House

[london_spy]

After getting Fin home, Danny had done the same for himself, getting his homework done at last before calling it a night. House's text was what woke him mid-day. ...Apparently he was getting that lunch after all.

Car still in the shop, Danny took the tube into the city proper, meeting Greg in a diner he'd never been to before.

He spotted House in a booth and went to join him, dumping his bag on the seat beside him as he slid into the booth.

"Rough night?" he quipped.

Comments

[drfeelbad]

"Yeah not my best," House said. "But everything's fine. Thank you, for what you did. That was really decent of you."

[london_spy]

"I wouldn't have let something happen to anyone in that position," Danny assured him. "It wasn't just because he's your boyfriend."

[drfeelbad]

House looked at him for a second, thinking also of how he'd helped him at the club. "Have you always been this good of a person or is it in reaction to a time when you weren't?"

[london_spy]

"I think I was always good, just- I don't know, more apathetic, or self involved maybe," Danny shrugged.

"Is it more interesting or less if I used to be a piece of shit?" he asked, looking slightly amused. "I'd wager less."

[drfeelbad]

"It's interesting in different ways," House said. He took a sip of the coffee that he'd already ordered. "You are more interesting than most people."

[london_spy]

"I don't think I'm interesting. I think interesting things have happened around me, but- I'm just a guy, Greg," Danny replied, looking down at the table and shrugging.

[drfeelbad]

"Bullshit," House said with a snort. "But I wouldn't expect you to say anything else."

The waitress stopped by then, and House ordered a reuben and fries.

[london_spy]

Danny ordered soup and a sandwich, as well as a coffee, and didn't start chatting again until the waitress left.

"It's not bullshit," he assured House, shaking his head.

[drfeelbad]

"All fine, you're boring as hell then," House said, and yawned dramatically.

[london_spy]

Danny laughed at that, smiling a bit. "A dream come true, honestly. Boring's all I've wanted to be over the last few months. ...Strange, before that I always desperately wanted to be special."

[drfeelbad]

"You're a good person," House pointed out. "That is enough to make you special."

[london_spy]

Danny liked that Greg thought he was special. He didn't care much what most people thought of him, but- Greg's opinion had begun to matter. A lot.

"Yeah, well... Thanks," Danny replied with a soft smile. "...How's your mate doing? It's James, right? How is he? How are you both holding up?"

[drfeelbad]

House's eyes dropped to the table. "It's, ah... we haven't been talking about it. How he's sick, I mean. I think I'm going to take a few days off work, take a road trip or something with him."

[london_spy]

"That's a nice idea," Danny said softly, his tone sympathetic. "Maybe if both of you are out of your elements it'll be easier to talk."

[drfeelbad]

"I've never been very good at talking," said House.

[london_spy]

"You talk to me just fine," Danny shrugged, leaning back in his seat and considering House. "Or is it harder with him?"

[drfeelbad]

"It hasn't always been. But yeah. And the fact that we're talking about him dying does not exactly make it easier."

[london_spy]

"No, I can't imagine it would," Danny said sympathetically.

[drfeelbad]

"Wilson and I have a complicated relationship," House said.

[london_spy]

"Define complicated. There are so many sorts of complicated. There's 'I'm secretly jealous of them' complicated, or 'I'd die for them but sometimes their laugh makes me want to throw myself off a ledge' complicated, or... 'We got pissed and fucked once, but never talked about it' complicated," Danny said, listing them off as though they were all very normal.

"Maybe it's my personal favourite, 'we're exceptionally close but I found his furry pornography and now I can't look at him without thinking about yiffing'."

[drfeelbad]

"... I don't think you made that last one up," House said, avoiding thinking about the answer to the question.

[london_spy]

Danny sipped his drink and shrugged.

"Point is, there are different levels of complex and they all require different levels of handling."

[drfeelbad]

"All right," House said after a moment. "This complexity is that Wilson was my only friend for a very long time, and then he refused to lie to the police for me and I refused to talk to him for two years." And also I might be in love with him. But House definitely didn't say that.

[london_spy]

"You were, or you felt, betrayed- But now he's dying and you feel like that anger might have been misplaced- Or that in retrospect the time lost was worth more to you in the end than the satisfaction of 'punishing' him," Danny replied, nodding a little. "I can see why that would weigh on you. I have- I have moments I'm not proud of with Alex that I can't undo now. I can't tell him I was a dick about something, I can't go back and make use of time that slipped past while he was here. It eats at you- But here's the thing. He's not gone yet. You've got a timer, you know exactly how much time's left- You get to decide how that time's spent, Greg."

[drfeelbad]

"... thanks, doc," said House. "Shouldn't we wait until I can lay on a couch for this?"