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The sun is bright even through his sunglasses, beating down on the hood of the car and the empty road in front of them. The desert stretches out on every side, golden sands and solitary rocks as far as the eye can see until it makes way for the bluest sky Jaskier has ever seen.
He whistles along to the song on the radio as he dangles one arm out of the open window, the hot wind slipping through his fingers and ruffling his hair.
“You know, I can’t help but wonder,” he muses out loud as he turns his head towards Geralt. “Why does your family live in the middle of nowhere?”
His boyfriend shrugs, golden eyes glued to the road - ever vigilant, even if there’s not another living soul in sight. “Dunno. More room to raise horses, s’ppose.”
“But there’s no grass here! How do they even feed the horses?”
“You can buy horse food.”
“Pfft. Still doesn’t make sense to me. Why wouldn’t you go raise horses in the pacific southeast? More grass there.”
“Land’s more expensive there. Horses need space.”
Jaskier scoffs and looks out the window again. “God, ‘horses’ doesn’t even sound like a real word anymore. How am I gonna survive a month surrounded by horses and people who have nothing else to talk about?”
He sighs, trying to untie the knot that’s starting to form in his stomach at the thought of being all alone in the middle of nowhere with his boyfriend’s family. Sure, from what Geralt’s told him, they seem nice people and Jaskier can usually get on with just about anyone but-
“They’re gonna love you, Jask, stop worrying,” Geralt says.
“What are you, a fucking mind reader?” He can’t keep the slight snap out of his voice, betraying his fear.
“Hmm,” is his only reply.
The silence stretches on for a few minutes as Jaskier chews on his lip, his thoughts running in circles.
“Alright, fine!” he eventually relents, throwing his hands up. “I am worried! I am scared! What if they don’t like me, Geralt?” His voice sounds whiny, even in his own ears. “What then, Geralt?”
Geralt sighs, and Jaskier can’t blame him. They’ve had this exact conversation at least a dozen times. “They will.”
“How do you know? Sure, they’re your family but how can you know for sure?”
His boyfriend, infuriatingly , merely shrugs, unbothered. “I just do.” One hand slips from the steering wheel to take Jaskier’s, bringing it up to his lip to press a kiss to his knuckles. “And if they don’t, they can go fuck themselves.”
Despite the knot in his stomach still being very much present, Jaskier can’t help but chuckle. “You don’t mean that. They’re your family.”
“And you’re my boyfriend.”
“Exactly! They’re above me in the hierarchy, Geralt. They’re your home.”
“ You’re my home.”
He blinks at that. “You don’t mean that...”
Geralt shrugs, ever the pragmatic. “I do. You’re my home.”
“Still…”
“They’re gonna love you, Jask.” Geralt smiles, thumb rubbing circles into the back of Jaskier’s hand, and finally the knot in his stomach unravels. “I promise.”