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Jason recognized Ben’s look. He considered all the options, grinding away to find a solution. Jason had done the same for most of the afternoon and he couldn’t see a way to get what he wanted.
“Can you offer to be a consultant to support the firm start up this new line of business? They could be one of our first clients. Since we really don’t see it as competition, it wouldn’t hurt us to help them get going. It could turn into some good referrals. Another idea would be for you to quit and wait out the year. We’d delay rolling out the business, which can work since we haven’t made any official announcements yet.”
Jason considered. He’d thought about quitting. It’d hurt the startup capital if he did that, but if he found a non-competing job fast enough, it wouldn’t matter.
“I love the consulting concept.” Jason felt re-energized as he returned to the couch and mirrored Ben’s cross-legged position. “It’d be the best of both worlds.”
“We should talk to Michael about that too. See if there’s an angle we’re missing. You could really make it worth their while and give them a good deal on your time. We can probably find a way to work my specialty in to the proposal to sweeten the deal more.”
“It’s a far better idea than quitting.”
“You don’t like the idea of being my kept boy?” Ben asked, with a touch of playfulness. “Make you my assistant. Maybe have you wear skimpy outfits around the office. Plus you’d be on call to perform sexually whenever I wanted.”
“I’m not sure our HR department would approve.” Jason smirked at Ben. “I mean I get that you’d want more of this.” Jason moved forward and pushed Ben over so he could lay on top of him.
“You can’t blame me for trying to get you naked more often.” Ben brought his head up and kissed Jason. “Seriously, we’ll make this work. Even if it takes an extra year. And I honestly don’t mind supporting us if you want to quit and not take a new job in the interim. I think our combined bank accounts allow for that.”
“Thank you for not being angry.”
Ben made a dismissive noise. “It’s just a bump in the road. The real stress, errr, fun. Yeah, fun.” Ben chuckled. “It hasn’t even started yet. We get to find space and incorporate. I didn’t like doing that stuff when I started out, and I don’t relish doing it again. The upside is that you actually seem to like paperwork. Plus we’ve got Michael, and he’s a far better attorney than I had when I did all this the first time.”
“I love you. We’re going to have such a good time doing this, even some of that stuff that you don’t think is fun.”
“Yes we are.” Ben stole a few more kisses.
