Picture Puzzles Part 8
Title: Picture Puzzles Part 8/?
Rating: NC-17
Paring/Grouping (whatever you want to call it): House/Wilson/Chase
Disclaimer: Don't own them, as we all know.
Summary: House worried can be both good and bad.
Warnings: Mention of abuse in the past to more than one character.
Beta:
recrudescence
(Part 7)
****
House woke abruptly as something landed on his chest. Holding still, House opened his eyes and smiled at the sight beside him. Sometime after the last time he’d fallen asleep, Wilson had migrated from where House had last seen him to lying across Chase with his head on the young man’s chest and his hand on House’s chest.
That didn’t surprise House nearly as much as the fact that his arm was curled around Chase’s head, causing the young fellow’s shoulder to be bunched up against House’s side. Chase’s face was wedged against his shoulder and side. God, that has to be uncomfortable. House used his right hand to push on Chase’s head until the younger man shifted enough for his face to be visible and his neck to be at a better angle. Chase made a small noise, nuzzled against House, and went still.
House stroked the back of Wilson’s hand lightly as he stared at the ceiling in the low light coming from the bathroom. I’m going to have to find time to talk to Cuddy. I need to make sure she hears about this from us and not someone else. Not that she’ll believe me. Oh, that’ll be fun. House checked the clock and decided it was time to wake everyone up.
House slowly pulled himself away from the others. Once he was free, House carefully reached between them and lightly groped Wilson. The sleeping man moaned softly and began to lazily hump Chase. House encouraged the motions, being careful not to wake either of them. Once Wilson was too far gone to stop, House stepped away and watched.
As Wilson started to grunt and his movements sped up, Chase’s eyes popped open and immediately locked with House’s.
"Bugger."
House smiled at him. "Looks like rutting to me."
Chase barely resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at House as he tangled his hands in Wilson’s hair. He gently pulled Wilson’s face from his chest. "Bloody hell, he’s still asleep."
House snorted. "Oh, yeah. He’ll sleep right through his climax if you let him."
Chase pulled one hand free and reached down to grasp Wilson’s ass and urge him closer. Then he began to match Wilson’s thrusts with a roll of his hips. "And…how do you know…this?"
House edged closer. "He has spent time on my couch, Chase. He gets loud."
Wilson made a humming sound and started thrusting harder, as if to prove House’s statement.
"Yeah, I see that. I’m going to wake him, okay?"
House came closer and slipped a his right hand under the back waistband of Wilson’s sweats. "Let me."
"Sure." Chase moved his hold to Wilson’s hip to give House plenty of room. "Tell me what you’re doing, please. I can’t see through cloth."
House glanced at Chase and then down at Wilson. "I’m easing my finger into him and then…"
Chase could tell when House hit Wilson’s prostate. Wilson jerked, bit Chase’s chest, and came with a muffled groan.
"Oh, good God."
House pulled his hand free and flipped Wilson over onto his back beside Chase. "Thought we’d had that discussion." House slipped his left hand into the front of Wilson’s sweats and firmly pumped the other man’s softening cock for a few strokes.
Wilson arched and gave a short wail before slumping back down. House pulled his left hand free and offered his messy fingers to Chase.
"Breakfast, Chase?"
Chase grinned and licked House’s fingers clean slowly. House’s breathing started to catch. Chase quickly pulled back. "Is that all I get, then?"
House palmed Chase’s erection. "We’ll just save this for later. Wilson’s making eggs this morning."
Chase glanced over at the dazed man. "Yeah, right. You broke him." Chase looked back at House. "I could make breakfast."
House frowned, then brightened. "No burning the place down."
Chase nodded. "Sure. I’ll just ooze him out of bed, then?"
House glanced at the clock and nodded. "Yeah." House limped around to Wilson’s side of the bed. "Have a good dream?"
Wilson peered up at him with one eye. "Shut up, House."
House laughed as he headed for the living room.
****
Chase let the other two pull away from him as they walked into the hospital. They walked side by side, nearly bumping shoulders, House’s cane clicking on the pavement with every stride. Suddenly House swung around to face him.
"Get your stranded-by-your-death-trap-ass up here, Chase."
Chase scurried to catch up. "Sorry. Just thought you’d want to walk in separately."
"If I wanted separately we’d have brought different cars." House jabbed towards Chase with his cane. "You buy lunch today since the object used in our lame excuse for coming in together is your car."
Chase nodded. "Fine. Are we ever telling anyone?"
Wilson turned to look at House. "We should tell Cuddy at some point. Everybody else can just fend for themselves."
"I get to tell Cuddy."
"House, she’s not going to believe you."
House grinned. "I know. Want to bet on how long Cameron takes to notice Chase’s marks?"
Chase rubbed at his neck through the fabric of his turtleneck. Wilson reached around House to touch Chase’s arm.
