'No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me in excruciating detail,' House replied, mouth full of chow mein. He vaguely waved his chopsticks toward Wilson without taking his eyes off the television. 'Feel free to just record your little speech this time so that next time we can do this without actually having to have the lecture. Have the Chinese place include the tape with the food delivery. Much more convenient that way.'

'Oh, well, forgive me for providing you with food, and clean dishes to eat it off of. I know what a pain it is to have to put up with eating what I provide all the time. If only there was some other way of acquiring sustenance without having to deal with my obviously unwelcome presence. Oh wait! I know! Use your own money!' Now Wilson was pacing, throwing his hands in the air, gesturing dramatically.

House finally glanced up at him with a withering glare, sarcasm in his voice. 'Now why would I do that when I can just take yours?' He wondered briefly if Wilson knew why he always took things from him. Probably not, if they were having this conversation again. Maybe he could finally get Wilson to notice this time.

'And THAT'S your problem!' Wilson shouted back, whirling back to face him and shaking a finger in his face. 'You just take! You take whatever you want without any thought as to what anyone else wants! You take everything without so much as a by your leave, and you never - EVER! - give anything back.'

'I gave you beer. And besides, you know where my wallet is. You could have gotten money out of it to pay for the food.' House shifted and leaned forward, stabbing his chopsticks in the air in Wilson's direction. 'You just don't because it suits you to first play the caretaker and then play the martyr about being a caretaker.'

'Your wallet's in your pocket. What am I supposed to do, wrestle you for it?' Now it was Wilson's turn for a dip in the sarcasm pool. He crossed his arms again and leaned on the doorframe.

If that's what floats your boat, sure, I can work with that, House thought. What he said, though, was, 'Take it. Just ... take it. Take what you want.' Please just take it! He put down the food carton and the chopsticks and placed his hands on his knees, ready for it.

'Oh please, you wouldn't let me take your wallet away from you if it was on fire. No, much easier to make me do it.' Wilson stalked back into the kitchen with a huff. House let out a sigh, levered himself up off the couch and followed, frustration building within him at his friend's obtuseness. Deliberate or not, he mused. It possibly was on purpose, since his friend had an unfortunate habit of ignoring things about House that he didn't want to face. Like returning pain for instance, he thought wryly.

He stopped when he reached the doorway and looked over at the agitated form of his best friend. Wilson was leaning on the counter over the sink, arms straight, head hanging low between his shoulders, back stiff. His shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his tie was gone and his collar buttons were open, exposing the soft skin of his throat and a little of his upper chest. House's breathing quickened just a bit at the sight. This was the Wilson he liked best, relaxed and out of uniform. Well, maybe not relaxed at the moment.

'No one made you do anything. You did it of your own free will,' House said softly as he took one step into the kitchen, abandoning the cane at the door. It was easier to move around the kitchen using the counters instead. He kept his eyes on Wilson, who still hadn't turned around.

'Of course I did. Just like I always do. Because if I don't you just take it anyway!' Wilson raised one hand and made a fist, but then just put it firmly back onto the counter with a light thump.

House took another step. 'Then take something back.' He felt his heart thumping in his chest and a rushing wind in his ears

'I don't want your money, House. I don't want your things,' Wilson said resignedly, tipping his head back and sighing, eyes closed.

'Then what do you want?' House asked quietly, taking another step forward. By now he was directly behind Wilson, close enough to reach out and touch. This was a loaded question, he knew. He just hoped the answer didn't take Wilson in the wrong direction. House hoped, he knew, that Wilson wanted the same thing he did, and right now he wanted Wilson to take it. He just needed a little push.

'I ... I want a gesture of ... I just want some ... something ... I ... I don't ... know,' Wilson stuttered to a stop, dropping his head between his shoulders again, chin to chest. House took the last step, bringing himself to within inches of the other man. Obviously Wilson was going to need more than just a little push.

House's voice was now almost a whisper, and his lips were close enough to the back of Wilson's neck to flutter the hair there when he spoke. 'Tell me, Wilson. What do you want?' He watched as a shiver made its way up the man's back, making his shoulders tense.

'I want ... I ... You ... I don't know...' Wilson's words came out in a breathless whisper, a sigh at the end as the air rushed from his lungs. House watched the muscles in his bare forearms bunch and shift as he tensed.

