smackenzie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smackenzie) wrote2008-11-03 11:10 pm
smackenzie) wrote2008-11-03 11:10 pm
chapt 1
"You too." And then the elevator arrived and he got in, rode it down to the first floor, and went to the atrium to find his lunch date.
Aidan was sitting at a little table near the cafe, apparently texting someone on his phone. There was a paper lunch bag sitting on the table in front of him, as well as a can of Coke. It looked like he'd brought his lunch. Maybe his girlfriend had packed it for him - sometimes she assembled an interesting lunch so Aidan wouldn't have to pay for one. Val felt lucky if he remembered to eat breakfast, never mind pack himself a lunch. For some reason it was a little too much work to do in the morning.
"Hey," he said, dropping into the chair across from Aidan. "Chad had to get me out of the library."
"That's what he told me," Aidan said. He was still looking at his phone. "Stella says hi." Stella was the famous girlfriend.
"Hi Stella."
Aidan finished texting or reading or whatever he was doing and snapped his phone closed. "So you're too busy to remember to eat, huh?"
"This is early. Usually I wait until one. Did you bring your lunch?" He gestured to the paper bag. "I have to get something."
"The cafe has a panini press now," Aidan said. "Get a tuna melt."
Val got a (cold) turkey sandwich with swiss cheese instead, as well as a bottle of water and a chocolate chip cookie. He grabbed a double handful of napkins and stuffed them in his pants pockets. There were no Kleenex or napkins or paper towels anywhere near his desk and he was already predicting a week of eating lunch in the office instead of being able to go out for an hour.
"You get enough napkins?" Aidan asked, raising an eyebrow at Val.
"Busy week ahead," Val said, and shrugged. He took a big bite of his sandwich.
"You got mayo on your face." Aidan brushed at his own cheek to let Val know where the offending glob of mayonnaise was, and when Val apparently missed it in an attempt to clean himself up, Aidan reached across the table to take care of it. He seemed to do it completely un-selfconsciously, but Val was caught off-guard and couldn't think how to react until after Aidan had wiped off the mayo.
"Um," Val said.
"Did I just channel your mom?"
"My mom doesn't wipe my face in public."
"Stella does mine." Aidan grinned. "That was weird, wasn't it."
"Yeah. Kind of."
"Sorry about that. I won't do it again." At least Aidan wasn't annoyed or offended that Val was weirded out. He dug into his lunch bag and pulled out something wrapped in tinfoil which turned out to be a steak sandwich with lettuce and tomato. "Leftovers. Stella made me lunch. I love having an early-riser girlfriend. You should look into it." He grinned again as he chomped into his sandwich. Val tried not to envy it, or the fact that Aidan and Stella not only got to make steak for dinner, but also got to make enough for leftovers.
"I'd get a late sleeper, with my luck." Val didn't mention that the last person he'd dated for any length of time had been a boy, and not just that, but a boy who liked to sleep in. He also didn't mention that that had been four years ago. Aidan had an idea, anyway.
"You could look into an early-riser boyfriend, too."
Oh, now Aidan was just teasing him.
"It's too bad you're a night owl," Val said without thinking. It took a minute for his brain to catch up to his mouth, and then he mentally smacked himself for flirting with a guy who had a girlfriend. He was just so comfortable around Aidan, and Aidan never seemed to watch what he said around Val.... And Val knew Aidan also liked boys, and Aidan knew that Val knew, and shit, he should just finish his sandwich and drink his Poland Spring and go back upstairs and hide in the library for the next few days.
Aidan didn't say anything. Val glanced up to try and judge Aidan's expression before he apologized, and Aidan was looking at him almost speculatively.
"Sorry," Val said. He wondered if Aidan knew about his ginormous crush.
"I don't care if you come on to me," Aidan said cheerfully. "It's kinda flattering. Oh, hey, speaking of, you want to come over for dinner tonight? Stella and I made chili over the weekend - well, she made chili, I called my mom to get her recipe - which she wouldn't tell me - and now our freezer's full of it. It should be marinated enough to eat now. And Stella was kind of hoping you'd come to the bar last night so she could say hi."
