Help Wanted - Henry

[Riley Adams]

It had been a few weeks since Riley had put up the Help Wanted sign. With winter coming up so soon, a lot of his colleagues were getting ready for their holidays and had requested their annual leave early. Work was slow but there were still quite a few projects he was still in charge of, which meant he was a tad understaffed.

He had hoped the sign on the door and the fliers he had stuck all over the town's notice board would get a bite but so far nothing.

Today was one of those slow days where most of his clients had told him not to come in to do anything yet so he was filing his cabinet, as always. It also gave him time to be gleeful alone about his newly changed status from bachelor to taken. By two men. If he were the type to giggle, he would have. Especially since nobody was around but he refrained as he let the radio play some familiar old tunes.

Hopefully someone would come in with the Help sign.

[Henry Ballo]

Henry needed a job. He’d known this for a while. It was kind of a tricky fact to avoid. His father provided a lot of money for him, and he knew the school would have provided some if he had chosen to request for it. But being more of the stubborn type, he’d decided not to do either of these options. If he was going to manage this, he was going to manage it on his own or not at all. So that meant…a job.

Problem was he didn’t really have skills. Oh, he would walk in and say he could speak three languages, reach the top shelf, carry heavy objects, and that was about it. And people tended not to be impressed by that. So it was a drastically humbled Henry who came into Patching Adams, dressed in a white button-down shirt and black slacks that only served to make him look taller instead of less intimidating, but at least he looked older too.

He stepped inside and glanced around, then looked back at the man sitting back and filing his cabinet. And…wow. He was tall. Almost as tall as Henry himself was. He paused at this, then cleared his throat.

“Excuse me. I saw your help wanted sign, and was wondering if the position was still available?”

There. That part was simple, even if nothing else was.

[Riley Adams]

It was only when he heard the throat clearing that Riley even realised someone was in the same room as he was. Looking up with a wide beam, it grew even wider when he realised the visitor was just as tall as he was. Unfolding himself from his chair, he walked over to the other man and offered a hand.

The fact that he was asking for a job was met with yet another wide grin. "Absolutely." Riley nodded, grabbing the younger man's hand to shake. "I'm Riley. Come sit, would you like something to drink?" He asked, waving the other down to sit at the desk. "I've got coffee, tea and soda."

How serendipitous that this young man was looking for a job!

"Do you mind carrying heavy things and staying out in the sun?" Riley asked with a light chuckle.

[Henry Ballo]

Henry wasn't used to people coming up to him and smiling. Only Estelle ever seemed to be happy to see him. So he turned around to see who Riley was looking at, only to realize that it was him. That was weird. Cheeks flaming, he took the hand and gave it a firm--but not TOO firm, as this was the only lesson his father had managed to instill in him--shake.

Was this man always this cheerful? And was he really offering him drinks? Henry was beginning to feel out of his depth.

"Tea is great," he managed. His voice sounded somewhat normal, although definitely baffled to his ears. "Thank you." He took a seat gingerly, as if he was afraid it would bite him, then watched as Riley bustled about.

"Eh?" He'd missed the question. Damn it, this wasn't going well. But Henry was so used to wariness and dismissive-ness from the get-go that he didn't know what to do when someone was nice to him. "Ah. No. Not at all. I am not afraid of hard work, and I enjoy spending time in the sun. I do not get to do it enough."

True, that. His lack of sun had led to many of his worries about bone degeneration while young. Apparently, it was accelerated the farther you were from the--

Well. Sometimes, Henry wondered if he was secretly a hypochondriac.

"I am sorry." he managed after a moment, trying to strike towards steady ground. "But I did not catch your name, sir...?"

[Riley Adams]

Riley nodded and went about making the tea, keeping an ear out for the younger man's reply. What came was enough for him to determine he was right for the job. Sure, he'd have to have Rina check up on him first but really, Riley liked him already.

"Well, that's good." He grinned, turning around to place the cup of tea in front of him. "Oh, please. No sirs necessary. I'm Riley." He was awfully polite, wasn't he? "I didn't catch yours," he tilted his head slightly.

