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“OH MY GOD.” You exploded, pacing around your bedroom, closely followed by House. “YOU COULDN’T HAVE JUST BEHAVED FOR ONE NIGHT? I ASKED YOU ONE THING GREG, ONE THING.”
“YES, YOU ASKED ME NOT TO BE MYSELF, HOW WAS THAT GOING TO GO?” He held out his hand, imitating a first meeting, “Hello, I’d say I’m Gregory House but my date’s ashamed of who I really am.”
“That is not fair.” You argued. “I simply asked you to be nice when you met my friends and you couldn’t even do that.”
“I’m not nice.” House answered darkly.
“Don’t give me that, I know the real you but no, you just have to show off to other people, never letting them in. How the hell am I supposed to introduce you to my family if you couldn’t even behave in front of my friends?”
“Who says I even want to meet your family?”
You froze as did House upon realising what he’d just said. “You know what House,” he winced as you used his last name. “I can’t even look at you right now.”
“(Y/N), what’re you saying?” He asked nervously, though not without a sharp edge to his tone.
“Go home. I don’t want you here tonight, and don’t come back until you’re mature enough to be in an adult relationship.”
Greg glowered. “Instead of telling me what to do, maybe you should realise that I’m right and there’s nothing I need to change. If you can’t handle who I am then maybe we shouldn’t be together.”
You marched to the bedroom door, opening it wide for him, shaking with anger. He stormed out, slamming the front door on his way out and chuntering on the way to his car. He pulled out his Vicodin, hastily chewing two pills and relishing in the temporary relief they brought; he had a feeling he’d need a lot more before the night was through.
The following day, House had half a mind not to show up to work; he resented the damn tenure that Cuddy held over him. By this point, it would probably be better if he gave up on the stupidity known as humanity and lived out his life as a hermit. Despite that, he yielded to the daily calling of the hospital, eager to finish maybe one easy case and a few consultations before being free to suffer his misery; he didn’t know if your relationship was over but he was sure he was right; you knew what he was like long before introducing him to your friends.
The second he left the elevator, his rage increased with the appearance of Cameron, Chase and Foreman. All three gabbled senselessly at House, each trying to get their point across first; whatever it was, the sentences were lost in translation as they rushed to talk over each other.
“-couldn’t stop it-”
“-in the office-”
“-with your coat-”
None of it made sense, irritating him further. “If none of you have anything useful to say,” House growled, “Then I suggest you stop darkening my door and go play with Wilson’s medical toys; practice lobotomies on each other or something.”
He threw back some Vicodin, pushing past them, and down the hallways.
Cameron looked to Chase and Foreman.
“Should we try again?” She asked.
“He should really know about this.” Chase answered hesitantly.
“But he’s just gonna shoot the messengers, besides, he’ll know soon enough.” Foreman added.
“Right.” “Let’s go.” Chase and Cameron answered in unison.
Before House headed to his own conference room, he made his way to Wilson’s. Although he’d never admit it, Wilson was usually some form of comfort; at the very least, he would probably offer some advice that House would ignore. Wilson startled when House entered, clearly unsure of where to begin.
“Greg! You uh, you’re here.”
"As opposed to being where?” Greg snarled impatiently.
“So you… you haven’t seen (Y/N) today?”
“Oh God, (s)he told you about last night? I suppose it’s good, you can side with me now and tell me I’m right.”
“You haven’t been to your conference room this morning?”
“Why would I? That would be trading one hell pit for another; you know I’m not hearing much support right now.”
“Well… have you considered that (Y/N) might be right?”
House scowled. “Why would you even say that? Have you been at the medical supplies? Oh God, I bet you’ve been listening to the three stooges.”
“Greg, I think you really need to talk to (Y/N) about this.”
“So much for friendly advice. Urgh, that’s it, I’m going to the maternity ward, they have a T.V. in their office.”
“Wait- you have to go to your conference room first, it’s important.”
“Important? That means more work from Cuddy, or one of my idiots did something wrong. Was it Chase?”
“Just go to the conference room, after that you can slack off all you want but you need to see something there.”
House shot Wilson one more irritated glance before heading out to his conference room, expecting to see some annoying case picked out by Cuddy. Instead, he found himself or rather, a weak imitation. He growled furiously, approaching you; you were dressed in his clothes, using his spare cane, and making notes on the whiteboard that didn’t make any sense, since you weren’t a doctor.
“(Y/N), what the hell do you think you’re doing?” House demanded.
“(Y/N)? What kind of bloody disease makes you so stupid that you think I’m (Y/N)? I’m Doctor House and I’m much too busy scaring people away and being rude to talk to an imbecile below my stature.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“Neither is wasting a doctor’s time but here you are, taking up valuable air-”
“Are you done?”
“Not by a long shot but how about I save us both some time.” You cleared your throat, “Insult, insult, arrogant comment, reasons I’m better than you, insult.”
“Unbelievable, now you’re just being childish.”
“Childish? As childish as a man who yelled at me and then walked out instead of having a serious conversation, explaining exactly what went wrong?”
“I didn’t walk out, you threw me out.”
“Because I wanted you to fight for me.”
“How would I know that?”
“BECAUSE YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO CARE!” You put a shocked hand over your mouth, disbelieving the hellish scream that had come out. House eyed you carefully, stunned by your outburst.
“I… I do care, (Y/N), you may be the only person I care about.”
“No.” You whimpered. “You pretend you’re cut off from everyone and everything but I know you care. You care about Wilson, Cuddy, Chase, Foreman, Cameron, and me. I just- Why can’t you show it?”
“(Y/N), I’ve spent my entire life learning not to show my emotions, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise how damaging that is to you but I can’t change all of that.”
“I’m not asking you to, I just want you to be a little more open sometimes, can you do that?”
House sighed, planting his hands on his hips. “I can try.”
A watery smile reached your face. “Greg I-”
“Come here.” He whispered, bringing you into a warm embrace, resting his head on top of yours. “Who would’ve thought I’d find someone worth changing for?”
You hugged him tighter, wishing for the moment to last forever.
“Alright,” he pulled your arms from him, holding onto you still. “Let’s get out of here, we’ll have an entire day of just lounging in bed together with General Hospital, how’s that?”
You grinned, laughing weakly. “Don’t you have to work?”
“What Cuddy doesn’t know won’t hurt me.”
“Alright, let’s go home.”