Chapter Text
The waiting for Geralt was beginning to get grating for Jaskier. Though he knows this is something his witcher has to do on his own, he cannot help but wish he could be there with him. He can’t exactly go out; he knows the other witchers are getting suspicious of Geralt, they know he is planning something. Bringing a human (as far as they all know, really, witchers should probably be better at recognising non-humans even when they’re not immediately hazardous to them or others) and having a meeting with the elders has definitely gotten their attention.
Though some of the witchers are grateful for the impacts of his songs, they are still suspicious of a stranger in their sanctum and they aren’t very happy about it, which Jaskier understands. He’s been very careful of not intruding on them as much as he is able to, hence why, without Geralt present, he stuck to strumming his lute in their room.
He had only just started workshopping one of his newest pieces (about Geralt, of course, even if he would probably never be able to tell him) when Eskel enters. Jaskier is too engrossed in his song to notice, however, as he had just decided to put the song in a more formal linguistic register than he normally would, making it the perfect courtly love song.
“Could though but only see
Thyself as I see thee
Thou wouldst learn to trust thy reflection
‘Tis the very soul of perfection
But thou’rst modest to a fault
Thee whom I exalt…
‘Tis better to be ardent than prudish…”
Jaskier is finally pulled out of his song when Eskel clears his throat behind him and his eyes snap open to see a pitying look in the witcher’s eyes. They stare at each other before he chooses to speak, “Are you sure you want to sing something like that when he could come into his own room at any moment?”
A rueful chuckle escapes Jaskier, “I’ve sung songs that are much more direct than something which could be mistaken for a generic traditional love song to his face before and he’s not noticed, so I doubt it would make any difference.”
That Eskel had noticed his feelings towards Geralt was unsurprising, overall, he seems to have a much more developed sense of emotional intelligence and he wasn’t used to Jaskier’s generally affectionate behaviour like Geralt had become. Besides, Eskel obviously knew Geralt was lovable, even if the man couldn’t see it himself.
“You could just tell him, you know.”
Jaskier’s chuckles once again, this time in slightly less bitter amusement, “I really couldn’t. You know, he only just started admitting to a friendship last month after we witnessed something incredibly traumatic and his entire worldview of monsters and humanity was turned on its head. I don’t know if he would take a love confession right now, too, he’s so stressed, always wanting to do the right thing, that man.” Jaskier smiled a bit more softly at Eskel, “besides, you haven’t told him how you feel about him either, and how long has it been? Decades?” Just like Eskel couldn’t miss the way Jaskier looked at Geralt, Jaskier was also not oblivious of the way the other witcher looked at him too.
Eskel’s face looks shocked.
“What, you didn’t think you were being subtle about it, I hope?”
“Well, Geralt hasn’t noticed!”
Finally, the laugh that bursts out of Jaskier is one of genuine amusement. “Geralt, notice emotions? Really?”
Eskel seems to realise what he said and also bursts into laughter. They shouldn’t be laughing about this really, but ultimately, they’re both two men stuck in the same situation: in love with a brilliant man who can’t even see his own light.
When their laughter dies down, they find they’re leaning on each other and breathing hard. As their breaths slow, Eskel sits on the bed, “you know, Geralt might actually feel the same way.”
“If he does, for either of us,” he sees Eskel startle again, not expecting him to include him in Geralt’s potential love, “he’ll have to figure that out on his own. I will stay by his side and support him as much as I am able to, but I will not figure that out for him. I wouldn’t want to somehow influence him on something like that…”
Eskel is looking at him like he’s never seen anyone like him before, and perhaps he hasn’t, Jaskier is mostly a humble bard, but he certainly won’t dispel someone’s awe of him.
“Yes, bard, I think you’re right. Well, did Geralt give you a tour of the keep?”
Jaskier decides he can’t let go of an opportunity to spend time with a man who is obviously just as brilliant as his brother in arms and so he replies in one of his flirtiest voices, short of fluttering his eyelashes at the witcher, “Well.. Geralt has, but I’m sure your tour of the keep will be just as delightful as his was.”
“You know, if this is how you acted when you first met him, there’s no way he would realise you’d grown genuine feelings for him.”
Well then , Jaskier thinks, here’s another absolutely gorgeous witcher I need to convince of his brilliance .
—
Jaskier was correct in thinking Eskel’s tour would be as delightful as Geralt’s. They obviously have slightly different, but complementary interests, and when Eskel shows him the sign portion of the training yard, something had omitted, he manages to convince Eskel his to show him how it would be used and gleens from the comments of the witchers also training there that Eskel’s signs are some of the strongest of any witcher. Jaskier has seen Geralt’s signs before, of course, but impressive as they are they can’t compete with the glory of Eskel’s igni.
Jaskier already thought of Eskel as a very attractive man; he would have already attempted to scale like a tree if he had been in any other circumstance, but nothing can compare to seeing the man surrounded by a blaze of his own making. His unsheathed silver sword burns red and yellow along with his dark hair and eyes and he looks closer to a dragon than a man as he dances in his fire.
He’d learned years ago that witchers can smell emotions, and though he’s fairly certain he managed to contain his lust by the time Eskel returns to his side, he had noticed quite a few other witchers giving him slightly confused looks. It seems none of them can conceive of anyone they deem human being attracted to when they show their witcher sides. If he weren’t here on a very specific mission, he would probably try to prove them wrong in that assumption.
After that, Eskel leads him to a lab, a place Geralt hadn’t neglected as much as quickly pass by with only a slight mention. After checking that there was nothing toxic in the lab he’d chosen, Eskel leads him into a cavernous and well-ventilated room that would have made his science orientated friends at Oxenfurt drool. In the middle of the room, stands a tall witcher with his long red curly hair drawn back in a hairstyle that brings attention to a steep widow’s peak and a long scar that runs down from the right of the peak to bisect the eyebrow below it and ending at the outer corner of his right eye. That and the light stubble along his jaw and above his mouth in a slightly darker red colour than his hair give him a mischievous and devilish look that draws Jaskier to him.
“So, you’re the human pest Geralt has brought,”
Jaskier’s eyebrows rise in shock, “Well then, I’ve been called many things but that’s a new one. You are? It’s ever so rude to not introduce oneself before insulting someone. I’m Jaskier”
He hears Eskel’s barely suppressed guffaw in the background and sees the ginger witcher’s vaguely hostile look shift to something more considering.
“I’m Lambert. So you’re the bard?”
“That’s better. Yes, I am. Now, what are you making?” He can’t help himself from getting excited, Geralt never agreed to teach him the secrets of witcher potions-making but it would be another way he could support him on the road if he learnt.
“Potions.”
“Yes, I can see that. Could you teach me?”
“No. The fumes are toxic to humans.”
Jaskier desperately wanted to ask if they were also toxic to half-elves, but as much as he admired the other witchers, his witcher would be the first to learn about that when time came to tell him.
They left the labs after that as Lambert’s patience was obviously waning. Eskel finishes up his tour by showing him some things Geralt had also shown him and brings him back to Geralt’s room.
They only have the time to sit down for a short time before Geralt bursts back into his room with his eyes shining with pride. Jaskier can’t help but throw himself in his witcher’s arms knowing for certain Geralt will catch him.
“You did it!”
He can feel the grumble of, “only with your help,” vibrate against his chest.
Eskel joins the embrace at his back to chastise the other witcher, “yeah, but mostly because you’re in the right on this.”
Once again caught between the strong arms of two witchers, Jaskier can’t help but think he wouldn’t mind this happening more often.