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Richard didn't need an imagination to have a couple of theories as to what she meant by "scary encounter at the park". There was a reason he kept his phone on him when he went jogging at night, and there was a reason he'd been careful to make sure he didn't make her uncomfortable when they'd first met on one of those midnight runs of his. Maybe he'd offer to go running with her in the future? It might help her feel more secure to have a running buddy if she wanted to go running at night.

He nodded along with her comments on the aikido being a good way to destress. Aside from running at night, it honestly probably was. And it let her stay in her own house, probably.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine. You've made it this far, right?" He offered a reassuring smile. "Besides, if you've got the grades for it, grad school will probably be more than willing to throw some financial aid your way." Richard, himself, had gotten a couple merit scholarships and grants when he'd begun pursuing his Master's. "If you need help navigating grant and scholarship applications, hit me up." Sure, his parents were probably more than secure enough that he wouldn't have had to worry about it, but... he didn't want to take their money if he could figure it out on his own.

"My brother even knows some legalese if we need help decoding it," he joked.

Richard's cheeks coloured a bit at the compliment. "Eh, I try." He smiled all the same, though. "And I understand about the not-worrying thing, don't worry." Realising what he said, he chuckled a bit. "You know what I mean." He was pretty sure his brother would adore her, honestly. He would have warn him ahead of time, though, to make sure Lee was off doing something else. Lee meant well, but he would absolutely overwhelm Seren in a heartbeat. Richard had previously called him a golden retriever in human body, and he meant every syllable. Sure, with time, she might warm up to him, but definitely not at a first meeting.

"I have to get going here, soon, but do you have sometime soon you'd like to go over and get that done? That way I can float him an actual date or time." A pause. "No pressure, though!"

He was glad she laughed, he really was. "Yeah, probably." His eldest brother was a textbook worrywart, honestly. Maybe it was because he'd had kids young, and then his now-ex wife had done, well what she'd done. It'd been ten years since Richard's nephews had been born, and Garber had really only gotten more worry-prone.

Richard remembered having to take him out to coffee the boys' first day of kindergarten.

And their second.

Someone, Richard forgot who, had made the comment to Garber at one point over barbecue that the boys would be going into middle school range before too long, would be teenagers in a couple of years, and Garber had about had an existential crisis over it. What was he going to do when the twins hit high school? What if Mikki didn't fit in?

What if Aaron didn't?

When she finished her tea and got up, Richard unconsciously mirrored her movement. Lost in his momentary rabbit-hole of thought as he had been, he hadn't caught her sigh. "Bringing cupcakes is probably the number one way for my family to adopt you--you've been warned," he winked good-naturedly and reached for his empty cup still sitting on the table.

Having only his one cup that he'd been drinking out of, Richard trotted along with her to the busing station, setting it with a soft clink onto the tray. He chuckled in response to her, automatically moving to arrange the dirty dishes they and other people had left so that it was stacked the safest and most efficiently he could think of for it to be. "There's no real 'favourite' cupcake flavour, either, so really whatever flavour you want to make would be fine." His family would descend upon them like a plague of locusts regardless.

Her quick hug did, admittedly, catch him off-guard. Richard made a small noise of surprise before patting an arm around her shoulder in return. He tried not to smoosh her into his side given their half-foot (well, close enough) height difference. "Nah, don't mention it! Hit me up anytime." Releasing her from the half-hug, he smiled and waved and turned for the door.