victory_road | [Closed]

[He really has! Because unless Claude had been forcibly turned away and blindfolded, he couldn't have missed that show just now, and his sharp intake of breath was audible from the moment Jaskier grabbed Geralt - even before their lips touched.

Not that either Geralt or Jaskier were likely paying him any mind, at first. But by now, when they've finally broken apart, Claude's delighted laughter may finally penetrate those ears.]

Jaskier! When were you going to tell me that you and Geralt had finally seen the light? You wanted to deny me my 'I told you so' that badly?

[His tone is chiding, but he's grinning from ear to ear. If he didn't have his hands on his hips, he'd probably be applauding.]

[In contrast, Dimitri had purposefully looked away the second it became clear that Jaskier was going to smash his face against Geralt's. It just... seemed like the polite thing to do? Especially because a part of him thinks he can actually hear it...]

[But then Claude speaks up and Dimitri blinks, looking up again.]

You were not already involved?

[HE KIND OF FIGURED IT HAD HAPPENED AT SOME POINT?]

[Felix was busy rolling his eyes into the heavens, although to be perfectly frank, the kiss went on long enough that even he couldn't roll his eyes for that long. So he settled in the end for folding his arms and lifting his gaze to the sky until they were finished, as though petitioning Sothis herself for patience.

The commentary brings his eyes back down and he smirks, looking just a tiny bit smug.]

I have a feeling I know when this happened.

[Of course Mr Dry Sense of Humor answers with a grunt - luckily for him, Jaskier is in a good mood thanks to those fantastic words from before, so he appreciates the irony and chuckles... before freezing when Geralt points out their little game is over.]

...bollocks.

[He mumbles with a groan as his forehead falls on Geralt's chest. All that acting effort he went through at Kiri's party! All for nothing! And that little feeling of defeat becomes irritation when Claude reminds him of all those chats of theirs... followed by Dimitri making the question that inspired this game in the first place. For fuck's sake.]

SEE! [He suddenly exclaims as he pulls away from Geralt, arms flailing in direction of certain eye-patched king.] See what I had to put up all this time!

[And then he turns to point at Felix.] You, shut up. And you-- [He points at Claude next, about to say something... but then he squints his eyes at him, realizing he can still "win" at something, so to speak.] --shut up as well. Your boyfriends are here and I am not afraid of sharing. Also, you were wrong.

[If he had listened to Claude before prom night, things would've gone to hell pretty damn quickly. Someone would've ended up running to the forest, most likely. Perhaps even both of them.

Jaskier steps away from Geralt to make his way back to the picnic blanket... but he only takes two steps before he goes back, kisses the witcher's cheek and says-] Wipe the floor with them, my dear.

[And after patting Geralt's chest twice, this time he does return to their little picnic for real, picking back his lute to strum a song about the witcher's many heroic victories.]

[Felix tries to keep a straight face. He's...mostly successful. Watching Jaskier get flustered and frustrated enough to resort to telling people to 'shut up' is so much more satisfying than Felix ever would have expected. Is this what it's like to be Claude?

Then he arches a brow, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from twitching up into an anticipatory little smirk.]

'Sharing,' huh? What exactly is it that you would be sharing about Claude?

[Claude rolls his eyes dramatically.] Jaskier, if you weren't probably going to tell them anyway, you shouldn't have hinted that there was something to tell!

Also, I don't see how I was wrong at all! I said that it was perfectly reasonable to think that Geralt could love someone he cares about enough to spend over two decades with, which you were stubborn enough to need convincing on! And I was entirely right.

And you - ! [He turns on Geralt now, hands on his hips in an indignant posture, but the smile on his lips and the sparkle in his eyes completely belie any huffiness. He's thrilled for them.] Witchers can't love my ass. Are you both going to grump over your pessimism losing out just because it means I was right, or can you maybe just enjoy how much better things turned out then you ever thought they would? Even if it means admitting you were both being brooding idiots? That's a small price to pay for that kind of tenderness.

[So, Grant is pretty sure he doesn't know Jaskier and Geralt as well as his boyfriends and boyfriend-adjacent friends do - which is a shame, really, they seem like really great guys.

...And also it seems like knowing them better would add to the impact of this moment. The part of the impact that doesn't involve Grant hurriedly averting his eyes because he's pretty sure he shouldn't be watching this.

As it is, he'll just provide:] Ah... congratulations, guys.

