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Jaskier was awoken by the weak morning sunlight’s gentle caress upon his face.
He scrunched up his nose with a small whine and nuzzled closer to the soft pillow underneath him, pulling on the furs laying on top of him so that they were covering his upper body better and securing the tip between his chin and shoulder. He dozed in that position for some time, but the sleep never took him again completely so finally, with a sigh, he opened his eyes.
The sight that greeted him was one to behold, one he would never get tired of for as long as he lived, no matter how many times he had the pleasure of witnessing it.
Geralt was laying across from him on his side, his yellow eyes resembling molten gold. They were bright, despite the shadows obscuring them, highlighting his nonhuman constitution.
His white hair laid messily around his head, looking almost transparent by the sun shining upon them and creating a halo.
He was regarding the bard tenderly and unguarded, as if he was the single most precious thing in the world.
Once he noticed that Jaskier was awake, he gave him a soft smile and brought his hand up to caress the younger man’s cheek, his thumb making its way from the bard’s cheekbone to his jaw and back in a repeated motion.
“Good morning.” He said in his gravelly voice, its tone even deeper than usual with sleep.
Jaskier smiled back and laid his own hand over the witcher’s, twisting his head so that he could give his palm a lingering kiss. “A good morning indeed.”
Geralt chuckled quietly and moved closer to the bard, to the point where their noses were almost touching and Jaskier had a hard time looking at him without going cross-eyed. Nevertheless, he was weak to do anything other than bask in the close proximity.
“How long have you been up dear heart?”
The witcher shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe an hour.”
The bard blinked dramatically. “And you just spent all this time watching me sleep?”
“Pretty much.”
“You do realize how creepy that sounds right?”
Geralt scoffed. “You love it.”
Jaskier rolled his eyes but then grinned sheepishly. “I do”
He moved their joined hands from his face to the narrow space between them. “As I love you.”
He gave his lover’s hand a little squeeze, marveling at the intimacy of the act, as simple as it may be.
They may have been laying in the same bed but that’s something they’ve had to do countless times in the past because of necessity. Even cuddling was common in cold winter nights as a desperate attempt to keep each other warm.
But hand-holding? That was never something he was allowed to do casually before, when he was struggling to keep his overflowing feelings towards his best friend a secret in fear of rejection. He had long resigned himself to a lifetime of dealing with this unrequited love and could have never possibly imagined that said best friend had similar feelings for him, so now that they were finally together, it almost felt like-
“It feels like a dream.” Geralt said, disturbing while also simultaneously continuing the bard’s train of thought.
“What does?” Jaskier asked, because although he understood, he always tried to prompt his lover to express his emotions, since the witcher had been told time and time again by the world that he was void of them, to the point where Geralt had almost started to believe it himself.
“This. Us. Everything.” The witcher frowned as he struggled with his words for a moment but Jaskier remained patient. “The fact that we’re both here in Kaer Morhen together, the fact that you’re safe and sound in my arms, the fact that the war is over and we have nothing left to worry about.”
He leaned up and kissed the bard on the forehead. “The fact that you love me back.” He whispered in amazement.
Jaskier let out a shuddering breath and gulped. “I feel the same darling. It’s hard to believe that after spending all that time in the middle of a storm, we finally get to enjoy the rainbow. But it isn’t a dream, it’s real and I think we’ve damn well more than earned it.”
Geralt made a sound of agreement and enveloped Jaskier in his arms. Jaskier in turn wrapped his own arms around the witcher's waist and held on tightly.
They stayed like that in comfortable silence, save for the birds chirping outside the window, accompanied by the hallowing wind, while the sun slowly made its way higher up in the sky.
Jaskier pulled back from where his head was buried in Geralt’s neck and yawned.
“It does get a bit boring though doesn’t it? We were terribly busy for such a long time and now there’s suddenly nothing to do.” He mused.
They had the entire keep to themselves for the foreseeable future and without even Vesemir there to assign them chores as usual he had grown somewhat restless.
Geralt smirked at the bard and in the blink of an eye he had pushed him to lie on his back as he climbed on top of him, pinning both his wrists over his head
“Are you sure about that?” He said with a tilt of his head, the silver locks framing his face swinging faintly back and forth. “Cause I can certainly think of a few things…”
Jaskier got over his surprise quickly and winked at his lover, a wicked grin pulling at his lips.
“Then please, feel free to elaborate.”
And Geralt did.