Chapter Text
You were visiting your friend, Allison Cameron in Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, she had stayed over at your house the previous night and forgotten her lunch. A nurse directed you to a conference room saying she was too busy to drop off the lunch on your behalf. You always hated hospitals, how white and clean they were despite the sickness that festered between their walls. You hated how there was never a quiet moment, machinery constantly going off, eventually becoming a dull hull in the back of your mind. The conference room was nothing special, a coffee machine that looked like it had made more coffee than the money you'll make in a lifetime. The room, just like the rest of the hospital, was white and clean, with a massive white board against the wall. Your eyes ran over the room once more before placing the lunch on the counter, looking for paper to write a note to Allison, you opened one of the draws.
"You know, it's rude to snoop." You jumped at the sound of a man's voice behind you, your head turning to look at him. The first thing you noticed was how blue his eyes were, then it was the cane. He was old, but the wrinkles near his eyes gave him a sort of boyish look. His eyebrows were furrowed as if trying to figure out who you were. Your eyes drifted over his attire, the messy shirt that had the top few buttons undone, showing off his white undershirt. "It's also rude to stare." Your eyes widened slightly as you were snapped out of the daze that had just come over you.
"Sorry. I was just dropping off Allison's lunch, she forgot it at my place." You explained sheepishly, not wanting him to think you just broke into the hospital or something.
"Huh. Cameron is actually a secret lesbian?" The man retorted, making you frown slightly, as he limped past you to the white board. You wondered if he was always this bold, even with patients.
"No, she's just a friend." You said a little more bluntly than you were meant to, now beginning to think the guy was actually just being sarcastic.
"That's how it always starts. Is it not?" He turned to you and you found his gaze even more piercing than before.
"I'm not sure I follow." He rolled his eyes over exaggeratedly, looking at you as if you were the dumbest thing he'd laid his eyes on.
"They're always 'just friends' but someone always catches feelings." He shrugged slightly and you laughed dryly.
"Are you speaking from experience?" You raised your eyebrows at him and his lips quirked upwards slightly.
"No, I'm not a lesbian." He turned back to the white board, scribbling something down on it, you were about to reply when the door opened and Cameron and a blonde guy walked in.
"Oh Y/n, what are you doing here?" She stopped walking, giving you a puzzled look but smiled at you nonetheless.
"I'm being an amazing friend and dropping your lunch off." You gestured to the container that now sat on the side, smiling back at her. Her eyes widened before looking back at you.
"Oh thank you so much. I owe you one." She pulled you into a quick hug before the blonde man she was with cleared his throat, making her let you go. "Oh this is Chase, one of my colleagues, I see you've already met House…" She trails off when she says his name, almost like she didn't want you meeting him, the older guy- who you now know is house, turns to the three of you.
"Hi." Chase spoke awkwardly, his Australian accent immediately noticeable to you and you waved just as awkwardly back at him.
"Damn. You were telling the truth. I was really hoping to see some woman on woman action to brighten my morning." House locks eyes with you, a fake expression of upset on his features and Cameron scoffs quietly from beside you.
"Sorry about him." She turns to you, giving you a sympathetic look but you shrug in response.
"You never told me you work with such a… character." You grinned at her, glancing over at House.
"Right well that 'character' is still here and you are taking up the ducklings' valuable thinking time and as much as you are pleasing on the eye. You're taking up my time too." He gestured to the door, a bored expression on his face and you couldn't help but flush a little from embarrassment.
"Right um yeah sorry, bye Allison, talk later and er it was nice to meet you." You turn to House and smile awkwardly, going to leave but catching Chase looking at you. "And you." You added, quickly opening the door and leaving so not to take up more of their time. You walked quickly, now wanting to just leave the hospital before you caught some deadly disease. While you walked you found your mind drift back to your brief conversation with House. You couldn't shake the image of his eyes from your mind, the way he spoke, his whole demeanour. It was oddly charming, sure he was an older guy but you'd be lying if you said he wasn't handsome, you wondered why Cameron never told you about him. In your daydream of House you had become less aware of your surroundings and so ended up walking right into someone, causing both of you to topple over.
"Shit! I'm so sorry." You looked up and met puppy brown eyes looking at you, the man smiled softly and shook his head slightly.
"It's no problem, are you okay?" His eyes drifted over your form and you felt your cheeks heat up. Damn did this hospital have good looking doctors, maybe you didn't hate hospitals as much as you thought you did.
"Uh yeah, I'm fine." You stood up, grabbing some of the files the man dropped and passed them to him once he was standing as well.
"Wilson. Well James." He held out his hand to you and you took it, shaking it.
"Y/n, I'm sorry about bumping into you." You smiled at him, your hand still enveloped in his.
"You could make it up to me." He smiled back at you, and you gave him a curious look.
"What do you propose?" Your eyes scanned over his face, taking in his soft features fully. You couldn't quite work out how old he was, you found your gaze constantly going back to his soft eyes.
"Have dinner with me?" He still smiled at you and you felt your heart skip a beat. You tried to remember the last time a guy asked you to dinner, His hand squeezed yours slightly, causing you to take a deep breath through your nose.
"Yeah okay… I'd like that." You smiled back at him, wondering if you were dreaming or not, he let go of your hand, pulling his phone out his pocket and passing it to you. Quickly and maybe a little too eagerly you put your number in it, giving it back to him.
"I'll text you." Is all he said before walking away down the hallway, you felt like a silly school girl, giving your number to a guy you didn't even know. Now with a newfound giddiness you left the hospital, impatiently waiting for a message.