Val wasn't sure how long Aidan and Stella had been together, aside from "before he came to work at Caswell Velez Malcolm and Simonson". She'd met Val at the Christmas party two years ago, and the first workday after that, Aidan had told Val that she thought he was hot. Val had blushed, Aidan had laughed, and since then, Stella had been working on making Val her friend too, not just Aidan's. He was ok with that. He liked her. She was cute and sociable, and the few times Val had gone alone to see Aidan play, without anyone else from the law firm, Stella had sat with him and talked to him and made him feel welcome.
And she was tremendously devoted to Aidan, which was a point in her favor even though it made Val feel a little guilty for wanting Aidan too.
(He had not told - and would never tell - anyone about the one time he'd dreamed about Stella in a pinstripe suit, of all things, and had been woken up at 4:30 in the morning by an erection so insistent he'd had to take care of it right then before he could go back to sleep.)
"Um," Val said stupidly, his mouth full of turkey sandwich.
"Is that a yes?"
Val swallowed. "I think so. I might have to stay late, though. Catherine has a ton of stuff for me to do."
"Doesn't she always?"
"Well, yeah. At least I got Chad to help me."
Aidan snorted.
"Kind of help me?"
"He's a bigger slacker than I am, and that's saying something."
"You're not a slacker."
"How hard do you ever see me work?" A piece of steak fell out of Aidan's sandwich and he picked it up and ate it. Val tried not to watch Aidan's mouth.
"Good point. I'd like to come over, thanks."
"If you don't get to leave at 5:30 with the rest of us peons, give us a call when you're done. We'll wait for you."
"You don't have to do that."
"Sure we do." Aidan grinned. "I'm not going to invite someone over for dinner and then eat without them, it's rude. My mom raised me better than that." He took a swig of Coke. Val ate his turkey sandwich and enjoyed how restful this was, to sit in the atrium of the building and eat lunch with someone who didn't want anything from him except assistance in devouring what sounded like an excessive amount of homemade chili.
"Two people will never be able to eat all that chili," Aidan went on. "Hey, you can take some home and eat it after you swim. Cool, I'll tell Stella that."
"There isn't even a point in me arguing, is there," Val said.
"Nope. Are you going to eat that cookie?"
Val let Aidan eat his chocolate chip cookie in exchange for the Rice Krispie treat Aidan had brought in his lunch, and they sat and talked about stupid shit and Val got to bitch about Catherine for a few minutes until their lunch hour was over and they both had to get back to work. They rode up the elevator with a UPS delivery guy, and despite that, for absolutely no reason he could explain, Val had an almost overwhelming urge to kiss Aidan on the mouth. Maybe it was just a delayed reaction to Aidan wiping mayonnaise off his face. Maybe it was the dinner invitation. Who knew what it was? It was a little frustrating to have to go back to the law firm's library and research recent decisions and find precedents for Catherine's case, but after about ten minutes at work, Val managed to focus on the task at hand and totally forgot he'd ever wanted to kiss anyone.
Theo got him out of the library at 3:30 to work on another project. Val had some time to check his voicemail (a message from Ira suggesting he take his time reading the stuff in the binder), his email (three things to take care of today or tomorrow, one thing to remember for next week, and a firm-wide email from the IT department insisting that the network was up and running without any problems, if you're seeing this message, your email works, so stop calling IT to complain you can't send or receive any mail), and his cell phone (a message from Stella about dinner and one from his roommate Kirk that started out "Buy tp on the way home" and ended with "Forget that, I'm a moron").
At almost five, Catherine commandeered him again to say she was staying late and Greg was staying late and a paralegal named Gil who was apparently on her team was staying late, and if they were all staying to work on this case, then so was Val. Val tried to say he had dinner plans, but Catherine just talked over him, and that was how he ended up doing research on his computer until just past 7:30, when Gil the paralegal walked by and said he was going home and Val should too, Catherine wouldn't get anything out of them if they all expired from hunger.
Val called Aidan and Stella's place on his way out of the building to tell them it would probably be eight before he got there, and when Stella answered the phone and said they were going to wait for him before they ate, he felt guilty. She told him not to worry about it. He said he'd try not to. She just laughed.
