scaredywombat | Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

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Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

Chase had shown up late to rehearsal, again. "Late" by dancer standards, at least, which meant right under the wire, still pulling his hair back and only just starting his warmups when the director walked in, clapping her hands and calling everyone to attention and to take their places. They were about a month out from their production of Swan Lake, which was the ballet that was considered by dance critics to be their company's strongest production. The company director was trying to make this performance better than the years before, while still trying to finish securing the details of their next run. It was chaotic, and Chase thrived on it. Even as busy as he was with college, he wouldn't give this up for the world. In the studio, he was far more alive than he was in the classroom, even if he was taking it seriously. Medicine. Becoming a doctor. Not what he wanted to do with his life, but he couldn't afford Julliard teaching five year olds how to plie, even if he wishes that he could. His classes and rehearsals run rather tight together, and he knows that a number of the other dancers judge him for it, but Robert pretends not to notice.

Or it's the fact that he's slept with more than a couple of his coworkers. People get so jumpy about sex, about who's having it and who isn't. Chase likes sex, and he's never seen it as a bad thing, never really had the desire to hide his interest. Other people just lie about it.

Rehearsal isn't particularly remarkable, at least not in matters of routine. They start off in pairs, running through movements and lifts, contact and extensions, to the often repeated instructions of grace and evoking simplicity in movement. They work their way in broad strokes through the third act with their instructor tweaking arms and pulling legs and saying hold. The same as the past two weeks. They take a break, she pulls out a notepad and they start back on Act I, Scene I, reviewing sections she had marked in green pen. What was remarkable, at least to Chase, was seeing Greg in those black tights. He stared, not quite shamelessly. He looked away when the older dancer would look his way, watched him through his blond eyelashes. He had a boyfriend, more or less. There were very good reasons not to be looking. But he couldn't help himself, he never could, because there was just something about him, about the way that he looked, the way that he moved, and it caught his breath half the time, and it always made his pulse race. Chase was a little more awkward, a little distracted when he wasn't dancing. He walked into someone during a break when he went for his water bottle.

He tried not to be obvious, but that was one thing that the young blond was not very good at. Much like how at the end of rehearsal, when Greg went off to one of the smaller studios, Chase couldn't help following. Everyone else either wasn't interested or knew better. Either was likely. Chase was terrible at knowing better. He was young, impulsive, and pretty scant on self-control. So there he was, leaning in the doorway, watching, his things still left behind in the other room. House usually wore loose pants, and the man was gorgeous. Older than most, but he made Chase have to struggle to try and not get a hard-on in the middle of rehearsal.

It didn't always work. He wanted to say something, but he didn't want to interrupt, so he just waited, watched. Quietly lingering while he stared.

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"I already told you," Chase points out with a slight tilt of his head, his eyes still looking up at the taller man, that sparkle in his eyes. Because maybe he hadn't quite, but he's implied it, said he liked watching him, and really, House had to know why he'd been standing here even before Chase had said anything at all. It was in how Chase watched him, whether he was wearing tights or the loose yoga type pants he generally seemed to prefer.

"I wanted to watch you dance," he clarifies, even though he's sure it's probably not necessary. And that's true, even if it's not the only thing he wants. He wants to dance with him, but Chase can't say that, or wont let himself.

So many male dancers fight against the stereotype the rest of the world has, of being men in toe shoes and tutus, prancing around stage. Chase is smart enough to know that the last thing most male dancers wants to hear about is someone who wants that stereotype. Of course, that doesn't stop him from chasing it, even if he's still trying to figure out the specifics. He'll never make it out of the corps de ballet playing the male roles. There's the fact that he's not comfortable with the more demanding lifts, and then there's the fact that his heart isn't in it.

House considers him a moment too long, as if he's maybe waiting for him to back down. But he doesn't. He doesn't really need to answer, but he does. He half answers, anyway. House knows there's more, knows that he doesn't just want to watch but wants to dance with him. Otherwise he wouldn't be here, wouldn't have gotten caught, wouldn't have refused to leave at the first challenge. House knows that sometimes when Chase rehearses alone, he doesn't rehearse the role he's assigned, but ties into pointe shoes and dances the female lead.

Chase isn't the only one who likes to watch.

"Go get your stuff," he says, almost dismissively, but there's a hint of a warmth around his eyes that gives him away. "I don't offer free shows..."