House shuffled forward and closed the gap between them, tentatively laying his hands on Wilson's biceps and rubbing his thumbs lightly against his tense muscles. 'How can you get what you want if you don't know what you want?' he whispered quietly. He tightened his fingers and brought his lips to Wilson's neck, wildly hoping he wouldn't bolt. Carefully, lightly, he trailed his lips up the soft skin Wilson's neck to his hairline.

Wilson breathed in quickly and stiffened all over, but House continued to move his lips over the man's neck, and in time he began to tilt his head to give House better access. House smiled into his skin and tightened his grip on the other man's arms. Moving closer still, he pressed his chest up against Wilson's back and trailed kisses along his neck to just under his ear. He could feel the hitch in Wilson's breathing, small gasping breaths with each touch of his lips.

'Breathe,' he whispered, and obediently Wilson exhaled in a rush, inhaled again just as quickly. House smiled again. Oh yeah, this was going to go just the way he wanted it to. He snaked an arm around Wilson's waist and pulled him gently backwards, until he could feel the heat and pressure of the other man from his shoulders all the way down to his knees.

With a quiet 'uh!' Wilson dropped his head back and onto House's shoulder, and House used the opening to reach just a little further and move his lips over Wilson's throbbing jugular vein. He let go of Wilson's other arm and moved his left hand over, feeling his way across the other man's chest until he reached his heart, revelling in the sensation of the pounding there and the pulsing of his vein under House's lips. Wilson sagged a little as House let go of his bicep and he tightened the arm around his waist just a little more, pulling him tighter, closer.

And with that, House could feel how hard he'd gotten with just the small exploration of the back of Wilson's neck. The feel of Wilson's ass rubbing slightly against the front of House's pants made his stomach flutter and his cock twitch, and he jutted his hips forward in a small involuntary thrust. Wilson rubbed back again, a little more forcefully this time, and raised

his arm to cover House's at his waist. Again House's cock twitched and again his hips moved of their own volition. House couldn't wait any longer.

'What do you want, Wilson?' he rasped against the tender skin of his throat. The hand that covered the younger man's heart trailed up his shirt to the top button, sliding it open and then dropping to the next, sliding it open too. 'Tell me.'

'I ... this ... you ... I want you,' came his breathless reply.

'Then take me,' House growled, finishing the buttons and pushing the shirt aside roughly. He spread his hand and moved it over Wilson's exposed chest and stomach, delighting in the feel of the muscles of his belly jumping and quivering at his touch, the feel of his nipples hardening into points in his palm.

'Can't...'

Well that was unexpected. House blinked and pulled his lips away from Wilson's now very red skin. '...Why not?'

'S'not right ... can't just take ... without asking ... s'rude ...' Wilson panted out, fragments of sentences that didn't make much sense to House. But even while he protested he continued to move his ass over House's cock, back and forth, rubbing lightly enough to tease but hard enough to have no doubt about the reaction.

'Yes you can,' House panted back, 'just like this.' He pulled Wilson's shirt all the way off, roughly down his arms, and dropped it on the floor beside them, then went to work on his belt and button with one hand and on his own jeans with the other. After a second or two of fumbling with both, Wilson huffed a small laugh, took pity on House and undid his own trousers. 'Thanks,' House muttered, a little chagrined that his attempt at a dramatic seduction had slightly slipped the rails.

Wilson turned his head slightly from where it rested on House's shoulder and House caught him in a sloppy kiss, lips and tongues and teeth meeting and sliding apart and meeting again. He ran his hands down Wilson's torso to his hips, pushing aside the fabric of his pants and reaching into his underwear, pushing the elastic down as far as he could reach. Finally he grasped Wilson's hard cock in his hand and gave an experimental stroke, just up and down once, just lightly.

The moan that Wilson made went straight to House's dick and he felt himself quake just a little at the sound. He stroked again and Wilson bucked his hips forward in a halting, jerky motion. This isn't going to last nearly long enough, he thought absently.

Wilson reached behind himself and trailed his own hands down House's body, skating his fingertips over House's exposed length, then grasping him lightly and pumping once in time to House's motions on his own member. He brushed his fingers over the top and picked up the bead of fluid leaking out, spreading it down and around, over his shaft. House's mind went white at the electric shock feeling of the touch. Finally, finally he was going to get Wilson to take something he wanted, stop constantly holding back. He tried to get back his concentration and focus on Wilson's hot length in his hand, but what Wilson did next blew House's focus right out of the water.

