#Geralt's sooo happy when Jaskier starts joining them for after dinner talks around the fire and sits closer at breakfast

[hale-of-stiles-heart]

#for once geralt fits in. he's with family and friends who dont fear him. that he can trust and let his guard down #act like a normal person #and ciri!!! the child that he now wants and treasures so dearly!!! #he gets to start making a family with her!! in his own way!!!! #and for once jaskier is the outsider. doesnt know how to charm them or slip into conversation even #when folk dont trust him as a bard they treat him as human-- which he complains about to geralt #because he thinks geralt should be treated as a person too #but now he's in a strange place with social moors he doesnt always grok #and people who look at /him/ and potentially see threat #outsider. interloper. #because it was humans who sacked kaer morhen!! #and yes some of it is jaskier projecting his own insecurities obviously geralt's brotheren trust someone geralt vouches for (someone geralt's been talking about every winter for a decade) #but he still doesnt know where he /fits/. he still feels outside. which is so different for him just. is. #its a whole Thing

after the mountain and being apart for so long it's so awkward and uncomfortable, Jaskier's worried about being a burden about being a bother, so he holds back! He graciously accepts his meals and eats away from the others so he's not intruding on their private conversations, gives them all a lot of distance trying to be polite but it all just ends up with him being withdrawn and lonely

And maybe it's not Geralt who confronts Jaskier about it, it's Vesemir because he can see that neither Geralt or Jaskier are entirely happy so he starts making an effort to explicitly include Jaskier in things, whether it's just having him help prep dinner or join them around the fireplace to relax after dinner

thinking about Jaskier going up to Kaer Morhen with Geralt and Ciri and it's almost like a role reversal because now Geralt's the one telling stories and laughing with his brothers and Jaskier's eating meals by himself and keeping to himself because he feels like an interloper

NOOOOOO SHUP UP