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One
Eskel could barely see where he was through the tears on his face. It had been a couple of weeks since the Witcher had come and taken him away from his family. He didn’t understand why. Didn’t understand why his parents hadn’t been fighting for him. They had cried but they had not tried to make the Witcher leave. He had tried to run a couple of times while they were traveling but he hadn’t managed to get far enough away, the Witcher had always managed to find him again quickly. Now he was sitting in front of him on the horse as they rode through a huge gate onto a yard where lots of boys of different ages were running around. Through his blurred vision he couldn’t really see what they were doing. The Witcher dismounted and pulled Eskel from the horse as well. He had been sitting on the horse for so long and was so exhausted from traveling for weeks he nearly collapsed onto the floor.
“Stop crying, boy,” the Witcher who had brought him here said in a gruff voice. “Come with me.” Without looking if Eskel was following, he started to walk across the yard. Eskel had to run to keep pace, his legs too short to match the steps of the adult. He wiped away his tears and now realized the boys around him were training with swords. They approached another adult who seemed to be in charge of the boys, at least he was shouting instructions at them. He turned to them as they approached him and looked down at Eskel who felt himself shrink under the piercing gaze of the golden eyes.
“You’re bringing a new recruit, Berengar,” the man said. Eskel couldn’t bear looking at him any longer and averted his eyes, staring at the ground.
“He’s my child surprise, Eskel. I claimed the law of surprise six years ago,” Berengar explained to the instructor.
“GERALT!” the man shouted over the yard and a small boy with a wooden sword in his hand came running. He was around the same height as Eskel and had the same brown hair. His eyes were a piercing blue.
“Yes, Vesemir? Did I do something wrong?” the boy asked and looked up with big eyes. It was clear that the boy, Geralt, liked this man.
“This is Eskel,” Vesemir gestured to Eskel, “our new recruit. Get him some new clothes and show him a free bed in your dorm. He will start training with you tomorrow.” Geralt nodded and then turned to Eskel.
“Hello, I’m Geralt,” he introduced himself. “Come with me.” With that he turned around and walked across the yard, Eskel following him. They entered the building through a huge door and walked along some long corridors.
“Why am I here?” Eskel finally managed to ask. It took a lot of restraint to not immediately break into tears. Geralt looked at him, seemingly surprised at the question.
“You’re a new Witcher recruit. You’re living and training with us now,” Geralt explained as they turned a corner. Eskel stayed silent and continued to follow him. He kept looking around, the halls were high and built from grey stone. Heavy wooden doors lined their way. Once in a while they passed someone, mostly adults walking around, all wearing armour and swords like the two outside. Eskel felt so much smaller than he usually did and so scared. The only thing giving him a tiny bit of comfort was the boy walking in front of him who seemed to be pretty comfortable around here.
They entered a room full of washing troughs and stacks of clothing. The boy pulled something out of a stack and pressed it into Eskel’s arms. He was still overwhelmed by everything and just pressed the linen clothes against his chest, happy to have something to cling to.
“Come, I show you where you sleep,” Geralt said and left the room again. They walked through the big hallways again until Geralt opened another heavy door. Behind the door was a room full of bunk beds. More than Eskel could count. To be fair, he could only count to five which was his age. Geralt showed him one bunk bed in a corner of the room.
“I sleep up there, you can have the bottom bed,” he explained and pointed to the bed containing a simple straw mattress and a woollen blanket.
Eskel changed into his new clothes since the ones he arrived in were ripped from the journey up the mountain. Not long after, he followed Geralt to the dinner hall. It was loud and Eskel quickly felt overwhelmed. Most of the boys were older than him and quite rowdy, yelling and throwing food around. He was thankful Geralt never left his side for the rest of the day.
