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“I really should get going,” Chase says, kissing House again. He doesn’t make any attempts to leave the bed. He’s not sure where to begin when it comes to finding his clothes, which are strewn around House’s apartment.
“Stay here tonight,” House replies, pulling Chase closer.
Chase smiles and sits up. “I can’t, I don’t have any clean clothes.”
“You keep two spare outfits at work and one in your car. Come on,” House whines, smiling up at Chase and wrapping his arms around his waist. “One night?”
Chase leans down and kisses him. “I don’t trust that one night won’t turn into two. Or that you won’t keep me up.”
“Of course I won’t keep-” House stops when he hears Chase's stomach growl rather loudly. He raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t know bottoms burned that much energy,” he jokes.
Chase blushes and playfully shoves House. “Shut up, it’s probably just because I haven’t eaten since….” Chase trails off, trying to remember. “Oh,” he says softly.
“What?” House asks.
Chase laughs, but it sounds more forced than genuine. “I haven’t eaten all day,” he says. “I must’ve forgotten. I was so focused on the case, and on errands- I didn’t even eat breakfast because I woke up late.”
House pulls away from Chase and starts getting dressed. “Come on.”
“What? House, what are you doing?”
House kisses him on the cheek, then tosses one of his tshirts at him. “I’m going to make you something to eat. Come on.”
Chase gets dressed, and tries to pretend he doesn’t like wearing an oversized shirt that smells like House. “What are you gonna make?” he asks, jumping up to sit on the kitchen counter.
“How do you feel about steak? None of that beef wellington bullshit, though. It’s like, eleven thirty,” House says, grabbing various ingredients from his fridge.
“Sometimes I forget you’re old and you need to go to bed early,” Chase teases.
“I don’t look this gorgeous on less than nine hours of sleep.”
Chase snorts and helps House with whatever he can reach, moving a bit closer to the stove. It’s rather precarious, and he can tell House is worries by the number of times his eyes flick up from whatever he’s doing to stare at the bit of countertop that separates Chase from a gas stovetop, but he doesn’t say anything.
Chase helps out however House asks him to, from chopping vegetables to flipping the steak, because House is attempting cook both a main course and a dessert at the same time.
“You don’t have to make brownies from scratch. You know that, right?” Chase asks.
“If you don’t like Dutch chocolate or my grandmother, that’s perfectly fine. You’re wrong, but it’s fine, and these are going to be baked anyways.”
Chase laughs softly. “Okay, House. Whatever you say.”
House manages to get the brownies in the oven just as Chase hops off the counter to grabs plates and utensils for the both of them. He runs into House as he walks over to the dining table, but House grabs him to steady him as he stumbles over his own feet. Chase comes closer to dropping everything when he laughs after the fact.
“We should do this when we’re more awake,” Chase says, finally setting the plates down.
“I think we still put together a pretty nice dinner for ourselves,” House says, pulling Chase into his arms.
“Yeah, we did.” Chase leans up and kisses him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Chase’s stomach rumbles again, cause House to laugh.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” he says.
It was probably the best meal Chase ever had.