CH 9: 'Tis the Season. LEMON WARNING. DO NOT read if you DO NOT like lemons!
Narrator's POV:
"I fucking hate the holidays." Yennefer rolled her eyes as she made yet another loop around the parking lot before finally finding a space not more than a mile away. All she needed was milk and vodka, perhaps even grab some lactose-free eggnog for kicks. She wore a deep red knitted beanie with a matching scarf, her gray sweats and oversized black sweatshirt were old but cozy comfort-wear. "Excuse me." Yennefer finally made her way towards the diary aisle after nearly having to elbow her way through the crowd. There were just three days left until Christmas and every one was insistent on buying up every last piece of . . . everything. Yennefer had to settle for soy milk and soy eggnog. There was one (very large) last bottle of vodka (not her favorite brand). "I guess desperate times." She shrugged and lugged her hand-held basket to the self-checkout line. She swore she'd never use it again, until she saw the waits for the other lines.
"Watch it!" A woman looked over her shoulder and sneered at Yennefer, cutting in front of her.
"Merry Christmas to you." Yennefer said sarcastically, trying to bit her tongue. She let it roll off her shoulders and chose to be the better person. For a moment she let herself smile, Geralt had mentioned having not Christmas, but sort of Christmas dinner together.
"Yenne?" A familiar voice sounded behind her.
"For fuck's sake." The good feeling that was beginning to well up inside her vanished completely, and memories of the past began to bubble up within her.
"Hey, getting ready for a small get together?" Val Istredd peaked over her shoulder to take a look.
"Would you mind your own fucking business?" Yennefer was waiting for the woman in front of her to unload the entirety of her overstocked cart.
"Hey, that's not the holiday spirit. I'm just trying to make light conversation."
"And I'm indirectly, yet bluntly, am telling you to back the fuck off."
"We used to be close Yenne."
"Don't call me that!" Yennefer snapped, nearly turning around when she noticed eyes on her. She faced forward and stiffened.
"You doing anything for the holidays?" Val Istredd asked. Though Yennefer could not see it, she knew he was smiling his smug smile. She nodded. "Having lunch with that young handsome student of yours?" Yennefer grit her teeth and nodded again. "Ah, so you two seem to be getting close." Yennefer felt her face heat as she smirked and nodded. "I'll bet all your other students call him a teacher's pet."
"Well, considering that this semester is over, he's no longer my student."
"Now now Yenne, you and I both know that you cannot date a student until they graduate."
"Who ever said we're dating?" Yennefer raised a brow, before finally noticing the woman leave. Yennefer moved swiftly to scan and pay for her items. "Have a nice holiday season fucker." Yennefer flipped Val Istredd off before nearly bursting out the door and heading towards her car.
Yennefer made her way home, carrying her bag into her apartment and nearly slamming the door behind her.
"Fuck." She roughly placed the bag on her small table in the kitchen.
"You ok?" Geralt was wearing a gray long-sleeved shirt and black joggers paired with his black slippers.
"Fan-fucking-tastic." She hissed.
"What happened at the store? Did you get into it with a Karen or something?" Geralt felt the corners of his lips go up.
"Worse. Val was there trying to start conversation. But he was just trying to fuck with me, get under my skin. To which he succeeded." Yennefer began putting the milk away, followed by putting the vodka in the freezer. Geralt raised a brow. "I need this, freezer'll make it cold faster."
"Yen." Geralt started in a soft tone.
"Don't Geralt. I just don't want to feel right now. I just-"
"Alright, go pack a bag."
"What?"
"I was going to make a surprise, but fuck it. You need to get away. Plus, you could use a distraction."
"Geralt, what're you up to?" Yennefer crossed her arms defensively.
"I have a . . . an acquaintance that lives up in the mountains, about an hour out. I was planning to surprise you for Christmas and take you up there for a few days, but I think we could go early. As far as I know, he said they won't be there since they're going to go out of the country." Geralt leaned against the nearest wall, crossing his arms and shrugging. Outwardly he seemed calm and collective, but internally he was nervous as to Yennefer's reaction.
"They?" Yennefer raised a brow.
"It's a couple I met a while back."
"Oh, I mean I'm usually not a fan of celebrating Christmas, but I'll go for it." Yennefer uncrossed her arms, going to her room and began to pack.
"Well that was easy." Geralt smiled, pushing off the wall and heading towards his apartment to pack a bag.