When they had finally gone to bed and the lights were out, Eskel buried his face in the pillow, trying to stifle his sobs. He knew he didn’t manage to do so. He didn’t want to be here, he wanted to go home. He heard movement from above and clamped his fingers into his pillow. He had woken Geralt with his sobs and now the boy who had helped him through the day would be mad at him. Instead of hearing an angry voice, he felt the mattress dip and a gentle hand on his shoulder. Carefully he turned his head and opened his eyes. He couldn’t see more than a shadow in the darkness. Geralt didn’t say a word, instead he just lifted the blanket and slid under it, lying next to Eskel. Arms wrapped around his shaking body.
“When can I go home again?” Eskel whispered through sobs. Geralt’s arms tightened around him.
“You’re not going home. No one here is going home,” Geralt answered. Eskel knew his fingernails were digging into the other boy’s flesh as his body started to shake more and his sobs became more violent, but he couldn’t help it and Geralt didn’t react to what must have been painful. Eskel felt like his guts were twisting. He didn’t know what that meant. What he was meant to do here. The body pressed against him was a small comfort in all the uncertainty.
“It will get better. At some point it will get better,” Geralt whispered into his ear. They both barely slept that night and when the training started early the next day, Eskel was barely able to stand upright.
Two
Eskel had been absolutely useless for the last couple of days. He had been pacing whenever there had been nothing to do and when they had been training, he hadn’t been able to focus at all. His thoughts were only with Geralt for the whole time. Geralt who wasn’t here, who had to go through another set of trials. Because they wanted to test enhanced mutations. It had already been a miracle that they both had survived their first round of mutations. Before they’d gone into it, they had said their goodbyes, not knowing if they would see each other again. And now Geralt had to go through all of it again, together with some other boys and Eskel didn’t know if he would survive this as well. He didn’t want to lose him, couldn’t lose him. From the day Eskel had arrived at Kaer Morhen, they had been inseparable and had always been there for each other. But the trials were something each boy had to go through on their own.
And so Eskel was now pacing through the small room he and Geralt shared since they had come out of the first trial. He should have been asleep for at least an hour by now. Suddenly there was a short but loud knock on the door and seconds later the door was opened. Vesemir was standing in the doorframe.
“Come with me,” he ordered and turned around, already walking away again. Eskel clenched his teeth. Would that be the moment when they told him Geralt hadn’t made it? Or would he be punished for his bad performance in training? Usually he did great, but he just couldn’t while he feared for his best friend’s life. Vesemir led him down to the basement, where the mutations were handled, Eskel could hear the screams of the boys going through the process. He hadn’t cried in a long time now, the boy who had cried through the nights in Geralt’s arms when he had arrived long gone but right now it was hard not to cry. Would he see Geralt’s dead body in a moment? He didn’t put it past the instructors to confront him with this. He didn’t know if he could handle it. His fingernails dug painfully into his palms, helping him to stay grounded as he followed Vesemir through the room. Around them boys were tied up, thrashing against the pain of the mutations.
When they stopped in front of a table, Eskel was confused for a moment. It took him a couple of seconds until he realized the boy with the white hair was Geralt. He looked different suddenly with his dark hair gone. But he was breathing, his chest rising ever so slightly. He was alive. Eskel couldn’t pay attention to anything except this. A hand fell heavily onto his shoulder and Vesemir bent down to him.
“I wasn’t supposed to let you know, Geralt is alive. But I don’t see the point. Worrying is just keeping you from reaching your full potential,” Vesemir said. Eskel leaned forwards and grasped Geralt’s hand.
“What happened to him? Why is his hair white?” he asked.
“We can’t be sure right now,” Vesemir admitted. He wasn’t involved in the mutation process, since he was the fight instructor, so it made sense he didn’t know. “We can take him up to your room if you think you can take care of him,” Vesemir offered. Eskel didn’t let go of Geralt’s hand as he nodded frantically. Vesemir undid the restraints holding Geralt to the table and lifted him up.
Back in their room, Vesemir put Geralt down onto his bed and Eskel immediately crawled up to him.
