’t talked like this to Jaskier before. “I knew I fucked up, but I didn’t know, I don’t know what to do about it.” He was kneading his hands and clearly wanted to say something else and Jaskier thought he knew what he wanted to know.
“Come on, spit it out Geralt,” he said.
“You’re a Witcher? But you never told me.”
“Yes, I’m a Witcher. And like most Witchers, I didn’t ask to become one, I hated it. I always wanted to sing, write poetry, make people happy. Fighting monsters is important, but it wasn’t for me. I had a sorcerer put a spell on me, hide my eyes and then I went to Oxenfurt. I never lied, I’m a bard, I’m master of the seven liberal arts. But I’m also a Witcher from the school of the cat.” Geralt pressed his lips into a small line. He looked disappointed but Jaskier couldn’t say why.
“And then you returned to being a Witcher? Why would you do this to yourself?”
This made sense, Geralt also wasn’t happy in being a Witcher but had never really seen an alternative. Seeing someone who had built another life return didn’t make sense to him and he was probably right.
“It hurt too much, everything about my songs was connected to you. I was freshly out of Oxenfurt, when I met you. I wanted to distance myself from all of this,” Jaskier explained. Geralt looked down.
“I’m so sorry,” he said once again.
“So, you said before. Do you care for me?”
“Of course.”
Jaskier cocked his head.
“You’ll understand that I have struggle believing you,” Jaskier explained and got up. Of course, he wanted to. He wanted to forgive Geralt immediately. But he was too scared Geralt would hurt him once again.
To Jaskier’s surprise, things did change after this a lot. Geralt would search out Jaskier a lot more now, often together with Ciri, he even asked Jaskier to teach Ciri some of the things he had learned in Oxenfurt. And most importantly, Geralt would listen to him talk about anything, ask question and let Jaskier ramble without looking annoyed. He would only interrupt him to ask questions about the things he was talking about. He also had stopped staring daggers at Aiden but he had asked a couple of questions about how they knew each other. After Jaskier had told him that they had gone through their Witcher training together, Geralt had looked at Eskel with a soft smile and seemed to understand what Jaskier meant.
This soft smile made Jaskier’s heart beat faster. And Geralt was looking at him like this as well lately and Jaskier just didn’t know where to put all these feelings that had never really been gone but were now returning stronger than ever. He didn’t know what would be happening in spring, what Geralt would want to do. If he wanted him around but right now, he seemed to make an effort so he allowed himself to hope.
As spring drew closer and it would soon be time to leave for the path again, Jaskier started to get restless. Aiden would go with Lambert but they had offered Jaskier to come with them. He would prefer to go with Geralt but he wasn’t sure how to bring it up. So, for days he was worrying until one day Ciri was saving him. She was discussing something with Geralt, they clearly weren’t agreeing. Jaskier had to smile, seeing how this little girl was standing up to a Witcher.
“I will ask him,” she announced and got up.
“Ciri no, come back!” Geralt called after her but she ignored him and went up to Jaskier.
“Geralt wants to know, if you want to come with us in spring,” she explained, looking at Jaskier with his big green eyes. Jaskier looked over to Geralt who was clearly avoiding his eyes.
“Only if Geralt really wants me there,” he replied, still staring at Geralt. But Geralt didn’t reply.
“Of course, he does, he said so,” Ciri insisted.
“Maybe he would tell me himself,” Jaskier replied and Geralt finally turned around.
“Will you come with me again?” he finally asked and his voice was really low and insecure. Jaskier took some steps to get closer to Geralt and put his hands on Geralt’s cheeks.
“I would love to,” he said quietly and leaned a little forward so their foreheads were touching and Geralt wrapped his arms around him. And maybe, Jaskier thought, maybe there could be something more between them, with time.