doesntsing | open post

“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?"

Midge wants him too, even though she knows she can’t have him here. Hopefully they can return to the apartment in midtown sometime next week.

“Better.” That’s when Midge remembers that he’s sick. Whoops. “How about you?”

She squints her eyes against the sun and stretches. “What time is it?”

"Much better too," he replies while closing his notebook. Now that he isn't afraid to wake her up, he uses the chance to stretch his arms and legs.

He shrugs at her question. "I'm not sure. After 9 at the very least."

“Don’t you have a clock?”

She looks around, then remembers that she put her phone in her robe pocket before leaving her apartment last night. Midge pulls it out and looks at the time.

“9:24. I’d better call mama.” Midge dials and puts the phone up to her ear. Her parents don’t use these new-fangled devices, so she’s calling the landline. “Hello, mama? Yeah. It’s Midge. No, I’m not calling you from the bedroom. That’s why I’m calling. I’m not in there.”

"Yes. It has white hair, yellow eyes, and a habit of waking up at dawn."

Jaskier leaves the bed and puts on his robe, too. He snickers when he hears her talking and his eyebrows raise in surprise. "You're telling her?" he whispers. "We could've put you back in your room!"

Midge waves her hand at him. She didn’t want her mother to go in her room and panic if she wasn’t there. Now she doesn’t have to rush back.

“I’m okay. Everything’s fine. I’m just letting you know so you don’t think I was kidnapped or something. Should I be offended that you think nobody would want to kidnap me?” Jaskier enjoys kidnapping her. “I’ll explain later. I’ll be back by 10:00. Don’t let Esther eat that sugary cereal for breakfast. I couldn’t get her down for a nap yesterday. Love you, mama. Bye.”

She sighs when she hangs up. “I’ll think of something to tell her. Is your family as nosy as mine?”

Jakier keeps snickering, just amused by the whole deal. However, his laughter instantly dies when he hears that Rose doesn't think anybody would kidnap her daughter. Wow, just wow. His dislike of her parents grows by the second.

"We can get nosy when it comes to Ciri, but that's because we worry about her. But among the three of us?" He shrugs. "We're quite independent. It's normal for us to wake up and find one of us gone. We may ask later about it, but that's more of a 'how was your day' thing." The amusement returns to his expression. "How exactly are you explaining disappearing at 3 a.m. in your robe?"

“Well, Ciri is a child,” Midge says. “Of course you’re concerned about her. The rest of you are adults.” Just like she’s an adult and technically doesn’t owe anyone an explanation.

“Maybe I won’t explain it. Do I have to? Why do I still have to explain myself to my mother?”

Culture. The fact that they all live together. The fact that Rose has to take over mothering duties in Midge’s absence.

He raises his hands in a gesture of surrender at her questions.

"Don't look at me, I didn't think you had to - we could've sent you back without issues. But knowing you and what I can see about your relationship with her? You'll end up explaining anyway."

Jaskier's tongue peeks out, an old habit that shows he's thinking hard about something (usually composing). "If I get you a dress, could you tell her you left early in the morning because Susie called you for a sudden meeting? You had breakfast with a club owner or something. For a potential gig."

Midge grumbles at that observation about she and her mother’s relationship, mostly because Jaskier is completely correct. She would love to tell her mother that she doesn’t owe her an explanation, but it would probably just cause more problems.

“Yeah,” Midge sighs. “That could work. I’m tired of having to explain myself to my parents. I love them, but they don’t need to know everything about my life.”

Jaskier can't help but to sigh as well. It kills him seeing her like this. He wraps his arms around her and hugs her tightly.

"I don't think you have to explain yourself, no. My first instinct is to advise you to tell them exactly that." An awkward pause. "But you also have kids. And I know I'm not the right person to comment on how to handle that."

This adds another reason to why he doesn't want them in the first place.

She rests her head on his shoulder, under his chin. Her head seems to fit in that space so well.

“You’re not wrong.” A thought strikes her. “Oh God… I left in the middle of the night. Just… left. Am I a bad mother?”

It’s not the first time she’s had that thought. Obviously if her parents weren’t there, Midge wouldn’t have left her kids all alone, but they could have woken up and been looking for her. What if they discovered that she was gone and they were scared?

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

all good!

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