House Fic ~ Untitled (How Does It Feel)
Finally, I bring you new fic! :D
Title: Untitled (How Does It Feel)
Author: Kai - missy7280
Pairing: Foreman/Thirteen, House/Thirteen
Rating: R
Word Count: 4,200
Summary: Immediately following “Joy to the World”, Foreman and Thirteen stumble into something resembling a relationship. Unfortunately for them, House original will not get out of their way.
Disclaimer: Oh, if only I owned them. Alas, I do not. *glares at David Shore*
Dedication: For queenzulu for loving these characters as much as I do and demanding fic for them. To emotikka for being all around awesome. And to ley_is_eclipse for being my best friend and informing me on The L Word. ;)
They didn’t go back to the party. They went back to her place instead. It was familiar, and it was safe. Neither of them needed to speak. They could read each other’s actions perfectly well, and their actions spoke louder than words ever could.
They were not rushed, but they did not go too slow either. To her, everything seemed perfect. It took her a moment to figure out why, because he was currently kissing her senseless, and she was beginning to feel light-headed. Thoughts were swimming through her head, and then suddenly she knew why everything felt right. This was the happiest she’d been since receiving her positive diagnosis for Huntington’s, and it was because she finally felt needed. She felt loved. She felt that if she died tomorrow, she would not be completely forgotten. Because Foreman, at least, would remember her, and that was comforting.
It was an evening she would not soon forget.
~*~*~*~
One Month Later
She always had a secret desire to make love in front of a fireplace. When she told him this, she really meant it more as a way of opening herself up to him, but he took it as a serious suggestion. And so they did it.
The flames made her body feel warm and the sound of the fire crackling was soothing, just as she imagined it would be. But lying on the hardwood floor was uncomfortable, even with the pile of blankets that they had stacked up beneath them. So she tried to ignore this and just focused on the pleasure instead.
As she shifted her body to face the fire, the top blanket slipped off her shoulder and she shuddered from the sudden rush of cold. She felt his fingers on her skin as he stroked from the top of her shoulder down the length of her arm. She shivered again, but this time it was not because of the temperature. He grabbed the blanket and brought it back up to re-cover her shoulder, and she was grateful for the warmth.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“That’s what I’m here for,” he said. He then brought his hand up to sweep her hair away from her neck, and placed a kiss where his fingers had just been. She closed her eyes and smiled, unable to contain her heartbeat as it felt like it would break through her chest. She never would have expected him to be romantic, but now she had even more proof not to judge a book by its cover.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said as she let sleep overtake her.
“I’m glad I’m here too,” he said, but she was already too gone to hear it.
~*~*~*~
Three Months Later
They are arguing about something and she doesn’t even really know what it’s about.
All she did was suggest that they have a threesome with another girl. Her numerous boyfriends of the past always jumped at the opportunity for a ménage à trois, and she hadn’t expected him to be any different. But suddenly he was angry, yelling at her about making a mockery of what they have between them and cheapening their relationship, as well as accusing her of missing boobs. This was not true, as all she wanted to do was give him pleasure.
She tries to explain herself, to get him to listen to her, but it doesn’t work. She yells back at him that he needs to loosen up, to live a little while they still have the chance, but he does not budge an inch. He just keeps shouting, and finally she can’t take it any more.
She kisses him to shut him up. She kisses him to breathe him in. She kisses him so that she can turn this thing between them back into the physical, and forget all of the emotional shit. Of course, she doesn’t take her motives into account in that split second, but it just felt like the thing to do in that moment.
She thinks he is finally giving into her, but he pushes her away eventually, and no matter what she does she cannot get him to come around.
It’s late, so he goes to sleep on her couch. In the morning, he leaves for work before she is even awake.
~*~*~*~
7 Days After
“What does it feel like, fucking him?”
She does not want to have this conversation with anyone, least of all with House. She probably should have thought of that before agreeing to come over to watch The L Word with him, but she was bored and figured why not. Even more than that, though, she wanted to get away from the “him” in question. Not to say that her pseudo boyfriend was particularly clingy. Actually, he usually gave her plenty of space. But they had been spending so much time together in the past few months that she just wanted to get away for a bit, if only for her sanity. She also didn’t want to give the impression that she cared about him, or that she needed him. Nothing crazy like that. Not to mention their argument from the week before that was still looming over her, and that made staying with him incredibly awkward.
“Helllooo?” House asked, annoyingly waving a hand in front of her face. “The sex is that good, huh?”
“What? Yeah… I mean, no.”
“Nice try. Is it really true what they say about black men and… well you know what.”
“Why are you so curious to know?”
House shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’ve never been with one,” as if that explained everything.
“I never would have guessed. Do you want to be with one?”
“It depends on your answer.”
“You could just go fuck Foreman yourself and figure it out that way.”