[Since Claude will never let this go, Jaskier knows, the bard will do his best to be as obnoxious as possible about this. Translation: he's ignoring the hell out of him right now. The pettiness levels are over 9000!

Grant, however, is an innocent bystander caught in this mess, so Jaskier turns to him with an honest smile and a hand on his heart.] Thank you, that's kind of you to say.

[It was a simple congratulations, but really, Jaskier wants more people reacting like that and not... all this. Fuck, he's so mad his plan has been ruined.

One thing Claude is wrong about, though: Jaskier can throw a hint without having any intentions of sharing anything. It can be a fun way of teasing people. Since he wants revenge, though, and Felix did ask... well.]

Oh, hasn't Claude told you~? [It's quite obvious that his innocent tone and attitude are totally fake and exaggerated to embellish the way he's telling this "tale". And while he's mostly looking at Felix, he occasionally glances at Dimitri and Grant as well.] He thought you only had eyes for your husband, no matter how many times I described how you acted like a little jealous bitch when we met. [He waves a hand to indicate Grant and Dimitri.] He also thought Dimitri was too far gone on Grant, even when I pointed out the whole "raising a cow together" and "carry a deer for you for miles" didn't quite match that. A hopeless, hypocritical bastard he was! [A sigh, as fake as his previous innocent tone.] I hope all four of you are taking good care of him now, because our agreement is officially over.

[Perhaps not the best or most delicate way to announce that little detail, should've talked to Claude first probably. But he's beyond caring now.]

[Claude doesn't actually mind that much that Jaskier shares those details with the others. The thing about Dimitri and Grant wasn't a secret he kept from them, and even if he didn't tell Felix about his belief that Felix wasn't interested in him, he doesn't expect that to be either shocking or upsetting to him. So he doesn't have any real reason to be bothered...

Well, except perhaps that Jaskier shared things he thought Claude had been keeping secret from his lovers, as some sort of punishment for...trying to help him. For telling Jaskier there was hope, for not wanting him to simply accept his fatalistic misery, and having been right about those things in the end. That Jaskier would use things - even fairly innocuous things - that Claude told him in confidence against him, as punishment for a crime that also wasn't exactly serious. Especially when Claude has so carefully respected Jaskier's privacy, Jaskier's secrets, has done everything he can to both encourage and justify Jaskier in trusting him. Jaskier had warned, and Claude hadn't tried to avoid the follow-through, but on some level it's a surprise that Jaskier did indeed tell all...and the context and manner in which he does is considerably more unsettling to Claude than anything he's actually revealing. This doesn't feel like teasing; it feels something more like revenge.

What follows doesn't improve matters.

If Claude had thought about it - which he hadn't, yet, but no doubt would have soon enough, after getting over his initial shock and delight - he might have expected his arrangement with Jaskier to end. Geralt is the man Jaskier truly loves; Claude certainly can't compete, and wouldn't try. Isn't interested in trying, because he and Jaskier have always been content to be good friends who have amazing sex. But when Jaskier can bed the man he loves - and when the man he loves thinks so little of himself that Claude can't begin to imagine Geralt having the confidence and security in a relationship to share Jaskier with someone - there isn't much of a need for Jaskier's arrangement with Claude anymore. And Claude, himself, is perfectly well provided for. His times with Jaskier were special and unique in their own ways, as any lover would be, and there will be things he misses about it, but it's nothing he can't give up with a smile to see Jaskier happy with Geralt. Given the time to catch up to current events, he probably would have offered to end their arrangement himself.

But on the heels of tossing out Claude's confidences like breadcrumbs to pigeons, as though they were nothing; of complaining loudly about him and his attempts to help; to just drop him in front of all the others as if this too is just another bead on the string of public digs at Claude's expense...when he so expertly makes it feel as though Claude has no more meaning to him now that he has Geralt, not even as someone to show basic consideration to...

Claude feels...almost stunned. More than that - he feels resented. Were his attempts to help Jaskier really that awful...? That this level of petty spite, this bitterness, is the predominant emotion to Jaskier getting something he desperately wanted? That he genuinely doesn't seem to care about what he says to Claude anymore, or how he says it?

