He Left Sparkles in his Wake

To Hell with the Norms (Jared)

Jared: Confess your fears

The tall man closed his eyes and sighed. He took a few breaths as he thought about what Richard had said. He was scared. He was worried that he would become weak and powerless. He opened his crystal blue eyes and found Richard directly in front of him with an understanding and hopeful smile. "I'm am scared. I'm sorry for yelling. It's just...I've never been this vulnerable before. I've always been admired, but I'm scared that now people will think less of me." He spoke so softly that only Richard could hear him. The American's eyes softened even more and tears rose into them.

"There's no way anyone could think less of you just because you're dating me. You're still Jared Knabenbauer! The same sexy hunk that every straight girl and gay guy wants to get their hands on. Uh! I! Aaaa! Forget that last part!" He shrieked and covered his red face with his jacket. Jared laughed until he was crying. The two didn't realize that the rest of the room chuckled in relief as the situation calmed down. The club slowly took their seats and watched the live action romance play out. Paul leaned over to Josh, who the leaned over to Nick, and so on as they passed Paul's message along the table.

"Still a better love story than Thylight. I'll/Paul will bring popcorn next time."

Richard uncovered his face, blissfully unaware of what was being passed around the club. He saw Jared's now tear stained face and quickly brushed his thumb across the teal coated man's cheek. "Hey hey hey. Please don't cry. I'm sorry." He mumbled. Jared gently caught his wrist and brought the small hand to his lips.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have yelled...and you even told me how you panic when something moves to quickly near you. I'm sorry. God, I am the worst boyfriend." Jared said, also oblivious to the audience that was eating up what felt like scripted dialog. Richard took his hands and placed them where he could more easily reach: the other's shoulders.

"If you're the worst boyfriend, then I'm complete and utter garbage. But...you remember me saying that and you apologized. That's more than enough to make amends." Wonder bread pressed. He couldn't fight the relieved smile from appearing. Jared was calmed down, and had really been listening to him. A small laugh slipped out of him as tears pooled in his brown eyes. Jared quickly enveloped the small one in a hug and rubbed circles on his back.

"No crying. No one is crying anymore today, okay?" He whispered carefully. Now that things had mellowed out, he didn't want to accidentally raise his voice again and risk sending his delicate flower in a second panic attack. Richard nodded and clung to Jared for a minute longer before pulling away.

"I'm...I am so sorry I put you through this. We can talk about it later. Have a great meeting." The hopeless romantic stated and backed towards the door. Jared quirked a brow.

"Oh, so there's going to be a later?" He asked smugly. The amount of sparkles were over 9000.

"Fuck off with that gay shit!" Richard wheezed through heartfelt laughter. "You know my usual haunts. Now go have your meeting. Good God we've been in this room for at least two chapters straight; three if the reader wanted to see both reactions."

"What?"

"NOTHING! Bye love!" Richard called and closed the door. He felt lighter than air again and happily returned to his room in Bluebell. He had just closed the door to his room behind him when his phone buzzed.

Jare Bear- I love you

Ricky- I love you too

Ricky-Pay attention to your meeting!

Ricky- Shane will have both our asses bronzed and mounted on his wall if you don't stop texting!!!

Jare Bear- What is it with you and asses

Ricky- IM GAY AND I LIKE A GOOD TUSH

Ricky- NOW FUCK OFF AND PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR MEETING

Jare Bear- Your ass is mine

Ricky- My ass is mine. I'm my own bicth

Ricky- *bitch

With that, they stopped texting. Richard figured it was because Jared was sol and Shane had busted his ass about texting during their 'oh so important' meeting. But now he was bored. Richard rolled around on the floor for a few minutes, trying think of something to do. He finally got and idea and grabbed his sketchbook. He set his phone to play his favorite music playlist and aimlessly doodled on a spare page. Of course, the mental image never looked the same when he tried to put it on the page. "Art it hard." He whined to himself before turning to a fresh page and trying again with a new mental image. More time passed, more shitty drawing were drawn, and countless songs were sung. Richard cracked his knuckles and prepared to draw more "cinnamon roll eyes", as he called them. He carefully sketched out his eye shape and marked where the iris was. Before he could add the spiraling pupil, thus making it look like a cinnamon roll, his phone buzzed multiple times.

Jare Bear- OMW

Jare Bear- You like chocolate, right?

Jare Bear- Thoughts on tea?

Ricky- omg hold up. You are not allowed to buy me things.

Bear Jare- ....

Dicky- Jared no ;-;

Jare Bear- Your room?

Ricky- T-T

Jare Bear- What does T-T mean?

Ricky- I'm sobbing. Not really, but i'm sobbing on a spiritual level

The texting stopped again, but no more than a minute later there was a knock on the door. Richard forced a middle ground between a pout and a frown before opening the door. Jared stood there with two cups of Mooncoins' tea and a box of chocolate. Richard furrowed his brows and deepened his frown.

"I'm not mad, i'm just disappointed." He muttered and let the other in. "You shouldn't have gotten me anything. Honestly....in the like 36 chapters we've known of each other, have I bought you anything? You're going to spoil me at this rate." Richard closed the door and wrapped an arm around the taller man's waist. Jared sat the gifts down and kissed his little man's forehead.

"I like doing little things for you. You do so much for me without knowing, so I just want to remind you that I appreciate you. Besides, the meeting ended over an hour ago." He replied sweetly. Richard stared at him and then checked the clock.

"So you're telling me....that this meeting...that I was not allowed to sit in on...lasted ten minutes." He stated slowly. Math equations crowded his vision for a moment as he was utterly confused.

"Twelve minutes, but yeah. So I took the train to get you some 'Sorry I was stupid' gifts." Jared stated and kissed his cheek. "Forgive me?" Richard gently connected their lips before pulling him over to the bed.

"I already did. Now let's enjoy your thoughtful gifts and cuddle. I know that I can repay you with that at least."

The evening was probably more formal than either wanted to admit. Richard enforced a strict 'ask for consent first' as they talked, simply so they could begin to understand each other's boundaries. However, after most of the discussing was over, they were back to their normal romantic antics. "Just for future reference, consent is super hot." Richard whispered and placed a chocolate between Jared's lips. After a moment of Jared selecting one for Richard he smiled.

"Duly noted."