“He will be fine,” Vesemir said as he left the room. Eskel could hear that he wasn’t entirely sure about that but all he could do was hope and right now Geralt seemed to be relaxed and asleep so Eskel leaned into his friend, hugging him close.
“You will be fine, Geralt,” he muttered. “You have to be.” Finally, he was able to fall asleep, with Geralt in his arms.
Eskel was woken by Geralt stirring in his arms, he opened his eyes. It was still weird to him how well he was able to see in the dark after the trials, but right now it was really helpful. Geralt’s face was scrunched up into a painful expression.
“Geralt,” he whispered, close to Geralt’s ear. Geralt opened his eyes with a quiet, pained moan. “How do you feel?”
“Fabulous,” Geralt answered with a sarcastic tone. His heavy breathing gave away his lie. Eskel pressed their foreheads together and closed his eyes.
“I was so scared I would lose you this time. When they took you for even more trials, I was sure I would never see you again,” Eskel admitted.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Geralt answered. He slowly lifted his arm and touched Eskel’s cheek.
“I don’t want to, Geralt, you know that,” Eskel said. Geralt hummed but didn’t say anything. Eskel felt him starting to shake in his arms and he clearly tried to hide it but Eskel could hear the little sniffles. He must still be in a lot of pain but he was determined to not show it.
“Can I do anything for you? Are you thirsty? Hungry?” Eskel asked. He must be starving and should at least drink something. Geralt answered with an affirming hum and Eskel tried to extract himself from the bed. But Geralt grasped his shirt and tried to hold him close.
“You have to let me get up if you want me to get you something to eat and drink,” Eskel argued. “I will be back soon, don’t worry.” Geralt let out a low whine but let go of Eskel who quickly left the bed and got the water from the table in their room. He helped Geralt sit up and held the mug to Geralt’s mouth. Geralt would have probably protested that he could drink alone but he seemed to realize that he couldn’t right now.
“I’ll get you something to eat,” he said and let Geralt lie down again. “Be back soon.”
It was the middle of the night, so he didn’t meet anyone in the halls as he made his way down to the kitchen. He stole some bread and cheese before he ran up again.
Geralt was still awake when Eskel returned, even though he had seemed extremely tired.
“You’re back,” Geralt said as he entered the room. Eskel chuckled.
“Of course, I am, I live here,” Eskel answered and stepped up to the bed, helping Geralt to sit up again.
“And here I was thinking you actually came back for me.” Eskel rolled his eyes at Geralt’s antics. Geralt was eating slowly.
“Idiot. I really don’t know what I would have done if I had lost you.” Geralt didn’t answer, he just let his head fall onto Eskel’s shoulder and continued chewing his bread slowly.
The following morning, Geralt already felt a little better. When he ran his hand through his hair, he caught a glimpse of a chin length strand and his eyes widened.
“What… what happened to my hair?” he asked shocked.
“Vesemir said they don’t know why exactly this happened,” Eskel explained. He wanted to tell him more but he didn’t know anything himself. All he could do was sit down on the bed again and pull Geralt into his arms as his friend was trying to understand what had happened. It would still take a lot of time for him to at least somewhat come to terms with his new look.
Three
“I bet you cannot balance on this tree,” Geralt yelled, laughing as he stood on the trunk of a tree that had fallen onto the shore and was now partly lying on the shore and partly floating in the water. The ground around them was frozen and a thin layer of ice on the bark of the tree made it slippery but Geralt was holding his balance with ease. It had been ten years since Eskel had been brought to Kaer Morhen and for the whole time Geralt had been by his side.
“What are we betting on?” Eskel asked, laughing as well as he jumped up on the tree to Geralt. For a moment he staggered but Geralt placed his hands on Eskel’s hips and steadied him. He would have been able to find his balance on his own of course, but he didn’t say anything. For a moment they stood there motionless, looking at each other, smiling.
“Cleaning the room for the next month,” Geralt answered. Seemed fair to Eskel. It shouldn’t be hard to walk along a tree without falling into the lake underneath.
