āiāve heard your bard sing, pretty boy. heās good, but heād not bloody good enough for that,ā lambert growled, roughly pushing at geraltās shoulder in a bid to make him do a spin. āwhere the fuck did he manage to get all the pieces to match? and in your poncy black?ā
āi was out for a few days. fiend. nearly killed me. woke up and heād brought this to the room.ā geralt said, letting lambert move him about like a ragdoll to tap on various pieces and grumble and snarl about their exceedingly high quality.
geralt left out the fight they had over money. how much a new kit of armour cost, how much geralt was sure jaskier had wasted of their funds over something as trivial as geraltās armour.
geralt was sure theyād starve, but by the time he was able to get out of bed, their coinpurse hardly looked touched.
jaskier mustve been playing day and night while geralt was down.
geralt had been curious, of course, but jaskier still had been so raw about the fight that heād not mentioned it.
heād seen jaskier lose his temper before, but this one was a barn-burner.
both of them had raised their voices. geralt saying something like āiāll one day die on the path and thatās the best that a monster like me deservesā and that had set jaskier to howling, rounding on him, looking every bit the monster geralt thought himself.
āthat armour is the only thing between you and death and i know it, geralt, and damnit i choose you! iāll pick you every time, you ungrateful bastard, even when you donāt want me to!ā
geralt couldnāt remember a scant sentence heād said during that fight, but heād never forget jaskierās words the rest of his life.
when lambert was done ogling, geralt finally made his way through the front door of the keep, angling to get to his rooms, but fate would have it that heād get no farther.
āoh, how gorgeous!ā cooed aiden, making geralt do the same spin in place that aidenās lover had. he and cƶen had oohed and ahhed for twenty fucking minutes before allowing geralt passage.
āgood to see you taking care of yourself so well,ā eskel had said, clapping his massive hand on geraltās shoulder.
āwhat about the armour says that?ā geralt had finally bitten out, dropping his bags on the floor to cross his arms. āeveryoneās been flying to bits about this armour.ā
āwith good reason. theyāre julek pieces, are they not?ā eskel asked, making geralt do his last bloody spin of the day, if the rest of the keep knew what was good for it.
āiām not sure. like i told lambert; fiend took me down. almost forever. came to to find my bard had brought this back to the rooms.ā
eskelās eyebrows climbed to meet his hairline as he looked covetously upon geraltās bracers. the armour had lovely stitching, threaded through with silver, but geralt wouldnāt say that aloud if he could help it. the leather itself was of such high quality it gave geralt goose pimples, and black to boot.
just another thing that jaskier was owed.
eskel took the hint and picked up his bags, walking toward geraltās room.
āiāve got the most of a julek set out of everyone here, and its just a set of pauldrons and a pair of gloves. theyāre mismatched to nine hells and back, geralt, i look more a court jester than a witcher, butā¦ aidenās said one of his brotherās landed a breastplate, and that a viper had a single bracer. theyre all dyed these fanciful colours and at first the word around the path was that somebody was looking to make a mockery of witchers, but the armourās proved itself the best for the job out of anything iāve seen yet.ā
that set geraltās mind reeling.
āfor you to have a full, matching setā¦ iād hazard to guess your bard knows this julek quite well.ā
eskel parted at geraltās door and left that comment to sour in his belly.
quite well? how well was āquite wellā?
the thought of jaskier beingā¦ close with this armourer rankled on him all winter, well after the excitement died down around the keep and his brothers had stopped coming up with more and more outlandish ideas of how jaskier had procured the armour.
of course lambert had brought up the idea that jaskier had fucked the mysterious julek for it, and that lead to geralt leaving the keep the earliest heād ever remembered.
roach wasnāt all that pleased with slogging through the snow to get down the mountain, but the trek had gone safely and geralt simply couldnāt rest on his laurels any longer.
well, a lot of things, but to put some space between himself and the image of jaskier seducing someone for a set of armour while he laid unconscious in a healerās bed was the top of the list.
a bonus to leaving so early, beyond the unspoken one that heād meet jaskier sooner, was that he had his pick of the contracts on his way to oxenfurt. he left enough for his brothers to fatten their own purses, of course, but geralt found himself in the best condition for a season on the path than heād been in quite a long time.