“I would, but that would defeat the purpose of bugging you about it.”
“Look, do you want to watch the show or not? Because I would like to watch Shane and Carmen make out, if you don’t mind.”
“You’re just deflecting.”
“Yes,” she answered simply.
“Why does everybody always deflect? Where’s the fun in that?”
“Where’s the fun in pestering everyone when it never gets you anywhere and just pisses everybody off?”
“Oh, it is tons of fun. Really, you should try it some time.”
“No thank you.” She turned her head back towards the television screen, and tried to completely block out the fact that House was sitting right next to her. Extremely close. His presence was overwhelming, and she was forced to physically move away from him to create some distance. She could see him glare at her out of the corner of her eye, and she is reminded of her other attempt to move away from someone. It never seems to work.
She tried desperately to focus on the incredibly sexy action occurring between Shane and Carmen on screen, but her thoughts would not settle down and leave her alone. House is my boss. I just came here because I had nothing else to do. It doesn’t mean anything.
~*~*~*~
The Present
Before she even realizes what she’s doing, she is making out with House on his couch and it feels amazing. The angle between them is awkward, his face is a bit scratchy, and there is a slight taste of cigarettes on his breath, but he is so damn good at kissing that she’s able to ignore these facts.
On second thought, what is she doing? She feels like a slut, all of a sudden. She can hear Foreman’s disdaining voice in her head. She can see his disapproving look. And underneath all of the surface stuff, she can see him hurt. He would try to hide it, of course, but she would see right through it. This had to stop now.
But this was easier said than done. House currently has a tight grip on her shoulders, and it doesn’t seem like he is going to let go any time soon. But this was wrong, and she knew it now. She had to get him off her. She had to explain that this was all a mistake, and beg him not to tell Foreman or anyone else. But especially not Foreman.
Because she really, really did not want House. She did not need the pain and heartbreak that would come from being involved with him. It was enough that she had a gradually debilitating disease that she had to look forward to in the coming years. Why add on to her own misery? Besides, she preferred House lite, and she realized she was ok with that.
“Stop,” she says in a soft yet forceful tone, as House finally let their lips part just long enough for her to speak.
“Although you may have heard from some extreme feminists that stop does not actually mean go, I have learned from experience that it does in fact mean just that.”
“I’m serious.” She puts a hand on his chest to push him away, and as he falls back onto the couch cushion with a dumbfounded look on his face she can’t help but giggle. He gives her the briefest lopsided grin before hiding it with a scowl. She thought things might be awkward between them, but now she knew they would be ok.
“That was wrong of me,” she says.
“I knew it! But it‘s ok, everyone makes mistakes. I can’t blame you for not being able to resist me.”
“What?” she asks, now confused.
“You know that you were mistaken when you said you wanted to stop. What you want to do now is have hot sex with me, and bring another girl to join us, while you’re at it.”
She let out a sigh, disappointed that she now had proof of just how far House’s ego stretched and how shallow his desires really were. Her thoughts drifted back to her argument with Foreman, and she now understood and appreciated his resistance to having a threesome.
“You know that’s not what I meant, House. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’m sorry if I led you on. I hope you will forgive me?” He stares at her, the seconds ticking by as the silence surrounds them.
“Alright, then. I’m gonna go home,” she says. He doesn’t respond or try to stop her as she goes to leave, but she can feel his eyes staring intensely at the back of her head as she walks out the door.
~*~*~*~
The Next Evening
They are sitting on her couch, happily enjoying watching a movie together while just taking comfort in each other’s presence. The peaceful atmosphere is disrupted as the doorbell rings simultaneously with a hard knock on the door.
“You expecting company?” he asks.
“No,” she answers, shaking her head. She has a feeling she knows exactly who it is though, and she tries to ignore her intuition. Because if she ignores it, maybe that will make it untrue.
But as she goes to look through the peephole, her suspicion is confirmed as she sees House’s intense gaze staring back at her. She groans in frustration. Why won’t he just leave her alone? Why won’t he just stay out of her life? She was not the praying type, but she prayed anyway that he was not there to rat her out to Foreman. Things between them had gotten back to the way they were before, and the last thing she needed was for House to screw it up.
Then again, why would he tell? What could he possibly gain by revealing their lip-locking tryst? Probably the only thing he would get is a punch in the gut.
As she’s standing by the door, contemplating whether she should just answer and get it over with or pretend like nobody is home, House starts banging on the door repeatedly with his cane. Thirteen has no choice but to let him in before the banging gives her a massive headache.
She opens the door and is surprised as she sees a relatively well put-together House standing in front of her. He wasn’t wearing a suit, but he was more dressed up than usual and she could tell that he had actually groomed himself for once. Neither of them say anything as Thirteen continues to stare at him, at the same time blocking the doorway so that he can’t get in. A few awkward moments pass as she can’t find any words to say, and House is not helping out either. She jumps a couple inches and lets out a squeak as Foreman comes up behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders, in an obvious showing of possession.
