Work Text:
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Come in!” Wilson called out as he heard the knock on the door to his office. Cuddy walked through the door.
“Have you heard from House today?” She asked him.
“No, why?” He replied, filling out some paperwork on his desk.
“He hasn’t shown up to work,” she told him.
“He’s probably just running late,” Wilson said, “He’ll probably be here soon.”
“It’s 1pm, I’ve never seen him here later than 12.”
“Have you tried calling him?”
“Yeah, just went to voicemail,” Cuddy replied, “Cameron says he was in a lot of pain when he left yesterday, I’m worried he might not be alright.”
“And you want me to go check on him?” Wilson questioned and Cuddy just smiled slightly at him, “fine,” he sighed standing up and grabbing his jacket.
“Thank you,” Cuddy said as they both left the room.
————
“House!” Wilson shouted as he banged on the other man’s front door, “House!” He tried again. He hadn’t heard anything from inside the apartment so pulled out the spare key he had and went inside, “House?” He called out, walking through the lounge, the apartment was strangely quiet and he couldn’t see his best friend. He wandered through to the bedroom and opened the door, seeing a lump in the middle of the bed. He walked over and saw House’s face peeking out from the bundle of duvet that was encasing him, “House, wakey wakey, you’re late for work!” He said loudly, shaking the older man. House grunted at him before pulling the duvet over his head, “c’mon House, you can’t spend all day in bed, you have a patient who needs you.”
He pulled the duvet cover off the man and was shocked at what he saw, House was ghostly pale and sweating profusely yet shivering at the same time.
“Go away!” House called out, grabbing for the duvet.
“House you’re burning up,” Wilson said, putting a hand on the man’s forehead, “I’ll be back in a second, and don’t even think about covering yourself back up, you need to cool down,” Wilson searched the apartment for a thermometer and any medication he could find that could help the sick doctor. He headed back to the bedroom and crouched down next to House’s face, “open your mouth,” he commanded and House did as he said. He put the thermometer in his mouth and waited for the familiar beep, “Christ House! Your temperature is 102.”
“I’m fine,” he muttered back.
“No you’re not,” Wilson replied, “take these,” he handed some pills to House but the other man didn’t even move, he sighed and instead sat next to him on the bed, pulling him up into a sitting position. House groaned out as his body protested the movement before laying his head on Wilson’s shoulder, “open your mouth,” Wilson said again and placed the pills on House’s tongue before putting a glass off water to his lips. House swallowed the mixture of pills and liquid the pushed himself away from Wilson to lay on the bed again.
“I’m fine now, you can leave me alone,” he said, curling up into a ball and shivering again.
“Not a chance,” the oncologist replied, standing up to open a window.
“No! It’s cold!” House protested.
“You need to get your temperature down,” Wilson told him, heading back over to the bed, “which means you’re going to strip down to your boxers and I’m going to bring some wet cloths in here.”
“No, I’m fine,” House muttered.
“House, your clothes are soaked in sweat and your skin is boiling,” House just grunted in response and made no effort to help as Wilson began to pull off his t-shirt and sweat pants. The younger man then walked through to the bathroom where he soaked some wash cloths under the tap. He was about to leave the room when he heard the unmistakable sound of House throwing up and instead decided to search for a bucket.
He found one in the storage closet and headed back to the bedroom where he got there just in time for House to vomit into the bucket. He let the man finish retching before taking the bucket away and using the cloths to clean him up. He then found some spare bedding.
“House you’re going to have to get up for a minute so I can change your sheets,” he told him.
“Easier said than done,” House replied but attempted to move. He got to the edge of the bed and went to stand but his bad leg gave out under him. Luckily Wilson was close by and caught the man, gently helping him to sit on the floor, leaning against the bed. He made quick work of the bedding and helped get House laying on it again. He was dabbing at House’s forehead with a cold, damp cloth when he heard his phone ringing. He got up to answer it and saw it was Cuddy.
“Hey,” he answered.
“Hey, did you find him?” She asked.
“Yeah, he’s not well, he’s got a fever and has been vomiting, I’ve given him some medicine but he just threw it back up,” he explained.
“Great,” she replied, “you alright to stay and look after him?”
“I was planning on doing that wether you said I could or not,” he said.
“Thought so,” she commented and he thought he could hear amusement in her voice, “call me and let me know how he is later.”
“Will do,” he replied, ending the call. He turned back to face the shivering man on the bed before taking off his jacket and tie and rolling up his sleeves. This was going to be a long afternoon.
