Title: Meow

Author: lawnmowerelf

It only took House a few minutes to get bored in Wilson's office. The other man was doing paperwork, and there was no sign that he was going to be stopping any time soon. He seemed to be completely engrossed in his work.

House, however, was still hungry. And Wilson didn't look like he had even thought about feeding him. It probably hadn't even occurred to him that House wasn't exactly in a position to feed himself. So he wandered around for a while, trying to sniff out anything edible. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be found.

So he wandered back over to Wilson, propped himself up with his front feet on Wilson's leg and meowed. Wilson just glanced at him, absently reaching down to scratch House's ears. House flashed him a kitty glare and butted his head against Wilson's leg, meowing again.

Finally Wilson turned his attention away from his paperwork and picked House up, sitting him on the desk. "What is it, House? I'm trying to work."

House meowed again, frustrated that his mental connection to Wilson had apparently broken down. Then he had a sudden idea and grinned evilly. He grabbed one of Wilson's hands with his front paws and began gently chewing on Wilson's fingertips.

Wilson sighed as he pulled his captive hand away, frowning at his wet fingers. "House, does this mean you're hungry?"

The furry head bobbed up and down in relief. Finally.

"All right. Stay in here and stay out of trouble, and I'll go get you something." He leaned down until he was nearly nose to nose with kitten!House. "Promise me you'll stay in here, House."

House let out a kitten sigh and nodded. He hadn't actually planned on escaping, especially since Wilson had promised to feed him, but Wilson didn't need to know that. He might start expecting good behavior more often, and that simply wouldn't do.

He hung out on Wilson's desk once the other man left the office, batting around some of the toys and giving serious consideration to doing something naughty with Wilson's Zen garden. Then he spied what looked like an old stuffed rabbit, and his new feline instincts went into overdrive.

He pounced at it, grabbing it with both his front paws and his teeth before rolling onto his back and kicking it with his back feet. He was enjoying himself so much that he didn't notice that Wilson was back until the other man was nearly on top of him. He jerked back a little too far, and both kitten!House and stuffed bunny fell off of the desk, House just barely managing to get his feet under him before he landed.

He jumped carefully back onto Wilson's chair before heading back onto the desk, doing his kitten best to ignore the way Wilson was choking back laughter. He sat down primly, wrapping his tail around his feet and looked up at Wilson, silently demanding his food. Wilson just kept chuckling and unwrapped a roast beef sandwich, sitting it on the desk in front of House and pulling off the top bun.

"Here. This was the best I could find on such short notice. I'll get you something more cat friendly once I get you back home."

House meowed at him in thanks and began slowly pulling apart the sandwich, sniffing at each new thing to decide whether it smelled like something his cat stomach would like. He took his time eating and once he was finished he glanced around the office for a moment and shrugged. He jumped down to the floor, snagged the stuffed rabbit, pulled it under Wilson's desk and curled up around it for a nap. All that eating makes a cat tired, after all.

- - - - - - - - -

He woke up when Wilson scooted his chair back and one foot came a little too close to House's tail. He growled a bit, then yawned and stretched before ambling out from under the desk. It had started to get dark and Wilson was putting things away, making it fairly obvious that he's getting ready to leave, so House was ready when Wilson reached down and picked him up. He was a little irritated that Wilson apparently thought it was necessary to drop him back into his jacket pocket, but not too terribly surprised.

It only took him a moment to get his feet under him and poke his head out of Wilson's pocket. He grinned as they passed a couple of nurses, both of whom did a double take at the sight of James Wilson with a cat's head sticking out of his jacket pocket. Then he sighed when Wilson carefully pushed his head back down out of sight, though the sigh soon turned to a quiet purr when Wilson began petting his head.

The drive home was uneventful, and by the time they got to his apartment House was hungry again. He wandered around for a bit while Wilson was in the kitchen before jumping up onto the coffee table and heading towards Steve's cage.

Steve wasn't that much smaller than he was as a kitten, which was a bit disconcerting. The rat headed straight for him, sticking his nose out between the bars of his cage to sniff at kitten!House, who made his way closer to return the favor. It was odd, but it seemed like somehow Steve knew who House was, even when he was much smaller and covered with fur.

Steve had always seemed to have a sort of rapport with House, made fairly obvious by the fact that most rats wouldn't be content to sit on a piano and listen to music for hours on end, something which was one of Steve's favorite pastimes. Steve was also perfectly happy to sit on House's shoulder while they both watched TV. So he supposed that it wasn't too much of a stretch to think that Steve could identify him even when he wasn't in his own body.

After all, if House could spontaneously turn into a cat, Steve could have some interesting talents, too. It was only fair.

House suddenly perked up when Wilson came back into the living room with a plate of food for himself and what smelled like a can of tuna for House. Wilson sat the opened can on the coffee table, then dropped tiredly onto the couch and turned on the TV. They both ate in silence, the only noise coming from the television and an occasional squeak from Steve.

Once House finished eating he sighed, then began cleaning his whiskers. Once Wilson had taken his own plate and the empty tuna can back into the kitchen, House hopped over onto the couch and curled up on the middle cushion. A moment later Wilson dropped back down next to him, one hand absently reaching over to rub over kitten!House's furry back and they watched TV.

It didn't take long for the stress of the day to get the best of Wilson. He yawned, turning off the television and giving House one last scratch behind the ears. "House, I'm exhausted, and since you're not really in a position to complain I'm going to borrow your bed tonight. Hopefully when I wake up in the morning all this will be nothing more than a very odd hallucination."

House just shrugged. He had run Wilson pretty ragged all day, and it wouldn't hurt to let him sleep in his bed, just this once. So long as Wilson didn't think he could make a habit of it.

He hung out on the couch for a while longer before growling softly at himself and dropping down to the floor and making his way into the bedroom. Wilson was sound asleep, sprawled out on his back with the sheet pulled up to mid-chest. House leaped up, having to snag the sheets with his claws to keep from falling back down onto the floor. Then he carefully snuck forward and curled up comfortably on Wilson's chest.

He shook his head in disgust at how much better that felt. Sometimes feline instincts could be a bitch.

- - - - - - - -

The familiar twinging in his leg woke House the next morning. The realization that he was once again human was eclipsed by the realization that he was sprawled fairly comfortably across a still-sleeping Wilson. He chuckled quietly as he tried to extricate himself without waking Wilson.

Well, no one could ever say that his life was boring.

The End