“Deal,” he said and Geralt grinned at him before jumping down to leave room for Eskel to move. He carefully took a step; it was slippery but should be working, he decided and took another step. Quickly he grew bolder as he realized he just had to step in the middle of the trunk to get a clear hold. That was until he missed a spot that was frozen over completely and slipped. His foot was sliding down the side of the trunk, the world was slowing down around him and his arms were flailing as he tried to regain his balance but he failed and a moment later he was breaching the surface of the lake. As the icy water closed around him, the world sped up again. The water wasn’t deep where he had fallen and after a moment of orientation, he was able to get his feet on the ground and push his head out of the water. His whole body was stinging and he felt the cold spread through him.
He was shaking as he pushed through the water to reach the shore.
“Oh shit, are you alright?” Geralt asked, but Eskel could tell that he was working hard on suppressing a grin.
“Fucking cold,” Eskel grumbled. He contemplated pulling Geralt into a hug just to show him how cold he really was. His fingers and toes were feeling numb and he was shaking from the cold, so instead he decided to walk back to the keep so he could quickly get out of the wet clothes.
“I’m getting you a towel, meet you upstairs,” Geralt announced as soon as they entered the keep and ran off to the laundry room. Eskel walked upstairs to their room where he started to take off his clothes with numb fingers. Luckily, they had lit a fire this morning before they had left. Since he couldn’t feel his fingers, it took much longer to get undressed than usual and as Geralt returned he was still wearing his trousers.
“Oh fuck, you’re looking nearly blue,” Geralt said and stepped up to him, throwing a towel over Eskel’s head and starting to rub his hair dry. Then he put the towel around Eskel’s shoulders. “Come on, you need to get out of these wet clothes.” With that he turned around to their shared closet and started to rummage through it as Eskel unlaced his wet trousers with numb fingers. This had been a bad idea. It wasn’t the first time they had done something stupid and it would for sure not be the last time but right now Eskel promised himself to not go along with every stupid idea anymore. A promise that would of course be broken soon. He quickly dried himself off before taking the clothes Geralt had given him and putting them on. He started to feel better now that he was dry and wearing fresh clothes.
Geralt stepped up to him and Eskel could feel the warmth on his cold skin from how close they were. Warm hands were resting on his hips and Geralt grinned at him. This grin he had when he knew what he had done had been stupid but also somehow found the thing funny. It probably was funny.
“Sorry,” Geralt said.
“You’re gonna warm me up for that,” Eskel said, already feeling like he was sucking up the warmth from the other body.
“No problem.” With that Geralt closed his arms around Eskel and lifted him up. Eskel let out a short, surprised giggle and took a hold of Geralt’s shoulders. Geralt carried him over to Eskel’s bed and let him lie down before crawling in himself and pulling the blankets over them.
“Feeling better?” Geralt asked, arms around Eskel, their chests pressed together.
“A little, but I think I still need some warmth,” Eskel answered with a cheeky grin.
“Hmm, sure. You know you don’t have to fall into an icy lake just to get cuddles,” Geralt said, grinning as well. Eskel pressed his face into the crook of Geralt’s neck and closed his eyes. He knew.
Four
It had been a decade since Geralt and Eskel had set out on the path for the first time. Eskel was tracking through the woods, looking for the monster tormenting the village. But he didn’t really care about finding the monster, something else was weighing heavily on his chest. Another Witcher had already taken the contract two days ago, but hadn’t returned. A Witcher with white hair and a wolf medallion as the village folk had described him.
"That Witcher probably not coming back ... Well, more work for you, right? Must be great to not feel a thing," one of them had said. Eskel had just nodded, masking how much it hurt him.