If Chase wants to watch, he's got to earn it. He's got to offer something in exchange.

There's that dismissive tone that initially makes Chase a little worried, like he's afraid that House wont be here when he comes back. But, then he sees it. The warmth around his eyes that are a paler, sharper blue than Chase's own. There's also concern in the request, since he's already in his dance clothes. It's not like he needs to change or anything, but he obeys anyway, trusting that look around the edges of his eyes, that feeling that House might be harassing him, but there was more to it than just that. Or maybe it was wishful thinking, but either way, he ran and got his bag, returning fast enough that he must have run there and back, and there was a smile on his face when he again was framed in the doorway.

He sets his bag down just inside the doorway, a slight shrug as he lets it slide off his shoulder. He's looking at House, a slight question in the tilt of his head, the way that he looks at the man with interest and curiosity. "So, what's your price?" He questions languidly, a faint murmur on his mouth as he catches his breath.

"I am a college student, if you're hoping for cash, you're going to be sorely disappointed." It's a cheeky quip, followed by an unselfconscious kind of grin.

While Chase is gone - for all of the thirty seconds that he is - House turns back to the room and flips through his music, finding the right playlist, and hits play and turns the volume down lower than he would if he were just practicing alone. When Chase is back, breathless and shrugging his bag off his shoulder just inside the door, House is standing stretching out his shoulders, shifting and arching backwards as he loosens up.

"You wanna watch, I get to watch, too," he says, rolling one and then the other shoulder, arms swinging easily as he walks over and pulls the door shut behind Chase.

Truth be told, House has wanted an opportunity to watch Chase dance alone since he'd joined the company. More than just what he'd caught through the slightly opened studio door here and there when he caught him on his own. In rehearsal he's good, but on his own he's almost amazing, almost as good as he'd been in the competition, and that's what House wants to see.

At the first hint of hesitation, House stops. "What, don't tell me this wanting to watch thing wasn't just an excuse to practice with me..." because it so, so was.

Chase huffs a soft laugh at the statement that if he's going to watch House gets to watch too. It's not like Chase is about to argue, when it's not something that he really minds. He could point out that House had seen him during rehearsal, but then, so had Chase. They both knew it was different like this. One-on-one, a smaller room, closer, more intimate. He watches House, how he rolls his shoulders, the brief proximity when the man moves over to shut the door behind him.

It's more nerves than actual unwillingness, but then, Robert is aware that House probably knows that. Something in his eyes, the tone of his voice as he lets that statement trail off into stillness. The blond just rolls his eyes, kneeling down and grabbing his water bottle and a small towel from his bag. He doesn't know that House knows about his pointe work. So far, while it might have earned him a spot in the corps de ballet, the preference seemed to be towards not talking about it afterwards. So Chase practiced when he thought no one was looking.

He likes the music. There's a smile on his face as he looks up at House - because yes, he clearly is looking forward to this. "Did you have anything particular in mind?" Maybe it's a loaded question, maybe not.

"I was thinking we'd warm up and you could show me what you can do..." but Chase isn't going for the pointe shoes, just pulling out water and a towel, and House stops short and leans, peering into the open bag but he can't see anything aside from spare clothes.

"...don't tell me you forgot your pointe shoes today," he says, attention shifting from the bag to Chase, and there's more than just a hint of disappointment. He doesn't think he has, he just thinks he doesn't realize anyone knows about them, because House, unlike Chase, is better at watching on the sly.

His head jerks, sharp, surprise written on his features from the parted lips to how his eyebrows go up. Then his expression softens and he just looks at House for a moment, before nodding slowly. He doesn't say anything, just reaches into his bag and unzips one of the interior pockets and pulls out his pointe shoes. He doesn't have a quip or a sly remark, and there's a certain vulnerability about him, even if he's not saying anything. He's not embarrassed about it, per se, he'd made his performance for the YAGP en pointe. It's just that since joining the company, he cares about what the people here think about him.

He's never even admitted it to his boyfriend. Instead, Brett tries to work with him on his lifts, how to brace his body without looking like it, how to take the weight and use it for his own momentum. It was that look of disappointment, though... it's as if somehow, House of all people sees who it is that Chase really wants to be.