Two hours later, after both had their bags packed—with a short break after Yennefer found some old Christmas lingerie she forgot she had—were on the road and went from cold clammy weather to snowy weather, followed by arriving at the log cabin.
"Wow, we're in the middle of nowhere. If I didn't know you, I'd think you were about to pull The Shining on me and chase me around the property while trying to murder me with an ax." Yennefer smirked.
"Only if said running around involves you in that Santa's helper lingerie, and we stay inside. Minus the murdering part." Geralt smirked, carrying the bags to the front porch, pulling out the key from a secret place and opening the door.
"Yea, I think we could definitely do without the murdering." Yennefer walked in and looked around. Once Geralt turned on the lights, she noticed there was minimal Christmas decorations and the cabin was icy-cold.
"I may want to make your Christmas memorable, but I would hate to ruin it completely for you." Geralt quickly went to light the fireplace (which was an old-school brick fireplace that Yennefer had always liked for some odd reason). The furniture was vintage, but well taken care of—though the coach was rather new, as were the beds (at least according to Geralt).
"Not like I'm such a fan of Christmas anyway. I don't really celebrate it." Yennefer looked at the cherry-oak wooden kitchen and smiled at the unique and niche-y cookware, utensils, and additional small appliances. She recognized a handful of characters, movies, and shows/series.
"I noticed, which is why I planned this to be a surprise." Geralt picked up the bags and went up the wooden exposed stairs up towards the bedrooms.
"Yes, you certainly did surprise me. But this is nice. It's kind of cute how they're so into . . . interesting hobbies." Yennefer looked at the photos on the wall of the couple at various places all over the world.
"Yea, I met them once when I was out rock-climbing." Geralt smiled at the memory and placed the bags in the master bedroom.
"Of course you rock climb." Yennefer made her way up the stairs, holding onto the iron railing and making her way up the stairs. Her socks were soft on the wood floors and she was ready for a hot bath and to get into some comfortable yoga pants and oversized sweater.
"I like staying fit. Which you do too." Geralt moved to the center of the room, noticing the full-length mirror on a wall across from the bed. Kinky. Geralt smiled to himself.
"Yea, I like to jog and do yoga. I'm not an outdoor person." Yennefer finally reached to second floor, viewing more portraits, along with paintings and random works of art (related to a variety of favorite movies and shows that were depicted in the kitchen).
"You want to take a bath?" Geralt watched as Yennefer shivered.
"That would be a-fucking-mazing." She cracked a smile.
"Just go down there, through that door. They have a tub with jets. I can turn the heater on, since the fire may take a while to heat up the house." Geralt moved to turn the upstairs heater on. "I think I can heat the floors too." Geralt observed the heater closely and found an option to heat the floors.
"If you did that, I think I might actually get on my knees for you." Yennefer slinked her eyes over Geralt, who blushed slightly.
"You know, I wouldn't mind that." He smirked and let Yennefer bathe while he prepared his warm clothes and to take a shower. One steamy hour later, and after Yennefer and Geralt blow-dried their lusciously long hair, the two went down into the kitchen to find something to eat.
"What's this?" Yennefer found peach flavored champagne in the fridge.
"It's sparkling wine." Geralt shrugged.
"Another surprise?" Yennefer felt a smile tugging at her lips.
"Maybe." Geralt raised his brows, hoping he could put a smile on Yennefer's hard to read face.
"Hmm, are there any strawberries in here? Chocolate? Oysters? Lavender flavored beer? Or anything else that's aphrodisiac-esque?" Yennefer put the bottle of champagne back and found some frozen pizza in the freezer.
"Would it be so terrible if I wanted this little getaway to be somewhat . . . romantic?" Geralt hesitated for a moment, especially when he saw Yennefer tense up.
"No. Not exactly, I just would rather have a decent meal first." Yennefer went towards the oven, checked to see if there were any pots and pans stored inside before turning it on as per the instructions on the back of the frozen pizza box.
"Fair enough. I'm honestly pretty hungry."
"I could eat a horse." Yennefer put the pizza box down and looked at the island with a black and shimmering marble countertop. "Are they loaded or what?"
"What gave you that idea?" Geralt said rather sarcastically.
"Hey, I'm just making conversation based off of a few observations. I mean, where haven't they been?" Yennefer turned to look at Geralt, who found two beers. He knowingly opened the correct drawer, finding the Sailor Moon stick shaped bottle opener. "Thanks." Yennefer gratefully took the beer, holding it up to her lips before taking a long gulp.
