Chapter Text
It was the time of the year when high Summer slowly merged into Autumn and the thought of having to separate from Aiden for the winter had been weighing heavily on Lambert’s mind. So heavily, in fact, that just a few days ago he finally got over all the “what-ifs” and asked Aiden to come with him to Kaer Morhen for the winter. Aiden had rightfully questioned Lambert if he would be welcome there, considering the history between their respective schools. Lambert wasn’t too sure about that himself but told Aiden he was willing to punch everyone who dared to threaten Aiden. And if things got really ugly, he could still steal all the food from the kitchens and hole up with Aiden in his room for the rest of the winter.
Aiden only laughed and called him his knight in shining armor, but agreed to come with him.
Right now, on one of the last warm summer nights, they lay together on their backs upon their blankets, hidden by the high grasses and flowers of the meadow all around them. The stars blinked into existence in the darkening evening sky above, a gentle warm breeze was rustling the grass and the crickets chirped around them. Lambert thought he had never felt such peace and happiness as he did just now, with Aiden next to him, their sweaty hands entwined despite the heat. The thought that he’d get to keep this during the winter caused a warm fuzzy feeling to rise in Lambert’s chest.
Suddenly Aiden gripped his hand tightly and used it as an anchor to pull his body around. He landed heavily on Lambert’s right side, his missing eye squished into Lambert’s shoulder and his good eye peering up at him mischievously.
“So, what are you wolves up to during winter? Do I need to bring a stack of books to save myself from boredom?”
Lambert chuckled and pressed a kiss to Aiden’s hair, just because he could. “No need, we’ve got a whole library full of dusty books. But I’m sure I can keep you busy between training sessions,” he drawled and slid his hand out of Aiden’s grip to grope his ass.
Aiden laughed and bit his earlobe in retaliation. They scruffled a bit, but eventually settled down, listening to the sounds of the night around them until Aiden broke the silence again.
“But really, what do you do all winter? I can’t imagine what it’s like spending all winter in one place. The caravan was always moving.”
“Vesemir is making us repair the keep. You know, fixing walls, the roof, beams, staircases, and whatnot,” Lambert explained, “other than that it’s training, drinking, and card games. Geralt has a mean deck of Gwent cards and I usually brew a batch of my moonshine.”
“You sound like a sad little troop, you know that, right? Working and drinking! You mean to tell me that you never do any pranks?”
Lambert shrugged as best as he could, pinned down under Aiden’s weight. “Before the Sacking, when there were a lot of us, I remember that some would do pranks, yes. There’s the story of when our two golden boys would tie one of these big bumblebees to a jug and have it fly around the keep in a panic. They were punished for it, of course. Being a witcher is serious business, boys,” he continued in his best imitation of Vesemir, “neither monster nor client will ever care about your silly antics, so it’s best if we beat it out of your heads now!”
Aiden chuckled and the sound, so close to Lambert’s ear, gave him goosebumps.
“So, pranking is a thing you cats do?” Lambert asked after a few breaths of silence.
He felt Aiden nod against his shoulder. “Yes, for us, it’s basically a sign of affection. If we like you, we prank you. Keeps us all on our toes.”
“But you never pranked me!” Lambert protested.
Aiden lifted his head and looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure about that, ‘bert?”
Lambert reconsidered that for a moment. Suddenly the time when they split up and all of his breeches somehow ended up in Aiden’s bag made a little more sense. He still shuddered at the memory. He had to go commando for two weeks until they met up again! And maybe the time when the new soap Aiden had bought him had dyed his hair red for several weeks hadn’t been an accident either? Lambert actually wondered how many pranks he had missed during their time together.
Lambert groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. “It seems you need to work on your pranks, moggy, if I didn’t even recognize them as such.”
Aiden’s eyes glinted with mischief when he said, “Nah, you’re just shit at recognizing them! Just about as shit as you were at recognizing that I was flirting with you.”
Lambert gave Aiden a shove and the cat witcher went with the momentum to sprawl dramatically on the ground, hand over his forehead in mock fainting. “You wound me, Lambert! I give you proof of my affections and you shove me away!”
Lambert chuckled at his partner's antics and rolled around to lean over him.
“Maybe your proof of affection would have been better received if you didn’t insult me in the same breath.”
Aiden peered up at him from beneath his hand. “Point taken. Can I try again?”
Lambert nodded and Aiden reached up to pull him down for a kiss. Yeah, that was the proof of affection Lambert preferred.
Once the kiss broke, Lambert asked, lips still brushing against Aiden’s, “So you intend to prank my brothers and Vesemir?”
Aiden shrugged. “That’s what I would do if they were cat witchers and I would want to win their favour.”
Lambert raised himself up again and shook his head at Aiden. “You cats are all crazy. But you know what? Let’s do it. At least it’ll make the winter interesting. And the golden boys used to love a good prank. I doubt it’ll work on Vesemir, though.”
Aiden grinned at him. “Then tell me all about your brothers and Vesemir, so we can start planning. We’ll need to know what supplies we should buy. I’m sure we’ll even get the old wolf around.”
When they trudged up the Trail to Kaer Morhen in November, their horses had to carry a few more bags than usual because if Aiden said pranks he apparently meant Pranks with a capital P. The supplies they had bought were now hidden at the bottom of their bags to avoid accidental discovery. Some items had been easy to come by or could even be made by themselves. But Lambert couldn’t believe the lengths Aiden had gone to to acquire the more difficult items. Some had been stolen - Lambert still vividly remembered the farmer’s wife who had chased them away with a broom when she caught them pilfering through the laundry she had hung up to dry - some had been bought in shady stores with owners who leered disgustingly at them both while the passed over the items they had purchased.
The trail was still as awful as every year but the thought of the winter to come and the plans Aiden and he had made kept Lambert surprisingly warm. Once they finally arrived at the keep their reception was met with mixed feelings. The range went from happiness - Ciri - over neutrality - Eskel and Geralt - to clear distrust - Vesemir. Still, they were at least polite to Aiden and after a night of drinking, and cards he seemed to be on friendly enough terms with everyone except Vesemir. The old wolf remained wary around Aiden, until Aiden managed to charm him into making a few suggestions on how to combine cat school techniques with the wolf school combat style on day at training. That was the day Aiden declared Operation Prank The Wolves a go.