doesntsing | open post

"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.”

"You are sassy," he replies with a grin before pressing his lips against hers, chastely and quickly. It's not enough, and pulling back is much harder than it looks.

Jaskier purrs when she pets his hair, always glad to feel her nails on his scalp. "If I hadn't gone to jail, I wouldn't have met you."

It’s not enough. Midge wants him, even though she knows she can’t have him right now. She suffices with resting her forehead against his.

“That’s true. Are you looking to meet some new partners?” she teases as she continues to rub his scalp. The purring is such a lovely sound to her ears.

That.

Sure is a question.

Jaskier tenses and the purring pauses. If this had been another lover, he wouldn't mind talking about it. But while Midge has agreed to his terms, she hasn't been exactly interested in the details (which, you know, fair). Last time in the bathroom, she didn't take it well. Add to that what has brought her here tonight...

"Is that something you really want to talk about?"

Her hand stops moving in his hair. “I was trying to make a joke… jail isn’t usually the best place to meet lovers.”

Midge moves her head to the crook of his neck. She thought they might talk playfully about it, but she guesses that Jaskier is trying to spare her feelings.

Maybe Joel is right and this isn’t the sort of arrangement she should be in.

"Oh." He instantly relaxes. He's about to ask her to pet his head again, but then she's hiding her face in his neck. Fuck. Jaskier wraps his arms tightly around her, and a hand reaches for her head - now it's his turn to pet her gently.

(This should be a red flag - can she handle this arrangement after all? Jaskier ignores that little worry. Tonight she's vulnerable, he decided the other day that she deserves a chance, and--- and, well, this newly discovered crush is making it hard for him to even consider ending things so soon.)

"Apologies, darling. I just didn't want to make you uncomfortable. I'd feel like that any day, but after seeing you cry like that? I wouldn't forgive myself for making it worse." He drops another kiss on her head. "Honestly? I'm the kind of person who makes friends even in the weirdest contexts." Friends, sure, let's call it that.

“You’re not making it worse,” she says. “I wouldn’t be here if I thought you did.” Any jail lovers they talk about would technically be hypocritical, wouldn’t they?

Midge is feeling vulnerable though. Her heart feels like it’s on the sleeve of her robe and all she wants is to not mess up this good thing in her life. She hasn’t been this drawn to another person in such a long time.

“I like you a lot, Jaskier. When I’m with you, I’m happy. You… make me feel like I really can make it in this business.”

"You came here for the promise of comforting cuddling, not for details about my other lovers." He's half serious, half teasing. "I don't look down on curiosity. So if you want to know what my life is like, like when you asked me about text and phone sex with others, I'll share. If you want us to look at cute men together, we can. But not tonight. Not with you like this."

He thinks that's a fair middle point - a way to show that he'll trust her to handle it, but only if she chooses to.

Her next words make his heart skip a beat, and once again, he wishes he could kiss her right now. But even if he didn't have a cold, Yennefer has reminded him of the rules, and Cirilla continues to be his priority. If he kissed Midge right now, he wouldn't be able to stop.

"See? An absolute sweetheart." Still hungry for contact, he reaches for her hand and kisses it before nuzzling it. "You honor me by calling me your happiness and your encouragement, darling. I like you a lot, too. You're a spark capable of brightening any day."

She nods against his neck. Someday they might be able to get there, but he’s right that tonight isn’t the night. “Proof that not all of my jokes are winners,” Midge says.

Cuddling with him is so nice. She loves the feeling of his arms around her and his warm body pressed up against hers.

“Thank you, my sweet bard.” Midge feels sleepy from the release of emotion and she murmurs against his chest. “Do you mind if I go to sleep?”

He laughs. "To be fair, these were extenuating circumstances. A joke about going to jail to find lovers may be pretty good if you add it to your act."

Her question gets her one last kiss on her hand before he lets go. "Goodness, no. We both need to rest. Good night, darling."

Being emotionally exhausted and having a warm body against his is the perfect combination to help him sleep. In fact, he sleeps past breakfast, but luckily his family doesn't interrupt his rest - they were expecting it because of the cold. It's not super late, either, Ciri and Geralt just happen to be early risers.

When he wakes up, he looks at Midge and smiles. It warms his heart to see she's been comfortable enough to fall asleep so deeply after such a long, vulnerable night. It's a lot of trust.

Does her family know she's gone? She did disappear in the middle of the night, after all. He doesn't know what time her household wakes up - she works late at The Wolford, doesn't she? Maybe they're used to her sleeping in.

Part of his mind says he should wake her up, urge her to go home - but Jaskier is selfish and wants to have her a little longer. He also thinks she needs a break from her parents. So he just brings her closer and lets her sleep on his chest while he reaches for his notebook on his night table. He opens the notebook on his lap and writes a few lines as he hums, inspired by all the little jumps his heart has been making since he texted her last night.

Sleeping with another body next to her makes her feel so comfortable that she drops into a deep slumber. Not even the sun being up wakes her. It’s clear that she needed the rest after an emotional night.

Midge finally stirs against Jaskier, humming in her throat. Waking up next to him feels wonderful and she smiles sleepily up at him. “Good morning…”

She kisses him, forgetting about his cold - and not really caring anyway.

Jaskier hasn't had a proper kiss since last weekend, right before he left for the hunt - so he's definitely starving for affection. His lips respond to her without giving him time to think, and his whole body shivers. Gosh, he missed this.

"Hey, pretty girl. How are you feeling?"

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lmk if the timeskip prompt doesn't work and I'll change it

all good!

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