"Yes they're loaded, and I think they haven't traveled to Greece, Canada, or Maine."
"Seriously?"
"They travel a lot for business, which I'm not getting into because I want to talk about you and your life, about . . . the future and-"
"Geralt, are you getting all mushy on me?" Yennefer teased, not embarrassed in the least to smile at his awkwardness.
"Maybe, would that be so terrible." Geralt nearly drank a quarter of the beer, hoping to get a slight buzz before asking her about her feelings for him.
"Well, aside from school and work, you basically know all the details of my life." Yennefer shrugged, hopping up to sit on the counter. "I started looking into grad school." Yennefer looked down at the bottle, pulling at the label's edge.
"Oh? Local, or?"
"All over really."
"Even international?"
"Some, not many, if anything I may join a foreign exchange program. But I'll leave that for my PhD."
"PhD?" Geralt was rather surprised.
"I plan to become a professor. Probably not at my current university, but somewhere by the beach, or the mountains." Yennefer looked out the window with a faraway stare, as if she was recalling a long-lost dream of hers.
"That's amazing Yen." Geralt smiled, but his heart sank at the thought of her being so far away.
"I honestly think I'd make a great professor, and I've always wanted to travel. But at the same time, I want a home base, with maybe a good support system." Yennefer looked over at Geralt, who was a bit taken aback. "I mean, he'd have to be pretty patient with me. I'll be swamped with work. Hell before that I'll be up to my ears in studying and assignments, plus teaching on the side."
"I'm sure he'll know you're worth waiting for, and he'll support you. Maybe even study with you, so long as there's a reward system in place." Geralt leaned against the counter near Yennefer.
"Oh, I'm sure I wouldn't be against that." Yennefer winked.
"I really hate to ruin this-"
"Then don't." Yennefer leaned down to kiss him.
"Yen, I need to know." Geralt stopped her.
"Geralt, you're important to me and I like be around you, isn't that enough?" Yennefer sighed, looking to the ground and taking another long sip at her beer.
"Yen." Geralt cupped Yennefer's face, slowly turning her towards him. "I don't want you to think I don't appreciate the fact that you admit I'm important. I just want to know where we stand." Geralt leaned his forehead against hers.
"I already said I want to try with you and that I'd sooner rather than later fall for you. And I think that's slowly happening. I just want us to live in this moment, maybe even play around in my head with the idea of us maybe being together in the future."
"I'll take it." Geralt put his beer down and began kissing her frantically when the timer that the oven was ready went off.
"Mmm, I'd want to keep this up, but I'm starving." Yennefer smiled into the next kiss.
"Same." Geralt pulled away, preparing the pizza and putting it in. "We have an hour max."
"Well we'd better get moving." Yennefer slid down and began to undress as Geralt followed suite. He then picked her up, carrying her close to the fire and sitting her on his lap.
"I think I'm addicted to you." Geralt kissed her left shoulder.
"I'm drunk on you." Yennefer pulled herself closer into him, grinding down.
"Fuck me." Geralt growled.
"I'm trying." Yennefer smirked
"Let me help you out with that." Geralt moved a hand down Yennefer's body.
"Your hand's hot." She sucked in a breath.
"That's not the only part of my body hot for you."
"You are cheesy." Yennefer began kissing him again.
"Sorry."
"No, I like it." Yennefer said between kisses.
"Oh?" Geralt's eyes sparkled.
"For the next few days, don't get used to it." Yennefer lightly bit his lower lip.
"Mm, fine." Geralt let his hand slide down until it reached her lower belly. Yennefer shivered when he used a single digit to make a circle and went down, down, down.
"Ngh." Yennefer's eyes rolled back when Geralt used his finger to slide over her folds.
"My, you're very, very wet already." Geralt growled at the back of his throat.
"I'm getting very, very, very turned on sitting in your lap. And grinding against your hot cock is really fucking hot." Yennefer moaned.
"You're such a little vixen." Geralt grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her towards him. Yennefer's hips moved forward as she gasped, allowing Geralt's tongue to enter her mouth. Their tongues battled for dominance. "Yen, I need you." Geralt grumbled as she nodded.
"M-me too." Yennefer sat up as she guided him into her. "Fuck." Yennefer hissed into Geralt's mouth.