He shifted slightly, bringing his legs closer together, and House felt Wilson's thighs tighten with tension. Then he pushed down on House's cock and guided it in towards him, between his legs, just at the top of his inseam, and then reached behind House and grabbed onto his ass and pulled tightly, bringing him flush against himself. The motion shot bolts of electricity through House, and again his mind fuzzed out and went blank. Instinct took over and he began to thrust his hips forward wildly, clutching Wilson's waist with one arm while maintaining a loose grip on his cock with the other hand.

A ragged groan ripped from House's throat as he pushed madly into the hot sheath Wilson had created with his legs. The friction of Wilson's dress pants against his throbbing, leaking cock was both insanely hot and slightly painful, enough to keep House's mind off his screaming thigh muscle for just the right amount of time. Much to his later embarrassment, it wasn't a long time at all. Just a minute later he could feel the tension coiling in his belly, and he had only enough warning to gasp, 'Coming ... I'm coming!' wetly into Wilson's ear. Wilson tightened the muscles in his thighs just a little bit more as House came, wringing moans and sobs and come from him in equal measure.

House clutched desperately at Wilson's hips and waist trying not to fall, but Wilson had apparently already thought ahead and had grabbed his arm in one hand and his hip in the other. Then he executed what House thought had to have been a 3-point, gold-star move perfected over many years of female seduction. He spun around, grabbed House by the waist, and spun them both around so that House was the one leaning on the counter, and Wilson was leaning into him, face to face. He pushed up hard against House, belly to belly, chest to chest, eye to eye, and pressed his lips to House's, hard.

House, lost in the post-coital haze already, simply opened his lips and let Wilson explore, with his tongue, his lips, his teeth. He brought his hands up to House's face and held him still while ravaging House's mouth with his own, and pushed his hips into House's, brushing his still hot and hard cock against House's spent one.

Wilson grabbed House's right hand and pulled it down between them, placing it on Wilson's own cock and wrapping his own hand around House's, and pushed him to start stroking.

'What're you doing?' House rasped when he could free his lips from the assault Wilson was waging.

'Taking what I want,' Wilson gasped back.

Oh, yes!

'What do you want?' House asked again, for what had to be the hundredth time that night.

'You.' This time Wilson's voice was clear and strong, no hesitation. House thrilled at the sound, the thought.

House let go of Wilson's throbbing cock long enough to swipe his hand through the remains of his own come left glistening on Wilson's pants for lubrication, and then resumed his grip and his rhythm, fast and hard, wrenching gasps from Wilson as he clenched his eyes shut and panted into House's ear.

'Say it, Wilson,' House growled.

'House!' Wilson gasped.

'No, tell me what you want!' He stopped the motion of his hand until Wilson caught the clue.

'Oh ... god! You ... I ... want you!' he moaned, struggling to get it out, panting and groaning the words.

'Yeeeessss'' House groaned, resuming the motion and pumping even faster, squeezing a little bit harder, wrenching sobs from the other man as he clutched at House's shoulders.

Finally Wilson threw his head back and hissed through his teeth, and House watched the blissful expression on his face as he stilled a moment and then thrust madly into House's clenched fist, coming in spurts over House's hand, up his belly, onto his jeans. Finally the tension drained out of him and Wilson's body relaxed and sagged into House's, who sagged backwards against the counter. He started to feel himself dragging downward and moved to warn Wilson but he beat him to it, wrapping his arms around House's chest and keeping him up against the counter. For a few minutes they stayed that way, Wilson nuzzling his face into House's neck and House trailing kisses over Wilson's ear, his jaw, his cheek. Eventually they lined up again and took each other's lips in slow, lazy, soft kisses.

Yes, this was what was supposed to happen, this was what House had wanted all along, and Wilson finally gave in ... wait. Was that what Wilson had wanted all along as well? Something to ponder, later, after much sleep and pain killers. In the mean time ...

'I think those pants are a write-off.' House's voice was gravelly and low, but soft and joking at the same time.

'They'll wash,' said Wilson softly, his voice a little hoarse. 'So will we. What do you say?'

'Shower, definitely.'

Wilson waited while House shifted himself enough to be able to use Wilson as support. They stopped when reached the door of the kitchen, where his cane still resided. Wilson picked it up and went to hand it to House but he waved him off, instead looping his arm over Wilson's shoulder and settling most of his weight on his friend.

'If you're going to manipulate me into seducing you, the least you can do is get me to the bathroom.' Wilson smirked, and House continued, 'And then take me to bed.'

'Yes, sir. Whatever you want.'