The memo went around the office pretty quickly and Craig paid no mind to it. It was about maintaining the company's standards of dress and consequences for failing to wear simple things like a tie. Business casual wasn't something Craig worried about; hell, he skirted the line between just fine and overdressed when it came to work wear. Nonetheless, the memo was filed away with all of the rest of the office-wide notes he was left, for later cross-referencing and evidence should something unsavory arise, but soon forgotten.
As usual, he worked that night late and when he returned home, he heard voices in the kitchen. Rick must have company over, though they were being curiously quiet. Sure enough, when he moved into the kitchen, Rick and Wheatley were sitting at their kitchen table, both with one of Craig's ties around their necks. Craig raised an eyebrow, but made no comment until he came over and pressed a kiss to the temple of his boyfriend's forehead.
"Hello, Wheatley," Craig greeted, eyebrow quirking again when the tall man fumbled to hide the silk pink paisley tie behind his back.
"Hullo, Craig, worked late, yeah?" he replied, likely a little too fast.
A tug on the necktie he was already wearing cut off Craig's reply, replacing the words with a greeting kiss on the mouth, "Nothin' t'see here, Peaches, don't mind us!"
The blond pulled away, glancing at one of his black ties around Rick's neck as well, "You both are acting suspiciously. What are you doing with my ties?"
The other two men exchanged guilty looking glances and a crumpled up note was produced for Craig's inspection. He cast a stern glare at them both before smoothing out the note, discovering it was the same business attire memorandum he had read earlier. The smaller man glanced up at his boyfriend and friend who were both looking at him with matching expressions of expectation, like they thought Craig would begin yelling at any moment. Eyes wide and boyish, both cringing slightly in the kitchen chairs; Craig sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
"What is this all about?" he said, trying to keep his voice as even and gentle as possible; he didn't want them to think he was upset. Just highly curious.
In unison, they both lifted both ends of their respective neckties with a helpless kind of gesture. Craig shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose; they were beginning to mimic one another, it was almost comical.
"Neither of you know how to tie a tie," Craig clarified, gesturing to both men sitting in front of him.
"Dad was working class, never wore one in his life, he said. Coveralls and a singlet, all he needed," Wheatley shrugged.
"Didn't care t'learn, Momma never went 'n taught me," Rick pulled off the black tie and offered it up, but Craig shook his head.
He couldn't believe that the both of them had missed what Craig considered a major milestone in becoming a young man. The blond reconsidered and took the tie out of Rick's hands and looped it around his neck.
"I'll simply have to take it upon myself to teach you both," he said, aligning both ends to the desired starting length, "I'll show you a couple times and then you'll do it. Then on each other. You'll need to know how to do this backward and forward."
The knot on his own plain coral tie was loosened and undone, "First you'll need to make sure that the thick end is lying on your right side."
Rick hurried to flip his tie and Wheatley looped the cloth behind his back around his neck, flipping it when Craig shook his head and gestured with a spin of his pointer finger to change it.
"The thin end needs to be about a foot down your chest, maybe less," Craig tugged the trips of silk in the appropriate place, "And Then you cross the big over little and pull it underneath."
Craig held up the knot so far with the wider end upside down and crossed underneath the small end. He waited patiently while his new students went to ape his motions and made sure they were watching before he continued.
"Flip that up and bring it through the loop around your neck," he instructed, slipping the larger end through the loop he mentioned and pulling it semi-taut through.
They were doing well so far, Craig noticed, they were paying apt, eager attention which was pretty endearing. After a few moments, they copied Craig's example just about perfectly and both green and blue eyes were watching him again.
"Wrap the big end around the knot and slip it through the loop again," he murmured, slowly doing the motion as he spoke them, "Then you'll slip the big end through the small pocket around the knot and pull it tight."
The coral tie was tugged and adjusted, perfectly knotted; Craig held up his hands in a show-off motion, glancing at the other's handiwork. Rick's was far too long and Wheatley's too short, but they were ties fitted for someone as small as Craig, so it was good enough.
"…Good enough," Craig smiled faintly and undid the knot to show them again.
Twice more and they seemed to be getting the hang of things. The ends evened out and they managed to get the short pieces of fabric to fit them the best they could. Both managed to get it only after a couple of tries, Craig was impressed, given that they hadn't known what to do at all.
"Now I'm going to change, but you two need to practice doing it backwards on each other, alright? Come find me if you have troubles, mm?" Craig didn't get an answer, they were both already engrossed with figuring out what backward meant, pulling on the other's tie.
Craig shook his head and disappeared to pull on something more comfortable and curl up with a book in the living room. Not much more than a half an hour later, both of them came bounding into the living room, yammering excitedly.
"Craig! Craig, think we got it!" Rick called, kneeling in front of the armchair Craig sat on, eyes bright and looking proud of himself.
"Wasn't all too hard, would've cracked that pretty soon, but now we're masters. Good teaching, must say. Made that quick and tidy," Wheatley said breezily, attempting to seem more aloof about it, but his excitement shone through anyway.
"Alright, show me," Craig set his book down and folded his hands in his lap.
Wheatley went first, messing up the beginning a few times, but he eventually got it tied just right, the pink paisley lined up perfectly as it could on the Brit's long, skinny body. Before Craig could even comment, Rick was already showing off his quick learning, looping and pulling the tie straight with a winning grin on his face.
"Well done," Craig said warmly, pulling on Rick's collar to give him a congratulatory kiss.
They lingered for a moment and Wheatley shuffled awkwardly, causing them to break apart. Craig shot a glance and a smile at Rick before rising out of his chair to pull on Wheatley's tie and kiss him on the cheek.
"Good job," he murmured, smiling at how the taller man turned several different shades of red.
Craig finally let go and returned to his book, peering at them both over his glasses, "I expect you'll both be dressed properly tomorrow. It's still early, go and get your own. Properly dressed gentlemen get rewarded, I could mention."
Rick beamed, but Wheatley looked confused. Regardless, the dark-haired man pushed his friend toward the door, murmuring explanations until they both were gone with an ecstatic, hopeful kind of expression. Craig shook his head, but smiled to himself. They were both still like boys, it seemed.