He made it to their apartment at eight, as promised, and the whole place smelled like chili.
words: 1736
total words: 5391
Aidan was sitting at a little table near the cafe, apparently texting someone on his phone. There was a paper lunch bag sitting on the table in front of him, as well as a can of Coke. It looked like he'd brought his lunch. Maybe his girlfriend had packed it for him - sometimes she assembled an interesting lunch so Aidan wouldn't have to pay for one. Val felt lucky if he remembered to eat breakfast, never mind pack himself a lunch. For some reason it was a little too much work to do in the morning.
"Hey," he said, dropping into the chair across from Aidan. "Chad had to get me out of the library."
"That's what he told me," Aidan said. He was still looking at his phone. "Stella says hi." Stella was the famous girlfriend.
"Hi Stella."
Aidan finished texting or reading or whatever he was doing and snapped his phone closed. "So you're too busy to remember to eat, huh?"
"This is early. Usually I wait until one. Did you bring your lunch?" He gestured to the paper bag. "I have to get something."
"The cafe has a panini press now," Aidan said. "Get a tuna melt."
Val got a (cold) turkey sandwich with swiss cheese instead, as well as a bottle of water and a chocolate chip cookie. He grabbed a double handful of napkins and stuffed them in his pants pockets. There were no Kleenex or napkins or paper towels anywhere near his desk and he was already predicting a week of eating lunch in the office instead of being able to go out for an hour.
"You get enough napkins?" Aidan asked, raising an eyebrow at Val.
"Busy week ahead," Val said, and shrugged. He took a big bite of his sandwich.
"You got mayo on your face." Aidan brushed at his own cheek to let Val know where the offending glob of mayonnaise was, and when Val apparently missed it in an attempt to clean himself up, Aidan reached across the table to take care of it. He seemed to do it completely un-selfconsciously, but Val was caught off-guard and couldn't think how to react until after Aidan had wiped off the mayo.
"Um," Val said.
"Did I just channel your mom?"
"My mom doesn't wipe my face in public."
"Stella does mine." Aidan grinned. "That was weird, wasn't it."
"Yeah. Kind of."
"Sorry about that. I won't do it again." At least Aidan wasn't annoyed or offended that Val was weirded out. He dug into his lunch bag and pulled out something wrapped in tinfoil which turned out to be a steak sandwich with lettuce and tomato. "Leftovers. Stella made me lunch. I love having an early-riser girlfriend. You should look into it." He grinned again as he chomped into his sandwich. Val tried not to envy it, or the fact that Aidan and Stella not only got to make steak for dinner, but also got to make enough for leftovers.
"I'd get a late sleeper, with my luck." Val didn't mention that the last person he'd dated for any length of time had been a boy, and not just that, but a boy who liked to sleep in. He also didn't mention that that had been four years ago. Aidan had an idea, anyway.
"You could look into an early-riser boyfriend, too."
Oh, now Aidan was just teasing him.
"It's too bad you're a night owl," Val said without thinking. It took a minute for his brain to catch up to his mouth, and then he mentally smacked himself for flirting with a guy who had a girlfriend. He was just so comfortable around Aidan, and Aidan never seemed to watch what he said around Val.... And Val knew Aidan also liked boys, and Aidan knew that Val knew, and shit, he should just finish his sandwich and drink his Poland Spring and go back upstairs and hide in the library for the next few days.
Aidan didn't say anything. Val glanced up to try and judge Aidan's expression before he apologized, and Aidan was looking at him almost speculatively.
"Sorry," Val said. He wondered if Aidan knew about his ginormous crush.
"I don't care if you come on to me," Aidan said cheerfully. "It's kinda flattering. Oh, hey, speaking of, you want to come over for dinner tonight? Stella and I made chili over the weekend - well, she made chili, I called my mom to get her recipe - which she wouldn't tell me - and now our freezer's full of it. It should be marinated enough to eat now. And Stella was kind of hoping you'd come to the bar last night so she could say hi."
Val wasn't sure how long Aidan and Stella had been together, aside from "before he came to work at Caswell Velez Malcolm and Simonson". She'd met Val at the Christmas party two years ago, and the first workday after that, Aidan had told Val that she thought he was hot. Val had blushed, Aidan had laughed, and since then, Stella had been working on making Val her friend too, not just Aidan's. He was ok with that. He liked her. She was cute and sociable, and the few times Val had gone alone to see Aidan play, without anyone else from the law firm, Stella had sat with him and talked to him and made him feel welcome.
