Bestest Buddy 4 & 5
Chapter 4: The New House
The only reason for having separate homes that really remained was that House and Wilson had not wanted to make their relationship a matter of public knowledge. It wasn’t that either of them was ashamed of their love; they just hadn’t wanted to be a gossip item at the hospital. But now that it had come down to being a matter that was upsetting to their child, their perspective on the issue changed considerably. And furthermore, they had practically been living together for months, and there weren’t any more rumors about them than there had ever been before House and Wilson got together. They let David have his way, and steeled themselves for a season of cattiness.
Once they had discovered that the apartment was way too small for three people to live in full-time (about 2 days after Wilson had shoe-horned all his books onto House’s shelves so tightly that you needed 2 people to get something to read), the two men decided to purchase a house together. The hunt went rather quickly. Between the two of them, they had saved a reasonable amount of money - House had been hoarding a decent-sized stash of money in his bank account. “I saved on lunches and carry-out, because I had this friend who obsessed over taking care of me.” They earned more than decent salaries, in spite of all the alimony that Wilson was responsible for, and had simple needs. Any one-story house that had room enough for three people was fine, as far as House was concerned. Wilson wanted to be sure that there were at least two bathrooms, and a little outdoor space for David. David could have cared less what the house was like, as long as he had both his dads with him all the time.
There had been a snag or two. Newer houses seemed to separate the master bedrooms from the rest of the sleeping quarters. House refused the first few they were shown until the realtor understood that she wasn’t to show them anything that “puts my kid so far from us that we can’t hear if he’s having a nightmare.” He went on to mutter: “Even architects are afraid that kids might hear people having sex.” And everything had steps, even just to get inside. House + cane + steps equaled a tremendous lot of bitching.
The nearly perfect house was a medium-sized bungalow on a quiet street in a small Princeton suburb. Wilson had followed signs to an open house on the way home from a special consultation at Princeton General, and stopped in to take a quick look. He thought he might want the house as soon as he saw the veranda that wrapped all the way around it. He imagined Greg at one corner, in a hammock, reading to David on some lazy summer evening. There were six steps up to the entrance, but they weren’t deep ones; so Greg would probably be able to manage them.
Inside, the house’s entryway led into a central great room. “Family room,” Wilson thought automatically. Four windows allowed light from a little cupola above that reminded him of the “lookout” in the little house they’d vacationed in down in North Carolina. There wasn’t a room up there, though, just a little squared-off dome, and windows. Off in four different directions, there were 2 bedrooms, a huge kitchen/dining area, and a big wooden-paneled room with hardwood floors that might make a nice combination of an office, library, and music room. Wilson walked around in the empty house while the realtor talked with a couple who were interested. To his left, he labeled “David’s Room. To his right, ‘music.’ He wandered in further to see the master bedroom. It was pretty large, and had access to the rear veranda, a good-sized bathroom and dressing area, and a huge shower. There was also a whirlpool bath that he imagined would be good for Greg’s leg. “And big enough for two…” he thought to himself.
Wilson’s vision of Greg in the hammock with David was realized about a month later.
*
Chapter 5: Back to School 2
“Jesus, Jimmy, it’s not like we’re sending him to preschool for the first time!” House shouted from the kitchen to his partner.
Wilson considered ignoring House. The first day at a new school was every bit as important as the first day of school, ever. House had had so many first days at new schools that he’d probably gone numb to the importance of putting one’s best foot forward. Certainly so.
“Just eat your breakfast and leave this to me, House,” Wilson yelled back. To David, who stood next to where his ‘Number Two Dad’ sat on the sofa, he smiled encouragingly. “Let’s make sure you’ve got everything, okay?”
“Okay,” David squeaked out a bit nervously. Sure, he’d been to lots of new schools over the years - a new one every time he and his mother moved to a new place - but this was a special school, a MUSIC school, and he would not be able to blend in the way he’d always been able to in the past. “Got my backpack.”
“Mostly empty, since you’ll be getting your books and supplies from the school today.” Wilson opened the backpack. “Pencil and a spiral notebook… Cell phone. What are the rules about that?” he asked his son.
