Always an Expiration Date

Part Three

The men chatted amiably on various topics and found they had more than their dating philosophy in common while they waited for something to happen with the elevator. After about an hour they heard a banging on the door near the floor. "Anyone in there?"

Jake called back loudly "There's two of us!"

The voice asked "Anyone injured?"

This time Aidan answered. "No injuries, do you know how long it'll be before we can get out?"

"Crews are working on restoring power now. But rescue workers are spread thin. If there isn't an emergency situation you'll have to sit tight until we can get the elevators up and running again."

Both men groaned. Aidan called back "All right, thank you!"

Just then Jake's stomach whined loudly. "Oh, sorry. I swear that wasn't a fart. I'm missing a lunch meeting right now and the smell of whatever's in that bag is killing me."

Aidan chuckled. "It's all good. Why don't you eat it? I shoved a burrito in my face on my way over and it probably won't survive until we get out."

"You don't mind?"

Aidan handed the bag over. "Be my guest."

Jake didn't need to be invited twice. He dug through the bag, opening containers and sniffing at them to guess the contents before he found a plastic fork and started shoveling food in his mouth. Between bites he commented "it's weird eating when I don't know what it is but this is awesome whatever it is."

"It's the vegetarian burrito bowl from the tex-mex place around the corner, extra guac."

Jake groped around for Aidan's hand and passed him the bag of chips to share. "I'm beginning to think Michelle has excellent taste."

"She does all right for herself. I prefer the pulled pork there." Aidan took a chip and dropped the bag onto his lap.

"I'll have to try it when I bring you to pay back the lunch." Jake grinned and dug into the sack for a chip dangerously close to Aidan's cock, causing it to twitch interestedly.

Aidan silently scolded it to behave itself and demurred "It's Mike's lunch you're eating."

"But you bought it." Jake took another chip and unknowingly brushed against Aidan's crotch. Aidan bit back a gasp at the electric jolt that ran through him. "How about this, to cover all my bases I'll bring you both out to lunch."

Aidan considered how happy it would make Mike to have the opportunity to talk to her new hero outside work. "You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"

"Nope."

"Then I'll gratefully accept for Mike and myself."

"Let me see your phone, I'll put my number in so we can text and set up a date." Aidan traded phones, vaguely wondering why Jake couldn't simply talk to Mike at work, and entered his number into Jake's. When that was accomplished Jake continued "is there a reason you call Michelle Mike? She's adamant at work that people call her Michelle."

Aidan snickered. "It's probably not my story to tell but her older brother couldn't say Michelle when she was little. The best he could do is 'Mike' and it stuck. She doesn't like people who aren't in her inner circle to use the nickname."

The lights in the elevator flickered once, twice, three times and came on to stay on. Both men squeezed their eyes shut for a moment after spending so long in complete darkness and waited for the lift to start whirring to lower them to the lobby before they gathered up the detritus from Jake's stolen meal and helped each other to their feet. When the doors opened to set them free they were put back together, standing a decent distance from one another as if the strange, intimate time never occurred.

Once they stepped off the elevator both their phones began blowing up with texts and notifications of missed calls. Jake, unwilling to let go just yet, pulled Aidan aside. "I don't really feel like getting back in that death trap just now. I'm going to take the rest of the afternoon off. Can I offer you a ride home?"

Aidan felt a warm smile well up from somewhere deep inside at Jake's care. "I don't think I would, either. But I'll have to decline. I drove in today." He, too, felt unwilling to step away from Jake. He chalked the pull towards the other man up to trauma bonding from being trapped together in the dark. He offered his hand for Jake to shake. "If I had to be stuck in an elevator I'm glad it was with you."

Jake took the proffered hand but instead of shaking it he pulled Aidan into a hug. "Same here. Get home safe." When he let Aidan go he pulled his phone out of his pocket and strode away without another glance.

Aidan stood looking after Jake for a moment, then pulled his own phone out. He had multiple texts and missed calls from Mike. Instead of looking at them he tapped her contact to call her. "Hey sweetheart."

Mike huffed into the phone "Aidan! I've been trying to get hold of you forever! Did you feel that earthquake? We lost power at the office!"

Aidan began walking towards the exit as he answered "you bet I did. I was on the way up to your office when it hit. I'm sorry, but I don't want to get on the elevator again, you're going to have to settle for the vending machine after all."

"I don't care about that. I was calling to let you know that I'm probably not going to be home tonight. Mr. Allred never made it back to work and systems are down all over the city. It's all hands on deck here right now."

"Okay, baby. I won't expect you but I'll leave dinner for you in the fridge tonight. Be safe, I love you."

Someone called Mike in the background. "Thanks, babe. I gotta go." Mike hung up before Aidan could say goodbye.

He turned off his phone screen and carefully navigated his way first to his car and then out of the city towards home.