#he just has his own specific list of tasks that doesnt include mornings but does indeed include basking in the sun

[dapandapod]

Why he stays

Helloooooo there my dears! We are back on posting duty, this one dug up from 2022 something in a livewrite far, far away (the star wars brainrot in this one is STRONG). It's just one of those nice nights when you need to cozy up to someone, you know? So I'm living shamelessly through them. Please enjoy <3 On Ao3 here

Jaskier never thought he would leave the city. He loves the rhythm of it, the millions of beating hearts that make the backdrop of his life.

But then he met Eskel. He didn’t mean to stay, he really didn’t. After that one small gig at the local pub, and Eskel offered him a place to stay for the night, he just couldn’t … make himself leave.

So he didn’t.

He replaced the traffic with the rustling leaves in the wind. The cars and cabs with a tractor that only ever starts when Lambert touches it. Newspapers blowing across busy streets with hay escaping the wheelbarrow.

Jaskier never thought he would leave the city, but he has never been more at peace.

Eskel is out on the farm, gods knows there is a lot to do in the mornings. But he never asks Jaskier to help. Always, he does his daily do’s, making room for Jaskier among them.

Like right now, when Jaskier is dosing on the bed in a patch of sun, smug and content as a cat. The tea Jaskier made himself stands forgotten on the nightstand, the book he had been reading rests on the bed next to him.

The door to the little house rattles, and Eskel comes back inside. Jaskier can see him through the door, how he kicks off his boots and how he looks when he spots Jaskier on the bed.

Jaskier stretches, his tank top riding up and exposing skin to the patch of sun. But it can’t compare, not one bit, to how it warms him when Eskel smiles at him.

“Hello,” He says, turning to see Eskel better. The blankets shift around him as he does, and he enjoys the way Eskel’s eyes dips to his hips.

“Hi,” Eskel says, leaning against the doorframe. “Going to stay there all day?”

“Only for a bit. It is very nice in the sun.” Jaskier says, shifting again to lay on his back so he can get the sun on him better. Cats have great ideas sometimes. People should get better at listening to them.

“Fine,” Eskel says, standing up and crossing the floor.

“Fine?” Jaskier looks up at him, and gets an eyeful of Eskel’s strong stomach as he pulls off his flannel, his somehow always white T-shirt riding up in the proves.

“Fine. I have no idea how you keep tricking me into doing this,” Eskel says, throwing the shirt on the floor. Next thing he knows, the mattress dips and he tips towards Eskel when he sits down.

“I didn’t do anything!” Jaskier laughs, mock offended at Eskel’s tone.

Then he is being moved, gently shoved sideways so that they both can fit in that patch of sunlight. Eskel lies down next to him, their shoulders pressed together, his hands resting over his stomach.

“You know exactly what you did,” Eskel mutters accusingly, but he smiles and closes his eyes with a content sigh.

“I’m doing nothing,” Jaskier says, smiling too and snuggling closer, pressing against his side so that he too can rest his hand on Eskel’s stomach.

“Exactly.”

Jaskier chuckles and then there are lips pressing a kiss to the crown of his head.

“You missed,” Jaskier teases, tilting his head up so that Eskel can correct his mistake and kiss his lips instead.

“Terrible,” Eskel agrees, and does just that. A gentle peck of lips, and Jaskier feels like he is flying.

Yes, this is exactly why Jaskier stays.

His every day is filled with moody goats and neighbors, the oddest assortment of teas he has ever seen.

He still doesn’t properly find his way to town without help, despite Eskel insisting it is just down the road, literally down the road, there is no way to miss it, but Jaskier somehow still manages.

The calm chaos of the farm, of broken fences and wild roosters that suddenly decided they live in the barn.

All of this, all of it, is what makes up his new life, the new backdrop, the beating hearts that make the rhythm to which he paces his life.

And strongest of them all is Eskel’s, beating beneath his palm, where he lets it rest on Eskel’s chest.

This. This is why he stays.