Chapter Text
One year was a long time. Five was even more. Maybe not in relativity to a Witcher’s lifespan or a selkie/fossegrim one but it was long enough to learn each other’s quirks. They shared beds and secrets and clothes (more Jaskier taking Geralt’s things than Geralt trying to squeeze himself into his). They had made plans to travel to the ends of the wild and back, learned to trust full-heartedly and fell ever deeper in love.
Geralt was regretting all of that in this instant.
The water was fucking freezing.
They hadn’t been back to Lan Exeter since those first few nights in the hotel together after Geralt had apologized. After those four months apart, they weren’t far from each other for more than a week at a time, usually only when Geralt went on a hunt or when they got in a fight.
“It’s cold,” Geralt growled, teeth clenched to stop them from chattering endlessly, swimming farther and farther out into the ocean. The waves were blissfully calmer in this area, having already made it past the roughest part. Still, salty water splashed in his mouth, dragging him under occasionally when he couldn’t maneuver his way through a wave in time before it washed over him.
Jaskier laughed, swimming out further. “It’s not so bad once you get out there.”
Easy for him to say.
Fucking sea creatures.
“Thanks,” Geralt grumbled as another wave dragged him under while Jaskier maneuvered above with ease and a giggle. “I hate it.”
“Oh hush, you know Geralt I am trying to share something important and meaningful with you and you are being very ungrateful.”
Geralt rolled his eyes, swimming out further.
Jaskier had enough of him going so slow eventually, grabbing onto his arms and swimming further and further away from shore until the land became a blurry dot off in the distance. True to his word the water did warm up as the fog rolled in, isolating the pair from civilization. At first lukewarm and then an enjoyable temperature like a tropical island of some kind. The air around them also warmed with the fog, though Geralt still occasionally shivered as his body grew used to the new temperatures.
Geralt tried to keep up, doing his best to swim in time but Jaskier was obviously much better and faster than him, pulling him along like it was nothing.
Geralt grumbled when he could get the grunts of dislike out of his mouth between the waves that only calmed as they grew closer to the sharp rocks in front of them, promising pain if they were to be swept up in the tides that crashed over them.
Jaskier dove down below the water, his tail flapping above the water for a second before disappearing from view, leaving Geralt alone in the water, worn out and so far from shore.
It was disconcerting. He didn’t have the upper hand, feeling inexperienced and especially vulnerable. He didn’t like it at all.
Just as he began to worry, Jaskier popped back up, talking excitedly. “I swam as far down as I could and still couldn’t see the bottom! That’s crazy,” he stared down at the water, missing Geralt’s face go pale at the description of things he couldn’t see.
“I thought you said there was a cove,” he urged, unwittingly glancing down at the dark blue waters as if he could possibly see anything in their depths that may be coming for them as they sat there, completely defenseless. It didn’t make sense to swim out with full armor and sword, Jaskier laughed at him for wearing shorts as if his coat only wrapped up to his waist didn’t provide the same amount of protection for him. He had briefly thought about shifting completely, but decided against it, wanting to be able to talk with Geralt the same as they usually did.
“Patients,” Jaskier smirked, diving back down.
Geralt’s eyes widened as he took a startled gasp of air before hands around his ankle pulled him down into the depths.
The saltwater burned his eyes but he fought through it until he was sure it was Jaskier and not some miscellaneous other sea creature in the area. It was the mad sea after all.
Eyes squeezed shut, he wasn’t prepared for a kiss to be planted on his lips, Jaskier’s laughter carrying out under the water.
“I didn’t know you were afraid of the ocean.”
I’m not, he wanted to growl back. What he was scared of was a being sitting duck with a bottomless abyss underneath them.
Jaskier pulled him down even further, completely in his element. “Open your eyes.”
Geralt did begrudgingly just as a fish swam past his face, eliciting a fight or flight response from Geralt who jerked back in surprise, swatting at the poor fish much to the creature’s amusement.
Looking around, it was beautiful. Even the deep blue abyss below them was stunning in its own terrifying way. The corals growing on the sharp rocks beside them were all different colors, beautiful oranges, and tans, some pink and green. The fish were unlike anything he had ever seen before- abnormally bright in all arrays of color. A shark swam by, its slitted eyes shifting to the pair for a second but didn’t linger, joining its friends further out.
Taking in the beauty around him, he couldn’t help but realize how much Jaskier fit in with the stunning wildlife and scenery. He was gorgeous, and the abnormally beautiful blue eyes didn’t seem as supernatural anymore- fitting in more here than on land.
Jaskier smiled brightly as Geralt took it all in. “Isn’t it pretty?”
Geralt didn’t- couldn’t- answer, but Jaskier didn’t expect him to.
When his air ran out, he floated back to the surface, gasping to catch his breath.
“We can go to the cove in a second, it’s just as pretty,” he said excitedly. “Flowers and trees and waterfalls, it’s a whole rainforest over there.”
Geralt couldn’t help but smile as Jaskier continued to blabber as he pulled him around the rocks to the shoreline, the land finally meeting his feet in place of an endless sea and easing his mind some.
He truly loved the creature, and he knew the feeling was returned just as strong.
The thought of having to eventually swim back out, however, made the smile drop from his face in an instant. The ocean wasn’t something he enjoyed as much as Jaskier seemed to. The things one does for love, he supposed.