Disclaimer: Don't own.
A/N: This is a little longer than most of my oneshots. I generally don't like reading oneshots this long (I have a crappy attention span), but I didn't want to break this up into two parts. I'm toying with the idea of a sequel, but I'm not going to turn this into a big, long story. It's rated T, but it's a little more mature T. I'm 13 and if I was reading this I wouldn't have issues, but I know people my age that would so… you're warned.
Chase stood in front of a full length mirror in House's apartment as he retied his dark pink (almost red, but not really) flower printed tie for about the one billionth time.
"You know, I think you can only do that a zillion times before you start to wear a hole in the fabric," House commented on Chase's tying tie habits as he walked up behind Chase and fixed his collar in the mirror.
Chase sighed, "I should change, I look… I don't know, but it's not right."
"You look fine, besides we're only going to be there twenty minutes—tops," House fiddled with his wrist watch and rested his chin on Chase's shoulder.
Chase's head was cocked to the opposite side as House's and squinted at him self in the mirror before fixing his gaze on House, "Twenty minutes? How are we supposed to have drinks, an appetizer, dinner, and dessert in twenty minutes?"
House moved his mouth away from nibbling on Chase's ear lobe to answer, "After the appetizer our patient is going to have an extremely well timed medical emergency that we must immediately attend to."
"We don't have a pa… House! You can't!" Chase gave a disappointed look to House who a sporting a mischievous one.
"Shhh… it will be fine. Why are you freaking out?" House asked wrapping his arms around Chase's stomach and pulling him closer.
"First off, we are so not going to have a quicky before meeting your parents for dinner. So stop being cute. And second of all, I'm not freaking out," Chase responded twisting out of House's grasp.
"You're freaking out," Was all House rebutted with as he flopped on the couch after realizing his hope of a little pre-dinner loving was a total loss.
Chase glared at House, "I don't do parents." He crossed his arms over his chest defensively.
House sighed.
Chase undid his tie.
Frustrated, House stood up and walked over with surprising speed and grabbed the tie out of Chase's hands and began to adjust it for him.
Chase looked down at House's hands. House paused and looked at Chase.
"Look, I'm not going to repeat myself so listen closely, 'kay?" Chase looked up at House, waiting. "It doesn't matter what you do. My mom is going to love you and my dad is going to hate you. So…," House brought Chase's face up close to his using the power and control he has over the ugly tie, "stop freaking out."
Chase nodded and dropped his head back as House finished tying Chase's tie.
"Hands off," House commanded flipping the tie in Chase's face before limping back to the couch and laid down on it horizontally.
Chase stared at himself long and hard in the mirror before blurting out a question he had desperately wanted to know the answer to, "Why do you hate your dad?"
"Bought me a Spider Man action figure for my eighth birthday, I asked for Batman," House said sarcastically flipping through a medical journal to appear nonchalant about the subject.
Chase snorted, "Spider Man could take Batman any day, any time, any place." He walked over and picked House's legs up and plopped down before resting House's legs gently on his lap, "I told you why I hate my dad," Chase pointed out.
"Nope," House flipped another page, "you told me why you don't care about your dad. Spider Man shoots cob webs out of his wrists. Batman has a car. He wins."
Chase sighed, "Batman has a cape. Capes are for wannabe superheroes…. House…," Chase massaged his fingers into the thigh of House's bum leg.
"You hate nuns on principal, I hate fathers. And Batman is not a wannabe super hero. Spider Man wears a spandex suit… how lame is that?" House pulled a bright red lollipop out of his pocket that he swiped from the clinic and stuck it in his mouth to conceal a moan as Chase dug his fingers deeper.
"Pu-lease! Batman needs help from Robin; Spider Man can fight his own battles. He wins." Chase's voice turned soft and serious, "Come on House… I really want to know."
House looked up over the medical journal at Chase and before he knew what he was doing he was spilling out his crappy childhood to the beautiful blonde, "He was in the military, and he liked… order and respect. When he didn't get it, he got mean."
Chase was almost too afraid to inquire, "How mean?"
House shrugged, "Sleeping in the lawn, an ice bath here and there. Nothing I couldn't handle."
Silence hung in the air after that.
Chase wasn't sure what to say… 'I'm sorry you dad abused you, let's go have dinner with him.'?... 'That sucks now let me tell you about the time my mum almost suffocated to death on her own vomit.'?... 'Guess what? More than one of my girlfriends has dumped me for my dad before.'? Chase didn't know if he was supposed to say something intelligent, thoughtful, and meaningful here, I mean, of course he was supposed to, (and he knew he was) but that's just not what House wanted—or needed right then.
Chase remained silent.
House sighed inwardly and mentally kicked himself for telling Chase all of that stuff about his dad. Sure, it was all true and he was in no way healed from the experiences, but he didn't want to burden Chase with all of this—at least not before having dinner with the awful man. He knew he had to do something to show that everything was okay.
House lifted his legs away from Chase's magical fingers, leaned forward, and whispered in Chase's ear, "Spider Man is cooler than Batman."
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House twirled a piece of Chase's hair in his fingers as Chase slept peacefully in House's bed; his exposed chest resting parallel to House's.
They had been together for about three years (almost since the beginning of Chase's fellowship) and House still couldn't get over how beautiful he looked—especially when he was sleeping.
The phone rang pulling Chase out of sleep and shaking House out if the post-sex daze that enveloped him.
House grabbed the phone as Chase blinked himself awake.
"Hello?" House asked the phone still twirling a strand of golden hair. Chase yawned and smiled up at him—Chase's face was stilled flushed.
"Sweetheart!" It was House's mom on the other end, "Where are you?! Your father and I have been waiting for over an hour!"
"Yeah… sorry Mom, we had an urgent case…," Chase snuggled closer and put his ear up to the receiver so he could listen to.
"Well, alright then… but you know you should have called. Your father is very upset," House rolled his eyes, Chase frowned, "And so am I," Ms. House added as an after thought.
"Sorry Mom, we'll reschedule, okay?" House rested his head on the pillow Chase and him were sharing and buried his face in Chase's hair.
Ms. House sighed, "Fine, I'll call you later. Have a good night, Greg. I love you."
"You have a good one too, I love you," House hung up the phone tossing it to the other side of the bed and shifted himself so Chase way lying on top of him.
"You wanna talk about it?" Chase asked wide awake. He flipped his hair out of his eyes and House reached up and brushed it back over them so he could see his lover do that adorable gesture again.
House shook his head, "Not now."
Chase nodded and took a deep breath; bringing his mouth up to House's ear he whispered, "Batman could beat Spider Man in a fight, without the help of Robin."