Chapter Text
John Linnell was angry, beyond pissed even, his rival, John Flansburgh, CEO of Apollo LLC direct competitor of Canary Incorporated, his own company had proposed a contract, a allies contract for both of them to employees and even exchange stock. At the moment he was currently marching into Flansburgh’s building hurrying past all the busy minimum wage employees and barging into his office.
He threw the papers onto Flansburgh’s desk and scowled “What exactly is the meaning of this”
The other John practically jumped at looked up squinting, “Linnell?”
“Cut the crap John it isn’t a good look” he sneered, “You go through all the trouble of designing and planning this whole thing, this, this plan, knowing damn well I would never agree”
Flansburgh peered at the papers that were thrown onto his desk, and picked one up scanning it slightly, before looking back up at a fuming Linnell, “Aha, ah, the uh, supposed agreement”
“Might as well wrote worst fucking contact in the history on the title page, John”
He stood, nodding slowly, gears turning, “So, no deal”
“Deal..are we, are you serious?” Linnell sputtered, “This is at all in no benefit to me, allies, you and me, who have been tied neck in neck in the market for years”
“Slow down John, did you even read the damn thing?”
“I did, you want over 10% of my employees, what on earth what I even get out of that!”
“Think about it John, we all know it’s a little crowded over there, less people to pay…hell I’d lower it down just to 5% for you” he said with a wink, “Not even the extent of it, we could get ahead of the others by a landslide, c’mon Johnny, old pal, we can call it off the second we know for sure we’re at the top of the market”
Linnell screwed his face up, “This is so incredibly-” he stopped, cursing the fact the other John was right, he’d hired too many people, huge misstep on his part, and looked up at the other John, “We could call it off, either of us, at any time”
Flansburgh stepped around his desk and threw his arm over Linnell’s shoulder gesturing, “Any time, no one has to know either” he said seriously, dropping his arm and walking away “Although… media coverage could be helpful in creating a divide, the others might feel threatened if they knew we were, ah teaming up so to speak”
Linnell rolled his eyes, “God you are insufferable”
“So, Johnny, we got a deal?” he wiggled his eyebrows and held out his hand, as an offering
“Cut it with the Johnny bullshit first of all, second off, we meet next week to discuss more, don’t be late” he said with a scowl, and stormed off the way he came in.
“You can’t just charge in whenever” Flansburgh called out after him, “Set up a meeting like every other person!” he shook his head and pushed up his glasses, this could either be the best plan he’s come up with in the long run, or one that could crush both companies to dust, either way he was going to get ahead of Linnell one way or another.
A week later Linnell was still angry, it was hard not to be angry, Flansburgh had a particular skillset that was curated just to get on his nerves. He impatiently drummed his fingers on his desk waiting for him to show up. He glanced at his watch and then glanced up at his office doors which at that exact moment opened.
“Heya” he said with a grin, and at that singular word, already Linnell felt like exploding, John or himself.
“Sit” he replied, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk, Flansburgh slumped down and looked up at him, almost expectantly.
“How’s it I’ve known you for so many years and you honestly don’t get any less annoying?”
Flansburgh coughed out a chuckle at that, “Part of the charm bud”
Linnell’s scowled for what felt like the fifth time already in the span of the two minutes they’d started the meeting. Flansburgh thought he often reminded him of a angry cat, ready to hiss at any moment.
“Right, I’m calling it, no stocks, until we see how this goes for a least a month. Then we can add those in”
“Sure thing boss” Flansburgh said with a mock salute, this would be easier to get him on board than he thought, externally he tried to keep an appearance of nonchalance, but inside he was mildly surprised albeit thrilled they’d gotten this far.
Linnell took a breath as to refrain from doing any physical harm to the man across from him, “Employee tradeoff is okay, preferred even, we can start as soon as
possible” he paused, “Those were the top two parts of the deal correct?”
Flansburgh nodded, “I added more on page twelve but I dunno if you got that far”
“Of course I got that far” he spat, “I figured we’d start small alright, this company is my lifeblood, and you of all people know that”
He put his hands up in mock surrender, “I’m not trying to take that away here, I’m just offering a deal to make it a little easier on both of us”
Linnell scowled again, “Not trying to take it away right, like that time in ’83?”
“Three years ago?!” Flansburgh exclaimed, “I’m a changed man, thank you” a buzzer went off in his head, practically yelling at himself to lay off of the bullshit lies.
He scoffed, “Well when I see it, I’ll believe it”
“Trust is going to be a key part here to make this work Linnell, I need to know if you’re all in” Flansburgh said suddenly serious.
“I’m in enough” he replied, nodding his head, “I suppose it’ll be a pleasure to work with you” he stood up and extended his hand for Flansburgh to shake, who in turn also stood up and shook it firmly.
“You’ve got yourself a deal partner” Flansburgh said with a grin.
Linnell rolled his eyes in turn, “So, what’ll it be, same time next week?”
“Fine by me” he paused before he turned to leave, “And really think about involving the media John, the press can do wonders!” he called over his shoulder as he sauntered out.
“Idiot” Linnell mumbled out loud to an empty office.