Lambden holiday fic idea: prank gone wrong, Lambert showing his soft side in front of the other witchers.
Thanks for the lovely prompt and for spitballing with me!
Yule fluff, 1,670 words
-
Lambert had everything prepared. He had had gifts tucked away in the bottom of his pack in his room, the kitchen had been filled with ingredients for a luscious meal. He’d had Eskel keep Aiden busy while he got most of the meal ready, and now he just needed to get rid of his partner for a few last minutes in order to set everything up. The other witchers were lounging around the hearth in the main hall, drinking and sharing stories. Lambert poked his head out of the kitchen.
“Hey, Aiden?”
“Yeah Lambs?”
“Can you go check on Cinnamon for me? Give her this,” he said as he tossed some apple slices at his partner. “She can share with Sugar.”
Aiden looked at the apple slices with a smirk. “And it’s of dire importance that she gets these right now?”
Lambert scowled. “Yes, they’re her Yule treat.”
Aiden raised a brow. “Then why aren’t you bringing them to her?”
“Because I’m busy, obviously! If you didn’t ask so many damn questions you could have been back by now.”
“Alright, alright,” Aiden soothed. “I’ll bring your baby her treat.”
Lambert just glared at him before stepping back inside the kitchen. He waited until he heard Aiden go out the large keep door before grabbing the fur-wrapped bundle he’d tucked into the corner of the kitchen and rushing out to the Yule tree they’d set up, at Geralt’s bard’s insistence, near the hearth. He set the bundle under the tree, then hurried back to the kitchen to make sure everything was ready to serve.
It wasn’t uncommon for him to cook, but he’d gone all out on this meal. He’d been gathering ingredients for months before they headed up to Kaer Morhen: he’d wanted to do something special for Aiden for his first year at the keep. Lambert had wanted him there by his side for years, but hadn’t managed to find the words or the guts to ask him. But when they reunited last spring, the words had burst out of him, and Aiden had enthusiastically accepted the invitation to join him the following winter.
He wanted to make sure Aiden had a good time, that he wouldn’t regret slogging up a mountain to stay in a crumbling keep with a bunch of wolves. That he wouldn’t regret being cooped up with Lambert all winter. Sure, they’d been travelling together for years, but this was different. On the path they would sometimes take off on their own for a few days, or weeks, before reuniting. And they were travelling, taking contracts, going through towns. It wasn’t the same as being stuck in the same building with only a few others for months on end. He had to make sure it was a good experience. Now that he’d had Aiden with him for a winter, he didn’t want to face being without him for another.
Once he’d finished fussing with the plates and everything was ready to serve, Lambert poked his head out the doorway again. What was taking Aiden so long to come back?
-
After agreeing to Lambert’s errand, Aiden had thrown on his winter cloak and headed towards the stables. He was feeling a little antsy after being mostly cooped up for the last few days due to the heavy snow. He wasn’t used to the snow, but he’d seen its potential. The first day that enough of it had fallen, the three younger wolves, plus the bard, had engaged in a loud, somewhat vicious snowball fight. Aiden had quickly joined in, and they’d had a good bout of fun before it was time to go back inside to dry out and warm up.
Aiden eyed his surroundings as he approached the stables and had an idea. After giving out apple slices to all the horses, he went back out and circled round the stables. If he hid down the side and made some snowballs, Lambert would come looking for him shortly, wondering what was taking him so long. Then Aiden could ambush him with his stockpile of snowballs. Maybe they would wrestle in the snow for good measure: that would get some of his frenetic energy out. As he tried to find the perfect spot for his ambush, Aiden heard a crack from beneath his feet, and then he was no longer on solid ground. Well, shit.
-
Aiden pushed back through the door to the keep, then shoved it closed behind himself. He was shivering, and dripping, and turning rather blue.
Lambert burst from the kitchen.
“Aiden, what the fuck?”
“Would have been u-useful to know there was a c-creek behind the s-s-stables,” Aiden stuttered out.
“What the fuck were you doing behind the stables?!”
“F-finding the c-c-creek.”
Geralt snickered. Lambert shot him a glare as he passed, hurrying towards the Yule tree. He grabbed up the fur, dumping what it had been wrapped around unceremoniously onto the floor, before stalking over to Aiden and wrapping him in the fur.
“You’re turning blue, for Kreve’s sake. What were you doing?!”
“W-was gonna ambush you with s-s-snowballs when you came looking for me when I di-didn’t come back.”
“Stupid fucking cat. Tonight isn’t the night for your bullshit!” With that Lambert hauled Aiden up over his shoulder and started marching towards the stairs.
“H-hey! What’re you—hey, is that a dagger under the tree?! And a—”
“Stop looking under the tree!” Lambert growled, moving faster towards the stairs. Snickers followed behind them from the table.
