doesntsing | open post

Midge wipes the tears out of her eyes. Being cuddled sounds wonderful right about now but she’s not sure how they would manage it.

How would I get there?

He doesn’t think he’s wrong so he won’t apologize. Not yet anyway.

I know I do.

Just a moment. A few minutes later, she gets a new text. Go down the ladder outside your window.

Meaning the fire escape. When Midge goes down, she'll find an open portal waiting. Crossing it will probably make her a bit dizzy, but hey, it takes her right to Jaskier's room. He's still tucked in bed and Yennefer is sitting on the edge, wearing a robe.

"Get me a hair of his and I'll curse him in the morning," she tells Midge as a wave of her hand makes the portal disappear. After reminding Jaskier of the rules, she leaves the room.

Jaskier just lifts his blankets and sheets, inviting Midge to get in.

Midge has the wherewithal to put on her robe and slippers before going outside. She finds the strange glowing circle, a window into Jaskier’s bedroom. It’s a weird sensation to step through.

“Boy, you can’t beat travel time like that,” Midge says, sniffing and trying to hold back her tears. She nods at Yennefer, not sure if she really wants to curse Joel.

After the witch leaves, Midge crawls into bed next to Jaskier and lets her tears go, sobbing against his shoulder.

"True. But I still want to try out flying."

As soon as she crawls into bed, Jaskier covers them both with the blankets and wraps his arms around her, bringing her as close as possible. He kisses the top of her head and rubs her back as he rocks her, very lowly humming a random tune while letting her cry her heart out. Not a word for now, he thinks she needs to let it all out first.

She cries for a while before thinking to ask: “Are you still contagious?”

It doesn’t even matter at this point. Jaskier’s arms feel too perfect around her and the bed is warm. She doesn’t plan on leaving.

He can't help but chuckle. "Does it matter?"

Earlier, he'd been worried about her kids. Now, though? Now he just wants her to get better and fuck everything else. Besides, it's become a normal cold. The main danger is gone. Getting a normal cold won't kill the children.

Jaskier cups her cheek and kisses her forehead. "You can cry as long as you want. Stay as long as you want. You're safe here."

“No,” Midge replies, her voice muffled by his shoulder.

She moves back slightly and lets out a deep sigh before wiping her eyes.

“He seemed so… judgmental. I know I shouldn’t care what he thinks, but he’s still the father of my children.”

"Of course you care," he says in his softest voice, still rubbing her back. "He was the love of your life, the one you chose to marry. That won't go away overnight. Your heart aches for whom it used to crave." Another kiss for the top of her head. "You mentioned that first, he wasn't impressed by the details - I don't know exactly what you told him, but if it was about life in clubs and the stage, then I imagine that hurts as well. Because he may've been attacking me, but he was indirectly attacking you, too, since we share that lifestyle."

His voice loses its softness with each word, getting angrier by the second. Jaskier takes a moment to take a deep breath and calm down - she needs comfort, not bitching.

"He's just a bitter arse, angry at himself for losing something wonderful, but taking it out on you. Of course it hurts to be attacked for his mistake. Remember that, Miriam: his mistake. Not yours. You haven't done anything wrong."

Midge lays her head back on his chest, nuzzling up underneath his chin.

“I told him that you were a musician and an Otherworlder…” She sighs again. “He knows you’re not Jewish.” It will most likely be the biggest problem that her parents will have with Jaskier as well, should they ever learn the true nature of he and Midge’s relationship. “He shouldn’t have a problem with clubs. The idiot is trying to open his own club in Chinatown.”

Midge puts her hand on Jaskier’s chest, stroking gently and feeling the warmth of his body next to hers.

“It’s hard to remember sometimes. Sometimes I still think I must have done something to drive him away.”

"For fuck's sake..." Of course, it had to be the religion thing. Of fucking course. Jaskier sighs and thanks the gods that Midge is still talking, because he's pretty fucking angry at Joel now and who knows if he could've contained his religious rant.

(If this is such a big deal, he doesn't look forward to meeting her parents, then.)

"That's the kind of argument I would've expected from people in my world. Many a person was stuck in unhappy marriages and couldn't escape - cheating was their only choice. But here? You have fucking divorce. I seriously doubt you did anything, considering he wants you back - but even if you had, he could've just asked for divorce. Yet he didn't. He kept using you as his maid, nanny, and cook. And now he behaves like a controlling arse, which proves he's like that in his spare time and not because of your marriage."

Midge doesn’t want to get into religion right now either. She’s weary and upset. Someday she will try to explain it to him, but not at nearly 4AM.

“He thought he could have me and her. He thought I would forgive him when he came back.” She shrugs. “Joel’s really not a bad guy. He just made a huge mistake and has to suffer the consequences. You’re not the type of guy he thinks I should be with, but he doesn’t get to dictate that.”

"Nobody gets to dictate that, except yourself," he immediately points out, not wanting to think about shit like arranged marriages. "I won't deny that I'm not the kind of bloke a lady introduces to her parents. But I don't think Joel thinks anyone is the 'type of guy' you should be with. So fuck him."

He kisses Midge's cheek. "Worry not, Yennefer will teach him to behave."

“You’re a good person, Jaskier.” Midge wants to make that clear. “But I understand what you mean.” He doesn’t want to settle down. Most parents don’t want that for their children.

“Joel didn’t have much to say about Benjamin, but Benjamin is Jewish, and a doctor. There wasn’t anything he could say. That’s like… the ideal thing a Jewish mother looks for when it comes to a husband for her daughter.” Thus why Rose was so disappointed when Benjamin and Midge’s engagement fizzled.

Midge hums a worried note in her throat. “I don’t want Joel to be hurt,” she warns.