He sits on the floor, slipping off his usual dance shoes, and puts the foam cushion over his toes, and then slips his foot into the slipper. He pulls the ribbons taut as he ties them around his foot and then the ankle, making sure they're snug enough to give the proper support. He ties them, then tucks the knot under the ribbon, repeating it for the second toe shoe. The ones he has with him now are the classic pink, instead of the stark red he'd worn at the Grand Prix.

"Like this?" He asks, a little shy, a hint timid. There's a difference between giving yourself to a faceless audience, even when they held his future in their hands, and doing the same thing to someone he knows, that matters.

House hops up on the piano while Chase changes his shoes, legs kicking subtly as he watches the careful routine of it. In the interim between slipping off the dance shoes and wrapping the cushion around his toes, House sees that his feet look more like the feet of the ballerinas. Maybe not so rough as some of the principal ballerinas, but there are still raw spots where the shoes rubbed and some obvious old injuries to his toes. It tells him he was right, that this isn't something he just dabbles with for fun or because it'd make a flashy performance to get into the company, but it's something he's passionate about. Something he does whenever he gets the chance, even still.

House hops back down when he's got them tied on and gestures to the bag with an elbow, "Yeah, unless you've got a tutu in there..." now he's just being an ass, because he can.

Then he holds out his hand, and now he's not being an ass. He's offering him a hand up, curious if he'll take it, curious if he'll move against the counterbalance of his weight into the dance, into him, or if he'll shy from it. Either would be telling, and that's why he's here, finding a new way to subtly push, to see if he'll push back.

"I've never had my own tutu," Chase comments with a thin sort of smile. It's not a lie, but it is careful wording. When he was a child, he'd play with his mother's old ones. And he has one locked away in storage from her last stage performance, but that's more about the memory than wanting to put it on and feel enchanted. House is still being an ass, but it's not hurtful. There are a million sharper things he could say, and the passing insult seems more like just the man's usual temperament.

He looks up at House when he holds out his hand. There's a feeling that he shouldn't take it, but he does anyway. He lets his hand slip into House's, a soft touch, delicate pressure as he slides gracefully up to his feet, and then up onto the toes of his shoes, although he's still shorter than House as he ends up leaning toward him, into him. His heart races, and yet everything feels smooth and easy.

"Shame," House says, and he waits to see what Chase will do. He hadn't been certain that he'd take his hand, but when he does a number of questions are all answered at once. It's in the barely there pressure as he rises to his feet, graceful and easy, the way he goes up to his toes, not just the ball of the foot but the toes of those pointe shoes, easy as any of the ballerinas in the other room.

There's a little wicked grin that he mostly shoves down, a stupid, giddy rush he gets from being right, from having called it, seen through the persona he puts on to get through rehearsal day in and day out, the way he manages to dance like a man when this is what he craves. To be shown off, to be allowed to fly and given an anchor to bring him back down. They begin to move together and its automatic, like this was something they'd been meant to do. There's chemistry to it, even in these first few steps together. It's the way they keep moving in close, the easy way Chase responds to a hand here or there, resting against his lower back or touching his arm to indicate the next move, to guide him into it.

"If I ever get one, I'll wear it for you," he says softly. It's almost a tease, but only almost. It feels like something changed when he took House's hand, willing to lean into him, to let him help guide him. This is what he's dreamed about for nearly as long as he can remember, being able to dance like this with someone like House. Ever since he fell in love with the tapes of his mother; her silk pointed shoes and the shimmering skirts and the way it looked like she was flying when she'd jump and her partner would lift her. Beautiful.

Everything about Chase changes when they dance like this.

In rehearsal, he tries to change the language his body speaks. He's still a good dancer, but he's hiding, his heart isn't in it like it is now. His movements are delicate and graceful, lyrical, the way he lets himself feel the music, lets the emotion express itself down to his fingertips. He's light on his feet, making it look easy, like he's floating and House is the one keeping him anchored. It feels like a high, moving like this. The chemistry between them is electrifying, intoxicating, and it's wrong, but he has no idea how to stop, so he doesn't.

He pulls back for a breath, and he spins, easy and controlled, and then he leans away before he leans back into House. Like there's magnetism that overcomes his desire to pull away, but in truth he doesn't really want to pull away. His skin heats and his face is flushed, a sort of joy that glimmers in Chase's blue eyes every time they touch.

