Curiosity killing the cat, maybe?
Who: House, Cade, Wilson might make some kind of cellular appearance at some stage
Where: The same bar they both went to last time
When: May 22nd, just after 5.30pm.
( Read more... )
Where: The same bar they both went to last time
When: May 22nd, just after 5.30pm.
( Read more... )
"No, not yet," he agreed about meeting aliens. About to add to that, House looked across at Cade once again when Wilson said about coming to meet him. Oh crap. He needed to take this call elsewhere.
"No, still sucking down the first," he replied, turning away from Cade on his stool. He reached for his cane and quickly hopped off before making his way towards the other side of the bar.
"Coming to meet me won't be necessary; I'm not going to stay long," he said as he approached the window. He stopped at it and looked out. "I'll be home soon."
He looked quickly over his shoulder at Cade while thinking he needed to give Wilson a reason for why he was at the bar, and why Wilson didn't need to come and meet him here. "I, uh," he faced back to the window and lowered his head, as though to make the conversation more private, "I had a talk with Cuddy today. You know how it is. I just need to unwind on my own for a bit before heading home."
At least that wasn't a complete lie. And he knew Wilson would get why talking to Cuddy would be awkward and tense, especially after the evening they had the night before. He just hoped Wilson would settle for that reason.
"Might stay for another beer, and then I'll head off." He paused. "You can come over later if you want. Unless you want me to swing by your place."
Reply
Hearing that House had spoken to Cuddy was a good thing, as well as a slightly uncomfortable subject. It was promising that House had spoken with her, though. Hopefully that meant something. It was her birthday...maybe her and House had finally smoothed things over for good. Maybe that meant that coming home wasn't going to be as impossible for House as expected.
Then again, if House needed to unwind on his own in a bar, maybe their conversation hadn't gone well. It didn't occur to Wilson to find the wording 'won't be necessary' a bit odd, not in light of Cuddy. Of course House would be tense after something like that. If House did want to come over for dinner in a while, then Wilson could assess the situation a bit better. Something was still scratching at the back of his mind, though. He wasn't sure what it was. Probably just concern.
"Everything's okay, right?" he asked lightly, trying to inquire as subtly as possible without pressing too far. It wasn't as if House didn't have a beer or two commonly...there was just something in his tone that compelled Wilson to ask.
Reply
He wasn't sure if he detected uncertainty in Wilson's voice, or if he was just imagining it. Maybe it wasn't uncertainty - just disappointment that he told Wilson not to meet him here. Maybe... maybe he was reading into it way too much. Because Wilson didn't question him, so everything was okay.
Right then, Wilson asked him exactly that, which caught House a little off guard. "Yeah," he said. He relaxed a little and smiled slightly into the phone. "Yeah, everything's okay." We're okay, he was thinking, though he didn't say that.
"I'll see you tonight," he continued, turning around so his back was facing the window. "In about an hour." He paused and felt a sudden compulsion to say I love you, just to assure Wilson everything was okay. He bit it back. "I'll bring back something to watch."
Reply
He adjusted the phone to switch hands and hold it against his other ear, lifting his arm until the sleeve of his coat pulled back enough for him to see his watch. "I, uh," Wilson licked his lips. "I'll see you then."
Oh, everything was okay. Loosen up, Wilson told himself. He rolled his eyes and scratched his face. Too many seconds had passed now, though, and saying the stupid three words would make it sound like he'd hesitated to say them and-- Loosen up, damnit.
"Pick a good movie, huh? In spite of your alien mood, SciFi's midnight specials don't mix well with linguini," he teased, the smile returning slightly. When he spoke again, his voice was a bit quieter. "Love you."
Reply
House looked down at Wilson's last words, feeling a pang of guilt. He quickly pushed it aside and upturned the corner of his mouth in a small smile. "Same," he replied quietly. He paused and then looked back up, adding in a normal tone, "See you soon."
He pulled the phone from his ear and snapped it shut. He looked back towards Cade and hesitated before heading back towards his seat, digging his phone back into his pocket.
Reply
That House had ended up moving away down the bar combined with the looks Cade had noticed being shot back at him made him even more curious about whether or not that had been Wilson on the phone - and, if so, what the conversation had been about. And why hadn’t House mentioned who he was with? He hadn’t exactly lied about it, but he’d certainly omitted the truth too.
“Was that Dr Wilson?” Cade asked, mainly just to see how House would answer.
Reply
He lifted his beer to his mouth and paused at Cade's question. How best to answer that... If he answered yes, then Cade might ask questions. If he said no, then Cade still might ask questions. He took a long pull from his beer to stall for time, then set the bottle back down onto the bar. He glanced up in time to see the bar girl walk past, flashing him another smile.
He didn't return the smile, but he followed her with his eyes before looking down to his beer. "That's none of your business," he finally said.
Reply
Pulling back, Cade clapped his hand over his heart. “Oh, the pain I must endure.” Dropping the act, Cade smirked at House. “So…where were we? Oh, I remember. You were telling me that you pay for sex.” Cade gave House an obvious appraising look. “A man like you eh? I wouldn’t think you’d need to pay for it.”
Not waiting for an answer, Cade stretched a little and went on. “I guess I’m a little old fashioned or something because I need there to be some attraction with a sexual partner, paid for or not.”
