A/N: I mean for this just to be a oneshot, it's just a quick idea that I thought of when I couldn't sleep one night. Hehe, couldn't resist writing this one…
Witness
It was dark outside when Foreman went to check on the blood samples he had sent Chase to the lab with over an hour ago. Really, it wasn't a difficult task, just a routine screen for common bacteria, heavy metals and toxins; it shouldn't be taking this long. Foreman was annoyed. And with a dying patient currently in ICU, he was wondering what could have delayed the stuck-up Australian.
He got his answer rather swiftly.
The doors of the lab had little glass windows set into them at head-height, just at the right level to spy with. Foreman glanced through to see Chase sitting on one of the standard hospital-issue swivel-stools which was slowly twisting one way and then the other as the doctor looked into a microscope. It was clear he was checking the blood. It was also clear that the figure of House, standing behind him, practically breathing down his neck was slowing him down.
Foreman rolled his eyes and made to step inside the lab, a smart remark about Chase's fear of their boss on his lips, when he noticed something which made him freeze: House was touching Chase. Nothing too racy, just a slight trail of his hands over the blonde's shoulders, down his arms, and Chase was twisting in his seat in an effort to shrug his wandering hands off.
"Don't," Foreman heard him murmur through the door. "I have to finish these."
House hummed in a plaintive way.
"She's stable," he objected, referring to their patient.
"Maybe not for long."
"Ten minutes," House bargained.
"Foreman'll kill me."
"You're sleeping with him too?"
Foreman's heart actually stopped in shock: Chase and House? House and Chase? What the hell?
Chase turned and hit his boss lightly on the arm, giving him a look which told him that was not funny.
"No," Chase said pointedly. "But he gave me these samples an hour ago."
House rolled his eyes and caught Chase's chin gently when he tried to turn back to his microscope. Foreman was glad the thought of him waiting for the results of these tests had crossed Chase's mind at least once in the last hour.
"Well then, he's already angry. Are you really going to blow me off because you might be another ten minutes late?" he asked, before pausing and frowning. "Maybe that should be 'are you really not going to blow me off because you might be another ten minutes late?'"
Chase pulled a face, extracting himself from House's hold.
"Yeah, in your dreams."
When it looked like the blonde was going to turn again, House simply leant down and caught Chase's lips with his own. Foreman watched with wide eyes as Chase, after a split second's hesitation, seemed to melt into the kiss, draping his arms over House's shoulders and making a noise of approval.
House's arms wrapped around Chase's waist, underneath his lab coat, and pulled him off the stool to stand pressed against him, not even breaking their passionate kiss. When it only seemed to intensify, Chase drew back, pressing his hands against House's chest in an attempt to stop him continuing. Foreman could see they were both out of breath and Chase was flushed a delicate shade of pink.
"Not here," he protested. "Someone could walk in."
Foreman wondered why he was still putting up a fight when it was obvious to everyone in the hospital that House always got what he wanted.
And, at that moment, House clearly wanted Chase.
"Stop worrying," House almost snapped. "You're fine here; no one's going to come in."
His harsh tone was belied by the way he was looking straight into Chase's eyes and stroking the side of his face. There was a sort of tenderness between the two which was so un-House-like (and un-Chase-like, for that matter), it made Foreman wonder just how serious things were between them.
There was a moment of uncertainty before Chase tentatively tilted his head just so and initiated the next kiss. Apparently encouraged by his youngest fellow's willingness, House ran his hands over Chase's shoulders, sliding the lab coat off of the blonde and letting it drop to the floor carelessly. Chase pressed close to House once more and it wasn't long before the fiery passion Foreman had witnessed earlier returned.
However, despite this sort of distraction, Foreman couldn't take his eyes off what Chase was wearing.
The Aussie was known for not seeming to care about what he wore to work, managing to look effortlessly attractive without expensive clothes or tailored suits, but recently he had evidently been taking lessons from House in fashion. Instead of slacks and a smart shirt with a tie, he was wearing form-fitting jeans and what was clearly a nice T-shirt. Foreman wondered if sleeping with your boss meant you got to wear whatever the hell you wanted to work; he couldn't see him or Cameron getting away with that. He was surprised he hadn't noticed before that moment, having spent most of the day with the intensivist, but he decided it wasn't necessarily a bad thing he didn't pay attention to what other guys wore.
