Geralt anticipates that he'll get a blow-by-blow commentary on the book as Jaskier reads it; what he doesn't expect is a courier to show up the next afternoon with a package for him that could only be from the musician. The containers for the berries are returned, which is considerate of him even if Geralt really doesn't need them back quite this quickly, and there's a little note in penmanship so neat and precise that Geralt thinks it must be printed until he looks at it closely enough. The rest is-- too much. A tote bag with the logo from the series on it, which Geralt has no idea how he even found because this series was written decades ago and didn't have much merchandise, and a book from, he assumes, Jaskier's own collection. He'd never been all that interested in period romances, but it looks well-loved in much the same way that Geralt's copy had been well-loved, but with fewer notes in the margins, and he has meant to start reading again. Maybe this is a good place to start.
He keeps the book on his nightstand and reads it for a while every night before he goes to bed.
Jaskier texts him, as expected, about the book while he's reading it, telling Geralt about the parts that he likes and expressing false indignation that he didn't tell him about the faithful bard who follows the monster hunter across the land. Of course he would identify the most with the character who spends his life singing songs, sleeping with beautiful people, and getting in trouble-- and being rescued from said trouble by his friend. (Geralt is secretly looking forward to Jaskier's comments once he nears the end of the book-- there's a scene in one of the last chapters where the bard and the monster hunter fall into bed together. It's tame by modern standards, but it had been scandalous when he had been a teenager. Eskel had written the most thoughtful commentary in the margins, and Lambert's contribution had been the aforementioned dick drawing.)
In return, Geralt comments on Pride and Prejudice-- it takes time in the beginning to get him interested in the social intricacies of the British Regency era, but it helps that he enjoys Elizabeth enough to keep at it until the plot picks up a little. It's not his usual taste in literature but he does feel satisfied at the end when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy get over their respective bullshit and get together, and really that's all that you can hope for out of an ending, to feel satisfied by it.
He does skip one night of reading, though-- when he goes out with his brothers, bar crawling the day before Jaskier's show. He's determined to fix whatever the fuck is wrong with him with a night of meaningless sex, regardless of the vaguely concerned looks that he gets from Eskel the whole time. Lambert, meanwhile... is actually more interested in his phone for most of the night, and Geralt doesn't question it. He does eventually find a woman who seems game, pretty enough with brown hair and big blue eyes and a bright, easy smile, and he's about to ask her if she wants to get out of here when he spots another blue-eyed, brown-haired pretty thing through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the bar. It's Jaskier-- he knows that laugh-- walking down the street with a gaggle of people around him, dressed to the nines. Geralt can only see him for a few moments before he's gone, past the bar and off to wherever it is he's going for the night, and the woman in front of him asks him a question that pulls his attention back to her.
He asks her if she wants to go. She does, and he drives them both to her place on his motorcycle. He fucks her and it's good, and he waits in bed with her until she's asleep before getting up and putting his clothes back on and driving home. He feels restless the whole way back, and even once he's showered and gotten into his own bed, he can't fall asleep.
The next night is Jaskier's show, and Geralt roped both of his brothers into coming despite the fact that he dragged them out the night before, too. Eskel agrees because, regardless of everything, he'll do anything that Geralt asks, and Lambert... probably just wants to see what the fuck all this fuss is about, really. All he knows is that there's this client that Geralt has that wanted him to come to watch him sing, and the first thing that he asked was if Geralt was trying to fuck him-- as though that would be the only reason that Geralt would ever show his face at a bar for some music. When the answer was negative, he seemed unconvinced, but he at least agreed to show up.
So, there they were. Three assholes standing at the bar, the crowd full of people that leaned way more towards the hipster end of the spectrum than they did, drinking microbrew beer and waiting for Jaskier to get on stage. Some pretty little blond girl is weaving between the tables and dipping by the people at the bar, handing something out; she finally makes it over to them and Geralt takes what she's handing to him almost automatically. It's a business card, not that he really needs it since he already has Jaskier's phone number.
She recognizes him. Lambert, who had been paying more attention to his beer than anything that was going on around him up until this point, whips his head around to see what this fresh bullshit is about.
"He... has?" Geralt's brow furrows, mostly out of confusion for what Jaskier could've possibly told this girl that would have her so excited to meet him. Is it the horses? Women do seem to like horses, maybe she also has an interest in riding. There can't be that much else to say about him; Geralt can't say that he's a particularly interesting person. The opposite, really? It's mostly just horses and apparently old books about monster hunters.
