Chapter Text
Jaskier knows that Geralt is weird or rather that he has some weird urges he can't quite control. He had tried to explain it to him once, but all Jaskier had understood was that he had been put through some additional and experimental trials in his youth and that they had had consequences.
He's a bit mad on Geralt's behalf, because what kind of fucking weirdoes administer weird and unknown substances into children just to see what it does. When he thinks hard about it during the night while Geralt is sleeping at his side and twitching like a dog trapped in a dream, he's glad that the witchers' schools are slowly dying out, because nobody deserves to be put throuh what happened to Geralt.
He tends to keep his thoughts to himself though. Geralt doesn't seem bothered by what was done to him, doesn't rant, doesn't scream at the injustice and has even confessed that the animal traits the mutations had given him make things easier sometimes. Apparently he can stop thinking when he ceases to fight his urges and just lets his instincts rule him. Which has lead to Jaskier bearing witness to some very weird situations.
He's seen Geralt take off at a run into the forest and when Jaskier had finally caught up with him, he had found him digging a hole in the ground with his bare hands. Geralt had ignored his questions so Jaskier had sat down on a nearby boulder waiting for the witcher to finish digging his hole. When Geralt had stopped, he had dug out some bones and had proudly presented them to Jaskier.
Jaskier had smiled tightly at Geralt, had bafflingly praised him and when the witcher had whined at him, he had agreed to pick the bones from Geralt's hands. He had grimaced at the dirt covered bones and had thrown them away a few seconds later, which had been the very wrong thing to do because Geralt had run after them, picked them up again and brought them back to Jaskier.
Jaskier had then spent a very weird hour throwing the bones around for Geralt to fetch until the witcher had finally snapped out of his crazy state and come back to his senses. He hadn't apologized and Jaskier hadn't commented and they had resumed their path like nothing had happened.
He had also noticed that Geralt tended to growl at the people he didn't trust or like and that he liked scenting Jaskier just before entering a new settlement. All of his weird quirks hadn't detered Jaskier though, because underneath the strangeness, Geralt had still been the sweet, sometimes sassy and always caring witcher that he had learned to love, and Jaskier had decided to pursue him after two years spent at his side.
Their relationship had had its up and downs and Jaskier had had to get used to the idea of sharing, because Geralt had made it quite clear that Eskel wouldn't go away anytime soon, but he had never been happier than when his witcher had finally invited him to spend the winter with him at Kaer Morhen.
And he clearly doesn't regret accepting Geralt's offer. Eskel is a sweetheart that he's quickly becoming quite attached to, Vesemir is a fount of knowledge that Jaskier loves to pester and he's delightfully discovering some new traits of Geralt's personality.
His quirks are even more pronounced in Kaer Morhen and even more obvious among other witchers who clearly don't share them, but no one makes fun of Geralt – not even prickly Lambert – who can unwind and relax among friends and family.
Geralt likes to tire himself out by running around the courtyard, he'll sit quietly next to him or Eskel once he's done with his food waiting for them to feed him some tiny morsels from their own plates, he'll spend some of his evenings stretched out on a bear pelt in front of the library or kitchen's hearths and it is not uncommon for him to come back from hunts with blood on his face having gotten his mouth on his preys. He had scared Jaskier to death the first time he'd seen him come back bloody and Eskel had had to hold him back from running towards him until Geralt had calmed down enough not to snap at Jaskier thinking he would try to steal his catch.
The other advantages of Kaer Morhen were the hot springs – which Geralt loved – and the big bed where Jaskier was always kept warm by the two furnaces sharing it with him. And on one still early in the winter fine evening as Jaskier is reading propped up against Eskel's side who's mending clothes, he gets cold. He shivers, tugs a fur over his chest and wonders where Geralt is, he'd really like for him to come join them so that he could heat up Jaskier's other side.
Unfortunately the fur isn't enough to warm him up so Jaskier tugs a blanket over his shoulders too and snuggles into Eskel. Eskel chuckles quietly at his side and ruffles his hair.
“You can stoke the fire if you're cold,” Eskel tells him softly, “It doesn't bother me.”
