As always, many many many many thanks to those who continue to stick with the story.
I honestly hadn't meant to keep you all hanging for this long. Writers' block is no fun at all! I finally got through it watching old seasons of House.
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~Chapter 6~
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'Idiot. Short psycho shrink prick.'
For the last 10 minutes, House sat on his bed, hands twisting around his cane imagining it was a certain weasel faced hack doctor.
Needless to say, he was in no mood to share any personal feelings after being woken up from his very "active" dream.
Like Alvie, everyone sensed his mood and left him alone during the session. By the end though, he'd had enough time to decompress and get back to normal. Hell, he actually got some of the others to play a couple rounds of bullshit.
It seemed like the rest of the day was shaping up to be tolerable. Of course all that was quickly dismissed when Medina came into sight and headed straight for Freedom Master.
It was easy to see that no good would come from it.
Fast forward to the present to find him stewing in angry frustration. Even more so since he stood by and essentially did nothing.
Now the kid was drugged up to the gills…just one step above being a vegetable.
A knock on his door broke through his festering thoughts. Looking up, he saw Chase leaning against the doorway. He could do nothing but stare as flashes of this morning's dream came hurtling back.
'Don't stop! Harder Greg! Please harder!'
Not believing it was possible; his frustration reached a new level, mixing desire and violent anger.
House's tension was completely palpable the moment he saw him. Chase had knocked hoping to break his focus and possibly change the mood. Not to mention, he didn't want to appear to be spying in case House noticed he was already there.
Instead, the tension seemed to increase when the sharp blue eyes were drawn to where he was standing.
Not waiting for permission to enter, Chase came into the room concerned.
"You alright?" He said standing by the foot of the bed.
He went to go take another step closer when House bolted up from the bed.
"Let's go." He growled and left the room without looking back.
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Not surprising to Chase, they ended up walking around the grounds again. He suspected that it helped House relax being in an open area and away from the watchful eyes of the facility staff.
They were half way around the area when Chase finally spoke up.
"It's time to tell me what's happened. You looked like you were about to have a stroke back there."
House let out an annoyed huff before speaking.
"There's a pencil pushing quack treating patients with textbook procedures and expecting it to work."
"Who's the patient?"
"A kid who says that he's a superhero, trying to save all the good people he comes across."
"Has he always believed he was a superhero or was this triggered by a specific event?"
And just like that, it was as if they were both transported back to the diagnostic conference room.
"Wife was murdered. He wasn't there when it happened."
"What did the doctor do?"
"Tried to force him to see reality by pressuring him into doing something that a regular human being couldn't possibly do on their own. All he did was make it worse."
"He got violent?"
"No. He diverted his attention to another one of the patients. Said he knew how to 'save' her. That's when the moron stepped in. Now the kid is drugged out of his mind and not in the good way."
They walked for a bit in silence as both processed the situation that occurred.
However, something still seemed off to Chase.
"Is that all that happened?"
"Does there have to be more?" House shot back.
"No…I didn't mean it that way…but when I walked in your room earlier…it seemed like seeing me triggered something else."
'Damn wombat really was too perceptive sometimes.' House huffed in annoyance.
"I guess it's possible that I might've had a dream last night where you and I were the key players."
House looked at Chase to gauge his reaction but the other man had yet to pick up on what was said.
"Ok…"
The force to get out each word was practically unbearable.
"…it took place in a bedroom. Mine to be specific."
"…and…"
"…things happened…bedroom things…"
Chase threw his hands up in utter confusion. He'd never known House to dance around a conversation like this.
"Listen, I have no bloody clue what you're talking about. Just tell me House."
"You. Me. In a bedroom. In a bed. Use your imagination!"
Like a timer going off on a bomb, a flood of images assaulted him and Chase finally understood. His mouth opened and closed for a bit with only air passing through.
"Oh."
House looked away as he let the younger man internally digest his thoughts.
"So you and I were…together?"
"Yup."
"…all the way together?"
"Let me put it this way, if we were anymore together we would've been classified as Siamese twins."
Involuntarily, Chase's mind began creating images based off that last comment. The surprisingly vivid scenes that assaulted him threw him off so much that he stopped walking. The most he had though about House for the past week had only been imaging mundane situations away from the hospital.
Watching TV on the couch.
Eating dinner together.
Listening to each other's favorite music.
Maybe some thoughts of kissing slipped in but it never went further than that. This was mainly because he still wasn't truly sure of House's interest in him.
His past track record certainly hadn't inspired much confidence.
First Stacy, then Cameron, and lastly, Cuddy.
It still didn't make any sense.
'Why me now?'
"Wait. So you find me attractive? In that way? Seriously?"
House could feel the tension in his shoulders lessen. Although there was confusion in Chase's voice, it was out of surprised curiosity, not disgust. He was almost tempted to say that it was cute the confused way Chase was looking at him. Not to mention the fact an obviously blush had spread through out his face.
"Well, duh, what do you think all those comments about your looks have been about?"
It was clear that House was preparing to not stay delved in the conversation for too long in case it would go somewhere he didn't like. Given what was just revealed, now wasn't the time to let him off the hook.
"I'm being serious."
"So am I."
"House…"
Just like the other day, Chase walked right up into House's personal space. This effectively stopped whatever smart ass remark was about to be said.
"…its you and me out here. You can be serious about this right now."
A small part of House wanted to indulge Chase but his vocal cords felt as if they had snapped shut.
Chase could see flashes of House's internal struggle in his face. He tried to think of what to say or do that would encourage him to take that final leap. Not wanting to waste any time, he took a deep breath and prayed he would be saying the right thing.
"I'll be with you in this…all the way. Just tell me you're on board too. We'll figure out the details later."
