"I'm sorry, but you make too many mistakes on a regular basis and you're quite slow. We're going to have to let you go." Will nodded in understanding and muttered some polite gibberish. His now ex-boss stared at him warily as Will stood and robotically trudged through the kitchen to the back door.

Will's mind hyper focused on the kitchen knives for a half-second, but rationale walked his tired body to the door instead. It wasn't until he was outside of the restaurant that the shock wore off.

"FUCK!" His fist collided with the heavy metal door and he hissed in pain. Inside the manager jumped and stared at the door, glad Will had decided to leave before throwing a shit fit. Outside, Will cradled his hand and swore loudly at the sky. A nearby mother gasped and covered her child's ears, and rushed inside to complain.

He left the parking lot like a wounded animal, hunched over and cradling his stinging hand to his chest. He walked for a block before a thought occurred to him. He didn't want to go home. At home his girlfriend would know immediately that he was a bum again. Her words not his. She would sigh and act like it was no big deal, but when he least expected it she'd bite into him and go on and on about how she does all the work keeping a roof above their head. It wasn't like he could leave her either. With no friends and his entire family tired of taking him in, she was the only one left to give him a chance. The angry sex wasn't bad either.

He sat on the curb and opened up a beat up case of cigarettes. It was one of the few luxuries she let him have. He popped a smoke in his mouth and chewed the tip a little while he searched his pockets for a lighter. As he brought it up to the tip of his cigarette, he noted that even the flame seemed tired. He closed his eyes and felt the nicotine flood through his system. It wiped away some of the sluggishness in his body enough for him to realize he didn't grab his free lunch before leaving.

His stomach growled angrily, loud enough to grab the attention of someone walking by. "Hello." Will glanced up at the polite smiling man, wondering why he didn't hear him approach. He chalked it up to tiredness, before returning the "Hello".

"Are you alright? Long shift at work?" The man's words dripped with actual concern, enough for Will to regale him with what just happened without feeling guilty. The man wore a business suit and carried a briefcase, but sat down on the dirty curb next to him and listened, pulling out his own case of smokes. Will kept going far longer than he meant to, going so far as to tell the man about his girlfriend and family.

"Eh, but you probably have never had to deal with that." Will finished and tapped his smoke, a long chunk of ash droppoing from the tip. He had talked to long.

"You'd be surprised actually." Will glanced over at the man in surprise and saw the man was smoking cheapos just like him. "Why buy those?" he asked curiously, "You look like you could buy top shelf most days."

"Oh I could. I like smoking these, as a reminder that I wasn't always as successful." The man smiled cheerfully around the smoke in his mouth and extended a hand. "Name's Todd." Will shook his hand and gave his own name.

"How about a job interview, Will? In the meantime we can grab lunch. Even if I don't hire you, ya seem like a good man to have a smoke with every once in awhile." Todd didn't seem to notice when his accentless voice slipped back into a southern one, but Will did.

As they walked to a nearby restaurant, Will asked him about himself; causing Todd to stammer a little when he guessed that Todd was from a more rural area. Todd was from a small town Will had never heard of, in a state he'd never been in. He had work troubles since day one, but found employment in the place he wanted Will to work for, "Yum Yum Eatery."

Will stared at him in shock as they sat down at a table. "You work at Yum Yums?" Todd puffed up with pride and elaborated. "Been working there fer years now. Got moved up to corporate just this year."

The waitress stepped up to their table and took their order. Todd dropped her a wink and she giggled as she walked back to the kitchen. They chatted and Will nervously answered any questions that sounded like they were from an interview. Near the end of the interview, their food came and they ate in silence. Todd happily munched away, but Will took cautious bites, hoping he hadn't said anything wrong.

They finished their food and Todd stacked their plates for the waitress. Then he leaned forward and stared at Will in the eyes as if trying to unravel his soul. Will shifted nervously in his seat, but couldn't look away. Todd's eyes were almost black and seemed to devour his irises.

"Do you believe we should provide the utmost best product to our customers?"

"Um...yeah?"

"Offer the best greens, best drink and most of all, best meat?"

"Isn't that what most restaurants aim for?"

"Answer the question."

"Y-yes?"

"Good"

Todd sat up straight and gave Will a bright smile. It felt wrong though, as if it spread just a little too far.

"Then you have a job, with one condition."

Will's heart rose and sunk in the split second between "job" and "one condition". He sighed and asked heavily, "What's the condition?"

Todd was still smiling his too wide smile, when he stated simply, "Stop smoking."

Will pulled out his pack of smokes and stared at the box. This job was a big deal to him. It would mean no bitching from his girlfriend and maybe even acknowledgement from his family if he kept it for a month. It would mean he'd have to give up the one thing that calmed him down after an argument with her, but with the job, there wouldn't be any arguments. Hell she might even mellow back into the sweet thing he fell for in the first place. Plus if he failed as he almost always did, he could get a new pack easy.

He rose to throw it away, but Todd waved for him to sit back down and asked him to give him the smokes instead. Will gently placed the pack in Todds hand, and Todd extended his other hand. "Welcome to the team then, Will."

Will shook Todd's hand and felt a shiver run down his spine. His mum used to always say it was someone walking over his grave, he half believed it now. Todd's hand was cold and a little clammy, like a corpses skin. Todd still smiled that smile, but now it widened further and Will was almost sure his mouth would split his face in two.

"We have a deal then. Come in on monday 9am. Don't be late"

He squeezed Will's hand with this last sentence and Will could feel his bones creak in strain. He nodded hastily and Todd released his hand. His face looked normal again, with a normal sized smile.

Todd stood up to leave, leaving the money they owed and a sizable tip on the table.

"Oh and Will? If you need help quitting cold turkey we have programs for that. Though I get the feeling you won't need them." As he spoke he pulled out a cigarette from Will's old box and examined it. "You can start smoking again once you get to corporate, but until then..." He put the cigarette in his mouth and chewed the whole thing in front of Will, swallowing it when he was done. He smiled that wide smile at Will and Will could see the pieces of tobacco stuck to Todd's now oddly sharp teeth. "...There will be consequences."

Will stared in horror as Todd left the restaurant, pleasantly smiling at their waitress as he left. She blushed and giggled again before returning to work. Will sat for a few more minutes before standing to use the bathroom. He felt like he was about to piss himself.