the armour had made sure of it on the last job.
there was a tear over his heart, courtesy of three noonwraiths when he was promised one, and the armour had ensured that the only damage to his body was an angry welt that faded in the few hours it took him to close the distance to oxenfurt.
he felt badly that heād damaged the fabled julekās armour, but he could buy a patching kit in the city and make do.
heād tried telling himself that thatās what armour was for, after all, but the roiling in his gut as he rode roach through the gates told him otherwise.
it took a little asking around, as it does every year, but eventually he was lead to a tavern where he was promised his bard would be waiting.
part of him wanted to shuck the ruined armour in shame in the stables, but it was still chilly and he told himself it was stupid to wear only the linen undershirt into the tavern.
when jaskierās eyes went clouded with worry as he took geralt in, he felt his mistake.
āwere you working on the way to me, dear witcher, or did this happen after we last parted?ā jaskier asked, tapping a fingernail to the torn leather.
āon the way,ā geralt grunted, grateful he couldnt blush in a way jaskier could see.
āmy, my, darling geralt, youāve been busy!ā jaskier chortled. the mirth didnt reach his eyes and geralt was loath to admit that they still watched him with caution. āletās get you back to my rooms, then.ā
āiām not hurt. the armour made sure of that,ā geralt said quietly. āactually, i wanted to ask youā¦ā
āwell, good job on the armour then!ā jaskier interrupted him. āweāll fix it up before we leave the city.ā
geralt could only blink at the bard and follow him up the stairs.
maybe jaskier was doing better as a musician than geralt had suspected, to have the funds for something like this on a whim.
geralt obligingly doffed his armour in the cosy room at the top of the stairs and allowed jaskier to fret over the slight bruising on his sternum.
geralt expected him to get his jacket and his coinpurse to go visit this julek, but instead, jaskier pulled out a knapsack and got comfortable on the bed.
āi know iāve got some of the black scraps around here, somewhere,ā he was muttering, canary yellow and sky blue strips of leather fluttering about him like birds. āah! this size will do nicely! iāll have to stop before we leave, mind, youāre early this year and i was planning on getting some green and thomas promised me purple, even, oh! and the silvered threadā!ā
ājaskier?ā geralt asked, frowning at where jaskier was threading a needle and readying an awl. āi didnāt know you mendedā¦ā
eskelās canary yellow gloves and aidenās insistence that his brotherās breastplate was the prettiest blue heād ever seen kicked geralt directly in the chest like a horse.
jaskier stopped babbling and winced.
āiā winters are long, geralt, and i can only teach so many classes before i go insane.ā
geraltās mouth hung open as jaskier deftly patched the hole, even going so far as to embroider more of the little silvered flowers over the edges.
āyou made this,ā geralt breathed, stepping closer to the bed to rub his knuckles over the flowers.
heād taken to that, over the winter. his fingertips were so calloused and rough he could barely feel the stitching, but when he used his knuckles, he could count the threads and feel the masterful embroidery behind the work.
it made his heart swoop to his belly to know that jaskierās hands had been behind it all.
āi didnāt think youād wear it if i told you,ā jaskier admitted quietly.
ādid you know how jealous you made my brothers? itās the best armour a witcherās coin can afford.ā geralt replied, satisfaction rumbling low in his chest.
āthe bestā oh, gods. my practice pieces.ā jaskier gasped. āi was just mussing about, honest. donāt tell me theyāve been buying it,ā jaskier looked appalled.
āeskel has a pair of canary yellow gloves.ā geralt bent to pick up a scrap of the very same yellow and toy with it between his fingers. āsays they saved his thumb from a drowner bite last summer.ā
jaskier clapped a hand over his eyes and fell dramatically back to the bed.
āiām glad his thumbās alright, but yellow? oh, gods. theyāre going to kill me, arenāt they?ā
geralt felt his lips turn up in a smile.
āthey thought you were mocking them for a bit, but nowā¦ you should have seen the spectacle i was in the keep this winter.ā
ābet you loved it,ā jaskier retorted, peeking out from under his hand to peer slyly at the witcher.
geralt could only hum in response.
āif i got some pink, what piece should i make with it to ensure that lambert wants it most of all?ā
his bard was really the living end.