“What could you possibly want with us, House?”
“I want to join you.”
Foreman lets out a laugh while Thirteen still can’t form a coherent thought. “Are you crazy?” he asks, saving her from having to think of anything to say.
“Possibly,” House says, but does not offer any further explanation.
“Since when do you want to spend any extra time with anyone who is not Wilson or who gets paid to sleep with you?”
“Maybe those two things are not mutually exclusive.” Foreman raises his eyebrow in reaction to this, but does not seriously consider that House is stating a fact. Then again, it always was pretty difficult to tell if he was joking or not.
“We’re watching Titanic. You‘re welcome to join us if you‘d like,” Thirteen says out of the blue. She’s lying about which movie it is, which is intended to drive House away at all costs.
“Oh, I don’t want to watch a movie with you two. I want to have sex.”
It was Thirteen’s turn to laugh now as Foreman was incapable of having a reaction. Instead of saying anything, he stood there trying to wash the image of House and sex out of his brain.
“No thanks. We’re not into being with other people,” she says. But as she tries to deny that the thought is intriguing, even to herself, there is a twinkle in her eye that says otherwise. And Foreman notices it, because he notices everything about her now. If this was something that would make her happy, then he decided he would do it even if he really, really didn’t want to.
“Come in if you want,” he says. House doesn’t hesitate as he immediately walks through the doorway and begins taking off his coat. He throws it over the back of the couch and plops down on the piece of furniture.
“What are you doing? Why did you let him in?” Thirteen asks.
“I can throw him back out if that’s what you really want. But I get the feeling that you want him to be here.”
“Why would you think that? The last thing I need is to spend more time with him,” she whispers to try to prevent House from hearing.
“But you are interested in the idea of having him sleep with us.”
“Yeah, maybe if he keeps his mouth shut the entire time.”
“Sounds like a good idea. Hey, this could actually be fun,” he says, raising both eyebrows this time. Thirteen looks at him curiously, not believing that the normally tight-wound Foreman was willing to try something as crazy as this. Didn’t they just have an argument about this a week ago, or was she going crazy?
“House,” he says as he walks back toward the lump on the couch.
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”
“There are rules, if we are going to do this.”
“Well you’re no fun.”
“Either you follow the rules or I throw you out of the house without your cane.”
“Yes, sir,” House said mockingly while giving a salute. “Is this you getting revenge on the white person, now you get a chance to be the slave master?”
“Shut up. That’s going to be the first rule, no racist jokes.”
“Well you certainly don’t start out with the easy stuff.”
“Next rule. Once we start this thing, you are not allowed to open your mouth.”
“I assume you mean for talking, because there are some other exciting things I could do with my mouth that you won’t want to miss.”
“Fine, I meant no talking, ok? Now, the last rule…”
“Oh good, that’s all.”
“I am not getting fucked up the ass.”
“Fair enough. I don’t want to fuck you up the ass.”
“Good.”
Thirteen strutted over to the couch then, and looked questioningly at the two men. “Well we can’t do this in here,” she says. “Follow me.”
House leapt up from the couch extremely quickly for a cripple, and followed obnoxiously close behind her. She led him straight to her bedroom and didn’t waste any time once they were there. She grabbed his t-shirt and started lifting it over his head. As he reached forward to begin unbuttoning her blouse, she ran her hands down his chest and smiled with a grin that could have rivaled the Cheshire Cat’s.
When they are both shirtless, he reaches out to hold her face and starts leaning in closer. Just as his lips are about to touch hers, Foreman’s voice interrupts them.
“I have another rule. No kissing between you two.”
“But we already-”
And then she slaps him. Hard. “Follow his rules,” she hisses underneath her breath. He glares at her with those clear blue eyes of his, searching her gaze to try to find out exactly what she is thinking. She looks desperate, her eyes screaming at him not to reveal any more. With anyone else he would ignore this, but there was something about her that made him want to follow her every command.
“Kinky, are we? I should have figured that out from the one night stands with female strangers and your tendency do it while on drugs,” he finally says.
Her scowl turns back into a smile as she realizes that he is not going to reveal their secret make-out session. Maybe he wasn’t as horrible of a jerk as everyone assumed he was… but then again, doing one nice thing didn’t exactly make up for the great number of very un-nice things he had done. Her mind is wandering now, and she doesn’t notice Foreman standing behind her until he puts his hands on her waste. He sure could be sneaky when he wanted to be. Thirteen briefly wonders how they are going to do this, but the men soon make it obvious what is going to happen. She becomes the middle of a House and Foreman sandwich, as Foreman starts to prepare her from behind and it’s made clear that House wants to enter her from the front. They stand there for a few minutes, exploring each other’s bodies, but eventually they end up on the bed.
