#jarich

It was all Monica’s fault. That’s what Richard kept telling himself at least. She was the one that suggested they make a dumbass tik tok account. Who even goes on there anyway? 13 year olds and creepy dudes. At least that’s what Richard thought.

It had all started when Jared was put in charge of the Tik Tok account. He eagerly accepted the task and was the only one other than Monica that was excited about it. Dinesh and Gilfoyle refused to do it. And Richard was too busy doing CEO things.

But that didn’t mean they weren’t involved in some of the tik toks Jared made. In particular, Richard was in a lot of them. Jared found it essential that people get to know the CEO of Pied Piper more intimately. So Jared would often catch him doing his CEO duties and put some aesthetic music to accompany it.

And then there were Jared’s updates. He would make small videos about what he was feeling and what was going on in his life. It started as a one-off, but people seemed to be engaging with it. His updates were the most popular on the page. He just had a way of captivating people.

His updates ranged from updates being done to Pied Piper, to what he had for breakfast. And no matter what, people tuned in. But especially to the ones where he mentioned Richard. Which were a lot of them. People seemed to be catching on to the way he would talk about Richard. With such affection. Such care.

Nobody else but Monica was even watching what Jared made. So she was the only one who saw what he was saying. And she read the comments, something Jared refused to do. He didn’t care to see what people were saying about him. It just made him anxious and self-conscious. So he decided to just leave it be.

But Monica saw all the comments. The comments pointing out how Jared was definitely in love with Richard, and not in a friend way. She had noticed it too over the years. She was glad she wasn’t the only one.

And that’s when she decided to hatch a plan. On Tik Tok there is a live option. The company Tik Tok was gaining quite a bit of traction, so might as well have a live show. She pitched it as helping to gain awareness for the Pied Piper brand.

Jared liked the idea. He was very excited about it. Not so excited about seeing all the comments in real-time, but he figured it was only a minor inconvenience. The others weren’t as excited. Richard kept insisting he was too busy but caved anyway. Dinesh and Gilfoyle absolutely refused. Which, granted, Monica didn’t push too hard for. They had their own thing going on and she figured Gilfoyle would be a PR nightmare. So best to let him skip this one.

So it was only Monica, Jared, and Richard. They set up the live for a Friday night after everyone else had gone home. Monica posed it as just a way to ask questions to the company. But she knew those weren’t the only questions they’d get.

“Hello! The live will be starting soon!” Jared greeted the camera. They sat at the conference table, it was the easiest option for them.

Comments were already flooding in. Mostly about Jared and Richard. But some were about Monica. She was a favorite among lesbian Tik Tok, but she didn’t really know that.

“Alright, send in your questions and we’ll answer them.” Monica announced to the live.

Within seconds, questions ranging from all sorts of topics were sent in. It was almost too much to keep up with. But Jared seemed to pick out a few.

“Oh, my plants are doing really well, thank you for asking!”

“You got plants?” Richard asked, speaking for the first time since the live had started.

“Yes! For my condo. I thought it would give some life to the place.” Jared said.

Monica cleared her throat and gestured to the camera.

“Oh, right, of course.” Jared said, turning his attention back to the live. Richard also turned back to the camera, a bit flustered.

“Here’s a question, Monica, are you single?” Richard said, noticing the question popping up a lot. He noticed a few questions popping up a lot, but didn’t want to focus on those right now.

She laughed. “I don’t know why that matters. But, if you must know, yes.” She said. “How about you guys?” She asked, a slight smirk accompanied with it.

Jared smiled. “I am single. But I’m okay with that.” He said.

Richard just glared at Monica. Richard was noticing the comments about him and Jared. And he knew what Monica was doing.

“Single.” He said.

The chat was noticeably disappointed in their answers. But they trudged on.

After about an hour of answering questions, they decided to call it a night. They bid farewell to the chat and packed up their stuff.

“Good job you guys.” Monica said on her way out.

“You did very well too!” Jared said. She smiled and walked out of the office. Jared turned to Richard. “You did amazing, Richard!” Jared said. Richard smiled a bit.

Something was eating at him. The comments that the live chat kept spamming. Asking if they were together. Richard had to admit, Jared was attractive and nice and he cared about him. And sure, he had thought about what it would be like if they got together. But that was normal, right?

“You did good too. They seemed to really love you.” Richard said. Jared blushed a bit and shrugged.

“I’m sure if you did more they’d love you too.” Jared said. Richard shook his head.

“Not like you though.” He said.

They packed up the rest of their things in silence. It wasn’t awkward, but there was some unaddressed tension. They both felt it but didn’t do anything about it.

They had carpooled that day. Jared had driven them to the office. Richard almost forgot about that. He almost wanted to just call an Uber. But he knew that would seem rude, so he got in the car.

“Were there any questions we didn’t get to?” Richard asked suddenly. Jared shrugged, but Richard could tell he was tense.

“No, I don’t think so.” He said.

“Really? There were a few that I noticed.” He said.

“Like what?” Jared’s voice was strained at this point.

“A lot about us. Probably because your videos revolve around me.” Richard laughed a bit, if only to ease some of the tension.

“And what do you think… about us?” Jared asked. Richard thought for a moment. Debated about if he should be honest about his feelings or not.

“I think we’re close. I like you a lot, Jared.” He said. Jared glanced over at him.

“Do you mean that in the romantic sense or just friendship sense?” Jared asked.

“What do you want it to be?” He asked. There was a pause before Jared answered.

“I hope it’s in the romantic sense. But if it’s not I completely understand. It would be a whole HR deal and I’m not the mo-”

“Jared, Jared, calm down. It was in the romantic sense.” Richard interrupted.

“Oh.” Was all Jared said.

“I actually… I actually love you.” Richard said, taking a deep breath.

“Oh, Richard, I love you too.” Jared said.

“Oh, cool.” Richard said, feeling his face get hot.

“Would you… If it’s not too forward, would you like to come over tonight?” Jared asked.

“Yes, I’d love to.” Richard blurted out a bit quickly.

They drove to Jared’s condo and Richard stayed the night.