the star and the songbird (JaskierXGeralt Modern AU)

The Club (Ch 2)

*Trigger warning for this Chapter! there will be mentions of parental abuse. if you are sensitive to that subject you might want to prepare yourself.*

he felt dizzy. not much memory of the night before but he remembered driving home. was he the one driving? No, he wasn't. Greg was driving. was he? his head was swimming. 

Julian opened his eyes. he was lying on his bed in his room. his head hurt, he was dizzy and felt sick. he tried to sit up but that was a huge mistake. he immediately vomited in a trash can by his bed. he heard a voice say his name.

"Julian?" a man walked into the room. it was Geralt. "You're awake. how are you feeling?" he asked as he sat on the edge of the bed. he had put a glass of water on the bedside table for Julian to drink which he gladly did. 

"Um.... I don't know. the water helps. did-- did Greg drive me here? I don't remember leaving the club. I remember driving though," he said. his head was still trying to recount the night before, but he was just giving himself a stronger headache.

"Yeah, Greg drove you here. you were completely wasted," Geralt said. he looked concerned as he put his hand on Julian's forehead. "What happened?"

Julian took Geralt's hand and sighed. "I hate it. I fucking hate it Geralt. I've been doing this for over 2 years, and I still can't stand doing it sober. I hate my job, my life, the fact that I did this willingly, and I hate---" he stopped. he looked away from Geralt.

"What?" Geralt asked, resting his hand on Julian's cheek.

Julian looked back at Geralt with tears in his eyes. "I-- I--" he tried to get the words out. "I'm just a spoiled former rich kid from Florida who doesn't know what he's doing with his life," he said as he stood up. this caused him to throw up again.

"You're not the only spoiled rich kid here y'know," Geralt said with a soft chuckle.

this was a surprise. "You what?" Julian asked with wide eyes as he sat down again.

"Yup. my mom is rich too. and she spoiled me. sure, she didn't cut me off, but that's only because I'm not brave enough to do what you did. I've tried to drop out, but I couldn't bring myself to do it," He looked down at his hands, then at his arms. he had a painful memory of sitting in a chair at the kitchen table while his mother above him with a ruler. "We all have our demons. yours is your boss, mine is my.... mother. but we can't let them define us." they looked into each other's eyes.

this was something that Julian didn't know about Geralt. he saw a faint glint of tears in his eyes. they sat there with each other for the rest of the morning just letting the conversation sink in. they didn't talk. they just sat there.

Julian broke the silence. "I don't know what you delt with in your home but if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here. And" he looked at Geralt and kissed him gently on the lips. "Thank you for being here for me."

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Geralt had two people he wanted to talk to. Yen and Julian's boss. he wanted to see why she wouldn't let Julian go. he also wanted to get answers from Yen. why did she cheat on him? why didn't she talk to him before he found out the hard way. he didn't want to leave Julian on his own, but he insisted that Yen was more important. Geralt didn't agree. but he knew that he needed to talk to get answers.

he walked to the campus dorms where Yen and Triss lived. he was hesitant to knock on the door. after a few minutes of just standing there, he knocked. the door unlocked, and then Geralt was face to face with Yen. they stood there staring at each other for a few minutes. then came a voice from inside.