“Foreman, the top drawer,” she says. He goes to open the drawer to retrieve what he knows she wants. She never thought she’d be so happy to have an extra box of condoms lying around. She just likes being prepared for any situation.
But she never could have prepared for this. It’s so wild, so crazy, but it definitely feels good. Never had she felt so fulfilled, and filled, before. House is lying down on his back, and so she gets to be on top of him for once. She feels Foreman behind her, and she can’t believe how lucky she is, at least when it comes to sex.
But as Foreman tips her face back towards him so he can kiss her, the vision of what she did with House the night before flashes in her mind and she is overwhelmed with shame.
She feels too guilty during the rest of their foray to enjoy anything, but she does the best job she can to fake it.
She knew she was going to have to tell him.
~*~*~*~
The Following Day
“I kissed House,” she says when they are left alone in the conference room.
“What are you talking about? I was there the whole time and I didn’t see you do anything.”
“I’m not talking about last night. It was the night before, when I went over to his place.”
“You went over to his place?” he asks, his voice gradually getting louder.
“Yes. He invited me over to watch TV. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen… it just did. I’m really sorry.”
“How could you sneak around and do something like that?” he shouted.
“It was a mistake, and it didn’t mean anything. I’m just trying to be honest with you now. Don’t forget, you let him have sex with me last night.”
“I was trying to make you happy! Did kissing him behind my back make you feel happy?”
“Maybe it did at first, but afterwards no. I felt guilty and that‘s why I needed to tell you. But nothing like that is going to happen again.”
“I wish I could believe you. God, I was just starting to trust you. I thought you cared about me beyond just sex.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic. Of course I care about you! Otherwise I wouldn’t have told you the truth.”
“Use inside voices,” House says as he enters the room. “I could hear you two shouting from the balcony. Is there trouble in paradise, now?”
“Go away, House. This doesn’t concern you,” Foreman says.
“That’s funny. I could have sworn you two were talking about me, unless she’s involved in some other secret affair that I’m not aware of.”
“I can’t deal with this right now,” she says as she starts to leave. “I have work to do.”
Once she was gone, House looked at Foreman and had to take a few steps back when he saw the intense hatred in his gaze. Foreman never exactly was the president of his fan club, but House never saw Foreman look at him with such revulsion before.
“I’m sorry your girlfriend kissed me,” he says, trying to apologize but still denying any responsibility.
“Shut up, and she’s not my girlfriend.”
“Could have fooled me. Well, want to know what I think?”
“You are lucky I work for you, because if you weren’t my boss I would so be kicking your ass right now, crippled as it is,” Foreman says, ignoring him.
“I think you should forgive her. What happened between us was my fault, you should be able to figure that out. I gave her a little too much to drink and didn’t give her much of a choice.” It was a stretch of the truth, but House realized that a lied to Foreman would be better than a pissed off Foreman.
“I won’t forgive you,” Foreman says. He leaves the office then, leaving House to stand alone just like everyone always did in the end.
~*~*~*~
“I forgive you.”
Thirteen looks at him standing outside her door, trying to figure out what has changed. She was sure that things were going to be over between them, even though that is the last thing in the world she wants.
“I think I overreacted a bit earlier,” he continues to say. “I am glad that you admitted the truth. Can we… can we just move on from this?”
Instead of answering him, she throws her arms around his neck and pulls him into the house. He reaches behind to throw the door shut with one hand, and their lips meet for a passionate kiss. Unfortunately, she does need to pull away to breathe at some point. As their lips part, she holds on to his face and leans in to whisper in his ear. “I love you, you know. And just you, not House or anyone else.”
She pulls away again to look at his expression, and she is pleased to find him smiling the biggest grin that she has ever seen from him. He asks, “You’re absolutely sure it’s not the original House that you want?”
“No. I’ve always had a taste for diet, anyway.”
He laughs and pulls her into a tight embrace. “I’m falling in love with you, and even if there is a cure I don’t want it.”
~*~*~*~
One Year Later
Amazingly, despite the petty arguments, the struggle of being coworkers as well as lovers, and the disease that looms between them, they are still together. Most days her nerves continue to deteriorate a bit, but they celebrate on the days when her strength remains the same. They do think about the future, but they only live in the present. They enjoy every moment, always knowing that it could be the last.
Thankfully, House has been leaving them alone for the most part. For being House, he is actually doing pretty well. He only makes one or two snide comments a week about their relationship, and that’s just fine for Thirteen and Foreman. They didn’t expect him to ever completely change, anyway. And they never have sex with House again.
Actually, they only make love to each other now. The thought of having another threesome does not occur to either of them. They have each other, and that is more than enough for the both of them.
A/N: Oh man, isn’t my title so clever? Bonus points to anyone who knows where it comes from.
