Chapter Text
“So, this is it?” William says.
William took a step before he slowly spun on the heel of his foot to look around the building. The walls were an odd shade of grey, the floors white and black checkered. Raggedy booths filled the floor, as well as some stray chairs. An empty large stage, and a smaller side stage with a curtain resided on one wall. Across from that was a hallway lined with doors, and at the very end, an exit.
“Yep. Can you envision the restaurant here?” Henry asks.
William hums. “Well. You know, it needs some work. But it can become something great if we put enough time into it.” William took more steps around the building, exploring the area. He would pause, pointing his finger as if he was placing something down with his imagination. “I mean, we have plenty of stage room for the show… plenty of floorspace to walk around and cater to guests…” He murmured to himself, along with other details he was considering. New paint on the walls, perhaps redoing the floors, adding games of some kind… maybe pinball, arcade games… or even a ball pit? The options were endless.
“There’s a lot we can work with here if we plan carefully, Henry.” William says, glancing at his friend. “But it’s going to take a lot of planning, for sure. We’ll have to sort our finances carefully and… make sure we give the money to the things that need the most work first. We are working with a limited budget, but I think we can make it stretch.”
“Well, it’s a good thing it won’t be just us figuring out how we should get this done. After all, redesigning this space needs more than our insight. I know my interior design knowledge is mediocre – “Henry chuckles, shaking his head. “I asked the perfect person to help us, too. She’s great, she’ll help us with picking proper furnishing and make sure we make our dollars stretch.”
William pauses his pacing, turning around to look at Henry. “…what do you mean, it won’t be just us?” He asks. “I thought you and I were the only ones taking care of this project.”
Henry tilts his head at William, offering a warm smile. “Oh, well, I invited a friend to come see the restaurant and help us with redesigning. She’s great, you’re going to love her – I met her towards the tail-end of college. I knew we’d need some help with sprucing this place up and she was happy to take up the job. She’s going to offer some great insight. I knew it would take more than just our minds to get this place sorted out.”
William’s brows furrow just slightly. The slight expression surprised Henry. He was expecting William to soften up some with his explanation. “…I don’t know why you would do something like that. You and I were the only ones working on this. I don’t think we need someone else to get involved in this. That will just overcomplicate things.”
Henry’s brow furrows. He glances away from William briefly, his arms crossing as he thinks about his next words carefully. “William. You can’t expect that we would have just… redesigned this place completely on our own. We both have knowledge and expertise in building first and foremost, when it comes to those design intricacies… I mean, come on. It’s fair to have another opinion on this – it’ll do us good. Besides, she can help with general things as well. She’s knowledgeable in a wide range of subjects. She can help with building, finances, logistics… I mean, this is a big job for just the two of us.”
“I’m not underestimating the work that will be involved in this, but… I don’t think it’s worthwhile for us to have another voice in the progress of this place. I mean, it might just… clog up the flow we have going already. I mean, we were talking and sorting things out well on our own. We’ve negotiated purchasing the perfect place and having it inspected. I think we can furnish it by ourselves as well and get it set up without anyone else stepping into things.” William explains.
“William, we have to plan things pretty far ahead beyond just… the furnishing and setting up.” Henry says, stepping towards him. “We need to order many things, not to mention figure out how we are laying out the place following those purchases. We need to hire people to redo things like the flooring and painting… we need to get the place inspected beyond general inspections we’ve completed, we need to plan the shows itself and… William, you just can’t expect all of this to be done well if we just do this by ourselves.
"We need more help than just us – having one other person is not the end of the world. It can help us balance the work, and she can serve as an extra set of hands for… anything. Not to mention, she can help us diffuse disagreements like this.” Henry has stepped his way up to William now, and he’s looking up at the man, his arms still crossed. “Like it or not, she’s working with us. We are only two men; we cannot do this on our own.”
William’s expression is unchanging, looking down upon Henry. His gaze was half-lidded, seeming to be in thought about what Henry had said. Perhaps he was partially right, but William was still unhappy with the decision. William’s gaze was pulled away from Henry to look at the car that pulled into the parking lot. He noticed a woman getting out of it and approaching the front door of the restaurant.
