THE WITCHER X READERS

BARD FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY [JASKIER]

Summary: Jaskier decides to sing a song for you on your birthday.

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Jaskier had known you for many years. You were just children when you first met, you never became very close despite being friends, but you knew each other and saw each other grow. One day, you had complimented him when you heard him sing for the very first time with his brand new lute. And that sparked something inside Jaskier - he took a liking to you. And that liking developed into a crush as you always stayed to listen when he began to write his first songs.

Your smile as you clapped, your giggles as you gave Jaskier a gentle push on his shoulder, saying he's funny, seeing you walking down the streets in all your grace - made him blush like crazy and he would have given anything to have you cuddled by his side at night. But every time he tried to ask you out, he did something completely uncharacteristic to his older self - he always chickened out from the situation.

When you were 16, your family sent you away. They wanted you to study in a university to be successful in life and find a good marriage, so you moved to the other side of the Realm. Jaskier became known as a ladies man who angered many men and later he hit the road with Geralt, and you two didn't see each other in years.

Until Jaskier and Geralt parted ways and he made his way to a small city. Seeing his lute, he was invited to perform in a party which was held for the honor of the birthday of one of the ladies in protection of the mayor of that small city. Her birthday was about celebrating and maybe finding a spouse for her and Jaskier, of course, agreed. After all, he loved singing and singing for a pretty woman wouldn't be too bad either.

His mouth opened in awe when you descended the stairs, in a gorgeous dress and your hair prepared - you looked like a princess and Jaskier didn't even recognize you at first. However, you recognized him. Your eyes lit up in surprise upon seeing him, but you knew you couldn't run to him and excitedly ask him how he's doing. You were now a noble lady, who needed to stay calm at all times, even when you hated that you were forced not to show any emotions in parties like this so the mayor wouldn't have to scold you for ruining the party he had arranged for you. Even if it was your own birthday. So you forced your excitement down and the rest of your posture remained calm. You just nodded at Jaskier and offered him a slight smile, assuming he had recognized you as well.

He hadn't. In fact he got confused, why would a noble lady like yourself greet him like that? Maybe you just thought he was handsome and that's why you greeted him? That wasn't new for Jaskier but never before had a noble lady do that gesture to him. As far as Jaskier knew, they were taught to act to be better than most people - he was of noble birth too but he was also a man, giving him more freedom to do almost whatever he wanted - even though his behavior was questionable even for a noble man.

He watched you climb up the stairs to get to your table, holding up your dress as you did so. Your movements were practiced and gracious, yet they had something familiar, but Jaskier couldn't place his finger on why. And when the party finally started and he began to sing his songs to you, it finally clicked. He stumbled in his words before freezing upon realizing it was you, his crush , sitting there and smiling at him. He felt like that teenager again who had fallen in love with that lovely girl living a few houses apart from his.

But he quickly composed himself after he saw your smile falter a bit as you got confused why he stopped singing. So he sang again, switched to a different song which he remembered to be one of your favorites from him, and he shot you a wink as he sang it.

Your cheeks slowly gathered heat after you recognized the song and you looked down to your hands. Your old feelings towards Jaskier were lit up again, their tiny flames slowly dancing as Jaskier sang to you as he twirled on the dance floor.

"Hm, he can sing pretty well," a maid, who was also your friend, whispered as she passed you.

"Yeah, he can", you replied and sighed dreamily.

Your friend narrowed her eyes at you upon hearing your tone of voice, before a sly smirk formed on her face. "Ah, you know him. He's your childhood sweetheart perhaps, if we judge by how your behavior changed. You're blushing, aren't you?"

You could feel your cheeks heating up even further and you let out a strained puff of breath which you tried to mask as an amused snort. You glanced at your friend before muttering, "I don't know him. And I'm not blushing."

Your friend held back a laugh as she shook her head in amusement and touched your shoulder teasingly. "Whatever you say."