"You okay with Cuddy knowing?"
"I suppose. Don’t want Foreman or Cameron to know yet."
House grimaced as he pulled open the door for the others before they could get to it. "They don’t need to ever know." House started to cross the lobby until he saw Cuddy approaching. "Oh, speak of the evil dictator and she appears."
"Need I remind you of our agreement, House?"
"Seeing as you just did, no, not really." House grabbed Cuddy by the arm and pulled her closer to stand by Wilson and Chase. Cuddy looked down at her arm and back up at House with shock. "I have something to tell you, boss." House dropped his voice, making sure that only the other four were close enough to hear. "No shit. Last night, there I was telling Wilson how to open up Chase to screw him."
Cuddy’s mouth dropped open. Wilson buried his eyes in his hand. Chase flushed and stared at his feet. House quickly pulled a camera from his pocket and snapped a picture of the other three.
"Just wanted you to know why we’ll be asking for time off to go places in the future." House turned and limped away at top speed.
Cuddy blinked and stared at his retreat for a moment before turning on Wilson and Chase. "Was he lying? Please, tell me he was lying!"
Wilson kept his eyes covered as he shook his head.
"Never mind. It’s just one of his mind games. I’m sorry he has included you in this, Chase." Cuddy turned on her heel and headed for her office, muttering under her breath about where she might have put her antacids.
Wilson grabbed Chase by the arm and led him into the elevator. "I can’t believe he did that. No, wait, yes, I can. He’s so dead."
Chase leaned back into a corner of the elevator car. "Why? We agreed to tell her."
Wilson thumped his head against the wall. "Not in the middle of the lobby."
"At least it wasn’t shouted."
"Very true." Wilson turned to face Chase. "Has he told you what you are doing this morning?"
"Nah. I was going check around for a case, but that can wait if you need something."
Wilson nodded and led Chase down the hall and into his office. Letting Chase choose a seat, Wilson locked his door and crossed to lock the balcony door as well.
"House has this tendency to just barge in and I don’t want him overhearing."
Chase nodded. "What’s wrong?"
Wilson dropped into the chair opposite the younger man. "Nothing, really. When House was talking about his piano teacher he mentioned something about your mother."
Chase ducked his head. "Yeah. I don’t play piano anymore because she held me against the keyboard and screamed in my ear."
Wilson nodded. "Okay. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I need help figuring out something else House said. You didn’t seem surprised by the jello being mentioned alongside the rest of it. Why?"
Chase picked at the cuff of his sleeve. "With my piano tutor it was cookies. She’d run lessons very close together and usually was running late. She’d give me three cookies and have me sit on the waiting bench just outside of the piano room until she was done with the lesson ahead of me. Sometimes I sat with the child ahead of me while she finished up with the one ahead of him because she was running so late. We weren’t to talk, ever. With his teacher it was jello. And if his teacher’s house was like my tutor’s flat he could hear every whisper from the piano room."
"Oh." Wilson’s eyes widened. "Oh, shit."
Chase nodded, then he cocked his head and looked thoughtful. "You missed it because you were asleep, but he hid in the bathroom last night for a long time before coming to bed."
"Well, I suppose it could have been worse." Wilson rubbed his face with his hands. "I don’t think I’m going to be able to meet House’s dad again without punching him."
Chase shook his head. "Won’t help. It has happened, you can’t change that. The best you can do is give him room to run and hide, don’t make a fuss when he comes back, and don’t reject anything he tries even if you think he’s going too fast."
Wilson nodded. "Thanks for the pep talk." Glancing at the clock, Wilson’s eyebrows rose. "Crap. I’ve patients soon." Wilson rose and placed a quick kiss on Chase’s cheek. "Go give your co-workers a good scare."
Chase blinked and broke into a grin before unlocking Wilson’s door and heading off in search of coffee.
****
House watched through the glass wall as Chase came into the Diagnostics lounge. Foreman didn’t seem to even notice Chase’s arrival except for what looked like a muttered greeting between the two. Cameron handed Chase coffee. Hazelnut, no less; bet he hates it as much as I do. Chase sat down and Cameron started to turn away, before turning back and asking Chase something.
Chase shook his head and pulled out his crossword book. As Cameron turned towards him, House decided from her expression that she’d only asked him if he felt all right. House kept an eye on his fellows as he worked his way through every website on colorblindness he could find.
****
House swung his leg over onto Wilson’s balcony and sighed. God, I don’t want to have this conversation. House checked the office for intruders before going in and dropping into his normal chair.
"Hey."
Wilson glanced up and grinned. "Hey. Going to lunch with Chase today, I hear. You going to make him pay?"
"Yeah, he’s paying for you, too." House leaned forward and cupped his mouth with one hand as though imparting a huge secret. "He’s rich, you know."
