This is a sequel to Prompt 086. Disappear – Find Things In The Strangest Places

088. Bathroom

Lost Things Found

Wilson was halfway to his parents' place when the first inkling of what might have set House off started to trickle through his brain. It was what his mother had reported of House's rambling that triggered it. House had spoken of being stupid, of making mistakes and of hurting Wilson. Wilson winced; he'd been avoiding House for the last couple of days as assiduously as House had been avoiding him, though not with quite the same underlying reasons. This couldn't have been a sudden thing that had occurred; if House had been rambling then it must have been growing over the last few days until House finally broke and since he couldn't find his usual shelter with Wilson, he'd obviously gone to what he thought might be the next best thing.

And precisely four days ago, in the bathroom in House's apartment, he had kissed House. And House had pushed him away, thrown him out with harsh words and brutal hands. The only thing that had stopped Wilson from protesting and had made him give House the space he seemed to need was the memory of the moment when House had just melted under his touch, returning the kiss with all the feeling that Wilson could have hoped for, before he'd suddenly stiffened and pulled away and reacted. The other thing that had made Wilson bide his time was the look he'd seen in House's eyes as he'd been thrown out. Underneath the anger and the harshness had been fear, almost terror, and Wilson could certainly understand that reaction from House.

He pulled up in front of his parents' home and by the time he had gotten halfway up the path, his mother was standing in the open front door with a welcoming smile on her face. She hugged him when he reached her then stepped back so that he could enter.

"Greg's still asleep," she said in a quiet voice then she hesitated for a moment. "James…what he said…I wasn't sure what to make of it."

Wilson sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with a wry smile on his face.

"Maybe if you tell me what he said, I can make some sense of it for you."

His mother gave him a piercing look then led the way into the living room. Once they were both seated she leaned forward and fixed her son in that piercing gaze again.

"He talked about hurting you," she said bluntly. "About making a mistake and rejecting you. He said something about being stupid, about not knowing what he wanted, what you wanted and not wanting to be hurt again. James, I know what it sounded like."

"And that is?" Wilson said warily, unsure of how his mother was going to react.

"James, did you…" She broke off and looked down for a moment before looking back at her son. "Did you kiss him?"

"Yes, I did," Wilson said as calmly as he could manage.

His mother sat back and stared at him. "Why?"

Wilson sighed and ran a hand down his face, wondering how he could explain this in a way she would understand.

"Because I wanted to. Because I've wanted to for a long time. It was…difficult to admit that to myself but it's true. I…think I might be in love with him. It's…strange. I was so sure I was in love with each of my wives and look what happened there. I'm…not sure with House. It's…different."

His mother was silent for a long moment after he stuttered to a halt.

"And what does Greg think about this? It sounded like there was…a problem."

"He didn't react well when I kissed him," Wilson admitted. "But I think it had more to do with his own internal demons than because he doesn't…feel something for me."

"What makes you say that?" His mother looked concerned and Wilson got the distinct feeling she was feeling more protective of House than of him.

"He kissed back," Wilson replied. "And he was scared. He's got reason to not want to be hurt again. It's happened before and he was the one who paid the biggest price. He was…almost terrified underneath the anger."

His mother nodded slowly. "That would explain a great deal of what he said. What are you going to do?"

"Talk to him," Wilson replied. "I probably should have done it before but I wanted to give him time to think."

His mother was quiet again then she said, "I put him in your room. It was the only ground floor one and he…seemed to appreciate it."

Wilson smiled tightly and stood, heading for the door. He paused halfway there and looked back at his mother.

"You…don't mind? About me…wanting House?"

"I'll admit it's not what I expected," she replied. "But we raised the three of you to be your own men and to make your own decisions. I'd like to think we were successful at that, for good or ill."

Wilson was still for a moment, his own choices and those of his brothers swirling through his mind then he nodded and left the room. He walked along the corridor to the room that had been his when he was growing up. Not much was left in there now, what hadn't been discarded was either with him or in storage somewhere, but a few things remained. He quietly opened the door and crept into the room.

House was asleep on the bed, curled up on his side under the duvet. His sneakers and socks were near the end of the bed and his jeans were lying crumpled on the floor near them. His cane was propped up against the bedside table and there was the familiar orange bottle sitting on top of the table. House's face looked drawn and tired and a little lost even in sleep and Wilson swallowed hard against the sight. He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, staring down at his friend then finally reaching out and brushing his hand across House's cheek.

House murmured in his sleep and moved towards Wilson a little. Wilson let his hand drift until he was gently stroking House's hair, letting himself have this liberty now since he had no idea what was going to happen when House woke. His thoughts drifted as he continued stroking House's hair and he stared off into the distance, not noticing when House slowly woke and opened his eyes.

He had no idea how long it had been when he looked down and saw that House's eyes were open, just barely, thin slits of blue visible staring up at him. He made to jerk his hand away but left it where it was when House whispered, "No."