Reply
"I like to remain mysterious," he replied when Cade moved back from him. "Way more interesting that way."
He went to take another sip of his beer and faltered yet again as Cade brought the conversation back around to sex. He wondered to himself why Cade was so interested - not having the great self image, he wasn't always aware that people showed interest in him. He also wasn't very comfortable with people making it obvious that they found him attractive, because he didn't know what there was to find attractive in the first place. He drank his beer and set the bottle, snorting at Cade's remark about House not needing to pay for sex, in spite of himself.
He then looked across at Cade and caught sight of him stretching and House dropped his eyes to Cade's chest without thinking. It wasn't until he realised what he was doing that he quickly looked away.
"When did I say I pay for it?" he countered. "For all you know, I could've been merely pointing out that some people pay for sex. I could be, as you call it, 'old fashioned', for all you know." He paused. "Then again, maybe you assumed correctly."
Reply
Cade didn’t go on to say that he thought House should do better, if he was in fact in the habit of paying for sex, figuring that to be too far over a boundary, considering they didn’t know each other that well. “You know…I didn’t actually invite you out to talk about sex. Or…to get into your pants,” Cade said, smirking slightly. At least, you’re pretty sure you didn’t, he amended to himself privately.
“You may like being mysterious, but the more mysterious you are the more I want to know about you,” Cade said. “You were all over me last time about why I’m a nurse, so how about telling me why you’re a doctor?”
Reply
He shot Cade a look when he then said about getting into House's pants. Because he now knew Cade was bisexual, he couldn't tell if Cade was being serious or not. Surely not. Why the hell would Cade want to get into his pants? Cade was, what - late twenties, and House was almost fifty. And as far as House was concerned, he wasn't even very good looking, didn't have much going for him, so why would Cade even consider him if he was being serious?
House abruptly looked away. Why was he even thinking about Cade getting into his pants? Curiosity, just like those other times he'd considered what sex with another man would be like. Cade was making it very hard for him not to wonder what that would be like. He quickly sculled back the last of his beer and set it down, pushing it away from himself.
"You were the one who wanted to know what my opinion was on age differences when it comes to people choosing sexual partners," he pointed out, ignoring Cade's question about why he was a doctor for the moment.
He looked up when the bar girl took the bottle. She asked if he wanted another beer; he nodded, then looked back to Cade.
"Strange thing to ask. Especially if you're not interested in getting into my pants. Which begs the question, why did you invite me out?"
He held Cade's gaze for moment, trying to will himself not to freak out at how bold he was being about this. The bar girl placed a fresh bottle of beer in front of him, which he gratefully took into his hand and after he slipped her some money for it, he drew the bottle towards him.
"But sure, let's talk about why I became a doctor," he continued, his tone a little sarcastic. "We'll start off by talking about how fascinating the human body is."
Reply
When House looked away Cade breathed in deeply before letting the air back out slowly. The next thing House said didn’t exactly take the pressure off. Glancing at House, Cade rubbed a hand over his mouth, trying to decide if he should continue pursuing his question or answer House’s question. He finally decided on the latter, figuring he might learn more about House that way.
“Technically, I didn’t say I wasn’t interested in getting into your pants. I said I didn’t invite you here to get into your pants,” Cade said, keeping his voice even. He then looked over at House, his expression betraying nothing before he suddenly smirked. “Which is not to say I am interested… Hey, you don’t give me a straight answer, I won’t give you one.”
Reply
He drew in a deep breath and let it out quietly to control his nervousness, and then looked back to Cade. Determined to try and remain calm, he smirked slightly at Cade.
"The fact that you completely ignored my comment about being a doctor says to me that maybe you are interested. Because if you were so interested in getting to know me, you wouldn't just concern yourself with pointing out the technicalities of what you said about getting into my pants."
He looked away and took a sip of his beer, and then looked back to Cade again. "But if you want to talk technically, then technically I don't have to give you a straight answer about anything if you're not going to return the favour." He smirked at Cade again. "I like playing hard to get."
Reply
He rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to work what on earth House had said before his last comment. “I’m not sure I follow your reasoning’s. Remember, I have a simple, shallow mind and I think your complex ideas go waaay over my head.”
Cade paused a moment to drink his beer. “I think you just walked yourself into a wall though, because if you were completely turned off of the idea of me being interested in you, you would have just blown me off and have been done with it.” Cade set his beer down and looked over at House critically. “So…something’s got you interested.”
Reply
He shifted on his stool and fought back another twist of nervousness as he raised his beer to his mouth. "Who said I was turned off? You make a lot of assumptions."
He took a long pull from his beer and then placed it back down. "Then again, who said I was interested? Maybe I'm just very open-minded."
Reply
“How open minded are you?” Cade asked, raising his eyebrows. “Open minded enough to flirt with another man, maybe. But are you open minded in the sense you might kiss a man…sleep with one?” Cade paused for a moment, looking down at House’s hand on his beer and smiled a little.
“Or…are you just trying to mess with me? I think you,” Cade gestured at House with his beer, “like messing with people. Winding them up, seeing what makes them tick…that kind of thing. You say human bodies are interesting but…you seem more interested in human minds. Maybe you should have been a psychiatrist.”
Reply
Leave a comment