Fic: An Auditioning Ghost

An Auditioning Ghost
Rating: G
Who: House/Cameron, House/Wilson, Wilson/Cameron - in the most vague sense of /.
Summary: In the company of common fillers.

For brightillusions. Murphy's Law is not an actual law and your life is not a slice of buttered bread. You've got my e-mail and you've got my ear.

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1.

There are two men in the office, one sitting behind the desk and one sitting in a chair next to an open window. One of these men is your boss, or not, depending how in love with him you are at the time. Do not choose between the two just yet, as there is always another angle to consider. Both are similarly attractive (brown hair, a solid set of shoulders, restless hands) and only impressive from far away. One of these men only trusts the part of you that is bruised and ruined. He relies on your imperfections and will pick you apart slow, curious as to where your insides went wrong. The other man wants only to put you back together. He likes to fix everything around him. Eventually, he may want you around him, and you could love him. The sky is calm and empty. Keep in mind the open window. Do not make a choice yet.


2.

There are two men in the office. Let’s just call them each Doctor. One is louder, more commanding of his own space, and we’ll assume this particular Doctor is older, more experienced. Arrogant and a bit rebellious, he is not his boss’ favorite. This Doctor always wins because he understands completely how our bodies falter. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t always come down to only a faltering body. He is thinking of his colleague seated nearby. He is thinking that if he could only cut him open and peel back everything familiar and find what makes this other Doctor act the way he does, care the way he does, then he could learn more about himself, why some things must remain unknown.


3.

There are two Doctors in the office, but one is closer, near the window, or away from it, depending on which of the two Doctors you want. It could have been very convenient, as nothing really happens between them so there are no particulars, but each Doctor secretly wants to be the other one. Doctor is tired of seeing the set of that man’s shoulders, one higher than the other even before the ugly swagger. He is Doctor and is tired of receiving help from the other Doctor who cannot be bothered to iron a shirt. This has been arriving for years, says Doctor. I am the thing that is hurtling towards you. They are the same and they are not the same. Mostly, they are the same, and they hate each other for it.


4.

Your name is Doctor and somewhere in your office, your colleague has gone silent, and is waiting for you with a chart clutched in his left hand. How he hates you, selfish boy. How he invents most of your monsters so you can push him away and then he can pull you back. These days blood gets you hot and even when he’s cheating on his wife he has good intentions. His grip on the chart is firm and his knuckles are white and his wedding ring is the brightest thing in the room because you want it to be. The ring catches light as he moves toward and away from you, like a star light-years away, like intentions given a voice that will never even make a difference.


5.

You are playing cards with three Doctors. Two of these Doctors seem familiar, but the one across from you keeps staring at your tight mouth, your tiny wrists, and you’re certain you’ve never seen this Doctor before, but he’s on your team and you’re winning big. For some reason, the other Doctors keep touching you. They both have soft, sure hands, fingers long like spider legs. And for some reason, the lighting in the room makes their hands seem bigger and closer than they should be, like each hand is a specific place and time, an office with uncomfortable modern chairs, and an open window. Move away from the window, Cameron. Take off your coat, we’ve got a patient to discuss. Come over here to my desk.


6.

You are playing cards with three Doctors. One is your boss, one is his friend, and the other is your lover. All of them have seen you angry and overly sympathetic. Your lover stands up to answer the phone. Somehow, he looks hurt. Maybe his face always looks like that. To them, he’s a distraction, but to you he’s a different place and time. Phone’s for you, Doctor says. It’s your friend Doctor, who isn’t really your friend, but you cannot talk right now, as one of these Doctors has put his tongue in your mouth. Please let it be the right one.


7.

Two Doctors are arguing in an office that has no walls. A cane has fallen to the ground, next to a trashcan, while they yell and gesture angrily. You hear them as you walk past because they’re in an office with no walls. You are a young widow, you do not have a lover, and you have never seen anything this vicious or intense with another person. One of your colleagues pretends that he is better than what is happening and the other colleague takes a sort of comfort in it. There is an empty space next to you in the back of the elevator. Make it the shape of everything you need. Say hello.