Chase is flirting with him. He'd gone from puppyish stalking in the doorway to flirting, and then that teasing flirt becomes more than just words, becomes a part of how he moves, becomes the motion of his body and how he presses close, lets House guide him. It's how he starts to get lost in the music, and in the way he's allowing himself to dance here and now. There's more emotion, more raw feeling in these past few minutes than House has seen from him in the past several weeks. This is what he'd seen in that competition tape, this kind of feeling, and it feels like a secret, like a privilege to see it now. He doesn't have to know the details to guess them, to understand that this isn't the kind of thing that people would accept openly, and that's why Chase hides it away.

Chase moves away for space to breathe and comes back in with a perfectly controlled spin, and they move together, their bodies weaving together as they pull away and come back close, like they try and fail to really pull apart. Chase is flushed, and not from the activity, not from exertion, but from the thrill of this.

Chase comes in again and he's perfectly lined up for a lift, so he lets him know, just a soft, clipped command, "Up," as he moves into position, hands at his sides supporting him through the anticipated jump and upwards as his back arches and he braces against his body, hands on his shoulders, and his cheek is pressed to Chase's slender torso as he holds him close.

Edited 2015-01-03 10:55 (UTC)

Chase shouldn't be flirting, but he is. It starts with that comment, and then is there like a current as they dance, move together, with Chase's movements light and airy on the tips of his toe shoes. House guides them and Chase follows, easy, the way that he leans in, the graceful and easy way he lifts his leg, like a continuation of the line of his torso as he tips in forward. His hands touch House's hands, and then pull away, move toward him but shy from touching. There's that attraction and trepidation spelled out in his body instead of just on his face.

Dancing like this feels like flying, like freedom, letting someone in and not being shunned. His mother had understood, but it's hard to trust that anyone else will, especially when classical ballet is so rigidly gender divided. But House- one of the best Primary dancers in the Company- he sees who Chase is, and accepts him, dances with him like he was any of the ballerinas he's been partnered with in rehearsals. Maybe more than that.

There's that command, and Chase sees what House sees, the lift, how he needs to move, how to jump, and he does it easily. He might not be good at the lifts himself, but he has powerful jumps, but like this, he doesn't try to dress them up. That power is lighter and less the raw explosive jumps the director tries to push him for. It's easy and perfect the way that he trusts House to be there, and House catches him, lifts him, and Chase feels weightless. He's not quite as light as the girls in the company, but House catches him like he is.

His hands hold onto House's shoulders, a light touch, steadying. And then House sets him back on his feet, sliding him down his body, and that contact sends a rush of heat through Chase's body. There's something far too intimate about this in the first place and now, his heart is racing, pounding in his chest, and he tries to ignore that flash of arousal, but he's a teenager, and that's like asking rain not to fall.

He slides back a pace, those almost stuttering steps, and he spins, and he's leaning back in again. That repeating motif of being unable to pull away, and it's not ingenuous, because as much as is wrong with this, Chase can't help himself. If this happened with anyone, it should have been his boyfriend, but it's not, and it just makes that attraction he's been trying to fight burn that much hotter.

House knows that Chase shouldn’t be flirting (not that that's ever going to stop House). He knows that he’s with Brett, and now he’d dare say that it seems that young Chase just has a thing for primary dancers. Or at least, it’s in his arsenal of things to use as ammunition against him, to get a rise or provoke a reaction from him. The way he’s dancing here is so different from when he’s paired with one of the girls. Not just the moves themselves, it’s not just that he’s dancing a different role, but it’s as though this was what he was meant to dance all along. It’s clear that he’s practiced en pointe just as long as the girls, that he’s got years of it already, at nineteen. The terrible reality of it, though, is that while a small handful of the young women can carry on dancing for years and years, successful into their forties, the majority of them fall from the public eye in their thirties. And Chase, he won’t get a chance to dance the roles he’s more than capable of, and even if he did, he’s only got another few years left before his body finishes changing, before he gains those last couple inches, before he’s starting to push the limits of safety to dance en pointe. He certainly won’t fit quite the same, small and slender and just the right height as he comes in and comes up on his toes.

Chase takes that command and reacts in an instant, moves perfectly into what House saw and wanted him to do, and he glances up at him as he lifts him, not able to see his face with how he arches but he can imagine his expression, similar to the serene, stupid-happy expression he’s had since they begin. He knows there’s a thrill in being lifted, in the first couple of seconds when the jump and the momentum of being thrust upwards leaves you feeling weightless. It doesn’t last. It can’t for more than a few seconds, and that’s when Chase’s hands grip his shoulders for balance.

