If you’re inspired - Could I request demisexual/greysexual Netflix!Jaskier with either Priscilla (if you’re doing the games), Anna Henrietta (if you’re doing the books) or Essi Daven, please?
Ummm... sooo... I had inspiration! I don’t think it’s what you were after but it’s what I’ve got. This one tackles one of the issues the ace community faces. I know there are certain people that don’t believe ace/aro people belong in LGBT+ community because they don’t face discrimination.
I, quite honestly, think that’s bullshit and I think this one kinda explores one of the reaons I think that. I’m putting warnings and story undercut. Please, I beg of you, read the warnings before you read the story. This is an uncomfortable ride.
TW: Issues of consent, implied past rape and attempted rape (that is stopped before anything happen) _______
Jaskier strolled through the streets of Oxenfurt. It had been years since he’d been back but his professors had asked him to lecture over the winter. Geralt was hauled up with the other witchers at Kaer Morhen so really he had no excuse. Still Oxenfurt brought back some troubling memories to this day. He’d been a bard in training and everyone knows that bards were easy to bed.
He shuddered as his hands trailed along the walls. Fucking around had practically been an extra class for him. To become a travelling bard one needed to flirt in order to get coin. A well placed wink and touch to an arm did wonders for his revenue but it never failed to give people the wrong idea. He could appreciate a beautiful person as much as the next person but really it didn’t mean he wanted to fuck them.
He just wanted their attention and their coin.
Some people just couldn’t take no for an answer. Things had gotten easier since Geralt. Having a witcher looming over your shoulder to glare at potential miscreants really helped to persuade them that he really did mean no. Jaskier’s growing attraction to Geralt had been a surprise to them both. It had started without Jaskier even realising it, until one day Geralt had thrown him out of the way of a charging fiend and after fight Geralt had held Jaskier’s face in his hands to make sure he wasn’t injured and Jaskier had been hit with the overwhelming urge to kiss him.
So he did.
And Geralt hadn’t immediately stabbed him.
The attraction came and went, changing like the weather. Neither of them could predict when Jaskier would be filled with burning desire for his partner or whether the thought of sex would make his skin crawl. Geralt was patient and never pushed for anything, letting Jaskier initiate the more sexual contact.
He desperately wished that he’d had Geralt during his time at Oxenfurt. He’d needed that shield in his youth. He’d needed his best friend before he’d even known he’d existed.
He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, worrying on his bottom lip. He could do this. He was Jaskier. He walked alongside the Great White Wolf, watching with wonder as killed vicious monsters. He could lecture a class of pimply teenagers who barely knew how to hold a lute. He had his own office and everything!
He was halfway to his lecture room when he heard cruel laughter and a girl’s cry. His eyes widened and he almost dropped the long tube carrying his notes for his lecture in his hurry to find the source of the crying.
He tripped as he rounded the corner, gripping the wall to steady himself. Two boys had a young blonde pressed up against the wall, there were tears rolling down her cheeks and Jaskier saw red. He pulled the boys back by the scruffs of their necks and tossed them both to the floor. Years by Geralt’s side had meant he’d developed quite a lot of muscle, and not just in his legs.
“What the fuck are you two doing?” He snarled, doing his best impression of Geralt’s scary face.
“She said she’d never done it, sir!” One of the boys hurried to say and Jaskier’s nails dug into the palms of his hands as he placed them on his hips. “Said she’s never wanted to!”
“Yeah!” The other boy grinned smugly. “We were just showing her what she’s missing! Told her she just needed the right man.”
Jaskier closed his eyes and counted to ten very slowly in his head. “My office. Now!” He growled at the boys.
“Yes, Sir.” The both mumbled and scurried away. He would be having some serious talks about consent with boys but for now he needed to check on the girl.
He spun round to look at her. She was a pretty young thing, soft long blonde hair that fell in front of one of her eyes. She was clutching her lute case to her chest and he could see tear stains on her cheeks. “Are you alright?” He asked softly and she nodded. “What’s your name?”
“Essi. Essi Daven” She whispered, her voice hoarse.
“I’m Jaskier. Mr Pankratz now I guess.” He chuckled and gave her a small salute. He would normally hold out his hand to shake but he didn’t want to spook her. “You know…” He said with a tilt of his head. “I never wanted it either.”
Her eyes widened and she stared up at him. “What?”
“I still don’t a lot of the time. Some people never do.” He hummed thoughtfully.
“I’m broken.” She sobbed and he knelt down in front of her so he could see both her eyes under her long fringe.
“No.” He insisted, hoping to every god he knew of that she believed him. “No, you’re not. You’re just made a little differently.”
“Like you?” She asked, hoping beginning to shine in her cornflower blue eyes, eyes that were so very much like his. She could almost be his little sister if he had blond hair rather than brown.
He smiled and nodded, holding out his hands palms up as an invitation. She took one hand tentatively and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to have sex or romance for life to mean something. Friendship, Essi, friendship is the most beautiful love of all. Lovers come and go but a good friend will stay with you for life.”
“Thank you, Mr Pankratz.” She gave him a sad smile, one that made him want to wrap her up in her arms and protect her from the world, but he didn’t. Instead he squeezed her hand once before letting go.
“My office is open all winter, any time. Even if I’m lecturing, you can go there. It’ll be a safe space for you. I promise, and if those boys don’t learn their lesson then my very good friend Geralt may have to pay them a visit in spring.” He winked and she laughed.
“The witcher?”
“The one and only.” He agreed.
She flashed him a mischievous smile. “I think I would like to see that.” She laughed and her fingers tapped on her lute case.
“Me too, Essi. Me too. Now off you go. Any more problems, come find me, alright?”
She nodded and then skipped off down the corridor. He turned back around with a sigh. Now he just had to deal with the bastards in his office. Fuck, when had he become so grown up?