Richard sat his laptop down on a table and began trying to get some work done. He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, but he would do anything to take his mind off last night. He went on a not-sure-if-this-is-a-real-date-date with Monica, and let's just say it ended poorly. It didn't help that he got drunk either, and instead of it giving him confidence to say what he really felt, it just gave no filter to his nervous ticks. She ended up driving, and she took him to her house. After Richard kept stuttering his same sentence somehow all while slurring his words, he sat on her couch and eventually passed out. When he woke up, it was 7am and she hadn't gotten up yet. He quickly grabbed his bag, and left.

Why the fuck would I have even brought my bag to a date?

He thought to himself as he started to walk home, realizing that maybe he needed it to show her something Pied Piper related, and wondering if it was actually a date at all. The sun hitting his eyes, Richard became very aware that he had only gotten so much rest sleeping on Monica's couch. Passing by a coffee shop, he decided to sit in there for a few minutes and collect his thoughts, try to remember last night, and not get too embarrased for himself. Before ordering, he sat his laptop down on the table and began working. Seeing some movement out of the corner of his eyes, he looked up briefly only to see Jared walk up to the counter and order something. Confused, he watched Jared receieve his coffee and then sit down at a nearby table. A minute passed and Richard realized that out of 3 people in this place, it must have looked really creepy starring at someone. He wasn't really sure why he didn't say something to him, somehow he felt like Jared would somehow know that he was hungover and his maybe-date with Monica had been a failiure. Going over this in his head, Jared spot's him and says

"Richard, what a plesant suprise."

With as much cheerfulness as one could expect from someone 7:30am on a Sunday. And yet, Jared still seemed genuinely pleased to see Richard. A combination of nerves and sleep-deprevation led Richard to stutter something along the lines of

"Oh, yeah, hi, Jared, why are you-what are you doing here?"

Jared wasn't phased,

"Well, I always come here on Sunday. But to tell you the truth, I went out last night and I wanted something to wake me up, so to speak, for the day."

Richard was a little suprised, he never really thought about Jared doing much of anything outside of Pied Piper, and to be honest he was a little jealous as well. He started to wonder if he was on a date last night, and he was interupted by Jared saying "May I ask, what are you doing here, Richard?"

Richard probably looked disheveled to say the least, especially compared to Jared who was wearing a casual yet professional blue button up shirt and khakis. Richard also realized that he had left Jared's question in the air for a solid 20 seconds of silence while he was thinking, and replied

"Oh I'm just, drinking, well I'm going to, I kind of had, sort of a date last night, maybe?"

His voice went up at the end and he scratched the back of his head as he said it, feeling sweat.

"Oh shit,"

Richard began to say,

"I forgot about my night-thing, oh shit, I mean, I'm all gross and everything..."

He placed the palms of his hands on his cheeks and stared at his laptop, embarrased to be seen like this in public, although Jared had seen his night sweats before.

"It's really no problem, Richard. If you want, I could take you somewhere and get you some new clothes that aren't,"

He lowered his voice slightly,

"Soiled, and all."

Richard knew he was trying to be nice but right now he wasn't in the mood to be accused of wetting the bed, again.

"No, I mean, that's fine. Really."

Richard stood up and began putting his laptop away,

"I think I just want to go home now."

He looked at the floor at his shoes that seemed too dressy, in retrospect.

"I completely understand, let me know if you need anything, Richard. Don't be a stranger."

Jared smiled politely at Richard as he started to leave.

"Okay, well bye."

Richard said, giving an awkward half wave at him. He walked out the door and a few steps while looking in the window at Jared, who was sipping his coffee and looking thoughtfully at his fingernails. Just as Richard was thinking about how strange it was that he was examining his fingernails, he thought about how strange it was to be looking at Jared through a window where he could see him. He panicked, walked back into the shop, and said

"You know, uh, maybe I would like to go with you. To get clothes, and, yeah."

Jared smiled and said

"Wonderful! I have an especially fine place to take you if you would follow me."

Jared walked toward the door and Richard followed, wondering why he agreed to go with him. It's not like he didn't like Jared, quite the opposite. He was a dependable co-worker, and friend. He had always stuck by Richard when he needed help. As the day went on, Jared showed Richard the place where he assumed Jared got all of his clothes from, there were button ups and khakis everywhere. He even felt himself start to relax a bit. He hadn't thought about how it was slightly odd that his co-worker was going clothes shopping with him, and Jared was having a good time picking out the color scheme he felt would suit Richard the best. Before they knew it, about an hour had past and Richard was changed out of his sweaty clothes and into a fresh blue and white checkered JCrew shirt and on top was a light grey hoodie. He felt comfertable in these clothes, and was kind of suprised that it was Jared who picked them out, as it matched Richards taste perfectly. Paying for the clothes and leaving the store, Richard gained confidence that he wished he had with Monica last night.

"So, what do we do now?"

He asked Jared, squinting because the sun got in his eyes again.

"I'm not sure, did you have something in mind? I was perhaps going to the museum and check on the condor egg in person, but I could move some things around."

Jared seemed to have a genuine interest in what Richard wanted to do, but Richard had no ideas. Hell, Richard didn't even know he was going to be going out today, let alone with Jared.

"Yeah, we could do that."

Walking alongside Jared to the museum, Richard felt the hand holding his bag brush up against Jareds for a brief moment. Even knowing it was an accident, Richard began to blush. Walking into the museum, Jared asked a receptionist type person where they keep the condor egg.

"Sorry, that's not available for the public to see until it hatches. Something about the increased exposure not being healthy, I don't know. Try again in a couple days."

Jared, looking defeated, thanked the woman for her help and began walking toward the exhibits. Richard following behind said

"Sorry about the egg, thing, I know you really wanted to see that."

Jared, continuing to examine an exhibit, replied saying,

"It's fine, I'm just concerned with the condor egg. It's unusual that human activity would affect it's development, especially this far along in it's life cycle. I hope nothing bad has happened to it."

It was endearing how concerned with the condor egg Jared was, and Richard caught himself smiling at his concern.