Geralt nearly chokes to death at 7am on a Saturday morning. The offending food item? A granola bar. The reason for his near death experience? A thief loose in his apartment. This thief? Also his roommate, Jaskier Pankratz, musician and college student.
“Are those...” Geralt wants to ask if Jaskier is wearing his boxers (Geralt’s boxers), which he most definitely is (they’re Geralt’s favorites), but he can’t seem to get all the words out. He’s short-circuiting as he looks at Jaskier, whose lazy lean against the bathroom door isn’t helping matters at all. His thick, strong biceps bulge as he crosses his arms over his gorgeously toned and hirsute chest. His broad, bare shoulders are so...
Geralt wants to sink his teeth into them so fucking badly.
Geralt swallows thickly, shakes a few strands of long white hair out of his eyes, and tries speaking like a normal person again: “Are those my boxers, dude?”
“Oh, yeah!” Jaskier grins, glancing down at his mostly naked body with uncontained glee. He looks up again and shoots Geralt a dramatic, pleading pout, “I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed them. I had to run my laundry late last night and I didn’t get a chance to pop anything into the drier. I’ll have them laundered and returned to you by tomorrow morning, I promise”
“Yeah, no biggie. Really, it-”
Jaskier shifts his hips to adjust his lean and the muscles of his legs move, too. Geralt has to really focus to not keep staring at the fucking tree trunks his already perfectly attractive roommate has been hiding so well with mom-jeans and artistically styled slacks. The curve of his thighs and the way Geralt’s boxers are straining around the slope of Jaskier’s ass...
“Th-That’s totally fine.”
“You seem a little tired,” Jaskier smirks. “Or is something bothering you?”
The fact that my Jack Skellington-print boxers are never going to be the same again? The fact that next time I put these on, even though you’ll have washed them, I will get a boner for sure thinking about seeing you like this? The fact that I currently have a boner and have no clue how to hide it casually?
“Really, it’s nothing. No need to worry about me.”
“Alright then,” Jaskier shrugs. He pushes off the wall with this shoulder and turns on his heel. The divots at his lower back have Geralt’s mouth watering as he watches his roommate walk away.
Oh fuck. Oh shit.
He’s probably, almost definitely in love with Jaskier.
Jaskier, with his head on Renfri’s lap, lightly strums his guitar. There’s a vague melody in his brain, nothing really concrete, but Jaskier thinks it has the potential to be something truly epic. If he lets it. For now, he’s content to just bask in the sun with his eyes closed. It feels comfortable. Warm. Safe. Like he belongs.
“New song?”, demands Renfri absent-mindedly. Her hands, rough from too many hours spent in training, are busy making a flower crown. The one she made for Jaskier sits atop of his head, the pollen from yellow dandelions making his eyes a bit itchy.
“Maybe”, replies Jaskier lazily. He plays a few chords from her favorite song, the one with too many swear words and not enough meaning. Renfri hums along to the music, relaxed.
In one of his interviews, Joey Batey says Jaskier is like a puppy - he keeps falling in love with everyone.
So what if, the first time he sees Geralt, brooding, mysterious, breathtaking, he falls in love? The witcher is a perfect muse, with his heroic antics and drama following in his footsteps. Quickly, he becomes one of the few constants in Jaskier's life.
Jaskier is in no way monogamic and along the way he flirts and hooks up with everyone who catches his fancy. However, he still harbours some unnamed feelings toward Geralt, feelings he would rather avoid at all costs. He's a reckless fool, that's true, but he has some sense of self-preservation.
For a while all is relatively well: their bellies full and pouches heavy, but then the accident with the djinn happens. Yennefer, beautiful, incredible Yennefer, comes into the picture. Jaskier is forced to face the truth - his silly infatuation might have gotten a little out of hand. He's so in love with Geralt, it hurts.
So, as a bard, what does he do? He starts composing a song. He pours all his love, pain and hope into it, writes "Gorgeous garroter, jury and judge" thinking about Geralt, hoping that maybe someone will want him.
They go on yet another adventure. Borch "dies", so Jaskier suggests getting away for a while. Old man's death made him reconsider some of his life choices. He wants something true. Steady. Real. Geralt refuses. Jaskier's hopes pretty much disappear after that.
Jaskier knows he had lost his best friend to Yennefer. He has heard hundreds of similar stories and now, when it happens to him, he can feel heartbreak setting into his bones, making a comfortable nest in his body.
He still doesn't leave.
Then the fight happens. Jaskier tries to understand why Geralt lashed out, why he blamed everything on him. It doesn't really help. He's still hurt, unfair words on repeat in his head.
So he leaves and tries not to look back. He's scared that if he does, he will beg Geralt to take him back.