Title: Untitled (How Does It Feel)
Author: Kai - missy7280
Pairing: Foreman/Thirteen, House/Thirteen
Rating: R
Word Count: 4,200
Summary: Immediately following “Joy to the World”, Foreman and Thirteen stumble into something resembling a relationship. Unfortunately for them, House original will not get out of their way.
Disclaimer: Oh, if only I owned them. Alas, I do not. *glares at David Shore*
Dedication: For queenzulu for loving these characters as much as I do and demanding fic for them. To emotikka for being all around awesome. And to ley_is_eclipse for being my best friend and informing me on The L Word. ;)
They didn’t go back to the party. They went back to her place instead. It was familiar, and it was safe. Neither of them needed to speak. They could read each other’s actions perfectly well, and their actions spoke louder than words ever could.
They were not rushed, but they did not go too slow either. To her, everything seemed perfect. It took her a moment to figure out why, because he was currently kissing her senseless, and she was beginning to feel light-headed. Thoughts were swimming through her head, and then suddenly she knew why everything felt right. This was the happiest she’d been since receiving her positive diagnosis for Huntington’s, and it was because she finally felt needed. She felt loved. She felt that if she died tomorrow, she would not be completely forgotten. Because Foreman, at least, would remember her, and that was comforting.
It was an evening she would not soon forget.
~*~*~*~
One Month Later
She always had a secret desire to make love in front of a fireplace. When she told him this, she really meant it more as a way of opening herself up to him, but he took it as a serious suggestion. And so they did it.
The flames made her body feel warm and the sound of the fire crackling was soothing, just as she imagined it would be. But lying on the hardwood floor was uncomfortable, even with the pile of blankets that they had stacked up beneath them. So she tried to ignore this and just focused on the pleasure instead.
As she shifted her body to face the fire, the top blanket slipped off her shoulder and she shuddered from the sudden rush of cold. She felt his fingers on her skin as he stroked from the top of her shoulder down the length of her arm. She shivered again, but this time it was not because of the temperature. He grabbed the blanket and brought it back up to re-cover her shoulder, and she was grateful for the warmth.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“That’s what I’m here for,” he said. He then brought his hand up to sweep her hair away from her neck, and placed a kiss where his fingers had just been. She closed her eyes and smiled, unable to contain her heartbeat as it felt like it would break through her chest. She never would have expected him to be romantic, but now she had even more proof not to judge a book by its cover.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said as she let sleep overtake her.
“I’m glad I’m here too,” he said, but she was already too gone to hear it.
~*~*~*~
Three Months Later
They are arguing about something and she doesn’t even really know what it’s about.
All she did was suggest that they have a threesome with another girl. Her numerous boyfriends of the past always jumped at the opportunity for a ménage à trois, and she hadn’t expected him to be any different. But suddenly he was angry, yelling at her about making a mockery of what they have between them and cheapening their relationship, as well as accusing her of missing boobs. This was not true, as all she wanted to do was give him pleasure.
She tries to explain herself, to get him to listen to her, but it doesn’t work. She yells back at him that he needs to loosen up, to live a little while they still have the chance, but he does not budge an inch. He just keeps shouting, and finally she can’t take it any more.
She kisses him to shut him up. She kisses him to breathe him in. She kisses him so that she can turn this thing between them back into the physical, and forget all of the emotional shit. Of course, she doesn’t take her motives into account in that split second, but it just felt like the thing to do in that moment.
She thinks he is finally giving into her, but he pushes her away eventually, and no matter what she does she cannot get him to come around.
It’s late, so he goes to sleep on her couch. In the morning, he leaves for work before she is even awake.
~*~*~*~
7 Days After
“What does it feel like, fucking him?”
She does not want to have this conversation with anyone, least of all with House. She probably should have thought of that before agreeing to come over to watch The L Word with him, but she was bored and figured why not. Even more than that, though, she wanted to get away from the “him” in question. Not to say that her pseudo boyfriend was particularly clingy. Actually, he usually gave her plenty of space. But they had been spending so much time together in the past few months that she just wanted to get away for a bit, if only for her sanity. She also didn’t want to give the impression that she cared about him, or that she needed him. Nothing crazy like that. Not to mention their argument from the week before that was still looming over her, and that made staying with him incredibly awkward.
“Helllooo?” House asked, annoyingly waving a hand in front of her face. “The sex is that good, huh?”
“What? Yeah… I mean, no.”
“Nice try. Is it really true what they say about black men and… well you know what.”
“Why are you so curious to know?”
House shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’ve never been with one,” as if that explained everything.
“I never would have guessed. Do you want to be with one?”
“It depends on your answer.”
“You could just go fuck Foreman yourself and figure it out that way.”
“I would, but that would defeat the purpose of bugging you about it.”
