Curiosity killing the cat, maybe?

[dr_gregoryhouse]

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.

Comments

[dr_gregoryhouse]

House shifted uncomfortably on his stool and picked up a drink coaster to start fiddling with it. He really didn't like having it pointed out that, yes, it freaked him out. He liked to think he wasn't being obvious that it did, but Cade observing point-blank that he was in fact freaked out made House aware that he was being obvious.

This gave him even greater incentive to not want to talk about it and for what felt like the hundredth time in the last five minutes to House, he looked at his watch again. He should probably make a move soon, get home to Wilson and pretend he never did this coming to the bar thing. Just thinking about Wilson made House feel another stab of guilt that he'd lied to Wilson about being here in the bar on his own.

He looked across at Cade incredulously when Cade asked if he'd talked to anyone else about it. Well, sure, he'd talked to Cuddy about it... sort of. Very uncomfortably. Before that whole threesome thing with himself and Wilson and her--

House felt suddenly caught off guard when Cade asked if he'd talked to Wilson about it. Wilson seemed open minded? Cade had no idea. House quickly looked away, down at the coaster in his hand, and realised he was tapping it anxiously on the bar. He stopped and laid the coaster down before clasping his hands together to stop himself from fiddling with something else.

He had no idea how to answer Cade's question about Wilson. He ran his tongue over his top lip and quickly glanced at his watch again. "He, uh, he sort of knows," House lied, unclasping his hands to reach up and scratch the back of his head. "Might've mentioned a thing or two. I didn't go into much detail."

[caden_walker]

“Well maybe you should go into more detail,’ Cade suggested. “Talking about it more means he has more of a chance to help you…not to mention make you more comfortable with it.”

Cade leaned in a little closer to House so no one would overhear him. “Tell me, are you more put off by the idea that you might be attracted to men, or that finding yourself attracted to men…or a man…means that you might not know yourself as well as you once thought? Because, judging from what I know about you so far - though admittedly that’s not much - I wouldn’t think you’d be that hung up about sexuality categories…distinctions…whatever. But…maybe you are someone who really doesn’t like the idea that they don’t know themselves all that well.”

Cade shrugged and then smiled, wanting to lighten things up a little. “Because…hey, if you find yourself attracted to men after being attracted to only women, who knows what else you might be capable of, right? Rescuing kittens from trees? Helping grandmas across roads? That sounds like your kind of nightmare.”

[dr_gregoryhouse]

The way Cade kept on about Wilson, House felt like he had a sign stapled to his head that read 'Wilson is my partner'. Not to mention the fact that he was extremely paranoid that he might accidentally let slip about Wilson's sexuality, too. It was difficult not to think about that when Cade made suggestions about talking to Wilson about his sexuality issues.

He darted his eyes at Cade when Cade leaned in closer to him, then relaxed when he realised Cade wasn't trying to pull a move on him. God, get a grip, he chided himself. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he thought about Cade's question. Not that Cade gave him a chance to reply; House snorted at what Cade then said next, relaxing a little at the lightened tone of the subject.

"Yeah, and doing camp things like wearing aprons in the kitchen and walking around with a daintily limp wrist," he replied dryly. He sobered again, picking up the coaster once more to study it closely with his elbows resting on the bar.

"I'm not hung up about sexuality," he said after a pause, frowning down at the coaster. "Just never expected it to be a personal issue."

[caden_walker]

“Nothing wrong with being camp,” Cade said, smiling. His expression then became more serious as he took in House’s expression. “I guess that is the hard part, the being personal thing. For my part, I just try to roll with the punches in life.” Cade paused a moment, looking away with a slightly distant expression on his face. “Not that it’s easy to do that. I’ve fallen in the gutter before…almost literally.”

Looking back at House, Cade smiled again, back to his jovial self. “You’ve just gotta learn to accept it I guess. Agonising over it for months…or years…is not going to get you anywhere is it? Trust me, there are much worse things that you could have realised about yourself.” Cade nudged House’s knee with his own. “Look at the bright side, you haven’t suddenly felt the need to accept Jesus into your heart or realised a desire to take up ballet. Being attracted to men…not the shittiest thing to happen, even though it might feel like it for a while.”

