Geralt of Rivia is MI6’s best field agent—unflinching, efficient, and deadly precise. His closest ally is a tech specialist known only as Jaskier, who guides him through missions via encrypted comms.
The strange thing? They’ve never actually met. For Geralt, Jaskier is just a voice in his earpiece: quick-witted, infuriatingly talkative, but always reliable. Together, they make an unstoppable team.
Which is why everything falls apart when Jaskier is abducted. Now Geralt must track down the partner he’s never seen, never shaken hands with, doesn’t even know by face or name. To save him, Geralt will have to solve the mystery of who Jaskier really is—before it’s too late.
44 with geraskier for the dialogue prompts?? if you feel like it 💜💜
In Plain Sight
44. "Tell me you love me one more time."
(1.2k, geralt pines and it’s becoming a theme)
AO3
“Jaskier.”
“Yes, dear husband?”
Geralt pinches the bridge of his nose. “Stop it. It’s over now.”
“Why I don’t know what you mean,” Jaskier says cheekily, cupping Geralt’s cheeks with both hands, squeezing gently. “Light of my life, heart of my songs, fire of my—”
“Don’t finish the thought.” Geralt is so very close to begging and, by some miracle, Jaskier relents. The bard releases him with a slight pout and picks up the scissors again for the futile endeavor of recreating his old haircut.
It turns out one tends to forget how their short hair is styled after keeping it long for too long. Jaskier is determined to shed his false persona, but Geralt only gives a contemplative hum.
Shame, he really liked the long hair.
“Alright, I’ll stop.” Jaskier presses his face close to the mirror to trim the fringe above his brows. “What did you want?”
“Now what?”
“You mean now that the mission is over and you don’t need to play the doting husband anymore, what will we do?”
Geralt simply crosses his arms in answer.
“You won’t need to do anything, darling witcher.” Jaskier winks at him through the mirror. “I’ll write a letter, make up some excuses or a breakup. Maybe some horrible accident that took my husband from me way too early? Which one do you prefer? Know that I’d make the most convincing widow. Heartbreak does come so naturally at this point. Practice makes perfect, am I right? Anyway, it’s only my mission, so you can be on your merry way by this evening.”
“Just like that?” Geralt frowns.
Somehow, it seems surreal that their little farce is already over. Just a month, Jaskier said at the time, a month of wine and food and dancing with your best friend, and oh, we need to pretend to be hopelessly in love. Also, it’s kind of a life-and-death situation, so…act for your life. Well, my life.
And it was so easy to pretend to be in love with Jaskier, to hold his hand in the public eye and murmur sweet nothings into his ear.
Too easy, because Geralt has done it in his dreams a million times.
And now he’s waking up.
“Still,” Geralt clears his throat, “where will you go?”
“Novigrad, I’m sure. Report duty to Dijkstra. Urgh, that’ll go well.” Jaskier puts down the scissors with a thud, grimacing. “The man has never approved of my method, and now he’ll say I’ve drawn too much attention, with a fake husband so less. Will a spy master ever understand the merit of hiding in plain sight? Well, he’s no boss of me.”
“He literally is, Jaskier.” Worry churns in Geralt’s stomach. This whole spying business always leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. It’s dangerous in a way that makes Geralt feel wrong-footed. Monsters he can deal with, but Jaskier being involved in the political upheaval of the North…
He’s just a bard, for fuck’s sake.
“You’re sure you can handle it on your own?” Geralt asks again, hiding the uncertainty in his voice. He must be doing a terrible job because Jaskier’s eyes widen in understanding.
“Oh,” he breathes, “Geralt, it’s sweet that you worry, but I know how to stay out of trouble.”
“History may suggest otherwise.”
“History suggests,” Jaskier deadpans, placing a hand on Geralt’s forearm, “that I’ve survived this far, and I can take care of myself. Yes, even when you’re not there, darling.”
The endearment manages to make Geralt’s heart flutter, despite having heard it every day in the past month. It’s because this is real, he knows. It’s Jaskier’s words to him, and only him. No one else is listening.
“I could go to Redania. Take the long way home,” Geralt offers, knowing that one word from Jaskier and he’ll go anywhere on the continent.
But Jaskier smiles that smile only reserved for him, his eyes crinkling with warmth.
“And here it goes, all the façade of your grunts and scowls. I know you are soft for me, somewhere deep down, and all the pretense can’t hide it.”
“Wasn’t trying to.” It slips out too easily, hitting too close to home, so Geralt amends, “I’m playing your husband, remember?”
“Hmm. It’s hard not to.”
The tiny smile widens, and Jaskier’s happy scent is so overwhelming Geralt has to will his face not to flush. He fails.
“Well, husband,” Jaskier adds, mischief gleaming in his eyes, “if you are truly dismayed to part with me, perhaps I can keep something of yours. After all, the road is full of danger. Who knows what kind of beasts are out there?”
Jaskier is standing too close and Geralt’s voice comes out a bit too hoarse for his liking.
“What will you keep?”
“Why don’t you…tell me you love me,” Jaskier swallows, eyes drifting down a smidge, “one more time. For our short-lived marriage.”
“I—”
Geralt opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He steps back, the most horrible thought crossing his mind—
If he says it out loud, it’ll be real.
“Jaskier, I—” he winces as the bard snaps out of his stupor. “I can’t—”
Jaskier retreats, his hands returning to his side and smoothing his doublet nervously.
“No, of course not.” The bard shakes his head as if to berate himself. “We are not acting anymore, and there’s no one here, so… I shouldn’t have.”
