for Chase

[misanthrope_md]

House was sitting on the bed in his room with his back against the wall and feet dangling off of the end, tossing the tennis ball up in the air and catching it.

He was feeling a little better today after the horrendous previous one. Chase had been right, of course; the pain had come back as soon as the morphine wore off, but he managed to sleep through the worst part of it, and today it had dissipated to the normal dull ache.

When he heard footsteps, he glanced up. "Miss me already?" he said to Chase.

Comments

[misanthrope_md]

"Don't be sorry, it doesn't have anything to do with you," House said between gritted teeth. "Just... tell him to stay the fuck away from me."

[dr_robchase]

"Which one?" Chase asked to clarify, not wanting to be wrong about this.

[misanthrope_md]

"Oh, for christ's sake, Chase." House let his head fall back against the wall with a loud thump. "Both of them."

[dr_robchase]

Chase winced and took a deep breath, closing his eyes again. He didn't know what the hell to do and he couldn't exactly offer anything, not even a vessel of revenge. "Okay," he agreed.

[misanthrope_md]

House forced himself to look up at Chase. "Don't worry," he said sourly, "I'm not going to try to seduce you now, you can relax."

[dr_robchase]

Chase rolled his eyes. "It wasn't exactly a worry," he said in a deadpanned voice.

[misanthrope_md]

House frowned. "Why not? I seem to remember the last two times this happened, one of the first things I did was jump you. Both times."

He smirked, though it was somewhat forced. "And if I recall correctly, you weren't exactly adverse to being jumped."

[dr_robchase]

Chase gave House a smirk of his own in return. "We've gone over this. We have sexual tension and as much as I'd love to, you're in it for the wrong reasons and I have Jay."

[misanthrope_md]

"Uh huh." House grabbed the ball again, and threw it up at the ceiling, let it bounce down and caught it again.

"Do me a favor then and go find Phedre for me."

A beat. "That was a joke."

[dr_robchase]

Chase just smirked. "Either you're less funny or I'm not as brainwashed anymore."

[misanthrope_md]

"You're right, I don't think you're brainwashed anymore." House looked up at the ceiling again. He just felt... numb. "So you can tell me the truth. You think I'm an idiot, don't you."

[dr_robchase]

Chase stared at House, wondering what the hell had just happened, had House just asked him an honest question? He wandered into the room, sighing. "Honestly? I think Wilson is."

[misanthrope_md]

House sighed heavily. "Well that's a given. But you think I'm an idiot too, for putting up with it."

[dr_robchase]

Chase was silent and his silence was his doom on that answer.

[misanthrope_md]

"Fine, whatever." He grunted a little and let his eyes drop closed. "Well it's not an issue anymore."

It wasn't even so much the sex that got to House this time. But the fact that he'd done it again when they had yet to even resolve anything, when James could have, in theory, been trying to figure out how to make things right. Instead, he'd apparently just thrown in the towel, or he just really didn't give a shit about House, which was looking more and more to be the case.

He didn't know why he'd expected anything different. People are shit.

[dr_robchase]

"Okay," Chase agreed quietly. "Do you need me to get you anything?"

[misanthrope_md]

House shook his head. "Somehow I don't think you have anything that would help me too much."

[dr_robchase]

Chase closed the door and pushed inside the room. "Lean forward," he instructed, shifting onto the bed behind House and cracking his fingers.

[misanthrope_md]

"Want me to take off all my clothes too?" House muttered, but he did as he was told.

[dr_robchase]

"Only if you want," Chase replied easily enough, setting his hands to House's shoulders and pushing down to get the muscles warmed and ready.

[misanthrope_md]

"There seems to be a prevelant philosophy around here that anything can be solved by a massage," House murmured, letting his head drop forward. "They just seem to get me in trouble."

[dr_robchase]

"Massages are good for releasing stress and pain," Chase reminded him, digging his fingers into the knotted muscles of House's back now. "They're not just foreplay."

[misanthrope_md]

"I don't think your fingers can reach this particular pain."

[dr_robchase]

Chase rolled his eyes. Trust House to get deep when in emotional turmoil. He occupied himself massaging across the breadth of House's shoulders. "You should just knock him one in the face and get it over with."

[misanthrope_md]

"Don't tempt me," House muttered.