[dr_gregoryhouse]

House lightly tapped the edge of the coaster on the bar as Cade talked, raising his brows when Cade said he'd almost literally fallen in the gutter before. He glanced across at him curiously, wondering when that had happened and why, and who caused that to happen. Some ass who had a huge hang up about homosexuality, perhaps?

Even though he was just speculating, he couldn't help the brief stab of anger that clenched his stomach; that some moron would have that much of a hang up about anything remotely gay that they'd feel an irrational need to rough a guy up.

He met Cade's eyes when Cade looked back at him again, though he didn't return the smile. He dropped his eyes to Cade's knee when he felt it nudging against his own. Cade was right about the fact that agonising wasn't going to get him very far. House knew that himself. He just couldn't seem to get past the agonising part itself. The things that had happened between Wilson, Cuddy and himself certainly hadn't helped in that department.

He snorted quietly when Cade joked that at least he hadn't accepted Jesus. "I'd be a little hard-pressed for doing ballet, even if I wanted to," he replied, glancing pointedly at his cane. "And as for accepting Jesus: to you, I'm an atheist, but to God I'd be the Loyal Opposition."

House then sobered, falling silent as he thought over everything else Cade had said. Cade made it sound so easy. He sighed, then looked across at Cade once more and studied his face. Not for the first time, House suddenly wondered what it would be like to kiss another man that wasn't Wilson. Or sleep with another man that wasn't Wilson.

[caden_walker]

There was something in House’s almost assessing gaze that had Cade intrigued. He returned the look and one of his eyebrows raised a little promptingly. Was House working up to asking him something? Or was this something else? When the silence stretched, Cade gueesed it was his turn to say something after all.

“The Loyal Opposition, I like that. Has a nice ring to it.” Cade smiled and rolled his shoulders to loosen them. “Well,” he said, looking at House again, “I don’t know about you but I’m getting hungry. And unless you want to turn this into a dinner date, maybe we should call it a night.”

The idea of having dinner with House was both disconcerting and interesting. It seemed pointless to wonder about it however, because Cade was pretty sure House would agree to a punch in the face before he agreed to have dinner with him.

[dr_gregoryhouse]

House frowned slightly as Cade returned the assessing look. His thoughts of what it would be like to kiss another man made his eyes be drawn to Cade's mouth. Would he get the same rush he got when he kissed Wilson? Would Cade's lips feel the way Wilson's did? Would he find himself aroused, or...?

He only realised how long he'd been looking when Cade finally spoke. He turned his attention to his beer bottle quickly, suddenly paranoid that Cade had been able to tell what had been going through his mind. He tried to shrug off his unease as Cade went on to say about calling it a night.

"Unless I want it to turn into a dinner date?" he asked, making certain he sounded a lot more casual than he felt. "I like it when people let things happen on my terms."

He reached for his cane and glanced at his watch. He said he'd be home to Wilson soon, so even if he was interested in hanging out with Cade longer, he couldn't. It occurred to him that he wasn't actually too opposed to the idea of spending more time with Cade. He frowned at himself. What did that mean? He was going insane, or he was just curious enough about other men to want to hang out with Cade more? Or maybe he was attracted to Cade?

House quickly shook that last thought off. Wow, that thought surprised him. And made him feel instantly confused. He was attracted because he was curious or because he was actually attracted? Or...?

"I, uh, I got to go, anyway," he added distractedly as he slid off the stool.

[caden_walker]

"Yeah, okay," Cade said, frowning a little as he picked up on House's sudden withdrawal, unable to understand what had caused it. He stood up himself and picked up his backpack. "I expect we'll run into each other again, whether you like it or not," he added, almost defiantly and smirked a little. "Some people call it a gift, that I manage to end up where ever people want me the least."

Cade put on a mock-thoughtful expression as he looked off to the side. "Wait, maybe what they said was 'curse'."