Work Text:
The sound of your phone ringing woke you from your sleep. Not the usual ring or your alarm, but the ring of a phone call.
“Hello?” you answer blindly, eyes too tired to read the caller ID.
“Y/N, oh thank god you answered!” the person on the other line rushed out.
“Um, sorry, who is this? And why are you calling me at 6am?”
“Oh! It’s Richard! You know, I was Daniel’s roommate in college, you know, Daniel was Tara’s boyfriend..” he rambled.
“Oh shit! Richard! How have you been? Why the fuck are you calling me?”
“I’m uh- I’m good, I uh- need your help though,” he started, waiting for you to reply.
“Ok… With what?”
“Well I started this company Pied Piper, right?--”
“Oh shit! That’s you! That’s crazy, congrats man.”
“Yeah- yeah, well and we accidentally entered into TechCrunch Disrupt this year, and we’re not really ready to launch… I was wondering if you could help us with the graphic design…”
You laugh. And continue laughing. And Richard sits on the line quietly, waiting for you to say something. “Oh shit, you’re being serious aren’t you?”
“Yeah -yeah I am,” he states.
“Ummm well let me think about it,” you start.
“Well -actually that’s the thing, we can’t wait, TechCrunch is in 2 weeks…”
“What!? You want me to design and implement said whole new design in under 2 weeks?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No way, that’s ridiculous, unless the pay is good,” you offer
“Well..”
“You weren’t really planning on paying me were you?”
“No! We were, just like, later?”
“Oh my god! You guys are ridiculous!” suddenly there’s mumbling from the otherside of the phone.
“Okay, okay, I’ll let her know,” Richard says to someone else.
“What now?”
“We’re actually prepared to pay you $25,000,” Richard offers.
“Shit, really?”
“Mhm,” he states, somewhat displeased with the new information.
“I’m in.”
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Your car roared down the streets of Palo Alto on your way to Richards place, it was an old car, but it was reliable. You pulled into the driveway, taking note of the other cars in the driveway. The place looked well kept- better than you expected for a 26 year old boy's place to look. You took your time gathering your stuff and getting out of the car. And as you walked up to the front door, it was pulled open from the inside. You were met face to face with a red-headed man with long hair and a beard. “Oh hello, what could I possibly help you with?” He asked flirtatiously.
“Oh I must have the wrong house, unless, is Richard here?”
“Richard? What the hell could you want with him?” he asked.
“Oh shit!” someone rushed around the corner pushing the taller man out of the way, “Sorry Y/N, I didn’t think you’d be here so soon.”
“No problem -yeah I guess I was a little early,” you sigh, relieved to see a familiar and somewhat friendly face.
“Come on in,” Richard gestured for you to enter, “Erlich, get out of the way,” he pushed the man lightly. Although he didn’t move much.
You push past him, following Richard into what appears to be a workspace, 3 men sit at computers, staring at you like deer caught in headlights, “Everyone.. This is Y/N… Our new graphic designer!” Richard tried to say enthusiastically, but it wasn’t his forte so it sounded pretty weak. You smiled weakly at the men around the room.
“Wait,” The red-headed guy butted in from behind you, “I thought you said a dude would be staying here with us.”
“I never said dude,” Richard countered.
“That's true,” A bird-like man said from the center of the room.
“Whatever,” he turns to you, “but no falling in love with me,” he says seriously.
You laugh, and so does everyone else in the room, and when you finally relax, you state, “Yeah, you got it, man.”
“I’m serious,” he points at you, backing away and leaving the room.
You and Richard made eye contact and laughed again, “That was Erlich by the way, and that's Jared,” he gestures to the birdlike man, “and Gilfoyle,” a long haired man waves from the corner, “And Dinesh” he nods to the dark haired man stuck in time staring at you. You wave towards all of them.
“Uh Richard,” Jared stands awkwardly, and gestures for Richard to come towards him, “Maybe it would be best if I give her my room and we bunk together,” he whispers loud enough for everyone to hear.