As he brings Chase down, lets him slide along the length of his body to be set delicately back on the floor, he’s almost certain he feels… something. He does a double take, not quite sure if he’s imagining it or if Chase really had just gotten hard in a matter of seconds. If there was any question at all, the look on Chase’s face and the way he rushes to move back gives him away, and House just blinks and stares at him. He can’t tell to look (though he looks anyway, who can blame him?) but the boy is hard.

“I knew you were a little perv,” he says playfully, but there’s an edge of knowing. Between the tone and the glance down his body, it’s clear what he means.

Edited (words, man. wordddssss.) 2015-01-04 04:35 (UTC)

Chase flushes, looking off to the side a little sheepishly as he bites his lip and shrugs his shoulders in response to the playful chastisement. He knows what House is referring to, even if he'd been hoping that his dance belt would hide the evidence with the way that House had held him close, let their bodies slide together as he landed on the floor, he's not surprised. He can't help it. Dancing with House is like riding a high, and there's something about how they move together and Chase just can't help himself. He smiles a little shyly, a slow blink of those lashes that frame his bright blues.

"And you're not?" He's trying to deflect, even if it's not much of a deflection at all. House being a pervert doesn't stop Chase from being the one that's hard. There's only a slight flicker of guilt, and he knows he should feel worse about getting so turned on over a man that isn't his boyfriend, but that will maybe come later. He just doesn't want this to stop, for House to think that he's gross or something, anything that stops the other man from holding onto him like this. Lifting him and letting him fly. He leans in again, slow, still up on pointe, and he skims his hands up against House's upper arms as he curls close into his space.

"I like dancing with you," he says softly, like it's some kind of defense, although it isn't. Because Chase doesn't just like dancing with him. He wants him, even if he's been trying to convince himself that he doesn't for a while now. He's with Brett, and while cheating is far from exceptional in the backstage drama of a ballet company, Chase isn't like that. He doesn't see himself like that. He's young, still a virgin, though that's a fact he doesn't advertise. Brett knows, but that's because they've been together for two months and still haven't had sex. He's understanding, nice to Chase, seems to care about him.

House is just... something he can't explain. Magnetic. Draws him in, so he was there in the doorway, even when he knew better.

“I never claimed I wasn’t…” but, clearly, so is Chase. There’s no reason to say it again because they both know that Chase is hard as a rock under the convenient cover of his dance belt and tights, and however much he wants to stand there and try to pretend that he’s not, they both know the truth. But he doesn’t think worse of him for it, quite the opposite, and there’s no way that this is going to keep him from dancing with him. It only makes him want to dance with him more.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” it’s another subtle dig at the fact that he’s aroused and that he obviously really likes dancing with him, but the truth is that he really knows. Chase can’t have many people in his life that know, that understand. Maybe his boyfriend does, but he’s got an inkling that he doesn’t. He knows Brett, knows that however much he likes chasing after the hot new talented young men that join the company, that he’s just as much a stickler for gender roles as anyone else who’s breakneck desperate to get ahead. House just doesn’t care. He’s old enough that he’s aware his time is limited, and he’s happy with his position in the company, the roles he gets to dance… he has no problem, himself. But he can see that for Chase, it’s a very big problem. Which means that this is almost certainly going to become a regular thing, private dance rehearsals together after the big one ends.

“I know you can dance Odette,” he says, because he’d seen him practicing it the day (or days, if we’re being really honest here) that he’d looked in on Chase when he was dancing alone, “…you’ve got to be familiar with Odile, too, right? Let’s see some of that.”

They both know that the black swan is the more sexual role, that it’s all about seduction and guile, and so far House doesn’t really see that in Chase. He’s been flirting, yes, but it’s a different sort of flirting. He brings to it this vulnerability, this wide eyed innocence and honest joy that’s more spot on to Odette than young woman slated to play the Swan Queen. House isn’t sure Chase really has it in him, but if he does, he absolutely wants to see it. He moves to the iPod and flips through the playlists, turns it to the music that starts the scene when Odile comes in disguised as Odette to seduce Siegfried.

House has all but invited Chase to seduce him.

