First try at Fanfiction
Title: Picture Puzzles Part 1/26
Rating: PG13 this part (NC-17 later parts)
Paring: 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.
A/N: Keep in mind this is my first fanfiction of any kind.
Now beta'd by: recrudescence
Sometimes it amazed House that people didn't notice him lurking in corners watching. It wasn't that hard to go unnoticed when he decided to, but it definitely had become easier with the cane banished to the closet. Won't last much longer, though. I'll have to talk Wilson into lunch so I can work with my skateboard. House cocked his head and watched as his longest lasting fellow stared at his untouched breakfast.
Silently watching his fellow not eat, House realized that he'd been ignoring signs he should have been paying more attention to. Doesn't eat in front of anyone if possible. Never eats a full meal. Only eats simple things, little to no junk food though. Weight doesn't change, or if anything he's a little thinner now. House knew that if he stepped into Chase's line of sight and ordered him to eat his young fellow would do so without complaint. Instead of doing that, House turned and silently walked away.
*****
Wilson sighed as House dropped into one of the chairs across from his desk. "House, I don't have time for more skateboarding fun today."
I'm concerned about someone's eating habits."
Wilson blinked at House. "Well, if you didn't eat my food all the time you wouldn't have reason for concern."
House swung his long legs up onto the arm of his chair and crossed his arms all without losing eye contact with Wilson. "Quit being so selfish. If anything I'm doing you a favor." House turned his head to stare at the ceiling.
"House." Crap. If it isn't me then it has to be Cuddy or one of the ducklings, he doesn't pay attention to anyone else.
"You ever seen Chase eat?"
Wilson frowned. "Sure, all the time." Maybe. I think.
"What does he eat?"
"House, I don't memorize what your ducklings have to eat."
House swung back upright. "I'm not asking for a detailed menu. Name one time you remember him eating."
Wilson thought for a moment. "Well, he's stolen fries from you once before."
House snorted. "Stealing food is a sign of affection in some parts of the world. What else?"
Wilson could feel his mind freeze. Affection? Okay, okay, get a grip, he doesn't mean it like that. Wilson carefully set his pen down to give himself more time to think of something, anything, he'd seen Chase eat lately. "Hmm, jello?"
"Jello is disgusting. He doesn't eat full meals."
"House, you eat jello. I've seen you eat lots of jello."
House gave him that look that made Wilson want to smack him. "Doesn't make it any less disgusting. This isn't about me, Wilson. It's about Chase not eating."
Wilson blinked. This isn't House, it can't be. I need to look for the pod when I get the chance. "If he wasn't eating he'd be losing weight and he's not."
"You’re his regular physician, just check his records. Please." House quickly fled the office through the balcony door.
Gotta find the pod he came from quick, wouldn't want him to multiply. One House is ten too many some days. Then just what House had said hit home. "Shit!" Wilson swiveled his chair towards the now closed balcony door. I can count the number of sincere pleasantries he's ever used on one hand. And that one makes four. Damn it. Wilson sighed as his started for his records cabinet to look for Chase's records.
*****
House kept right on playing as Wilson let himself in. He'd quit playing the few pieces that needed both feet for the pedals when the pain from the infarction had become too bad. There wasn't much time left before he wouldn't be able to play them again.
"House, he's within ten pounds of the weight he started work at."
House ended the song with a flourish. "It's down though, isn't it?"
Wilson sighed and continued past House into the kitchen. "Why ask when you've already made up your mind?"
House ignored the obviously stupid question and moved to sit on his couch. He accepted the beer Wilson handed him as he too sat down.
"He'd eat if I told him too, but that's not going to fix it."
"Oh, I could just imagine how that would go over. He doesn't show any signs of an eating disorder other than not eating a lot in front of anyone, you know. There's nothing to fix, House."
"Hmm." House turned on the television and settled in to watch Gravedigger take on all comers.
*****
House knew his day wasn't going to get any better, in fact he knew it was going to go to shit very shortly. As he rode the elevator up, he rubbed at the ache in his thigh. He knew that his fellows were not going to let him alone once he plopped the sack he held in his hand on the table in the Diagnostics lounge. Between what he knew they were going to say, coming in early, and the memory of his thigh hurting during his run earlier, House was ready to go home already.
Stepping into Diagnostics House caught himself before the sigh of relief could escape. Chase was the only one around, it seemed. House quickly dropped his sack on the table and turned to make himself coffee. Oh, good, coffee duty went to someone non-Cameron this morning. It’s a nice, normal flavor coffee day. House watched Chase out of the corner of his eye as the younger man eyed the sack suspiciously over the top of his crossword book.
"Better pick what you want before Foreman stakes his claim."
Chase just kept staring at the sack. "What's this, then?"
"It isn't going to kill you. Not for decades, at least." House carried his coffee to the table and rooted around in his sack. Ah hah. House pulled the wrapped breakfast sandwich from the sack and held it out to Chase. "Here, this is the good sort."
Chase gingerly took the food and turned his stare on House.