After a few moments he slowly started caressing House's hair again and watched with a lump in his throat as House sighed and his eyes slid closed again. They didn't stay closed for long and this time when they opened, it was fully and House simply stared up at him, a blank wall blocking any hint of emotion.

"Mom called me," Wilson said quietly when he couldn't think of anything else to say. "She was worried about you."

House's lips twitched into the tiniest of smiles but he still didn't say anything.

"Come to think of it, I was worried about you," Wilson said soberly.

An unreadable expression flitted across House's face too quickly for Wilson to determine what it was but the man remained silent.

"A lot of people were worried about you," Wilson continued quietly then he smiled wryly. "And…you owe your mother a call. When we realised you'd been missing for over twenty-four hours, we were going to call the police. I called your mother just to check whether maybe you'd gone there. She was…very worried. Thankfully Mom called me before we called the police."

House stayed silent for a long moment. "Didn't mean to worry you," he murmured in a barely audible voice.

Wilson sighed and moved his hand down to caress House's face. "I wish you'd come to me."

"You were my problem," House replied.

Wilson managed to avoid wincing at that. "Mom knows what happened," he said. "She'd mostly figured things out from what you said to her and I told her what happened. I think she was concerned about you than me."

That tiny smile returned to House's face. "Good."

Wilson chuckled then he sobered and let his hand come to rest on House's shoulder. "Have you come to any conclusions?"

House looked away and he tensed under Wilson's hand. Wilson gently rubbed his shoulder and hoped for the best.

"I didn't mean it," House finally said. "What I said to you. Didn't mean to kick you out. You just…I was…surprised."

"Well…I was a little surprised myself," Wilson admitted with a wry smile. "I've…wanted to kiss you for a while but I…didn't really plan on doing it right then and there."

"Why did you?" House asked.

Wilson gave a one-shouldered shrug. "I don't really know. Confluence of events, all that teasing we were doing, the beer we drank, the way you grinned at me. I just…really wanted to kiss you. So I did. I liked it. Up until the point when you threw me out anyway."

"It's a bad idea," House said wearily.

"What is?" Wilson asked.

"Us," House said. "You suck at relationships. I'm no better. You're…our friendship…matters. I don't want to lose that."

Wilson used his other hand to gently turned House's face so they were looking at each other.

"This is different," he said firmly. "I know it sounds trite to say that but it's…just different. And I think it's worth the risk."

"And if I don't?" House asked, his expression neutral.

Wilson didn't bother to hide how much that idea hurt. "Then we…go on as best as we can but I can't promise it won't change things."

House seemed to shut down at that but Wilson knew him well enough to know that he was thinking and thinking hard. Finally his eyes flickered momentarily and he looked up at Wilson intently. He slid one hand up Wilson's arm until he could grab his collar then he yanked him down into a hard, demanding kiss. Wilson made a small, desperate noise as his hand clutched at the shoulder of House's t-shirt and he leaned into the kiss.

House shifted onto his back without breaking the kiss, tugging Wilson towards him and down onto the bed until he was lying half on top of him on top of the duvet. House's arms then slid around him and held him tight as the kiss morphed into something hotter and wetter, their tongues tangling in their mouths. It was only when House's hips bucked up into his, grinding their erections together that Wilson pulled himself away, gasping for breath when he did so.

"Gotta stop," he gasped, letting his head fall onto House's shoulder.

House made a disgruntled sound and tugged gently on Wilson's hair. "Why?" he asked, his voice a lust-filled whine.

"Because my Mom is somewhere around and I am not having sex with her in the house," Wilson said with small laugh.

House succeeded in pulling Wilson into another of those hot, wet kisses and Wilson moaned before pulling away again with great reluctance.

"House, we can't," he protested without much heat. "If nothing else, my mother has alarmingly good instincts for when her sons are up to something in her house."

House looked like he wanted to protest but just as he opened his mouth there was a knock at the door.

"James? Greg? Is everything okay?"

Wilson sighed and rolled his eyes as House slowly started to grin. Wilson felt his worry lift at the welcome sight of the humour glinting in House's eyes.

"We're…fine, Mom," he called as he tried to sit up but giving up when House held him tight.

"Alright then," she said, sounding just a little unconvinced but they heard her moving away nonetheless.

House started to laugh and Wilson scowled at him.

"I told you so," Wilson grumbled though a smile kept threatening to break through.

"Your mother's scarier than mine," House said in a lazy tone, his hands drifting down Wilson's back.

Wilson rolled his eyes then quickly moved out of House's grasp, standing up beside the bed.

"Come on," he said, holding one hand out. "Time to go home."

House gave him a long look then sat up, grabbing Wilson's hand and using to get to his feet then to pull Wilson up against him.

"Home sounds good," he said before leaning down and kissing Wilson again.