“Look, do you want to watch the show or not? Because I would like to watch Shane and Carmen make out, if you don’t mind.”
“You’re just deflecting.”
“Yes,” she answered simply.
“Why does everybody always deflect? Where’s the fun in that?”
“Where’s the fun in pestering everyone when it never gets you anywhere and just pisses everybody off?”
“Oh, it is tons of fun. Really, you should try it some time.”
“No thank you.” She turned her head back towards the television screen, and tried to completely block out the fact that House was sitting right next to her. Extremely close. His presence was overwhelming, and she was forced to physically move away from him to create some distance. She could see him glare at her out of the corner of her eye, and she is reminded of her other attempt to move away from someone. It never seems to work.
She tried desperately to focus on the incredibly sexy action occurring between Shane and Carmen on screen, but her thoughts would not settle down and leave her alone. House is my boss. I just came here because I had nothing else to do. It doesn’t mean anything.
~*~*~*~
The Present
Before she even realizes what she’s doing, she is making out with House on his couch and it feels amazing. The angle between them is awkward, his face is a bit scratchy, and there is a slight taste of cigarettes on his breath, but he is so damn good at kissing that she’s able to ignore these facts.
On second thought, what is she doing? She feels like a slut, all of a sudden. She can hear Foreman’s disdaining voice in her head. She can see his disapproving look. And underneath all of the surface stuff, she can see him hurt. He would try to hide it, of course, but she would see right through it. This had to stop now.
But this was easier said than done. House currently has a tight grip on her shoulders, and it doesn’t seem like he is going to let go any time soon. But this was wrong, and she knew it now. She had to get him off her. She had to explain that this was all a mistake, and beg him not to tell Foreman or anyone else. But especially not Foreman.
Because she really, really did not want House. She did not need the pain and heartbreak that would come from being involved with him. It was enough that she had a gradually debilitating disease that she had to look forward to in the coming years. Why add on to her own misery? Besides, she preferred House lite, and she realized she was ok with that.
“Stop,” she says in a soft yet forceful tone, as House finally let their lips part just long enough for her to speak.
“Although you may have heard from some extreme feminists that stop does not actually mean go, I have learned from experience that it does in fact mean just that.”
“I’m serious.” She puts a hand on his chest to push him away, and as he falls back onto the couch cushion with a dumbfounded look on his face she can’t help but giggle. He gives her the briefest lopsided grin before hiding it with a scowl. She thought things might be awkward between them, but now she knew they would be ok.
“That was wrong of me,” she says.
“I knew it! But it‘s ok, everyone makes mistakes. I can’t blame you for not being able to resist me.”
“What?” she asks, now confused.
“You know that you were mistaken when you said you wanted to stop. What you want to do now is have hot sex with me, and bring another girl to join us, while you’re at it.”
She let out a sigh, disappointed that she now had proof of just how far House’s ego stretched and how shallow his desires really were. Her thoughts drifted back to her argument with Foreman, and she now understood and appreciated his resistance to having a threesome.
“You know that’s not what I meant, House. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’m sorry if I led you on. I hope you will forgive me?” He stares at her, the seconds ticking by as the silence surrounds them.
“Alright, then. I’m gonna go home,” she says. He doesn’t respond or try to stop her as she goes to leave, but she can feel his eyes staring intensely at the back of her head as she walks out the door.
~*~*~*~
The Next Evening
They are sitting on her couch, happily enjoying watching a movie together while just taking comfort in each other’s presence. The peaceful atmosphere is disrupted as the doorbell rings simultaneously with a hard knock on the door.
“You expecting company?” he asks.
“No,” she answers, shaking her head. She has a feeling she knows exactly who it is though, and she tries to ignore her intuition. Because if she ignores it, maybe that will make it untrue.
But as she goes to look through the peephole, her suspicion is confirmed as she sees House’s intense gaze staring back at her. She groans in frustration. Why won’t he just leave her alone? Why won’t he just stay out of her life? She was not the praying type, but she prayed anyway that he was not there to rat her out to Foreman. Things between them had gotten back to the way they were before, and the last thing she needed was for House to screw it up.
Then again, why would he tell? What could he possibly gain by revealing their lip-locking tryst? Probably the only thing he would get is a punch in the gut.
As she’s standing by the door, contemplating whether she should just answer and get it over with or pretend like nobody is home, House starts banging on the door repeatedly with his cane. Thirteen has no choice but to let him in before the banging gives her a massive headache.
She opens the door and is surprised as she sees a relatively well put-together House standing in front of her. He wasn’t wearing a suit, but he was more dressed up than usual and she could tell that he had actually groomed himself for once. Neither of them say anything as Thirteen continues to stare at him, at the same time blocking the doorway so that he can’t get in. A few awkward moments pass as she can’t find any words to say, and House is not helping out either. She jumps a couple inches and lets out a squeak as Foreman comes up behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders, in an obvious showing of possession.