Once they were in their room, Lambert set Aiden on his feet, then set to unceremoniously stripping him of his clothing.
“L-love it when you strip me, Lambs, though this is a b-bit less finesse than usual.”
“Gotta get you warmed up before you turn into an icicle,” Lambert grumbled, rubbing his partner dry with a blanket he had yanked off the bed.
“You know there’s a more fun way to w-warm me up…”
“Not now, kitten,” Lambert said, sounding exasperated and defeated.
Lambert sighed. “Nothing. It’s just. It’s all a bit ruined now.”
Aiden furrowed his brow. “What’s ruined?”
“Tonight. Dinner. Everything. I mean. Nothing. It’s not a big deal.” Lambert turned away and yanked open his drawers, pulling out a soft tunic, thick sweater and pants, woolen socks. He turned back and started pulling clothes onto Aiden, not meeting his eyes.
“Lambert, stop.” Aiden set a hand on Lambert’s arm. “I fucked something up, didn’t I?”
Lambert shook his head. “It’s fine.”
“Lambs, talk to me.” Aiden slid his hand down Lambert’s arm, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.
Lambert sighed. “I just… I was trying to make tonight special. For you. I wanted to try to make sure that you had a good time, that you wouldn’t regret coming here with me.”
“Lambert, I would never—”
“But now dinner will be cold, and the others have probably already eaten. And your gifts are strewn on the floor and you’ve seen them…”
“Baby I’m sorry. I was getting antsy from being cooped up and I was stupid. I didn’t know what you were up to, but—”
“It’s fine.” Lambert shrugged, staring down at their feet, trying to turn away towards the door. Aiden tugged him back and pulled him into a hug.
“I would never regret coming here with you. Even if I fell into the damn creek every day,” he murmured into Lambert’s neck, “even if we ate dry travel rations for every meal. I’m just happy to be with you.”
“Sap,” Lambert mumbled into Aiden’s hair. Aiden squeezed him tighter.
“Mmm. I’m sorry I fucked up your plans.”
“S’ok. We should probably go back down, though.”
“Alright.”
-
Lambert and Aiden walked back into the hall to find the others waiting for them at the table.
“We didn’t serve anything yet, we waited for you,” Jaskier explained with a smile. “Eskel said he’d warm everything back up.”
Lambert made a noise in the back of his throat. “Meat’ll probably be dry.”
Aiden squeezed his hand. “It smells delicious.”
“It does!” Jaskier agreed.
“Sit down already so we can eat,” Geralt grumbled, but his lips ticked up in a smile.
Eskel carefully reheated the plates with igni, and Vesemir started serving everyone.
“Thanks, Esk,” Lambert said quietly.
“No problem, little wolf.”
Lambert glared at him, but it held little heat.
“I know how much trouble you went to for tonight, even though you tried to act like it was no big deal,” Eskel said.
Lambert opened and closed his mouth but couldn’t come up with a rebuttal, so he took a swig of ale instead.
“Good to see you looking more pink than blue, Aiden,” Eskel added with a grin.
Aiden gave him a wry smile. “Thanks. Sorry I made everyone wait for dinner.”
“It’s no trouble. We wanted to eat together.”
The meal was delicious, even if it was a touch dry. No-one complained, and the ale was good, the mulled wine after dinner even better. Aiden oohed and aahed over his gifts enthusiastically. After everyone had exchanged gifts they settled in around the hearth. Lambert sat on the floor against the chair Eskel lounged in, and Aiden snuggled in between Lambert’s knees, leaning back against his chest.
“Happy Yule, Lambs,” Aiden murmured, turning his head to glance back at Lambert.
“Happy Yule, you bastard,” Lambert replied before leaning in for a kiss.
“I promise to be better behaved next Yule.”
Lambert sucked in a breath at what that implied.
“You better, you fucker, or I’ll give you stable-mucking duty for a week afterwards.”
Aiden grinned. “I’ll be on my very best behaviour.”
“I’m not sure that’s saying much.”
Aiden knocked an elbow back into his ribs.
“Love you, kitten,” Lambert murmured into his partner’s ear.
“Love you too, Lambs.”
-
“I love your love,” Eskel added.
“Oh shut up, monster fucker.” Lambert snarked.
“Don’t be jealous, you’ll make your cat feel bad.”
dumbass lamden fluff: for cats grooming can be communal so just aiden is always pushing to bathe lambert, carefully scrubbing him down and lovingly washing out his hair; he especially loves getting the rare chance to shave lambert, settling carefully in front of him and using a flat blade, stealing kisses between swipes of the blade and lovingly brushing his thumb across lamberts cheeks (he doesn't mention that he especially loves the feeling of when the stubble starts growing back)
Listen, one, I love you, TWO, the SHAVING is giving me FEELINGS 🥺💖💖💖
