Work Text:
There first time it happens, Jaskier is caught off guard.
He mentions in passing that his lute needs new strings, but was waiting until he got up enough coin to purchase some spares. He doesn’t expect to come back from a late-night performance to find a set of new lute strings on his pack. He picks them up carefully and inspects them closely to find they are of the highest quality he’s seen in a while. He puts them down carefully and glances around the room, looking for the culprit.
The only thing he sees is Geralt.
“Geralt?” Jaskier squeaks out, borderline impressed. “Did you get me new strings for my lute?”
Geralt levels him with a blank stare from across the room. “it was sounding twangy without it.”
“Twangy!?” Jaskier cries outraged, forgetting the subject at hand. “This twanging instrument just won us a pot full of coin.
“Good,” Geralt says simply. “You can pay for the room next time.” and with that, he goes back to doing whatever it was before.
Geralt’s gruff manner is offputting to some, but Jaskier can see right through it now. Geralt always insists on paying for things and would never actually let Jaskier pay for the room all by himself. And he didn’t deny being the one who bought strings for him. Jaskier puts them up and inspects them once more. Truly strings fit for an elven lute. He spends the rest of the night replacing the old strings with the new ones and tucks the old ones away in case of an emergency.
And if Geralt seems a little more pleased with himself, Jaskier promises not to tell he noticed.
——
The second time it happens, he’s excited.
It’s not very often Geralt trusts him with big, important things - unless you count going on hunts. But this was certainly new to their dynamic when Geralt comes up to him one day and holds something out for him to take.
“Here.” Geralt commands gruffly.
Jaskier takes the object with ease. He unwraps it from the cloth it’s buried in and pulls out a short silver dagger. He looks up at Geralt, excitement lining his features. “Is this- a silver dagger?” He asks, eyes wide.
“You need to learn to protect yourself.”
“I can protect myself just fine!”
“Running away doesn’t count.”
Jaskier scoffs but looks at the dagger closer. This isn't a simple dagger like Geralt would get for himself. This one is ornate and elaborate, something that is as pretty as it is deadly and fits in with Jaskier’s style. The witcher obviously put a lot of thought - and coin - into this and Jaskier wasn’t going to take that for granted. He picks it up and waves it around a little, just to be obnoxious, and smiles when it causes Geralt to sigh.
“I’ll be teaching you how to properly use it, of course.”
“I would expect nothing less.”
——
The third time it happens, he is starting to notice a pattern.
Geralt’s strange behavior has followed them into the winter months and Jaskier must have shivered one too many times for the Witcher can handle.
“Don’t you have any warmer clothes?” He grunts out in Jaskier’s general direction.
“Not really. It’s hard to find anything fashionable that’s resistant to the cold.” The bard explains, huddling down into the borrowed cloak further.
Geralt rolls his eyes. “And what do you normally do, at Oxenfurt?”
“You mean when you’re not there for me to steal your cloak?” Jaskier teases. He pauses, thinking for a moment. “Freeze, usually. I have a pair of gloves somewhere, and a thicker set of clothes that I keep there, but nothing worth carrying around when I’m usually trying not to die of heatstroke.”
Geralt scoffs but doesn't say anything else.
It's the second day at the next town that Jaskier receives the next gift. He’s mid-conversation with the Witcher and must be annoying him because suddenly he’s got something dark tossed over his head and blocking out the light. Grumbling in annoyance, he drags the fabric down from over his head and is about to throw it to the side when he notices what it is. Standing to his feet, he rights the fabric in his hands and gasps at the thick, turquoise material under his fingers.
“Geralt…” Jaskier says in awe, twirling the fabric around so it rests over his shoulders. “This is fantastic. Where did you get something like this?”
“It was on sale.” Geralt defends, looking embarrassed. It was a bit harder to pass off than a dagger or lute strings, which could be misconstrued as something practical. But a cloak of this quality, style, and color. This is no mistake. Geralt was giving him gifts, but why.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you Geralt!”
“No need. What good to me is a bard frozen on the side of the road to Oxenfurt?”