“What could you possibly want with us, House?”
“I want to join you.”
Foreman lets out a laugh while Thirteen still can’t form a coherent thought. “Are you crazy?” he asks, saving her from having to think of anything to say.
“Possibly,” House says, but does not offer any further explanation.
“Since when do you want to spend any extra time with anyone who is not Wilson or who gets paid to sleep with you?”
“Maybe those two things are not mutually exclusive.” Foreman raises his eyebrow in reaction to this, but does not seriously consider that House is stating a fact. Then again, it always was pretty difficult to tell if he was joking or not.
“We’re watching Titanic. You‘re welcome to join us if you‘d like,” Thirteen says out of the blue. She’s lying about which movie it is, which is intended to drive House away at all costs.
“Oh, I don’t want to watch a movie with you two. I want to have sex.”
It was Thirteen’s turn to laugh now as Foreman was incapable of having a reaction. Instead of saying anything, he stood there trying to wash the image of House and sex out of his brain.
“No thanks. We’re not into being with other people,” she says. But as she tries to deny that the thought is intriguing, even to herself, there is a twinkle in her eye that says otherwise. And Foreman notices it, because he notices everything about her now. If this was something that would make her happy, then he decided he would do it even if he really, really didn’t want to.
“Come in if you want,” he says. House doesn’t hesitate as he immediately walks through the doorway and begins taking off his coat. He throws it over the back of the couch and plops down on the piece of furniture.
“What are you doing? Why did you let him in?” Thirteen asks.
“I can throw him back out if that’s what you really want. But I get the feeling that you want him to be here.”
“Why would you think that? The last thing I need is to spend more time with him,” she whispers to try to prevent House from hearing.
“But you are interested in the idea of having him sleep with us.”
“Yeah, maybe if he keeps his mouth shut the entire time.”
“Sounds like a good idea. Hey, this could actually be fun,” he says, raising both eyebrows this time. Thirteen looks at him curiously, not believing that the normally tight-wound Foreman was willing to try something as crazy as this. Didn’t they just have an argument about this a week ago, or was she going crazy?
“House,” he says as he walks back toward the lump on the couch.
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”
“There are rules, if we are going to do this.”
“Well you’re no fun.”
“Either you follow the rules or I throw you out of the house without your cane.”
“Yes, sir,” House said mockingly while giving a salute. “Is this you getting revenge on the white person, now you get a chance to be the slave master?”
“Shut up. That’s going to be the first rule, no racist jokes.”
“Well you certainly don’t start out with the easy stuff.”
“Next rule. Once we start this thing, you are not allowed to open your mouth.”
“I assume you mean for talking, because there are some other exciting things I could do with my mouth that you won’t want to miss.”
“Fine, I meant no talking, ok? Now, the last rule…”
“Oh good, that’s all.”
“I am not getting fucked up the ass.”
“Fair enough. I don’t want to fuck you up the ass.”
“Good.”
Thirteen strutted over to the couch then, and looked questioningly at the two men. “Well we can’t do this in here,” she says. “Follow me.”
House leapt up from the couch extremely quickly for a cripple, and followed obnoxiously close behind her. She led him straight to her bedroom and didn’t waste any time once they were there. She grabbed his t-shirt and started lifting it over his head. As he reached forward to begin unbuttoning her blouse, she ran her hands down his chest and smiled with a grin that could have rivaled the Cheshire Cat’s.
When they are both shirtless, he reaches out to hold her face and starts leaning in closer. Just as his lips are about to touch hers, Foreman’s voice interrupts them.
“I have another rule. No kissing between you two.”
“But we already-”
And then she slaps him. Hard. “Follow his rules,” she hisses underneath her breath. He glares at her with those clear blue eyes of his, searching her gaze to try to find out exactly what she is thinking. She looks desperate, her eyes screaming at him not to reveal any more. With anyone else he would ignore this, but there was something about her that made him want to follow her every command.
“Kinky, are we? I should have figured that out from the one night stands with female strangers and your tendency do it while on drugs,” he finally says.
Her scowl turns back into a smile as she realizes that he is not going to reveal their secret make-out session. Maybe he wasn’t as horrible of a jerk as everyone assumed he was… but then again, doing one nice thing didn’t exactly make up for the great number of very un-nice things he had done. Her mind is wandering now, and she doesn’t notice Foreman standing behind her until he puts his hands on her waste. He sure could be sneaky when he wanted to be. Thirteen briefly wonders how they are going to do this, but the men soon make it obvious what is going to happen. She becomes the middle of a House and Foreman sandwich, as Foreman starts to prepare her from behind and it’s made clear that House wants to enter her from the front. They stand there for a few minutes, exploring each other’s bodies, but eventually they end up on the bed.