Wilson laughed. "You know that for sure?"
House stood up and crossed to the other side of the office. "Actually, I have no idea. He dumped a huge amount of what he was left into charities a while back. I don’t know how much or even how much of the whole it was."
Wilson frowned. "Then how do you know about it at all?"
House turned at smirked at him. "Evidently, the IRS frowns on a couple of million dollars moving all at once. I pretended to be Chase on the phone."
Wilson’s eyes widened. "House!"
House smiled and wagged a finger at Wilson. "Calm down, Jimmy, no coronaries for you today. They called to verify he really had a boss. I thought it was funny as hell that they were using the number he provided on his INS forms. Idiots."
Wilson shook his head.
House dropped his head. "James, the ketamine stopped working."
Wilson got up and crossed over to House. "I know. I really want to try you on something else before going back to the Vicodin."
House blinked. "No fighting, no telling me I’m just middle aged?"
"You’re in pain. I know that, House. I just don’t want you to have to be dependant on the Vicodin if we can find something else that helps. How you managed last night is what I don’t know."
"I was way too busy to notice the leg, Wilson. Unless it gets hit or squeezed wrong I can manage just about anything for sex." House leered. "Especially if it means sex with you and Robbie."
Wilson gestured House towards his office door. "Let’s go get Chase for lunch and we’ll talk about medications. We’ll even pretend it’s a case instead of you, if you want."
House followed Wilson out of his office. "No need. Chase got uppity and ordered me to talk to you."
"You can barely get him to hold eye contact when he’s the least bit flustered and you are trying to sell me on ‘uppity?’ You need to rethink your exaggerations."
"Well, it was uppity for him." House rapped on the door to the lounge and motioned at Chase once he looked up.
Chase quickly joined them and they all headed towards the cafeteria.
"So, did Cameron bother you yet?" asked Wilson.
"No, but she watches me like I’m going to explode any moment."
"Well, you could have a time bomb in you, but I doubt it." House led them through the food line.
"She disappeared somewhere earlier. I feel like she’s waiting to ambush me."
House put jello on his tray and started to move down when Wilson plucked it from the tray and exchanged it for cake. "House, jello is disgusting. Just because you’ve fallen into a bad habit doesn’t mean you should stay there. She’s just concerned in her overbearing way, Chase."
House didn’t comment as he moved on to the cashier. House waited until the other two were beside him before telling the cashier, "I’m with the cute one."
Before anyone could question which man he meant, House was halfway to his favorite table.
****
Wilson watched House steal food from his plate and give it to Chase. Chase would then carefully place the food back on Wilson’s plate when House wasn’t looking. I think that chip’s gone around four times. At least the distraction is keeping Robert from noticing how much he’s eating.
Wilson thought everything was going well. Something is going to go wrong. Wilson dug his hand into his own leg under the table. Damn. Now something is sure to happen. He could see Cameron approaching. Abandon all hope. We’re screwed. I can’t believe she’s going to pull this in the middle of a crowd. If House doesn’t kill her, I will.
Cameron stopped beside Chase. "Could I talk to you, Chase?"
Chase looked up from his cake. "What about?"
"In private, please?"
Chase nodded and stood up. "I’ll see you both later, Dr. Wilson, House."
Wilson watched as they threaded their way through the crowd for a moment before turning to House. "I have a bad feeling."
House was already standing. "Yeah, he evokes those in people."
Together they quickly followed the fellows. By they time they rounded the corner and could see the two young people, Chase was visibly shaking, Cameron had hold of his lab coat, and they were yelling. As they approached, Chase started to back away, trying to pull his lab coat free. Cameron suddenly reached up and pulled at the collar of Chase’s turtleneck, exposing some of the dark marks on the right side of his neck. Cameron gasped and nearly screeched Chase’s first name.
Wilson could see it happen before his eyes. He’d missed it in House’s bedroom because he’d been busy yelling at House. He watched, horrified as Chase’s eyes went flat and he seemed to shrink in on himself somehow without ever moving a muscle.
He's frozen. Shit. Wilson quickly stepped around Cameron, leaving her to House's wrath. Stupid girl. Wilson tried to pull Cameron's hand loose, but she was busy yelling at House and wasn't letting go. Finally Wilson simply tore the fabric and flicked the lab coat's collar up to cover as best it could.
Wilson pushed on Chase until he started moving. Muttering nonsense into Chase’s ear as he pushed him along, Wilson headed to his office. It has locks she doesn’t have the keys to.
****
House was beyond rage. He had known Cameron did things without considering the results sometimes, but this was ridiculous. He yelled at her for her stupidity to try to give Wilson time to get Chase away before she noticed what she’d caused.