Richard nods, “Yeah, that would probably be better than what we planned.”
“I'll move my stuff,” Jared rushed off down the hall behind you.
“You guys don’t have to-” you offer, but Richard shakes his head at you to cut you off.
“Let’s get you set up, you’ll be sitting next to me and Jared, is that okay?” You shrug, not much to go on at the moment. “Well, we have some spare computers here, or you can set up your laptop, whatever you want,” he rambled off, showing you to your spot.
You pull out your laptop and begin getting situated, when Jared rushes in, out of breath, and announces, “Okay, all good, you can move into my old room.”
You smile up at him, “Thanks, Jared.” He smiles sheepishly back at you.
“Y-yeah, let me show you to your room,” Richard stands up clumsily.
You settle into your ‘room’ rather quickly, and are back out with the boys in no time. As you step into the workspace the boys’ conversation comes to a halt. You look at them skeptically and they all look back to their computers, all except for Jared and Erlich. Erlich gave you a flirtatious smile and nod, to which you ignored. Jared perked up a little when your attention focused on him, “Is the room alright, sorry it’s not super tidy, I wasn’t expecting-”
“It’s great, thank you,” you stop him, shooting him a smile and sitting down at your spot in between him and Richard. “So Richard, what’s your vision for this app?”
“Oh, well I was thinking something sleek and professional, but not too complicated. I’ll show you what we’re working with right now,” He pulls up a file on his computer and opens it to reveal the current state of the app. It’s rough around the edges but not entirely unfixable. You ask him a few more questions about the UI and then set to work.
Later, after you ate dinner with the boys, you went back to work a little more, and around 12am you felt your eyelids begin to get heavy and let out a yawn. Stretching you rise for your chair and drag yourself to your new room. You curl up under the sheets and are hit with a smell of cedarwood and bergamot, and maybe a hint of old spice, which sends you into a trance. You hadn’t noticed today, but in retrospect, the smell is uniquely Jared and you find yourself feeling comforted by it.
As you got showered and dressed the next morning, you felt yourself almost missing the comfort of the bed. As you sat at the kitchen table, cereal in hand, you felt the wave of something unfamiliar wash over you, “Coffee?” Jared asks from the counter.
“Uh- yeah,” you say, a little startled by his presence, “Thanks.”
“No problem,” he smiles as he sets the coffee down in front of you, joining you at the table, “Oh, uh, do you need milk or sugar?” he rushes to get up, but you catch his hand.
“No, I take it black, but thank you, again,” you try to ignore the heat that rises to both yours and Jared’s cheeks, and resume eating your breakfast.
That night Richard orders takeout for everyone and you all sit in the living room. Gilfoyle is sprawled on one of the chairs, playing a shooter game against Dinesh who is sat on the opposing chair. Jared sits awkwardly in the corner, while you are squeezed between Richard and Erlich on the couch. “So Y/N, what do you think of my place?” Erlich asks.
“It’s um,” you swallow your bite of food, “it’s a place to live, for sure.”
“Oh, c’mon, it’s sweet, plus you get to sleep in close proximity to a total hottie,” he leans in, “but you could be sleeping closer.”
In that moment that Erlich leaned in, you and Jared made eye contact from across the room, and you watched the horror take over his face as Erlich spoke his last sentence. Jared swallows thickly as you turn to Erlich.
“Go suck a cock,” you brush him off, laughing lightly. Gilfoyle and Dinesh let out loud laughs and Richard chuckles next to you, while you notice Jared only sighs in relief.
“I could kick you out, bitch,” Erlich retaliates.
“Then you’d have a shitty looking app.”
“We could get another graphic designer, a better one even,” he urges.
“With less than 2 weeks? Yeah right,” Richard comments, which earns him a smack to the back of the head from Erlich.
“Whatever,” Erlich stands and leaves.
“Don’t worry about that, he’ll get over it,” Richard comments to you, not-so-subtly rubbing the back of his head.