"What did he tell you?" Lambert leans towards her, and when she looks confused at his interruption, he adds, "I'm his brother. I know way better stories--
"When will Jaskier be on stage?" Geralt interrupts him back, elbowing Lambert hard enough to get him to stop talking that he nearly spills his beer.
no subject
He keeps the book on his nightstand and reads it for a while every night before he goes to bed.
Jaskier texts him, as expected, about the book while he's reading it, telling Geralt about the parts that he likes and expressing false indignation that he didn't tell him about the faithful bard who follows the monster hunter across the land. Of course he would identify the most with the character who spends his life singing songs, sleeping with beautiful people, and getting in trouble-- and being rescued from said trouble by his friend. (Geralt is secretly looking forward to Jaskier's comments once he nears the end of the book-- there's a scene in one of the last chapters where the bard and the monster hunter fall into bed together. It's tame by modern standards, but it had been scandalous when he had been a teenager. Eskel had written the most thoughtful commentary in the margins, and Lambert's contribution had been the aforementioned dick drawing.)
In return, Geralt comments on Pride and Prejudice-- it takes time in the beginning to get him interested in the social intricacies of the British Regency era, but it helps that he enjoys Elizabeth enough to keep at it until the plot picks up a little. It's not his usual taste in literature but he does feel satisfied at the end when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy get over their respective bullshit and get together, and really that's all that you can hope for out of an ending, to feel satisfied by it.
He does skip one night of reading, though-- when he goes out with his brothers, bar crawling the day before Jaskier's show. He's determined to fix whatever the fuck is wrong with him with a night of meaningless sex, regardless of the vaguely concerned looks that he gets from Eskel the whole time. Lambert, meanwhile... is actually more interested in his phone for most of the night, and Geralt doesn't question it. He does eventually find a woman who seems game, pretty enough with brown hair and big blue eyes and a bright, easy smile, and he's about to ask her if she wants to get out of here when he spots another blue-eyed, brown-haired pretty thing through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the bar. It's Jaskier-- he knows that laugh-- walking down the street with a gaggle of people around him, dressed to the nines. Geralt can only see him for a few moments before he's gone, past the bar and off to wherever it is he's going for the night, and the woman in front of him asks him a question that pulls his attention back to her.
He asks her if she wants to go. She does, and he drives them both to her place on his motorcycle. He fucks her and it's good, and he waits in bed with her until she's asleep before getting up and putting his clothes back on and driving home. He feels restless the whole way back, and even once he's showered and gotten into his own bed, he can't fall asleep.
The next night is Jaskier's show, and Geralt roped both of his brothers into coming despite the fact that he dragged them out the night before, too. Eskel agrees because, regardless of everything, he'll do anything that Geralt asks, and Lambert... probably just wants to see what the fuck all this fuss is about, really. All he knows is that there's this client that Geralt has that wanted him to come to watch him sing, and the first thing that he asked was if Geralt was trying to fuck him-- as though that would be the only reason that Geralt would ever show his face at a bar for some music. When the answer was negative, he seemed unconvinced, but he at least agreed to show up.
So, there they were. Three assholes standing at the bar, the crowd full of people that leaned way more towards the hipster end of the spectrum than they did, drinking microbrew beer and waiting for Jaskier to get on stage. Some pretty little blond girl is weaving between the tables and dipping by the people at the bar, handing something out; she finally makes it over to them and Geralt takes what she's handing to him almost automatically. It's a business card, not that he really needs it since he already has Jaskier's phone number.
She recognizes him. Lambert, who had been paying more attention to his beer than anything that was going on around him up until this point, whips his head around to see what this fresh bullshit is about.
"He... has?" Geralt's brow furrows, mostly out of confusion for what Jaskier could've possibly told this girl that would have her so excited to meet him. Is it the horses? Women do seem to like horses, maybe she also has an interest in riding. There can't be that much else to say about him; Geralt can't say that he's a particularly interesting person. The opposite, really? It's mostly just horses and apparently old books about monster hunters.
"What did he tell you?" Lambert leans towards her, and when she looks confused at his interruption, he adds, "I'm his brother. I know way better stories--
"When will Jaskier be on stage?" Geralt interrupts him back, elbowing Lambert hard enough to get him to stop talking that he nearly spills his beer.