#jaskier goes to the coast
So@firefly-party said “hey, write me Jaskier and Eskel accidently meeting on the beach” and I said maybe, but then I wrote it immediately, because that is how I am as a person apparently. Very hard to convince……
So please enjoy these somft boys having a moment, maybe not that accidental but very unplanned on Jaskier’s end at the least! And thank you Socks my beloved for beta reading, it is a great help when my brain is as shut off as it is.
Please enjoy <3
It might have been a little on the nose. Very on the nose actually. But Jaskier is lonely. As much as he is over his last breakup, he misses having someone there. Someone to love, someone who loves him back.
It’s just a habit of his, to translate his emotion into songs. It is a way to get it out of a system, explore, express, but it leaves him feeling raw and vulnerable too.
Not all songs are sung in front of other people. Not every song makes it to the stage. Some of them are just for himself, sometimes for his friends or family. This one is balancing on the line of too-much. He played it for Essi, Priss, and just the other day at Geralt’s house, where all of them had gathered to hang out.
Jaskier is not sure why he played it, but Aiden had asked him to sing, curling his arm around Lambert, and there had been a pang of longing in his chest.
Because Eskel is right there, looking at him, and Jaskier is aching for someone. So he sang it.
Today, he is second guessing himself. He has flipped up the collar of his coat against the wind, it’s a little cold, the sky cloudy and gray, the ocean beating angrily against the shore.
As soon as he started singing it, as soon as he sang “someone to you”, he knew he said too much. See, some songs you can sing in front of strangers, and they don’t know enough about you to draw conclusions.
Some songs can only be deciphered by friends, too specific to make sense to anybody else. Some songs should be sung in his room, fairy lights lit and guitar just a little out of tune, because the need to sing was stronger than the need for it to sound good.
This song is a song for strangers or for himself.
He saw it in their eyes when he finished, their pity. He didn’t even dare look at Eskel, just smiled weakly and started the next song, something less personal, something deflecting and funny.
Today, on the beach, he thinks about their faces. Thinks about how cold his hand is when he doesn’t have another to hold. How he, despite no lack of suitors, can’t seem to make himself reach for them.
He doesn’t think about why.
Watching the waves stumble over each other, reach for whatever it is they seek on the shore, reaching, forever reaching, breaking against rock and sand. The symbolism is there, it’s hard to miss, but the ocean always was a place of comfort for him.
The air is cleaner here, the forces of nature always taking his mind off of what ails him. Not entirely, but much like the songs, it helps him sort things out.
There is sand on his shoes. His scarf is flapping in the wind. There are birds riding the winds, gliding above the water.
There are footsteps behind him.
Jaskier doesn’t turn. This is a popular space for people to take a walk. In fact, he made a friend because of it. An older lady with a small dog named Frank. She stops to talk to him every once in a while, he even joined her for coffee once.
But it is not Frank and his lady. It is Eskel, hands deeply buried in the big jacket he’s wearing. Jaskier’s traitorous heart skips a beat as he watches him approach, smiling as Eskel stops in front of him.
“Hi.” Jaskier greets.
“Hi.” Eskel replies, shoulders drawn up. “Real shit weather for a day on the beach.”
“Sure is.” Jaskier agrees. “Care to join me?”
Eskel nods, and they turn back to look at the waves. For a long while, they just stand there, until Jaskier breaks the silence.
“Geralt told you where to find me, didn’t he?”
“Didn’t need to. You always come here when you are upset.” Eskel says, bumping their arms together. It is a small gesture, companionable and comforting, and it works damn him.
“Hmm.” Is all Jaskier says, bumping back.
“Want to talk about it?” Eskel offers after another silence.
“I’m fine. Just a little lonely. It will pass.”
“Am I interrupting your loneliness?”
“Yes. Don’t you dare leave.”
Eskel looks thoughtful for a moment, and Jaskier glances at him from the corner of his eye.
“You know, I might have a cure for that.”
He what?
“You do?”
“I might.” Eskel corrects. “But it really depends.”
Eskel turns towards him, and Jaskier’s heart is beating fast now. It almost sounds like…
“On what?”
The wind is strong, making the tip of his nose red and cold. The gray sky is a backdrop, the waves a soundtrack.
“On you. If you’d want me. Uh- want it. Me.”
“Eskel.” Jaskier interrupts, stepping closer with a smile. “Are you asking me out?”
“I guess I- I am. Yes I am.”
Jaskier can do nothing but smile and lean closer, resting his head against Eskel’s shoulder.
“That sounds like a lovely cure.”
Eskel puts an arm around his back, and they stand together and watch the waves.
“This is a good place.” Eskel says after a while.
“I know.” Jaskier agrees. Even better now that Eskel is here.
