[FIC] Two-Faced, PG-13, YGO/HMD, 2/?
TITLE: Two-Faced
AUTHOR: Phate_Phoenix (Phate)
PAIRING: House/Wilson (eventually), Tendershipping (if you’re really looking for it)
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: Crossover with Yu-Gi-Oh! and House M.D.
SUMMARY: Ryou Bakura thought it was only the flu. He was wrong. Now House and his team must figure out what is ailing the young Duelist, while trying to figure out if Ryou’s strange, and sometimes violent, mood-swings are part of his symptoms or something else entirely…
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or House M.D.
NOTES: Chapter Two. :D Enjoy!
Timeline for House MD: After ‘THE GREATER GOOD’, before ‘UNFAITHFUL’
Timeline for YGO: After Battle City, sometime during the Dragons Arc. Gets rather ‘AU’ from there.
--
Chapter Two: Inquisitive Interns
House was standing by the whiteboard, leaning on his cane, as the rest of his team came into the conference room. He was drumming his fingers across the top of the light-colored wood, staring out the glass walls behind them and into the hallway instead of at his actual team. Taub and Kutner looked at one another as they walked into the room before taking a seat. Thirteen was staring hard at the board, raising her eyebrows. House had already written on it, large black letters splashed across its surface:
MUSCLE ACHES
DRY COUGH
SWOLLEN LYMPH NODES
FEVER
LOSS OF APPETITE
MUSCLE WEAKNESS
House limped to his chair. “Sixteen year old male came into the clinic this morning, complaining of the flu,” he said, pushing the file across the table and towards Thirteen. “As he was leaving, his leg gave out on him.” He sat down, tossing his cane onto the table with a loud clattering noise. “Any suggestions?” House grinned. “Besides kicking him. Did that, he feels pain.”
Taub stared at him. “You kicked a patient?”
House waved him off. “I figured caning him was too harsh. Suggestions?”
Kutner blinked at the board, but it was Foreman who gave House an annoyed and bored look. “The flu?” he said, eyebrow arching. “It fits all the symptoms, including muscle weakness.” Foreman took the folder from Thirteen, scanning it. “You just like this case because the kid has albinism.”
Kutner perked up at that, leaning forward in his chair. “Seriously? I've never seen an albino before,” he said. Foreman glared at him over the top of the file.
“He isn't a zoo animal.”
Kutner flushed. “I know,” he grumbled. “I'm just saying….”
Foreman ignored Kutner, and House ignored Foreman. Instead, he turned to the rest of the group, scowling at them. “Someone has to have an idea for what could cause this.”
Thirteen frowned at the board, shaking her head slightly. “I don't see anything strange or weird here,” she admitted, turning to House. “It just looks like a really bad case of the flu.”
House scowled at her. “He gave you a brain tumor, and you agree with him?” Thirteen blinked at him blankly. House leered at Foreman. “You must be really good, huh?”
Foreman just rolled his eyes, and House looked over at Taub and Kutner, raising an eyebrow at them. The two looked at each other, and then Kutner shrugged lightly. “Could be Brucellosis…?”
House grinned, leaning back in his chair. “There we go. Taubner go test for Brucellosis. Foreteen, go take some samples to test for Influenza.”
Taub and Kutner stared at House while Thirteen and Foreman walked away, smirking at one another. Taub gestured between himself and the man beside him. “We're not… I mean… you can't call us that!”
House gave him a bewildered look. “But everybody's doing it!”
Wilson chose that moment to walk into the room, holding two cups of coffee. Kutner grinned at Taub as the oncologist gave House one of the two Styrofoam cups. “C'mon,” the sports medicine specialist said, “let's leave Houson to their coffee date.”
Taub smirked and then winked at the two department heads, causing Wilson to choke on his coffee while House poked his cane at Taub. “Get out of our portmanteau!”
Kutner and Taub snickered and left the room, taking the forgotten file with them. Kutner began to leaf through the different pieces of paper. He paused, reading something over.
“Hey, listen to this!” he said, nudging Taub. The plastic surgeon leaned over a bit, and Kutner ran his finger down a paragraph. “This kid has been in the hospital three times in the past two years. The log says that all but one were accidents of sorts- the one was a mugging- but some of the doctors felt these could be self-inflicted wounds.”