“Are you sure ?”, Jaskier asks him, “I know that you and Geralt run hot.”
“It's fine,” Eskel assures him.
“Thank you,” Jaskier sighs, squeezes Eskel's shoulder and gets up.
He heads towards the hearth, pokes the embers and turns towards the wood basket he's seen Geralt and Eskel fill several times already. The basket is sadly empty and Jaskier lets out an audible sigh, he doesn't want to go down to the kitchen to fetch two logs and he's sure as hell not going to ask Eskel to do it for him.
“Look under the bed,” Eskel tells him with a smile.
Jaskier doesn't really know why he would find logs under the bed, but Eskel probably knows best so he shrugs and goes down to his knees at the bed's side. He's astonished to find two yellow eyes blinking back at him from a nest of blankets and logs. He laughs.
“Fuck,” he wheezes between chuckles, “Geralt, what are you doing ?”
Geralt only blinks at him and grunts. He seems to be lost in one of his moods when his animal traits are stronger and Jaskier fondly shakes his head at him.
“Does he do that often ?”, Jaskier asks Eskel without looking away from Geralt.
“Yes,” Eskel answers and Jaskier just knows that he's smiling, “You'll get used to it soon enough. Just don't try to join him, it's his nest and he doesn't like sharing.”
“Okay, yes,” Jaskier sighs and then raises his head to look at Eskel with wide horrified eyes, “He's not going to sleep under the bed though, right ?”
“No,” Eskel chuckles, “He always come back up eventually, he just needs some time.”
“Oh, fine,” Jaskier nods relieved and looks back down at Geralt.
He then extends his hand towards the nearest log, grabs it, but before he can pull it out from under the bed, Geralt grunts and snatches it away from him.
“Geralt !”, Jaskier exclaims.
He tries to pull out another log, which Geralt steals back too, and then another and another and another, until his lover is curled protectively over his blankets and his snatched back logs.
“You're impossible,” Jaskier sighs at him.
He hears Eskel move on the bed and his head ends up right next to Jaskier's peering at Geralt under the bed.
“Wolf,” Eskel sighs fondly at Geralt and shakes his head, “You still haven't learned to share, I see.”
Geralt grunts unhappily at them and Jaskier can't help but laugh. Eskel's chuckles soon join his and Geralt just keep staring at them.
“Crap,” Jaskier smiles, wipes his eyes and asks Eskel, “That felt good. Anyway any idea about how to get some logs out from under here ?”
“Yeah, just a minute.”
Eskel then goes back up the bed, moves around and then hands him his shirt.
“What ?”, Jaskier stupidly asks him.
“Give him that,” Eskel explains with a smile, “When he's like that, you need to do an exchange. Give him something with yours or anyone's scent on it and he'll relinquish what you need readily enough.”
“Thanks,” Jaskier says and nods.
He takes hold of Eskel's shirt and slowly pushes it towards Geralt. He sees his nostrils flare and then his lover hurriedly snatches the shirt away and burries his face in it with a contented sigh.
“He's so adorable,” Jaskier sighs.
“He's so vulnerable,” Eskel says in return and he sounds a little bit sad to Jaskier.
Jaskier supposes that Eskel is right, Geralt is vulnerable, and he just has to think about what was done to him to make him act like that, and the sight of his lover curled up in his nest loses some of its attractiveness. He quietly gets some logs from under the bed, throws two into the fire and puts another two away in the basket for later, before he goes back to bed to snuggle against Eskel's side.
“I'm sorry,” he whispers against Eskel's skin, “Geralt doesn't deserve all of this weirdness.”
“Thank you,” Eskel whispers back, slowly tilts Jaskier's head up and kisses him.
Jaskier hums against his lips, closes his eyes and enjoys the kiss. He and Eskel are still working on defining their relationship and they haven't shared more than a handful of kisses, but Jaskier is slowly and surely growing fonder and fonder of this gentle soul.
“Go to sleep, Jaskier,” Eskel whispers against his lips once he releases him, “I'll keep you warm until Geralt joins us.”
“Thank you,” Jaskier says with a fond smile, steals a quick kiss himself and snuggles against Eskel's leg under the covers.