David eyed the neon green Go Phone that House had insisted on giving David. “Only take it out of my backpack for emergencies to call Daddy, Wilson, Lisa, Mom’s Taxi, or 9-1-1, keep it turned on, I only got a hundred minutes, so don’t waste them, charge it every night.” he droned with a sigh. It wasn’t as if he had a whole list of people to talk to - but he kept that thought to himself.
Wilson put the cell phone in a zippered compartment inside the backpack. “Lunchbox?”
David held up his old lunchbox. Wilson had offered to buy him a new one for the new school year, but David had declined, because he liked having familiar things around him. David sometimes clung to sameness like a barnacle. House was very much the same way; having been moved around the world many times over as a child, he hated change in his environment.
“Are you sure you’re going to like your lunch?” David had requested his usual boring lunch: a peanut butter on white (Wilson hated giving him white bread), a red delicious apple, and a bag of chips. The boy could probably eat the same thing every day for the rest of his life and not care.
“Yeah.”
Wilson pulled out his wallet and took out a five-dollar bill. “In case you want something else, or something more from the cafeteria.” Wilson didn’t know that House had stashed a twenty in the battery compartment of David’s phone, “for absolute emergencies,” and David didn’t enlighten his #2 Dad to that fact, either. He loved having - but not spending - lots of cash. Money meant that he didn't have to worry about being hungry. Even though David knew his new parents would always make sure he was fed, he still needed the extra-extra security.
“Come here and get your jacket on,” Wilson held out the navy blue blazer that was part of the Princeton Youth Conservatory for the Arts’ uniform. He tidied the collar of his white shirt, the little clip-on tie, and the waist of the khaki pants, then brushed a few stray strands of David’s recently shorn, thick brown hair back into place. Finally, Wilson resettled David’s new black, square, wired-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t resist grinning at his little boy. “You look great, buddy. I bet the girls will be all over you.”
“Thanks.” David replied sarcastically. He didn’t really care about girls. He hoped they wouldn’t notice him at all. Girls liked to talk all the time, and he still had a hard time holding conversations with other kids. He was glad that Wilson thought he looked good, though.
“Get a move-on, Greg! You don’t wanna make the kid late.” Wilson rose and went into the kitchen to catch his lover dawdling over an ounce or two of coffee in his mug. “Quit fooling around.”
Rolling his eyes, as Wilson headed back into the living room, House muttered, “It’s only SCHOOL… Stop being such a mama bear.”
“What. Was. That?” Wilson spun back around and glared at the other man.
House rose and limped to the kitchen doorway quickly. “I said, ‘yes dear.’” He gave Wilson a little kiss on his right cheek, which was stiffly accepted. He beckoned with one hand to David. “Come on, kid.”
“Take my car,” Wilson ordered.
House protested, putting on a fake whining act. “No way. All the cool kids will be coming in sports cars, Ma-uhh… Wilson.”
“Not a good plan, House. Not on the first day. Just humor me. We don’t have time to discuss.”
House sighed, shrugged. “Yes, DEAR.”
“Thanks.” Wilson leaned forward and gave his lover a proper kiss, then added. “Come back home after you drop him off, and I’ll explain before we go to work, okay?” He quirked his bushy eyebrows at House. They had both taken a half-day off (an hour would have been sufficient) to help David to prepare for his first day at the new school.
“Well… if you put it that way…” House grabbed his son’s backpack and limped towards the front door. “Come on, kid.”
David picked up his lunch box and joined his dad at the door. He rolled his eyes, mentally. He wasn’t a stupid kid. Wilson was flirting with Daddy to make him behave, and then Daddy was gonna get a special (sex-related) grown-up treat before they went to the hospital.
“Wait!” Wilson scrabbled through the drawer of the little hall table near the door and pulled out his digital camera.
“Oh crap, I should have seen this coming…” House muttered.
“Be good Daddy, or you won’t get your Scooby snack,” David said, managing to successfully keep a totally innocent look on his face.
Both his dads froze with their mouths hanging open for a second. David loved doing that to them. They persisted in thinking that he was an innocent little child for some reason, so he never stopped having fun with them by occasionally saying things like this. Plus, there were lots of times he did it without even realizing what he was doing.
“That’s YOUR son talking,” Wilson sing-songed before he took his snapshots, two of them, and finally let them go. “Have a good day, honey,” he told David as he kissed him goodbye. “I love you.”
