Have some tooth-rotting Kid!Witcher mixed with some deaf!Geralt and ADD!Jaskier:
Geralt hated school. He hated having to ride the bus with Eskel and Lambert, who both immediately abandoned him in the front seats so that they could go and smoke in the back. He hated the way people went out of their way to avoid the "Witcher Kids", like living at the Wiltcher Foster Home was some kind of infectious disease. And he hated the way that everyone talked around him, never to him.
Sure, he couldn't hear a word they were fucking saying, but that wasn't the point. No-one even tried. No-one wrote him notes or bothered to learn ASL so that he could join in on the conversation. He just had to hover on the outside of a group, trying his best to read lips so that he'd catch snippets of the topics and opinions being discussed. Lambert was hard to read, but Eskel was a little better so Geralt tended to stick close to him; which inevitably resulted in Eskel getting pissed and telling him in exagerrated mouth-shapes to 'fuck off'.
Most of all, he hated having to go to the Special Educational Needs building for his lessons, so that a TA could sign along with the teacher and help him to engage with any audio material that might be needed. It was isolating. And it sucked.
At least, it usually sucked. But the atmosphere was different in the classroom today. There was a new kid (Geralt hadn't been given his name and it wasn't like he could hear the register), sitting across the desk and tapping restlessly at the table with his pencil. He was fairly tall for their age, same as Geralt, but had short dark hair where Geralt's was white-blonde. His cornflower blue eyes scittered from worksheet to the board, to the clock, to the window, stayed at the window...and stayed at the window, until the teacher approached and the kid snapped back to attention with an apologetic smile. Geralt couldn't help but wonder what his deal was.
Everyone in this particular class was put here for some reason or another, and Geralt hoped in a desperate and lonely kind of way that this kid was maybe deaf like him. That he might know ASL. But his hopes were dashed when the kid started speaking, his mouth moving quickly and his hands flapping distractedly in nonsensical, accidental phrases. Geralt couldn't understand, couldn't read fast enough. So he flinched and gestured to his ear, then motioned a 'no' gesture by sweeping his flat hand in a small back and for motion near his own throat. The kid stopped, watched him and then looked to the TA for confirmation. The TA said something, then remembered to sign it out so that Geralt could follow.
"Sorry, Geralt can't hear you but he can usually follow along if you speak slowly," the TA explained and Geralt nodded.
The kid pulled a worried expression and said something, and Geralt almost caught it, but had to look to the TA again for a translation.
"Ah, that's a little awkward. They put me in here because I talk too much and too fast. But I'll try my best. Oh."
Oh? Geralt frowned and looked back at the new kid, and realised that he was writing something down. He waited, making the most of this little interaction, knowing that he would likely get frustrated before long and stop talking to him. But, for now, this was nice. When the note was offered over, Geralt took it with a soft smile.
[Hi Geralt,
I'm Julian, but my nickname is Jaskier (it means Buttercup, long story). I'm sorry if I talk too fast or forget to speak clearly, just remind me and I'll do my best. I have ADD so I'm in here to make sure I don't cause disruptions and I can finish the work in a way that suits my attention span. I guess you're in here coz of the hearing impairment?
Can you teach me some signs?]
Geralt read the note over, feeling suprisingly seen and understood. Jaskier had called him 'hearing impaired' rather than 'deaf', which was a refreshing change, and he was keen to learn some ASL. Even if Jaskier lost interest by the end of the week, Geralt couldn't help but hope. He just had to be careful, he didn't want to scare Jaskier away by being over-eager.
Flipping the paper over, he wrote back:
[Hi Jaskier,
Yeah, stuck here so that the TA can translate for me without distracting the other kids. I don't mind if you talk too fast or too often, I'll try to keep up and ask if I get lost. I'll show you how to finger-spell your name, and these phrases:
* Hello
* You ok?
* Want to hang out?
If there's any words you want to know, I can show you.]
When Jaskier finished reading, Geralt took him through the different ASL phrases. He was a smart kid and he learned fast, apparently accustomed to using his hands when he talked but not knowing the right shapes to make until now. When they'd gone through the list a few times, Jaskier smiled and made a few notes in his book before repeating the ASL for 'want to hang out?'. Geralt nodded to signify that'd done it correctly, but Jaskier kept looking at him expectantly, and repeated the phrase.
Oh. He was asking to hang out. With Geralt.
Geralt nodded again, a smile brightening over his features. He signed 'yes' and was pleased to see that Jaskier was sincere, his mouth moving in a careful pace over a stream of words. Some of which Geralt caught as 'after class', 'hang out', 'cool', 'place by... by the back fence'. Wherever Jaskier wanted to hang out, Geralt would happily follow. For as long as Jaskier would tolerate him.
This was the start of something good. Geralt could tell.
"I can't wait," he signed, his words translated by the TA. Jaskier's smile bloomed after the short delay and he laughed.