House's retort makes a smile waver on his mouth, a faint sigh and a shake of his head, but there's a warmth in his face at the easy way that House admits to being a pervert. "Dirty old man," Chase teases, half under his breath, but a grin on his face. He doesn't seem to actually object to it any more than House seems to object to Chase's perversion. Because he is a pervert, even if he is a virgin. He watches porn, is interested- cautiously- in kinky things, even if he's never done any of them

He could tell him, admit outloud that he's never really danced with anyone else like this. That the last time someone lifted him, he was about half as tall as he is now, and it was his mother, laughing, telling him to extend his arms, curve his fingers. And yet all of this was somehow perfect. It's like they can read each others' rhythm. Dancing with House is effortless, feels as magical as ballet looks on stage. He wants to do it again, but doesn't quite have the courage to ask outright, not yet, anyway. He looks up at the statement that House knows he can dance Odette, and there's a brief shy look, because yes, he's been practicing.

Chase prefers Odette, which comes as a surprise to no one, but he doesn't bother saying that. Odile is more sexual, and aside from her variation is mostly done in pas de deux with Siegfried, which makes it slightly awkward to practice alone, though Chase has been working on both roles. Not that he'll ever dance either on stage, but Swan Lake is a beautiful ballet, and one of his favorites. He also loves dancing Giselle, but who doesn't? The invitation in what House is asking, the implication of it isn't lost on Chase and he smiles, mischievous as the music starts. He moves away from House so that he has enough room to move, getting in synch with the music, starting with that first jump, and then his arms flapping, light and airy like swan's wings, but perhaps too light and airy for the swan he's trying to personify as he moves out and then comes back to the center of the room.

The movement of his arms as they come to cross in front of his more sweet than seductive and then his leg slides back and his arms comes up again, that pause, right before the music speeds up.

At the accusing comment that he's a dirty old man, House just looks back at him with the barest hint of a grin and a twinkle in his eye that suggests that it's truer than Chase has any idea of.

House isn't expecting for him to dance Odile as well as he dances Odette. It's a difficult role to dance, for one, but there's something about Chase that fits so much with Odette. There's a lightness and delicacy to his movements, an effortless perfection and grace that's so spot on to Odette that House had actually stood, watching through the window, wishing there were a way for him to dance the role for the production. If the company was struggling to find a way to market ballet to an audience who increasingly cares less for traditional, it could hardly hurt them, and it might just be exactly what they need.

So when Chase dances through the solo with those easy, light movements, delicate and far too sweet for Odile, he's not surprised really. Maybe he needs a push. He certainly responds well enough to guidance. House moves in when the music changes, and this should be when Odile, disguised, seduces Siegfried to betray Odette. It's supposed to be sensual and heavy with suggestion, the role Chase is dancing should be all allure and guile. But that's not how it's happening now. It's kind of funny, honestly, how Chase can be so skilled in the subtle flirtatious language of his own body and simultaneously so unaware of the corresponding language of seduction. His flirting is sweet rather than sultry, innocent rather than intentional.

There's a moment when Chase comes in close through a spin and hovers just for a moment, their bodies inches apart, and it should feel like a tease, thick with sexual tension and dark promise, but it's not. It feels like anything but. Chase is dancing through the choreography, and yet he's coming off just as sweet as Odette. There's no call to touch him, and yet he does, catches him by the hips and smooths his hands down the front of his body to rub at the tops of his thighs and pull him back flush against his body, so that he can feel that tight, perfect ass pressed against his body. One hand skims back up and presses between his legs as he subtly grinds against his ass, and his breath comes warm against Chase's ear as he murmurs, softly commanding him, "Seduce me..."

The way they move together feels perfect. He knows that his performance, the way that he moves, how he sells the choreography with gestures is off, but he doesn't quite know how to fix it, what he's doing wrong. He's never had a director, someone to guide him, and his focus has mainly been on Odette, trying to make it flawless, perfect. And even then, all he has is the choreography and filmed performances, trying to replicate Svetlana Zakharova, Gillian Murphy, Polina Semionova, and the other great Principals of the major ballet companies as he stares at himself in the mirrored wall.

He gasps, his breath sharp as he's pulled from the dance, the motion, the way that they move together when House touches him, grabbing him around his thin hips, and it's not part of the dance. His strong hands slide down and rub against the top of Chase's thighs, and he's flushed, still hard in his tights and he groans helplessly as House pulls him back flush against him. His ass pressed firmly into him. His breathing is rough and heavy, almost gasping as House grinds into his ass, and Chase is breathing fast, his heart racing at the awareness of how House has one hand between his legs, and Chase should be telling him to stop.