The only reason for having separate homes that really remained was that House and Wilson had not wanted to make their relationship a matter of public knowledge. It wasn’t that either of them was ashamed of their love; they just hadn’t wanted to be a gossip item at the hospital. But now that it had come down to being a matter that was upsetting to their child, their perspective on the issue changed considerably. And furthermore, they had practically been living together for months, and there weren’t any more rumors about them than there had ever been before House and Wilson got together. They let David have his way, and steeled themselves for a season of cattiness.
Once they had discovered that the apartment was way too small for three people to live in full-time (about 2 days after Wilson had shoe-horned all his books onto House’s shelves so tightly that you needed 2 people to get something to read), the two men decided to purchase a house together. The hunt went rather quickly. Between the two of them, they had saved a reasonable amount of money - House had been hoarding a decent-sized stash of money in his bank account. “I saved on lunches and carry-out, because I had this friend who obsessed over taking care of me.” They earned more than decent salaries, in spite of all the alimony that Wilson was responsible for, and had simple needs. Any one-story house that had room enough for three people was fine, as far as House was concerned. Wilson wanted to be sure that there were at least two bathrooms, and a little outdoor space for David. David could have cared less what the house was like, as long as he had both his dads with him all the time.
There had been a snag or two. Newer houses seemed to separate the master bedrooms from the rest of the sleeping quarters. House refused the first few they were shown until the realtor understood that she wasn’t to show them anything that “puts my kid so far from us that we can’t hear if he’s having a nightmare.” He went on to mutter: “Even architects are afraid that kids might hear people having sex.” And everything had steps, even just to get inside. House + cane + steps equaled a tremendous lot of bitching.
The nearly perfect house was a medium-sized bungalow on a quiet street in a small Princeton suburb. Wilson had followed signs to an open house on the way home from a special consultation at Princeton General, and stopped in to take a quick look. He thought he might want the house as soon as he saw the veranda that wrapped all the way around it. He imagined Greg at one corner, in a hammock, reading to David on some lazy summer evening. There were six steps up to the entrance, but they weren’t deep ones; so Greg would probably be able to manage them.
Inside, the house’s entryway led into a central great room. “Family room,” Wilson thought automatically. Four windows allowed light from a little cupola above that reminded him of the “lookout” in the little house they’d vacationed in down in North Carolina. There wasn’t a room up there, though, just a little squared-off dome, and windows. Off in four different directions, there were 2 bedrooms, a huge kitchen/dining area, and a big wooden-paneled room with hardwood floors that might make a nice combination of an office, library, and music room. Wilson walked around in the empty house while the realtor talked with a couple who were interested. To his left, he labeled “David’s Room. To his right, ‘music.’ He wandered in further to see the master bedroom. It was pretty large, and had access to the rear veranda, a good-sized bathroom and dressing area, and a huge shower. There was also a whirlpool bath that he imagined would be good for Greg’s leg. “And big enough for two…” he thought to himself.
Wilson’s vision of Greg in the hammock with David was realized about a month later.
*
Chapter 5: Back to School 2
“Jesus, Jimmy, it’s not like we’re sending him to preschool for the first time!” House shouted from the kitchen to his partner.
Wilson considered ignoring House. The first day at a new school was every bit as important as the first day of school, ever. House had had so many first days at new schools that he’d probably gone numb to the importance of putting one’s best foot forward. Certainly so.
“Just eat your breakfast and leave this to me, House,” Wilson yelled back. To David, who stood next to where his ‘Number Two Dad’ sat on the sofa, he smiled encouragingly. “Let’s make sure you’ve got everything, okay?”
“Okay,” David squeaked out a bit nervously. Sure, he’d been to lots of new schools over the years - a new one every time he and his mother moved to a new place - but this was a special school, a MUSIC school, and he would not be able to blend in the way he’d always been able to in the past. “Got my backpack.”
“Mostly empty, since you’ll be getting your books and supplies from the school today.” Wilson opened the backpack. “Pencil and a spiral notebook… Cell phone. What are the rules about that?” he asked his son.