House started to speak when he heard the words that sounded too good to be true. Unfortunately, his voice was still paralyzed by his natural skepticism. Luckily, the one other trait that matched the strength of his skepticism was his stubbornness. Drawing encouragement from his dream, House slid his arm around Chase's waist and drew him closer until they were touching chest to chest.
The gasp that came out of Chase followed by the feel of his heartbeat that seemed to want to explode from his chest gave House the final push. A split second later found his lips firmly pressed against Chase's.
With that large hurtle passed, the feeling of anxiety dissipated enough that House could focus on the sensations flooding through him. The kiss remained gentle as he wanted to savor the reality of the situation.
The feel of Chase's lips, just as he imagined, moving in sync with his own. The feel of Chase's lean body pressed close. The distinct scent of Chase that was a mix of fresh laundry along with something else unidentifiable but appealing just the same. And lastly, the feeling of Chase holding him back with the same intensity.
Chase basked in the excitement that hummed throughout his body. He was more than pleased to say the least at where their conversation had taken them. The first sensation of firm lips accompanied by stubble brushing against his skin unexpectedly intrigued him as it certainly left him wanting more.
With one last kiss, House slowly pulled slightly apart from Chase but definitely kept him in a loose embrace. Impulse passed, he immediately started analyzing the situation and all the downward turns he could anticipate occurring.
Chase chose to keep his eyes closed when the contact was broken from his lips. He enjoyed feeling the excited energy in him fade to a simmer. Shortly after a tantalizingly slow sweep of his lips did his light blue eyes reveal themselves.
Not surprisingly, he found himself being studied. A smirk grew on his face, thinking of his luck to have had all those years to develop his own House cipher. If this had been someone else standing here, recently introduced to the brilliant diagnostician, the poor bastard would've committed shortly after.
"Give your brain a rest House. Save all those pessimistic thoughts for another time. You're killing the nice buzz I'm feeling."
House couldn't help but mirror the lazy grin that was standing in front of him.
"Are you planning on being this bossy all the time?"
Chase sobered himself up for a moment.
"If it means that you actually listen to me and it gets you out of her faster, then yes."
Not wanting to kill the mood entirely, he added.
"But maybe I won't have to be as bossy now that I know you have the hots for me. I'm pretty sure this means I have some new tactics at my disposal."
House let out a soft chuckle at his playful arrogance.
"Silly wombat. You're forgetting a very crucial piece of information. Those tactics are a two-way street."
To prove his point, House slid a hand under Chase's sweater and lightly stroked the skin of his lower back. Smugly, he wasn't disappointed by the younger man's reaction.
A slight shiver up the spine.
A quiet gasp.
Pupils dilated.
Hands tightening their clutch on his shoulders.
Chase muttered a barely audible curse.
"Bastard."
His eyes closed as the hand on his skin had yet to break contact. Just when his knees started to buckle, the desire to remain passive crashed instantaneously. Without hesitation, Chase curled his hands around House's neck and pulled him forward until both sets of lips were mashed together. While the first kiss was pleasant in its own right, the next one got straight to business.
Although he would never voice it, House was surprised that Chase was as equally attracted to him. As confident he acted and claimed to be, he knew Chase could virtually have his pick of anyone, female and male, to be involved with.
In the world of diagnostics, his world, the seemingly unknowns almost always had an answer or reason for their cause. That was when a conversation from years ago echoed in his mind.
'I'm twice your age. I'm not that great looking. I'm not charming. I'm not even nice.'
Those were the words he'd said to Cameron on their first and only date. Still he believed the words held the same weight today. House mentally slapped himself for pulling his attention away. Regardless of their differences, Chase just seemed to fit with him like no one else.
The insecurities quieted themselves for the time being. Thankfully, his very brief distraction went unnoticed by Chase, who was very engaged at his current task. This also led House to find that he was more than happy to let Chase and his very skilled mouth take the lead.
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Not a surprise, they were interrupted again by the sound of a very loud and increasingly despised bell ringing.
Finally coming up for air, both men slowly detached from their embrace.
"I'm gonna dismantle that damn bell if it's the last thing I do."
Chase smiled in agreement.
"I actually might not stop you on that one."
Without needing to say anything else, they started to make their way back to the main building.
About halfway back, Chase remembered what they had originally started talking about when he first arrived.
"So…now that we have one thing settled…well, as settled as it's gonna be for now, what about the other thing that was bothering you? The doctor and…Freedom Master, was it?"
"Now now Robbie. Don't go all Judge Judy on me. After all we didn't grow up like you, eating kangaroos while chugging down a Fosters."
Chase rolled his eyes but let the comment slide.
"You know I don't care what his name is. What were you thinking about doing?
"What do you mean?"
"Well, obviously, you are upset about how the guy was being treated and the fact that you were passive about the whole situation. I've never known you to sit back and do nothing while a patient was being mistreated, even when they were someone else's patient."
"As I recall, you made me promise not to do anything."
"I was talking about your scheming. This is another matter entirely. If you or I can help this guy, then we should do what we can."
House looked at Chase briefly, then toward the doorway, and nodded in agreement. Unfortunately, he was still at an impasse as to what his plan of action was.
"I need more time to talk to the kid and get this figured out."
"Alright then I should be heading off."
"Yeah, guess so."
Truthfully, both were hesitant as to how to say goodbye. Chase finally decided to go in for a hug but right before letting go, he quickly placed a discrete kiss on House's neck.
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I'm going to really try and get the story moving along in the next chapter. All goes well and House should be making his way back home! Yay!
Please please please keep the reviews coming. Any suggestions on what you like or want to see more of are always welcome!