The distance between them is too great for Geralt’s heart to handle, but he stays where he is as Jaskier packs away his things and sling the lute onto his back, his head ducked low the entire time.
“Anyway, see you around,” Jaskier exhales, and passes Geralt, still not meeting his gaze.
Geralt flexes his fists a few times awkwardly as Jaskier walks away, before instinct takes over and he calls out.
“Wait.”
“Wha—oomph!”
Before Jaskier can react, Geralt has turned around and pulled him into a hug—a surprise to the both of them—their bodies slamming into each other with unexpected force, their arms winding tightly. Geralt burrows into Jaskier’s neck so the broken look on his face can never be seen.
“Don’t die in Redania,” he says eventually, letting out a shuddering breath.
“You too. Don’t forget—don’t let Roach forget me.”
Geralt’s hand ends up at Jaskier’s nape, touching the freshly trimmed stubbles there. He misses when he could thread his fingers through Jaskier’s long hair. He misses playing with it as countless eyes watch.
He wishes he could do it still, with no one watching.
“Okay.”
And then Jaskier is gone, rounding a corner to disappear into the hallway in no time. His strides are way too quick for Geralt to discern the falter in his steps, his face turned away the whole time.
Jaskier never looks back once.
For the first time in a month, the space between Geralt’s arms is truly empty, just like the bard-shaped hole in his chest, carved out by years worth of longing.
Alright we’re doing this, in the anticipation of season 2 I’ve been obsessing over the potential for a jaskier spin-off series
Like, obviously we need jaskier and geralt content, but can you imagine the sheer chaos, the opportunity for feral jaskier his own series would bring?
Some fun aspects might entail:
Plot ft. Spy/assassin jaskier casually causing chaos amongst courts and nobody putting the dots together that at every ball the great bard jaskier attends, somebody dies
Jaskier in a series of increasingly elaborate disguises, including a remarkably convincing noble lady that scares the shit out of Mousesack
Jaskier sneaking into Cintra to visit Ciri and tell her tales of witchers
A frankly insane number of sexual exploits that result in jaskier fleeing from many a town
Jaskier becoming grudging friends with Yen, bonding over their love of wine, bitching about geralt, and all the court gossip
The bard getting to show his own competency, even some badass assassin moments (I would 100% support jaskier having some kind of spy/assassin crew who all work together sometimes)
Jaskier starting many a bar fight (and finishing them, Melitele help him) over people shit talking witchers
A running gag of jaskier constantly avoiding geralt (post mountain of course) as the Witcher is apparently searching or st least asking after him
Jaskier accidentally swindling his way into some sweet sweet immortality from some increasingly ridiculous ways
Of fucking course we get to see the valdo Marx rivalry up close and personal, maybe jaskier even gets to take a swing at the smug bastard
I love the idea of jaskier having a network of completely bizarre people and creatures that he’s managed to befriend across the years
Just jaskier going on his own set of side quests and adventures, getting up to shit and all kinds of trouble, all the while looking fabulous along the way
Jaskier totally doing Fine without geralt, he doesn’t miss him at all, nope, nothing there to see
The dynamic duo of jaskier and essie (or Priscilla) fucking up oxenfurt
And we mustn’t forget the obscene potential of jaskier encountering other witchers, especially the other wolf witchers and the shit they could get up to without geralt’s knowledge
All in all now that I’ve thought about this I want it more than life itself, thank you for coming to my TED talk
If anyone would like to hear more of my ramblings in a part 2, let me know!
Jaskier, after joining the Redanian Secret Service, disguises his classified information in "love letters".
This is a fantastic strategy due to the bard's reputation.
It also, however, irritates Geralt because he doesn't know the letters are fake.
"My Dearest Geralt,"
was the first thing that met Geralt’s eyes as he unsealed the parchment, the ink still smelling faintly of lilac and… something suspiciously like wine.
"On this fair and golden dawn, I set quill to page, thinking of thee—my moonlight sentinel, my wolf among men."
Geralt sighed. He knew these letters served a purpose beyond their dramatics—Jaskier’s flair was just his way of hiding secrets in plain sight.
"The fire that stirs within me—unquenched, unquiet—yearns for the moment your gaze shall again strike me like a blade unsheathed."
Typical Jaskier. Subtlety was never his strong suit.
"Though leagues and lore lie between us, I walk beside you in dreamscapes where serpent beasts sing and snow queens sip ruby wine from crystal flutes. There, I remain—your shadow, your song, your ever-burning spark."
It had taken Geralt more time than he liked to admit to learn how to translate Jaskier's love-drenched metaphors into actionable intel. But now, he could spot the signals between the syllables.
"Until fate folds the map and leads you to me once more—
I remain, ever and only yours,
Julian Alfred Pankratz,
Viscount de Lettenhove."
Geralt tucked the letter away. Flowery nonsense or not, he knew exactly where to find him now
Have you ever thought about badass master spy Jaskier who has his own network and connections, and after the mountain (and getting ciri) geralt, ciri, and yennefer (maybe) need to lay low and turn to Jaskier who they didn’t know was this competent and badass and they’re like “the fuck?”
Because I’ve been thinking about it. A lot.
I really like the idea of Jaskier being a highly skilled spy. His work as the Sandpiper could be the perfect cover that enables him to establish his network.
Contrary to common belief, Jaskier excels as a spy due to his natural affinity for gossip.
When Geralt began inviting him to winter at Kaer Morhen, Jaskier initially underestimated how tedious it would be. To alleviate his boredom, he employs his spying abilities on those around him and later shares his findings with Geralt, revealing details Geralt may have preferred not to know about their fellow wintering companions at Kaer Morhen.