She screamed back at him. Normally I’d be a little proud of her for fighting for someone’s safety, but I just want to smack her. Shrill voice on her, the twit. House let Wilson have twenty seconds after the elevator door shut before he cut off Cameron’s ranting.
"Go get Dr. Cuddy. Now."
House watched with satisfaction as Cameron blinked and paled. She turned on her heel and quickly scurried away. House headed for Wilson’s office, knowing full well that Wilson would take Chase there.
****
When a teary-eyed Cameron came rushing up to her, Cuddy knew it was all House’s fault. Cuddy listened to Cameron chatter about Chase and him being abused and her first thought was, He’s House’s fellow, of course he’s abused. You are too. Cuddy wasn’t expecting to find House outside of Wilson’s office, grim-faced. Maybe it’s not House’s fault; he’d be looking gleeful.
"What’s going on?"
House ignored her and held out his hand to Cameron. "Give me Chase’s shirt, Cameron."
Cuddy watched, bewildered, as Cameron looked down at her hand and dropped the scrap of fabric as though it burned. House pointed towards Diagnostics and they watched as Cameron disappeared inside.
Only then did House turn to her. "Please, go in there and do not judge what you see or hear. I’m too mad to help Wilson and he needs it."
Cuddy simply nodded and knocked quietly on the door. Receiving permission, Cuddy entered and turned to close the door behind her when she realized that House, House, had asked her to do something without any strings attached or sarcasm.
Cuddy took a deep breath, turned to face Wilson’s office, and stopped. Where were they? "Wilson?"
"We’re on the floor over here."
Cuddy moved around the desk and found Chase tucked tightly into the corner of the office. He had pressed his knees into his chest and was hugging his knees. His face was turned to the wall and Cuddy could see the shallow breathing from where she stood.
Wilson motioned her closer. "I’m sorry, Cuddy. We thought Cameron would freak, but we weren’t expecting it in the middle of a hallway."
"It was my fault." Chase’s voice was flat.
"Why is it your fault, Chase?" Cuddy knelt down beside Wilson.
"She was concerned and I told her not to be. She said she had to because I wasn’t doing it. I told her she wasn’t my mum or my keeper. She said," Chase’s breath hitched, "maybe I needed a keeper." Chase brought his head up and looked at them pleadingly. "I tried to get away, but she pulled my shirt across my neck and she sounded just like my mum when she said I needed a keeper. And when she screeched. I shouldn’t have raised my voice. I’m sorry."
Cuddy thought of the scrap of fabric she’d watched House painfully bend to pick up. "That’s okay, Chase. I’m not worried about a little yelling. I want to check you over and make sure Cameron didn’t catch you with her nails or anything. Can I do that?" Cuddy knew it was a flimsy excuse, but she needed to know if Cameron had reason to worry.
Chase just nodded dully and pulled his shirt over his head. Cuddy stifled the instinctive gasp at the sight. He was covered in bites and buries. There are two sizes of bites. Cuddy’s eyes widened as it suddenly made perfect sense. No judging, Lisa. He’s already gotten too much of that from Cameron.
"Can you tell me why you need these marks, Chase?" asked Cuddy as she slowly and carefully performed a cursory examination on Chase.
Chase kept his eyes firmly downcast. "They are proof I’m loved."
Cuddy blinked. "Wow. You got House to admit to love." Cuddy pulled Chase’s chin up until Chase was looking her in the eye. "You are a very special young man, Robert."
Cuddy released Chase and turned to Wilson. "Get him dressed. I’m going to talk to House. Bring Chase and come pick up House from my office."
Cuddy patted Wilson’s shoulder to acknowledge his nod as she stood and went out of the office. House was leaning against the wall. "Come with me, House."
House pushed away from the wall and followed her to the elevator.
****
House paced in Cuddy’s office while she watched him for long minutes.
"Please tell me you aren’t going to leave bite marks above the collar all the time."
House stopped pacing and dropped his chin to his chest before raising his head. "Already told him it won’t happen a lot."
"Next time you tell me something personal, do you think you could send a card? I like some of those hot models they get for gag cards."
"Sure. We’ll all sign it for you." House moved to drop into one of her chairs. "She shouldn’t have yanked on his collar."
Cuddy nodded. Cuddy sat down across from House. "If you allow me to make Dr. Cameron’s life hell and promise not to kill, maim, or otherwise physically hurt her I’ll give you, Wilson, and Chase three days off not counting today."
House looked thoughtful. "It’ll take five to six days for some of the bites to fade."
"Don’t push. Three days. Yes, or no?"
"I reserve the right to torment her verbally until she dies."
"Fine." Cuddy knew she couldn’t stop him from doing that anyway.
"Yes." House stood up.
Cuddy stood and placed a hand on his arm. "She was trying to help Chase."
"So was I when I marked him."
*****
(Part 9)