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Richard could remember, vaguely, the first time his mother made him wear a tie. He was around five years old and she'd dragged him to one of those 'professional photo' places you find in the mall. She tied it perfectly, trained from years of being married to his father.
He really wishes his mother was here right now.
He was an adult. He was turning thirty in a couple of years. He was a CEO, for God's sake! Or, at least he would be until hooli inevitably won the lawsuit. He should be able to tie a fucking tie. But he isn't, so he's reduced to looking up infographics on the internet.
"Richard?" Jared called. "Richard we really need to get going."
"Yeah, I'm almost ready I just-" Why is this so complicated? It's tying a strip of fabric in a knot! Jared probably knows how to do this. He does the whole 'business casual' thing. And of all people to ask, jared would be the least likely to make fun of him for it. "Hey can you uh, can you help me with something?"
"Of course, richard."
"I just need some help with this tie. I never really learned, so," Richard trailed off. Jared nodded, reaching for the tie hanging loosely around Richard's neck.
Jared was standing so close that richard could hear his breathing. If he'd wanted to, he could've reached up and kissed him. If he'd wanted to.
Jared's gentle hands nimbly adjusted the fabric. Richard was dully amazed by how easy jared was making it look.
Richard looked up at jared. He felt his knees go a little weak when he realized just how close they were. Jared's eyes flicked up to meet his. Those piercing blue eyes made richard feel like the whole world could just melt away. The binding arbitration, gavin belson, Pied piper, he could completely forget about it.
Jared swallowed hard. Richard had no idea how long they'd been standing like that, but he couldn't bring himself to break eye contact. Jared made him feel safe and he didn't really have too many safe things in his life at the moment. He needed jared.
'Kiss him, you idiot!' Richard's mind screamed at him. 'What are you doing? How often do you think a moment like this comes along? You've been waiting for months for this opportunity! KISS HIM DAMMIT WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING WAITING FOR'
Richard was frozen in place, staring at jared. Jared cleared his throat and shifted his gaze back to Richard's tie. He noticed that jared's face had gone bright red. He hastily completed his task and turned to leave.
"Good luck, richard," Jared mumbled as he hurried out of the room.
Richard felt like such a coward. How could he win a lawsuit? He can't even kiss his adorable gawky friend! If he was ever going to get Pied Piper off the ground, he needed to start being braver. Sure, he had a lot to lose with jared, but it might be worth it.
'Alright, Donald,' Richard thought. 'You may have gotten away this time, but mark my words: once we win this lawsuit, I'm gonna give you a kiss straight out of those shitty movies you love.'
The universe didn't seem to be in favor of jared getting that kiss, however. Erlich just *had* to let that thing about his laptop slip. And now, after months of trials and tribulations, richard was losing everything.
'I change my mind. Delete it,' he sent to jared. 'We lost. It's my company. Delete it all.'
He considered this a sign from the gods. Not cut out to be a CEO. Not cut out to tell jared how he feels. Not cut out to ride the teacups without vomiting. Basically, richard was destined to spend his life amounting to nothing.
Or maybe not.
After a ridiculous storm of bad luck that would only happen to him, richard was in his house, with his still intact company.
"We beat gavin belson. We won." He still couldn't believe those words were coming out of his mouth.
After the initial excitement over the condor stream and their victory over hooli died down, richard realized that this was it. This was his sign.
"Uh, hey jared? Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure thing, richard." Jared still seemed kind of awkward about the encounter earlier. But after all the 'magic', as he put it, of the day, Jared was back to his overwhelmingly adorable self.
It wasn't until jared was staring at him expectantly that richard realized he had no idea what to say. He should've rehearsed something. He'd kind of hoped that the right words would just come to him. Then again, his words had never really helped him that much anyway.
Richard was at a loss for a moment, but then his brain was yelling again.
'What are you waiting for? Make this count!'
And Richard decided that thinking has never really made him happy, so maybe impulse was worth a shot.
Richard pulled him down by the front of his shirt and pressed his lips to jared's. It's awkward and clumsy at first, but jared is kissing back wholeheartedly and that's more than richard had hoped for. Jared wraps an arm around richard and cups Richard's face with his other hand. Richard smiles into the kiss. Maybe being brave could be right for him after all.
Richard doesn't want pull away, but he hears someone challenge dinesh to beat his 'always blue' high score, and he knows he's about to get called back to their workspace to spectate.
Hesitantly, richard breaks the kiss. Jared's big gorgeous eyes are looking down at him affectionately. Richard is grinning up at him like a dork but he can't help it.
He decides that he greatly prefers jared tying his ties to gavin.