It honestly adds up that he must have inspired that level of bitterness, when he examines the evidence. Jaskier, the hopeless romantic, Jaskier the performer, Jaskier the lover of the public eye, isn't reveling in revealing his relationship with Geralt. He's not treating it like a surprise he wanted to enjoy springing on them. He's acted as though he wanted to continue hiding it - from Claude specifically, perhaps. And rather than happiness and pride at being with Geralt, soaking up the congratulations, he's focusing on...complaining at Claude. As though that emotion overrides any others he might feel. It genuinely must, for the bard to be acting so uncharacteristic.

Claude has to accept that maybe he really was that overbearing, that aggravating. It wouldn't be the first time. But at the same time...even if he was, he knows it was because he wanted Jaskier to be happy. To never look or sound so hopeless and forlorn as he did when he talked about his feelings for Geralt that first time.

If he's ever hurt Jaskier, or caused problems for him...it had never been out of spite. And he's never betrayed something Jaskier told him in confidence. He's never treated Jaskier's feelings as trivial.

So no matter how bad he might have been...he thinks that, perhaps, he might still have deserved better than this.

The only visual cue that anything is bothering Claude, of the shock and hurt that ripples through him, is a certain stiffness as he tenses up. Only a close observer would pick it up. Geralt will be able to scent his growing unease, however - and, most likely, the sudden slap of shock and hurt that follows that last volley of Jaskier's. Then it sours into something that's not quite bitterness, but not definably anything else, either. (But, if the blackest, most fatalistically amused example of 'well, it it was it is' had a smell, that would be the nasal bouquet the witcher is being treated to.) What Geralt interprets any of this as is anyone's guess, of course.

Claude simply stands still for a moment after Jaskier's finished speaking, before he puts on one of his most practiced public smiles.] I'm sure it will take all four of them to fill the space you've left, Jaskier. [Easy, practiced flattery, with no real feeling at all behind it. Public humiliation only works if you're not in control of the perceptions of others. All he has to do is sell the illusion that he's in control, unruffled, that nothing is happened, and it will be true. Or true enough as makes no difference to anyone but him.

He knows this game better than he knows himself. On some levels, this game shaped 'himself'. Jaskier won't beat him at it.]

I would've offered to end our arrangement myself, but obviously that's not needed. [Since his input didn't matter, and wasn't sought.] So I'll just wish you both all the happiness I've always wished you.

[And then, taking a step back, he bows slightly. This is completely uncharacteristic; everyone here knows him to be a king now, and even if they didn't, Claude just generally has never bowed to people. He's not that formal with people.]

So if you'll excuse me...

[He almost adds 'my lords'. He comes so close, his lips almost form the words. A cat's claw strike at Jaskier - a needle shooting out, and hidden again almost before the blood runs. It wouldn't be a betrayal; there are multiple lords in attendance. Only Jaskier - and perhaps Geralt - know that Jaskier can technically lay claim to the title, too...and only Jaskier (and, again, perhaps Geralt) would read the depths of Claude's displeasure into it, that he'd reference something Jaskier keeps so secret in such a spiteful way.

But no. Even on a level with so much plausible deniability carefully padded in, Claude won't treat Jaskier's secret so cavalierly. He doesn't necessarily feel Jaskier deserves better than that right now; rather, he won't stoop to that level. He won't intentionally try to hurt someone he's considered a friend, even subtly, when they're not actually forcing his hand.

He can take worse than this.

He turns on his heel and walks away, heading for where he's left Wyvern and Mori. As he does, he focuses on his breathing, on calming his mind. If he had a pokédollar for every time he's had to do this today...well, he'd have two pokédollars, but it's weird that it's happened twice. The first time he's needed to do this since he arrived, and now twice in one day.

(It's not even going to be the last time today.)]

Edited 2021-07-02 09:22 (UTC)

[When Felix asked what, exactly, Jaskier had for sharing, he expected it to be something silly and maybe a little embarrassing. Something they'd tease him for and that would be that. He did not expect something that sounds so much like...like payback.

He scowls when Jaskier resorts to namecalling at him, because wow that sure did sound like something the bard has been waiting to say to his face for ages, and it seems particularly uncalled-for at what's supposed to be a friendly get-together. (It also seems remarkably ineloquent for Jaskier, which seems to Felix to mean that he's more serious about this rant of his than he's letting on.)

But when he starts calling Claude names, Felix looks more taken aback than anything, turning to see whether maybe this is just...how they interact with each other? But no, Claude's not laughing or smirking or anything...

