Geralt can make whatever gruff noises he so chooses but the fact of the matter is that he took the time to carve out an entire chess set by hand for John when the game is not native to his world, which means he would have had taken the time to study the details of the pieces for this exact purpose. For him. Of course John loves the gift. It is a precious thing that Geralt created, for him and him alone.

There is a reason that John keeps a little acorn tucked safely in the breast pocket of his jacket, close to his heart.

John's smile crooks sideways, his expression turned wry at Geralt's words of challenge.

"Mmm," he hums, thoughtfully. "If you are trying to best me at chess then we have got a lot of practice ahead of ourselves indeed."

Leaning to the side (careful not to jostle the chess set), John presses a kiss to the other man's lips. Slow and soft and sweet. "Thank you," he murmurs, pressing his forehead against Geralt and lingering in the moment before at last he pulls away, his cheeks slightly flushed, although from the kiss or from the anticipation of his next action, he cannot be sure.

"I... Have a gift for you as well," he says, in his best attempt to act as though he hasn't been stressing about it for the better part of the last month or two.