David eyed the neon green Go Phone that House had insisted on giving David. “Only take it out of my backpack for emergencies to call Daddy, Wilson, Lisa, Mom’s Taxi, or 9-1-1, keep it turned on, I only got a hundred minutes, so don’t waste them, charge it every night.” he droned with a sigh. It wasn’t as if he had a whole list of people to talk to - but he kept that thought to himself.
Wilson put the cell phone in a zippered compartment inside the backpack. “Lunchbox?”
David held up his old lunchbox. Wilson had offered to buy him a new one for the new school year, but David had declined, because he liked having familiar things around him. David sometimes clung to sameness like a barnacle. House was very much the same way; having been moved around the world many times over as a child, he hated change in his environment.
“Are you sure you’re going to like your lunch?” David had requested his usual boring lunch: a peanut butter on white (Wilson hated giving him white bread), a red delicious apple, and a bag of chips. The boy could probably eat the same thing every day for the rest of his life and not care.
“Yeah.”
Wilson pulled out his wallet and took out a five-dollar bill. “In case you want something else, or something more from the cafeteria.” Wilson didn’t know that House had stashed a twenty in the battery compartment of David’s phone, “for absolute emergencies,” and David didn’t enlighten his #2 Dad to that fact, either. He loved having - but not spending - lots of cash. Money meant that he didn't have to worry about being hungry. Even though David knew his new parents would always make sure he was fed, he still needed the extra-extra security.
“Come here and get your jacket on,” Wilson held out the navy blue blazer that was part of the Princeton Youth Conservatory for the Arts’ uniform. He tidied the collar of his white shirt, the little clip-on tie, and the waist of the khaki pants, then brushed a few stray strands of David’s recently shorn, thick brown hair back into place. Finally, Wilson resettled David’s new black, square, wired-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t resist grinning at his little boy. “You look great, buddy. I bet the girls will be all over you.”
“Thanks.” David replied sarcastically. He didn’t really care about girls. He hoped they wouldn’t notice him at all. Girls liked to talk all the time, and he still had a hard time holding conversations with other kids. He was glad that Wilson thought he looked good, though.
“Get a move-on, Greg! You don’t wanna make the kid late.” Wilson rose and went into the kitchen to catch his lover dawdling over an ounce or two of coffee in his mug. “Quit fooling around.”
Rolling his eyes, as Wilson headed back into the living room, House muttered, “It’s only SCHOOL… Stop being such a mama bear.”
“What. Was. That?” Wilson spun back around and glared at the other man.
House rose and limped to the kitchen doorway quickly. “I said, ‘yes dear.’” He gave Wilson a little kiss on his right cheek, which was stiffly accepted. He beckoned with one hand to David. “Come on, kid.”
“Take my car,” Wilson ordered.
House protested, putting on a fake whining act. “No way. All the cool kids will be coming in sports cars, Ma-uhh… Wilson.”
“Not a good plan, House. Not on the first day. Just humor me. We don’t have time to discuss.”
House sighed, shrugged. “Yes, DEAR.”
“Thanks.” Wilson leaned forward and gave his lover a proper kiss, then added. “Come back home after you drop him off, and I’ll explain before we go to work, okay?” He quirked his bushy eyebrows at House. They had both taken a half-day off (an hour would have been sufficient) to help David to prepare for his first day at the new school.
“Well… if you put it that way…” House grabbed his son’s backpack and limped towards the front door. “Come on, kid.”
David picked up his lunch box and joined his dad at the door. He rolled his eyes, mentally. He wasn’t a stupid kid. Wilson was flirting with Daddy to make him behave, and then Daddy was gonna get a special (sex-related) grown-up treat before they went to the hospital.
“Wait!” Wilson scrabbled through the drawer of the little hall table near the door and pulled out his digital camera.
“Oh crap, I should have seen this coming…” House muttered.
“Be good Daddy, or you won’t get your Scooby snack,” David said, managing to successfully keep a totally innocent look on his face.
Both his dads froze with their mouths hanging open for a second. David loved doing that to them. They persisted in thinking that he was an innocent little child for some reason, so he never stopped having fun with them by occasionally saying things like this. Plus, there were lots of times he did it without even realizing what he was doing.
“That’s YOUR son talking,” Wilson sing-songed before he took his snapshots, two of them, and finally let them go. “Have a good day, honey,” he told David as he kissed him goodbye. “I love you.”