He's glad that House is behind him, because Chase is wrecked, and he's just glad that House can't see. He's squirming, pressing back into him and the grip that the man has on his hips, fighting to catch his breath but not quite managing it. He nods- emphatic- when House makes that demand, voices it like a command. Seduce me. Chase still doesn't really know how to do that, but he felt like he would have agreed to anything that House said in that tone of voice.

He wants to pull away from him, but he doesn't. There's a shameful part of him that just wants to stay like this, wants to feel the heat of House's body bleeding through the thin fabric of his tights and his shirt, almost searing where it's just bare skin. His lips are parted, his breath coming out as inarticulate noises, like he wants to say something, but there's just no words.

Chase’s reaction is electric. House had intended the grope to jolt him into changing, into realizing that to dance Odile he needs to tap into his sexuality, that he needs to feel it, use it, flaunt it… but that’s not what’s happening. Chase is reacting like he’s starving for touch, like he just can’t get enough. He’s still hard - not hard again, but still hard - groaning as he’s pulled back against House. He moves as he’s guided, back against House, pressing the firm swell of his ass back against House’s hips. Chase is squirming desperately and breathing hard and House isn’t capable of fighting against his own reaction. He’s getting hard, the more that Chase moves against him, and this… this isn’t how this is supposed to go at all. He’d intended to let go after a few seconds and see if Chase was any better at dancing the seduction, but he couldn’t just let go of him with the way he’s acting like he’s starving for touch.

“…you’re fucking desperate for it, aren’t you?”

House’s exhales a shaky breath against Chase’s ear that betrays the smile on his face, and now that hand rubs its way up from between his legs, feeling its way up the length of his cock through the layers of tights and dance belt, the heel of his hand dragging up and then back down while the other hand holds tight against his hip, keeps him close, guides him to keep grinding back on him.

“…just can’t get enough, can you…” he accuses him openly, and he’s got a sudden urge to lower his mouth to his neck but he resists, chews at his lower lip for a moment and murmurs, “You’re either a virgin or a slut… and there’s no way you’re a virgin…” he just can’t be. Not with how he’s reacting now, not with how young and gorgeous he is, dating Brett, living in NYC… there’s just no way he’s gotten this far without getting fucked.

“You shouldn’t have any problem dancing Odile…” there’s an unspoken what’s your excuse? and a not very subtle accusation that Chase is a little slut.

"Y-yes," Chase answers, helpless, like he doesn't know how not to react, how to not bend to the rasp of House's voice against his ear. He shakes at the feel of it, the heat, and he can hear that smile. His breath stutters, a sharp whine as his hand rubs up between his legs, against his hard cock, the man's other hand still tight on his hips, making it so his ass rocked back into him. He should stop this, say no, but he can't manage it. Brett has tried to grope him, get him into the mood, get him into sex, but it's never been like this, never taken him apart so all he can do is ache for it.

Chase flushes, and he betrays it in how he drops his head to the side slightly. There's a tremor that runs through him when House says he's either a virgin or a slut. And when he says he can't be a virgin, Chase honestly wants to sell it, make him believe it, but the truth is that he's as bad at it as he was at selling Odile's seduction and guile. There's something about how he moves, reacts, that says inexperienced more than greedy.

"You say slut like it's a bad thing," he murmurs, moaning hot and helpless as his hips start to jerk toward House's hand over his cock.

God, it feels like he could get Chase off just like this, just touching him through his tights and grinding against his ass. The boy is shaking, breathless and whining as House gropes him thoroughly, rocking back against him. House knows that when he rolls up on his toes to press back he almost has to feel that he’s hard, too. He’s so sure he’s right, so certain that Chase is just what he’d pegged him ass, incredibly talented and incredibly whorish, until there’s a reaction that doesn’t quite fit. When he says he’s got to be one or the other, it almost seems like he’s hiding, like he’s shy about it. House shakes himself mentally, comes up out of it enough to notice that he seems inexperienced. He’s letting it happen more than he’s active and inviting it, like he doesn’t really know how to move his body into this if left to his own devices, like he needs the hands on him to guide him. If there was any doubt left, it’s gone in the way he responds to that comment, you say slut like it’s a bad thing, like he’s trying to come off more experienced than he is.