[Henry Ballo]

Henry, in turn, would have been surprised and alarmed to know that Riley had already decided he liked him. How could you tell? How could he be sure snap judgments were safe? It just didn’t make any sense.

He mumbled his thanks for the tea and picked it up to take a long drink before realizing that the man had once again asked him a question. Whoops. “Henry,” he said, almost putting down the tea cup to shake his hand before realizing that he’d already done that. He managed to cover up the spastic motion by just putting the cup down. “Henry Ballo. It is good to meet you, uh.” He’d already banned sir. Henry wasn’t sure he felt comfortable calling him just by his first name, so he took a guess and said, “Mr. Adams? Now, ah, other than lifting heavy objects and spending time in the sun, what else is required for this position?”

[Riley Adams]

When the younger man insisted on being courteous and calling him by his last name, Riley smiled a little painfully. "Pleasure is all mine, Henry." He nodded and listened to Henry's question with a smile.

"Ah...a good sense of humor." Riley grinned. "Our group is rather playful at times. It's good to know when they're just teasing. And we'll teach you the basics for gardening but I'm sure you can dig up soil."

Riley then remembered there was an application form the younger man had to fill so he rummaged through his desk drawers until he found the right papers. "Here we have it. If you could just fill this in...it's just basic stuff. And once you're done, expect a call from us." Riley smiled and shifted in his seat to hand the form over to Henry.

"Are you a local or are you still in college?" Riley asked, not at all realising that he was still in high school.

[Henry Ballo]

Henry noted the pained smile. Right then. No last names. He hadn’t gone by last names. That was a sign, right?

Why did he have to be so bad about this? He knew he definitely didn’t have a good sense of humor. But if the teasing was anything like the basketball team, then he hoped that he could manage it okay.

Hoped being the key word there. He nodded his thanks as he passed him the form, then bent his head to examine it as Riley spoke. He paused and looked up, giving him a strangely serious look. It wasn’t the first time that he’d been mistaken as older. Mostly he let it slide. But this time…well, bad thing to start an employment opportunity off with a lie. Besides, the information on the form would reveal that fib right away.

“S—Mr—Riley. I am still in high school. Ah, at Hammel. I am hoping this will not be a problem…?”

[Riley Adams]

Riley wanted so badly to reassure Henry that he was doing fine. Ann had been just as nervous and look how that flourished! But it would just as easily backfire if Henry got even more flustered at being caught.

He smiled widely at Henry's worry of it being a problem. "Not at all." The landscaper shook his head. "My last employee was a graduating student from Hammel. I'm creating job opportunities Henry. No one gets turned down. So long as they don't mind doing some hard work." Riley smiled encouragingly.

"When are you looking to start?" He asked.

[Henry Ballo]

Henry relaxed a bit as he said that it wasn’t a big deal. Good. So he wasn’t completely doomed. Good! He could handle this. He totally could.

…no, he couldn’t. What the hell was he thinking? Getting a job, thinking of declaring himself independent…no. He could and would manage this.

“I am not afraid of hard work,” he said. And this was true. “And I was…well, whenever you need me.” He shrugged, embarrassed, then pulled out a much folded piece of paper and set it down. “These are my class hours and available times. I do not know if that helps, but I thought it…might be convenient? But whenever you need me, I am available. Ah, except for thanksgiving. I would like that off, please.”

He hadn’t forgotten his schedule with Estelle. In fact, that was definitely part of him getting a job.

[Riley Adams]

Riley smiled warmly at Henry's relaxed form, the smile only widening at the younger man's answer. He took the offered paper and scanned through it while he made sure the boy knew he was listening.

"I can understand that yes." He offered Henry a nod and another smile. "I think I'd be closing up that week. We usually don't really get that many jobs over the holidays anyway so you're safe." Riley nodded.

He looked over the schedule once more and smiled. "If you could just leave your number on this paper, I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for coming in, Henry. It's been a pleasure." Riley stood and held out a hand for Henry to shake. If this boy was anything like Ann, Riley knew they wouldn't have any problems whatsoever.

[OOC: Wrapped! Sorry it took so darn long!]