Eskel knew only one person who fit this description: Geralt. And Geralt hadn’t returned from his hunt. Now Eskel was following the monster’s tracks, which Geralt had probably followed two days ago, in hopes of finding him still alive. He reached the entrance to a cave and saw a broken potion bottle lying on the ground. So Geralt had been here. Eskel pulled a bottle of Cat from his own stash and downed it before he unsheathed his sword and carefully entered the cave. It was extremely dark and without the potion he would have been nearly blind. A fight in here would probably be difficult. Not far into the cave he came across a Wyvern corpse, a trail of blood leading deeper into the cave. It probably had tried to get away but had bled out before. Eskel followed the trail until he saw a small figure lying on the ground. Eskel could clearly make out the white long hair. He wanted to drop his sword and run over but he knew it was a bad idea, there might be more monsters in this cave so better keep his sword close.
He still hurried over to Geralt and fell to his knees, frantically feeling at his neck for the pulse. It was hard to find anything but finally he did feel it. Geralt’s heart was beating weakly but it was beating, he was still alive. Eskel focused on his surroundings once more to make sure nothing would attack them before he sheathed his sword and picked Geralt up from the ground. He was lying limply in Eskel’s arms. Eskel wasn’t able to make out the injuries but he could tell that Geralt was covered in blood. Just after leaving the cave, he laid Geralt back down to the ground and whistled for Scorpion who arrived there soon after. Eskel took Geralt in. He could see his armour ripped in different places; dried blood covered his whole body.
He had seen injuries like this a thousand times but, still, this time was different because it was Geralt. He carefully started to take off the armour and undressed him. Most injuries were light, at least by Witcher standards but one gash right across Geralt’s chest was still bleeding lightly and would give Geralt another deep scar. Eskel used rags and his waterskin to clean the blood and dirt away, then he emptied half a bottle of Swallow over the gash. Usually, Geralt was supposed to drink the other half but he was unconscious, so it was a bad idea. Eskel had stitched up his own wounds before and always carried the necessary supplies, so now he stitched the wound closed. He dressed Geralt again and started to put up a camp, not willing to move Geralt any more than he already had for an inn room, so he could rest. The fire was crackling lightly as Eskel lied down next to Geralt and closed his eyes, hoping Geralt would wake up again soon.
When the sun was rising above the woods and Eskel was sitting next to the dying fire, cleaning his swords, Geralt began to stir. In the blink of an eye Eskel was by his side, kneeling, with a hand on Geralt’s arm. Geralt blinked up at him and as he recognised Eskel his mouth twitched into something close to a smile for a moment.
“Eskel?” he asked, clearly surprised to see him. Eskel took Geralt’s hand in his and squeezed lightly.
“Good to see you up. Drink this.” With these words he pushed the bottle containing the rest of the Swallow potion into Geralt’s hand. Geralt grumbled something about it being disgusting but he knew that it would help, drank it and then asked for water. Eskel quickly complied and brought some food along with the water as well. Then he helped Geralt sit up and eat.
“How’d you find me?” Geralt finally asked.
“Got a contract on the Wyvern and was told about a white-haired Witcher with a wolf medallion who didn’t return so I tracked the Wyvern and found you,” Eskel explained.
“What happened to it?”
“Bled out after you passed out, still in the cave. I should get the head as proof it’s dead so we can get the reward.”
“Hmm,” Geralt hummed as he swallowed the last of the bread and leaned against Eskel who still had an arm around Geralt to support him. “’m glad you found me.”
Eskel grinned slightly. “Me too, because if not, you might have died in there.”
“Nah, not getting rid of me that easily,” Geralt disagreed.
“Better not,” Eskel answered. Geralt turned his head to look at Eskel for a moment before he lifted his arm and pulled Eskel into a kiss. It had been a while since their last kiss. Since the day they had left the keep after the last winter, to be precise. The first kiss after a couple of months always felt special in a way, new somehow. Eskel closed his eyes and let himself fall into this feeling.
“Missed you,” Geralt mumbled against Eskel’s lips.