“Oh my god,” he breathes, shocked that he was so wrong, and his hands are starting to come away from Chase already, moving away from his cock and letting go of his hip.

“You’re a virgin?”

It’s a question, but he is. House knows he is now, he can tell, even if it’s subtle. But knowing it, he can’t keep pushing, can’t keep taking, because suddenly it’s not just dancing getting out of control but taking advantage.

"Don't," Chase says, and it sounds so loud to his ears in the room that's so quiet aside from heavy breathing and the sounds of soft touching. His hands reach out, catching on House's wrists, and he holds on tight, almost pleading with his soft fingertips. There's not a lot of force in his hands, House could pull away if he really wanted to, but it's clear that Chase doesn't want him to. He's asking him not to, as much as he can, even if he should just let him go.

"Yeah, I'm a virgin," he says finally, admitting it like it's a dirty secret, with that vague air of please don't tell around the words. "I've.. never felt like this before. I don't want you to stop," he says quietly, timidly, with just a small flicker of guilt. He does have a boyfriend, but House is somehow different, somehow better, and all he really knows right now is that he needs this. He needs House to touch him, to make him come alive like this.

He's trying to tell him that he's not taking advantage of him, even if he lacks the right words to say what he means.

He stops pulling back when Chase grabs his wrists to stop him. He’s not sure still, but he hesitates in pulling away because he really doesn’t want to let go of him and it seems like Chase, even if he is completely inexperienced, doesn’t want to stop. Then he says it, and even though he’d guessed, noticed it, hearing it is still surprising. He’s never and yet he’s dating Brett… it’s got to be just a matter of time, then. Brett has a reputation for good reason, and House suddenly has the urge to warn him. Now’s not the time, obviously, but he knows that Brett will be with him until he fucks him, until he gets bored of him, and then he’ll leave him… and that’s one thing with the guys who’ve been around a little bit, but Chase is bound to get hurt. Not that this is much better, what he’s doing - what is he doing? Fuck if he knows. He hardly has enough brain power to think about what he’s doing. All he knows is that Chase doesn’t want him to stop.

Virgin or not, he’s so a pervert… getting off on this, here, standing in the center of the studio leaning back against House, where anyone who wanted to look in the glass window on the door could see.

“Pervert,” he breathes against his ear as his arms slip back around him, right back where they were. One hand caressing Chase through his tights and the other hugging his hip and urging him back, fingertips rubbing down along the groove between hip and thigh to change the angle of his body so that his spine curves just so, so that his ass juts back against him, fits tight against his body. He wants to keep Chase talking, wants to hear him.

“Do you like this…?” he asks as he changes how he’s touching him, thumb rubbing along the length of his cock through his tights while his hand rubs and rocks, long fingered hand spanning as much of him as he can at the awkward angle afforded by his clothes, making a conscious effort to try and get him off.

Chase, for all that he might be a great dancer, is still young and stupid and inexperienced. Brett is going to break his heart, if things get that far. He has a reputation- not unjustly earned- of sexing boys, getting bored, and finding another young pretty boy. Two months is starting to push surprising, if you don't know that Chase is a virgin, if you can't figure out the game that he's playing, here. And Chase is young enough that he's full of dumb ideas about getting married and adopting children, and all those romantic notions that usually run out after a few years of shitty dates.

"Yeah," Chase responds with a smile as he leans back into him, and there's something in how he relaxes back into him. He'd been scared that House was going to leave for reasons he couldn't quite explain. House got under his skin, did things to him. He liked the way his voice sounded, felt, as it curled against his ear, felt like it curled through him, molten hot. He let House's fingers shift his body, his ass pressing back against him, fitting tight against his hips. He likes how House is taller than him, significantly so now that he's down off the tips of his pointe shoes, and with House it feels like he wraps around him.

"Nn... I, uh, yes." Chase gasps hotly, squirming so that he's pressing his perfectly curved dancers ass back up against House as the older man strokes over his cock through the unfortunate layers, and Chase is almost tempted to pull them down. Except that this is dumb to begin with, and getting caught with his tights around his knees and someone's hand around his cock that is not his boyfriend, is not the sort of excitement he wants to end his night with. So he leaves the layers, for now anyway.

"Feels so good," he murmurs, his voice half blissed out as his eyes close.

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