And she was tremendously devoted to Aidan, which was a point in her favor even though it made Val feel a little guilty for wanting Aidan too.
(He had not told - and would never tell - anyone about the one time he'd dreamed about Stella in a pinstripe suit, of all things, and had been woken up at 4:30 in the morning by an erection so insistent he'd had to take care of it right then before he could go back to sleep.)
"Um," Val said stupidly, his mouth full of turkey sandwich.
"Is that a yes?"
Val swallowed. "I think so. I might have to stay late, though. Catherine has a ton of stuff for me to do."
"Doesn't she always?"
"Well, yeah. At least I got Chad to help me."
Aidan snorted.
"Kind of help me?"
"He's a bigger slacker than I am, and that's saying something."
"You're not a slacker."
"How hard do you ever see me work?" A piece of steak fell out of Aidan's sandwich and he picked it up and ate it. Val tried not to watch Aidan's mouth.
"Good point. I'd like to come over, thanks."
"If you don't get to leave at 5:30 with the rest of us peons, give us a call when you're done. We'll wait for you."
"You don't have to do that."
"Sure we do." Aidan grinned. "I'm not going to invite someone over for dinner and then eat without them, it's rude. My mom raised me better than that." He took a swig of Coke. Val ate his turkey sandwich and enjoyed how restful this was, to sit in the atrium of the building and eat lunch with someone who didn't want anything from him except assistance in devouring what sounded like an excessive amount of homemade chili.
"Two people will never be able to eat all that chili," Aidan went on. "Hey, you can take some home and eat it after you swim. Cool, I'll tell Stella that."
"There isn't even a point in me arguing, is there," Val said.
"Nope. Are you going to eat that cookie?"
Val let Aidan eat his chocolate chip cookie in exchange for the Rice Krispie treat Aidan had brought in his lunch, and they sat and talked about stupid shit and Val got to bitch about Catherine for a few minutes until their lunch hour was over and they both had to get back to work. They rode up the elevator with a UPS delivery guy, and despite that, for absolutely no reason he could explain, Val had an almost overwhelming urge to kiss Aidan on the mouth. Maybe it was just a delayed reaction to Aidan wiping mayonnaise off his face. Maybe it was the dinner invitation. Who knew what it was? It was a little frustrating to have to go back to the law firm's library and research recent decisions and find precedents for Catherine's case, but after about ten minutes at work, Val managed to focus on the task at hand and totally forgot he'd ever wanted to kiss anyone.
Theo got him out of the library at 3:30 to work on another project. Val had some time to check his voicemail (a message from Ira suggesting he take his time reading the stuff in the binder), his email (three things to take care of today or tomorrow, one thing to remember for next week, and a firm-wide email from the IT department insisting that the network was up and running without any problems, if you're seeing this message, your email works, so stop calling IT to complain you can't send or receive any mail), and his cell phone (a message from Stella about dinner and one from his roommate Kirk that started out "Buy tp on the way home" and ended with "Forget that, I'm a moron").
At almost five, Catherine commandeered him again to say she was staying late and Greg was staying late and a paralegal named Gil who was apparently on her team was staying late, and if they were all staying to work on this case, then so was Val. Val tried to say he had dinner plans, but Catherine just talked over him, and that was how he ended up doing research on his computer until just past 7:30, when Gil the paralegal walked by and said he was going home and Val should too, Catherine wouldn't get anything out of them if they all expired from hunger.
Val called Aidan and Stella's place on his way out of the building to tell them it would probably be eight before he got there, and when Stella answered the phone and said they were going to wait for him before they ate, he felt guilty. She told him not to worry about it. He said he'd try not to. She just laughed.
He made it to their apartment at eight, as promised, and the whole place smelled like chili.
words: 1736
total words: 5391
no subject
i think you're getting that pretty well. catherine by herself is good enough reason, and it seems like maybe working for the likes of ira & theo wouldn't have been so bad.
and i love how clueless val seems to be about aidan & stella.
also, now i want chili! *pouts*
no subject
i kind of want chili too! and i know exactly the kind they're eating.