“Foreman, the top drawer,” she says. He goes to open the drawer to retrieve what he knows she wants. She never thought she’d be so happy to have an extra box of condoms lying around. She just likes being prepared for any situation.
But she never could have prepared for this. It’s so wild, so crazy, but it definitely feels good. Never had she felt so fulfilled, and filled, before. House is lying down on his back, and so she gets to be on top of him for once. She feels Foreman behind her, and she can’t believe how lucky she is, at least when it comes to sex.
But as Foreman tips her face back towards him so he can kiss her, the vision of what she did with House the night before flashes in her mind and she is overwhelmed with shame.
She feels too guilty during the rest of their foray to enjoy anything, but she does the best job she can to fake it.
She knew she was going to have to tell him.
~*~*~*~
The Following Day
“I kissed House,” she says when they are left alone in the conference room.
“What are you talking about? I was there the whole time and I didn’t see you do anything.”
“I’m not talking about last night. It was the night before, when I went over to his place.”
“You went over to his place?” he asks, his voice gradually getting louder.
“Yes. He invited me over to watch TV. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen… it just did. I’m really sorry.”
“How could you sneak around and do something like that?” he shouted.
“It was a mistake, and it didn’t mean anything. I’m just trying to be honest with you now. Don’t forget, you let him have sex with me last night.”
“I was trying to make you happy! Did kissing him behind my back make you feel happy?”
“Maybe it did at first, but afterwards no. I felt guilty and that‘s why I needed to tell you. But nothing like that is going to happen again.”
“I wish I could believe you. God, I was just starting to trust you. I thought you cared about me beyond just sex.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic. Of course I care about you! Otherwise I wouldn’t have told you the truth.”
“Use inside voices,” House says as he enters the room. “I could hear you two shouting from the balcony. Is there trouble in paradise, now?”
“Go away, House. This doesn’t concern you,” Foreman says.
“That’s funny. I could have sworn you two were talking about me, unless she’s involved in some other secret affair that I’m not aware of.”
“I can’t deal with this right now,” she says as she starts to leave. “I have work to do.”
Once she was gone, House looked at Foreman and had to take a few steps back when he saw the intense hatred in his gaze. Foreman never exactly was the president of his fan club, but House never saw Foreman look at him with such revulsion before.
“I’m sorry your girlfriend kissed me,” he says, trying to apologize but still denying any responsibility.
“Shut up, and she’s not my girlfriend.”
“Could have fooled me. Well, want to know what I think?”
“You are lucky I work for you, because if you weren’t my boss I would so be kicking your ass right now, crippled as it is,” Foreman says, ignoring him.
“I think you should forgive her. What happened between us was my fault, you should be able to figure that out. I gave her a little too much to drink and didn’t give her much of a choice.” It was a stretch of the truth, but House realized that a lied to Foreman would be better than a pissed off Foreman.
“I won’t forgive you,” Foreman says. He leaves the office then, leaving House to stand alone just like everyone always did in the end.
~*~*~*~
“I forgive you.”
Thirteen looks at him standing outside her door, trying to figure out what has changed. She was sure that things were going to be over between them, even though that is the last thing in the world she wants.
“I think I overreacted a bit earlier,” he continues to say. “I am glad that you admitted the truth. Can we… can we just move on from this?”
Instead of answering him, she throws her arms around his neck and pulls him into the house. He reaches behind to throw the door shut with one hand, and their lips meet for a passionate kiss. Unfortunately, she does need to pull away to breathe at some point. As their lips part, she holds on to his face and leans in to whisper in his ear. “I love you, you know. And just you, not House or anyone else.”
She pulls away again to look at his expression, and she is pleased to find him smiling the biggest grin that she has ever seen from him. He asks, “You’re absolutely sure it’s not the original House that you want?”
“No. I’ve always had a taste for diet, anyway.”
He laughs and pulls her into a tight embrace. “I’m falling in love with you, and even if there is a cure I don’t want it.”
~*~*~*~
One Year Later
Amazingly, despite the petty arguments, the struggle of being coworkers as well as lovers, and the disease that looms between them, they are still together. Most days her nerves continue to deteriorate a bit, but they celebrate on the days when her strength remains the same. They do think about the future, but they only live in the present. They enjoy every moment, always knowing that it could be the last.
Thankfully, House has been leaving them alone for the most part. For being House, he is actually doing pretty well. He only makes one or two snide comments a week about their relationship, and that’s just fine for Thirteen and Foreman. They didn’t expect him to ever completely change, anyway. And they never have sex with House again.
Actually, they only make love to each other now. The thought of having another threesome does not occur to either of them. They have each other, and that is more than enough for the both of them.
A/N: Oh man, isn’t my title so clever? Bonus points to anyone who knows where it comes from.