"What?" Don't fidget, Greg. He's worse than Wilson about knowing when you're up to something.
"You feel sick, or anything?"
House snorted as he sorted through the bag, hunting for his sandwich. "Just eat your breakfast, Chase."
"I'll just save it for later, thanks." Chase marked the wrapper with his pen and took the food over to the fridge.
"Already eat this morning?"
Chase's head popped up from the small fridge. "Yes, before I came in." Chase's eyes narrowed. "Why do you care, anyway?"
"I don't care. I just want to tease you about something new." House grabbed two of the wrapped sandwiches and fled to his office, leaving a thoughtful Chase behind.
House quickly hopped the short balcony wall and paused for a moment as his thigh throbbed. Checking for evil power-mongers, House declared Wilson's office safe and dropped into his usual chair.
"Hey."
"House." Wilson kept working on the chart in front of him.
House stayed quiet, willing, this once, to give Wilson time to finish. I'm only giving him time because I'm busy freaking out and him grumpy while I'm freaking is never a fun combination. House carefully made room for Wilson's breakfast sandwich on the corner of Wilson's overcrowded desk. Suppressing the urge to grab something, anything, and fidget, House settled for unwrapping his sandwich just enough to take a bite.
Suddenly Wilson's head snapped up. House blinked. Wilson blinked back. Wilson cocked his head and glanced around his office until his eyes landed on the wrapped food sitting innocently on his desk. "Where'd that come from?"
"You were so caught up in your charting that you missed the little green men. They just left."
Wilson poked the sandwich with his pen then looked up at House. "Are you feeling okay?"
House rolled his eyes. "I'm fine."
"Fever? Coughing? Rash, maybe?"
"I'm fine, Wilson. It's just food. Eat or starve, I don't care." House could feel Wilson's eyes follow him as he left for his own office.
*****
Wilson tried to refrain from bringing up the breakfast food the instant he was let into House's apartment that evening. House cleared enough of the coffee table to allow Wilson to set the Chinese takeout down. House started unpacking the food while Wilson headed into the kitchen for beer. What the hell?
"Hey, House, did you get broken into?"
"What?" House came to stand behind Wilson and looked over his shoulder at the disarray of the kitchen. "Oh, that. I made breakfast this morning."
Wilson turned and watched House go back to the sofa. Then he turned back to the kitchen and went over to the sink. He wouldn't have eaten two breakfasts. Wilson checked the skillet carefully. He cooked. I don't know what scares me more, that he cooked or that he shared with me. Wilson ran water into the skillet so it’d be easier to wash after dinner. He’s doing this for Chase, not me. Just because he shared doesn’t mean anything, James. Now if he’d only admit to why he’s doing this for Chase, because I would certainly like to know.
Wilson stayed quiet through two beers as he thought. Once the dishes were finished, Wilson grabbed a beer and went to sit by House on the couch. Opening the third and last beer for the evening, Wilson turned to House.
"It's okay if you like Chase, you know."
House's head slowly turned to face him. "What?"
"You're allowed to care, House. If you care about Chase, then that's great." I hope that sounded like I meant it and not like I'm jealous. Wilson struggled to keep eye contact even though he felt like burying his face into the couch cushion at his back.
House stood abruptly and looked down at Wilson for a long moment. "I won't choose."
"What?"
House shook his head and went into his bedroom, not quite slamming the door behind him. Wilson stared at the closed door, trying to figure out what House meant this time. He started as the door swung back open and a pillow came sailing at him.
"Stay here tonight; you're drunk."
Wilson watched as House didn't quite slam his door once again. Evidently not drunk enough. Wilson stood to get the rest of the bedding he'd need.
*****
Cuddy watched as House started across the foyer with a sack in one hand and his skateboard in the other. At least he was still dodging the clinic, so she was fairly sure he hadn’t been replaced by a robot at some point during his recovery from the shooting.
"House!"
House stopped, turned, and shouted, "Good morning, Dr. Cuddy!"
Cuddy could see the nurses in the clinic all gaping at House as he came towards her. Keep telling yourself it’s just one of his mindgames. I don’t know which one, but that’s all it is. Cuddy blinked at House’s barely-there smile as he dug around in his sack. At least, I hope it’s a mindgame and not drugs.
"Ah, here we are." House pulled a wrapped something from his sack and dropped it on top of the paperwork she was holding. "Don’t say I never gave you anything."
Cuddy peered at the small bundle. "What’s this?"
"Breakfast. Food of champions. Should still be warm."
Cuddy looked up at House. "You bundled up cornflakes and warmed them?"
"Like you need more fiber." House sighed. "I’m not sick. I’m not poisoning anyone. It isn’t booby-trapped, either." House indicated the wrapped breakfast. "The funbags might get jealous if I did that. I’ll be down to do my clinic hours on time. Unless of course the world ends or I get bored."
Cuddy watched him cross to the elevator. Mindgames, it’s just mindgames. Cuddy went into her office to unwrap House’s gift in case it was a trap. Oh, god, it’s drugs. I need to talk to Wilson.