Five
Geralt hurried over to Eskel who was lying on the ground, pushed down by a shockwave from his own child surprise. Deidre hadn’t meant to attack him; her wrath had been directed at Sabrina but had hit Eskel instead. Geralt fell to his knees next to Eskel who was moaning in pain. Carefully, Geralt touched Eskel’s shoulder, prompting him to turn his face to Geralt. The right side of his face was covered in blood.
“Shit,” Geralt said as he saw that. It was still bleeding a lot and there was no way of telling how deep the wounds actually were. Geralt didn’t realize what was happening around him, he only saw Eskel in front of him, wanting to help but not knowing how. He turned Eskel around and pulled him up, against himself. They sat like that for a while until Geralt felt a hand on his shoulder.
“You should bring him inside,” Vesemir said in a gentle voice. Geralt nodded, picked Eskel up bridal style and started to walk to the keep.
“You know... I can walk... on my own,” Eskel croaked, clearly struggling to speak. It was probably hurting him to move his lips now.
“No, you can’t. Shut up,” Geralt answered and Eskel fell silent. Usually, he would have argued further but speaking really seemed to hurt him a lot. They stayed silent for the whole time until Geralt had brought him to the room they still shared, now with a double bed instead of the two singles they had when they had grown up here. Geralt laid Eskel down on his side of the bed and got some water to clean the blood off his face.
“So, am I still handsome?” Eskel whispered with a one-sided grin that wouldn’t disturb the injured side of his face. Eskel had always been the most handsome of them all, his own appearance had mattered a lot to him. Now that the blood was cleaned away, Geralt could see the extent of the injury and he knew it would not heal well and leave several deep scars. One would even go through Eskel’s upper lip and there was no way of telling how that would heal.
“You’re always gonna be handsome to me,” Geralt answered and oh, he meant it. But he feared when Eskel would look into the mirror and realize how much the scar would change his appearance, he would be devastated.
“Ugh, you’re so sappy,” Eskel replied.
“You’re gonna get a hot facial scar like me,” Geralt said, pointing to his left eye. Although he wasn’t quite convinced himself. His scar was one big line. While clearly visible, it hadn’t altered his face too much. Eskel’s injury had ripped away part of his nose and his mouth. These parts would change how his facial expressions would be seen by humans. The bleeding had stopped by now, it would only take a couple of days until it would be mostly healed. Geralt pressed a gentle kiss to the uninjured side of Eskel’s mouth and settled in next to him.
“You’re gonna leave me if I’m ugly after this heals?” Eskel asked, half joking. Geralt grumbled.
“Sure, because I’ve always just been with you for your looks.” Sarcasm was dripping from his voice.
“Geralt,” Eskel whined. He seemed to really fear Geralt would leave him. Geralt turned around and pulled Eskel into his arms.
“Of course not, dumbass,” he sighed and closed his eyes. “Sleep now.”
As Geralt had expected, it only took three days until Eskel’s face was mostly healed. The skin was still flaming red but a thin layer of scar tissue had grown. Eskel’s upper lip now looked like it was constantly pulled up into a snarl and his nose was pulled to the side. Geralt didn’t think it was too bad. But he wouldn’t have minded, no matter how bad it would have been. Eskel was standing in front of the mirror and didn’t agree with Geralt’s sentiment at all.
“People will be scared of me when I’m riding into town, looking like that.” Geralt hugged Eskel from behind, nosing against his cheek.
“People suck,” he answered.
“People also pay me for killing their monsters, so it’s better if they’re not immediately hating me.” Geralt couldn’t disagree with that.
“Come with me then. Let’s walk the path together for a while,” Geralt suggested. Eskel turned around in Geralt’s arms and looped his own arms around Geralt’s shoulders.
“Are you sure?”
“Would love to have you with me. We can do it together.”
+1
“You fucker really got a vineyard?” The first words Eskel said after he entered Geralt’s property in Toussaint. He had gotten a letter from Geralt, telling him of the contract he had done for the duchess of Toussaint and inviting him to his vineyard. Lambert had nearly fallen off his chair, laughing, when Eskel had told him.