And then when Jaskier drops that last bomb, he's not even talking to Claude. Just about him to the rest of them, while he's present. Felix notices right away when Claude goes tense, and even he can tell that Claude's line in response is complete bullshit.

As Claude walks away, Felix turns on Jaskier.]

What the hell was that? And here I thought you were his friend.

[But Claude's more important than taking Jaskier to task--and Felix was the one who asked for the elaboration, so he wants to make sure Claude knows that he wasn't after that kind of response at all. He turns to follow Claude across the field, jogging to catch up but not saying anything until they're probably out of earshot. (Probably not Geralt's earshot, but whatever.)]

I didn't know he was going to say anything like whatever that was. Sorry. Do you...want me to come with you?

[Oh.

Oh that went somewhere.

Grant's similarly unsure, at first, if this might just be par for the course for how Jaskier and Claude interact - but it's clearer by the second that Claude wasn't ready for it, and then... then there's that final confirmation that this was the first confirmation Claude was getting that their arrangement was over.

He twists to see Claude leaving, wide-eyed, and only just glances back at Jaskier.] Jesus Christ, man.

[He hurries after Claude and Felix, though he hangs a ways behind - close enough that they'll know he's there, in case Claude does want company, but trying not to crowd them if he doesn't, or if he just wants Felix there.]

[Felix isn't the only one who thought the secret would be some silly and trivial little thing. An embarrassing - maybe raunchy - tale of their time together. After all, all the men here are aware of that time - Geralt from a lifetime of being with Jaskier and knowing the man's inclinations, the rest of them having given their agreement that Claude could continue the relationship on the side. Surely there are plenty of stories that could be told, silly things.]

[Yet what happens... doesn't seem to be that. It is a more public - something. Something Dimitri isn't entirely sure he has a word for.]

[All he can do is describe it, and that description is of something that should have been tender and valuable treated more privately. More carefully.]

[Yet the depth of this problem reaches its absolute when Claude speaks up, Dimitri's gaze going to him immediately. On the surface, he seems fine, unbothered. Yet Dimitri knows him, knows this is the same man who wished him well with a smile and an ache behind it. So there is something off that he's slowly trying to recognize, and he thinks this is it.]

[And thinks becomes knows at that bow.]

[Felix leaves his own sharp and scolding words behind him before chasing after Claude, and Grant swears in some sort of foreign language before trailing after. Dimitri wants to do the same, but... But he thinks Felix and Grant will be able to offer enough comfort there.]

[Dimitri... thinks someone has to handle things here.]

[He waits until the others are a good enough distance away, just so that they can have some space, before he steps forward to Jaskier and Geralt with a frown.]

Did you not wish to see us at all today, Jaskier? Are we unpleasant for you to be around?

[It isn't until Claude reacts that Jaskier realizes how far he's gone, how he's been bottling up more than he would've thought - which is incredibly uncommon for him. Jaskier lets anyone know how he feels about everything, even if they didn't ask.

And for a second there he does consider saying something, but then Claude flatters him like a bloody politician and even fucking bows, and Jaskier's ball of immature pettiness becomes actual anger. Is this truly what it comes down to?

He covers his face with his hands, groaning into them. Felix and Grant say something, he barely pays attention. When he looks up again, his heart gets stuck in his throat. Felix would've been easy to snap at...

But it's Dimitri.

Looking disappointed as fuck.

Jaskier sighs as he runs a hand through his hair.]

...if I hadn't wanted to see you, if I didn't like you, I wouldn't have come in the first place.

[As Felix did, Geralt thought that the 'secrets' that Jaskier was going to share would be something ridiculous, some amusing anecdote that's more to mildly embarrass Claude than to do any actual damage. What comes out of the bard's mouth is... not that at all.]

[It's not surprising for Geralt to quarrel with Claude-- there's no love lost between them. He had been under the impression that there's plenty of love to lose between the bard and his former lover, though, but those particular words don't make it seem like it. Especially not with the callous way that he announces the end of their arrangement, so casually in front of everyone. Geralt had never demanded such a thing, either, he had never asked for Jaskier to make some kind of public display of devotion to him. So what would have brought this on?]

Hm. [A hum, neutral in tone to most, questioning to the bard.] Jaskier.