Cuddy left the unwrapped breakfast sandwich behind as she went in search of her walking, talking, House expert.
*****
House stepped out of the elevator on his floor silently calculating how long it would take Cuddy to freak out and hunt down Wilson. Hopefully they’d discuss why he was cooking as opposed to speculating on how hard he’d hit his head lately.
All three ducklings looked up expectantly as he came into the lounge. Ignoring them House dropped his sack on the table, then rooted through it until he found his and Wilson’s sandwiches. Food in hand House turned to get coffee and nearly collided with Cameron.
"What?"
"Where’d the food come from, House?" Foreman came around to stand beside Cameron. Chase watched from his seat at the table.
"Why do you want to know? Worried they’re poisoned?"
Cameron’s eyes went wide as Foreman rolled his. Foreman shook his head and answered, "You wouldn’t poison us because then you’d have to treat us and then do interviews if we died."
"Why not donuts? They’re cheaper." Cameron looked like she actually cared about the answer.
"You’d rather have pure sugar?" House turned to reach for the bag, but Chase snagged it, quickly pulling it out of House’s reach.
"No, no donuts. These are good." Chase busied himself with the sack.
House pushed past the other two fellows, grabbed Cameron’s coffee, and headed for Wilson’s office by way of the balcony. As he pushed the door to the balcony open he heard Chase’s voice.
"He won’t bring anything at all tomorrow, you know."
House smiled as he closed his balcony door behind him. Time to change tactics.
*****
Wilson let himself into his office and stopped short at the sight of his desk. Sitting centered on his blotter was another wrapped sandwich. After a quick glance around revealed no House waiting to laugh at him Wilson approached his desk.
"I see he gave you one too."
Wilson turned to find Cuddy just inside his office door. Motioning her to come in Wilson sat down at his desk.
"I think he’s been replaced by a pod person."
Cuddy smiled. "I thought robot myself. Do you know what he’s up to?"
"Maybe. He came in the other day and told me he was concerned about someone’s eating habits. Now he’s cooking."
"Cooking? You mean he actually made these things?" Cuddy poked at the wrapped food.
"Yeah. Cuddy, have you ever seen Chase eat?"
Cuddy frowned as she thought. "I don’t think I have. He’s worried about Chase?"
Wilson put his head in his right hand and used his left to unwrap his sandwich. "I think so."
"Should he be worried?"
"I don’t know." Wilson shrugged. "Chase is about the same weight as when he started working here. Just because no one can remember seeing him eat a whole meal doesn’t mean he doesn’t."
"What do you mean no one?"
"I asked around. House is worried enough that not only is he cooking, he’s cooking enough to cover up the fact that it’s really just Chase he wants to feed."
Cuddy dropped into a chair. "He cares."
Wilson frowned at her around a mouthful of food.
"I mean, I know he cares. He just doesn’t show it much beyond tolerating them most of the time." Cuddy looked down at her hands. "He’s just worrying me. You know he did half of his own clinic hours yesterday?"
"Huh. Well, I wouldn’t worry until he showed up on-time for his own hours. And as for Chase I think he’s got enough problems with House being worried; he doesn’t need us worried too."
Cuddy nodded and left Wilson to the rest of his breakfast.
*****
When House’s leg protested partway to the parking lot that evening it wasn’t unexpected, but definitely unwelcome. House quickly sat down on a nearby bench and went into his invisible act. Which was seeming to work great right up until Chase sat down beside him.
House ignored the duckling in favor of trying to will the leg to quit hurting. Chase just sat silently beside him. Finally deciding that his leg wasn’t going to quit before Chase gave up and left, House turned to his fellow.
"Waiting on something?"
"Yeah. How long has it been hurting?"
"How long have you eaten less than the average bird?" The snap answer was habit and House wasn’t going to take it back no matter what kind of hurt expression Chase made.
"Off and on a couple of days, huh?" Chase kept his eyes on his folded hands. "Hurts now, doesn’t it?"
House sighed. "I figure you were taught from day one to be careful what you ate. That appearance was everything." House leaned forward and vehemently ignored the thigh as it twinged in protest. "More off than on and yes, but it’ll stop."
Chase nodded. He stood up and offered his hand to House. "Six, actually, and if you’ll let me help you home and quit scaring everyone with your food I’ll tell you about it."
House narrowed his eyes at the offered hand. "You aren’t worried that I’ll tease you about it?"
"You’ll forget about it when you start fighting with Wilson about painkillers." Chase wiggled his fingers.
House hauled harder on the Aussie’s hand than he really needed to, but Chase simply took the force and stayed steady. It reminded House of why Chase would be so good at helping people stay standing. Moving slowly, House noted that Chase stayed on his right side, but not too close.
After a quick internal debate, House handed his keys over to the younger man. Chase blinked, but didn’t say anything about it as they got into House’s car. House closed his eyes and tried to relax his leg muscles.
"Hmm. House, I don’t know how to get to your place."
"We’re getting liquor and food first." House peeked out under his lashes to see Chase blink and shake his head before starting the car.
*****
(Part 2)