Nevertheless, seeing Chase now divested of a lab coat and wearing casual clothes, Foreman couldn't help but be very aware of why he got so many appraising looks from nurses, why people wanted to trust him, why patients were so easily charmed by him. He really was very good-looking.
Well, in a pretty way, at least.
Foreman was more of the street-smart handsome type of good-looking.
Shaking his head at his bout of ego, he also became aware of how young Chase was while watching him kiss House. It was easy to forget normally, as the blonde had been with House the longest of them all and was startlingly good at his job. His attitude and accent also made him appear a lot older than he actually was, yet now, with no indication that he was a doctor, or an Australian, or rich, he could have easily passed as a student.
How old was he, anyway?
Twenty-four? Twenty-five? Twenty-six?
Foreman honestly didn't know.
Either way, watching House carefully strip Chase of his shirt, Foreman knew there was no way House could ever appear under the age of about forty. A part of him recognised he should have been appalled at the age difference, at the fact it was his boss and his colleague he was watching make out, both of whom were guys, but he just wasn't. The way they seemed to just fit together made it all seem so natural, so incredibly obvious, it seemed as if Foreman should have assumed this would happen as soon as he arrived at Princeton Plainsborough.
Maybe he should've.
Although they had apparently hid their relationship very well, he had worked with them for a while now, maybe he should have been able to tell they would be a good couple. Were there any clues that this was going to happen? Foreman wasn't sure.
There was the sheer trust Chase had in House, which possibly was a clue. As a rule, he always sided with his boss, believing in him even when things got tough. Was that a decent basis for a relationship?
Because, really, that could just be down to Chase being a suck-up.
He supposed Chase had always found House a lot funnier than the other two did, with Foreman thinking House was a jerk and Cameron just thinking you shouldn't joke about patients, but that could be simply put down to familiarity rather than attraction.
Now desperately racking his brain for any hint that they were together or even suited each other, Foreman stopped paying attention to the two men inside the room. He guessed House was always making jokes about the blonde that could be classed as 'sexual harassment' and he had appeared interested in Chase in the past, especially when his father visited, but House was just like that. He liked solving things.
Foreman realised how hypocritical it was to say that when he was basically trying to diagnose a relationship, but brushed it aside.
They both had issues with their parents, or, in Chase's case, parent.
They'd both had disastrous sort-of relationships with Cameron.
They were both doctors.
Foreman stopped himself after that, feeling that his list was beginning to get a little ridiculous. It seemed that whatever reason the two had gotten together, it was past his understanding, and he would just have to accept it was a pretty good one. Especially judging from the way they were carrying on inside the lab.
Foreman backed away from the doors, half-heartedly thinking about paging Cuddy, just to see what reaction he could get from her, but he decided against it. Instead, he walked back to the office, deciding to simply run the tests himself in the future if he wanted a rapid response.
Inside the lab, House slowly came down from his euphoria, glancing over to the doors.
"He's gone now," he told the blonde kneeling in front of him.
Chase stood back up, accepting another kiss from House as he looked around for his shirt.
"That was… intense," he said, somewhat breathlessly.
"Exhibitionist," House accused.
"Didn't hear you complaining when I was-"
He was silenced by House's lips claiming his once more.
"I have to kiss that mouth," he said by way of explanation when Chase gave him a look.
The blonde rolled his eyes, pulling his T-shirt over his head and trying to smooth his hair back in place.
"After I drop these results by Foreman, we could go back to yours," Chase offered, picking up a stack of papers.
House tried and failed to hide how tempted he was by that prospect.
"Depends, any of those positive?" he asked, nodding to the paper.
Chase shook his head, glancing through page after page of stats.
"Then no. No distractions until we save her life, new rule."
Chase ignored how put out he was by that statement and instead slipped his lab coat on once more. House noticed his look and smirked.
"Hey, don't cry, wombat. If I remember right, which I do, I get to pick our next victim," he said, watching Chase smile a little. "I'm thinking Cuddy."
"Fifty dollars says she threatens to fire you."
"Deal."