[Geralt watches Claude bow and retreat. The bow itself is wrong for what he knows of Claude; mocking, perhaps, rather than sincere, a return on the offense that Jaskier paid to him. Then he turns his head back towards the offending bard, his brow furrows in confusion; a question in a glance.]

[He thought as much, so it's not a surprise to hear such words coming from the bard's lips. And yet, for Dimitri, that only seems to leave questions in its wake.]

[Geralt is even harder to read, stoic and careful as always - at least from his point of view. Still, for him to address Jaskier... Maybe it's just Dimitri himself who hopes that it means he would like to know what's going on as well. Or, at least, he's addressing him for some reason.]

[Still. Dimitri can't let Geralt do all his not-talking, and so he doesn't look away from Jaskier.]

Then help me understand, for the words and tone you used with Claude were not those of a friend who likes those he is with. I had not thought Claude had offended you to the point you would use such language with him.

Especially... When you are so dear to him, a sentiment I thought you shared, even if your relationship differs from that of you and Geralt. Of myself and Claude.

[Dimitri won't put words in his lover's mouth, won't say that Jaskier's words must have stung hard and deep, but... Well. He can't imagine how else one would feel after something like that.]

[Dimitri's disappointment is already pressuring enough, but then Geralt turns to him with searching golden eyes and says his name, knowing that's enough for Jaskier to understand him. Which is true.

Under the weight of both their judgment, part of Jaskier just wants to release Dahlia from her ball and ask her to teleport him the hell out of here.

Instead, he gets up and walks to the pile of their things to find the case of his lute. Putting it away safely is an excuse to look away from the men waiting for an answer from him and to think of what to say.

How much is he supposed to say anyway? Everyone is already angry with him. Won't confessing more, breaking even more of their privacy make him even shittier? When you've crossed a line, are you supposed to cross them all? Go big or home?]

...I suppose... [When he finally talks, his voice is low, nothing like the bright tones that usually take over a room. His distressed smell is a combination of things: frustration. Anger. Disappointment. Shame.] ...I suppose I was more annoyed by his scolding and his preaching than I realized.

[And when it finally came out, well. He couldn't control it, like the emotional idiot he is.]

[So it was just something as simple as that. On the one hand, Dimitri supposes he should be glad. If it is simple, just emotions snapping when they shouldn't, then that means there is no complex drama to sort out. That is something.]

[On the other hand, Dimitri knows far too well how something simple can ruin things so easily.]

[He doesn't chase after Jaskier; pressuring people here just seems as though it would cause more harm. Instead, he stays there, staring towards his back, hoping that this isn't bad enough to be the worst result.]

I know... That it is an excuse used by many for all manner of things, but he only leaned so hard on you because you are dear to him, and he wanted you to be happy.

Claude can be overbearing, at times. I know this. [He once put a hand right over Claude's mouth in an attempt to make him stop talking. Dimitri understands.] Yet as intelligent as he is, he cannot know everything. He couldn't have known that you were so frustrated by him, when you yourself did not even realize it.

...I believe you know this, because you are no fool, Jaskier. I do not mean to preach either. I simply despair at seeing Claude become so hurt, and that you may follow suit. I do not want your precious friendship ruined beyond repair. Claude cares for you so deeply, after all. And those words have driven... deep.

[For Claude to react like that? They had to have.]

Overbearing? [That's a rather bitter snort leaving his lips.] Have you met me? That's not- I told him he cannot know--

[Ugh, he's doing it again. Directly to Dimitri this time, the poor sweet guy trying to make the best out of this situation. There is also... well, Jaskier doesn't give a fuck if Felix is mad at him, but Grant... he barely knows the man but he's nice, and he didn't hear what he said but he remembers the tone, and this is yet another poor guy trapped in this mess, in this-- this--

Lordling slapfight.

Ugh.

Jaskier hides his face on his hands again and this time screams into them, frustration leaving his shoulders shaking. Hopefully Dimitri isn't too close to him, because when he turns around he's going all out with the hand gestures.]

I hate having to think about what I say twice because anything I say will be used against me! You've been to court, you know what I'm talking about. [He gives Dimitri a look that says "I am willing to listen to you but don't even TRY to argue against that".] And I KNOW why he is the way he is, I listened to him and I was patient, I do not expect him to let me in to the extent he does with you... but I thought I was at the very least one step away from that! At some point I just-- stopped talking about Geralt to him.

[And aren't friends supposed to be there to listen to you whine about your crush?]

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