Taub pulled the file from him, and then glanced over at Kutner. “You thinking Munchausen syndrome?”
Kutner shrugged, pausing a few feet from the door. “Maybe, but the kid could just have some seriously rotten luck.”
“Hmm,” was all Taub said. Just as they were about to go in, Thirteen and Foremen slipped out, holding their test samples in their hands. Thirteen frowned at them and came closer, Foreman following along.
“Well, his leg is somewhat better now,” she said, sounding dubious. She then leaned forward, looking from side to side to ensure no one could hear them. “We think it might be-”
“Munchausen?” Taub said, raising an eyebrow. Foreman nodded, and Kutner shook the file in his hands.
“We got that, too.”
Foreman looked at where a few nurses were stationed and nodded at them. “I've asked a few nurses to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't do something to himself.”
Kutner frowned. “You think he would?”
Foreman shrugged one shoulder. “If it means people pay attention to him more, then yes.”
Foreman and Thirteen then walked around Taub and Kutner, leaving the two to deal with the possibly-mental patient. Unable to waste any more time, the two slid into the hospital room. On the bed was their white-haired patient, sorting through a large stack of vividly colored cards. His father, meanwhile, was on the other side of the room on a brown-colored laptop. He had headphones on and a notepad and pen on his thigh. Taub cleared his throat, and Ryou looked up at him, his hands stilling. He smiled at him, setting the deck of cards onto the bedside table.
“Oh, hello,” he said. “You must be the other two doctors that Doctor Foreman and Doctor Hadley spoke of.”
Kutner blinked a few times before he smiled. “Oh, you mean Thirteen.” At Ryou's confused look, he explained. “We call Doctor Hadley 'Thirteen'.”
Ryou smiled at him, nodding. “Interesting nickname.”
Kutner snickered as Taub went to ready a needle to draw blood. “Story behind it is even better,” Kutner said. “I'm Doctor Kutner and this is Doctor Taub.” Taub gave the teen a slight wave as he inspected a needle he was holding. Kutner smiled at Ryou. “We're going to need some blood to test you for Brucellosis, so it you could hold out your arm….”
Ryou willingly extended his left arm to them while his right picked up the deck again. He laid the deck on his leg and picked cards off the top, looking at them and then setting them aside. Taub watched him for a few minutes as he readied Ryou's arm.
“What's that?” Ryou glanced over at him before returning to the cards.
“It's Duel Monsters,” Ryou explained. “It used to be quite popular here in America.”
Taub nodded. “There's going to be a slight pinch, so be ready.” Ryou winced as the needle went in, but otherwise appeared fine.
Kutner's eyes widened. “I remember that game. It's actually really popular still, just with the younger crowd. I used to play while I was in college.”
Taub snickered. “You are such a nerd.”
Kutner frowned at him. “It was made in America,” he said, trying to justify it, “by a guy named Pegasus Crawford.”
Ryou went still, staring hard at the card in his hand. On its surface was a brown creature with short, sharp fangs. Across the top read 'Man-Eater Bug'. Taub looked up at Kutner. “I heard he was murdered.”
“Yeah,” Kutner said, “during his last tournament. Some sicko pulled his fake eye out of his head and killed him. They never found who did it.”
Ryou made a soft, sickly noise and he placed the card at the bottom of the pile. Taub looked over at him. “Something wrong?”
Ryou shook his head, and reshuffled his deck. “I… I was there when that happened,” Ryou said, shivering. “It's not a fond memory.”
Taub looked up at Ryou and then glanced over to where Ryou's father sat, oblivious to everything except his computer. Kutner raised an eyebrow. “You play competitively?”
Ryou blinked, but looked relieved that they weren't going to talk about it. “Um, yes,” he said. “I was in the Battle City Tournament in Japan a few weeks ago.”
Taub looked up briefly from his work. “I heard about that. You were up in a blimp, right?” Ryou nodded, and Taub went back to the blood. “Your disappearance was all over the news. Seemed like you dropped off the radar.”