“…we’ll see how it goes.” William says dismissively.
Henry’s gaze follows William’s, making him turn around to look at the door. Henry notices you approaching and pulling the door open. stepping inside the entrance of the restaurant.
“There you are! I’m so glad you could make it.” Henry chirps, walking away from William and disrupting the stagnant energy of the room. He hurries over to you, beaming. “I’ll show you around the place soon, but I’d like you to meet my friend.”
“William, come say hello.” Henry says, turning back to beckon to his friend. William walks over; however, his gesture seems reluctant. His movement was slow and composed as he went over to you.
“William, this is my friend I was telling you about, y/n. She’s a real gem – I’ve known her for quite a while. She’s got great expertise and she’s really looking forward to helping us out.” Henry says, looking up to William and narrowing his eyes slightly in warning, but his grin is unfaltering.
Henry steps aside, letting you extend a hand to William.
“It’s nice to meet you, William. I’m y/n. It’s a pleasure.” You say, looking up at the taller man. You take note of many details in this first impression – his composure in his stance, he’s dressed business casual opposed to Henry’s comfortable leisure clothes, and his expression is not very readable… it’s almost scary. His height didn't help with the intimidation, either.
William glances at your hand, and he stares a little too long for comfort before he slowly takes it, shaking it half-heartedly before releasing it and walking away.
Your brow furrowed as you watched William walk away, glancing up at Henry as he did.
“Don’t let him bother you. He’s just… in a mood.” Henry murmurs to you. “Mind if I show you around?”
You shook your head, letting Henry lead the way around the restaurant. You were already picturing the different decorations and features you wanted to add to the restaurant. Anything to liven up the place, add some youth and color to the establishment. The shape it was left in was quite desolate.
William had occupied himself with his own continued exploration of the place, seeming to be mapping out other furnishings he wanted to add to the place. He murmured to himself as he walked around before he left for his office.
Once you noticed William had retreated, you finally asked Henry. “Is he always like this?”
Henry looked down at you, confused at first before he understood your question. “Ah, you mean William? No.” he says quietly. “…not necessarily. He’s just… not too sure about having someone else help us set up the place. We’ve had this idea in the backs of our minds for… quite a long time. I guess he figured we would be the only ones working on it.”
You nodded, your gaze averting briefly. “I get it, but… he’s just so abrasive. Is it something I should just get used to?”
“…for a little bit, yes.” Henry says, before holding his hands up in defense. “But, I mean, just give it time. I think he’ll warm up to you. Matter of fact, I’ll go talk to him – you just hang tight.”
You nodded again, watching Henry leave your side to go down the hallway to William’s office. The room right now was rather boring – two chairs sat across from each other, and between them was an oak desk with a phone on it. An empty bookshelf resided behind the desk. A desk with a lamp sat in the corner. The window was open to welcome some natural light.
William sat at his desk with a notepad, he seemed to be making a little sketch of the restaurant layout and drawing small doodles of potential ways to set up the place.
“Can I talk to you?” Henry asks William at the doorway. William looks up at him, nodding.
“Look, William, I get you aren’t happy with me bringing another person into the project, but she’s really looking forward to helping. Would it kill you to be a little enthusiastic and welcoming to her?” Henry asks.
“She’s not going to bring anything more than nonsense.” William says. “She’s far too young to have any worthwhile experience.”
“She’s eight years younger than us, William. That’s nothing.” Henry states. “And as if we have much experience in this? We might have at least some knowledge from college with business planning, but field experience? That’s not the field of work I went into, and you dropped out before you finished your degree. Furthermore, you went into a completely different direction… focusing on IT and technology of some sort.”
William opens his mouth to speak, but then closes it. He knows Henry is right.
“And not to mention, she does have experience. She’s done many design projects for other venues. That’s the field of work she went into after she left college.” Henry adds.
William is left speechless. He was too quick to draw conclusions, and too hasty with how he judged you. He wasn’t going to reconfigure his opinion of you, however – he wanted to keep his guard up. After all, even with your experience, you could still derail the project. And not to mention, Henry could very well just be gloating about you to make William feel more assured.
“We’ll see how she does at our initial meeting next week...” William replies simply.