"Hey Richard!" Jared greeted as Richard walked towards his seat. It was midterms week around Stanford, causing an extended line for any coffee shop nearby, and somehow the atmosphere felt tense, causing everyone to have a severe case of anxiety.
"Jared. H-hi." Richard replied, setting down his satchel. "How are you? Are you ready?"
Jared nodded, "I've literally studied all morning so I think I will be fine. What about you?"
"Well I just finished my English midterm like ten minutes ago, so I think that I will be fine." Richard replied. "I-I'm quite confident in my abilities right now."
Jared smiled, "That's great, I didn't know you had a class before hand."
"I don't." Richard replied, sitting down.
"Oh." Jared frowned and nodded, "Well, I wish you the best of luck!"
"Thank you. You too." Richard replied as he rubbed his wrists. "I don't like midterms."
"Nobody does, but it's the struggles we all have to go through unfortunately." Jared chuckled, sitting down.
"Oh fuck. I forgot to bring your jacket." Richard winced as he pulled out his phone, where he received a text from Bighead that reminded him.
"Oh it's fine Richard, I don't mind. I mean, you saw how many I have." Jared shrugged.
"Still...fuck I mean. I am going home after class, I guess I can drop it off at yours?" Richard suggested.
"Yeah, that works for me." Jared replied, "Thank you."
"I mean you're the one who lended me the jacket, so I should thank you instead."
Slowly, more students began to pour into the room, starting the midterm.
"Hey! I wasn't expecting you so early. Come in." Jared greeted as he opened the door for Richard.
"Oh uh thanks." Richard replied as he shuffled in, looking around. "I like your house. It's uh…. It's nice."
"Thank you." Jared commented. "Do you want anything? Coffee? Tea? Juice? Water?"
"No I'm good, thank you Jared." Richard awkwardly handed him the burgundy jacket. "Thank you for the jacket."
"I mothered you into that, so you have no reason to thank me. I want to thank you for letting me do that." Jared smiled. "Do you want to watch another documentary with me?"
"That would be good. I mean, I could kill some time, and I need the white noise." Richard agreed, slowly sitting down to the left on the couch, Jared following suit.
Jared turned on a random documentary, thinking of Richard and listening to the laptop's gentle hum. The clicking soon approached a halt, causing Jared to glance back at Richard. He was biting his lip, unfocused.
"Richard," Jared began, "So how are you doing?"
Richard blinked, and eventually became aware. "I'm sorry?"
"How are you?" Jared asked.
"I am okay. Sorry." Richard mumbled as he adjusted himself on the couch. "I uh… I got out of it for a little."
"That's okay, and I am glad that you are okay." Jared stated.
Richard nodded, and looked back at the computer. "By the way, do you know when he's grading?"
"Who? Professor Graham?" Jared asked.
"Yeah. I think he said but I didn't listen."
"Next week I believe." Jared replied. "Which is still quite early."
"I guess, yeah." Richard replied. About half an hour later, Jared stood up.
"I think I am going to make lunch. Will you join me?" Jared asked. "I think I am just going to make some wraps, so not too much, but good enough."
"Uhhh…." Richard looked back at the time his laptop displayed. "Yeah, I would like to join you."
"It won't take long. If you want to help, that's also okay." Jared invited. "Or you continue doing what you are doing."
"I...I am good." Richard declined. "Ron has told me before that I would help out even more out of the kitchen." He chuckled, "Which makes sense. I suck a-at basically everything a normal human can do."
Jared frowned, "Don't say that. I think that you are one of the most charming and talented people I have ever met. I know you can do everything a normal person can, and more."
Richard blushed, and rubbed his wrist. "Oh uhhh….." He looked back at the laptop, then back at Jared, and bit his lip. "You should start cooking." The second Richard blurt that out, he cringed and wished he could get swallowed up by a black hole that would magically appear on the floor.
"You know I probably should." Jared nodded, gave Richard a smile, and walked into the kitchen.
Richard bit his lip, and shook his head, disappointed at himself.
"Food's ready." Jared called out as he walked back into the living room. He walked into Richard humming, and pacing around the living room, hands in a fist.
"...Richard?" Jared called out quietly, slowly walking towards Richard.
Once Jared was in Richard's direct eyesight view, Richard acknowledged him by looking at his shoes and staying still.