————
After the third time of House missing the bucket and throwing up on himself Wilson decided to just stick the man in the shower, ignoring the protests from his friend. He managed to get him sat in the bathtub and turned the shower on. He kept it slightly on the cooler side, hoping to decrease House’s temperature. He began to scrub his friend’s body and washed his sweat soaked hair and just when he thought he was finished House turned and puked all down Wilson’s shirt.
“Sorry,” he muttered as Wilson looked down at himself.
“It’s alright,” he replied, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it off. House looked over his friends body before chuckling slightly.
“It’s a good job no one else is here, this would be a weird situation to explain,” Wilson laughed slightly as House said this.
“Could be worse,” he said, “only one of us is naked so that’s slightly easier to explain.”
“Yeah but you’re almost to that point,” House replied.
“You make it sound like that’s been your plan this whole time.”
“It has been,” House commented causing Wilson to chuckle.
“Glad to see your sense of humour is coming back,” he said, “now let’s got you back in bed,” he helped the other man out of the bathtub, but as House went to step his leg gave out again and he found himself clinging on to his best friend for dear life, his wet body pressed up against Wilson’s shirtless one.
“Sorry,” he apologised again.
“I think I’ve heard you apologise more in the last five minutes than in your entire life,” Wilson commented as he helped House to get back on his feet, “you okay?” He asked.
“Yeah,” House replied, before attempting to dry himself off. Wilson felt pity on him and sat him down on the toilet before drying him and putting a fresh pair of boxers on him, “You know if you ever tell anyone about this I will make your life hell,” House told him.
“I fully believe you,” Wilson said, pulling him to his feet and helping him back to the bedroom. House laid back down and Wilson put the thermometer back in his mouth, “looks like your fever’s starting to break,” he told the older man.
“That’s good,” House replied, curling up on his bed and shutting his eyes.
“Can I borrow some clothes?” Wilson asked, “looks like I have your puke on my pants too,” he commented looking down at the stain on his pants leg.
“Sure,” House muttered. Wilson searched the closet for something that might fit him and settled on an old band tee and some sweat pants. House opened one eye and watched as Wilson changed his pants and pulled the T-shirt over his head.
“You know if you’re going to stare at least be subtle about it,” The younger doctor commented.
“I thought that was very subtle,” House replied, Wilson laughed slightly before sitting on the bed next to House, “You know you don’t have to be with me 24/7,” he mumbled.
“I know, but for now this is where I’m staying,” Wilson said, lifting his legs onto the bed and leaning against the headboard. He pulled out his phone and started watching crappy TV shows.
————
Wilson didn’t know when he fell asleep but suddenly he was aware of a weight on his legs. He looked down and saw House’s head on one of his legs and an arm laying over them. He smiled at him and lifted a hand to place gently on his head, it felt like the other man’s fever had broken and he hadn’t thrown up since the shower. He carefully brushed his fingers through his friends hair and watched as his chest rose and fell in time with his breathing. He stopped for a second to check his watch which caused House to groan.
“Don’t stop,” he said, surprising Wilson who just put his hand back and continued to stroke his head.
“How you feeling now?” He asked.
“Bit better, don’t feel as nauseous,” House replied.
“Good,” Wilson commented, “your fever seems to have gone.”
“Does that mean you can shut my window now? It’s freezing in here.”
“That means you’ll have to move so I can get up,” Wilson told him. House groaned and lifted himself up onto an elbow.
“You know those clothes suit you,” he said, looking Wilson up and down as the other man stood up.
“House are you flirting with me?” Wilson joked.
“Yes,” he replied, seriously. Wilson closed the window before turning back to him.
“I can’t tell wether you’re joking or not now,” he said.
“I’m being serious,” House told him, Wilson didn’t know what to say, “you know, it’s getting late, you can stay here and keep looking after me if you want.”
“You sure, I don’t want to intrude,” Wilson said.
“You wouldn’t be intruding, in fact you make quite a comfortable pillow,” House commented.
“You want me to stay in here? With you?” Wilson questioned.
“Yes.”
Wilson didn’t say anything, only laid back down on the bed again. House moved closer to him and laid his head on Wilson’s chest. Wilson wrapped an arm around him and covered them with House’s duvet.
“House,” he said.
”Yeah.”
“What going on here?” He asked.
“Who cares?” House responded, “just let it happen,” Wilson didn’t reply and instead pulled him closer.
“Just so you know if I get ill because of this I will kill you,” Wilson commented.
“If you get ill it will probably be from the hundreds of times I was throwing up,” House retorted. Wilson chuckled and wrapped his other arm around House, holding him close the whole night.