“Piss off.”
——
The fourth time it happens, he’s expecting it.
At this point, Jaskier is almost curious about what he can convince Geralt to buy him. Nothing expensive, Geralt has already taken it upon himself to do that without any pressuring, so Jaskier wanders around the marketplace until he finds something that catches his eye.
“Oh Geralt, look!” Jaskier says, dragging the Witcher over to a booth that is selling jewelry. He picks up the bracelet he had seen earlier and dangles it in the air for him to see. it’s a simple silver thing, with blue-colored gemstones scattered throughout. “It’s gorgeous.” Jaskier sets it down gently and gives the shop owner a smile before walking away.
“You’re not going to buy it?” Geralt asks him, confused.
Jaskier gives a small laugh as if the mere idea was ridiculous. “No, Geralt. I have an actual list of things that we need. It was very pretty.” The bard stares wistfully at the stand before setting his mind to it and gathering the things they actually needed, the Witcher not very far behind.
It happens later that night and Jaskier has to hide a smile when something is tossed his way.
“What’s this?” he asks, pulling at the wrapping.
“Something for you to open.”
Jaskier sticks a tongue out at the Witcher playfully and pulls the bracelet from earlier out, holding it up in the light.
“Oh, Geralt! From the market earlier! It’s perfect.” Jaskier slides it on his wrist satisfied and takes in the Witcher’s bashful face.
“I had some extra coin from my last hunt and it was the least I could do since you bought our supplies and…” Geralt trails off, clearly uncomfortable.
“I love it.”
——
The fifth time it happens, he makes sure to express his gratitude.
Jaskier promises not to manipulate the poor Witcher anymore, but when they come across some sweet buns a few towns later the words are out of his mouth before he can even think about the repercussions.
“Ooh, those look amazing,” Jaskier says, mouth practically watering. He squints at the price. “But for that much coin. No thanks.” He scoffs and starts to leave, heading towards the inn to haggle for a room. He turns to say something to Geralt only to find him at the booth and not right behind him.
“Fuck, I didn’t mean-“ Jaskier sighs, something like guilt welling up in his chest. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He says to himself. But it was too late, Geralt was walking towards him, bun in hand.
“Thank you.” He says when Geralt wordlessly hands one to him. It was the least he could do. “You better have gotten that for a discount.” Jaskier threatens uselessly through a mouth of bread.
“Get us a room for a discount and I’ll think about telling you how much I paid.”
Jaskier narrows his eyes but sticks out his hand for Geralt to shake. “Deal.”
——
The sixth time it happens, he’s the one giving Geralt a gift instead.
Jaskier finds himself trying to evaluate the Witcher’s odd behavior. The whole gift-giving thing doesn’t fit in with Geralt’s normal offputting behavior. Normally he’s the one saying they aren’t friends, not giving friendship confirming gifts.
Although… what if they weren’t friends at all.
it’s no big secret that Jaskier has a crush on the Witcher and if it were anyone else, Jaskier would have immediately pegged this as courting behavior. So.. what if it was? Geralt was never good with his words and always seemed shy when giving them to him.
It takes a little while after this revelation for Jaskier to work up the courage to ask, just in case he was wrong.
“Are these courting gifts?” Jaskier finally asks one night, fiddling with the bracelet on his wrist.
Geralt freezes, looking caught.
“It’s fine if they are, I just didn’t know.” the bard reassures.
“If it’s fine then, yes.” Geralt cringes at his own admission, seeming to curl up into himself. “Sorry, Jaskier, it’s just I’m no good with words and-“
Jaskier silences him with a kiss, finger tangling with locks of silver hair. “It’s okay, Geralt. There’s no need to apologize. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Geralt says, eyes dropping to the ground. Jaskier smiles.
“What do you say? Was it worth it?” He teases, hoping for Geralt to loosen up a bit.
Golden eyes dart up to meet blue. “I don’t know, I did get you more than one gift.”
Jaskier laughs and leans over, kissing his witcher once more.