"Hey, Richard, I finished. If you want to join me, or if you want to wait that's also okay. Or anything you want to do honestly." Jared commented.
"...O-okay." Richard bit his lip, and walked towards the couch. "No."
Jared thought about it for a second, and understood. "Alright. We can wait."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"...Okay." Richard nodded. "Can I hug?" Richard shook his head, "I mean can I-" Jared cut him off, and sat next to Richard.
"Oh of course Richard! I would love to hug you." Jared replied as he adjusted himself. Richard angled himself towards Jared, and slowly leaned on him. Jared wrapped his long arms around him, trying to adjust himself to what Richard approved of last time.
"No."
"Okay, what about now?" Jared went a little lower.
Richard grabbed his hand and physically adjusted Jared. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay." They both slowly tightened their grip on each other, enjoying each other's presence. They held each other for about four minutes when Richard giggled. He outright giggled.
"Ohhhhh. Oh! OHH!" Richard smiled and giggled again, pulling away from Jared and grabbed his laptop from the side.
"Richard?"
"I-I...so stupid!" Richard turned on the computer. "I got carried away with the….." He went back to his code, and became silent.
Jared just stared at Richard in action. About ten minutes later, Richard tugged at his sleeves and looked back at Jared. "Okay.. that's okay. It worked out. Alright."
Jared smiled, "As my friend Gloria says, we sometimes have to give our work some space, or else it will go far away from us."
"I don't know what I did. Like, I-I didn't even really go away.. In a sense-way." Richard replied.
"Well, then hugging helped." Jared replied, "I am glad that we did, as I think it contributed to your break through."
"Yeah. That was….good." Richard put his laptop back to sleep. "Weren't you talking about lunch?"
"Oh yes. It's ready for whenever you are ready." Jared replied. "Do you wanna go now?"
"Yes." Richard replied as he stood up.
"Alrighty then, come on." Jared stood up and made his way towards the kitchen.
"Thank you Jared." Richard looked up halfway through the meal. "You have been very helpful."
"It is my pleasure Richard. Thank you." Jared replied with a gentle smile.
Richard chuckled, and looked at Jared's hair. "Normally people leave once they understand that there is definitely something wrong with me. And that's okay. You haven't."
"And I don't plan to." Jared replied, "And what do you mean about something wrong with you? There is nothing wrong with you."
"Yes there is." Richard played with his food. "I mean, I think it's fairly obvious, I think I gave the normal signs."
"There isn't anything wrong with you." Jared replied, "Whoever says that is completely wrong and-"
"Jared. Come on, you know that I'm…. autistic, and that is when you have a different thought and I don't know.. I guess-" Richard quickly replied.
"And who said that it's a bad thing to be different?" Jared replied.
Richard scoffed, and drank some of his water. "Whatever man. Still…." Richard didn't finish his sentence.
"Well I think that you are great, and wonderful, and talented and just-" Jared cut himself off when he noticed how uncomfortable he made Richard. "Just yeah."
Richard bit his lip and cleared his throat.
"...Jared?" Richard looked back to Jared who was fixing his shoes.
"Yeah?" Jared began to walk towards Richard, looking around his direction.
"What bird is that?" Richard pointed at a nearby tree, that had a yellow and grey bird that had landed on one of the tall branches.
"That would be a Lesser Goldfinch. It's quite a common species of bird in California. They permanently reside in this area." Jared explained.
"Ahhhh." Richard gave a curt nod.
"Now, shall we go further? We barely left the parking lot." Jared pointed towards the parking lot, that was a few feet away.
"Right." Richard nodded, "To where?"
"I am not sure." Jared replied. "How much are you willing to walk?"
"..."
"Alright." Jared smiled, amused. "Come on, this is the closer one." He began to walk to a downhill trail.
"This is going to be so new experience wise. I haven't left Palo Alto and like San Francisco in like….. a year."
"Yes, yes it is."
"But you've been here before."
"Yes, but with you everything is a new experience." Jared replied, looking back at Richard.
Richard looked down and blushed. Jared smiled even brighter. As Jared and Richard slowly made it downhill, Jared thought about the beginning-their Linear Algebra class in room 4-1011 with Professor Graham-and everything that followed. He was glad he met the boy in the third row.
Together, they both knew that they were going to be okay.
As always, thank you much for reading, have a great day and hopefully I made yours and peace out!
-Apple