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The next week goes similarly, Erlich flirting aimlessly, and Jared and you experiencing fleeting touches and shy glances. But it all culminated one night when the boys were stressing over a final touch to their code, and you were done work early.
You plop down on the couch after having a quick meal. Turning on one of the many tvs in the living room, you flipped through the channels before sighing and turning it off. You just about had the courage to get up when Jared walked in.
“Oh, hi, I didn’t know you were in here,” he mumbles.
“It’s cool I was just leaving, my backs killing me,” you try to get up, but whine in pain and fall back on the couch.
“Oh uh, I could, uh,” Jared gestures to your back, walking forward, and placing his hands on your shoulders. You nod and hum in agreement as he begins to knead the muscles in your upper back. He’s not necessarily skilled, but he is nimble and quick to find the knots causing you distress. He works them out slowly, almost like he had been dying to touch you. When he stops, and you turn around, he begins to apologize, but you stop him with one short sentence, “Your turn.” You gesture to the couch beside you and he moves nervously to join you.
He sits down on the couch facing you, which draws a short giggle from your lips. “Turn around,” you say sweetly.
“Oh, right,” he replies sheepishly.
You begin to rub his shoulder muscles and slowly make your way down his back, not finding many knots to work out. He lets out a quiet hiss as your hands gently glide back towards his shoulders.
“Turn around,” this time you state it firmly.
Jared swallows harshly, but follows your instruction. As he faces you, he looks scared, terrified even.
“Are you okay?” you ask lightly, brushing your hand across his cheek.
“Y-yeah, I’m great,” his adam's apple bobs again.
“Okay, good,” you smile at him, which he returns, to the best of his ability, because well, he’s freaking out. He thinks you’re incredibly hot but doesn’t want to scare you off because he knows how much Pied Piper means to Richard.
You gently pushed him back onto the couch cushions, swinging a leg over his own so that you were straddling him. Jared could not hold it in any longer, as he felt his cock starting to harden. You were oblivious to it at the moment, too focused on nuzzling his neck, which only made things worse for him. When you sat back and lifted your gaze to meet his, you understood his situation, and it prompted you to get more confident in your mannerisms. You ran your hands along his chest for a moment, then leaned back in and whispered against his lips, “You should kiss me now.”
Jared thought about, only briefly, if this would cause a problem, but the twitch in his cock made his thoughts fuzzy and he opted to follow your instructions once again. He leaned in ever so slightly and caught your lips in a chaste kiss, before pulling away to make eye contact with you, only you had your eyes closed and were lost in a daze, leaning back in for more. So he followed suit. Your hands continued to roam his frame while his sat awkwardly at his side. Upon realizing this you swiftly took them from their place and placed them on your hips, under your shirt just enough to give him a tease. The kiss grew more heated, as Jared finally found his footing and reciprocated what you were doing.
Pulling away ever so slightly, Jared mumbles, “Maybe we-”
“What the fuck?” You lean back dissatisfied with the intrusion. To see Erlich in the doorway, plate in hand, jaw agape, “No way, you’ve gotta be kidding me. This guy?” he gestures to Jared, whose eyes are wide with fear.
“Yes,” you state shortly, standing up.
“Guys! You won’t believe this!” Erlich calls to the boys in the office.
“They will now,” you reply, grabbing Jared's hand and guiding him to walk behind you as you pass by Erlich to the kitchen, walking through the office, then down the hall towards your room.
“No way,” Dinesh mumbles.
“Damn, I had money on her banging Richard,” Gilfoyle states, displeased.
“What?” Richard and Erlich say at the same moment.
You ignore them, and continue your parade to your room.
“Y/N, um, maybe, we should, um-” Jared calls from behind you.
“Do you want this?” you gesture between the two of you, “Do you want me?”
“Uh, um yes! But-”
“Then ignore them,“ you cut him off. Jared swallows thickly and nods, following closely behind you as you enter the room.