“What’s the old man gonna do with a vineyard? Retire from being a Witcher and grow wine?” Lambert had asked. Eskel had had the feeling that was exactly what Geralt wanted to do but he hadn’t said anything. The next day he had left Kaer Morhen and ridden south. Now, two weeks later he had finally arrived and was greeted at the gate by the proud owner.
“Can barely believe it myself,” Geralt answered and took Scorpion’s reins from Eskel as he got down. Geralt led the horse to the stable where Roach was standing and idly chewing on some hay. She only looked up for a second before turning back to her food. Scorpion joined in and ignored Eskel completely as he took off the saddle and saddlebags.
“You’re really retired now?” Eskel asked, still not believing it, as he brushed Scorpion down.
“Looks like it. Can’t really believe it myself. You know, Dandelion once asked me if Witchers ever retire, I told him no. Looks like I was wrong. I think I will still take contracts around Beauclair from time to time but I quite like the wine-making. I’ve been learning a lot,” Geralt explained. They took Eskel’s bags and Geralt led him up to the yellow house that was towering over all the other buildings. A bald man with glasses left the house and hurried up to them.
“Master Geralt, you didn’t tell me we were expecting a guest. I will get the guest room ready immediately,” he exclaimed and was already in the motion of turning around.
“That won’t be necessary,” Geralt answered. “We’re not gonna need the guest room.” The man looked at them once more but didn’t say anything before returning to the house.
“What...?” Eskel asked, amused.
“Barnabas-Basil, my majordomo,” Geralt grumbled. Now Eskel burst out laughing.
“You have a majordomo? For real?”
“He came with the house,” Geralt grumbled, clearly embarrassed. Eskel collected himself again. It was funny, sure, but Geralt clearly didn’t think so. They entered through the front door and were greeted by a dark but cosy room. A big table surrounded by chairs took up most of the room. Geralt opened a door to the left and ignited the candles with a flick of his wrist. It was the bedroom, Eskel realized. He dropped Eskel’s bags on the chair next to the desk and turned back to Eskel.
“I assume you will stay a while?” Geralt asked, hope in his eyes.
“Who knows, I might start to like the retirement life and you will wish I would leave you alone again,” Eskel answered. Geralt grabbed Eskel by the waist and pulled him in.
“Never,” he said and leaned in to kiss Eskel.
They were sitting outside under a tree a little up the near hill, overlooking the landscape, the house and the hills around.
“You know, I still exactly remember the first time we met,” Eskel said, taking a sip from the wine bottle they had brought with them. Barnabas-Basil would probably scold them for not using glasses, insisting a good wine had to be drunk from a glass. But they didn’t care as they shared the bottle, the wine tasted as good as it would from a glass.
“Hmm, me too,” Geralt answered. “You looked so small and scared back then.” Eskel leaned against Geralt’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
“I was the same height you were,” Eskel insisted. “But you’re right, I was terrified. But you’ve been there for me. You didn’t leave my side for the first couple of days, you even held me at night when I was screaming for my mom. I was looking up to you because you didn’t seem to be afraid of anything.” Geralt put an arm around Eskel’s shoulder and pulled him closer.
“You should’ve seen me when I arrived, only four years old, all the other boys older than me. But by the time you arrived, I had gotten used to the keep. And I didn’t want you to feel as I did.”
“You think Vesemir would have put us together that first day if he’d known what a bunch of idiots we would be in our teenage years?” Eskel asked. Geralt chuckled.
“I think he might have guessed something like this and that was why he put us together,” Geralt answered. He grabbed the bottle out of Eskel’s hand and took a couple of gulps himself before putting it down on the table. He pushed Eskel back against the backrest and straddled his thighs. “I think he's happy for us.”
Eskel chuckled. “Maybe let’s not talk about the old man right now,” he said and pulled Geralt down into a kiss.