A chuckle. "I'm a bitch. But thank you." It's not even about settling down. It's about him having a dirty mouth, about not behaving according to society's rules, about being a slut, about being an artist without what is considered a 'proper job'. Settling down is the least of his worries when 'meeting the parents'.

Benjamin. That name is new. Jaskier remembers she said she's only slept with two people, so he guesses he must've been the second guy. A doctor, of course - a respectable profession. He bets Joel didn't like him either, but couldn't complain because he liked arguments.

"What happened with this 'ideal' Benjamin?" Curiosity is killing him. Part of him wants to jump on the obvious conclusion: Midge doesn't want traditional anymore. But who knows, maybe he dumped her. "We won't hurt him. Just... scare him a little."

“You aren’t to me.”

Maybe he’ll have no reason to ever meet her parents, but Midge will deal with the situation if it turns into a disaster. Jaskier has manners, at least.

She sighs. She hasn’t told him about Benjamin has she?

“We were engaged, but it was… too much, too soon. We didn’t want the same things. He wasn’t against my career, but he wanted to have a wife at home and have children. I’ve… done that.” A pause. “It’s not that I wouldn’t have more children if my new husband wanted them, but I want to be able to have my career too.” It seems like an impossible task for a woman to have both.

She glances at Jaskier. “And how are you going to scare him?”

You aren't to me. That's... incredibly sweet. He doesn't have the heart to destroy the idea she has of him. He wants to kiss her properly, but considering the cold, he sticks to kissing the top of her head again.

Engaged?! Hopefully, she's still comfortable on his chest and doesn't see Jaskier's very shocked face. Nothing wrong with wanting to get married again, it's not like he expected Midge to completely give up the idea, he's just surprised by how soon she jumped on it again.

It seems she's aware too - 'too much, too soon'. At least, it doesn't sound like he was a dick to her - it seems he didn't try to change her. So he gets a pass.

"He sounds like a nice bloke. Sorry it didn't work out. I'm glad you're so passionate about your career - although I admit I'm also surprised to hear you'd have more children."

He shrugs, the hand on her back going up to play with her hair. "I'll have to talk to Yennefer. Nightmares are always an option. Or Geralt could pay him a visit. He's good at being intimidating."

Admittedly, her feelings were hurt when Jaskier told her he was seeking a man after his gig at the club, but she didn’t think that was him intentionally trying to hurt her feelings. She agreed to not being exclusive, so she didn’t have much of a right to complain. Otherwise, Jaskier has been nothing but sweet and encouraging to her.

“If my new husband didn’t have a child of his own and he wanted one, I’d try to give that to him.”

Midge huffs a laugh. “Geralt would scare the piss out of him.”

Edited 2025-08-22 22:21 (UTC)

"Try," he repeats. The use of that word immediately raises some alarms. "But is it what you want?"

Ah, she's laughing. Good, it seems the cuddling and chatting truly are helping her feel better. "He's very good at that, too. He's made many a man piss their pants. Literally."

“I don’t know,” Midge replies. “Love and marriage make you sometimes change your mind about what you want. I always wanted to have three children anyway.”

Her fingers gently stroke over his chest. “He can’t know anything is connected to you or I, otherwise he’ll accuse me of trying to attack him.” Midge doesn’t want to deal with the fallout of any potential pranks.

Love and marriage make you sometimes change your mind about what you want.

But where is the line between changing your mind and surrendering a part of yourself? Jaskier doesn't have the answer, and he doesn't want to sound like he's shitting on her ideas either. She may be feeling better, but still not the best of moments. So he only answers, "Mmh." Geralt has taught him well.

"Aww, but the idea was to get him off your back!" He's pouting - see? A bitch. "You take the fun out of it."

Marriage is a give and take. Not big things. Not your whole life and personality. But compromises have to be made. You do them because you love the other person. Jaskier seems to reject all of it outright, despite having a song about making a little sacrifice. It might be a good thing that he doesn’t want to be in a relationship.

“It will create more problems,” Midge says. “He’ll tell his parents, who will tell my parents and then suddenly I’m getting called on the carpet and being asked why I put a curse on my ex-husband.”

Funny enough, he thinks he's sacrificed for Geralt - being the White Wolf's barker meant bigots have treated him like shit for supporting a witcher.

"Because he's being a controlling motherfucker," he immediately replies, his voice almost a growl. She's right, though. This place isn't like home, a curse will only get her in trouble. Jaskier sighs. "Fine, I promise we won't mess with him. But next time he tries something, let me know during it. We'll make him piss his pants on the spot."

“Jaskier.” Midge looks at him. “He doesn’t control me. We argue about things because we don’t always agree and he knows exactly how to push my buttons.”

She sighs. “I guess that’s embarrassing enough that he won’t tell anyone about it. I just don’t want any negativity coming back on you or your family. You have to be careful with magic here.”

"I'm not saying he controls your life, I'm saying he's trying to." Totally different, if you ask him. No, really!

There's a pause before he buries his face in her hair, nuzzling it. "Fuck, I want to kiss you so badly right now. Do you have any idea how sweet you are?" Another pause while calloused fingers draw random shapes on her back. "None of us is strangers to the public seeing us negatively. But I won't deny that being here is a good chance to start over. At the end of the day, though... we must choose to do what is right, not socially acceptable."

“And I’m not going to let him,” Midge replies emphatically.

She leans against him, a smile crossing her lips. “I more often get told that I’m sassy,” she says. “Maybe a little tart.” Pulling back slightly, her eyes rest on his lips. “Do you think you can give me a chaste peck on the lips?” she asks softly.

Reaching up, she runs her fingers through his hair. “Don’t go to jail because of me. I can deal with Joel.”

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

maybe the one that gets the cold is Joel lol

yessss

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject