Chapter Text
It starts on movie night. Well. Not starts. Richard’s not so unaware as that. What started years ago was a fondness, an attraction, but he kept it contained. Manageable. It was a distraction, a flight of fancy, really. Nothing to start, because it was nothing he hadn’t already dealt with and pushed aside into deep dark storage, like one of the boxes mounted in the server farms at Maleant. So it’s settled - there’s absolutely nothing to start.
Instead, something wakes on movie night.
Since Richard’s been staying at Jared’s condo, they’ve been doing this little ritual a lot, ordering takeout and watching whatever sounds good in the moment. Tonight, Jared got to pick because Richard forced him to actually use his turn rather than deferring to Richard’s preference for the seventh time in a row.
“You want to um. Pretty Woman, huh? I’ve never actually seen it, so.” Richard tries to muster an expression of general good-naturedness about Jared’s pick that probably comes out more like a grimace than he intended.
“Oh, yes, it’s my absolute favorite - it really paints a stunningly romantic picture of the American dream, don’t you think?” Jared beams.
“It’s...this is still the one about the prostitute, right?” Richard asks, a bit bewildered.
“Sex worker, Richard, and yes it is, but it’s so much more than that. Oh I can’t wait for you to see it!” He claps his hands and turns his sunny, isn’t-this-so-fun grin on Richard and it’s. He’s just so. It shouldn’t even be possiblefor someone to be this excited about a dumb rom com, but Richard feels one of those warm bubbles of fondness for Jared rise up from his stomach and pop somewhere in the vicinity of his ribs anyway. He shoves the feeling deep down, an unconscious reflex that he's performed hundreds of times, and settles in for the movie.
And the thing is. Well. Pretty Woman is kind of good? Normally he would tune out, fiddle with his phone, during a movie like this but he told Jared they could watch it and he’s been trying really hard to not - well to not be an asshole, honestly. It still feels tenuous, their friendship. The invisible spectre of Hoolicon still hovers between them sometimes, and he just doesn’t want Jared to feel like he’s taken for granted. So he dutifully sips the tea Jared made him and watches the screen as Richard Gere and Julia Roberts fall in love and - wow - have sex a lot.
He can feel Jared’s eyes on him, watching his reactions through all the classic scenes - the necklace box snapping shut, the confrontation with the shop girls - and at first it’s a little annoying but then he starts to. Well, kind of get into it. Julia Roberts is just really charming and Richard Gere is so dashing (he feels himself smile a little at that very Jared turn-of-phrase). Before he knows it, he’s leaning closer toward the tv because he’s like. Invested. And suddenly things just get really...intense. Like, when Richard Gere’s friend tries to assault Vivian, Richard squawks, “What the fuck!” and looks at Jared, hoping to see the same level of outrage he’s feeling because seriously, and. And instead, Jared just gives him this little half-shrug, like what can you do? And that makes Richard simultaneously furious and kind of sick in a murderous ragey way he doesn’t really understand and he thought this was supposed to be a comedy?
But then Richard Gere is climbing the fire escape and Richard looks over at Jared to see him staring at the screen with rapt attention, his too-blue eyes shining overbright. He mouths the lines along with the actors - "So what happens after he climbed up the tower and rescues her?" “She rescues him right back.” Richard can’t stop watching him and as the credits roll Jared shakes himself out of his reverie with a smile, turning to Richard as a tear starts to track down his cheek.
“What did you think?”
“Yeah it was. Really good, actually.” He can’t quite make eye contact as he says it, in the face of Jared’s naked display of emotion. It feels like he walked in on him masturbating or something, like he violated this really personal, vulnerable moment, but Jared seems completely unfazed.
“Oh, I’m so pleased! Maybe next week we can do Mystic Pizza and make our OWN pizzas - there’s a new gluten-free crust recipe I’ve been dying to try, and I can get those sun-dried tomatoes you like. We’ll make our way through the rest of Ms. Roberts’ oeuvre in no time!”
“Um, sure. Sounds - sounds good.” He makes eye contact with Jared then, and feels a tiny jolt in his stomach at the look of pure adoration in those blue, so fucking blue, eyes. Normally, that level of attention, that too-muchness Jared specializes in, makes Richard feel overwhelmed, a little panicky and like his skin is too tight, but tonight he lets himself actually take it in, and it just feels. Nice. Warm. Like in a just baked cookies kind of way which is - why the fuck is he thinking about goddamn cookies, like like Jared is some Leave It To Beaver mom that's.
Ok, well. He kind of is. He has a very mom-like energy. But not a mom, no, just so patient and kind and with those giant, warm hands but that is to say in a, in a biz dev way, a totally normal helpful way, not like he’s gonna come out in a frilly apron and say “How was school today honey?” way although honestly he'd probably look kind of good in an apron...what the fuck Richard where did - where the fuck did that come from?
And are you still.
Oh god you’re still staring at him.
Look away.
Look AWAY for god’s sake or just say something.
Anything.
NOW.
With a mumbled, “Ok, well, goodnight Jared,” he hurries off to Jared’s bedroom and shuts the door.
“Goodnight, Richard. Love you!” He hears muffled through the door and makes a little strangled squawk of a noise. Every time, he thinks, cursing and flushing at the graceless way he reacts when Jared says those words, like-like he’s a kid that Jared’s dropping off at school. It doesn’t help the tangled knot of...something...in his stomach that he doesn’t have a name for, but which has been mutinously growing bigger and more knotted with each passing day of this living situation with Jared.
After an hour of lying awake reciting prime numbers, Richard finally falls asleep. He dreams about fire escapes.