"You're so damn tight." Geralt cursed, sucking on Yennefer's tongue as she began to move. The two matched each other pace-for-pace until they quickly climaxed. The timer went off.
"I, I need a minute." Yennefer was breathing heavily.
"S-same here." Geralt took a few deep breaths before guiding Yennefer off. "I'll get it."
"Thanks." Yennefer kissed his hand.
"Sure." He smiled, got up to pull on a pair of briefs, turned the oven off and pulled the pizza out (while using Calcifer oven mitts).
"Mm, smells great." Yennefer had on one of Geralt's long-sleeves.
"It's still pretty hot." Geralt pulled out a pizza cutter.
"Then we'll have another beer while we wait." Yennefer went over to the fridge, pulled out two more beers and handed the first one she opened to Geralt.
"Thanks. Did you even finish your first one?"
"Yes, chugged it down before you had me on the couch." Yennefer clicked her bottle against his. The two finished half their beers before diving into the pizza—alongside their beer (arguably one of the best combinations). "I'm stuffed." Yennefer grabbed a napkin and wiped her face.
"That hit the spot. You want to watch a movie or something?"
"Yea, as a matter of fact, I think our favorite show on Netflix just added a new season."
"Netflix and chill? Sure, why not." Yennefer went to get a pair of joggers and snuggled into the couch. A widescreen smart TV was hung above the fireplace.
"Let me go grab a shirt and some pants."
"As much as I want to argue against it, I'm sure you'd be more comfortable." Yennefer said with some sass, Geralt chuckled and went up the stairs rather quickly. He came back down, grabbing a blanket and snuggling into the couch with Yennefer by his side. All was right with the world.
"That was a great episode!" Yennefer stretched her arms out in surprise.
"I think you mean that was a great season, we just binged all eight episodes." Geralt smirked.
"Fine, it was a great season. Now we celebrate." Yennefer hopped up, grabbed the bottle of champagne and two glasses.
"What do we have here?" Geralt smiled.
"Champagne and strawberries." Yennefer handed Geralt a glass with chopped strawberries inside.
"Sounds good to me." Geralt gratefully took the glass.
"Happy holidays." Yennefer rose her glass, to which Geralt mimicked and the two toasted.
"To spending a nice few days together locked up in a log cabin, and many long nights." Geralt said the latter in a sultry tone.
"I concur." Yennefer took a long sip. Several pours and two empty champagne glasses later, Yennefer and Geralt found themselves rather . . . plastered. "Just look at these fucking muscles! I bet you could swing me around and fuck me in all types of positions." Yennefer climbed on top of Geralt, kissing his neck while massaging his arms.
"I bet I could. Fuck, I will." Geralt grabbed Yennefer's hips, holding onto her as he moved them onto the faux fur rug. "On your knees." He commanded. Yennefer moved without even thinking, then feeling her pants pulled down surprised her. "Mmm, take your shirt off." Yennefer moved to removed Geralt's shirt, then feeling his breath over her folds. Geralt slid his tongue over her wet folds, running fingers over her thighs. Yennefer cursed when Geralt used a finger to run her clit. "Well you're eager." Geralt teased when he noticed Yennefer twitch, he put his palm flat against her sex. Applying pressure while moving his hand caused Yennefer to unravel. She but her lower lip and begged for him to insert a finger inside. Geralt willingly obeyed, shivering at her tightness and warmth. Moving slowly, Geralt whispered dirty thoughts in Yennefer's ear.
"Fuck, Geralt don't make me wait anymore. I'm going crazy." Yennefer begged.
"Ok, here lift your ass." Geralt held Yennefer's hips and entered her. He moved at a fast pace, which Yennefer didn't object to.
"Harder." She half begged and half commanded.
"Fuck, Yen, you'll be the death of me." Geralt groaned as he moved his hips faster.
"Yes! Oh fuck yes! Geralt, right there!" Yennefer's eyes rolled back when Geralt bent forward more and held the side of her neck, applying pressure. The two orgasmed within a matter of seconds. "I'm a little cold." Yennefer shivered slightly.
"Want to head up into bed?"
"Carry me?" Yennefer asked.
"Sure, since you asked so nicely." Geralt stood, on semi-unsteady legs. He took a deep breath, then lifting Yennefer up and carrying her bridal style to the bed. The two slowly drifted off to sleep. The remainder of their stay was blissful, Yennefer was even willing to go out on walks and build a snowman. It seemed Geralt was indeed melting her once icy cold guarded heart.