Ryou nodded. “Seto Kaiba had some gadgets to keep people from tracking us. Of course, then the pilots became lost in the fog, so we drifted around for awhile. Some of the equipment shorted out during a duel. I managed to electrocute myself. I think it's in my file.”
Kutner nodded, paging through the file again. “Yeah, and you were out for awhile afterward. You ever get looked at for that?”
Ryou shrugged, setting another card down and grouped three of them together. “I was fine until I got here,” Ryou said simply. He looked over at where his father was scribbling onto the pad of paper. “Father wanted us to see a new Egyptian exhibit opening up in New Jersey, so we came.”
Taub and Kutner looked at one another before going back to work. Kutner flipped through the file again. “And the mugging that happened before?”
Ryou winced, glancing at his left arm. “I don't remember much of what happened with that…” he admitted quietly. “The doctors said it was because of the trauma.”
Kutner watched as Ryou's eyes narrowed slightly, and his nose twitched. He made a mental note of it, and turned toward Taub, who had finished drawing blood. Taub, too, had an intrigued look on his face. Once Ryou was bandaged, the two doctors left the room as fast as possible. Kutner stared at Taub for a moment.
“He had a perfect reason to go to any hospital and complain of head trauma, or a concussion, or something after being unconscious for that long. If he has Munchausen, wouldn't he have gone?”
Taub frowned, staring at the vials in his hands. “I don't know,” he responded finally, “but at least we'll have some answers from this.”
--
Chase, being a surgeon, felt both relieved and stressed that he was dating in the field. On one hand, he had someone who understood the crappy hours and the medical terms he used when he described his day. On the other hand, it meant he couldn't really escape her, not completely. Cameron had asked that he meet her in the doctor's lounge for lunch, and while Chase was glad to do it, it was becoming quite… suffocating.
However, before his mind could stray much further, a flash of white hit his eyes, and the blond turned and stared. Walking cautiously through the hallway, pulling along a wheeled IV stand, was House's albino patient. News of Ryou Bakura had swept through the hospital- House was right, albinos were rare and always a sight in their hallways. Chase watched Ryou for a few moments, and quirked an eyebrow when the brown-eyed teen stopped at the window at the far end of the hallway and tapped lightly on the glass. Then the teen tapped the glass a bit harder, eyebrows furrowing. Chase frowned and stepped forward.
“Uh… Ryou?”
The white-haired teen turned and looked at him, and Chase felt a chill roll through his body. Those brown eyes were narrow and calculating, nothing like the kind, smiling teen he had heard about. Then he blinked, and Ryou's eyes were wide, bright, and curious. Ryou smiled at him.
“Hello,” the white-haired teen said, nodding. The blond doctor felt his mind reeling from the suddenness of the change in Ryou, but continued speaking.
“You're Doctor House's patient, right?” the surgeon asked, and Ryou nodded. Chase exhaled. “You're not supposed to leave your room without permission.”
The sudden darkening of Ryou's eyes made Chase's mind reel again, and then they brightened, altered, shifted to something less dangerous- what was up with this kid? “I asked Father,” was the soft reply. Chase felt like he was missing something from the conversation, but ignored it.
“Permission from your doctors,” Chase emphasized, and a spark of humor flitted through Ryou's eyes. The teen nodded.
“Oh, I'm sorry,” he said, nodding his head. “I'll head back now.”
The blond Australian wasn't sure if he should believe him. “I'll lead you there. You have spontaneous muscle weakness, right?”
Ryou nodded, tightening his grip on the wheeling IV stand. “Yes. Thank you.”
Chase led the way back towards the hospital rooms, his back stiff and goose bumps on his arms. There was something so very off about Ryou, something that he couldn't explain. He couldn't get those eyes out of his head. The way he had first looked at Chase reminded him of an animal looking for prey.
He glanced back at Ryou to see the boy glowering at the floor, grinding his teeth. Realizing he was under scrutiny, the white-haired teen looked up, brown eyes wide and soft. “Oh, um,” Ryou said awkwardly, “you never said what your name was…?”
Chase blinked, and slowed to walk beside him. “Doctor Chase.”
Ryou smiled at him. “Pleasure to meet you, Doctor Chase.”
Chase merely smiled and nodded, all the while feeling like he had just met a completely different person….